The search marketing firm WebVisible was abruptly closed down by its creditors over the holidays, with CEO Ron Burr managing only to convince the company's lenders to wait until after Christmas to foreclose on the business. As of Dec. 27…
The European directory and local search operator Truvo has taken major steps toward consolidating around its flagship Belgian operation. On Dec. 22, Truvo "divested" its operation in Ireland, selling it to Contact Holdings, which operates Yellow Pages companies in the…
More vertical deals are being introduced, as vertical publishers with specific audiences seek to tie deals to existing content, and prove to have better conversion than watered down, one-size-fits-all approaches. A few weeks ago, we wrote about Local Offer Network’s…
CBS plans to build deeper local online content by commissioning specific local topics for articles from thousands of writers at Examiner.com. Both parties were mum about whether revenue sharing is involved but did note that writers will receive a payment…
Heavily leveraged Yell Group has earned some breathing room from a deal with its lenders announced yesterday. Yell announced that it has reached terms with the "overwhelming majority of lenders" to increase the headroom on its debt. Without such concessions, Yell…
We've wrapped ILM West in San Francisco this week -- another terrific show. Lots of great stuff. Thanks very much to the 50+ speakers, 32 sponsors, nearly 600 local leaders and various #ILMWest Tweeters who participated. Now our attention is…
The last act at ILM West was a panel on the future of "SoLoMo" (Social/Local/Mobile). Moderators Mike Boland and Jed Williams tag-teamed a panel of four: -David Courtney, CEO, JiWire, a location-based media channel connecting advertisers and mobile consumers via…
The events listings space has taken a number of twists and turns with Zvents trying to steer people to retail events as a business model, and also become a media driver in its own right; Eventful focusing more and more…
The ability to marry store inventory with search and promotions is an intriguing one for interactive local media. But what closes the loop on this vision? Sherry Thomas-Zon, VP, local shopping, Local Corp. -- the new name for Local.com --…
Google’s local efforts have grown tremendously under the direction of Marissa Mayer, and now encompass a wide range of products, including Google Maps; Google Places; Zagat; Google Offers; and Get Online, a new SMB initiative. At ILM West this week…
Moh Ok, Chief Scientist at PayPal, and Bo Fishback, CEO and Founder of Zaarly, talked about the integration of social, local and mobile to close the loop on driving consumer purchases during a morning dedicated to SoLoMo here at ILM…
Google has experienced five times growth in mobile search during the past two years, according to Google Mobile’s Surojit Chatterjee, who was keynoting our SoLoMo Morning at ILM West in San Francisco. Mobile usage generally complements the desktop, with huge…
Gillian Heltai, comScore's senior director, presented new search data showing that while local search is still growing, its trajectory is slowing down. She broke search into online and mobile. Year over year, online search grew 9 percent online to 19.3…
Moderator Peter Krasilovsky led a session Monday afternoon on how several leading vertical sites are successfully leveraging social media. As sites that are focused on a specific business, profession or user need, verticals will typically contain a directory, specialized editorial…
Our audience might be upset that Jed’s Burgers, a fictitious business set up for the Yext PowerListings demo isn’t real. What may be more upsetting is the fact that 20 percent of local searches will return the wrong information. Lerman…
SMB marketing companies have forgotten that local businesses still see calls as a key driver of new business. That's the opinion expressed by Marchex Executive VP Matthew Berk during today's session on "Converting Calls to Local Sales." To succeed in…
When it comes to Local Yokel Media’s business focus, it's all about 15 miles. That’s because 80 percent of consumer spending is done within 15 miles of home. CEO and Founder Dick O’Hare shared that fact at this afternoon’s session…
It’s obvious that the deals business is going to quickly move to a broader set of offerings. But how? That was the question posed today at ILM West in San Francisco. Belo Interactive GM Joe Weir noted that deals remains…
Court Cunningham, CEO of Yodle, made news at ILM West this afternoon, announcing a three-year deal with Canada's Rogers Communicationsduring a 15-minute Q&A with BIA/Kelsey analyst Bobbi Loy Luster. Rogers is a leading communications company in Canada. Its deal…
Local Search Association President Neg Norton announced today at ILM West in San Francisco that the trade group would work with BIA/Kelsey to produce its annual conference, April 21-24 in Boca Raton, Florida. Norton said the LSA is committed to…
