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30 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Need to take a break from business and root on my New Yorks Giants this weekend! I have to congratulate the Patriots on going undefeated this season, which is very impressive but I have to pat my Giants on the back too. Who would have thought they would have made it to the SuperBowl? I surely did not but they are here–this is why I think they have a chance. No one thought they would go anywhere but they proved folks wrong at every step! Now I am not going to be like Plaxico Burgess and make a prediction but I have set up a friendly wager with Ben Saren of CitySquares on the outcome of the game. Ben, here is my selection for SuperBowl XLII: 
30 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Last year, I wrote, “Local Search Ain’t Perfect, So What” and I still agree that “you got to live with what you have.” Yes local search is not perfect but it is growing and developing. Since that post, there have been a few articles on the subject that I want to pull together here. [I have been working on this post on and off for some time-I am tired of looking at it, so I decided to go with what I had :)] There are three articles, the first two articles I thought brought up some good points were: 1. The REAL Problem with Local Search by David Mihm in which David said, “The Real Problem With Local Search Is That Search Engines And Local Listings Sites Aren’t Returning Results That Users Want To See. And a greater variety of PPC offerings and banner ads simply isn’t going to improve matters, because small businesses can’t afford online advertising on a permanent (or even semi-permanent) basis, anyway, on more than one or two sites.” 2. Why today local search fails - and how to fix it by Frank Fuchs. Frank feels the problem is that there is too much to choose from and an information overflow for the user. The data and information presented on-line are not well organized to help customers to make good choices. I thought the comments and discussion in the comment section was just as informative as the article. The final article and the one that I thought best summarized things was by Donna Bogatin, Local Advertising Online: SMEs Hold the Billion Dollar Keys, ILM ANALYSIS. Donna was tasked with the job of providing a wrap up on ILM conference from last fall. “I agree and believe SMEs are the current big stumbling blocks, for three principal reasons: SME Adoption Rates, SME Control Issues and SME Market Confusion.” Donna goes on to explain, what each of these are: -most local businesses do no advertising whatsoever in any medium and will continue this way -control (or lack of) of online reviews -there is so many different options and “sales pitches” out there it is confusing She summarizes it nicely saying, “The local ecosystem is an evolutionary one, hoping for revolutionary movements, nevertheless.” I agree with her points and repeat what I have said before-it will be interesting to see how it all plays out but despite these flaws or problems, I think it still is important for small business to get involved in local search.
28 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Paul O’Brien sent me a note, letting me know about some exciting news at Zvents:
From what I have read and seen, it looks pretty cool. You can read the press release, here. Thanks Paul.
22 Jan This post is from from my other blog here
Q. Darby, can you our readeers a little about yourself? A. I am a 14-year veteran in the Internet space. Starting back in 1994, I laid the groundwork for my first company. We were a development firm trying to create an e-commerce platform that we wanted to integrate with an online directory. Needless to say, a little ahead of our time. We sold that business in 1999. From 1999-01, I had the privilege of building the my3web.com portal for a Calgary based company called Cybersurf. At this time I was the lead for traffic and monetization, and this was great experience leading me into the National Internet scene. In 2002, after Bell ActiMedia closed their Western Canada operations - I along with 2 partners formed a company called KS2 Solutions whereby we represented YellowPages.ca for Western Canada. During that operation we set-up media tracking, search marketing and a solid consulting business. I subsequently sold the business assets to Yellow Pages Group when they acquired Super Pages in 2005. Now I am the Director of Online Services for Yellow Pages Group. I grew up in a town of less than 300 people in Saskatchewan, then Calgary and now Toronto - it has been quite a ride. I suppose the next logical step would be New York - joking. Q. What is the state of social networking/marketing in Canada? A. Well in the last 12-months it has pretty much been Facebook. They have really taken the Canadian market by storm. Did you know that this past December, ComScore reported them with 15.3M UV’s (64.7% reach) up from 2.3M UV’s (9.9% reach), which is incredible growth and truly a remarkable story. Myspace is popular here (4.5M UV’s in December - 18.9% reach), but there is definitely something about Facebook that has attracted Canadian’s. Q. What is the state of local search in Canada? A. Similar to the rest of the world, Canada has the same players competing for local. The most common are the search engines, directories, vertical plays and some interesting new content syndication models. However, the division of usage is very different in Canada compared to that of the US. The biggest difference is the strength of the largest directory player - Yellow Pages Group - that has a network reach of 40%+ of Canadians, on any given month. In Canada, Yellow Pages is a registered trademark and I think this has given strength to the brand. Search engines are also very strong in Canada with Google making up the lions share of horizontal searches. If we look specifically at the local space (as best we can) and compare Yellow Pages Group to that of Google Maps in Canada (via ComScore), you notice that the YP player in Canada has a larger reach. Again, very different that the US market. Q. How would ...
16 Jan This post is from from my other blog here The Internet is a wonderful resource tool for small business, but it is a dynamic one. What is said today, might not apply next week. Through my web surfing, I have found a number of nice resources for those who wanted to do some local search marketing themselves. As with the “normal” search engines, there are so many options available. Here is a list of what I current have seen that look good. If you find or know of any more, please let me know. Guide On How To Get Your Business Listed On Major Local Search Engines, Yellow Pages Sites and Social Local Networks over at Locallytype Business Portals & Local Listing Guide over at eCommerceOptimization Local Search Guide.org has number of good resource pages Local Search Solutions huge list of local search sites
12 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Just found out that LocalBizBits has a post (Local Search on Facebook) nominated for the SEMMYs Local Search category. You can see all those nominated here. Once the finalists are chosen, public voting will begin. Keep your fingers crossed.
11 Jan This post is from from my other blog here The conclusion of our interview with Jay Mallinckrodt of Yokld.com Q. How are businesses added to the system? via individuals? via on-line databases? A. Any business can be added by any member of the Yokld user community at any time. At this point we have opted not to purchase a local database since we want the content to only include the user communities favorite local businesses. Q. I have done a bit of searching through Yokld and I keep getting the message “Sorry, no businesses could be found that meet your filter criteria”… A. Since Yokld is being built out based on user generated content some geographic locations don’t have businesses added for them yet. As the user base grows the content will grow exponentially with the community. Q. How many businesses do you currently have in the database. A. The Yokld user community, since November 2007, have added over 1,450 of their favorite business to Yokld. Q. How is this any different from Yelp? A.
Q. Why do you think Yokld will work and/or survive? A.
Q. Where do you see local search going in 2008? A. We believe that the local search market has great potential in 2008 with;
10 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Today I am speaking with Jay Mallinckrodt from Yokld.com. Q. What is Yokld.com? A. Yokld is a “Best Of” local business ranking social platform that is 100% compiled and commented on by users. The idea is simple - the more times a business gets “Yokl’d” (voted for) the higher in the rankings it will be listed.
Q. Who is behind Yokld.com? A. Yokld has been founded by myself, focused on marketing and site development, and the following partners: Joel Dow - Technical and Site Development Jim Glynn – Marketing and Sales The three of us have been working on the Yokld concept for the last six/seven months. We all work full time in different industries and are focusing on Yokld in our free time. Q. How does it work? A. The Yokld user community can:
Q. What make Yokld different from the other on-line directories? A. The Yellow Pages only provides alphabetical lists or listings differentiated by the size of an advertisement. Therefore, the only way for a user to make a distinction is through the amount of money spent by a particular company. This does not assist in discriminating good experiences from bad. Search engine results simply provide electronic Yellow Pages or paid placement ads. Again, this information doesn’t help separate the great from the mediocre. Local search sites like CitySearch and Yelp! provide user generated content for local businesses using a controversial five-star rating system. Users debate the use of the five-star rating because people within the general population have very different tastes. This ranking system provides no way to tell if a group of people ranking a business shares the same tastes as a specific user. We will continue tomorrow…
08 Jan This post is from from my other blog here Reading the post, Anatomy & Optimization Of A Local Business Profile, got me thinking about business profiles again. I had previously mentioned them here. Also Brian Wool, wrote about them in his post, Is One Good Web Site Enough for a Local Business? Brian said: “I don’t think these profile pages are meant to — or can — replace a well-built Web site. But for some business categories, where in-depth product details, services, or inventory are necessary, profile pages can help drive traffic.” Chris also expressed this sediment, “Optimizing business listings and profiles can make all the difference in enabling potential customers to find you and in selecting you from your pack of competitors.” They, as do I, think small businesses should take advantage of using local business profiles. It probably should not be your primary web presence but consider it an easy way to get a link to your web site. Today, I wanted to mention there are tons of business directories on-line and I do not think you should blindly start listing in every one you find. Your time is valuable so choose wisely. Some directories do a good job listing buisnesses, while others are useless. If you decide to do this yourself, use the article by Chris as a guide. Look to see what options the directory offers, look to see how much advertising is present, how SEO friendly it might be, and also to see if they submit or have partnerships with the search engines/IYP/directories. A couple that I like and have used are CitySquares, ShowMeLocal, Superpages and of course Yahoo and Google. There are many directories out there being run by those who know nothing about marketing, local search, etc. Why? There are many companies/programs that will sell you (for a monthly fee) your own local directory. “a great home business opportunity”, “after a small set up fee and a low monthly fee and you keep 100% of all sales!” Please! Those I have seen look cheap, very “canned”, and definitely are not search engine friendly. I won’t name names, but you should be able to tell them apart. If you need some help with your local business profile, please feel free to contact me.
06 Jan This post is from from my other blog here There are three articles I would like you to read (if you have not yet). Understanding the Needs of a Searcher by Gareth Davies over at Marketing Pilgram. This is a summary of a presentation given at SMX London in 2007. It is a long article but has some great info and definitely will make you think (no pun intended). It covered some psychological theory to help explain the psyche of a searcher. Smooth Sea Never Made a Skilled Mariner by Bill Slawski. “As a small business owner, the web holds a lot of challenges that if navigated successfully may yield some treasures.” Bill covers a number of topics that should be of interest to small business owners today- mobile search, social networking, and audio podcasts. These are all areas that a small business can use to make themselves stand out from the crowd. I really like how Bill ended the post: “..there are no clear guidelines or maps leading to success in these relatively uncharted waters. Like any business opportunity, it can pay off doing some research, and mapping out possible directions before committing too much time and resources into any one effort. In facing these challenges, small businesses can as easily be trailblazers as large businesses.” Yes, small businesses can compete and set the curve like the big guys, if they put their mind to it! The final article is Anatomy & Optimization Of A Local Business Profile by Chris Silver Smith. “Optimizing business listings and profiles can make all the difference in enabling potential customers to find you and in selecting you from your pack of competitors.” A great listing of the potential the small business profile can have. When I build user profiles for small businesses, I basically go through the list Chris presented here. I have a bit more to say about the business profile but I will comment in the next post.
02 Jan This post is from from my other blog here I am not one to make predictions but I do set up resolutions or goals each year. The “professionals” say not to go overboard and create too many goals simply because you can only get so much done. I decided to create four for right now and will add more as needed. My goals are simple. 1. Build my business more. (I know this is everyone’s goal….but if you know of anyone looking for local search marketing or SEM help, think of me) 2. Continue networking. If you are on LinkedIn, Facebook, MyBlogLog, etc, lets connect! 3. Continue to build LocalBizBits readership and advertising revenue. I love blogging and I am always looking for ways to support it. 4. Attend at least one of the big local search conferences. If anyone wants to sponsor me..I will be more than happy to plug you here. May 2008 be a great year for everyone!
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by 
“Zvents is releasing today (Jan 28, 2008) Federated Local Search. The blended experience will combine all facets of local content into one SERP: business listings, movies, restaurants, events, sales, performers/celebrities (in town), sports, etc.”
Today I am catching up with Darby Sieben, of 
Q. How did you come up with the name?
A. We were looking for a relatively short available domain name that highlighted the drilled down nature of the local directory we planned to build when we came up with Yokld.com. Yokld is a play on the term “Local Yokel” with a couple letters removed and others mashed together.