{"id":595,"date":"2008-04-03T10:48:17","date_gmt":"2008-04-03T14:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/03\/local-links-of-interest-49\/"},"modified":"2008-04-03T15:28:31","modified_gmt":"2008-04-03T19:28:31","slug":"local-links-of-interest-49","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/03\/local-links-of-interest-49\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Links of Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

UniversalBusinessListing.Org Partners with NexxLinx to Jump-Start Local Search\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

UBL is the industry initiative to help businesses create and expand their online presence. Instead of spending countless frustrating hours of trial and error, businesses create a central listing with UBL, and for a small fee their information is securely distributed to all major US online Yellow Pages, search engines, industry directories and 411 directory assistance.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Adding A Business to MSN\/Live Local Search<\/a> – Matt McGee, SmallBusinessSEM<\/p>\n

MSN<\/acronym>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Local Search property, Live Search Maps, used to rely on Localeze for all its business listings. If you wanted to add or edit a listing in MSN<\/acronym> Local, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where you went to take care of it. <\/em><\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s since been replaced by MSN<\/acronym>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own Local Business Listings Center, which operates quite similarly to Google\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of the same tool.<\/em><\/p>\n

Western Union to Offer Mobile-to-Mobile Transfers<\/a> – Laura Sydell, NPR<\/p>\n

Western Union is teaming up with two other companies to offer customers money transfers over their cell phones. It’s aimed at immigrants, who often don’t go to banks or use the Internet to conduct business.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rumor: eBay to Sell Skype to Google?<\/a> – Sebastien, Praized.com<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong> I think this potential acquisition\/partnership makes complete sense. IMHO, call tracking and pay-per-call represents a large portion of future local search revenues and Google clearly sees that local search is where they will get tremendous growth in the next 5-10 years. By buying the Skype infrastructure (and user base) and combining it with the GrandCentral technology and expertise, they instantly get core assets to execute that strategy globally. <\/em><\/p>\n

Call Tracking Data Reveals YP Print ROI<\/a> – Greg Sterling, Screenwerks<\/p>\n

The Yellow Pages Association has put out data from a call tracking study this morning that shows a high return on investment for display advertisers:<\/em><\/p>\n