MySpace Stalking, Bondage and My 5th Grade English Teacher

When I first joined MySpace it was the result of an overzealous friend who insisted that she would create the account for me. As I continued to refuse, she proceeded to add all of our mutual friends as ‘friends’ on my new MySpace account. In a few short months, I went from standoffish to MySpace stalker.

Growing a community on the web these days is full of MySpace knock-offs; ‘It’s MySpace for college students,’ or ‘it’s MySpace for xenophobic anemic Republican doglovers’. A lot of the experts said, successful online communities are driven by the young. When we first started MerchantCircle, a lot of the critics said we were dealing with an older generation, that we couldn’t sign up merchants without an off-line sales force, and that we couldn’t do it without spending a lot of money. Well, guess what?

They were wrong.

Since we launched in June, more than 85,000 business owners have signed on – making us the FASTEST growing company in the ‘local’ online space. We’ve gone from making fun of the Yellow Pages for being outdated (see the bondage pic) to getting straight to the point.



One day, Yellow Pages will not exist. Customers will have instant access to the internet where they will search for the services and products they’ll buy before leaving the house. We’re the only site that’s already built your business listing and allows you to upload pictures, blog, build coupons and see all the reviews written about your business on the web – free of charge.

We continue to add more awesome, easy-to-use services that’s sure to make my 5th grade English teacher mad. My sentences about everything we do is becoming dangerously close to being a run-on. Oh well, rules are made to be broken and we’ve been proving the experts wrong for some time!

Sincerely,

Kevin
MerchantCircle Stalker

Show Me The Money

I just got back from New York where we accepted the award as Newcomer of the Year and one of the Top 100 Private Companies chosen by AlwaysOn Media. I spent a lot time meeting people and promptly forgetting their names - thank goodness for those name badges! And no. No one referred to me as Koko, but at work they still call me T-Bone. Anway, let me get to the point. We want to remember your name, but let me tell you why.

As our network has crossed nearly 85,000 merchants signed on, just like yourself, we realize many of our new merchants signing on are because of referrals from you and other business owners. Something along the lines of, "blah blah MerchantCircle is the best ever!!!" And "Who needs a website when MerchantCircle is free?!!?" And "Who is that sexy-sounding-writer Kevin, and is he single?"

Well, we want to reward you for inviting other merchants by paying you cash (check) for every business friend of yours who signs up. Besides that, you're inviting them to a network that helps to get their businesses found higher on Google and Yahoo. More customers, larger network, and Kevin's probably still single, but happy.

Sincerely,

Community Relations

P.S. Check out the revamped Newsletter out on Monday, it's sure to knock at least one sock off.