Local press for Local.com
Today’s Orange County Register has a profile of local search destination Local.com, and writer Jonathan Lansner does a pretty good job covering all the challenges of local search, esp. considering he’s writing for a general audience that may not even be familiar with the difference between “search” and “local search.”
He hits on:
- the challenge of selling local search advertising
- the challenge of growing an audience
- the general lack of sophistication among many who would use local search
- the frequent lack of online information (i.e., a web site) about many small businesses
What caught my eye was some more info. about Local.com’s recent acquisition of soUno, and how it might impact sales revenue:
… up until two months ago, Local.com’s revenue came from partnerships with other Internet companies.
Just before 2006 ended, the Web site added a do-it-yourself ad purchase function for businesses seeking Internet searchers. Last Tuesday, Local.com acquired a sales staff: soUno from Tulsa., Okla., in a deal worth up to $13.5 million in cash and stock.
“We’re buying know-how,” Clarke says.
The deal gets Local.com the brains to aggressively pitch to less-than-giant businesses. How? Using low-tech tools. Like pitch letters sent to a postal mailbox. Or old-fashioned telemarketing.
It’s a good read. Here’s the full story.
[tags]local search, local.com[/tags]
