MakeitLocal Network

ILM West Conference

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Makeitlocal is attending the BIA Kelsey Interactive Local Media conference in San Francisco this week. As always we are learning what SMB's need to provide to the local consumer in order to help their business "Win" in the traditional and digital media space of Local Search. A few interesting stats learned today. - 66% of SMB's now have a website. - Only 13% of SMB's have their telephone number listed on their Home Page. - Only 24% of SMB's have their email address on their Home Page. - 36% of websites are only Single Page sites If you do not have a website or you have a website but are not happy with its performance, please give Makeitlocal a call and we can set up a free consultation. 888-646-6680

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:40:00 +0000

MakeitLocal is attending the Internet Summit 2011 conference in Raleigh NC this week. The conference is close to full capacity with nearly 1,800 attendees expected! The topics will cover all things internet related from Social Media, Online Video, Reputation Management and of course Mobile, Mobile, Mobile! Over the next two days Makeitlocal will have an opportunity to speak with leading industry experts and see first hand what are the latest breakthroughs in services that help local businesses get found, engage customers and build brand and reputation in the local marketplace. Check back often to find out what Makeitlocal is learning to help you and your business be successful in marketing your business with Digital Media.......

Google Pushes Mobile Search

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:49:00 +0000

Mobile "Content" is exploding in the marketplace today. Is your business prepared for this phenomena? People are using mobile devices to make buying decisions as they walk down the street, ride in a car or just sitting in front of their TV. Does your businesses web presence rank high enough with search engines to get you found? These are all questions a business needs to ask itself in today's fast changing world of Local Search.

Read on to learn more about how Google is pushing businesses to consider mobile optimization for their business information online and why they will give higher ranking to those that do.........

This information is provided from our friends at BIA Kelsey:

During our DMS conference in September, we held a session on the “starting line” tools for SMBs to establish a mobile presence. This is step 1, before the higher frequency discussion of targeting mobile ads.
It’s what I like to call the “art of the landing page”… where does the click “go”? Indeed, fighting to get clicks — or building any strategy to do so — is a moot point if you don’t have an optimized landing page.

Google has separately reported 79 % of its top advertisers’ sites aren’t optimized.

That’s why today Google officially launched a program to encourage, educate and assist in getting businesses to optimize mobile landing pages. This includes tips, quality ratings (”gomometer”) and samples of what your mobile site currently looks like.

Interestingly, Google isn’t directly monetizing this effort. In fact, the SMB- facing page to learn more has links to third party services that specialize in mobile website development and optimization. Google will benefit in lots of ways from the effort though; the more user friendly and optimized the mobile web is, the more users will be compelled to the browser. This is opposed to Apple’s app-centric worldview.
This is one flank in the longstanding apps vs. mobile web battle. Google is very much interested in a world where mobile experiences are accessed through the browser, simply because the that’s where it owns search.

So far Google has made other moves such as announcing that mobile search rankings and quality score will be influenced by whether or not sites are optimized. Today’s move is another step in the same direction.
More than that, it will benefit the entire ecosystem, including SMBs, vendors, and users. But make no mistake, this is a move to accelerate Google’s $2.5 billion mobile revenue run rate, for which search is the biggest driver.
Given Google’s gravity and promotional ability, this will certainly help. But though we’re bullish on the mobile web, apps aren’t going away anytime soon.

Watch the video. If you need help getting your business found through mobile then give MakeitLocal a call today! 888-646-6680

Yellow Pages Still Show Value for SMB's

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:25:00 +0000

Yellow Pages Value

CRM Associates' research and analysis of Yellow Pages value can be easily summarized in the following 7 points:

Relevance – Yellow Pages ads reach and influence customers!

Yellow Pages are the most powerful medium for reaching active shoppers: One out of five individuals in an active shopping mode use the Yellow Pages (print or online) for information – more, on average, than any other advertising medium.

Efficient

Yellow Pages are the most efficient and effective medium for reaching people ready-to-buy: Almost all users of the Yellow Pages (89%) will make a purchase (79% for IYP users). No other medium is this targeted and no other medium can boast this high of a follow-through.

Decision-Impacting

Yellow Pages ads help shoppers make purchase decisions: The majority (58%) of Yellow Pages users are actively shopping (have not already chosen a business). Even those that open up a directory with a single name in mind get curious and look at other ads – 55% of these users view other ads, and they look at 4 ads on average. In net, close to three quarters of users of Yellow Pages end up being shoppers and view multiple ads when they go to a heading.

Permission-based, Full-engagement, Highly Effective:

Users are fully engaged. Users pay attention to ads 100% of the time because users actively seek out the information when they have an immediate shopping need.
Yellow Pages ads are continuously available and reach people whenever (and wherever) they need information, at a point of time when the consumer is in a decision-making modeYellow Pages are frequently an advertiser’s last chance (and, in many cases, only chance) to affect a customer’s decision.
Brings in Great Customers

The majority of customers (53%) received through the Yellow Pages are new customers to a business.
Yellow Pages users ( both print and online) spend 25% more than average customers for most of the top headings. The average amount spent by Yellow Pages users of the top 210 headings in 2009 was $404.
Roughly one out of five Yellow Pages references are for business purposes.
Because Yellow Pages ads do a great job of “pre-qualifying” customers, businesses have a strong chance of converting Yellow Pages users that contact them to paying customers. On average, while they consider 4.6 ads, users will only contact 1.9 businesses before making their final purchase decision. That translates to about a 50% “conversion” rate for every “call” or “lead” from the medium.
Yellow Pages users tend to have major events occurring in their lives that drive the need for new types of purchases.
Good for an Advertiser’s Business

Yellow Pages ads deliver prospects

The average top heading local display ad delivers over 200 calls per year at a cost per call (at 50% rate) of $22.

The average national display ad delivers over 400 calls per year at a cost per call of $16. National display ads receive more calls because national businesses generally list multiple locations in their ads, and each location draws significant numbers of calls.

The average space ad delivers over 150 calls at a cost per call of $9.

The average National Trademark ad delivers roughly 300 calls per year at a cost per call of $4.4. Trademark ads benefit similarly from multiple locations.

The average companion directory display ad delivers over 100 calls per year at a cost per call of $7.

The average Internet Yellow Pages ad delivers over 100 calls per year at a cost per call of $15. Calls represent only 75% of the response to IYP ads.

Great for the Advertiser’s Bottom Line

Yellow Pages ads pay for themselves many times over.

The typical local display ad delivers $15 of sales and $4 of profit for every $1 spent on Yellow Pages. The values for national display, space, and national trademark ads are even higher.

Copyright 2009-2011. CRM Associates. All rights reserved. 10/26/2011 3:20 PM

Wall street Journal: Cell Phones Exceed U.S. Population

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:56:00 +0000

If you are a business owner or marketer....you need to prepare for Local Search on Mobile Devices

Number of cellphones exceeds U.S. population: CTIA trade group

By Cecilia Kang

In this June 21, 2011 photo, the HTC Evo 3D smartphone is shown in San Francisco. (Eric Risberg - AP) There are now more wireless devices being used in the United States than there are people, and Americans have doubled the amount of Internet data traffic they generate on smartphones, according to the trade group CTIA.

The number of mobile devices rose 9 percent in the first six months of 2011, to 327.6 million — more than the 315 million people living in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Wireless network data traffic rose 111 percent, to 341.2 billion megabytes, during the same period.
How is this possible? Many adults have more than one wireless device, which include smartphones, tablets, and wireless cards.

Analysts have also pointed to the shorter lifecycle of electronics in U.S. homes, a trend prompted mostly by the availability of high-speed wireless access and more affordable devices.
The typical home of 2.6 people has an average of 24 gadgets, including at least one smartphone — double the number 15 years ago, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group.
CTIA’s data comes from a semi-annual survey that was relesaed Tuesday ahead of its fall business convention this week in San Diego. Tablets and laptops make up a small portion of those wireless network-connected devices at 15.2 million, up 17 percent from a year earlier.

The figures come amid big changes in the wireless industry. It is difficult to say how new data caps imposed by AT&T and Verizon Wireless are affecting consumers, and whether users are hitting their monthly limits. Users are expected to offload heavy data use onto Wi-Fi hot spots, analysts say. Text messages continue to be massively popular, with 1.138 trillion sent in the past year, up 16 percent. All those new connections have boosted revenues for the wireless industry, up 6 percent to $164.6 billion in the 12 months ending June, 2011.

DMS 11 Conference Update

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:11:00 +0000

Study's show that 95% of Internet usage is considered "Browsing". Only 5% is considered "Search". How can SMB's capitalize on consumers who are just browsing? Display Advertising. Place your Display Ad in as many places as possible that is relevant to the consumers browsing topics. More actions today are taking place from Display or Banner ads on the web.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Court Pl,Denver,United States

Digital Media Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:10:00 +0000

MakeItLocal is attending the BIA Kelsey DMS 11 conference in Denver Colorado this week. Studies are showing that the Small to Medium sized business will allocate 40% of their advertising budget to Digital Media in the upcoming year. The challenge is getting businesses that have been in business for more than seven years to view digital media as the future to competing in the Local Market Place. Change is hard.......but hopefully a compromise will be seen as the best solution for not only veteran business owners but also new owners. It is a blend of digital and traditional media that will reach the most consumers in the market today.

Stay tuned for more updates from DMS 11

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Denver CO

Why Should My Business Care About Facebook?!

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:55:00 +0000

As of January 2011, Facebook has more than 500 Million active users, 50% of whom log on into their accounts on any given day. The average Facebook user has more than 130 friends and spends over 12 hours per month on Facebook. That’s more than 23 minutes per day. The average time spent on an average website is between 8 and 21 seconds, the amount of time an average person spends on Facebook is mindblowing! Around 40% of global Internet users visited Facebook in the 4th quarter of 2010, making it the second most visited site behind Google.

What does this mean to my business?”

It means that with a Facebook fan page you have the potential to share your product, idea, or service with almost half of the world’s active Internet users. A Facebook fan page can allow you to not only connect with a potential customer....but also all their friends....and their friends....and their friends.....and you get the picture.

MakeitLocal can help your business connect with Hundreds if not Thousands of potential customers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Our Multimedia Consultant's can help your business get started connecting with consumers where they are!

Give us a call today to schedule an appointment. 1-888-646-6680

Google +1 - Social Recommendations

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Google is moving fast an furious to become more Social with their organic search results. We all know that Google has never gotten over Facebook scoffing at their proposal to buy them. Can + 1 have the impact needed to take on Facebook's ever popular Friend Recommendations or Like's? What I do know is that if you do not have a website or strong internet presence you are missing out on the impact that either can have on people finding your business and choosing your company's product's or service's. Watch the Video and read the information from Google to cast your vote!

See +1's

Sometimes it’s easier to find exactly what you’re looking for when someone you know already found it. Get recommendations for the things that interest you, right when you want them, in your search results.
The next time you’re trying to remember that bed and breakfast your buddy was raving about, or find a great charity to support, a +1 could help you out. Just make sure you're signed in to your Google Account.

Show +1's

In order to +1 things, you first need a public Google profile. This helps people see who recommended that tasty recipe or great campsite. When you create a profile, it's visible to anyone and connections with your email address can easily find it.
Your +1’s are stored in a new tab on your Google profile. You can show your +1’s tab to the world, or keep it private and just use it to personally manage the ever-expanding record of things you love around the web.

Reputation Management - Word of Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:02:00 +0000

A good friend of MakeitLocal posted this message on his blog. Brendan King understands the power of Word of Mouth. Today Word of Mouth is different than just what your neighbor tells another neighbor while cooking burgers in the back yard. With the Social Media Revolution in full swing, Word of Mouth can be drive customers to your business like never before! Read the post.....and if you decide you need help getting Word of Mouth working for your business give us a call!

The Power of Word Of Mouth

December 30, 2010
In 1989 fresh out of university I started a business with a college buddy. I remember those early days fondly. Our business only had a handful of employees. We worked long hours for very little but we had a great time. We started out recycling / remanufacturing toner cartridges for laser printers but soon found ourselves selling computer hardware. Our business grew from 90K in revenue in 1989 to just over 12M in revenue at close of year 1994. We ended up selling our business in 1994 and started all over again in 1995. We did it again. We built a computer retail business from scratch to just under 15M in revenue by 1999.
I often think back and wonder what could we have done, or not done, in the Social Internet environment of today? When we started in ‘89 the Internet was just beginning to show it’s potential via newsgroups and bulletin boards (bbs’s for those in the know), we leveraged it to get at the real geeks but only in the most informal of ways.
In the early 90’s everyone felt they needed a computer to “move ahead” or to “make sure their children were not left out” of the coming age of information. The problem was that brand name computers (IBM and Compaq at that time) were out of the price range of most. Clone computers and computers built from parts were cheaper but the options and configurations were scary for consumers. People simply didn’t know what to do. I remember when we sold some of our first computers people would come back and visit and say “what do I do with it now?” The C:> dos prompt just didn’t do it for them.
We did a couple of things that made us successful. We installed a software menu with a ton of shareware/freeware Games, recipes, spreadsheet, word processor, graphics program – some 200 programs in all that we preloaded on every system. We defined three “packages”, with only a few add on options (printers, mouse, monitor), that would satisfy users. Most importantly we explained why you needed a computer and what it would do for you.
We had a room, maybe 20 X 30, with white boards on three of the four walls. We had stacks of spec sheets for each of our packages with check boxes for the options. Customers would come in and we would ask them a few qualifying questions and then we would start writing on those white boards explaining the solutions and giving them advice as to what they should purchase.
I remember some days standing and talking and writing on the white boards with a couple or a family and by the time I was done presenting I had an audience of three, four or five groups. Our little room would be packed like sardines. When the presentation was over one of the groups would place their order and invariably the rest would follow suit. My business partner and I would sell 25 systems each at at $3000 dollars a pop every Saturday and week days weren’t too shabby either.
How did that happen. Was it location? Nope we were impossible to find, hidden away in an industrial area of Saskatoon. In fact the main reason we hired a receptionist was to answer the phone and give directions. Was it advertising? Nope. In those early days we didn’t do any. The extent of our advertising was a “highlighted” telephone number in the directory and a small yellow page ad.
Our marketing started as simple, cheap and effective as it gets – word of mouth. We helped people, we became their friends, and in turn they told their friends. Even today 20, years later, walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant, someone will say “Hi Brendan, remember me? I bought my first computer from you.” Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don’t. One thing I will never forget or underestimate is the power of word of mouth and referrals generated by really helping people and giving them value.
So sometimes I think back, what could we have done given the megaphone of the “social graph”? How many more people could we have crammed into that little room if people could have used Facebook and Twitter to tell their friends and family? I know that the opportunity we had selling computers couldn’t co-exist with ubiquitousness of Facebook and Twitter but it’s fun to think about it.

Post by: Brendan King

Daily Deals – As It Turns Out, They Actually Work!

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:24:00 +0000

Posted on 06/08/2011 by Josh Neckes
While unvetted research (particularly found in an official press release) should always be met with some measure of cynicism, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the findings put out today by ConsumerSearch.com, a member of the “About” group focused on analyzing online consumer behavior (particularly as it pertains to user opinion of products and services). Self-styled as a “Web site that does the homework for consumers”, ConsumerSearch.com’s research team turned their focus to the group buying market, and met with some

Perhaps most notable was the data on repeat business – specifically, that “68% of those who have redeemed a deal voucher from a business have subsequently returned to that business without having a deal”. The importance of this finding cannot be overstated; merchants are rightfully skeptical about the potential long-term value of daily deal services, in particular about whether or not the customers to whom they extend deals are likely to return. While this finding isn’t industry/product/service specific (e.g. just pertaining to restaurants), it still helps reaffirm the primary value proposition of daily deal services: a majority of customers are willing to come back and pay full price, assuming they have a positive experience.

Also interesting is that the majority of participants (53%) use daily deals to discover local businesses that they weren’t aware of previously. Coupled with the finding regarding customer return rates, local merchants and publishers now have consumer-based data to support the two main pillars of the daily deal rationale.

As a blended form of e-commerce and advertising, the goals of merchants participating in the group buying space are simple – get new customers, raise awareness, and encourage return traffic (even in the absence of a deal). It would seem as though data is finally emerging to support the anecdotal assertions of local merchants: the daily deal can be a critical building block in growing a local business.

From the publisher perspective, these findings are equally compelling; specifically, they emphasize the relevance of entry into this space, as well as provide fodder to help their sales teams source deals from local merchants still skeptical of participation. Additionally, a not-insubstantial percentage of participants (27%) felt that “not many deals appeal to me, but I’m hopeful that one might interest me eventually”; when coupled with the general uniformity among daily deal space consumers today (i.e. most are young, relatively affluent), this number hints at a large, underserved market segment looking for more endemic relevance in deals.

Given their lack of ostensible motivation to provide data that is biased either for or against the daily deal space, ConsumerSearch.com’s findings should be seen as a helpful asset to a very young industry that’s undergoing rapid evolution. As mentioned above, it would be very nice to see these numbers broken out by industry/vertical/demographic, but it’s a terrific start. Certainly, our analyst team at Group Commerce will be incorporating these findings into our larger data set – from which we’ll be sharing some interesting findings in the coming weeks.

SMB's Choose Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:02:00 +0000

Social media has quickly moved up the ranks of top marketing tactics among small and medium-sized business (SMBs). April 2011 research from Pitney Bowes indicates that by some measures of desirability, it’s in close competition with email.

When asked why they used several marketing tactics, US SMBs were most likely to say they chose social media marketing for its cost-effectiveness (54%) and ease of use (53%).

Respondents were still more likely to rate email as cost-effective and easy to use, but the older online marketing channel was ahead by less than 10 percentage points. No format besides social media approached it in these dimensions.

SMBs also tended to feel nearly as comfortable and knowledgeable with social media as they did with email, ahead of other channels.

Social media fell behind two other marketing tactics—direct mail and advertising—in “proven effectiveness,” however.

Still, its value for money spent has helped social media adoption rise quickly among small businesses. Pitney Bowes found that social media was used more frequently than direct mail, though still behind email and advertising overall. And it was the marketing tactic most likely to have been adopted in the past year, with 20% of respondents having taken it up in that time.

Email marketing software firm Constant Contact also found in April 2011 that usage of social media marketing was more popular among small businesses than direct mail, and behind only email marketing, a company website and print advertising. Four out of five respondents to that survey said they had increased their use of social media marketing in the past year.

Within the social realm, respondents were most likely to use Facebook, and rated it most effective of any venue.

Can Small Businesses Run Effective Social Media Campaings?

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:52:00 +0000

I’m really excited to moderate a rapid-fire small business panel at Blogworld on May 24^th in New York City. We are going to dig into the challenges and successes of the small business, when it comes to social media communications. In preparation for the panel session, I was reviewing some interesting materials, and came across a great chart from the Vocus 2011 Planning Survey, which compared the size of the company’s revenues to its social media sharing and contributions.
What’s really interesting about the chart is the highest statistics of meaningful social media sharing or contribution run the gamut from the large billion dollar companies down to the companies that have revenues less than $1 million dollars. You would think that larger companies, with their deep pockets for marketing dollars, would be sharing or contributing significantly more than smaller companies. According to the chart, that is not the case.
You can check out the numbers on the chart, but here are a few highlights. According to the Vocus Survey:

The revenue size shows that larger organizations are very confident in their social participation (sharing and contributing), with survey responses over 80%. However, small and midsized businesses follow close behind with 55% and 60%, respectively saying they are either sharing or contributing.
There is greater confidence in social media maturity, particularly among small businesses, which is reflective that these organizations have changed their expectations of social media.
Organizations are giving themselves high marks for social media participation whether they are large companies or smaller businesses, which shows the importance of sharing and contributing in the social landscape.

So, for all of the small business out there, you can use social media effectively and share and contribute with meaning. And, you don’t have to be a large company. Yes, it does it take time, resources, and a consistent approach. It also requires a strategy, proper planning and meaningful communication to engage audiences. But, you don’t need to spend millions on your social media outreach. I would recommend taking a realistic approach to what you are trying to achieve and setting the proper expectations in place with your leadership team. In order to set expectations, you may need social media education, which includes examples of what other companies are doing, especially the competitors in your industry.
Remember that social media has to be a part of a media mix to reach your constituents where they congregate, and to provide them with value at every touch point. I hope this information is helpful and gets small business owners motivated and looking at social media through a different set of glasses!

by:Deirdre Breakenridge

Let MakeitLocal help your business engage consumers where they are.

Call us today to learn how,

1-888-646-6680

Smartphone User Study Shows Mobile Movement Underway

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:54:00 +0000

71% of smartphone users search because of an ad they’ve seen either online or offline; 82% of smartphone users notice mobile ads, 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase as a result of using their smartphones to help with shopping, and 88% of those who look for local information on their smartphones take action within a day.

These are some of the key findings from “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm, among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users at the end of 2010.

Consumers use smartphones as an extension of their desktop computers and use it as they multi-task and consume other media.

81% browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their smartphone
72% use their smartphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV
93% of smartphone owners use their smartphones while at home

Action-Oriented Searchers: Mobile search is heavily used to find a wide variety of information and to navigate the mobile Internet.

Search engine websites are the most visited websites with 77% of smartphone users citing this, followed by social networking, retail and video sharing websites
Nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.)
24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search

Local Information Seekers: Looking for local information is done by virtually all smartphone users and consumers are ready to act on the information they find.

95% of smartphone users have looked for local information
88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs
77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business

Purchase-driven Shoppers: Smartphones have become an indispensable shopping tool and are used across channels and throughout the research and decision-making process.

79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer
74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store

Reaching Mobile Consumers: Cross-media exposure influences smartphone user behavior and a majority notice mobile ads which leads to taking action on it.

71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads
Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase

Implications

The findings of the study have strong implications for businesses and mobile advertisers. Make sure you can be found via mobile search as consumers regularly use their phones to find and act on information. Incorporate location based products and services and make it easy for mobile customers to reach you because local information seeking is common among smartphone users. Develop a comprehensive cross-channel strategy as mobile shoppers use their phones in-store, online and via mobile website and apps to research and make purchase decisions. Last, implement an integrated marketing strategy with mobile advertising that takes advantage of the knowledge that people are using their smartphones while consuming other media and are influenced by it.

Posted by Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team

Group Buying Industry In U.S. Estimated To Grow 138 Percent To $2.7 Billion This Year

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:44:00 +0000

The group buying industry has sprung out of nowhere over the past two years. A new report (embedded below) by daily deal aggregator Local Offer Network puts the U.S. gross revenues across the industry at $1.1 billion last year, and estimates gross revenues will grow 138 percent to $2.7 billion in 2011.
Groupon alone, according to other sources, is expected to bring in between $3 billion and $4 billion this year, up from $760 million last year, but those numbers are worldwide. If you figure at least half of Groupon’s revenues come from the U.S., you can get a sense of how much it dominates the market—capturing anywhere from about 50 to 75 percent of expected industry revenues this year.

But that still leaves as much as half left over for other group buying sites, such as LivingSocial and Gilt Groupe. And those are just the big dogs. Local Offer Network tracked 90,000 deals across 322 group-buying sites in the U.S. since January, 2010. And that doesn’t even include so-called private sale sites.
In the first quarter of 2011, it tracked 117 new deal sites, which is about double the number of entrants a year ago. The churn rate for these sites is about 25 percent, meaning that is how many fail, are bought, or go dormant.

The number of deals being offered is also accelerating. Last year, there were about 63,000 deals in the U.S. through group buying sites. In the first quarter of 2011, there will be an estimated 40,000. Groupon accounts for less than half of those published deals.
The categories that dominate are Food and Drink (27%), Beauty, Spa & Massage (19%), Fitness & nutrition (7%), Sports & Recreation (7%), and Home Products & Services (5%). The biggest cities for daily deals are Chicago (where Groupon is based), New York City, San Francisco, Boston, and LA.
Local Offer Network gets all of this data in a variety of ways, including business relationships with about half of the group buying sites, data feeds, APIs and web crawlers.

Erick Schonfeld Mar 22, 2011

US Mobile Ad Spend to Break $1 Billion in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (David Little) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:59:00 +0000

US mobile ad spending is expected to break the $1 billion mark this year, up 48% from $743.1 million in 2010, according to eMarketer. eMarketer’s estimates include display (banner, rich media and video), search and messaging-based advertising.