7 Tools SMBs Can Use to Track Leads
When local merchants spend big on digital marketing, they expect to see results. Without using the appropriate tracking technology, however, it can be downright impossible to determine whether a marketing method is working. Here are seven options, each for a different type of business or marketing scenario.
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo’s ReachLocal Partnership, Amazon Wants to Deliver From Farmers Markets
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Follows Google in Building Out Local Search Marketing Reseller Program (Search Engine Land)… Amazon Is Testing Farmers Market Produce Delivery (Los Angeles Times)… Google Reportedly Kills Plan to Let Retailers Send Notifications in Maps (The Verge)…
Street Fight Daily: PayPal Acquires Xoom, ReachLocal Could Extend Yahoo Partnership
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… ReachLocal In Talks To Extend Yahoo Partnership Into Gemini Native Ads (Search Marketing Daily)… Zozi Raises $30 Million in Financing (New York Times)… Google Highlights Low Prices, Mimicking Amazon (Wall Street Journal)…
Street Fight’s 10 Most Popular Stories From the First Half of 2015
In the local space, the first six months of 2015 brought a deeper emphasis on local commerce and the connected local economy, new partnerships, and consolidation and restructuring at legacy players. Here’s a look back at the top Street Fight stories (at least in terms of traffic) so far this year.
ReachLocal CEO: Digital Ad Industry Has a ‘Very Poor Reputation’ Among Small Businesses
Turnarounds take time — and no one is more aware of the challenges than Sharon Rowlands, who took the helm at ReachLocal almost a year ago. In an interview with Street Fight, Rowlands talks why she thinks ReachLocal is not the only company in small business marketing industry with brand problem, fixing the sales culture in local, and the need to move beyond top-line thinking.
Street Fight Daily: Lyft Raises $530M, Google’s New Stores
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Lyft Has Raised $530 Million In Series E Funding Led By Rakuten, Is Now Valued At $2.5 Billion (TechCrunch)… Local “Google Shops” Present New SMB-AdWords Opportunity (Local Search Insider)… Square Buys Payment Hardware Maker Kili Technology (ZDNet)…
How Google Is Fixing Its Small Business Problem
A few years ago, the paradox threatened to undermine the fundamentals of one of Google’s core revenues-generating products, AdWords. In 2011, the churn rate in its search advertising product spiked, leaving managers, including Joe DeMike, now the head of the customer experience lab at Google, scuttling to find a solution…
Serviz CEO: Uber-like Service Providers Will Begin to Displace Local Search
The on-demand service spun out from ReachLocal has snagged another $12.5 million in funding to expand beyond Los Angeles, adding to $2.5 million raised earlier this year. We spoke with CEO Zorik Gordon to talk about the investment climate for local commerce and the implications of these innovations for the local search community…
After Spinoff, ReachLocal Founders Relaunch ClubLocal as Serviz
Late last year, ReachLocal founders Michael Kline and Zorik Gordon parted ways with the company and spun off a still-nascent local commerce project, ClubLocal, that both helped develop. Today, the long-time executives have relaunched the project as Serviz, an application that builds on many of the services core functionality….
ReachLocal CEO: Company Got ‘Distracted By Shiny Things’
After a turbulent twelve months, which saw two founders depart and its stock price plummet, ReachLocal appears to be working on a comeback. Sharon Rowlands, the turn-around expert who took the helm as chief executive four months ago, remains as critical as anyone, but she believes that the company is on track to get things moving in the right direction in 2015…
Street Fight Daily: Square Adds Booking Service, Lyft Drives Uber Competition
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Square Continues to Diversify With Launch of Booking Service (Fortune)… Lyft Drives Uber Competition With False-Order Allegations (Bloomberg)… Online Meal Delivery Firm Foodpanda Raises $60 Million (Recode)…
Putting Small Businesses on the (New) Google Map
Google Maps is a key resource that businesses can use to get more local searchers to discover them online. But can it also help them get more leads? The simple answer is yes, but it’s a not as easy as simply claiming a listing. It’s only by taking advantage of all that Google Maps has to offer — and then tracking how traffic from your maps listing converts into leads and customers — that you can see just how powerful accurate, optimized maps listings can be…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s ‘Nearby Friends,’ Twitter Debuts App Promo Suite
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… 
Facebook’s “Nearby Friends” Feature Aims for More Offline Connections (Recode)… Twitter’s New Ad Unit Is A Huge, Huge Deal. Here’s Why (Forbes)… Citymapper Just Got Off the Funding Bus and Is Now $10M Richer (VentureBeat)…
Hyperlocal Execs’ 2015 Predictions (Part One): Moz, Foursquare, Placed
As we have for the past three years, Street Fight recently asked a number of hyperlocal luminaries to weigh in with their predictions for where local is headed in 2015. We’ll be running their responses in two installments, today and tomorrow…