BT Integrates Click-to-Call
BT has just launched a free click-to call feature from eStara on its "Tradespace" local listing product. More details from the BT Blog.
Tellme Blends Voice and Visual
Tellme Networks announced today that it will expand its mobile voice platform to allow mobile search application developers to build products that integrate voice and visual search. In essence this brings together the ease of speaking and of seeing results…
AdStar Reaches Into Free Classifieds
Fresh off its partnership with Nokia, which we wrote about here and in this week's Local Media Journal, AdStar has partnered with classified aggregator Edgeio. Edgeio will use AdStar's software to offer print advertising upsells (on behalf of newspapers) to…
MerchantCircle: 90,000 Businesses Registered
MerchantCircle may be best known as the bad boy of telemarketing for a negative marketing scheme that went awry last fall. But the eight-person Rustic Canyon start-up promises it has mended its ways and points to a growing base of…
TechCrunch: Insider Pages Acquisition Set
TechCrunch published a report today that Insider Pages, the review site that has been actively shopped for some time, may have found a buyer for more than the $8.5 million it raised last March from Sequoia and Softbank Capital. I…
LATimes.com Seeks Focus on Local, Mobile
The Los Angeles Times, a great newspaper that has been widely derided for its ineffectual Web site, hopes to turn the site around by bringing in Meredith Artley as its executive editor. Artley previously served as the Web site director…
Newspapers Sharpen Their Sales Axes
Kate Kaye at ClickZ has an interesting story on newspaper publishers and local television stations that are sending their salespeople away to learn more about interactive advertising. As the media world in general moves toward many different advertising platforms (Web,…
What’s Next for Online Coupons?
The New York Times' Bob Tedeschi wrote an article on Monday (which has been sitting on my desktop, among others, waiting to be read) about online coupons. It said much of what we already know about coupons but also provided…
IYPs Embrace User-Generated Content
The newest issue of Local Media Journal, which publishes tomorrow, includes a feature on the trend toward more ratings and reviews in online Yellow Pages. The traditional concern with letting users write reviews is that negative reviews can be at…
The Next Subject for Local Search: Parking Spots?
Greg Sterling points out an interesting company called SpotScout (having "spot" in a company name is becoming something of a trademark for companies with interesting models, i.e., Spot Runner ). The start-up is taking local search to a brand-new area:…
Are IYPs the Next Online Video Frontier?
With growing interest in online video and the lack of available inventory, advertisers are scrambling to find new outlets for their online advertising dollars. According to a recent Advertising Age article: "It's certainly not lack of interest from advertisers, who…
YPG Scoops Up Aliant
Canada's Yellow Pages Group announced today that it has acquired Aliant ActiMedia, a small directory publisher in the Maritime provinces. YPG held a minority position in the publisher, though the telecom Bell Aliant owned 87 percent of the publishing operation.…
Google Pushes Into Video Game Advertising
The rumors were true. Last month we wrote about the possibility of Google buying in-game ad placement firm AdScape to broaden its reach in cross-platform advertising. The company has announced that it purchased AdScape for $23 million. Like Microsoft's acquisition…
Dex Usage and Sales Strategy Seems to Have Paid Off
In a recent Colorado Springs Gazette article, Dex Media announced a rather significant page-count growth in its Colorado Springs directory. While many question the viability of print Yellow Pages, particularly in a tech-savvy market like Colorado Springs, achieving page-count growth…
The Distance Left to Travel in Mobile Local Search II
At the 3GSM Conference this week, Motorola and Nokia fired significant shots at wireless carriers by launching new hardware and navigation systems that they will sell directly to consumers. They will offer GPS-based navigation systems with local search, mapping and…
NYT Lands a Monster of a Partner
AP reports (via WSJ Online) that The New York Times Co. and Monster.com are partnering to sell recruitment ads. This will bring the Monster brand to 19 of the publisher's sites (including NYTimes.com and Boston.com). There is little information given,…
More on the Monster/NYT Deal
Following up on the previous introductory post on Monster Worldwide's partnership with The New York Times, there is a lot more that can be said about the deal and the quickly changing newspaper environment it both represents and contributes to.…
Canpages Relaunches; $60 Video Ads Featured
Canpages, the energized Hicks Muse-owned rival to YPG, has rolled out revised versions of its print Yellow Pages along with a unified brand and a dramatic new Web site, which officially launches at the end of next week. The new…
HotFrog Leaps Into the U.K.
Australian online directory HotFrog launched yesterday in the U.K. The site brings the buzzcloud concept to directory listings (see how this is used by social search engines such as Eurekster's Swicki and Yahoo!'s My Web). This is very fitting to…
A Peek at The Kelsey Group’s Local ’07 Conference
Local is very, very hot right now. There are so many things going on, not only with Google and Yahoo!, but also with all the hundreds of companies feasting in their wake via direct and vertical and niche channels; in…