Looking for a free way to manage your business profile data? Better yet, Would you want to distribute that data for free to online and mobile directory publishers? What if you change your address or phone number or add additional locations? Would you like to add your business profile data for free? Well, here is a great new option. [Read more…]

I have noticed a change in how Google is displaying the search results for certain cityname+keyword searches. For those of you who often search for something that includes a location (or a city name) along with a keyword, you might be interested in how Google is changing the search results. [Read more…]

With the ever-expanding adoption of mobile smartphones, coupled with advances in search and maps like Google Maps, Google Local, and Yahoo! Local, making sure that your local business and all of your local business locations are found is becoming more crucial. Not only do you have to make sure your local business is listed, you need the extra marketing provided by local marketing experts like myself to make sure that your local business is at the top of the search results. [Read more…]

Zvents, the site where you can discover things to do, has secured $24 million in funding from Nokia Growth Partners, AT&T and NAVTEQ. Nokia Growth Partners, is the growth capital arm of Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world’s leading mobile phone supplier; NAVTEQ, is the world leader in premium-quality digital map data. AT&T (NYSE: T) is the largest U.S. wireless company which, through its YELLOWPAGES.COM subsidiary, is also the leading U.S. internet yellow pages search directory. Zvent’s existing investors, Vantage Point Venture Partners and Red Rock Ventures, also participated in the financing. [Read more…]

Photo courtesy TechCrunch.

Paul Levine, former GM of Yahoo! Local, has joined Zvents board of directors as Zvents continues to grow both its network and innovative local search platform. His experience with local listings will prove invaluable as the platform continues to support local business as is done offline; by way of event promotion.

This news comes amid the release of a top 20 Yellowpages.com iPhone app, powered by Zvents. The app enables users to comprehensively search local on the new iPhone G3 and local businesses to reach iPhone mobile customers through Zvents. A formal announcement has not yet been made but the app is available for download and is being promoted by YellowPages.com.

Zvents is a local search and advertising network of hundreds of web and mobile partners featuring event listings to promote local business. Using unique technology that enables location- and time-based search for businesses and events, Zvents helps millions of people find local businesses and discover things to do. Thousands of local merchants use Zvents’ free and paid listings products to submit local events and activities, thus promoting their businesses and providing unique and hard-to-find local content to users throughout Zvents.

“Zvents has all the elements necessary to build a substantial business in local: an impressive technology platform, a top-tier distribution network, and an active merchant community generating unique local content,” said Paul Levine. “I’m excited to work with Zvents’ outstanding board and management team to help fuel the company’s future growth.”

Paul Levine was the Vice President of Marketing at AdBrite, The Internet’s Ad Marketplace, where he is responsible for the company’s marketing, public relations, and customer operations. Prior to joining AdBrite, Levine was Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo! Local, where he ran Yahoo!’s yellow pages, local search, maps, events, classified, and real estate properties. At Yahoo!, Paul oversaw the launch of Yahoo! Local, grew it to become the internet’s leading local content property with over 20 million monthly users, and led the company’s local advertising partnerships and strategy.

Zvents is a local search and advertising network of hundreds of web and mobile partners, featuring event listings to promote local business. Using unique search technology, which enables location- and time-based search for businesses and events, Zvents provides users with a compelling search and discovery experience, while enabling local merchants and advertisers to effectively promote their businesses. Zvents connects local businesses with millions of monthly users in diverse categories including music, movies, restaurants, sports, retail shopping, and community. The company aggregates rich business and event information from web sites, user-contributed content, and 3rd party sources, and integrates high-quality partner editorial content with its search index. The company is a leader in local search relevance and is the main sponsor of the open-source Hypertable project. For more information, visit www.Zvents.com.

 

Google is partnering with Nokia to offer Google search to Nokia mobile phone users worldwide. If you have a Nokia cell phone, you will be able to use Google to find relevant information. [Read more…]