August 13, 2008

Matchpoint Evolves Ad Product, Integrates Widgets

The Kelsey Group’s Michael Boland recently wrote about Matchpoint’s additional new product offerings.

Matchpoint will soon be rolling out a new set of ad products to complement its flagship online lead-gen forms. On its own site, it will integrate more of an IYP setup with searchable business listings. With each search results page, a lead-gen form will be offered that is germane to the category searched.

This broadens the appeal of its destination local search site and gives users the option of calling a business or filling out a quick form that qualifies their needs and prompts a set of businesses to respond (user contact info kept confidential—more on its lead-gen product strategy here).”

It’s great to see that a prominent analyst like The Kelsey Group gets our product and distribution strategy.

Search Engine Strategies names Matchpoint as a finalist in the category for “Most Advertiser-friendly Search Engine” at its SES Conference’s First Annual SES Awards.

Finalists in 15 different categories will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the SES Awards editorial staff, and the winners chosen based on innovation in methodology and execution, achieving success goals, excellence in tactical execution, and overall approach and category relevance. The winners will be announced throughout SES San Jose during its keynote panels, which are being held August 18-21 at the San Jose Convention Center.

It’s an honor to be a finalist but even sweeter to win. Businesses can see how Matchpoint is advertiser-friendly by visiting our AdCenter.

Parenting magazine, page 29 of the August 2008 issue states “A SITE WE LOVE” and clearly gives Matchpoint kudos for our service’s ease of use and privacy.

Since you clearly don’t have time to track down carpet cleaners for quotes, they can come to you via Matchpoint.com. Click on a type of service (and there are a lot!) and fill out a little form with what you need. Within a few minutes, you’ll have several quotes from local businesses, but they won’t have your personal info (the site’s the intermediary until you make a decision). Plus, it’s totally free.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Jump in the next time you need to find a service provider and try Matchpoint for yourself.

The Search Race for the Top 10 is sponsored by AltSearchEngines. And is now accepting votes or “picks” and Matchpoint would like your vote!

Here are the details on the voting process:

1. click on the box below or go to www.thesearchrace.com and register for an account.

2. you will get a email message to confirm–this is to ensure that each person can only vote once.

3. then find Matchpoint in the rankings under the Top 100 tab, we are #14 this morning.

4. next to the Matchpoint name, there are “Comments Pick Share” links. Click on “Pick” – that gives us your vote.

Thanks for your support.

Alternative Search Engines covers the cutting-edge of alternative and niche search engines, and is edited by Charles Knight, a respected industry analyst.

The Kelsey Group has it right. The Yellow Pages is all about leads. That’s why small businesses consider it such a dominant part of their local advertising.

The only problem is that Yellow Page dominance has not translated on-line so easily. This is causing Internet Yellow Page (IYP) players to face some tough issues as they try to compete with Google on-line.

One of these issues has to do with pricing models. The monthly or annual listing fee model that Yellow Page players employ offline, has limited scale in the world of online advertising (more on that later). This has led IYP players to add cost-per-click (CPC) pricing for online listings. The problem is that CPC pricing is not nearly as universally accepted among local businesses as it is for the on-line businesses that dominate the Google and Yahoo search marketplaces.

The allergic reaction that local businesses have towards CPC pricing stems from the fact that most local businesses are not on-line. What do you do with a click when you don’t have a web page/site to bring people to? Perhaps more problematic is the fact that the 40% of local businesses that do have a web page often lack the skills, time, or resources needed to effectively convert clicks into offline business. This makes advertising in CPC marketplaces costly and very risky for local businesses.

That leads directly to another big issue that IYP players face and that has to do with competing against Google for ad distribution on other web sites. This issue stems from the fact that Yellow Page companies have not yet been able to convert the majority of their advertisers to online performance based pricing due to the reasons previously mentioned.

These two issues create a very real catch-22 for the Yellow Page industry…

At Matchpoint we’re taking a different approach to helping local businesses acquire customers on-line. Staying true to the Kelsey Group meme, we’re all about leads.

Unlike listings that may or may not generate clicks, businesses purchase leads in the Matchpoint marketplace. Our leads give businesses access to qualified consumers that have confirmed interest in finding a specific category of service provider. Businesses can use the phone or e-mail to convert their Matchpoint leads into customers.

See what people are starting to talk about. Give Matchpoint a try.

If you’re a local business, sign-up and start generating leads for your business. Alternatively, if you are a local web site or publisher, you can add Matchpoint to your site and earn revenue from the leads you generate.