• by Erik Sass , August 29, 2007

Local newspapers and Yellow Pages publishers are striking deals with companies in the online and mobile spheres that allow them to offer local businesses a digital "up sell" for their listings. The latest deal comes from publisher R.H. Donnelley, which is entering into a deal with Yahoo Local to offer its directory customers exposure on the Yahoo Local and Yahoo Maps sites.

The deal covers 14 Western and Midwestern states, where Donnelley, under the Dex brand name, publishes the print Yellow Pages for Qwest.

Dex advertisers that opt for the digital upgrade will be offered inclusion in Yahoo Local's featured listings, which guarantees sponsored placement in the first or second page of search results. It also provides enhanced listings, which offer additional information, like detailed business descriptions, photos and coupons. These listings will also appear on the Dex local search site, DexKnows.com.

Recently, Yahoo has also been striking deals with newspapers to share a variety of content, offering local businesses exposure on Yahoo Local listings, Yahoo Maps and Event Listings.

Newspaper publishers that have joined Yahoo's newspaper consortium include Belo Corp., Calkins Media, Cox Newspapers Inc., Hearst Newspapers, Journal Register Company, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy, Media General, MediaNews Group, Morris Communications, Paddock Publications, Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of Philly.com, and the E.W. Scripps Company.

Taking the mobile route, in early 2006, Gannett partnered with Txt4Info to offer news content and business listings via mobile devices, and has aggressively expanded the relationship in recent months. It invested an additional $10 million in the company in July.

Txt4Info allows consumers to search for news and business listings via simple short codes, five digits long, on their mobile phones. As part of the Gannett deal Txt4Info also forecasts coordination with the Captivate Network, a place-based video network which delivers news and advertising via digital displays in the elevators of office buildings.