Yesterday SMBLive launched its redesign of the BT Exchanges site. The site was developed in partnership with the Directories Group at BT — and represents a simple, clean, and innovative approach to moving a traditional telephone directory online.
In summary, the experience is no longer about "search, search, search".
The new site offers users the opportunity to:
- rate and review businesses they like
- make decisions based on ratings and reviews from other users
- interact and converse with listed businesses via a
variety of methods - find listed businesses on a map and obtain directions
Furthermore, users can also store directory listings in a "shortlist". This feature is essentially an address book of relevant businesses that you find — and is the online equivalent of using post-it notes, or folded corners in the paper book.
And the coolest thing about BT Exchanges is that users can store their business contacts into something called a project plan that provides a simple framework for accomplishing a specific goal, such as planning a wedding, adopting a pet,
etc.
The bottomline is that BT Exchanges is quite cool and clever because it is not just about search, it is about doing something!
I have been working with SMB on behalf of BT and they are making great waves in terms of helping us make changes with the search engines in mind. Keep up the good work.