Answering the question posed yesterday (”Where do we go from here?“), Yahoo’s first move out of the gate in the post Terry Semel era was to acquire high school and collegiate sporting site Rivals.com for a rumored $100 million.
This is a content move, meant to bolster the artillery of Yahoo!’s media group, which has floundered …

R.H. Donnelley’s DexOnline got a face-lift, rebranding and a few functional enhancements yesterday. The new site, known as DexKnows.com was launched throughout Dex’s 14-state region and includes new personalization features (MyDex) and enhanced maps. These provide a noticeably improved site experience over the previous version.
Personalization and Ajax-based mapping are becoming clear standards in local search, …

I love to see examples of grassroots innovation in local online marketing. One of my favorites is an e-newsletter from Sprocket Entertainment, the producers of a local comedy night in my hometown of Carlsbad, CA.
Sprocket is a start-up by two comedians that also produces shows in Spokane, WA. It gets people to sign up for …

The New York Times reports today on the many directions possible for Yahoo! in the wake of Terry Semel’s resignation as chief executive.
Among this range of options is everything from giving up on paid search (outsourcing Google to place search ads) to staying the course with Panama as well as the developing “amigos” newspaper consortium …

Summary
Google has shown a clear interest in beefing up the content that is available to users in Google Local and Google Maps. A few months ago, it announced new features to its Local Business Center to allow businesses to add or edit information about themselves. This is very much in line with good SEO in …

Local.com is in a different “local” category. It aggregates a ton of local content and features, but it doesn’t necessarily vie with local Yellow Pages or search sites for everyday local traffic.
Maybe it would if it could. It has added a lot of functionality. But mostly, with its easy-to-remember URL (which it paid $700k for) …

Today’s news is that Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel is stepping down from his position, which will be filled by founder Jerry Yang. Meanwhile, CFO Sue Decker will become president.
It should be anticipated that Yahoo!’s executive change, which isn’t particularly surprising, will set in motion some other big changes. The company has recently been demoralized by …

In the San Diego edition of AT&T’s White Pages, a minor alphabetical error has some business owners seeing red. According to SignOnSanDiego.com, the latest edition of the San Diego business White Pages ran into trouble with listings beginning with the Spanish prefix “La.” As the article points out: “La Jolla business listings begin and then …

In case you missed any posts last week, here is the TKG blog highlight reel. Click below to read each post in full.
Yellow Pages Is a Growth Industry
A challenge that every marketing person faces is to determine the unique selling proposition (USP) for a product or service and then convey it in an interesting manner …

After being one of the first directory companies to enter the classified market, Telstra’s Sensis has put its Trading Post property up for sale. According to a report in The Age, “Sensis paid $636 million for the fading publication three years ago, but after continuous revenue declines and senior executive departures, The Trading Post is back …

A challenge that every marketing person faces is to determine the unique selling proposition (USP) for a product or service and then convey it in an interesting manner that will encourage the target market to buy. Today, after six months of research, interviews, searching through records, analysis, writing and editing, our directory team has completed …

ComScore recently released its March Video Metrix rankings showing the phenomenal growth and acceptance of video content on the Web. According to the release:

Five out of every seven U.S. Internet users (71.4 percent) streamed video online.
Three out of every 10 (30.1 percent) U.S. Internet users streamed video on YouTube.
The average online video viewer consumed 55 …

Comcast this week announced that it will open up its own island within the virtual world of Second Life. Second Life is increasingly becoming a marketing venue for companies that wish to reach the young and tech-savvy set that play it.
The potential exposure can be more immersive and interactive than other online media, given the …

Some people in the user-generated content community are very Wiki-centric, but there really haven’t been local applications – until now. Our forward looking friends at The San Diego Union Tribune’s SignOn San Diego site have launched a local Wiki to fill out their AmplifiSD music site.
The AmplifiSD Wiki lets registered users contribute and edit local …

Some interesting details about LiveDeal’s operations have been released as the result of its $11.8 million sale to YP.com, which had previously been written about by my colleague Mike Boland. During a June 7 investor call announcing the sale, LiveDeal, a local/college/vertical-oriented classified company that bills itself as “eBay without the auction,” revealed that it …

Summary
Paul Jahn at Search Engine Guide writes today about how fraudulent user reviews can be particularly damning to local search sites. Users are smart, he contends, and can sniff out a fake message from a business owner or constituent. This is consistent with past TKG findings and presents an important challenge for the growing majority …

Summary
The New York Times today continues the ongoing discussion of the iPhone’s potential as a game changer and its possible shortcomings. It brings up the challenge that could arise in getting consumers accustomed to a radically different interface that doesn’t include the tactile control over a mechanical keypad. There are a number of other …

Business 2.0’s Erick Shoenfeld reports on a movement today to see if you can get by without the five major search engines, consisting of Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, (including MSN and Live Search), Ask and AOL. Search Engine Land reports there is also a parallel initiative to see if marketers can spend a day avoiding ad …

Summary
Comcast has begun to serve coverage of local events on its on-demand programming menu. This includes things such as high school sports, local parades and local interest news stories. This is an interesting move for Comcast, and one that further brings out some of the local strengths it has traditionally held. This also brings local …

A new report, written by me and called “The Newspaper Online Shopping Report: Online Relationships with Retailers,” is out today. It is a fairly comprehensive work that gives readers a 360-degree view of what newspapers are doing (and should be doing) to bolster their online shopping environment. While it is only available to members of …