In the last two years or so, the classified listings directory market in Ireland has been hotting up, with the launch of Vazumo.com, and Yourlocal.ie.  Both started out by pretty much using exising data (Vazumo.com the business listings from Eircom, and Yourlocal.ie using information from the Independent Directory), and both have been ramping up their sales efforts of late.  Essentially they provide the same service – a generic Ireland-wide business directory, where you can search for something (a taxi, doctor, whatever) and the search engine will throw up relevant results in your area.  In the case of Yourlocal.ie, users can rate and review businesses, and both sites charge for enhanced listings.  Both sites have been taking chunks out of each other of late, in the hope of eventually taking chunks out of the Golden Pages.  However they all now have a serious competitor to deal with in the guise of Qype.

Qype was founded in 2005, and have been spreading their wings since then to become the largest user generated reviews website in Europe.  They’re pretty much following the format as Yelp in the US, aside from the fact their growth has been quicker, and they seem to be doing a far better job when it comes to site usability, community building, and seo.  Yelp have launched in some European territories (including Ireland), but don’t seem to be matching their success in the US with similar results in Europe.

The range of information on offer is vast, up to date, and localised by Qype.  For instance you can look for a great restaurant in Dublin, but when you’re looking at the results pages you’re also offered information about the area – places to shop, events, local attractions.  You could plan your day around Qype – it’s a fantastic tool.  So fantastic they hit 10 million unique users across Europe in May.  No doubt that figure has grown since.

They’re also big on innovation.  Qype hold localised events for community members, allowing these users to connect in the offline world as well as online.  It’s a great way to encourage users to keep reviewing businesses, add events, and keep the site ticking over.  Another recent innovation is their Geome Integration, allowing users to see where their friends are in relation to Qype listed businesses – handy if you’re looking for a cheeky last minute pint somewhere good.

So why are Qype a serious competitor to Yourlocal.ie and Vazumo.com?  First, let’s look at traffic.

Alexa can be quite hit and miss when it comes to stats at times, but check out this graph which compares the three sites side by side.  Qype is the green line which has – in the space of just over six months – almost passed out both Vazumo and Yourlocal.  Vazumo have been engaged in affiliate marketing and other promotional techniques, and Yourlocal is sponsoring everything under the sun, splurging out huge amounts of money on marketing.  But I bet you’ve never even heard of Qype till now?   And yet they have so much traffic – why?

Because they’re know how to generate traffic quickly, and for free.  Qype are a lean, mean, traffic machine – hence their rapid growth.

As well as all that their basic listing contains everything the premium listings on the other sites offer.  Their basic listings are free and contain:

• Corporate website
• Location map
• Advertise special offers
• Opening times
• Detailed information
• Owner contact email
• Unlimited image uploads

Not bad eh?  Their premium offerings allow you to advertise across the site, but if you maintain your page well, you’ll get plenty of leads from it.

Keep an eye on Qype.  You’ll be hearing a lot more from them.

I’ve been watching with interest the ‘under the radar’ launches of some new Irish online advertising sales houses.  For as long as i’d care to remember, the Irish market consisted of just two main players, Sales Online and Generator.  Ad2-One launched an Irish office here in Dublin in 2005, but they seemed to lose their way after the loss of a key member of staff.  Sales Online and Generator have been squabbling for the same clients for quite some time now, Generator losing Eircom to Sales Online earlier this year, and some other ‘musical chairs’ type deals.  But now we have some serious competitors in the marketplace, with the arrival if i-Believe, Tradedoubler Ireland, and Electric Media.

i-Believe

i-Believe is the brainchild of Lee Thompson and Dermot O’Reilly, with both having outstanding CVs which includes time spent working together at Associated New Media in London.  Between them the have also worked at i-level, Starcom Digital, Yahoo, and Mediaedge CIA – all of which are well established agencies in the UK.

Lee Thompson was also the Managing Director of Metro Ireland at the start up stage, and managed the successful launch of the paper   I’m particularly impressed with both Dermot and Lee in terms of their level of experience of how things work in London – we’re unbelievably behind the times here in Ireland when it comes to digital advertising.  Maybe they can help move things along here, and help to educate the market a bit better.

Tradedoubler Ireland

As I previously mentioned, Tradedoubler Ireland have an office here in Dublin since late last year, and are growing their business not only in their traditional area of expertise – affiliate marketing – but they have also established, with the help of Graham Crawford, a sales house / media buying arm which allows them to leverage their media buying power and client list to provide integrated solutions for agencies and publishers alike.

It’s a clever move by Tradedoubler, who can now offer publishers even more ways of generating revenue above and beyond CPM and tenancy deals.  As CPA offerings start to make more sense here and the market matures, it’ll make real sense for publishers they’ve signed up exclusively – including Iol.ie, which was previously looked after by Sales Online.

Electric Media

I don’t know too much about these guys, except for the fact they’re the digital media sales arm of the Irish Times, and have a lot of inventory to sell across the Irish Times’ network of websites which includes Ireland.com, Irishtimes.com, Entertainment.ie, and of course the €50 million Irish dotcom purchase of the decade, Myhome.ie.  Myhome.ie and Entertainment.ie were also previously with Sales Online, so two more big losses for them there.

Will we perhaps see a similar move by Independent News and Media to look after the sales function for their network of websites?  Some of these are currently sold by Generator, but the level of exclusivity in the arrangement is not known.