Leading off the day at the Internet Summit, Chip Perry, CEO of AutoTrader, revealed that the company’s main business focus is not on e-commerce but on filling the gaps in the consumer shopping experience and providing valuable tools for sellers.
“The Internet was supposed to change the buyer-seller interaction,” Perry noted. “But AutoTrader kept in …

CityGrid Media (formerly Citysearch) will extend its paid base of 800,000 advertisers across thousands of neighborhood news pages, courtesy of a display advertising deal with Outside.in. The two companies have been quietly conducting pilot tests of custom ads in “a couple” of markets, leading to the wider rollout.
Outside.in CEO Mark Josephson tells us that the …

Yes, we have heard that officially the recession ended in the summer of 2009. Yes, the stock market has been showing renewed strength over the past few weeks. Yes, even housing starts and sales are showing some recovery.
But even with that good news, why do we still believe that the advertising marketplace will only see …

Show biz marketing accounts are huge, and their agencies are always looking for more ways to localize them. They’ve now inspired efforts by ValPak, the promotions giant, and Eventful, the local events site that boasts an audience of nearly 20 million users. They build on top of earlier local efforts by AOL Digital City, Yahoo …

The small-business market is always attractive to vendors in terms of volume, but many give up in frustration because of its fragmentation, low margins and high-service needs (and churn). Many of these vendors typically seek to move up the value chain to medium- and large-sized businesses. With these, they get both larger contracts and more …

Angie’s List, the premium ratings and review service for home and medical services, has announced that it has raised $22.5 Million from institutional investors as it prepares for an IPO within 18 months. Investors in this round include some public funds managers, including Wasatch Funds.   The company previously raised $48 million, making for a grand …

The Groupon deal-a-day model — “no money upfront, but we’ll take up to 50 percent of the coupon value” — has been met with high satisfaction. Groupon’s internal data show that 97 percent of participating SMBs want to do it again.
But the model has been taking real heat this week from some SMBs on the …

Ad agencies have never really been a major part of the world of local online advertising. Apart from some geotargeting for their national and regional clients, they haven’t paid much attention to the many opportunities in local (geotarget banners, local search, couponing, directory and social).
Where there has been agency support, it has been largely on …

As the demand for dependable call-tracking tools intensifies in the SMB marketplace, WebVisible — the Irvine, California-based local online marketing provider — has unveiled upgrades to its portfolio of services to enable more focused ad geotargeting and greater call-tracking capabilities for businesses.
WebVisible has boosted its Geneva Platform to serve locally targeted ads for its clients across all …

AOL’s Patch gave a progress report today on its $50 million hyperlocal initiative. The site said it now has 100 hyperlocal sites, and will launch 400 more over the next six months. It also said it plans to hire at least one journalist in each community, adding 500 new journalists as part of its growth. …

ShopCity, a storefront and marketing platform for SMBs, hopes to jumpstart its reach via a new “City Manager” program that allows local media partners to secure local URL rights owned by ShopCity (i.e., ShopMountainView.com) and market its services. City Managers, who handle sales and marketing as well as community relations, share revenues …

I had the opportunity to meet with Yext CEO Howard Lerman and President Brian Distelburger to talk about their recent product additions and approach to the SMB marketplace. What struck me as I entered their NYC loft-style office is the energy from the growing telephone sales team. The impression is that this is a company …

The Sacramento area is fast becoming Ground Zero for local blog networks. McClatchy’s Sacramento Connect, a project carved from The Sacramento Bee, is a content connector for 70+ area blogs and Web sites. It started incubating last summer and was fully in place by March.
Connect, which is subtitled “best of the local Web,” can …

ReachLocal delivered its first quarterly report as a public company today, noting that its active advertiser count has climbed 27 percent from 13,200 to 16,700, and that its consolidated revenues grew 47 percent from $47.97 million to $70.362 million. It also reported adding 72 percent more senior salespeople, going from 143 to 246; and 54 …

Scripps’ HGTV Network, which reaches 99 million U.S. households on air, and 5 million unique visitors per month online, announced today that it is partnering with Cox’s Kudzu in a broad agreement with many moving parts.
The deal will provide HGTV’s on-air and online viewers with Kudzu’s local directory and social media information on home repairs …

Zillow announced today that it will power Yahoo’s “for sale” listings, in much the same way that Cars.com powers Yahoo’s new and used cars listings. Zillow typically carries 4 million-plus listings. The announcement spearheads a slew of online real estate announcements prior to next week’s Inman Real Estate Connect conference (which I am attending).
The enhanced …

Groupon announced today that it will work with McClatchy, the third-largest newspaper chain, in 28 McClatchy markets. The rollout begins this month in Sacramento and Kansas City. Other McClatchy markets will be added over the next several months, possibly including titles in Ft. Worth, Miami, Charlotte and Raleigh.
Like Living Social’s earlier deal with The Washington …

Living Social, the No. 2 “deal a day” site after Groupon with $44 million raised, announced today that it has expanded beyond the U.S., adding London as its 27th market. Additional U.K. sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool are up next. Dozens of additional markets worldwide are expected to be launched throughout the year.
We visited …

American Express Open is making a series of moves to extend its massive list of SMB credit card customers into broad marketing relationships that will fully leverage Amex’s powerful brand and relationships. The potential for Amex to be a marketing one stop has always been there. As InfoSpace Founder Naveen Jain noted in 2000, Amex …

New York Connects, the local “content discovery” project launched late last year by New York Magazine and Clickable, has seen definite progress since its launch last December, according to NYmag.com General Manager Michael Silberman. Silberman spoke to us as part for a broad profile on NYmag.com’s extensive vertical efforts being issued in BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces program.
New …