The search marketing firm WebVisible was abruptly closed down by its creditors over the holidays, with CEO Ron Burr managing only to convince the company’s lenders to wait until after Christmas to foreclose on the business. As of Dec. 27 the company no longer exists, and its employees (estimated at 130 back in March but likely fewer at the end) were left with little to do but go home to wait for their final paychecks to arrive in the mail.

In an email to employees, Burr explained the company’s demise this way:

It is with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that today, December 27, 2011 is the last day of operation for WebVisible. I know this is a shock and has come abruptly. Even with all our efforts to recover throughout this past year, we found ourselves in a position in which the debt load of the company was simply too much to overcome. Our bank foreclosed on its loan which means they are taking over the company’s assets and collecting all remaining payments. As a result they have forced the company to shut down. We proposed many different options, attempting to negotiate with the bank, trying to find some alternative, but they are simply not open to alternatives. This happened quite suddenly, and the timing could not be more unfortunate.

Back in March, we talked to Burr about his vision for WebVisible. He had taken over the leadership of the company six months earlier from founder Kirsten Mangers. At that time, Burr insisted the business was generating about $25 million in revenues and was poised for sustainable growth. He said WebVisible made some “expensive mistakes” in focusing WebVisible on a direct to SMB model rather than on serving its reseller partnerships. Burr refocused the business on its partners, but apparently he wasn’t successful in generating enough revenues to service the debt and keep the lenders happy.

ReachLocal announced Wednesday that it entered a strategic alliance with SureFire Search, a New Zealand marketing agency that works with small and medium-sized businesses. The move will expand ReachLocal’s global presence, which includes online ad campaigns in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.

ReachLocal trained SureFire Search’s sales force to deliver its products and services, including ReachSearch and ReachDisplay, to New Zealand businesses. ReachSearch delivers local advertisers’ marketing messages through ads across popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. ReachDisplay allows local businesses to reach customers using display advertising on publisher sites like Facebook.

The New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development reported that small and medium-sized businesses employing 50 or fewer employees in 2009 accounted for 99 percent of total businesses in the country. Yellow Pages New Zealand has long enjoyed a favorable market position with small-business advertisers as the country’s dominant directory publisher. But YPG’s online directory market share may decline with an international player like ReachLocal offering search engine and display advertising to its core advertisers. Another new entrant to the local online space in New Zealand is Localist, which is backed by the New Zealand Post.

In his keynote address at DMS ’10, Yext CEO Howard Lerman pointed to the imminent release of a tags product in response to Google Tags and emphasized that tags could grow into the standard local advertising unit. Sure enough, the company will officially unveil Yext Tags in January across more than a dozen locally oriented partner sites, including AOL’s MapQuest and Patch, Citysearch, SuperPages, Yahoo and Yellowbook. And no, Google is not taking part.

Many will assume that Yext Tags is launching to combat Google’s continued migration into local advertising. Some have even termed this an “anti-Google alliance.” For the non-conspiracy theorist, perhaps it is about integrating online advertising for merchants into a single buy and a central distribution engine. Whatever the case, the key to breaking through with SMBs that have found search engine marketing to be a confusing experience will be simplicity, which is at the core of the new platform.

Pricing is flat rate for advertisers ($99 per month), to be split evenly between Yext and the partner sites where the tags appear. From Yext’s dashboard, businesses can create, distribute and modify tags across a local network that reaches more than 100 million UVs each month. No keyword bidding — these are natural search results, not sponsored ones.

For Lerman’s New York-based start-up, tags broaden the overall value proposition that Yext can offer the 30,000 businesses that are currently using some combination of its pay-per-call and reputation management tools. Initially, Yext will market the product, but will soon allow partners to resell it. Another “next step” will be enabling clients to update their listings and tags from partner sites (not just on them).

While Tags can be messaged any number of ways, many merchants will seize on it to promote deals and offers. This could appeal to national retailers seeking to drive local store traffic in particular areas (a theme that sprouted in 2010 and will only gain stream in 2011). Gold’s Gym, for instance, has been experimenting with localizing offers across the partner network as part of a Tags beta test.

Google first pushed out its Tags offering in June at a flat rate of $25 (seemingly its new magic number, with Google Boost also being peddled at this rate). The search giant recently enlisted at least 100 telesales reps to market Tags and Boost to businesses that have claimed their Places page. Now it is offering $100 million in AdWords credits to SMBs that enroll in Places. Funneled together, these initiatives have many online search and Yellow Pages companies wondering if Google is trying to take their turf.

This isn’t the first coordinated effort to push back against Google. IAC’s CityGrid Media developed over the past year to connect sellers and publishers through a targeted ad engine that optimizes placement for businesses across the network. At BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces conference this past March, CityGrid CEO Jay Herratti described the network as an alternative “scale player” to Google.

Sample Yext Tags Listing

Yext Tags Dashboard (courtesy: TechCrunch)

I sat in on a breakout session this morning at SES Chicago entitled “Local 2.0: The Evolution of Local Search.” Gregg Stewart from TMP division 15miles moderated, with two local SEO experts presenting, David Rodecker or Relevant Ads and Curtis R. Curtis from SharksFly Marketing.

According to the speakers, many of the old rules of local SEO are changing, driven by a range of factors, including the emergence of social media and advances in geo-location.

Rodecker noted that the use of geo-modifiers in domain names, once rewarded, is increasingly a non-factor or even detrimental. This is largely due to advances in how search engines identify user location. Rodecker noted that in his work with clients, he has seen wide variation in ranking between those with and without a geomodifier. Often the pages best optimized for a category saw better results than those optimized for geography. This was not a welcome message to some SMBs in the room  that had gone well down the geo-modifier path.

Both speakers made it clear that local online marketers need to find a long-term solution to using call tracking numbers without undermining themselves from an SEO standpoint. The search world puts a premium on on consistency, and call tracking numbers undermine this with a different numbers in each of the various online ads an SMB places.

Rodecker recommended using images and javascript as workarounds for call tracking numbers. While Curtis agreed, he was quite adamant in asserting that “call tacking is one of the things you want to avoid.” Given that much of BIA/Kelsey’s data suggests SMBs place a premium value on calls as a leads source, this is a serious issue for local marketers.

The speakers were also clear that the local ecosystem is not all about Google anymore. Bing is an emerging local player, and Facebook is already a local juggernaut, with 2 million online businesses and climbing, a number that is fast approaching the estimated 4 million SMBs on Google. Add to this the emergence of location based services like 4 Square and Twitter and the local ecosystem looks more and more like a multi-headed monster.

The room this morning was packed, mostly with small businesses or agencies that represent them, and the messaging was directed to those having to grapple with the constantly moving goalpost that is local SEO.

As local businesses increasingly transition their advertising dollars online, they expect agencies and publishers to furnish them with simple, consolidated solutions supported by tangible, trackable ROI. MerchEngines built its white-label “relationship generation” system to enable online marketing providers to do just that for their SMB clients.

In a crowded online marketplace, where bigger firms such as ReachLocal, Yodle and WebVisible also compete to service SMB agents, MerchEngines’ value proposition is the comprehensiveness of the toolkit that publishers can implement and local merchants can benefit from.

There are eight key features in the suite, including a “SocialStream” layer that tracks activity across four prominent social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Buzz).

PPC search campaign management is fundamental to online search offerings, and MerchEngines is no different, supplying a single interface to customize, amend and track campaigns across multiple search engines. Tied to both SEM and social is CallAnalytics, the branded service that allows SMBs to establish call-tracking numbers and monitor traffic from both search and social.

Also of note is OneList, which disseminates a local merchant’s listing across more than 40 business directories (Yelp, Superpages.com and many more). The eight-tool portfolio is encompassed in a single online dashboard that agencies and publishers can conveniently access to monitor and change campaigns.

MerchEngines was founded in 2005 by longtime Internet executive Andy Steuer. In 2009 it sold to Hostopia, the Web site hosting unit of Deluxe Corp.

We had the opportunity to sit down with industry leader MediaTrust to understand the major changes in the in the performance marketing (pay-for-results) category and the challenges of developing a cost-per-lead (CPL) model.

MediaTrust began as an affiliate marketing company, but was continually challenged by the deceptive practices of many affiliate marketers and publishers. Understanding there was a better approach, MediaTrust began vetting each of its publishers and affiliate marketers to ensure the quality of its network and to better assure brands would get quality campaign results. As this strategy gained momentum, MediaTrust evolved into a software as a service platform to better serve both publishers and brands. Today, the MediaTrust platform empowers advertisers to use e-mail, display, search and social media advertising to deliver a site visit, lead or sale. MediaTrust’s success was recognized by Inc. Magazine, which named them the ninth-fastest growing U.S. company in 2009.

Pay-for-results campaigns rely on understanding average customer acquisition costs and lifetime value of an acquired client to know how to effectively build a cost-efficient campaign. According to Trip Foster, VP of marketing, “our goal is to provide opportunities further down the sales funnel because advertisers are willing to pay more the closer we can get them to the transaction.” Publishers have become more willing to work on a performance basis because they are better able to monetize their excess inventory with known brands and increase revenues on what would have normally been sold on an ad network as remnant inventory. “There is no scarcity of online inventory; the real challenge is uncovering inventory on quality sites where brand value is protected and predictable results can be achieved.”

Foster describes MediaTrust’s performance marketing platform as “trusted outsourced marketing, bringing together publishers and online marketers who can provide quality leads or transactions based on a specific cost per acquisition.” Like most multimedia approaches, MediaTrust is platform agnostic focusing more on where quality leads and transactions come from. “We spend a lot of time testing campaigns to determine how best to drive ideal cost per acquisition and are willing to seek out new publishers or affiliate marketers who can best optimize a campaign via online direct response mechanisms such as search, display advertising, re-targeting or e-mail marketing.” The recent acquisition of Bardon Advisors, an L.A.-based CPC and affiliate marketing firm, allows MediaTrust to serve the full online sales funnel with cost per click (CPC), cost per lead (CPL) and cost per acquisition (CPA).

When asked about the growth of the performance marketing category, Foster said “the majority of online campaigns will move to a pay-for-results model. Even brand advertising is tied in some way to a specific response mechanism for more precise campaign measurement and ROI. The local portion of paying only for results, on the other hand, will be a more complicated scenario given the challenges of a smaller scope of geography, more limited inventory and possibly cost-per-acquisition numbers that might not make sense.”

As marketers continue to move away from impression-based online models, performance marketing is seen as a more direct way of measuring ROI, allowing brands and advertisers to maximize spend and grow their business. While multimedia publishers possess a number of online inventory options within their own ad networks, driving significant and affordable acquisition costs requires more specialized tools and partners to build up this portion of their business. As publishers and even broadcasters look to better maximize their online inventory with brand advertisers, online performance marketing seems to be a smart play.

Plan to hear more about MediaTrust’s views on leads-based products and selling at our upcoming Directional Media Strategies conference in Dallas, Texas, where Foster will provide his views on the category on the panel titled “Leads-Based Selling: Salvation or False Hope?”

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 on the move whose team members have a passion for what they are doing.

Lerman described the company as “the next generation directory bringing together social, directional and lead generation in a single offering.” Segmentation has been the key to Yext’s success in building up its advertiser base. Yext investigates and develops categories by recruiting influential advisers within a category, such as fitness, so it better understands the challenges of the category, what is important in building business (calls, clicks, appointments, etc.), types of media used and how to speak the language within the category. “Our goal is to be deep into categories rather than be shallow across many categories,” said Distelburger.

Yext’s recent real-time feed reputation management product, Yext Rep, has been very successful with many current and new advertisers that have adopted it. “More than 80 percent of Yext Rep customers have logged into the system since signing on, which has exceeded all of our expectations,” Distelburger said.

Yext hopes the Yext Rep dashboard becomes the means for advertisers to self select add-ons and campaign extensions based on their needs. The system is built to be open to new applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, directory sites and even Foursquare. Yext Rep also contains the Yext Call tracking product, which records and transcribes calls for easier tracking and action steps.

“Advertisers will tell us or even show us what they want; our goal is to provide an easy-to-use platform for them to add on and track their media choices to measure success,” Lerman said. “We definitely have an advertiser-focused strategy.”

When asked about his view on local, Lerman was quick to point out that “distance is the most relevant measure for advertisers and consumers because it determines how far you are willing to go and it reflects a clear understanding of where your customers are located.” Social media is a way of measuring the impact a company is having in its community, which local SMBs clearly understand.

Distelburger added that “we are seeing SMBs beginning to embrace online/social as a core part of the way they think about local media. SMBs have always been hyper concerned with their reputation. There is now a digitized forum for them to engage with, which they are beginning to understand and interact with.”

Plan to hear more about Yext’s views on local directional media at our upcoming Directional Media Strategies conference in Dallas, Texas, where Howard Lerman will provide a keynote address discussing his views on how small and medium-sized advertisers will drive leads in the future using online performance-based advertising.

_______

Editor’s note: Our previous conversation with Yext can be found here.

G5 Search Marketing is poised to further leverage its growth in several high-yield verticals after announcing a $15 million investment from Volition Capital to close out its first round of financing.

CEO Dan Hobin told BIA/Kelsey that the company plans to use the proceeds to “enhance the current content management system and search products” in its suite of services, as well as introduce new mobile and social applications for the platform. Mobile applications are expected to roll out later this year, with social tools to follow.

The local search marketing firm, which debuted as a specialist in the self-storage vertical, has since broadened to serve clients in multi-family housing and student housing. Capitalizing on the online migration of mid-market companies, G5 now serves more than 160 clients and 2,400 properties in its vertical sectors and nearly doubled its total revenues over the past year. 

Hobin emphasized that Volition’s investment will enable G5 to explore growth into additional verticals, with no concrete timeline for when and where expansion could occur.

The Bend, Oregon, company touts its holistic G5 Platform, a five-tenet framework that allows SMBs to “manage, measure and optimize” their local online marketing strategy through SEO, SEM, tracking phone calls, measuring cost-per-customer acquisition and a host of other services. “People are getting more sophisticated and want better data and control,” Hobin said. “They’re looking for a platform that does everything … a complete solution.”

ReachLocal says it is going ahead with its IPO. A new filing with the SEC noted that it will price 4.8 million shares between $17 and $19, allowing it to raise between $81.6 million and $91.2 million — below the $100 million it originally wanted to raise. If the IPO is successful, it may be followed by IPOs from WebVisible, Yodle and Clickable.

Prior to the filing, doubts have been raised whether ReachLocal’s IPO would see the light of day. While Reach’s revenues have been strong, from a typical base of 15,000+ customers, churn rates suffered throughout the industry have raised concern. Google’s recent efforts to cut back on markups charged by third-party resellers like ReachLocal hasn’t helped either.

But ReachLocal has been enhancing its appeal to SMBs by broadening its range of paid and organic services in creative and valuable ways. In March, for instance, it purchased SMBLive, a business profile and Web site service, for $8.5 million.

McClatchy Co., the third-largest newspaper entity with 30 newspapers in 29 markets, including The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, will aggressively target SMBs in each of its markets via an extended deal with WebVisible. The deal, per release, “will help local advertisers provide the most efficient way to get found by customers no matter how they’re looking — in newspaper listings, newspaper web sites, or search engines, or via mobile phones or navigation devices.”

The company has had a long relationship with WebVisible, offering services in Kansas City; Tacoma, Washington; and Fresno. But now it is pulling out all the stops. Anchorage and Charlotte have already been added; the next phase will include Boise, Miami and Sacramento. By December, the rollout will encompass all 30 daily newspapers in 29 U.S. markets.

James Calloway, McClatchy VP of strategic development, tells us that McClatchy’s sales forces have seen a dramatic increase in advertisers demanding help for getting into search marketing. “There is a learning curve. It is a different state of mind,” he says. But McClatchy’s papers that have been working with WebVisible have “done well.”

Calloway says a key to getting it right has been to offer advertisers an option of going with either a guaranteed click model or a budget based model offering a range of services for a fixed amount. Over time, he sees the guaranteed model fading. But “we basically need to cover it,” he says.

Calloway’s gut feeling is that the offering will take some time to develop in each market, but that it will get decent numbers from the get-go and will continue to grow over time. It will be part of a broader package, he says. The WebVisible effort is being supported by McClatchy’s five-person local market development team, which is based in Miami. They work on a a SWAT team basis, in which they hit a market, get it going and move on to the next one. They are tasked with in-market sales training and ramping up revenues.

WebVisible recently raised $20 million, and has raised more than $37 million in all, as it competes against other third-party SMB sales companies such as ReachLocal, Yodle, Marchex and Orange Soda.