MerchantCircle Press Coverage

As part of our launch around MerchantCircle Neighbors and Answers, we unveiled a radio ad campaign across four major metropolitan areas: LA, San Francisco, Chicago, and Atlanta, as well as a national online radio campaign.

Please tell us what you think, if you hear it.

Also, thank you to everyone who covered yesterday's launch of Neighbors and Answers, as well as mentioned us in some other way and form. You can read the press release here.

- TechCrunch - Hyperlocal Business Directory MerchantCircle Launches Consumer-Facing Features

"MerhcantCircle’s “Neighbors” creates a mini-social network around the site where consumers can “follow” local businesses for information on promotions, coupons and announcements. In order to access this feed, consumers need to create a profile."

- VentureBeat - MerchantCircle Answers lets small businesses show off their expertise

"MerchantCircle Neighbors, meanwhile, is a way for consumers to create an account and “follow” a businesses, similar to what you’d do on microblogging service Twitter. Then businesses can send out coupons and promotions to those customers. It’s a way for businesses to promote to consumers directly and again, keeps them active on the MerchantCircle site."

- Screenwerk - MerchantCircle Joins the Q&A Club

"Beyond the fact that this type of service is valuable as a general matter MerchantCircle sees it as a tool to “re-engage” merchants via its site. The community can vote for the best answer (as with other systems) and the merchants who participate can gain points to establish themselves as experts.

Consumers categorize their questions and can limit the geographic scope of the response to their area."

- Kelsey Group, Local Onliner - MerchantCircle Tries to Get Stickier with 'Neighbors' and 'Answers'

"Answers is a consumer advice service, similar to ones we’ve seen with Yahoo Answers and vertical sites such as Avvo.com (lawyers) and Trulia (real estate). Merchant Circle’s idea is that small businesses will become more bonded to the service if they regularly communicate with potential customers. It says it has already had excellent response rate in a month of trials."

- BizReport - Merchant Circle adds consumer connection to network

"First, the "Answers" platform. This gives consumers the ability to ask 'experts' - members of MerchantCircle's 910,000 local businesses - a question and receive a solid answer. From the best brand of oil for a Ford truck to questions about invisible fencing for the backyard, merchants are available to answer consumers' questions."

- ClickZ - Get Started in Local Search Without a Web Site

"Many local platforms, including local search powerhouses Google Maps, Bing Local, MerchantCircle, Citysearch, Superpages, and Yahoo Local, allow you to create a local business profile on a page on their sites. Many of the best ones are free, while others charge a monthly fee."

- Dow Jones VentureWire - MerchantCircle, Now Profitable, Goes After Consumers

"Having built out a network of small businesses using its service, newly profitable MerchantCircle Inc. is now going after consumers.

MerchantCircle originally built out a network for small businesses to advertise, promote deals and blog. The company signed up more than 900,000 merchants nationwide and has more than 2% of total merchants in 49 states, and charges a minimum fee of $30 per month for services like placement of search engine advertising to drive traffic. The company, which says it now has more than 20 million monthly unique visitors, uses a self-service system to sign up businesses and has grown without the benefit of a sales force."

Thanks for all your help and support.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

What the Web.com Deal Means to You

MerchantCircle and Web.com today announced a partnership that will grow your network of local businesses by more than 100,000 members. With more than 20 million local unique consumers visiting MerchantCircle each month, we're excited to have an even stronger network or members creating more coupons, blogs, and newsletters, than ever before. Today, we have over 900,000 members and are on pace to hit 1 million before the end of the year!

Web.com will power many of our high end services like custom web design for individual businesses, analytics and tracking, and marketing. All of our services can be found here by logging into your MerchantCircle account.

Read the press release here.

Here are some of the write-ups and mentions of the new expanded partnership. Thank you all for covering:

Local SEO Guide - Where is the Facebook Platform for Small Businesses?

Screenwerk - MerchantCircle Expands Ties with Web.com

Local Onliner - Web.com, MerchantCircle to Market Each Other's SMB Services

BIA Kelsey Group - Web.com, MerchantCircle to Market Each Other's SMB Services

adotas - Industry News on Hirings, Partnerships and New Offerings

DMNews - Web.com and MerchantCircle.com Team Up

FOX Business - Web.com and MerchantCircle Expand Partnership to Improve Online Visibility for Local Businesses

CNN Money - Web.com and MerchantCircle Expand Partnership to Improve Online Visibility for Local Businesses

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Showing Value to the Web 2.0 Small Business Community

When MerchantCircle first launched in June of 2006, the emphasis was on growth, community, and value. As the nation's first Web 2.0 social network and online directory for local business owners, we knew that community and business owners would be far more powerful than a fast-talking Yellow Page salesman in a suit. Now, nearly two and a half years later with over 635,000 members, we've been able to confirm many of our initial thoughts and continue to innovate to make sure that business owners can easily have a strong web-presence and find new customers.

Recently, I've spent some time speaking to a lot of our local merchants around Santa Clara, CA trying to find a business owner who has had a lot of experience advertising in Newspapers, Yellow Pages, and various online mediums. The Kelsey Group had asked if we had any local business owners in the area to speak on a panel on November 19 - 21. (Our own Darren Waddell will be speaking on a panel titled, The Web 2.0 Equation: Community and Viral Effects.) Many of these merchants I spoke to were biased, naturally, since they pay for advertising through us - but there was some really great insight to be heard. We already hear from thousands of merchants each month about how costly and inneffective Newspapers and Yellow Pages advertising is, but hearing about the shortfalls of online advertising through many of the large "players" in the field was relatively new.

It seems that local business owners are getting BOMBARDED with calls all the time now from online Yellow Pages directories and other online advertising firms. One business owner in Mountain View (Nunley Custom Homes) has been actively advertising his business since 1989. He told me that many of the online firms he's advertised through don't deliver, overcharge, and offer no value. I asked him why he chose to go with us next, and he said, "at least with MerchantCircle, you know what you're going to get. You already get value through your MerchantCircle listing page - and it's free."

Another business I spoke to, Treasure Islands of Santa Cruz, has been advertising with MerchantCircle for over a year. He currently averages over 7,000 visitors to his MerchantCircle listing each month and has grown his business to two locations. He regularly gets calls from merchants in his network asking him how to get the most from their MerchantCircle listing.

By showing merchants value with a free customizable web listing that helps your business have a stronger web presence, we've gained the trust of many of these merchants when it comes time for them to decide they want to start placing ads on search engines and across the web. Because we have merchants all across the country who trust and believe in the network, (blogging, creating newsletters, uploading pics, networking with other business owners), it has brought the entire network up and our merchants are our biggest promoters on the street - not slick salesmen who offer nothing but talk.

We're proud to have such an active, engaging group of business owners who have sounded off on everything from politics to business practices. They don't always agree, but they are the heartbeat of America - producing more than 2/3 of all NEW American jobs. It's important for anyone who wants the attention of local business owner to show them VALUE first.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

Strengthening Relationships

With our announcement yesterday that will allow us to further grow your MerchantCircle community and increase the number of customers who see your business listings, we wanted to compile a short list of industry journalists and analysts who wrote about the announcement.

Take some time to check them out when you get a chance. Most of it is money hoo hah, but pretty interesting:

• CNN Money
• TechCrunch
• VentureBeat
• The Deal
• Mashable
• Screenwerk
• bub.blicio.us
• Kelsey Group

Enjoy,
Kevin
Community Relations

Local is Everywhere!

That sounds like a paradox, but trust us -- its true! That is one of the main take-aways Kevin and I had after attending The Kelsey Group's Directory Driven Commerce Conference: The Future of Yellow Pages.

As technology opens our doors to new ways of finding, accessing, and processing information, local is going everywhere. Our local communities and favorite local spots are no longer confined to the streets in our neighborhood that we discover by walking around. Now local is discovered by consumers through online and mobile technologies including video, sms, and even video-games.

Hence, small business are continually finding and learning about consumer behaviors online. But how do you navigate with all the new technology options and new tracking mechanisms including call-tracking and web analytics. As a small business in a complex ecosystem of new options how do you find the right technology?

Those are the questions that we answer and continually explore to better serve our merchants. The big media giants no longer have all the answers and solutions to the pains of small businesses. For us, going to the panels and networking events thoughtfully put together by Pam and John Kelsey and their hard working team, gives us the ability to learn and connect with the right partners so that we can help local be everywhere but manageable.

Its just a matter of working together, learning from one another, and making friends a long the way.

Sincerely,
Irit