ADP Mid-Year Conference

Dirxion recently attended the Association of Directory Publishers Mid-Year Conference in Orlando, FL.  We were proud to be the exclusive sponsor of not only the Golf Tournament, but also a very exciting $10,000 Hole-In-One Giveaway.  The Jack Nicklaus designed New Course is a replica of the Old Course at St. Andrews and proved quite a challenge for even the best of players.

Aside from golf, there were some productive discussions between both vendors and publishers.  In a year when many publishers are challenged by a bad economy and a general decline in print advertising, it was important for publishers to hear new ideas about how they can best serve their advertisers.  Gone are the days when a sales rep can simply sell a print ad once a year to an advertiser and expect a regular healthy renewal.  Yellow Pages publishers have certainly seen the need for multi-platform providers like Dirxion.
There is an ever-increasing focus on being able to provide local search results for advertisers online and this comes at the same time that the publisher needs to be a source of information and leads for their advertisers.  It’s a tall order for many Yellow Pages reps to move from a traditional quick close sale to a consultative relationship.

While the conference featured publishers sharing with publishers, there still seemed to be lack of understanding and adoption of new strategies by the Yellow Pages publishers.  Part of the challenge is that newer techniques for communicating with customers (i.e. blogs and Twitter) simply aren’t being put to use.  Dirxion posted one of only two blogs about the ADP conference and was probably the only company in attendance to send out a tweet about it.

Don’t worry publishers; we are here to help.  The latest version of our digital Yellow and White Pages solution – EdgeClix - makes easy work of social media.  With our directory product, you can become the premier marketing consultant for your Yellow Pages advertisers.  Over 80 Yellow Pages publishers have chosen Dirxion as their choice in online directories and that number continues to grow.  We support the print like no other online provider and continue to add new programs that will help you sell more ads online and in print.

What’s on your desktop?

First came what’s on your iPod, then came what’s on your Pandora mix? Could the same be said for what digital publications are on your desktop?

All right, maybe that’s a stretch to assume that online publications such as digital catalogs, digital magazines and digital phone books are that overwhelmingly popular. However, we have seen continued growth in all digital look and feel publications, in addition to a number of unique ways that people are accessing these publications (i.e. full publication downloads, desktop icon shortcuts and social networking links.)

So maybe the question should be when do we reach the point where people ask if you’ve seen the latest fall catalog or if you’ve read such and such article in this month’s online edition? Maybe that virtual conversation is already taking place. Have you shared an entire digital edition or a specific product or an article in a travel guide? Or maybe you are working on a wish list from one of your favorite online catalogs? If so, drop us a line at marketing@dirxion.com!

Optimizing Your Video Content

Our focus on search engine ranking goes beyond just the text on the page. In our continuing SEO education series, let’s take a look at what our friends at MediaMobz suggest for optimizing your video content. Thanks guys, for providing such valuable insight.

Fast Stats

Do people actually use digital page turn publications? Is online publishing really here to stay? The stats speak for themselves. While we don’t want to get into specifics for individual companies, here’s a quick look at some recent usage numbers for our customers:

In the previous six months, directory publications have seen over 1.5 million page views with more than half of that coming in the last three months.

Overall number of visitors to online directories is up almost 9% when comparing the last 90 days to the previous 90 days and the average time spent on the site is up 29%. Even more compelling is that the reach of these directories is expanding way beyond their traditional print distribution.

Catalog usage continues its steady growth. A six month comparison shows a 15% growth in page views and the last 90 days has increased 29% over the previous 90 days. Another interesting find is that the greatest growth has been for those catalogers that place a link to the online catalog in the top right or top center positions of their websites. This makes sense as those are two of the most valuable positions in online advertising, but it’s still good to see that links to the digital catalog are drawing an increasing audience.

Online editions of magazines and guides are following the same great trends as online, page flip catalogs - up in unique users, up in page views and up in URL clicks.

With new opportunities to sell into online publications and an always improving set of features to enhance user interactivity, we are very excited for our publishers to see continued growth in their online publications.

Koocanusa Adds to its Growing List of Online Publications

So you’re a publisher with more than one type of publication, or maybe you’re a marketing company that works with a variety of publishers. Either way, does it make sense to try to put a catalog into an online travel guide format or a magazine into an online directory format? Of course not.

Like many publishers, Koocanusa Publications has a diverse portfolio of magazines, guides and directories. Koocanusa recently added a magazine to its growing list of online publications provided by Dirxion. In addition to their existing directories, this Canadian-based publisher has just produced a digital edition of the Rocky Mountain magazine. The Rocky Mountain magazine provides visitors to the Kootenay Rockies with information and articles about what to see, where to go and local events occurring in the region. Koocanusa’s online publications give advertisers a way to reach beyond the traditional print audience.

As a provider of a variety of customized interfaces, we are well-positioned to serve customers like Koocanusa that have a diverse portfolio of publications. You can learn more about Koocanusa through their blog at: http://www.kootenaybiz.com/blog/ and learn more about Dirxion’s customizable interfaces at http://www.dirxion.com.

Dirxion To Attend YPA (Yellow Pages Association) Meeting

Next week (April 26th-28th, 2009) Dirxion will be attending the Yellow Pages Association meeting in San Diego, CA. We are very pleased to once again be a sponsor and show our support to the yellow pages industry. As we continue our roll out of the EdgeClix interface, we seek and value feedback from our publisher customers that will be attending the YPA.

In the very competitive yellow pages advertising world, we help publishers stand out with digital directories, that look and feel just like the print directory. Not only that, the EdgeClix format supports flash animation, video, audio, mapping, and other revenue generating options for the publishers.

In addition to our new platform, we support our publishers with programs including the Tear Pages On Demand sales tool, Search Engine Marketing management and implementation, managed video production services, and the creation of audio hotspots.

We’ll see you all in a couple of days!

Dirxion Introduces EdgeClix 7.0 at the ADP Annual Tradeshow

The last few days in Palm Springs, CA, have seen the temperature soar over 100 degrees. Fortunately, when we hosted the Dirxion Open at the ADP last week, it was a mild 70-80 degrees.

The Association of Directory Publishers is an organization of independent Yellow Page publishers that meet up twice per year to review industry trends, learn about new product offerings, and strategize about how to best present Yellow Page advertising. The last 6-12 months has seen the industry take a few punches from media outlets claiming that Yellow Pages is a dying industry. A couple of items we saw at the ADP shows that a directory still offers a lot of value. Better yet, a combination of a directory and an effective internet presence provides even more value.

Recently, Knowledge Networks completed a study that showed nearly half (48%) of consumers report print Yellow Pages as the resource they turn to most often for information on a business or service, and more than three-quarters (77%) use the print Yellow Pages overall. Search engines (49%) are the second most turned to source, followed by Online Yellow Pages (36%). It was also interesting to see the relatively low impact of mobile search (5%), and social networking sites (3%) in consumers finding local businesses. These are fantastic numbers for the Yellow Pages industry.

The challenge for the Yellow Page publisher, as we hear from them, is offering a quality print directory as well as an online publication that sets them apart from the competition. In the ultra competitive Yellow Pages advertising industry, there can be anywhere from 2-10 competitors in one market - not to mention competitive coupon vendors, non-print IYP’s, and search engines.

When publishers turn to Dirxion, they are looking for something that supports the investment they have in the print publication. Not only that, they are looking for a product that is easy for users to find the information they are looking for and provides opportunities to sell online advertising. With over eighty Yellow Page publishers providing feedback from both their sales and marketing teams, Dirxion has developed the EdgeClix 7.0 format that was introduced at the ADP.

What makes Edge Clix better for Yellow Page Publishers:

- Full flash interface uses the latest technology available, providing faster search results and load time
- Greater emphasis on new and premium advertisers
- Better support for Flash animated display ads
- New audio and video player capabilities
- Unique interface with background effects
- Hand grab control when zoomed in
- Greater SEO capabilities to get your advertisers found on the Internet
- And as always, it supports the print unlike any other list based based Internet Yellow Pages

In addition to the new EdgeClix platform, Dirxion introduced new products that publishers could sell to their advertisers that would result in increased usage of the online directory. The first is the production and management video ads. Through our partnership with Media Mobz, we have developed several models for selling video ads that will drive revenue for yellow page publishers with very small effort on the part of the publisher.

Our second offering is a Search Engine Marketing platform that can be used by publishers to drive sponsored search engine results into the online directory. We are also giving publishers the ability to sell SEM campaigns to their advertisers, again with very little effort on the publishers end.

As we get back to work from a very busy ADP, we want to thank our customers for their continued business and the ADP for their support of online Yellow Page publications.

ADP Recap…Did We Learn Anything?

We discovered that The Quarry golf course plays tight and contains golf ball eating rattlesnakes.  So don’t venture into the high rough.  We found out that, even 172 years later, we still remember the Alamo and the fact that we lost that battle.  But we really went down there to learn something new by talking with our publisher customers and industry peers. Read more

Australian Local Directories Gets It Done Down Under

We’ve been providing Local Directories online yellow and white pages for a couple of years now and they have shown a commitment to the success of their online phone book.

Local Directories serves a number of communities in Australia with a focus on serving up quality local content. The results speak for themselves. Over the course of the last 12 months Read more

Feedback Forum for ADP Attendees and Non-Attendees

Today we’re headed down to the Association of Directory Publishers Mid Year conference in San Antonio, TX.

We always enjoy meeting with our customers and industry partners while attending these conferences. The ADP conference comes at an interesting time in the Yellow Pages advertising industry. While a number of publishers are still very successful and have seen continued growth in print advertising Read more

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