Archive for August, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Please join us for the next Local Committee Meeting on September 5, 2012 from 3:30-5:30pm ET at IAB’s New York office (116 East 27th Street, 7th Floor). A small networking event will follow from 5:30-6:30 pm.
At the event, IAB and the Local Search Association will release a whitepaper on the Co-Op opportunity for digital advertisers, created by the Altimeter Group and commissioned by our organizations. We’ll discuss the state of Co-Op advertising in digital as well as learn about the process of tapping into Co-Op dollars.
While in-person and remote options will be available for the meeting, we encourage those who can to attend in person! To RSVP for the committee meeting, please register here.
August 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Altimeter Group, co-op advertising, digital, IAB, Local Committee Meeting, Local Search Association
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
I read an interesting post from Sherwood Stranieri over at Search Engine Land this week on mobile local search. Recent findings point to a rapidly increasing number of mobile searches in the restaurant category and it looks like mobile search may surpass desktop search in this category very soon.
In the last few months, there’s increasing evidence that mobile search activity for restaurants is growing by leaps and bounds. Consider the following:
- Yelp recently shared that mobile usage now accounts for 40% of their activity, up from 27% in 2010.
- According Groupon’s CEO, 30% of all transactions on Groupon’s platform are now attributed to mobile device use, and those usage levels have tripled in just one year.
Given these trends, it’s very likely that we’ll see restaurant search hit the tipping point in the next 12 months, with more mobile-based activity than desktop-based.
As you’ll recall from earlier this summer, YP, in their quarterly Local Insights Report, also found that the restaurant category was the most searched on mobile.
Take a look at Sherwood’s full article for more on mobile search and tips on how restaurants can get prepared to stay ahead of the curve.
August 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Groupon, Local Insights Report, Local mobile, local mobile search, Local Search, Local Search Association, mobile search, restaurant, restaurants, Search Engine Land, SEL, Sherwood Stranieri, Yelp, YP
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
We’re just several weeks away from BIA/Kelsey’s highly anticipated SMB Digital Marketing Conference 2012, taking place Sept. 17-19 at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.
This annual event, which brings together innovators, influencers, and inventors in the digital marking place, will focus on small and medium sized businesses’ increased investment in the space and their greater appetite for ROI-based strategies. Specific topics will include local sales strategies, merchant outreach, SMB engagement and promotions, local search, social media, mobile strategies and technology innovation.
The jam-packed three-day agenda will feature a variety of exciting speakers, including:
- Alfred Mockett, CEO, Dex One
- Bob Sanders, President & CEO, Axiom
- Court Cunningham, CEO, Yodle
- Ben Wood, Head of Channel Sales Partnerships Americas, Google
- Fred Huang, Manager, Partner Relations, Facebook
- Anthony Bratti, SVP – Business Development, vSplash
- John Busby, VP, Marchex Institute
- Barnell Holloway, Manager, Local Business Outreach, Yelp
- Sanjay Gupta, VP, Global Merchant Marketing, Groupon
Visit the conference website and register today! I look forward to seeing many of you in Chicago. For those who cannot attend, stay tuned to Local Search Insider for live coverage of the event.
August 29, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tags: agenda, BIA/Kelsey, Chicago, conference, Local Search, Local Search Association, SMB Digital Marketing, speakers
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
I’m excited to introduce Will Scott, CEO of Search Influence, a national online marketing firm focused on small and medium sized businesses and white label online marketing for publishers and media partners who serve them. Search Influence is the largest online marketing firmon the Gulf Coast and New Orleans’ only Inc. 500 honoree in 2011.
In today’s post, Will overviews the new Google+ event feature and the advantages that Google’s integration possibilities present for social media marketing.
I saw the most interesting thing when I logged into Google + the other day.
It appears the latest feature to launch from the Google+ Product team is “Events”. One hates to continually compare to Facebook, but this is yet another feature where Facebook has traditionally led other social media sites.
We have seen clients use Facebook Events to great effect as an RSVP mechanism for offline events. But Google+ Events is a compelling alternative because of it’s interesting integrations with other Google products.
Like other event schedulers, Google+ Events allows you to set a time and place and invite your friends. Google+ Events also displays events, similar to Gmail integration, within the context of your existing calendar items.
Notice how when I view a full day on my calendar, the tool shows the time slots available for an event.
So what else can you do with Google+ Events? You can share events with your circles, or individual friends, or any combination.
Plus, you can schedule a Hangout, or an “on air” Hangout.
“On Air” Hangouts is the new feature that allows you to broadcast your hangout publicly.
Additionally, Google+ seems to have addressed some early challenges, such as the ability to mass-post event invitations.
With Google+ Events, Google is adding a very interesting feature set. Google’s ability to seamlessly integrate Google+ with all other products may be the secret sauce necessary to start to put a dent in Facebook’s heretofore impenetrable armor.
Additionally, with the ability to drive +1s through AdWords, G+ may be a useful advertising tool in local businesses’ arsenal..
Still a long way from the ubiquity of Facebook, Google+’s live video-chat, Hangouts feature and integration with Google Calendar provide the social network with a unique advantage.
August 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Events, Google, Google Plus, Google+ Events, Google+ Hangout, social media
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
This morning, Dex One and SuperMedia announced that their Boards of Directors have approved plans to merge the two companies, creating a national provider of social, local and mobile solutions through direct relationships with local businesses. Once the transaction is completed, the new company will be named Dex Media.
This is an exciting announcement for our industry. The combined company, which will include an impressive 3,100 local advertising consultants and maintain more than 700,000 local business relationships, is an important and inevitable outcome of today’s changing local search landscape.
At this time of significant fragmentation in local media, the new Dex Media will be a stronger company that is better positioned to transform its business model to take advantage of new digital and social opportunities. Through its national scale, the company will have greater ability to expand distribution and increase market share.
The cost savings achieved through the combination of Dex and SuperMedia will create a more economically sustainable business. The ability of the new company to achieve financial flexibility is vital. In doing so, it will be able to invest in innovative new marketing solutions that will have a positive impact on its mission: to better enable local businesses and consumers to find one another and complete transactions.
In the end, however, the proof will be in the pudding. The merger will require strategic thinking and tough decisions, and the new company’s ability to execute on its vision will determine whether it will achieve success in a crowded marketplace. I have strong confidence in the designated management team, Alan Schultz and Peter McDonald, and their abilities to navigate the challenges ahead.
I also want to recognize Alfred Mockett, Dex One’s CEO, who will step down at the close of this transaction. Alfred is a great leader who has played a key role in helping Dex One reach this milestone.
Congratulations to everyone at Dex One and SuperMedia. We look forward to seeing what you will achieve together.
August 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alan Schultz, Alfred Mockett, announcement, Dex Media, Dex One, Local Search, merger, Peter McDonald, SuperMedia
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Yelp, the popular local search and reviews site, just launched a brand new homepage design with a completely revamped look and feel.
The new homepage includes a newsfeed for users to see what their friends have been up to around town. The feed shows where users’ friends have been, what they’ve thought about those venues, and the photos they’ve taken while there. They can also see events friends plan to attend and check out new businesses just opened in their neighborhood.
Head over to Yelp to check out the new look!
August 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: homepage, Local Search Association, local-social, newsfeed, social, social media, Yelp, Yelp.com
Monday, August 20, 2012
Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order related to our lawsuit against the City of San Francisco to overturn its controversial new law, which effectively bans the distribution of Yellow Pages.
The federal appeals court summarily reversed a decision of the lower U.S. District Court in San Francisco that had denied the Local Search Association’s request for a preliminary injunction against San Francisco’s Yellow Pages ordinance.
The Local Search Association had asked the U.S. District Court to halt the implementation of San Francisco’s ordinance until Yellow Pages’ publishers concerns could be heard. However, because the City of San Francisco committed to not enforce its ordinance until the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on the Local Search Association’s appeal in the Seattle case, the U.S. District Court refused to grant an injunction against the San Francisco ordinance.
The Court of Appeals’ order means that the lower court is now required to decide whether the San Francisco ordinance likely violates the First Amendment rights of Yellow Pages publishers without waiting for a decision in the Seattle case – which is expected any day.
We continue to look forward to what we anticipate will be positive outcomes in both San Francisco and Seattle. As we’ve said previously, our advertisers in these markets depend on Yellow Pages advertising to generate business, and residents rely on phone directories to help them find and shop from local businesses. Yellow Pages publishers need decisions in both the San Francisco and Seattle cases in order to do their jobs of supporting local businesses, as well as their own employees.
While the cases in San Francisco and Seattle continue, we are successfully working with numerous municipalities to address concerns about Yellow Pages distribution by highlighting the benefits of our sustainability programs. In California alone, we’ve recently partnered with legislators in Fremont, Cupertino, Morgan Hill, San Leandro, Alameda and Hayward to raise awareness about our consumer choice website, www.YellowPagesOptOut.com. We continue to believe that our programs achieve better outcomes than legislation that limits Yellow Pages delivery, which inhibits the ability of local businesses and consumers to find one another.
August 20, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tags: City of San Francisco, legislation, local communities, Local Pays Off, San Francisco, Small Business, sustainability
Monday, August 20, 2012
Google continued to build up its original local content portfolio last week with the acquisition of Frommer’s, the popular travel guide brand from John Wiley & Sons.
The deal will give Google new weight as it competes with local search sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Citysearch for travel-related content and associated ad revenue.
It also represents a shift in Google’s approach from a media company that showcases others’ content, to one that also produces information as well. Last year, Google acquired Zagat and by this summer had fully integrated the restaurant ratings site into its Google+ Local platform.
I look forward to seeing how Google leverages Frommer’s into its travel offerings!
August 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Frommer's, Google, Google+ Local, Local Search, Local Search Association, travel, Zagat
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Next month in Chicago, BIA/Kelsey will be hosting its annual conference for innovators, influencers, and investors in the digital marketing space. The SMB Digital Marketing 2012 conference will focus on small and medium sized businesses’ increased investment in digital marketing and their greater appetite for ROI-based strategies.
Leaders from local search and social media will be discussing what the changing landscape means for firms in those spaces.
Head over to BIA/Kelsey for a full agenda and list of speakers.
SMB Digital Marketing 2012
September 17 – 19, 2012
Chicago
Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
I’ll be there and will be blogging from the event, hope you’ll be joining the Local Search team in Chicago!
August 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, BIA/Kelsey Event, Chicago, Digital Marketing, Local Search, Local Search Association, ROI, small and medium businesses, SMB, social media
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
In my Local Search column on Search Engine Land this month, I discuss Yahoo’s recent appointment of Marissa Mayer as its new president and CEO, and the opportunities that presents for local businesses should she decide to focus on reinventing the company’s once dominant local search platform, Yahoo! Local.
Mayer, who previously served as the Google executive in charge of local, maps and location services, lives and breathes local. She is also an expert in creating innovative user experiences in the space. I argue that if Mayer makes local a priority at Google – which still commands one of the largest audiences on the Web with 700 million monthly users – that local businesses will have yet another platform to actively consider for local advertising.
In my piece, I overview what Yahoo! Local looks like today and provide some thoughts on where Mayer might take the platform next. Click here to reach the full column.
August 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: geolocation, Google, Google Maps, Google Places, local, Local Search, Local Search Association, location-based, Marissa Mayer, mobile, online, search engine, Search Engine Land, SEL, Small Business, small businesses, Yahoo, Yahoo! Local
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Market research firm, Global Industry Analysts (GIA), recently announced the findings of a new report analyzing the worldwide market for mobile Yellow Pages.
The report, which profiles 37 local search companies including YP Holdings, Dex One, Pages Jaunes Groupe, SuperMedia, and hibu/Yellowbook, projects that the global market for mobile YP will reach $28.8 billion by 2018. GIA said that growth will be attributed primarily to increasing use of mobile phones for local search and the local search industry’s push to diversify.
GIA expects location-based services and mobile advertising to greatly expand in the coming years, carving major market share for mobile Yellow Pages.
For more, go to GIA for the full report.
August 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: app, Dex One, GIA, Global Industry Analysts, hibu, Local Search, Local Search Association, Market Research, mobile, Mobile Yellow Pages, Mobile YP, Pages Jaunes, SuperMedia, Yellow Pages, Yellowbook, YP Holdings
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
We had a great time today at our booth at the 2012 California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) conference speaking with attendees about our industry’s sustainability and consumer choice initiatives.
Here’s a photo of me with CRRA president Tracie Onstad Bills. We also met with a variety of representatives from throughout California, including the counties of Del Norte, Santa Cruz, Tulare and Tuolmne, as well as the cities of Antioch, Napa, Visalia, San Jose, San Mateo & Redondo Beach. We were able to forge many new relationships with those interested in working with us and learning more about our programs.
August 7, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tags: CRRA, environment, Local Search, Local Search Association, sustainability
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
I had the opportunity to meet with two wonderful representatives from Sunset Waste Systems. Based in Fresno, California, Sunset was CRRA’s 2009 Recycler of the Year and is the only Ambassador Level sponsor of the current conference.
When discussing our industry’s sustainability and recycling programs, Sol Nunez, Sunset’s recycling coordinator, noted that she’s lived in her new home for several years, but has never received a print directory at her home. Sol said she uses the print Yellow Pages frequently, and always has to track one down.
With the help of Jim Troup from YP, we determined which directory Sol should receive. Jim is going to make sure Sol gets a print directory delivered to her home moving forward.
Pictured: Annette Kwock, Sunset Waste Systems; Sol Nunez, Recycling Coordinator, Sunset Waste Systems; and Gene Wilk, Manager, Public Policy, Local Search Association
August 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: booth, CRRA, Jim Troup, Local Search, Local Search Association, Sol Nunez, Sunset Waste Systems, YP
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
I had a great time catching up with our friends at Keep America Beautiful (KAB), the national organization that unites citizens, businesses and government to find solutions that advance issues like preventing litter, reducing waste and beautifying communities.
As you might recall, the Local Search Association partnered with KAB last November in celebration of America Recycles Day. At the time, KAB endorsed our industry’s opt-out site at www.YellowPagesOptOut.com and commended us on our stronger recycling rates and more effective use of paper. The Local Search Association also sponsored the KAB’s 58th National Conference in New Orleans along with member publishers YP, Dex One and Yellowbook.
We look forward to continuing to work with KAB to spread awareness of our industry’s sustainability programs and to developing other innovative source reduction opportunities.
Pictured: Gene Wilk, Manager, Public Policy, Local Search Association; Cecile Carson, Senior Director, Affiliate Development, Keep America Beautiful; and Christine Flowers, Executive Director, Keep California Beautiful
August 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Monday, August 6, 2012
I’m blogging live from the 2012 California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) conference in Oakland, California, where hibu (formerly Yellowbook), YP and the Local Search Association have set up shop at the exhibition hall for the next two days.
I’m joined at our booth by hibu representatives Matt Krug, Aaron Lewis and Dan Moore, as well as YP’s Jim Troup. We’re all eager to meet with CRRA attendees and share background on our industry’s sustainability and environmental efforts, opt-out program and the importance of buying locally for the entire community.
We hope that the information we convey – and the relationships we build – will be beneficial in helping to inform communities and their leaders about our industry’s proactive approach to sustainability and our ongoing value in connecting local businesses and residents.
More to come!
August 6, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tags: booth, California Resource Recovery Association, CRRA, exhibition, hibu, Local Search, Local Search Association, Yellowbook, YP
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