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YP should start using .TEL I just started reading this article about how Yellow Pages Canada is failing badly. I imagine competition from online directories has something to do with it. But seems to me that .tel could be the answer. I'll comment after I read it but wanted to share now. A quote "It’s evident to anyone not living in a cave that Yellow Pages could not dominate the age of Google as it dominated the age of the rotary phone.". Mark |
Interesting Mark. Thanks for sharing... |
Very timely article - this quote says it all: "The Yellow Pages brand has been in consumers’ homes ever since the books included instructions on how to use a telephone, and “Corsets” and “Snuff” were among the category headings. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular have seen a spot in the books as a must. And for good reason: There was, in fact, no other handy way for consumers to find local suppliers of goods and services." Certainly seems like an opportunity for .tel re local search provision - but opportunities need to be seized - if not someone else will ! Mike Seaton |
YP Canada says they've created over 10,000 websites for their SMB customers and they do SEO services to get them to the top of Google. But that comes with a cost. Here's the cost for a hairdresser from the Maritimes: This year, she’ll still be spending $800 to $1,000 per month in advertising—between print and digital—with Yellow. Mark |
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Why on earth aren't small businesses worldwide falling over themselves to register .tels at 10 bucks a throw ? Is it because they don't know about .tel ? Is it because .tel is too restricted compared to other TLDs ? Is it because they don't like the look of the current templates ? Is it because updating via the CTH is too difficult for them ? Is it because .tel is not seen as "cool" ? It can't be the cost - $10 is nothing to a SMB - so what is the reason ? Mike Seaton[/size] |
Most people don't use .tels because they are not aware of .tel As a person who follows .tel, I also can't advice people in good faith to get one anymore, except if they need a digital business card: marketing and progress has been very slow otherwise, and worse than that: if you type to search for "x" or "x.tel" in Telpages, x.tel is not even always on the first page of results. Furthermore, from the past discussions on the forum I have reasons to believe that this was a conscious (but probably very bad) idea from the people who designed Telpages- the fact that the search algorithm seems unpredictable takes away significantly from the value of the .tel domains and the idea of a global directory or any crowdsourcing that could have been associated with it by directory builders.... I am very curious if anything significant will be done to change and promote .tel next year before I drop all my domains starting around April of next year... Good luck to everybody! |
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You know it ! I check regularly at the Local Search Association to watch news in the space. The official launch of Yellow Pages online is only now happening in many countries. Brand new launch last Monday - http://www.yp.com.bn/ This simply means that a ton of money is still being spent on the "yellow" recognition, for very good reasons. The opportunity to fully capitalize on the "Yellow" and ".tel" is where a "Big Win" lies. Put these two together globally and you have a winner. This again is the exact concept behind "Yellow Search" - From the Global "Is" to the Global "Can Be" ... TelPages will always have the "Yellow and White" together, but taking "Yellow" and leading the World there first with .TEL and a Yellow brand ... Wow. :cool:[/size] |
After reading the article and a lot of the comments, the way YP operates in Canada seems to be a big rip-off to the customer. I suppose that can extrapolate to the rest of the YP's. I sure hope Telnic's former YP exec is capitalizing on this and trying tirelessly to introduce .tel to a major YP player. 2,000 new regs here and 8,000 regs there from YP's is nice, but to get real exposure we need 100,000. Mark |
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Hi Stel, There are alternative .tel search engines if you're not ok with TelPages - http://www.net-link.com/tel is one I developed (using the Google database). Sorry to hear - but fully understand why - you're planning to drop your .tels next April if no real progress is made in the coming months. Mike Seaton[/size] |
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Now that would be a nice Christmas present to all forum members ! Mike Seaton[/size] |
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How about "All the above, and more" ... Still needs to be the "best" directory, with the "best" listings. If the chicken and the egg argument is going to last forever, realize this: IF I think a .TEL is right for me, I will need to be proud of it as a total representation of me. Rich features, yes, video included, but essentially "All the above, and more" ... will get people moving and USING their .TEL "in public". :)[/size] |
As an aside, I just wondered what the percentage of unpopulated .tels is compared to .coms. Sorry probably not an easy question to answer, but what's a best guess from this forum. I ask this because if only ten percent of .tels are populated, they will never become well known without huge budget advertising will they? Which makes almost all of the other 90% pretty worthless as pure investments, Doesn't it? Not sure where I'm going with this, just sort of thinking out loud, but is there a way, as most unpopulated .tels have the same unchanged boring, grey template that Telnic could not tweak, just that template to the benefit of the whole. Some sort of viral message, easter egg, .tel only game or other more clever link, to help market .tels. Out of my depth now, sure you talented developers, marketers could find a way. |
The .com percentage is high, but they are parked instead so they sort of are populated but with ads. So many names are out there, just grabbed b/c investors will sell them. Cost of doing business for them, keep for a year, try to sell then drop. As for the easter egg game, the specs are sort of here. And I'm ready to develop if we can get 1000 good developed domains into the game, each getting attention of visitors who come by to look for clues. The angle is to get eyeballs on our domains. Getting a registrar to sponsor a game with free prizes would be ideal. Mark |
Thanks Mark, should have known you are exploring every possibility already. |
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Why can't Telnic produce a parked page for undeveloped .tels - along the lines that Sedo and many other companies have done ? If they don't feel it is their place to do that - or haven't got the resources - then allow .tel registrars to produce their own parked page and either: 1. Allow the .tel owner to specify the nameservers for the .tel registrar. Or 2. Keep the Telnic nameservers but allow a redirect (as already planned for .tel to .tel) to the .tel registrars parked page. Neither option seems a major hurdle - sort of thing that could be actioned very quickly if Telnic wanted to get rid of empty .tels ! Mike Seaton[/size] |
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"Yellow Media CEO Marc Tellier would like nothing better than to distance his brand from this image of decay. “One of our communication challenges is that people ubiquitously recognize our walking fingers trademark, and it’s almost automatic that they think of the print,” Tellier says." That's not a problem, it's a GREAT brand equity statement. Getting rid of the BOOK is the key, along with a keeping up with the TECHNOLOGY of the internet advances. ".TEL" and "Walking Fingers" represent the greatest glocal potential in history. As was shown, ONLINE the Yellow Brand is still the BIGGEST in the world, and new launches happen "every day".http://www.yp.com.bn Lose the Book, lose the Pages, keep the Yellow, Get the SEARCH aspect and .TEL technology going ... YellowSearch andYellowNames ... ... rich features included, TELmercial.tel :)[/size] |
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I'll hazard a guess why .tel isn't yet popular with the phone people, the model they use is a MASSIVE money spinner for them, compare that with the cost of a .tel, how/where will they get a comparable income stream, to survive they must ultimately ditch the old model for something new! BTW here in OZ both Yellow and White pages are really flogging their products at the moment.[/size] |
Based on 2010 stats, listing in Sydney Yellow pages would cost at least $ 100,000 PA for full page. scroll down the page for pricing. http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/...llow-Pages.pdf |
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As I read on this forum you are probably the person who bought the biggest amount of .tel domains. That can be either very smart or very risky. What I am surprised about is you seem to be very doubtful your investment is valuable at all. Why you spend so much money into a business model which doesn't seem beneficial to you or at least has a high potential to fail? Regarding your question why small businesses don't register .tel domains I like to state my subjective opinion. If you want to buy a car, what will be your first choice: a well-known product which has been developed extensively (like gasoline engines - respectively .com for domains) or an unknown newcomer with future features which are in early development stage (like electronic power engines - respectively .tel for domains)? Of course you will buy the first option – and after the second option gets advanced AND gives you more benefit than the first option, you will consider to switch, right? So the question is what benefit a small business can get from .tel domains at the moment which are not available from other resources for the same price (or even for free)? If there is nothing, no small business will buy a .tel domain! Of course if the DNS will play an important role in future technologies, .tel domains will have a lot of advantages, but that is not the case in the year 2011.[/size] |
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Great points ! It's not about switching though, it's about supplementing. Businesses have websites, and still advertise on Facebook, Google, Yellow Pages, etc. They also don't generally have a mobile presence where every internet enabled device can find information about them quickly and easily. There is a significant advantage to having basic information available, especially contact information showing the addressing to all the above easily. A business card versus a brochure, that's what .TEL is about. When you search google, you get a "snapshot" of a company before you go to the site. .TEL is simply the best "snapshot" available, but it does need more appeal and features. This is in development, but certainly doesn't make it a "wait and switch" competition. :cool: (Addition) I used this metaphor once: ".TEL is like Susan Boyle, you don't necessarily give her much on looks, but just listen to her sing ... " If you don't know what that means >>> "Click Here" .TEL will never be "the supermodel" that websites can be, but it's never supposed to have been either. ".TEL and TelPages - Love her for her talent, and appreciate her for who she is." Having said that, .TEL could use a makeover and the proper venue, but she is still gold. ;)[/size] |
