-We regard business listings as the core of our business," Damien Smith, CEO of Looksmart Australia told ZDNet Australia. -It's now over two thirds of our business."
-We are offering something that has never before been available in Australia," Smith added. -Over the next 30-60 days, across a variety of search engines, we can guarantee top spots in relevant listings, so when somebody searches for 'new cars' we can guarantee what the response will be."
Yahoo is only one of many search engines and ISPs in Looksmart's paid listings network, which also includes Goeureka, OptusNet and over 40 ISPs. -We don't control what our partners do, but I would anticipate on all sites you will have clear delineation between paid and unpaid listings," Smith said.
It is the first time Yahoo Australia & NZ, which recently suffered a strong negative reaction from users for changing the marketing preferences of users e-mail accounts, has provided space for paid listings. However, the company doesn't believe users will have the same reaction to paid listings.
-Our experience so far across the network has shown consumers find the sponsor listings quite relevant when they're doing searches of a distinctly commercial nature, so [reaction is] quite positive," Yahoo said in an e-mail to ZDNet Australia.
Looksmart agreed. -When we offer highly relevant results users are very happy," Smith said. -If we don't offer relevant results users aren't happy. They show they're not happy by not clicking on the link."
According to Smith, it is also important for advertisers that their links are placed in response to a relevant search. -There is a higher conversion rate than regular advertising," Smith explained. -You are showing them the link when they're thinking about it. If someone searches for 'new cars' they're probably looking at buying a new car. There's no point putting up a link to a real estate company."
For Yahoo this is a further opportunity for additional online marketing from which to derive revenue, in the quest for profitability.
-It's interesting that this opens up online marketing opportunities for businesses who might not have used online advertising in Australia before eg: bin hire companies etc," the company said.
