Friday, May 09, 2008
For the past month I've been working on a new campaign highlighting merchants in all 50 states who have used MerchantCircle to grow their business. Here's a sampling of my conversations:
"MerchantCircle has by far, been the most effective, cost-efficient way for me to market my business. It's hands-down, the best bang for my buck. My (ROI) return on investment sky-rocketed. In my first month, spending $30, I made by $1000 in trackable business. I've tried almost everything - Email Campaigns, banner ads - they were a waste of money," said Tuan Hoang, owner of Sky Printing and Graphic Design Services in San Diego, CA.
"Too many people want to sit back and wait for money to roll in - it doesn't work that way. I tell people that MerchantCircle is a combination of the Yellow Pages, Better Business Bureau and Myspace rolled into one. Using MerchantCircle has helped me pay the bills and grow my business," says Tina Elmore-Wright, owner of Scents of Peace in Archer, FL.
"It's important to stick with ways that work, while not missing out on the next opportunity and MerchantCircle has helped us come up at the top of Google search results. MerchantCircle and our website is the only thing we're doing that we consider 21st century," says Tish Whillhite, manager of Border Express Co. in Fort Smith, AR.
"I didn't have the money to build a website, and MerchantCircle was free and easy-to-use. I was able to post my business information, pictures, send out newsletters and coupons to my customers, and the best thing was I was getting about 3,000 hits to my listing a month," says Michael Weaver, owner of Carriage House Cafe in Livermore, ME.
Thanks for the great conversations!
Kevin
MerchantCircle Community Relations
Labels: Border Express Co., Carriage House Cafe, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, Scents of Peace, Sky Printing and Graphic Design Services
Monday, May 05, 2008
We recently got back from a Yellow Page Association Conference, and as much I'm pulling for the industry - they are still far behind in terms of innovation and ability to move quickly. With the stock price of industry heavyweights such as Yell, Idearc, and R.H. Donnelley dropping by as much as 80% from their 52 week highs, you would figure there would be a complete strategy overhaul. Or maybe even a bigger portion of revenues going towards research and developments for new products. As it is, the Yellow Page industry is still firmly planted in a 'print' world; when everyone else is moving online and complimenting those efforts, the Yellow Page industry refuses to believe print will ever be out-placed by the internet .
Neg Norton, President of the Yellow Pages Association, used a large portion of his speech to tout the virtues of Yellow Pages and how 'healthy' the industry is, amidst a sea of criticism and doubt. A defense-laden speech is never one to remember. A keynote should offer innovation, optimism and direction. Undoubtedly, print Yellow Pages still have a wealth of value and many people still use them - but if anyone believes they will stand the test of time - they are kidding themselves.
Here's a portion of Norton's speech:
Print usage is stable, not declining, both here in the U.S. and in
Canada. Domestically there were 13.4 billion print references in 2007, the same
as in 2006. That's roughly 60 times per adult, per year. In Canada, usage of
print Yellow Pages also remains stable. Seven out of ten Canadians have used a
print directory over the past month and two-thirds of business searches still
come from print. These are significant numbers in an environment where many have
decided that "no one uses the Yellow Pages anymore.
Norton goes on to list stats and figures, even using two examples of merchants finding value advertising in the Yellow Pages, as if he had to sell people in his own industry. Out of his entire speech, maybe 1/20 of it was dedicated to any mention of internet and its implications.
Let me ask you: Do you think there is one college kid who's graduated in the last 10 years that didn't have to use the internet in college? Do you think any of those same graduates, who grew up on the internet, and cell phone searches, are ever going to go to the Yellow Pages you and I grew up on?
Out of all the 'old media' industries that have been affected by the internet - music, television, newspaper disrupted by the likes of Napster, iTunes, YouTube, craigslist - Yellow Pages has responded by changing the least. While YP is still largely profitable, the inclination and pressure to change is not as immediate. As publicly traded companies, it may be hard to balance quarterly revenue goals with long-term thinking. On the other hand, one of the most innovative 'old media' companies, Viacom, has rebuilt its brand by focusing on building out almost
300 hundred DIFFERENT sites around its brands!Norton in his speech also says:
The tone and tenor of the entire advertising industry is anxious--- in fact
just one week ago, TNS Media Intelligence reported that U.S. ad spending was
flat in '07 vs '06 and that the 4th quarter '07 ad spend was slightly negative.
Yellow Pages, as a member of that industry, are fighting similar headwinds as
well as misperceptions because we are among the least understood of all
media.
If in fact the Yellow Page industry is the 'least understood,' much of it would have to do with everyone looking in from the outside and seeing so many missed opportunities from a media juggernaut. For now their Yellow Page Conference, titled New Tools New World, presented almost no new tools for an industry that has a vantage point that could easily transition them to industry leaders in another space: Local Internet.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations
Labels: Idearc, local internet, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, Neg Norton, RH Donnelley, Viacom, Yell, Yellow Pages Association
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
I recently had a chance to stop by
The Wild Bird in
Poulsbo, WA and say hi to Scott Pomtier, the owner. Scott’s been a MerchantCircle member since September 2006 and one of our Top Merchants. In the past, I’ve spoken with him by phone and email, so it was nice to finally put a face to the words and voice.
Scott was telling me how he recently wrote a blog post on
his MerchantCircle blog about the new restaurant that was opening up next to his store – Taprock Northwest Grill. Later that day,
his blog post was already coming up when people searched for the restaurant on Google. He even received a bad review on his listing from someone thinking his was Taprock! (He can delete that review if he wants).
The fact of the matter is that the content he’s been creating on his page (blogs, coupons, pictures) helps his MerchantCircle listing show up on search engines and has boosted the page views on his listing from a few dozen, to over 1,000 page views each month. The content he’s creating shows up on search engines as well, even writing about Taprock early, has put that blog on searches that are returned on Taprock!
Statistically, a claimed MerchantCircle listing with no created content gets 12 page views a month. A listing with at least one written blog, one created coupon, one uploaded picture, one written newsletter and one review gets just over 200 page views a month. Those with all created content AND are a member of our lowest-priced ad package (
at $29/month) get an average of 588 page views a month!
Scott is doing everything right, when it comes to utilizing his MerchantCircle listing. It’s one thing to claim your listing, upload a picture and write a blog – all that helps – but it’s very important to continue to do this. It’s unique content, which the search engines love!
Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations
Labels: Blog, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, Poulsbo, The Wild Bird
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Success stories from small business owners are always great to hear. We recently came across this interview with John Tuggle, a
MerchantCircle member, on
search engine land. It's one of the most informative and inspiring I've read in awhile. In the interview John gives us a great shout-out:
search engine land: Of all the things you're doing -- the blog, podcasts, YouTube, etc. -- what's working the best for you?It's hard to say which one is working the best, because I get a lot of visitors to the site from each of those areas. If I had to pick one I would say YouTube. I've had about 40,000 views of all my videos in three months, and I get a lot of visitors that buy from YouTube.
I've also used local online promotion, such as Yahoo!Local, Google Maps, MerchantCircle -- which gets fantastic Google rankings -- and a few others, as well.
Learning marketing has been the best thing I've ever learned how to do. I see tons of talent go to waste because of the lack of how to get the word out about yourself.
The interview goes on to offer a ton of other tips on getting the most out of your blog, bookmarking, and of course, finding more customers.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations
Labels: John Tuggle, Learning Guitar Now, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, Search Engine Land
Friday, April 04, 2008
According to a recent Nielsen/NetRatings survey, 78% of respondents said they used the internet more today than 2 years ago. That's a big change, and with it comes a larger responsibility from local merchants on the web. We wanted to give all merchants a chance to compete with the national brands. Read more about it in
our Press Release.
Or
click here to get started right away!
Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations
Labels: Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, Verified
Monday, March 31, 2008
If you haven't taken a look recently - MerchantCircle continues to expand and refine the
web's easiest turn-key advertising solutions. We recently added LocalPlus, where you can list your business in more nearby cities. We know your business is growing and we'll help get you more customers, no matter where they live.
Also, be sure to check out our Local Directory Submission service. We'll place you on every major directory service on the web and make sure your information is correct.
Sincerely,
Kevin L.
MerchantCircle Community Relations
Labels: Local Directory Submission, LocalPlus, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle
