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Classifieds in crisis? Not in Albany, N.Y., where The Times Union's Web site has become "the official search engine" of a local auto dealers association and a marriage of savvy marketing and homegrown technology has kept the paper's staff squarely in the driver's seat.

The Times Union's Capital Cars service provides the usual searchable used-car listings--with a twist. The site's actually just one part of sophisticated inventory-control software developed by Times Union staffers. Local auto dealers use that software to manage their used-car inventories--and to automatically send those listings to The Times Union for use both online and in print. With 15 local dealers in line to buy the software and plans to add new-car listings, Capital Cars looks capable of leaving any and all electronic competitors in the dust.

Credit an approach that goes beyond counting classified lineage. In an interview with Presstime Magazine, Times Union Advertising Director David P. White argued that creating regional electronic databases remains a key business opportunity. Case in point: After winning a contract to post a searchable version of the local Realtors association's MLS database on The Times Union's HomePort site, the paper now markets that database to other advertisers, including mortgage companies and furniture retailers.

The paper's goal? To "continue down the road of putting into our file servers the richest possible database," White says.

Browse the past year's Features of the Week as we prepare for the New Media Federation Digital Edge Awards.



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