Amazon.com, which is moving in multiple directions vis-à-vis local, has agreed to buy TeachStreet, the service for matching teachers and students. Amazon’s interest appears to be less in TeachStreet than in the underlying e-commerce platform for SMBs. The platform already…
Business-to-business companies are catering to a growing crop of decision-makers who are turning to the Internet for purchase information according to data from Marin Software. The average cost per click in the B2B paid search space increased 29 percent from…
The Home Depot is set to significantly boost its home contractor leads network with today’s acquisition of Redbeacon. No price was announced for the acquisition. The deal puts Home Depot in the same boat as Sears, which has been quietly…
Constant Contact, an email marketing company, announced its acquisition of mobile app developer CardStar this week. CardStar developed a mobile app where consumers are able to store all of their existing loyalty cards, rather than having to carry multiple, physical…
Thumbtack, which has set itself to compete against Angie’s List and ServiceMagic in the SMB leads space, has raised $4.5 million from Javelin Venture Partners, with MHS Capital and Tim Draper participating. The eight-person San Francisco company, founded in 2009,…
How big can SMB scheduling be? And how universal across SMB categories? Those are the questions posed by the addition of scheduling to Groupon (Groupon Scheduler) and MerchantCircle, as well as the rise of several independent scheduling sites, such as…
Our audience might be upset that Jed’s Burgers, a fictitious business set up for the Yext PowerListings demo isn’t real. What may be more upsetting is the fact that 20 percent of local searches will return the wrong information. Lerman…
SMB marketing companies have forgotten that local businesses still see calls as a key driver of new business. That's the opinion expressed by Marchex Executive VP Matthew Berk during today's session on "Converting Calls to Local Sales." To succeed in…
How many small businesses have done a deal at this point? Twelve percent, according to a new survey of 2,500 SMBs by MerchantCircle. That’s about a third higher than MerchantCircle’s June survey. The survey also found a lot of Facebook…
Yelp launched its local review site in Australia today and cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman traveled to the country for the occasion. Since 2004 the company has accumulated a database of more than 22 million reviews, none of which has included Australian…
Yellow Medya, formerly Turkey Yellow Pages, announced a partnership today with the world's largest travel site, TripAdvisor, in Turkey. The Yellow Pages publisher will integrate TripAdvisor onto all its platforms, including online and mobile. As a result, it will have…
Yelp’s S-1, which was issued last week as a run-up to a $100 million IPO, reveals a lot of new data about the reviews leader. The big question about Yelp has been whether it can grow against increased pressure from…
It is an article of faith that small businesses drive the U.S. economy, acting as incubators of innovation, and leading all forms of employment growth, especially for immigrants determined to raise their living standards. I’ll always remember New York Mayor…
Facebook has become an important marketing channel to SMBs, according to InfoGroup's quarterly Small Business Marketing Outlook. Twenty percent of those surveyed said Facebook was extremely/very important, and 24 percent said it was somewhat important. Twitter is important, too. Twenty-four…
Angie’s List issued an S-1 this week as it seeks to raise $75 million from an IPO. The S-1 is full of details about the 16-year-old service reviews company. Its massive, $60 million national ad campaign over the past 18…
Specialized verticals are a major part of the new marketplaces environment. One vertical we like is TeachStreet, a portal that helps consumers find teachers, and then helps sign them up and process payments. Along the same lines is TakeLessons, a…
Online retail spending reached $37.5 billion, up 14 percent from a year ago, according to comScore's latest quarterly study. Highlights from comScore's study include: The 14-percent growth in the quarter was primarily a function of an increase in the number of…
The new breed of lead providers for services appears to have slowed down. While Angie’s List is all over the air waves, building its consumer base for an expected IPO, and ServiceMagic is performing well for IAC, and expanding, not…
Yelp is heading down under to Australia via a partnership with the directory company Sensis where it will integrate Sensis' local business listing data into its site. In turn, Sensis' local sales force will sell Yelp.com.au to Australian SMBs. Neither…
BIA/Kelsey's DMS ’11 event is shaping up nicely as a summit of leading innovators in small-business marketing and advertising solutions. Anyone selling directly to SMBs or building solutions for those that do should attend this event. The premise of DMS…