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…
CEO Says Yelp Is at ‘Peak Desktop’ — Is It Also Nearing Peak Growth?
Yelp posted its first-ever annual profit Thursday, but sluggish user growth sent shares of the reviews company tumbling in after-hours trading. As much as Yelp may want to rid itself of its dependency on Google, the search giant has provided a critical platform for it to grow its user base…
Street Fight Daily: Google Now Opens Up, Yelp Back in Court
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Now Becomes “Platform,” Incorporates Third Party Content, Apps (Screenwerk)… Yelp Goes To Court To Protect Identity Of Anonymous Review-Writer (Consumerist)… Two Takeaways About LivingSocial From Amazon’s Yearly Statement (Washington Business Journal)…
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo’s Local Search Struggles, Facebook Doubles Mobile Revenue
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Has Yahoo! Just Given Up on Local/Mobile Search? (Screenwerk)… Facebook Doubles Mobile Ad Revenue, but Costs Also Rise (Recode)… Is 2015 the Year of the Regional Super Bowl Ad? (AdWeek)…
YP Now Lets You Target Mobile Ads Based on Desktop Searches
The company has announced a new partnership with Tapad that will allow marketers to use the company’s desktop search data to targets ads to the the same user on their mobile device. The move should help open the impressions in the firm’s mobile ad network to the billions of dollars spent on retargeting campaigns…
Why Call Tracking Works Across a Variety of Local Marketing Contexts
Call tracking and analytics can be implemented across any media channel — although online search, directories and context-based marketing are especially important avenues. The key is to include a tracking component to measure and capture post-call, offline information and behavior in order to identify real advertising value…
Optimizing Your Pay-Per-Call Campaign
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…
Why Local Marketing Is a Function of Commerce, Not Media
I’ve come to believe that the initial narrative about digital — the one about eyeballs simply moving online — actually impedes an effective analysis of the local marketing industry. Once we see local marketing as a function of commerce (ad not media) we start to find a more dramatic shift than previously thought.
Street Fight Daily: Zomato Buys Urbanspoon, Ford Opens Dashboard
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Zomato Food Portal Buys Urbanspoon to Expand in U.S. (Businessweek)… With Applink 3.0, Ford Lets You Choose Your Navigation App (GigaOm)… 75% Of Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) Say Internet Marketing Is Effective (Street Fight)…
Report: Online and Digital Ads to Reach 25% of Local Media Revenues in 2015
Total local media revenues are expected to reach $139.3 billion next year, up from $137 billion this year, for a 1.6% growth rate, with digital and online advertising surpassing the one-quarter mark for the first time, according to BIA/Kelsey’s 2015 U.S. Local Media Forecast. “Mobile and social are growing faster than imagined,” said Mark Fratrik, the company’s chief economist…
Why So Many Local Search Sites Are Adding Business Services
Strategies around SEO, listings management and SEM have long helped businesses generate clicks, calls and store visits. And while this remains true, search sites have recently begun putting more emphasis on adding tools and services that look to accelerate the purchase process…