Welcome to the ExpertHub blog! Since this is our first entry, I thought we would start by providing a little perspective on online directories and our approach to the market.
Online directories have been around since the beginning of the Internet. In 1994, Yahoo, known then as “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” was a simple directory of websites that Jerry felt were worth visiting. A lot has happened over the past 14 years . . and while online directories have not seen the innovation of search or social networking, they are still some of the most popular websites online – especially for very information intensive decisions like finding a doctor or lawyer. Despite their popularity, finding a local doctor, lawyer or financial advisor online falls into the “there has to be a better way” category. Each time I’ve searched, I’ve started with enthusiasm, hoping that I’ll find some new site that has innovated the process. After 20-30 minutes, I give up and end up emailing my friends asking them for recommendations.
We formed ExpertHub because we believe the time is now to introduce a better way for both consumers and local professionals. It’s not our style to unveil “the answer” and claim victory. Rather, we believe that the innovation will occur more subtly and requires a patient, disciplined approach. So instead of announcing our better mousetrap with our first blog post, I felt it more appropriate to announce the principals that are core to our approach to the market.
For Consumers
We believe that finding the right professional starts with choice. As a consumer, we don’t want to evaluate all possible service providers (who has the time?); rather we prefer evaluating a short-list of the best options. Too many web directories today offer a Yellow Page style listing of phone numbers and addresses (not helpful) or go to the other extreme and offer 1 choice. We want to be in the middle.
The evaluation of your short-list is best done with readily available, rich information. Most professional directories offer limited, standard descriptions and a link to the professional’s website. The website (if the professional has one) is rarely updated or differentiated. Core to our approach is providing consumers with a wide variety of information, from lots of different sources, so that the best decision can be made.
For Professionals
We believe the Internet can be the most effective advertising channel for customer acquisition for local professionals. However, too many directories deliver unqualified traffic, don’t provide great tracking tools or simply overpromise what they can deliver. We believe in performance based advertising and the power of the Internet to reach very targeted audiences. So, our focus will always be delivering customers for our advertising clients.
Lastly, we believe that local professionals need simple web publishing and advertising tools. Consumers want information; the Internet is a great, low-cost way to provide it. Unfortunately, Internet advertising still requires too much effort and technical skill for local professionals. Since we believe information is key for consumers, we want to make it very easy for professionals to contribute information about their business and distribute it throughout our network.
That’s it for our first blog entry. Check back regularly for the standard news and announcements. We’ll also be publishing our opinions on the internet advertising . . . there are a lot of rumors and myths about what works, and we’d like to share what we’ve learned.