There is a tendency for speakers at a large conference to want to sell (they would say "educate") the audience about their companies' products and services. I know I'm guilty of it. Nevertheless, it is refreshing when a person making a presentation…
A leading auto vertical and Google sat on stage together this morning and provided some insight into how they might coexist. Cars.com President Mitch Golub made clear that sales and customer service will serve as an effective firewall that will…
Zillow.com's founder Rich Barton used the analogy of the explosion of verticals to the storming of the Bastille and the strong desire for consumers to take control of the decisions in their lives, especially those with big financial implications. The visionary…
Wave V of The Kelsey Group’s annual consumer tracking survey, User View, was just completed in March. The survey asks online consumers about 30 questions, covering topics such as information sources used for local shopping, level of Internet usage and participation…
In an executive interview today with the "Father of IYP," Pat Marshall, Yellow Book's chief new media officer talked about his re-entrance to the IYP space and what Yellow Book is looking for new business partners. In all fairness, Marshall,…
In a session called "The Online City: Close Up on Seattle" here at Drilling Down on Local, The Seattle Times' Patricia Lee Smith reiterated a point made earlier by the LA Times' Rob Barrett, which is that online newspapers cannot…
The Drilling Down on Local conference kicked off this morning with a presentation and conversation with Rob Barrett, the LA Times' VP of Interactive. The underlying theme was how the Times is reengineering its online product to be ... an…
Mixpo today announced a new platform that brings together video production, editing and tracking/analytics. The production dashboard has drag and drop functionality for ad creative including existing still images and a library of stock footage, and Mixpo's signature call to…
Alibaba is China’s answer to Google and Yahoo!. The online site is 39 percent owned by Yahoo and recently entered a strategic partnership with Infomedia, the second-largest Yellow Pages publisher in India. The agreement with Infomedia provides Alibaba access to…
MediaNews Group, the fourth largest newspaper publisher with titles such as The Denver Post and The San Jose Mercury News, has teamed up with TauMed to launch a video-centric health vertical. The vertical launches this month at four of MNG’s…
Yelp announced a series of tools today for businesses to interact with local reviewers and have more of an active voice. New features for SMBs include: Message customers who have reviewed their business See how many prospective customers viewed their…
As promised in a post a few weeks ago, VideoBloom has completed an index of NASDAQ companies that have video on their Web sites. The DJIA version of the index was shown in the last post as one leading indicator…
Here is a recap of posts from the last week in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full. Eniro to Be an Online First Business in 2008 The Nordic directory publisher Eniro announced somewhat disappointing results for…
The Nordic directory publisher Eniro announced somewhat disappointing results for the first quarter, with weaker than expected print results not fully offset by online revenues. Eniro President and CEO Tomas Franzén noted that the first quarter is seasonally weak for its online…
We'll be in Seattle next week for the Drilling Down on Local conference. See the Agenda here. If you're at the show, do your best to tackle us between sessions or during networking events. We're interested in talking. Also check…
Local Matters announced it will launch a new local search platform called Destination Search LE (Lite Edition). This essentially brings the concept behind its flagship Local Search platform to smaller players. It will be a hosted and SEO-friendly platform that…
Truvo announced today that CEO Andrew Day will step down June 1 and assume the role of chairman, allowing current Truvo Belgium Managing Director Donat Retif to take over as CEO. Retif has been with Truvo since 2005. He previously served…
Search has its limitations for local businesses. In fact, many would just as soon place media rich display ads, but for the expense and creative challenge of developing the ads. That’s the hurdle being addressed by AdReady, a venture-backed Seattle company…
The U.S. independent publisher White Directory has added two new members to its sales leadership team. Kevin Pavelski, vice president of digital expansion, and Pat Balles, vice president of global markets. From the press release: "Pavelski comes to White…
The market to produce, distribute and/or enhance small-business videos has intensified in recent months, as TurnHere, Denver MultiMedia, DMC, Spot Runner, Mixpo, BuzzSpot, EZ Show, Spotzer and others have competed (often via third-party Yellow Pages and city guides) to land…
