News and Analysis

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.

Prime Day Powers Industry-Wide Boost in Mobile App Downloads for Retailers

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Amazon’s mid-July Prime Day powered not only sales at local businesses and direct purchases on Amazon’s rival retailer sites but also spikes in mobile app downloads for those retailers, according to data released today by mobile app marketing company Liftoff.

After Downgrading Publishers, Facebook Explores New Ways to Boost Them

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We all remember the seemingly apocalyptic early 2018 announcement that Facebook would downgrade publishers in favor of foregrounding posts from users’ family and friends. Less discussed are the various changes Facebook has made since that announcement to give publishers on its platform a fighting chance.

Commentary

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…

Traditional Businesses Still Failing to Reach Online Consumers

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An infographic from Marketecture offers a useful compendium of statistics pointing both to the great opportunity in local and the persistent gap between that opportunity and the actual practice of marketing by many small business owners…

Latest Posts

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)…

Thinknear Founder Eli Portnoy Launches New Startup Sense360

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Two months after exiting Telenav, Eli Portnoy has raised $2.75 million from a handful of investors for a new project, Sense360. The startup is developing software to analyze the data from sensors such as light readers or accelerometers…

9 Keys to Launching a Successful Beacon Program

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One of the biggest questions from retailers in the coming year will likely be how they can better implement beacon programs at their stores. We asked top executives from the hyperlocal industry for their take on what’s really necessary to launch a successful beacon program…

Optimizing Your Pay-Per-Call Campaign

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Basic pay-per-call campaign optimization strategies run the gamut from scheduling ad play according to hours of operation to selecting the most accurate categories for ads to play in. These optimization strategies help increase both the volume of calls that a business receives and the duration of those calls…