Here is a recap of posts from the last week in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full. The Examiner's Free Metro Model; 2 Million Uniques In light of BostonNow’s closure this week (apparently for…
In light of BostonNow’s closure this week (apparently for investment-related reasons), I’ve been mulling over the future of free metro papers in the U.S. The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and The San Diego Union-Tribune are among newspaper companies that…
The communications plan outlined by Neg Norton at the YPA convention last week is already paying dividends. Like most people in our industry, I have a Google Alert for the term “Yellow Pages.” The April 16 summary edition is shown…
Just a quick note to point out that UMI's geotargeted keyword generation tool (among other things) has launched today. Details of the platform and the concept behind it are in our past write-up (scroll).
Yellow Book has been gradually closing the gap with its U.S. IYP rivals, which testifies to the publishers' increasing emphasis on its online business as a driver of future growth. According to data recently put out by comScore, Yellowbook.com was the fastest…
Ripple is one of the early leaders in the nascent category of out-of-home advertising. For those unfamiliar, this is rich media advertising that is served with news, weather and sports, at places such as coffee shops and gas pumps. Most…
Hyperlocal community site FatDoor has shut down and reopened as Center'd, an event planning and neighborhood search site with the tag line "people, places, plans." This follows last week's fall of Grayboxx, rise of Angie's List, and birth of OurTown.…
I am always leery of reports that point to a “Scandinavian miracle” (or a “Massachusetts miracle” or what have you). But a December 2007 NAA Growing Audience report has some valuable details about how Schibsted Media, the Scandinavian publishing giant…
I recently had the chance to talk with Antoine Toffa, founder and CEO of online video platform VideoBloom. Toffa had previously founded Trip.com which was bought by Galileo in 2000 for $326 million and eventually rolled up into what is…
Following up on this morning's post, BuzzSpot has launched today as the first company that will take advantage of Google's new TV Ads product. The company is being launched by Steve Espinosa, eLocalListing director of product development. As an SEM/SEO…
Local retailers are increasingly going beyond store locators to drive sales. The extensions to store locators include brand locators, coupons, menus, trip planners, and even guides to where Wi-Fi, nonsmoking and RV parking can be found. A leading vendor in…
Citing data from the latest Industry Usage Study, the Yellow Pages Association is trying to overcome some of the myths and misperceptions about who uses print Yellow Pages, how often and why. In a press release issued today, the YPA…
Google has been quietly testing TV ads over the past few months through its AdWords SEM platform. Basically this involves the ability for advertisers to upload an existing video ad and specify target audiences and ad budget, which is then…
Here is a recap of posts from the last week in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full. New Tools, New World Earlier this week, my colleague Charles Laughlin wrote a blog about the beginning…
Earlier this week, my colleague Charles Laughlin posted an entry about the beginning of the YPA annual conference titled "YP Industry Pledges Counteroffensive." That headline pretty much captures what was an upbeat event that attracted 600 attendees. As YPA President…
Local community and recommendation site Angie's List received $35 million in funding today from Battery Ventures. This comes a day after local rating site Grayboxx sold its assets after failing to get enough traction around its more automated local ratings…
There are a number of new or re-energized hyperlocal efforts out there, trying to crack the code. New efforts are expected shortly from Outside.in and SmallTown. Ongoing efforts are being made with AmericanTowns, which counts Idearc as a lead investor,…
The Yellow Pages Today April workshop featured a divergent view of how best to sell the White Page product line. While some differences exist, due in part to the products offered in the core White Pages product such as those…
Citysearch made a recent announcement that it will partner with Scanbuy to offer a mobile application that lets users get information and promotions about local businesses by scanning bar codes placed outside their locations. Technically, it's not a bar code…
I just discovered (via Andrew Shotland) that local rating site Grayboxx has sold its assets to BayAdvisor. The company had an interesting idea in its algorithmically derived "implicit ratings" for local businesses -- the benefit being review generations in categories…
