Peter Krasilovsky's

Local Onliner

Feb 28
2012

Reply’s MerchantCircle Relaunches; Heavier Consumer Focus, Less on Listings

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 web site that is less oriented towards directory listings, and more oriented – it hopes — towards winning more consumer traffic, generating more SMB leads, and better monetization. While the new …continue reading »

Categories: Misc, Social Media, Yellow Pages

Tags: , ,

  • 0
  • 6
May 26
2011

MerchantCircle Sold to Reply! Inc. for $60 Million

Reply! Inc has acquired MerchantCircle for $60 Million in cash and stock in a deal that makes a big bet on SMB, vertical and social marketing. The deal, which should be completed in Q3, brings MerchantCircle’s list of 1.6 million SMBs to Reply’s “leads or enhanced clicks” platform that ties together elements of search and …continue reading »

Categories: Local Search, Money, Verticals

Tags: ,

  • 1
  • 14
May 13
2011

MerchantCircle Adds Request for Quote

MerchantCircle last week quietly added free Request for Quote services for its large base of 1.6 million local merchants, immediately sending out more than 180,000 quotes. The quotes are based on category and locale. Logistically, consumers that ask for quotes are asked for more information, if needed. They are then routed to merchants. The MerchantCircle …continue reading »

Categories: Verticals, Yellow Pages

Tags:

  • 0
  • 9
Dec 9
2010

ILM:10: Local Content Economics ‘Not Like Demand Media’

Content farms and aggregators are a major part of the new, scaleable local ecosystem. But the rules of the road are different for local content than for general content, according to executives speaking at ILM:10 in Santa Clara. MerchantCircle Local Content Studio GM Andy Halliday noted that Merchant Circle is pumping up its context with …continue reading »

Categories: Conferences, Local Search

Tags: , , ,

  • 0
  • 4
Nov 3
2010

Local.Com Overhauls Web Site; Targets Women

Local.com has dramatically upgraded its destination site, with soft colors, an excellent user interface and renewed focus on three core categories –“business,” “coupons” and “events.” The categories are clearly aimed at driving organic traffic from its intended audience of women and mothers. The site is geo-targeted to automatically provide local listings and features. Listings can …continue reading »

Categories: HyperLocal, Local Search

Tags: , , , ,

  • 0
  • 2
Sep 22
2010

MerchantCircle Buys Scheduling Company

Scheduling is seen as the next wave of online marketplace services for SMBs, encouraging sticky usage, premium features and, in some cases, highly contextual advertising. Scheduling vendors such as Agendize, Full Slate, MaxiPage and X-Time are actively syndicating solutions. Jumping aboard the scheduling trend is MerchantCircle, the SMB services company with 1.3 million registered SMBs. …continue reading »

Categories: Money, Verticals

Tags: , ,

  • 0
  • 4
Aug 27
2010

MerchantCircle Launches Local Content Studio

MerchantCircle is joining the ranks of companies creating local and vertical content, including Demand Media, Associated Content, Examiner.com, AOL’s Seed and Patch, Perfect Market, Helium, Brafton Media and others. MC’s new Local Content Studio is being helmed by Andy Halliday, who many of us remember as former head of eCommerce at Excite@Home, who has since …continue reading »

Categories: HyperLocal, Social Media

Tags: , ,

  • 0
  • 4