Site linked to Cox's High Speed Internet home page.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (June 2, 2003): Two former managers of Cox Interactive Media, the company that ran InsideNewOrleans.com, are bringing online local classified listings back to the New Orleans area this month.
Filling the gap left by the demise of InsideNewOrleans.com, Tom Viall and Linda Woods have launched ListItNOLA.com, New Orleans' newest online classifieds Web site. Viall and Woods developed their new site based on InsideNewOrleans.com's very popular online classifieds feature but have incorporated enhanced technology to make the site pages load faster and enable more search and management options for users.
Their company, Vega Interactive LLC (of Providence, R.I.) has entered into a promotional partnership with Cox Communications - Louisiana to feature the site on the start page of Cox's High Speed Internet home page- http://neworleans.cox.net/
"InsideNewOrleans.com's online classified tool was one of the most utilized features capturing over 25% of the total traffic to that site," states Ms. Woods. "We knew that once InsideNewOrleans went dark, it would leave a big gap in the marketplace."
Shannon Jones, Internet marketing manager at Cox Communications, said, "Our goal with the Cox home page is to make it a true resource for our high-speed Internet customers. Adding ListItNOLA.com as a fixture to the Cox.net site provides our data customers with in-demand local content and a valuable tool that research tells us they want and will use."
Vega Interactive founders channeled their experiences and focused on creating a site that would offer an enhanced and even more useful online classifieds tool. "The technology behind the site is completely dynamic and flexible," explains Mr. Viall. "Working closely on InsideNewOrleans' classified tools for several years enabled us to monitor the site's effectiveness and catalogue user feedback. The database tool we created for ListItNOLA.com is literally the product of years of market research and usability testing. We've incorporated features into the site we know are important to people posting listings and people browsing those items, namely interactivity, speed and ease of use."
Viall and Woods announced that there are no plans in place to sell any pop-up/under ads on the site, and they have chosen to go the "membership model" route for generating revenue. Members of ListItNOLA.com can post a free listing for up to 90 days on the site, in the following areas: General Merchandise, Automotive, Real Estate and Services. Each of the areas has various sub-categories within, and a search engine will enable users to search for apartment listings, for example, by geographic area.
After the free listing time period expires, there is a nominal membership fee to continue posting listings. People can choose from a 30-day membership for the price of just $9.95 or an annual membership for the introductory price of just $39.95. Both plans allow for unlimited listings in multiple categories during the duration of the membership. There is also a "Manage My Listings" area where members can view every listing they have on the site with options for editing, deleting and adding a photo or graphic to each listing.
There will, however, be Cox promotional banner ads with links to Cox that will expose the listings on the site to more eyeballs. "It's a win-win for everyone. The pages will load faster because they're not loading a lot of ads that often call to other servers," adds Ms. Woods, "and members will benefit from the instant exposure to one of the area's largest online audiences through Cox."
Vega Interactive also has sites in Rhode Island (ListItRI.com) and Connecticut (ListItCT.com) and plans to launch six more similar sites focusing on U.S. cities during Summer 2003.
CONTACT: Betty Galligan, APR
Newberry PR & Marketing, Inc.
(401) 433-5965
betty@newberrypr.com
