Big changes are coming (and we think you're going to like them)!

Our goal has always been to help busy people solve everyday problems.  Whether it’s helping local merchants promote their business online, or helping busy consumers get things done – we focus on connecting people with a vibrant network of local business owners who are eager to help. Our goal hasn’t changed, but the way we approach it certainly will.  In the coming weeks, we will be introducing a "beta" version of the new and improved MerchantCircle.



Most of the time, people need more than just online reviews to solve a problem.  Our network of 1.6 million local merchants makes MerchantCircle the one place to go to find trusted merchants, get great deals, find expert advice and get competitive quotes for real-life projects.  No more surfing the web for hours trying to find what you need – we have it all right here.



Here are some exciting new features being added to help both MerchantCircle Neighbors and our member merchants:



For MerchantCircle Neighbors:

• Deals - with enhanced search capabilities, promotions, coupons and offers will be easier to find


• Reviews - we're making changes to ensure that you get real reviews from people in your community


• Better search – find more relevant businesses and local advice

For our merchant members:

• Free member support - just call our US-based call center (more to come soon!) 


• New forums - same great discussions, but way faster and easier to use 


• Updated listing templates - we’ve freshened up and reorganized the look and feel of listing pages so people learn more about your business

So stay tuned – we’re excited about the new direction and we hope you like what you see.

Sincerely,

The MerchantCircle Team

Using MerchantCircle Widgets on the Web

Over the weekend, I had several Google alerts (which is something you should use for your business, along with MerchantCircle's Web Reputation Manager) for several MerchantCircle member's stand-alone blogs that had MerchantCircle widgets on them. We've had widgets for over two years, but it's nice to see that they are being used to prominently link back to their MerchantCircle listings.





http://jmknotaryservices.blogspot.com/

http://aplusaffordableupholstery.blogspot.com/

http://rozotsuka.blogspot.com/

Check out their blogs above, but be sure to click on the widgets to check out their MerchantCircle listings! You can put your reviews, blogs, coupons, and much more on your other websites and blogs - and you should to get some link love.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Black Friday Deals

Alright, there's a reason the Friday after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year and that's because it's the best time to FIND a deal. Consumers know to expect some whopping price breaks this Friday, so make sure you keep up with the Big Box retailers by creating your own MerchantCircle sale here, promotions here, and coupons here, which can all be found on your listing and through the search engines.

The best thing about it all? It's all free to do! Now that's what I call a deal ;).

Happy Holidays and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Merchants Create Content + Consumers Create Profiles = Everybody Wins!

The amount of deals and coupons that MerchantCircle members create every single day far exceeds any other network, with more than 930,000 members dispersed in every state and almost every county in the U.S., consumers stand to benefit the most. Currently, more than 20 million consumers a month visit MerchantCircle listings. Those that create Neighbors Profiles get the benefit of following their favorite merchants and seeing all the latest LOCAL deals in real time, you'll also see any good LOCAL deals you've missed in a weekly newsletter!

Below is a sample of what you'd get in your inbox.




For merchants, this is added incentive to keep your deals fresh by creating new coupons and/or sales and promotions each week. You can create coupons here or start a sale here or create a promotion here. Consumers will also get the latest business reviews and uploaded pictures - so, don't forget to keep your listing up-to-date!

As a consumer, be sure to join the neighborhood and create a Neighbors profile today here!

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Completing the Circle: Merchants and Consumers Unite!

No, this isn't a battle cry for X-Men, but more a completion of a dream 3 years in the making. With over 910,000 members, on its way to 1 million by the end of year, MerchantCircle has launched MerchantCircle "Neighbors" and MerchantCircle "Answers."

After cracking 20 million unique consumer visitors each month to MerchantCircle listings, we knew consumers were routinely coming to MerchantCircle to find deals and their local business owners. They needed ways to follow deals and coupons in real time, and clip certain coupons for rainy days. Therefore, we created Neighbors.



Neighbors allows consumers to save deals from their favorite merchants, keep track of their reviews and ask questions from the nation's best local experts through MerchantCircle Answers.



From questions about your cracked windshield, to questions about the best diapers to buy, MerchantCircle has local experts in every category. What's the best computer program to use to do my own taxes? Can I patch my flat tire up? Do I need to hire a lawyer to sue someone? Where can I find an honest auto mechanic? No question is too difficult amongst a group of almost a million members!

We're ecstatic about this next phase of MerchantCircle that truly connects local consumers with local business owners. No where else on the web can you find such an engaging, easy-to-use experience that allows you to communicate seamlessly with your local business owners and experts. Finding and giving deals was never so easy!

And remember, merchants are consumers too, so start your Neighbors profile today and start saving money. To read more on the release, click here.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

What Businesses Have the Most Risk of Failure?

Coming from a family of local business-owner/entrepreneurs (of varying success levels), I have first-hand experience of the difficulties of trying to start your own business. When I was young, my father started a restaurant in Huntsville, TX, which was successful enough, that he had to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. I know this because I spent my single-digit years running around that restaurant! He sold the restaurant a few years later to finally get some rest and started another restaurant venture in Conroe, TX, which failed. Eventually, he owned a super market in Santa Cruz and a burger joint in Boulder Creek, CA, which I spent my teen years working EVERY single weekend. I am not bitter. What teenager doesn't want to work every single weekend while everyone else is out enjoying beautiful California weather?

My aunts and uncles have also had varying degrees of success starting and running their own businesses. I've even had my own thoughts of starting a business, but which ventures have the most risk of failure? I came across this interesting article on Yahoo!, titled: The 7 Most Overrated Businesses. No surprise here - 'restaurants' shows up on the list.

Here's an excerpt:

...about 60% of restaurants close in the first three years, according to a 2003 study at Ohio State University. That's quite a bit higher than the roughly half of all start-ups that close in the first five years.

The reason: Restaurants typically have low profit margins and need strong managers who can run an ultra-tight ship through seasonal fluctuations and other struggles. Most people don't have that kind of intense managerial ability to pull it off.

Well, I guess I should think twice about opening up my Houston Rockets-themed restaurant in California. In the meantime, no matter what business you start or have, MerchantCircle is the ONLY free network that allows you to blog, build coupons and newsletters, and email them to customers.

Join the free network here today or communicate with other local business owners in our forums here.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Finding Coupons on Twitter in Chicago, Phoenix, and Beyond!

FOX Chicago recently ran a story featuring two of our merchants from Chicago who actively use MerchantCircle to promote their business. MerchantCircle recently began feeding Merchant-built coupons instantly onto city-specific Twitter pages. In this case, coupons in Chicago can be found @MCircleChicago where we have more than

Go in and say hi to Mario Alonso at Bella Bronze Tan or Wilbur Sutphin at Deadwax Record Store in Chicago. Tell them Kevin says hi. Don't forget to check out their local media debut on FOX Chicago below.



Build your coupons now on MerchantCircle! We'll do all the work to promote you locally.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

How To Turn More Visitors Into Buyers

Guest Blogger Series Part 5: Gail Gardner has been involved in the computer industry since the late 1970s, originally servicing hardware, and as a Project Manager for data processing centers, banks, and retailers.

Since 2003, she has worked exclusively in online marketing, specializing in optimizing blogs and ecommerce sites, pay per click advertising, and Local Search listings. You can find her at www.GrowMap.com.

By Gail Gardner

When you know how to evaluate what you offer your potential buyers through your efforts online, you can greatly increase your sales and profitability. These concepts apply to your activities here at Merchant Circle and in other communities and Social Networks, your blog, and your store.

You must have a very clear idea what you hope your visitors will do and then make it obvious to them too!

You know what your business does, but can those who visit you immediately tell? If they can't they will simply click away! The layout and design of your business site either increases your sales or reduces them. Make how to use your site obvious and focus on answering your visitors' questions and your sales will go up.

Here is an easy way to test. Print out your home page, hand it to random people, and ask them what the business on that page does. If they can't tell you by a quick look at the header of your site you have some work to do. The sooner you complete it the faster your sales will start improving.

First, develop a slogan that lets others know what your site is all about and what makes your business unique. This is often called a USP and belongs near your business name in your header on every page of your store, blog or Web site. With this short phrase you let potential buyers know why they have landed on your site and why they should stay.

To make a really strong first impression, seriously consider having a professionally designed logo developed. As we have all heard forever, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Logos are the best way to make your site memorable. Use a matching Avatar in your Social Networking profiles and on any sites that provide room for a photo. Think of these as reminders for your visitors to return.

Besides your logo, business name, and slogan, there are specific items that belong at the top of your Web site including links to important pages (about, contact, faqs, shipping info). Your checkout or shopping cart should be in the top right corner. This is where major sites such as Amazon position it and where your buyers will expect it to be.

Provide a search box near the top right of each page. If you have a store with many products, upgrading your search function is critical. If visitors can not find what they want they won't be able to buy it. Test yours by searching for very specific items by brand, name, and color. Only improved search functions handle this type of search well.

Now that your visitors know why they should buy from you and can easily find the products they are interested in, to increase your conversions – and conversions are far more important than more traffic – buyers must feel:

1. They can trust you

2. The product is exactly what they are seeking and worth the money

3. All of their questions have been answered

Do everything you can to help them feel comfortable buying from you. Put a photo of your business on your about page. (Conversions go up when people visit that page just before checking out!)

Make sure you can be contacted. Provide phone numbers and an address on your site. Consider using services such as BuySafe, OnlineBBB, TrustGuard, ShopperScanned, SiteSafe, Authorize Net, or McAfee Secure.

Add testimonials to your site and links to reviews of your business and products. Reviews are how the public finds trustworthy businesses. Being an active member of Merchant Circle can increase the number of reviews you receive. A great way to start is by reviewing other businesses here.

Provide all the information you possibly can on each product. Consider using more than one image. Be sure your descriptions contain everything they need to know: size, color, material. The best advice on this I ever heard was from Marsha Collier, author of the eBay for Dummies book. She said to provide written descriptions so strong that you don't need photos and photos so clear that you don't need written descriptions. Although few sites today are that good it is a great target.

Unless you answer every question your visitors have they are not going to buy! Consider installing Live Chat and having someone available as much as possible. Volusion Live Chat offers an excellent free option. Being available to answer quick questions will greatly increase your conversion rate.

Once your site is converting well then you can focus on increasing traffic. Merchant Circle can assist you there too. Creating coupons gets your listing additional exposure. The Merchant Circle Blog function is easy to learn. (If you get stuck just ask us and we'll explain how it works.) Use it to learn to blog or if you already have another blog consider posting in your Merchant Circle blog to let your friends here know about new posts.

The tips above and the links provided to additional information can assist you in increasing your sales and profitability. Visit the GrowMap blog for additional information on the above concepts, for free ways to increase your traffic using Social Networking, blogging and incoming linking, or to ask any questions you may have on growing your business. You can also follow us at Twitter.

This marks the conclusion of our Guest Blogger Series. You can go back and read posts from Andrew Shotland, John Jantsch, Dane Carlson, and Professor Samuel Bornstein. That you to all our contributors!

Finding Local Coupons in Your City on Twitter

If you haven't already built coupons for your MerchantCircle listing, or haven't done it lately, now is the time! MerchantCircle releases the first-ever local city coupon feed via Twitter. Coupons that you feed will now automatically be fed to a city-specific Twitter page - making it easy for customers in your area to track real-time deals.

Using our tools to build coupons is easy and free. It takes less than a minute to build a coupon - do it now by clicking here. As a consumer, you can currently track your deals in these cities:

Local MerchantCircle coupons are available today at: @MCircleNY, MCircleLA, MCircleChicago, MCirclePhilly, MCircleDallas, MCircleSF, MCircleOakland, MCircleSanJose, MCircleBoston, MCircleAtlanta, MCircleDC, MCircleHouston, MCircleDetroit, MCirclePhoenix, MCircleTampa, MCMinneapolis, MCircleMiami, MCircleDenver, MCircleOrlando, MCSacramento, MCircleStLouis, MCirclePortland, MCCharlotte, MCIndianapolis, amongst other cities.



Clicking on the link from the city Twitter page will take consumers to your coupons listed on MerchantCircle. From there, they can print the coupon or save it to their Neighbors Profile (similar to clipping it and putting it on their refridgerator for later use). Consumers can create their Neighbors Profile here.


MerchantCircle members currently create more than 50,000 coupons and deals a month and can easily be found by searching under "#coupon" or "#coupons" on Twitter.

Real-time coupons are here! Start getting new customer today!

Sincerely,
Community Relations

BETA Launch of MerchantCircle 'Neighbors'

Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence, recently profiled on his blog, Screenwerk, our "quiet" launch of MerchantCircle 'Neighbors' - which will allow consumers to create consumer profiles and 'follow' their favorite local merchants. This launch, which is still in BETA, gives our merchant base a stronger connection to offer deals directly to their customers.

Sterling writes:

In much the same way that MerchantCircle has sought to create a social network of merchants, it has now begun that same work on the consumer side. But the object here is not so much to link consumers to one another as generate more interaction between consumers and merchants and stimulate demand, further activity and content creation. .....

If MerchantCircle is successful in getting consumers to join, create reviews, clip coupons and follow businesses, it will build considerable additional value for its merchants at no cost to itself.

Read the rest of Sterling's post here or create your Consumer Profile now! Click here to get started.

Consumer profile features:

My Coupon Book: Consumers can clip deals and coupons created by you!
My Reviews: Consumers share their thoughts about the best businesses in town.
My Merchants: Consumers can “follow” local businesses to get updated news and events.



Tell us what you'd like to see or improve in our 'Neighbors' program, here, in our forums.

Sincerely,
Community Relations

Small Businesses Beginning to Understand the Importance of Blogs

We released statistics today on our merchants joining and creating blogs at a higher rate than ever before. In speaking with our members, local business owners are starting to understand and realize the importance of business blogs as a lever to attract more customers.

Here is an excerpt of the release:

The study shows 15,676 blogs written by merchants on the network in January 2009 – a 190% increase from the same time a year ago. The total number of blogs posted follows 12,872 written in December 2008, and 9,215 written in November of 2008. There were 5,383 blogs written in January 2008 and 2,623 written in January of 2007.

Click here to read the entire release. Below is a chart of the growing content being created by our members:


Sincerely,
Community Relations

Narcissism, Hubris and Me.....

After a drug-induced weekend filled with strippers and booze, I asked my mom to leave the room so I could do some serious soul-searching. I've always been a humble guy, but I just can't help but love the company I work for. You see, I'm not one of those people who works for a company to collect a paycheck (although it is nice). I took a pay-cut out of college as a host at Hard Rock Cafe in San Diego to my first journalism gig in Pocatello, ID.

That's love.

I work at MerchantCircle because we're doing a GREAT and NECESSARY deed. We've built, essentially, a FREE website for every business in America.

Let me explain why I'm going into this. I've recently been called less-than-humble and narcissistic even. Sure, maybe I toot MerchantCircle's horn too much. But it's genuine excitement. How many times do we need to write boring blogs about the importance of blogging, or about building coupons, or about the importance of being found high in search engines? All of which are very important for our merchants.

I write the MerchantCircle corporate blog to try and entertain and let our merchants know about their growing community and about why they should continue to invite their merchant friends.

Now if I were writing just about me, it would be all self-deprecation. Let's start with a long list of embarrassing moments in my life. (I am narcissistic after all!)

- I got beat up in 5th grade by a girl because I tried to take her spot on the Merry-Go-Round. (I haven't fought since, but I will so take you Stephanie Smith from Huntsville, TX if we ever meet again.)

-In high school, a bird once pooped on my head. Fortunately, it was on my brand new fitted Atlanta Braves hat.

-During my first day behind the anchor desk filling in for sports, I read off the teleprompter my own name as 'I'm Kevin Lee-ooo'. (I should have spelled it phonetically or how it sounds. 'Loo' or 'Lue'. Or maybe I should have repeated kindergarten.)

-People at work call me T-Bone and worse yet, I gave myself the nickname.

I could go on, but we'll stop there. You know, a news director once told me, 'be more worried if people AREN'T talking about you'.

Sincerely,
Kevin Leu "Lue"
P.S. I am sooooo not hubristic! (Did I use that word right? I had to look it up several times.)