AOL plans more websites to revive falling sales and attract advertisers

AOL Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong, who just completed a 100-day review of the internet company, plans to overhaul advertising and develop more local websites in an effort to revive falling sales. Armstrong, a former Google executive named AOL CEO in March, said sites with city guides can help fill a void of community information on the internet, attracting visitors and advertisers. He also plans to bolster AOL's Advertising.com, a network used to buy and sell ads on websites, by folding in services that target consumers based on their usage and offer more feedback on ad effectiveness. Armstrong met employees in 16 cities to develop a strategy to rejuvenate AOL before New York-based Time Warner spins it off into a separate, publicly traded company later this year. The CEO is up against an increasingly mobile and global internet with ad sales that trail Google and Yahoo. AOL's first-quarter ad sales fell 20 per cent. It moved into ads after consumers switched to faster broadband web access from the dial-up service that spurred the company's initial growth. AOL finished 2008 with 6.9 million paying access subscribers in the US, a quarter of the customers it had when closing its failed $124 billion (Dh455.45bn) combination with Time Warner in 2001. The recession and increased competition have challenged the ad strategy. AOL is looking at expanding in Europe and Asia, said Armstrong, without elaborating. In recent years, the company has started new Web sites overseas, while selling internet access units in Germany, France and the UK. Armstrong is also creating a ventures division that will seek outside investments. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .