News and Analysis
Google Websites — To Infinity and Beyond?
“In the developing world, Google has a simplified path to the GMB where if a business first creates a website they can get verified more easily,” Mike Blumenthal notes. “Thus the website becomes the hook into Google’s data funnel. In the US, and most other developed countries, I would speculate that it is typically the other way around”
Big Political Ad Spend Set for Local in 2018, but Will News Sites Be Ready?
Political ad spending totaling $1.9 billion will pour into the digital space, most of it on the local level, Borrell Associates estimates in its 2018 forecast. But daily newspapers and local news “pure-plays” will have to fight hard for their share against Facebook, Google and the other digital platforms.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: NYT Tests Native Ads, Online Retailers Dabble Offline
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… The New York Times Experiments with Native Advertising… On Two Wheels (Nieman Journalism Lab)… From Clicks to Bricks: Online Retailers Dabble in Physical Stores (AdAge)… Apple: ‘We Did Not Make a Bid For Waze’ (Mashable)…
Deseret VP: How Disruption Can Drive Digital Media Companies
Deseret Digital Media is often mentioned in conversations about companies doing disruptive things in local media. Eric Bright, the company’s VP for eCommerce, will be appearing on a panel next week in San Francisco at Street Fight Summit West, so we took the opportunity to catch up with him recently and find out more about the mechanics of disrupting the local space…
7 Ways Marketers Can Make Mobile More Attractive to SMBs
From apps to ads to geo-targeted push notifications, the challenge for marketers is explaining the benefits of mobile without overwhelming small business owners in a sea of technical jargon and complex language. Here are seven tips from experts in the mobile community about how marketers can do a better job of selling their products to merchants…
Realigning News Sites to Connect ‘Local’ and Interests
When we talk about hyperlocal, it’s usually about taking content and advertising down to the neighborhood (and sub-neighborhood) level. But it’s possible to go a bit deeper than that, and I think there is still a lot of work to be done around combining local content and advertising with people’s interests…
Openings and New Hires at FixYa, VendAsta & SpinGo
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. Moves include layoffs at the Village Voice, a new top executive at the DPAA, and job openings at Swipely, Intuit, and more.
LBMA PODCAST: Yahoo, Alibaba, and Impact Mobile
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan talk about Yahoo’s continued campaign to buy employees; big data from Twitter showcases the hate; Alibaba takes a stand in the mapping wars; the re-emergence of RFID for grocery checkout; a Canadian interpretation of the future of Google Glass and our special guest, Gary Schwartz, CEO of Impact Mobile…
Street Fight Daily: Google Eyes Waze, Postmates Looks to NYC
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology... Google Said to Consider Buying Waze (Bloomberg)… On-Demand Delivery Startup Postmates Preparing for NYC Launch (TechCrunch)… INFOGRAPHIC: How Location Data Is Being Collected And Transforming The Mobile Industry (Business Insider)…
Report: Brands Can Save Big by Centralizing Local Marketing
With 99% of co-op dollars spent offline, national brands are missing a massive opportunity to reduce marketing costs and generate leads for local affiliates, according to a new report by Marchex. The study, which analyzed data from past campaigns on the platform, found that by centralizing local marketing campaigns traditionally left to less-savvy local affiliates brands can dramatically improve the impact of their local efforts….
LION President: ‘Indie’ Readership, Revenues ‘Reaching New Heights’
“There’s no ‘proven model’ other than the precept that local news works when it is just that,” said LION president Dylan Smith. “Every community is different; attempting to cover every town and city by ticking a few boxes in a top-down plan is foolhardy at best, and insulting to local readers at worst – as well as being a great way to lose millions of dollars.”
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