News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Square Opens Its Platform to Developers, Google Pursues the Gamification Route

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Square Announces SDK, Opening Its Platform Directly to Developers for First Time… Google Hooks Up With Unity to Entice Advertisers with Game Supply… After Downgrading Publishers, Facebook Explores New Ways to Boost Them…

Brand Battle: The Body Shop vs Bath & Body Works

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Sponsored: To see how two personal care brands—The Body Shop and Bath & Body Works—stacked up in a competitive marketplace, digital marketing company Brandify used its proprietary software to see which marketing and branding areas stood out as strengths and which areas fell short.

Square Announces SDK, Opening Its Platform Directly to Developers for First Time

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Recognizing and looking to capitalize on the fact that some businesses may have needs its own software does not exhaust, Square announced on Thursday the release of the Square Reader SDK, which will allow developers serving brands and SMBs around the world to redesign the check-out experience in exactly the right way for their specific businesses.

Commentary

How Google’s Product Listing Ads Are Hurting Home Remodelers

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In the name of a strong user experience and a better advertiser experience, Google’s product listings algorithm could be adjusted to better reflect the intent of homeowner search queries…

Where Online Ordering of Local Products and Services Is Headed

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Any local search site that sets its sights on powering transactions will need to take into account the broad range of consumer needs in the local space. But some products are likely much better suited to online purchasing than others…

The Art of Local Marketing: Becoming Selfie-Aware

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The jury is still out on the new Foursquare’s scalability and I’ve grown to like it. But it’s no Yelp killer. For one thing, Yelp has 1000+ local ad sales reps — one of its biggest and most underrated assets. I’ve long been bullish on Yelp for that and other reasons. And in the past month, a few things have shed more light on Yelp’s potential direction…

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Folds Mobile Wallet, Yahoo’s Search Bump

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Amazon To Fold Its Mobile Wallet App Beta On Wednesday (CNet)… Yahoo Sees Big 1.6 Percent Monthly Search Share Gain At Google’s Expense In New ComScore Data (Search Engine Land)… NYC City Council Showdown on Airbnb Rentals on the Agenda (Skift)…

Lowe’s-Backed Porch Raises $65 Million to Target Angie’s List

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With the second largest home improvement retailer in its corner, the Seattle-based startup has raised a $65 million round of funding to beat out a set of cash-rich startups vying to help people manage their next kitchen remodeling…

Why Chilean Hyperlocal Network Mi Voz Succeeds Where Patch Failed

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Over the past decade, the Chilean community news network Mi Voz has transformed the way news is produced, consumed, and sustained in the often neglected small cities and towns outside of the country’s capital, Santiago. In the process, it has also proven that a local news network can be profitable…

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Buys ZipDial, Porch Nabs $65 Million

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Twitter Buys Indian Mobile Marketing Startup (Time)… SoftBank Emerges As The Biggest Challenger To Uber (TechCrunch)… Marketers Claim to Be More Mobile Than We Might Think (MediaPost)…

The Importance of Responsive Web Design for SMB Sites

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It’s critical for local businesses to have a beautiful site that doesn’t just scale down to low resolutions, but also looks great on all devices — from a 27” desktop display to a “smart” refrigerator, and every tablet, phablet, and phone in between. That’s why for the majority of local businesses, responsive design is the best mobile strategy…

Street Fight Daily: Google Eyes Softcard, Lyft Seeks Mega-Funding

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyGoogle Is In Talks With Mobile Payments Company Softcard (TechCrunch)… Lyft Seeking New Mega-Funding to Battle Uber (Recode)… Are Facebook And Yelp Losing The Support Of Small Businesses? (Pando)…

Openings and New Hires at UberMedia, Yext, Google and Dex Media

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Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, new jobs and hires at Groupon, MenuPages, Square, Skyhook Wireless, and more…

How to Get to 5 Years of Success in Hyperlocal Publishing

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This month Scott Brodbeck is celebrating the fifth anniversary of ARLnow, which has expanded into a mini-network of four sites in metro Washington D.C. We caught up with Brodbeck recently to see how he’s made a journalistic and business success out of community news and where ARLnow is headed in 2015…

LBMA Podcast: TapSense for Apple Watch, Canopy Labs Founder

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On the show: WiFi Aware; The RealTalk app; GM’s At Your Service; Robots invade Lowe’s; Jawbone wants corporations to move more; VoucherPages launches an app; Yummly + Instacart = 1 hour ingredient delivery; Skyhook partners with FiLIP Technologies; 3D maps of ski hills…

Street Fight Daily: Bud Light On-Demand, Google Adds Events

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyAB InBev Launches App For One-hour Home Delivery Of Beer (MarketWatch)… Google Makes It Easier To Buy Tickets For Live Events, Straight From Search Results And Maps (The Next Web)… With The Booking Now App, Booking.com (aka Goliath) Just Arrived To The Last-Minute Hotel Game (Pando)…