iBegin has been trying to add its own Web 2.0 sensibility to the listings business, offering free basic directories of businesses, and customization services on an upgrade basis. It now has 150 businesses and organizations subscribing, including schools, local and state government, city services, chambers of commerce, professional associations, hotels, golf courses, newspapers, TV stations [...]
Monthly Archives: November 2008
AutoTrader’s Chip Perry: Solution for Auto Industry includes Internet
November 25, 2008 – 10:24 pm
AutoTrader CEO Chip Perry, making a statesman-like appearance on Fox Business News, noted that part of the problem with the beleaguered auto industry is its tremendous marketing inefficiency. The problem begins with the $30 billion it spends to sell 12 million cars – or more than $2,000 per car.
“Dealers are running [...]
Mark Canon at ILM:08– Up to $15 Billion Spent on Local Development
November 20, 2008 – 3:25 pm
Yell Group President Mark Canon estimated during his opening keynote at Kelsey’s Interactive Local Media show in Santa Clara yesterday that anywhere from $3 Billion to $15 Billion has been spent in the past ten years trying to develop Interactive Local Media. “It is still not clear that we have cracked the code,” said [...]
Citysearch’s Compelling Revamp
November 20, 2008 – 2:16 pm
Citysearch has just completed a full revamp of its product and strategy that it hopes will position it in the long-term battle for local. Elements of the revamp include a more intuitive interface, an embrace of social media, a major focus on video, some new twists in mobile, and the development of a full-fledged [...]
Angie’s List Gets $18 Million in New Funding; $66 million Raised in All
November 19, 2008 – 4:43 am
Angie’s List, the premium, user-paid directory of local business reviews, announced today that it has raised $18 million in new capital from Lighthouse Capital Partners. The site has now raised $66 million in total, including $13 million in 2006 from Battery Ventures, White River Ventures and Aquent, a Boston-based staffing firm. In 2008, the site [...]
Yelp Traffic Stats Suggests Broad Local Usage
November 19, 2008 – 12:12 am
Yelp is often dismissed as a bar and restaurant site for recent college grads in San Francisco. But site usage released by the company suggests that it has rather broad usage, and shouldn’t be so readily pigeon-holed. The site also says it had 15 million uniques in October, up 200 percent from the same period [...]
NPR To Take a Stab at Hyperlocal
November 12, 2008 – 6:19 pm
National Public Radio is going to try anew to rev up hyperlocal on the websites of its affiliates, according to a PaidContent interview with incoming CEO Vivian Schiller, who was recruited from a leadership position at NYTimes.com. Schiller is a resident of Washington D.C., where NPR is located.
The proposed hyperlocal effort harkens back to [...]
