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.

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.

Q&A With Islands Yellowpages Team

Recently, we were in touch with the good people at Islands Yellowpages, and they were kind enough to answer a few questions and provide some inspiring insight on why they are so popular in the area that they serve.

Moving into their 17th year, the Islands directory team knows what works and what doesn’t.

Q. What kind of circulation numbers does Islands have?

A. We have a circulation of 41,000 people on six islands just to the east of Savannah, Georgia.

Q. What makes Islands Yellowpages the number one book in the area?

A. The reason we are the number one phone book in our area: Everyone involved with the directory
lives & shops on the islands. Our customers are our friends and neighbors.

Q. What makes you stand out to advertisers amongst your competitors?

A. Unlike competitors that have share-holders, we have kept our prices the same since 2006 and will continue to do so until the economy dictates otherwise.

Q. If you had to sum up your goals, what would the Islands Directory team say?

A. Innovate, circulate, enjoy your work. That’s what we do.

Click the cover below to visit the Islands Directory Online Phone Book