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Oct. 28, 2008
Soft Housing Market to Drive Nearly
50% Increase in Web Site Adoption by Home and Trade Service SMBs
Over Next Two Years, According to The Kelsey Group
Upcoming
ILM:08 conference to feature discussion with Angie Hicks of
Angie’s List and ServiceMagic’s
Rodney Rice on the growing importance of the online channel for
Home and Trade Service SMBs.
PRINCETON, N.J. (Oct. 28,
2008) – According to The Kelsey Group’s
Local Commerce Monitor study, Web site adoption by small and medium-sized
businesses has grown from 54 percent in February 2007 to 61 percent
in August 2008. However, home and trade service SMBs, which include
categories such as painters, plumbers and carpet cleaners, lag
in their adoption of an online presence: Only 33 percent have a
Web site.
The housing bubble that preceded the current
down market caused a slowdown in new media adoption by home and
trade service SMBs, according to Kelsey Group analysts. As the
market continues to slow and projects become scarcer, the firm
expects Web site adoption by home and trade service SMBs to grow
from the current 33 percent to 60 percent by 2010.
“Home and trade service SMBs will look to peer businesses
for options when considering how to generate leads,” explained
Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive
Local Media, The Kelsey Group. “Web sites will be viewed
as a cost-effective alternative; a channel that didn’t make
sense in a booming market will fast become a necessity.”
Home and trade service businesses are heavily
seasonal in nature with much of the work coming in the summer months.
The Kelsey Group expects home and trade service screening sites
like Angie’s
List and ServiceMagic and content sites like DIY Network to see
increasing engagement, with consumers spending more time on these
sites and viewing more content.
“Consumers today just don’t hire service companies
without doing at least a little bit of online research,” said
Angie Hicks, founder and chief marketing officer, Angie’s
List. “Service companies that aren’t online are missing
out on customers who are actively looking for the right company
to give their hard-earned dollars. I don’t know how any company
can afford not to have a Web site – it’s an essential
part of their marketing tool kit.”
The growing importance of the online channel for
home and trade service SMBs will be the subject of an upcoming
session of The Kelsey Group’s “Interactive Local Media
2008” conference,
which takes place Nov. 19-21, 2008, in Santa Clara, California.
This session will feature a discussion with Hicks and Rodney Rice,
cochairman and cofounder, ServiceMagic.
“We’ve entered a new era in terms of home improvement
demand,” said Rice. “For the first time in more
than 10 years, the real estate, construction and home improvement
industries are in decline. We are going to see SMBs accelerate
their adoption of pay-for-performance marketing out of necessity – and
survival.”
About ILM:08
ILM:08 is The Kelsey Group’s annual conference devoted to
digital media with a local focus. This event provides a 360-degree
view of the local marketplace, covering a range of important topics,
including local search, Internet Yellow Pages, vertical directories,
Internet video, online classifieds, social media and mobile search.
Conference sponsors include Acxiom, Adfare, AgendiZe, Apptus, Call
Genie, DMC, eStara, Imagine Local, infoUSA, Intelligenx, Jivox,
Local Matters, Local.com, Localeze, Marchex, MatchCraft, MDS, MediaTraks,
StudioNow, Superpages.com, Telmetrics, Topix and WebsPlanet. Association
partners include Association of Directory Marketing (ADM), Association
of Directory Publishers (ADP), International Classified Media Association
(ICMA) and Yellow Pages Association (YPA). Media sponsors for ILM:08
are ReelSEO.com and TVover.net. For more information about ILM:08,
visit www.kelseygroup.com/ILM2008.
About BIA Advisory Services, LLC
BIA Advisory Services, LLC, a subsidiary of BIA Financial Network,
provides research, data, analysis, and financial and strategic
consulting to media, telecommunications, technology, directory
publishing, and local search companies. BIA Advisory Services
includes: The Kelsey Group, experts in traditional and online
local media and advertising; BIA Research, providers of competitive
and comparative market information and analysis through data
services, specialized reporting, engineering studies and mapping;
and, BIA Consulting, specialists in business intelligence and
corporate growth strategy, and the nation’s leading communications
appraisal and valuation firm. Additional information is available
at www.bia.com.
About The Kelsey Group
The Kelsey Group, a division of BIA Advisory Services, LLC, is
the leading provider of research, data and strategic analysis
on directories, small-business advertising, online local media,
vertical market advertising and mobile advertising. As the premier
analyst firm covering the directory publishing community and
the emerging local search marketplace, The Kelsey Group provides
advisory services (The Kelsey Report®, Interactive Local
Media and Marketplaces), publishing (Global Yellow Pages™),
consulting (more than 400 individual assignments) and conferences
(73 events). For more information about The Kelsey Group, visit www.kelseygroup.com.
Contact:
Eileen Pacheco
781/556-1026
eileen@tango-group.com
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