Recently I discovered an Aussie start-up taking on the big boys in the area of local search – the online business directory dLook. Started in April 2006 by Theo and Meg Tsiamis, dLook is going head-to-head with the bigger online business directories in Australia and is starting to take siginificant marketshare from them, at least in terms of traffic.
Check out dLook’s Alexa chart versus Sensis’ YellowPages:
The best part of the story? dLook has four employees and is self-funded out of the Tsiamis’ bank account!
So I invited Theo onto the show to talk about why they decided to step out of their previous business (real estate development) to set up a search site (hint: a rude reply from one of the existing search providers) and how they are going to continue to beat them at their own game.
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Great Show,
I personally have a very dim view of Telstra and would do just about anything to not use a Telstra service. I would imagine Im not alone in my loathing of telstra so maybe Theo could use this as some sort of marketing idea.
Dlook sounds like a great service and I will definately be using it.
Nice Interview Cam
J
I’m still pissed off at yellow pages for telling me there was a W.C Penfolds at an address which didn’t even exist!
Great interview Cam, and congrats to Theo and Meg for their success so far.
Hi Cameron.
Great show, this one.
I need to reveal my bias and say that I am part of the team at Alliance Software and I was/am the creative lead for dLook.
I have had a lot of fun over the last 18 months or so, working with Theo, Meg and the team at dLook. They’re passionate people, they’re great for a laugh, and they’re really committed to their project.
There’s a story about a small dog that’s introduced into a backyard where two much bigger dogs have lived for a while. So the two bigger dogs basically make life a misery for the small new arrival, to the chagrin of the owners who had hoped for a warmer reception for the little guy.
But as the story goes, the little dog was made of very tough stuff and every time he got beaten up he’d go off, licking his wounds, and soon enough would be back for more. What amazed the owners was that eventually the little dog got the better of the two big ones, who just couldn’t “keep him down”, so to speak.
In time the little dog – who never grew any bigger – had the run of the backyard. The moral or that story is to never give up, I suppose.
Anyway, dLook often reminds me of that little dog. Theo and Meg are tenacious as all get out, and they’re starting to be more than just a little dog biting at the heels of the Sensis/News/whoever-else Great Danes out there.
It’s a great story worth the telling, so thanks a lot for the interview. I, for one, will definitely be passing it around!
Cheers,
– Alister
It’s a pretty site and a nice sentiment but unfortunately due to the the poor search experience and the irrelevant results generated, (I did a search for a restaurant in New Farm in Brisbane and the first 5 entries or results were all located in other areas – Not One actually in New Farm,) this site is probably going to go the way of 131Shop, Aussie.com, Big Colour Pages and a multitude of other sites.
Love them or hate them, while Yellow Pages and Telstra have access to the huge database and massive SEO and marketing budgets that do, it will continue to be the number 1 business directory, if these guys think they are going to match the Sensis (Telstra) machine, theyre kidding. The only serious challenger to Yellow Pages in recent years was Citysearch. Despite strong web traffic, the market did not support them and the end result was Sensis bought them out to eliminate a competitor. Competition is a good thing in any sector, but if these guys are financing this th
Chris, Chris, Chris…. if you are going to leave comments like this, may I suggest a couple of things?
1. Admit you work at Sensis – Chris (IP: 203.58.120.11 , ip11.ip120.ip58.ip203.sensis.com.au)
2. Learn to use a website.
I don’t know what you did in their site, but I repeated your search for “restaurant” in “New Farm” and these are the first five results:
Anise Other Restaurants
(07) 3358 1558 (07) 3358 1855
697 Brunswick St New Farm QLD 4005
Aqua Linea Riverside Restaurant Other Restaurants
Click here to email [email protected]…
(07) 3257 2266 (07) 3257 2244
70/ 39 Vernon Tce Teneriffe QLD 4005
Arriva Italian Restaurant Other Restaurants, Italian Restaurants
(07) 3254 1599
Shop 6, 84 Merthyr Rd New Farm QLD 4005
Augello’s Ristorante & Pizzeria Other Restaurants
Click here to email [email protected]…
(07) 3254 0275 (07) 3254 0295
1/ 695 Brunswick St New Farm QLD 4005
Banyan Tree The Other Restaurants
(07) 3358 1202
148- 152 Merthyer Rd New Farm QLD 4005
Looks pretty good to me.
hehehe into em cam 🙂
What did Senis give you Cam?
And Cam, why not admit that you hate Senis & Yellow/whitepages as there new ads with a sock puppet bring back disturbing memories of your old co-host! 😉
Molly
PS. Any site that uses Dizzy to advertise them must be good!