The Rise and Fall of the Directory Site

The fact is that as more competitors enter many markets the directory sites are consistently being pushed into the back pages for important Google Searches. Take for instance the Google Search "Illinois Deer Hunting". I would imagine that the ten Illinois deer hunting outfitters who paid to be on Huntingtop10.com would like to see it show up when people perform that search but right now it doesn't even rank in the top 100.

In Real Estate sites like Homes.com Realtor.com and others commonly see a large volume of visitors. But does a large number of visitors really translate into a large number of sales? The short answer is absolutely not. Directory sites get their visitors the same way all other websites do. Search. No matter how great your website is, people are not going to type in your domain name. All of the available data proves that the best way to get paying customers onto your website is to appear when they are actively searching for what you sell.

Conversely, If you prominently place text on the first page of Google which appeals exclusively to people who are interested in making a purchasing decision in the near future, the rate at which website users will convert into paying customers improves dramatically. The fact is that price sensitive buyers spend exponentially more time shopping than do high value customers. Where the middle income customer will spend hour upon hour searching for days or even weeks at a time, the millionaire will think to himself, "I'd like to go bear hunting in British Columbia". Then from the comfort of his hot tub picks up his IPhone and types BC Bear Hunting into Google. He looks at a few of the options presented, makes a phone call or two and books his trip.



If your target market is the customer who spends only 2 or 3 thousand dollars per year on travel, paying a small fee to appear on a directory site maybe turn out to be a worthwhile expenditure. If your target market is the big spender who enjoys exotic vacations, then your business needs individual exposure when people search for what you sell that only Paid Search can provide.

When there were only 100 websites that had the words Illinois Deer Hunting on them it was easy to put your website in front of people who searched for Illinois Deer Hunting without paying Google. Right now 187,000 websites appear in a search for Illinois Deer Hunting. Google went from an innovative but untested Internet widget, to a proven advertising venue that, when used properly, will provide measurable results for your business.

Direct Supplier Booking vs Online Travel Agency

In December 2008, PhoCusWright, the travel industry’s research authority and annual presenter of The PhoCusWright Conference released a study that identifies the most popular type of online booking methods used by today’s traveler.

As you can see from the graph below Business travelers and vacationers tend to book with direct suppliers rather than through online travel agencies. This information matches perfectly with the data that I am getting from my web analytics. The fact is that wealthy travelers want to get exactly what they are looking for. Because of this they tend to book directly with the hotel/resort/outfitter, rather than going to Expedia, Priceline, or a directory site.

All of the available data seems to point to the fact that buyers who are looking for common vacation travel, or are very price sensitive are more likely to use online travel agencies like priceline, expedia, etc. Conversely people who travel often prefer to work directly with the supplier of the recreation activity. Our proprietary data shows that people who purchase luxury trips spend less time researching prices and more time deciding whether or not a particular travel destination will suit their desires.

Century 21 Chooses Measureable Results

In a January 14, 2009 AdAge article, Beverly Thorne, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Century 21, stated, "In years past Century 21 Real Estate has spent up to half of its advertising budget on television marketing. However, C21 will now focus the vast majority of that money to its online efforts in 2009." Mrs. Thorne explained that online advertising, especially Search Engine Marketing, has the ablilty to directly target consumers interested in making a purchasing decision in the near term as the main factor in pulling the TV ads.

Ok, so you know you need to shift your ad spend online, but now what? With SEO, SEM, PPC, Email Marketing, Auto Responders, Blogging, Social Media Marketing, and a whirlwind of options how can anyone sort out where to allocate resources that are already spread thin?

We make it easy. Why spend hours trying to figure out what your customers are typing in? Our Adwords Qualified Individuals know how to put your business in front of people who are actively searching for your services.