4 questions with Malcolm Lewis

Malcolm Lewis, vice president and general manager of Local.com, discusses the advantages newspapers can exploit in their markets by offering local search services.

What are some of the issues facing newspapers in the local search market?

Newspapers have established two major advantages over the last 100 years of newspaper print advertising. First, they are a trusted source of local information for consumers in their markets. Second, they are a trusted source of local advertising for local business owners in their market. The biggest issue for local newspapers is ensuring that they retain these traditional advantages as online information searches, and online advertising, transforms.

The problem newspapers face is this: Many consumers begin their local searches on a major search engine like Google or Yahoo.

This issue can be transformed into an advantage if newspapers include a local search directory on their Web site, and make the directory content rich enough to attract the search engines. If they succeed in doing this, many of the consumers who start their local search on Google or Yahoo will end it by clicking through from the search engine results page to a directory page on the newspaper’s Web site.

Why is local search traffic becoming important for newspapers?

Research tells us that 80 percent of people buy within 50 miles from their homes. Therefore, getting in front of them while they are conducting online searches is critical to business owners. This will ensure that their business is seen, recognized and has the opportunity to impact the purchase decision. In general, traffic is crucial to driving local online advertising revenues on a newspaper Web site.

Without traffic, the newspaper has no sales value to online advertisers. Local search traffic should be a critical component of every newspaper’s overall Web site traffic maximization strategy. In many cases, a search-engine-optimized online local directory can drive significant incremental traffic on a newspaper Web site.

How has the local search industry changed over the past few years?

The two major changes in the local search industry in recent years are related to the source and nature of the local business information available online. In the early days of local search, the information available on a business was often limited to name, address and phone number. This information would often be sourced from a database provider and published online by the newspaper with little or no opportunity for consumers or business owners to enhance the information or to correct errors.

Now, consumers can quickly and easily rate and review businesses. And business owners can correct errors through simple self-service Web tools, as well as provide extensive additional information about their business, including photos and videos.

The combination of ratings and reviews, plus rich, increasingly visual information about a business, is dramatically improving the local search experience for consumers online.

What trends do you see in the local search market?

The major trends in local search relate to content, delivery and advertising. On the content front, we will continue to see richer, deeper descriptions of online businesses, with user and business-generated content, especially video, playing an increasingly important role.

On the delivery side, we will see local searches expanding from the desktop to mobile devices, particularly cell phones. And on the advertising front, we will see the rise of a new generation of Web-savvy advertisers who are more likely to advertise online than offline, and a new generation of business partners who are focused on connecting local businesses to online consumers through local search.