MerchantCircle Engagement Tour Visits Minneapolis, Up next: New Haven, CT

We announced it a few months ago. We kicked it off in our Bay Area backyard.



We took it on the road to Minneapolis in June. And now…



We're heading to New Haven, Connecticut this week. Get ready for another Merchant Appreciation Night of Networking!



But first, a bit about our trip to the great city of Minneapolis…



We made our way through downtown Minneapolis to the beautiful Nicollet Island Inn , where our MerchantCircle team settled in for a couple of days in the Twin Cities.



Some of MerchantCircle's most prolific Community Leaders joined us and about 80 other local business owners at Pracna on Main for an evening of networking, great food, new friends and loads of information from our two guest speakers.



In between glasses of wine and bites of Minnesota specialty Walleye, attendees were treated to feature speakers Mark Munroe of MerchantCircle and Marty Weintraub of aimClear, who shared their insider tips about how to increase web presence and develop a search-friendly listing page.  The evening also included raffles for prizes donated from local merchants, an iPad giveaway and even free horse drawn carriage rides. Ultimately, it was a great opportunity for our Minneapolis area members to connect in person with one another as well as meet some of the people that work to make MerchantCircle a better place for them to market their businesses.



Some of our major learning's included:



-MerchantCircle Community Leaders are powerful assets! These guys know their stuff, and other business owners know them! If you want more information on becoming a Community Leader in your area, send an email to Robyn.



-Big things are happening with small businesses. The enthusiastic bunch of merchants who came to the event were networking pro's! And they're excited to utilize the free tools and services offered by MerchantCircle.



-There's this thing called "Minnesota nice". And it is REAL! The people of twin cities were SO kind. Example? We got pulled over for speeding in our rental car. Instead of giving us a ticket, the officer gave us DIRECTIONS to our destination. (In our defense, the Minnesota freeway max is 55, much slower than Cali's recommended 65mph.)





We're looking forward to continuing our trek to MerchantCircle cites around the country! Stay posted for more news on these events!











Check out the rest of the Minneapolis photos here!

MerchantCircle Q2 2010 Merchant Confidence Index (MCI) Results

Below are the results of our third quarterly Merchant Confidence Index (MCI) survey, designed to track trends in local business sentiment over time. This survey was presented to a random sample of MerchantCircle members between June 28th and July 5th, 2010. 9,874 completed responses came in during this period and there were no incentives offered to complete the survey.



Read MCI press release here

MerchantCircle Heads Down to Disney!

A couple weeks ago, Steamboat Ventures, an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company, hosted its annual Tech Expo at the Disney Studios in sunny Burbank, California. As one of Steamboat's portfolio companies, MerchantCircle was invited to participate in this year's festivities that included panel discussions on emerging technology and an all-day trade show to show-off new and upcoming products. We were happy to participate and share MerchantCircle's social network and new programs with investors, other Steamboat portfolio companies, and Disney employees.



We very much enjoyed our time with some of the other featured tech companies. But we did have some favorites…



We're an office of sports nuts, so of course, the team from ESPN just made us giddy! Disney Online had some noteworthy news and fantastic website to demonstrate. The Photobucket team was on hand to share some of their upcoming products and developments for the mobile space. (They were also quite entertaining!) The beautiful ladies of Scrapblog, another Bay Area based company, showed up with very cool custom business cards and an even cooler Facebook app! And ticketing service RazorGator was represented by former NBA superstar and Best Damn Sports Show host John Salley, one of the few pulling for the Celtics during the Game 7 networking event.

The two-day gathering was both informative and exciting. Steamboat Ventures continues to empower, connect and create great companies who are building the technology that shapes the way we work, play, and communicate. We're proud to be on their team!

New MerchantCircle Product Releases Include City "Mayor" Program and Dashboard Redesign

We have exciting product news this month!



We are very pleased to announce MerchantCircle “Mayor” program, designed to help you build your brand and increase your network!



The MerchantCircle member in each city with the most connections will be declared “Mayor”. And when you're the mayor, we'll make sure that people know!



As Mayor, you'll be promoted to the top of your city's leaderboard and made visible to all local consumers searching in your city – and best of all it’s FREE! You'll also score the coveted “Mayor” badge, located on the top of your personal listing page.

Learn more about the MerchantCircle “Mayor” program by viewing this video overview

 

In addition to the new MerchantCircle “Mayor” feature, we’ve made two significant changes to the network that we think you’re going to enjoy quite a bit. Both changes come from the feedback we’ve received from our most active members, so be sure to visit the MerchantCircle forum to let us know when you have an idea for how we might improve!

 



New and Improved Dashboard



Over the years, we’ve added a lot of features to the MerchantCircle platform to allow you to express yourself online. As the number of features has grown, we’ve struggled to fit everything into a dashboard that was designed five years ago! That’s why we’re introducing our new dashboard design that provides simpler navigation and a cleaner look and feel, all created to make it easier for you to promote your business online. All the current features are still available, but they’re now easier to find.



To get see the new dashboard in action, check out this short video we’ve created. We’d love to hear your feedback

 



Unlimited member connections



For all you social butterflies out there, we’re happy to report that we will be lifting the membership “cap” to allow you to connect with more members. So have fun! And remember inviting and connecting with new MerchantCircle members in your town will help get you elected “Mayor”!



Cheers,

Jeremy Kreitler, VP Product Management

MerchantCircle Announces Free New Tools and Product Improvements for Small Business Owners!

Drumroll please…



Several months ago, with our small business merchants in mind, the MC team hit the whiteboards – brainstorming how we could provide even better tools for easy online networking, increased productivity, and budget conscience marketing.



We've logged lots of late nights, ordered more take-out than anyone should reasonably ingest and our deeply committed engineering team had family members consider filing Missing Person's Reports...



And now, we're very excited to unveil the latest and greatest FREE MerchantCircle programs and improvements- designed just for you!



We've taken all of your feedback, product suggestions, and feature requests and created some pretty cool stuff. But you'll have to stay tuned to get all the info!



All this week we'll be posting blogs from different MerchantCircle team members detailing the bells and whistles of each new feature. And let me just tell you, these labors of love will make you happy!



Here's what to look for…



We went back to the drawing board to totally redesign our Dashboard page- making it faster and easier for you to connect to other merchants, create fantastic content, and engage your customers. Get excited! It will change the way you work. Keep an eye out for Jeremy's blog- he's gonna hook you up with serious specifics.



A new policy has been passed and the race is on. MerchantCircle Mayors is a new campaign that will keep you running to the polls. Win the office in your city and we'll make sure your constituents know. Elect to take advantage of this win-win program. (Here's a hint: Check your inbox for my Tuesday Tip!)



There's one more surprise up our MerchantCircle t-shirt sleeves. All I'm sayin' for now is that I know a few Community Leaders who will be VERY, very excited. (Yes guys, we're listening!) MerchantCircle staple, Mr.David Gwynn, will break this top-secret story later in the week!



See you in The Circle!



Robyn

MerchantCircle at San Francisco's Small Business Week

MerchantCircle helped sponsor Small Business Week in San Francisco this week is support of thousands of small businesses in the City by the Bay.



Highlights of the week include:



Monday night, MerchantCircle visited the Flavors of San Francisco hosted by Mayor Gavin Newsom and the SBA District Director Mark Quinn. This gala event was attended by thousands of local small business owners along with leaders from all of the top merchant associations. Some of our top participating restaurants picks include Ike's Place, Lotta's Bakery, Pacific Catch, and Gastronaut.

MerchantCircle's Julie Craft with North Beach Chamber of Commerce President Martin Kirkwood



Wednesday, the MerchantCircle team participated at the Small Business Conference at SFSU where thousands of small business owners attended workshops and lectures designed to provide them with resources, tips and practical advice from experts to help them launch and grow their businesses. The workshop topics ranged all of the way from online marketing to contracting to financial strategies to retirement planning.



The MerchantCircle team was instrumental in helping thousands of small businesses to set up a business listing at MerchantCircle.com as a first step in promoting their business online. MerchantCircle forged strategic alliances with many of the top San Francisco Merchant Associations including the SBA, SF Chamber of Commerce, BizTechDay, and North Beach Chamber of Commerce with the partnership goal of helping all of their members to stand out from the competition by utilizing the power of the MerchantCircle business networking platform.

Thursday night's 2010 Business After Hours Grand Expo at AT&T Park was the highlight of the week. Hundreds of small businesses came together for a night of networking, showcasing, great food and lots of fun! The MerchantCircle team was excited to meet so many local, small business owners.



All new businesses that signed up for FREE at MerchantCircle this week were automatically entered into the MerchantCircle iPad contest. Check back to our blog early next week when the 2 lucky winners will be announced!

Bringing MerchantCircle Across Borders and Overseas

For many years we've been asked the question of just when we would see MerchantCircle's platform expand beyond the borders of the United States? We're pleased to finally be able to answer that with a resounding TODAY!  Well, in reality it was late last week, but today we are happy to formally announce our new beta versions of the site that are operating in Canada, the UK and Australia.  We are very excited for the opportunity that is present in each of these countries and are currently in talks with potential partners in each region to help maximize the exposure for the platform.



Consider the following statistics about the prevalence of small business in our new locations:



- According to the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 99.3 percent of the nearly 5 million registered businesses are small (0 to 49 employees).

- In Australia, 96 percent of the 2 million businesses in the country have less that 20 people, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

- In Canada, 57 percent of businesses have only 1 to 4 employees based on reports from the Business Register of Statistics Canada.



We already have some early adopters that are pretty excited about us being in their country.  Lindy Asimus, owner of Design Business Engineering in Newcastle, NSW, Australia told us “Fantastic! MerchantCircle Australia! This is the very best news for small business owners in Australia. The tools that MerchantCircle provides are like nothing else available in this country for small business. Now there is absolutely no excuse for businesses not to be online.”



You can read our full announcement here. And this is just the beginning. Don't be surprised to see MerchantCircle sites for other major countries later in 2010.



MerchantCircle UK - http://uk.merchantcircle.com/

MerchantCircle Australia - http://www.merchantcircle.com.au/

MerchantCircle Canada - http://www.merchantcircle.ca/