News and Analysis

Google Local Service Ads: Ready for Primetime

“While I do think this is about a new revenue stream in new categories and cleaning up spammy industries the rebranding might just also be an effort (unusual for Google) brand clarity around their Google Home product,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their bi-weekly column..

Deep Dive Into Facebook Finds Dim Revenue Hopes for News Sites

Grzegorz Piechota, a digital strategist for news media companies worldwide, talked with Street Fight recently about his research into Facebook for WAN-IFRA and what his findings may augur for publishers in their quest for more revenue from the platforms, especially at the local level.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Sets Sights on Yelp and Foursquare, Uber Approves $10B SoftBank Deal

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Relaunches Events App as Facebook Local… Uber Approves SoftBank’s Multi-Billion Dollar Investment Offer… Spirited Media Fights Collapse of Local News…

Latest Posts

Discussion of Local Marketing Emphasizes the Essential Role of Data

In a webinar on Tuesday YP’s Sanjay Sood and Andrew Shotland of LocalSEOGuide talked about the evolving local data ecosystem as well as the growing opportunities for marketers to leverage these new datasets to buttress existing local marketing efforts…

Understanding the Local Consumer’s Online Path to Purchase

Consumers are using the web to become highly informed about everything they buy, and what they see (or don’t) about a business online affects whether they purchase from that company. It’s much more complex and time-consuming for small businesses to reach these digital consumers than ever before, so it’s up to solutions providers to help clients create and sustain a total web presence…

5 Misconceptions SMBs Have About Mobile Advertising

Even as small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly warming to digital marketing, questions and misinformation persist about how mobile campaigns reach local consumers and influence their behavior. We asked a few folks who work in the mobile sphere to provide us a taste of the kind of concerns about mobile ads they’re hearing from SMBs…

Facebook Looking for Local Media Partners With ‘Reach and Relationships’

“In an ideal world, all SMBs would come to Facebook to manage their own pages,” said Dan Levy, the company’s director of small business. “But our recognition is that there are folks who have those trusted relationships with SMBs,” and Facebook wants to work with them…

Street Fight Daily: ‘Find My Friends’ on Facebook, DFM Considers Paywall

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App (Bloomberg)… Digital First Media is Working on Paywalls, Even Though It Really Doesn’t Want To (PaidContent)… Will “Stalking Apps” Be Stopped? (Time)…

FTC Pushes Privacy Guidelines for Mobile: What It Means for Hyperlocals

Hyperlocal businesses that rely on location-based services to reach customers must consider new safeguards — such as “up-front” disclosures and “do not track” mechanisms — to stay in line with new mobile guidelines issued Friday by the Federal Trade Commission…

Yodle CEO: Nearly 40% of the Leads We Generate Come From Mobile

In the fast-churning world of small-business-focused digital start-ups, Yodle’s nearly eight years in the business already make it a bit of a veteran player. Street Fight recently caught up with the company’s CEO, Court Cunningham, to talk about the future of mobile advertising and why small business websites are still so important as marketing channels…

7 Cloud-Based POS Systems for SMBs

Cloud-based POS platforms differentiate themselves from one another with advanced integrations with digital loyalty programs, accounting tools, and mechanisms for creating gift cards and coupons, in addition to varying price structures. Here are seven POS systems, each with its own features for merchants…

Street Fight Daily: Path Privacy Flaw, Facebook’s Offline Payments

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Privacy Flaw in Path’s iPhone App Shares Location Data (The New York Times)… Facebook Offers Physical Gift Cards for Selected Retail Stores (PC World)… A Local Community Meets to Save Hyperlocal Digital Journalism (Reader)…

Openings & New Hires at eBay, Foursquare, Copilot, Condé Nast, Square, and More…

Two high-profile exits took place this week — those of Jack Abraham at eBay and Keith Rabois at Square. In both cases, the tales are still unfolding. At Group Commerce, 28% of the staff was cut. Meanwhile, other employers are picking up their pace, advertising openings in sales, product management, design, social media, and management. Learn more about who’s changing jobs and where you can apply for a job now…