Darby Sieben -

Available as of this morning in the iTunes Store is the brand new YellowPages.ca mobile application for finding businesses and people with some cool new features, such as auto category selection, map based viewing of results, more added content and a completely brand new user interface.

Here are some screenshots of the application:

In November I posted on my blog and update on the fact that there were over 1/2 Million downloads and 3 reasons why Canadian love this application (click to read the original post). This release of the application stays consistent with those 3 reasons which include;

Simplicity – this version of the application remains true to its core of key functions that allow a user to get to the information they need.

Content – with a focus on videos, photos and more content coming soon, it displays the information that users want to see to help them make better decisions

Usability – with this upgrade comes a more user centric focus.

What do you think? Does this application hit the mark? Would be interested to hear your comments.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Back in December I posted a preview of the new YellowPages.ca beta site featuring Canada’s largest collection of local business videos. See original post, “A Deeper Look Into Canada’s SMB Video Portal by YellowPages.ca”

I am happy to report that a new home page was just launched and now features all the videos from the video channel. On the home page you will see videos targeted towards your latest searches which is great for discovery as well as finding. Here is a screenshot:

This is pretty cool for local businesses in Canada. Now videos for their businesses will appear on 2 high-traffic websites in Canada. The YellowPages.ca Video Channel and the YellowPages.ca YouTube Video Channel.

Popularity: 4% [?]

On January 7, YPG issues the following press release – “Yellow Pages Group Partners With The Weather Network And MétéoMédia to Provide Local Weather on YellowPages.ca“.

Greg Sterling did a commentary on the integration on this website, titled, “Weather An Engaging Add for YPG” in which he goes on to say, “This seems like a very small thing: Yellow Pages Group Partners With The Weather Network and MeteoMedia to Provide Local Weather on YellowPages.ca . . . But it has some interesting potential to drive more frequent usage of the site.” Some interesting discussion on this post – check it out to read all the comments.

I thought I would show some integration from both a YellowPages.ca and a TheWeatherNetwork.com perspective. The deal itself is actually a two-way deal – having The Weather Network integrated on YellowPages.ca and YellowPages.ca integrated on The Weather Network.

From a YellowPages.ca Perspective:

Let’s assume that a user was conducting a Dentists in Vancouver search from the home page of YellowPages.ca.

On the following search results page, you will notice above the map – it gives you the current weather conditions within Vancouver.

If you want a longer term view of the weather, simply click on the “Forcast” and you will see the weather for the next 24-hours.

From the press release, “The addition of local weather forecasts on YellowPages.ca™ is another feature within our online environment that will help consumers make better decisions, when looking for local information,” said Nicolas Gaudreau, Vice-President, Digital Media, Yellow Pages Group. “We are thrilled to partner with The Weather Network and MétéoMédia to continue providing Canadians with useful and locally relevant information.”

From a TheWeatherNetwork.com Perspective:

TheWeatherNetwork.com itself is one of the true local players in Canada. If has every city and town in the country in which you can your weather forecast from. Under this deal, they have added YellowPages.ca to each of these local pages to make it easier for their users to get local business information.

Located just below the Weather News on each of their city pages (the following example is for Weather in Vanvouver) you will see the integrated YellowPages.ca search with some popular link categories.

Let’s assume that you clicked on Restaurants on The Weather Network, you would be redirected to the following page. Notice the search box, you can enter any local keyword in there for results page on the city in which you are viewing the weather in.

What These Means for Local Businesses

This extends the reach for all local businesses listed on YellowPages.ca with one of Canada’s Leading Online Properties. TheWeatherNetwork.com is one of the top 25 online properties (according to ComScore MediaMetrix) in Canada and now businesses are either one click or one keyword away from potential consumers.

Tell Me What You Think

If you are interested in working with YPG Canada on these types of integrations, please feel free to connect with me. As Director of Business Development, these types of integrations are just a part of my teams deliverables. Connect with me via LinkedIn-Darby Sieben and I will respond with my work email address and next steps in the discussion.

If you have comments on this integration, please feel free to post a comment.

Popularity: 4% [?]