Infoserve Group PLC
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Archived News - March 2007
Infoserve Scores with Football League
29th March 2007
Infoserve, one of the UK’s leading online local search companies, has signed a lucrative three-year deal with Football League Interactive (FLi), the online arm of the organisation behind the Coca Cola Championship and Carling Cup.
The deal will see Infoserve provide a local business finder on any of the Football League’s 78 clubs—which includes five premiership teams—subject to individual clubs’ consent.
Under the agreement, Infoserve will sell featured listings to local businesses that can be accessed through the business finder on the football clubs’ websites. Advertising revenues will be split between Infoserve, FLi and the football clubs.
For fans, this means they’ll have instant access to an interactive database of 2.7 million businesses searchable by locality and category.
Local businesses have a valuable opportunity to align their brand with their local team and demonstrate their support in a simple, visible way—allowing them to tap into football fans’ legendary loyalty and their highly specific market profile.
Infoserve’s CEO, Steve Barnes, explained: “The 40 websites we currently supply with Infoserve’s search tool collectively have 2.2 million unique views a month (January 2007), and this will more than double if we bring the other FLi clubs on board. We know visitors are typically male, aged between 25 and 35, and are often managerial or professional.
“We also know many fans check their team’s site for news on a weekly, if not daily basis and typically have a long visit time. Together this adds up to an extremely powerful marketing tool for companies who want to target cash–rich ABC1 males.”
While Infoserve’s database contains a full list of all businesses, companies can pay to upgrade their listing to premium status and highlight their loyalty to the club. The revenue generated this way is then shared with the clubs via the Football League.
Steve continued: “This really is a win–win situation for fans, clubs and local businesses. Fans are getting a quick and easy way to find the services they require while clubs are getting valuable extra revenue, and businesses are gaining extra customers.
“One last benefit for businesses is that linking to a football club’s website generates a huge number of back–links, one of the mechanisms search engines use when ranking pages. For a small company this has the potential to improve search engine rankings substantially, without having to resort to expensive pay-per–click advertising.
“Naturally this deal is also very good news for Infoserve and further underlines our status as one of the UK’s leading online local search companies. We’re looking forward to building our relationship with both the FLi and the clubs themselves as we progress.”
Infoserve Celebrates First Birthday With New Jobs
18th March 2007
Online local search company, Infoserve, is celebrating its first birthday at its Darlington-based call centre with a massive recruitment drive to create at least another 100 new jobs.
The centre is currently responsible for 65% of company sales with annual revenues at around £6m. However this figure is set to increase dramatically following a major new contract with Google, making it only the second company in Europe to be appointed an “Authorised Google AdWords Reseller”.
Photograph: David Balbi celebrates Infoserve’s first birthday at Morton Palms Business Park with some of the team.
The new contract comes only a few months after Infoserve agreed an exclusive deal with Yahoo! allowing it to sell sponsored links to UK SMEs on the Yahoo! Local website.
Commenting on the news, Infoserve’s finance and commercial director, David Balbi, said, “These deals are tremendous news for the company and for the region as a whole, as it will lead to the creation of many new jobs in the area.
“Our sales team has done an excellent job in launching and growing Yahoo! Local. In fact after just three months we were celebrating our 1000th sale.
“Everyone is now really excited about the Google contract, which we will start working on in the next few weeks. Having secured contracts with the world’s top two search engines we are now the number one company for on–line local search in the UK. That is why we need so many more sales people to ensure we maximise the potential presented by both these opportunities.”
Infoserve, which helps small and medium sized businesses promote themselves on line, moved to its current office on Morton Palms Business Park a year ago in order to expand its operations.
David continues: “The business had been growing so quickly that we had literally outgrown our old offices and began the search for high quality premises that would allow us to fulfil our potential.”
“We selected Darlington because of the wealth of local talent available to fill our vacancies and the bespoke office accommodation on the business park. The decision to move here has certainly paid off!
“All new staff receives two weeks induction training as well as intensive on–the–job support and coaching during the first three months. The Company offers a progressive salary structure with uncapped earnings potential. There is a clear and defined career path for each individual set out in regular one to one sessions with senior management.
“Our people are the most important asset at Infoserve and I strongly believe that the changes we have made in the last year in committing to their development is the single most significant factor in creating the special team we now have.
“Anyone interested in joining us and finding out about the opportunities on offer should telephone 0845 36 77 500 email recruitment@infoserve.com.
Infoserve Scores with Football League
14th March 2007
Infoserve, one of the UK's leading online local search companies, has signed a lucrative three-year deal with Football League Interactive (FLi) to provide a local business finder on the association's affiliated football clubs' websites.
Previously Infoserve delivered a similar service through an intermediary to 40 of the 78 consenting clubs, but the new deal – direct with FLi – allows Infoserve to expand its service to the remaining 38 clubs.
For fans, this means they'll have instant access to an interactive database of 2.7 million businesses searchable by locality and category.
Local businesses have a valuable opportunity to align their brand with their local team and demonstrate their support in a simple, visible way - allowing them to tap into football fans' legendary loyalty and their highly specific market profile.
Infoserve's CEO, Steve Barnes, explained: “The 40 websites we currently supply with Infoserve's search tool collectively have 2.2 million unique views a month (January 2007), and this will more than double if we bring the other FLi clubs on board. We know visitors are typically male, aged between 25 and 35, and are often managerial or professional.
“We also know many fans check their team's site for news on a weekly, if not daily basis and typically have a long visit time. Together this adds up to an extremely powerful marketing tool for companies who want to target cash-rich ABC1 males.”
While Infoserve's database contains a full list of all businesses, companies can pay to upgrade their listing to premium status and highlight their loyalty to the club. The revenue generated this way is then shared with the clubs via the Football League.
Steve continued: “This really is a win–win situation for fans, clubs and local businesses. Fans are getting a quick and easy way to find the services they require while clubs are getting valuable extra revenue, and businesses are gaining extra customers.
“One last benefit for businesses is that linking to a football club's website generates a huge number of back-links, one of the mechanisms search engines use when ranking pages. For a small company this has the potential to improve search engine rankings substantially, without having to resort to expensive pay-per-click advertising.
“Naturally this deal is also very good news for Infoserve and further underlines our status as one of the UK's leading online local search companies. We're looking forward to building our relationship with both the FLi and the clubs themselves as we progress.”