Big Day of Local Search News: Localeze and Praized
I was on the phone for a good portion of the day and finally played catch-up tonight on all the big local search news that came out. No need to rehash or present all the details that you’ve probably read, so here’s a real quick recap:
Localeze Takes on Content Management for Local Businesses
Here’s the news release. In a nutshell, Localeze is going to try to take on the task of helping local businesses more efficiently manage their online business data. Here’s the manage your listings section on their web site.
Gut reaction: This is something that local/small businesses desperately need. I’m not sure anyone can really accomplish it, i.e. — creating a one-stop shop for businesses to manage their listing information. But given their distribution, Localeze would seem to have a better shot than anyone.
Praized Combines Local and Social
Here’s the news release. In a nutshell, Praized has created a way for blogs and other social communities to integrate local business information and stimulate conversations about the local data. If I’m reading it right, an analogy might be something along the lines of having a Yelp-like business discussion right on your own blog. (They’d probably prefer I didn’t make that comparison, but there it is.) There’s also a matching Facebook application, too. And, tying in nicely to the other big news, Localeze is one of the providers of the local business data. Canada’s Yellow Pages Group is the other.
Gut reaction: As a big believer in the power of hyperlocal blogging, I’m real curious about this. My wife and I have recently started several hyperlocal blogs (that don’t have an audience yet), and I wonder if something like this would be a good fit. It’s something I’ll be investigating for sure. You should also check out Sebastian Provencher’s roundup of what others are saying about the new Praized local/social platform.
Your turn: What are your thoughts on the big local search announcements Wednesday?
Hasn’t localeze had this available for quite sometime? I remember seeing it at least a year ago.