Jonathan Weber started his career in traditional media as a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times, but the new media bug got hold of him. He was the cofounder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard, which…
Jonathan Weber started his career in traditional media as a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times, but the new media bug got hold of him. He was the cofounder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard, which…
Interactive Local Media: 07 is ready to roll Nov. 28-30 in L.A. That’s next Wednesday through Friday! The show, which is being produced in partnership with SES Local, has attendees from all over the world. One exec told me he…
MerchantCircle is claiming a registered base of 250,000 small businesses. That’s a lot -- a penetration of 4.8 percent of the 12 million U.S. businesses that advertise. It has also announced $10 million of new funding, adding the likes of…
MerchantCircle is claiming a registered base of 250,000 small businesses. That’s a lot -- a penetration of 4.8 percent of the 12 million U.S. businesses that advertise. It has also announced $10 million of new funding, adding the likes of…
Perhaps we have moved from a culture where small local publishers have gone from their own Web site to a blog to having a space on Facebook. That’s what Steve Gilberg at HappyHours.com has done. Steve -- the most knowledgeable…
Gannett is teaming with Tribune on a 50/50 basis to take the latter’s Metromix entertainment site national, and reach into the highly valued 21- to 24-year-old market that doesn’t typically use newspapers -- online or off. The JV plans to…
Gannett is teaming with Tribune on a 50/50 basis to take the latter’s Metromix entertainment site national, and reach into the highly valued 21- to 24-year-old market that doesn’t typically use newspapers -- online or off. The JV plans to…
The numbers are looking very, very good for the Interactive Local Media:07 conference in L.A. Nov. 28-30. Internally, we think this one is a record breaker. Register and book the hotel while you can. The latter tends to sell out.…
Curbed.com, the fun, well-written and insightful Web site about local real estate culture and deals, has gotten $1.5 million in new financing from Gawker Media, individuals associated with Gawker and others, such as Brad Inman. The site is the brainchild…
I am not a New York City person anymore, in great measure because of the challenge of getting from one location to another. So when I do have to go to New York, I try to cover as much…
Under-served small communities are getting more attention. Companies like TownNews, Grayboxx and Topix have set out to focus on small town and exurban residents, and aggregating those local users for advertisers. As we wrote in April, Topix -- a 25-person company…
New West Publishing is a different kind of local company -- one that uses Web tools, journalism and themed conferences to track the development of an entire region: The Rockies. Launched by former Industry Standard editor Jonathan Weber -- a…
Big names, interesting people, compelling research. Forgive the commercial message here, but we’re set to deliver the goods at The Kelsey Group’s Interactive Local Media 2007 (ILM:07), Nov. 28-30 in L.A. I think there’s something for everyone. And this year,…
After two years in operation, CitySquares hasn’t necessarily broken out of the box. But Beantown’s neighborhood-centric directory of local businesses has got about $1 million in venture funding; almost 400 advertisers paying roughly $600 a year, mostly for “deluxe” business profiles;…
After two years in operation, CitySquares hasn’t necessarily broken out of the box. But Beantown’s neighborhood-centric directory of local businesses has got about $1 million in venture funding; almost 400 advertisers paying roughly $600 a year, mostly for “deluxe” business profiles;…
The churn rates for low-end local businesses are incredibly high. Why is that? WebVisible CEO Kirsten Mangers told Directory Driven Commerce attendees the reason we don’t see high conversion rates for low-end advertisers is their Web sites “really suck.” It…
The churn rates for low-end local businesses are incredibly high. Why is that? WebVisible CEO Kirsten Mangers told Directory Driven Commerce attendees the reason we don’t see high conversion rates for low-end advertisers is their Web sites “really suck.” It…
While I am in Reston, VA, attending Kelsey's Directory Driven Commerce conference, I thought it would be a good time to start talking about our next show, which I am co-producing: Interactive Local Media 2007. The show is being done…
It must be tough running online newspaper sites right now. After many years of strong annual growth in the 30 percent range, online revs are beginning to plateau. And in most markets, the rest of the ship has begun to…
