Small Business Archives
Yahoo Intros New ‘Dashboard’ for SMBs
Yahoo has done a curious thing. At a time when as many as 50 Yahoo sites and services may be cut, according to Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, the company has introduced a major new product for SMBs — the Yahoo Marketing Dashboard (YMD). The release of this product suggests that Yahoo Local won’t be on the chopping [...]
PaperG Case Study Shows Effectiveness of Local Display
I first met PaperG CEO Victor Wong a few years ago before the launch of PaperG and PlaceLocal (the automated display ad creation tool). I must say he’s built a terrific business. Dex, among others, is using PaperG’s PlaceLocal tool with considerable success. However local display advertising is in general underutilized by national-local marketers and [...]
Intuit Buys Demandforce for $424 Millon
Intuit has acquired Demandforce for $424 million. Demandforce is a software company that started out working with a couple of verticals in the SMB space (dentists in particular) and has expanded to at least seven market segments. The company points the way for local directory publishers and other service providers and sales channels in the [...]
Jonesing for Mobile Payments
Once again I was in a bagel store on Sunday morning, last Sunday, when I encountered a huge line. I was able to get my “bakers dozen” bagels relatively quickly. However I think had to wait a very long time to pay (and get out of there) as the line inched toward the register. There [...]
Battle of the SMB Payment Platforms: Square vs. PayPal Here
Square said in December that more than 1 million merchants were using it to process card payments. Yesterday eBay announced that more than 200K merchants had signed up for the new PayPal Here product, which essentially duplicates Square’s look and feel. Here’s the statement from the eBay earnings call: PayPal Here offers small businesses a [...]
Yell Readies New ‘eMarketplace’ Site
Last year Yell announced a new strategy. It was going to transition from a directory publisher to a local “eMarketplace” platform provider: Yell today announced a detailed four year program to transform the Group from being a leading supplier of print and online advertising for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to being the leader in [...]
Many SMBs Clueless about Customer Service
Lots of business owners understand the relationship between good service, online reviews and word of mouth. In many cases they’re quick to address and fix a problem that arises. However there are still lots of small businesses that are . . . what you might call “clueless.” Here’s a personal case-in-point. Recently a “House of [...]
Study: 40% of SMB Sites Lack Phone Numbers
Implied Intelligence is a company that generates and enhances local databases. I spoke to founder Marc Brombert several weeks ago about the company’s services and capabilities. As an illustration he offered to perform a number of tests. I suggested a comparison of the accuracy of local search sites. Implied Intelligence completed that study and sent [...]
About Greg
Greg Sterling is the founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence (SMI), a consulting and research firm focused on the Internet's influence on offline consumer purchase behavior.
