Local Matter has named a new CEO, Tom Higley, who takes the helm at the local search software company following a months-long search. Higley has a deep background in starting up technology companies. According to his LinkedIn profile, Higley was most recently CEO of Pavlov games, which “creates and distributes event-based social games.”

In addition to the CEO job, Higley will take a seat on the Local Matters board.

Local Matters has undergone a few changes in leadership over the years. Founder Perry Evans has long since moved on to new ventures. In February, CEO Mat Stover left to become CMO of SuperMedia. During the search for Stover’s replacement, company CFO Nancy Hamilton stepped in as interim CEO.

A little while back, while the search for a new CEO was still under way, we caught up with Jeff Porter, SVP of product marketing at Local Matters. Porter walked us through some of the new products and services the company is rolling out. 

Historically, Local Matters has offered publishers a platform to build online directory products, and prominent organizations ranging from Dex One to Yellow Pages New Zealand rank among current and former clients. Local Matters’ foundation has long been its “Destination Search” platform, and Porter said the company remains committed to Destination Search as its flagship product.

Porter said Local Matters is expanding its focus to attract more smaller operators. “Now we want to offer more off-the-shelf solutions, combined with industry expertise so each publisher has the right solution,” he said. A central objective is “reducing the cost of ownership,” which will help Local Matters approach a wider audience, “specifically the mid-tier publisher space,” Porter said.

Moving to offers standardized products “will reduce the overall total cost of ownership for customers and allow them to enjoy innovation and upgrades that we make to our products,” Porter said.

Porter sees a big shift in the opportunity, and imperative, for publishers, notably the need to drive leads to their advertisers across search, social and mobile. He said Local Matters is developing products in all of these areas.

One new product of note is “Digital Seen,” a platform that helps publishers manage a digital presence for advertisers across IYP, the Web, social media and mobile.

Local Matters has also developed a mobile product called “Sidewalk” (the name might ring a bell) that pushes out deals and offers to local consumers, as well as a branded profile page builder that allows national advertisers to brand how they appear on an IYP search result.

We’ll see if Higley continues to push Local Matters down this path.

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Realestate.com.au, the powerhouse Australian real estate vertical with more unique visitors than the next 19 competitors combined, has relaunched with a new social-oriented effort that
also integrates more advanced search capabilities and personalization. The relaunch was done using a real estate-centric version of Local Matters’ local search platform.

Realestate.com.au’s dominance of the market may have made the site less consumer friendly in the past, as agent needs had been the core focus. But the relaunch has had a direct impact on usage, to everyone’s apparent benefit.

The company says it has resulted in a 16 percent boost in average time on site, a 52 percent increase in sharing properties on social media sites and an 8X boost for its “Find an Agent” feature. It has also provided a wealth of metrics for agents, going from only two performance metrics to 22.

The post Social Features Boost Realestate.com.au Usage, Other Metrics appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Here’s a question: How long would directory publishers sit back and let new companies such as RedBeacon, AlikeList and others disrupt the leads economy for SMBs with search and socially driven features such as Twitter and Facebook? Or Google, with Place Pages? That’s a question that Local Matters and other Yellow Pages  vendors have obviously asked themselves.

Now Local Matters has come out with “Destination Search,” a new social platform that seeks to level the search and social playing field for its U.S. and international clients, which so far includes  Dex B2B in the U.S;  Truvo, European Directories and Pagini Aurii in Europe;  and Yellow Pages Group in New Zealand.

Playing off a feature set originally developed for real estate multiple listings services, Local Matters’ platform includes state of the art social and search features. It also seeks to leverage existing strengths, such as business profile information.

Key features of the white label solution include enhanced profile listings; search optimization; integration (and easy sharing) with Facebook and Twitter; blog enablement; ratings and reviews ported from Yelp and other sources; and the addition of social media feeds on assorted online advertising.

Kris Skavish, Vice President of Products and Marketing, told us that Local Matters started planning Destination Search last September, with the specific intent of focusing on building rich local context. “A problem with online directories has been search relevancy,” she noted.

Another challenge has been to reconcile Yellow Pages headings with most searched categories, which are typically microheadings. “’Plumbers’ is too broad. You need to get to the correct root,” said Skavish, noting that Local Matters has also created custom microheadings for categories such as hotels and attorneys.

For instance, “romantic hotels” might be sought out in user generated content but not generally included as a category. Users can also rate pictures included in romantic hotels.  Publishers can also insert content at the top of the page, or refine results. They can also create brand oriented categories, such as “Toyota.”

While Destination Search leveraged Local Matters’ work with real estate Multiple Listing Services,  important differences revealed themselves, added Skavish. “With the MLS,  you prove your value with a lead ” she notes. “It isn’t a ranking model.  And in real estate, the default view is maps. But with Yellow Pages, it is an ad model. You want users to make an action.”

Local Matters CEO Mat Stover is a featured speaker at Marketplaces 2010 March 22-24 in San Diego.

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