TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here are last week’s highlights from the TKG blog, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

On How Many Sites Do SMBs Advertise?
The folks at Palore sent me a new data set they’re releasing tomorrow. You might remember, the company recently changed its business model to focus on all the granular data it was scraping from local search sites. Since then it’s been on a steady pace of releasing various data mashups to whet the market’s appetite. The goal from there is to attract custom data jobs, where it applies its proprietary technology to scrape sites for any number of attributes for various market research purposes. (read more…)

Auto Repair Site RepairPal Launches
New auto repair information resource RepairPal went live today. The site steps into an undeserved market segment by providing information about the user’s specific car and its maintenance needs. One central use case, for example, is to check what a particular repair should cost to ensure that an estimate you received is fair. The site does this with predictive modeling, using literally tens of billions of data points it has assembled about nearly every conceivable repair on 94 percent of passenger vehicles. (read more…)

The 3G iPhone and Local
Lots of talk about the 3G iPhone this week. We’ll see lots of local applications developed that make use of faster speeds and GPS capability, as speculated. The $199 price tag will also make it more mainstream friendly than before. One example of a local application we’re hearing about is the Yellowpages.com local search app. This will be the second iPhone app from the IYP, and will add local social networking features. (read more…)

Main Street Under Attack … Again
Ran across this interesting piece via Topix that was produced by the local ABC7 affiliate here in the Bay Area. The story uncovers a nervousness among local SMBs that the Internet is increasingly having an impact on their business outlook.I have watched this firsthand since I live in San Anselmo, and it is clear that business owners are skittish. One of the SMBs profiled in the piece offers high-end flowers and would seem to be more insulated from being disintermediated by Internet models — but its owners too are nervous. (read more…)

Barton’s Newest Vertical: Recruitment Site Glassdoor.com
Rich Barton — Mr. Vertical — has added a new recruitment-oriented vertical to a lineup that now includes Expedia (sold), Zillow and Avvo. The new effort is Glassdoor.com, which provides recruitment-related information. It solicits and publishes detailed salary and bonus information by position and company, as well as in-depth reviews about company culture and views of top executives. (read more…)

NY Times Goes After SMB Market via AdReady
The New York Times is set to recruit small-business advertisers via a deal with AdReady, the Seattle-based ad agency that provides a choice of 600 free templates for banners, customization tools and usage reports. The Times will recruit its own advertisers via in-house promotions. Advertisers will have a choice of 14 sections of the site that are self-selected by advertisers (i.e., sports, international news, etc.). (read more…)

IPhone 2.0 Video and Photo Apps From AP and TypePad
Among the developers of iPhone applications is The Associated Press. Featured during the relaunch of iPhone 2.0 today, AP’s Benjamin Moss, director of mobile products, said AP developed an iPhone app for its Mobile News Network in “just a few weeks.” Consumers can use the iPhone to send in news and photos. (read more…)

YPG-NZ Says Yellow to Mobile
Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has announced the debut of “Yellow mobile” on the Telecom and Vodafone Live! networks. While YPG-NZ could have gone with a more sophisticated approach, it has opted for a simple application that provides users with flexibility in how they want to interact with Yellow mobile. (read more…)

Marchex Unifies Local, National Ad Networks
Marchex has launched a new ad platform called Adhere. Essentially this brings together the company’s OpenList local content network with the premium publishers in its IndustryBrains network under one PPC platform. The biggest driver for the new platform was to simplify Marchex’s ad buys under one roof. This basically means that advertisers can buy both local and national advertising in the same place. (read more…)