XAd, a mobile local ad network, released its Q1 2012 report today that shows growth in the local-mobile search category, particularly transportation-related search within the travel sector. We're not surprised by the results, given our forecast of total U.S. mobile…
You can learn a lot about failure from a guy who lost 11 jobs in 12 months. Richard Keith Latman, an entrepreneur who also started 11 companies over a 20-year period, documents his stumbles in The Good Fail. I interviewed…
Meineke Car Care Centers, with 900 franchises, has a huge ad budget, which it has been spending on Yellow Pages, TV, coupons, SEM and the Internet. Recently, Meineke has worked to integrate local ad opportunities under one “local expert.” But…
Home and trade lead sites often take a simple, category-by-category directory approach, but visual contractor rankings might make more sense, argues Jiyan Wei, cofounder of BuildZoom. Wei says his team canvassed home and trade sites such as Angie’s List, ServiceMagic,…
What does a popular urban magazine franchise tailored to the digital world look like? New York Media’s GM of Digital, Michael Silbmerman, shared his vision at ILM East 2012, and it includes healthy doses of synergy (with the core print…
Yellow Medya, Turkey's Yellow Pages publisher, announced this week the release of its Brand SoLoMo location-based engagement platform. It allows brand owners to geo-code every point of sale, whether physical or virtual. In addition, it maintains a point of sale…
Here’s what we’ve been waiting to announce: Google Offers’ head Nitin Mangtani will join our great list of keynoters at ILM East March 26-28 in Boston. We believe Mangtani’s appearance marks one of the first public debuts of Google Offers,…
Until recently, the European deal market was basically a year behind the U.S. But NimbleCommerce CEO Prashant Nedungadi argues that “they are beginning to catch up.” Nedungadi says they’ve graduated to more advanced platforms, and are more committed to driving…
MerchantCircle, which was sold to Reply.com in May 2011, continues to rethink the traditional Yellow Pages small-business model. The company today unveils a website that is less oriented toward directory listings, and more oriented -- it hopes -- toward winning…
We’re seeing more vertical players trying to leverage their brands with deal offerings and advertising. The latest one is Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Twenty-two Blue Cross state organizations around the U.S. are working with Analog Analytics to launch Blue365,…
Amazon.com, which is moving in multiple directions vis-à-vis local, has agreed to buy TeachStreet, the service for matching teachers and students. Amazon’s interest appears to be less in TeachStreet than in the underlying e-commerce platform for SMBs. The platform already…
The focus for vertical sites is likely to shift in coming months. In addition to regular features, such as listings, many vertical sites will also begin to blend personalized or on-demand “maintenance” information with various social media features such as…
The Home Depot is set to significantly boost its home contractor leads network with today’s acquisition of Redbeacon. No price was announced for the acquisition. The deal puts Home Depot in the same boat as Sears, which has been quietly…
ILM East is coming back to Boston March 26-28 with a lineup of doers and innovators who are transforming and redefining the local space. Highlights include a featured keynote from industry legend Ted Leonsis (Groupon vice chair/AmEx board member/sports team…
Thumbtack, which has set itself to compete against Angie’s List and ServiceMagic in the SMB leads space, has raised $4.5 million from Javelin Venture Partners, with MHS Capital and Tim Draper participating. The eight-person San Francisco company, founded in 2009,…
A few years ago, the location of businesses became a big question mark, as well as a strategic issue, as people wanted to shop or dine nearby. These “geo-fencing” issues were especially important for Yellow Pages companies. Since then, search…
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…
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 idea of an online marketplace has continued to evolve dramatically in 2011. With the emergence of deals, we now have full-fledged interactive local commerce in place, in addition to advertising. It seems that everyone has jumped into the pool.…
Ticketmaster-Citysearch once had the idea that it could spur local commerce by matching concert goers with nearby restaurants, bars and even parking lots. AOL Digital City and Sidewalk explored similar concepts. But no one got it totally right. Now, Weotta,…
