LocalProud is a discount card program to help vitalize local economies. Businesses offer discounts that are honored when consumers show their LocalProud card. They get to determine the offers and are able to change them via a convenient website…

Have you ever wished you could carry around a card that would be honored at any business who offered coupons? Well, we have which is why we’ve created Local Proud – a Coupon program that eliminates the hassles of finding, printing and organizing coupons.

This is the way of future discount programs and we are now bringing it to life. Consumers want great deals. Businesses want to offer great value. Now, Local Proud is bringing the two together buy offering an easy to use discount card called the Local Proud Perks card.

We are pleased to annouce that we have partnered with our first television station as well – an innovative thinker located in Buffalo, NY. WKBW is where you’ll find great deals in western upstate New York. Currently we are offering many deals in the Buffalo and surrounding areas.

The great thing is you can use the card or, if you’re old school (sorry:-) you can also print coupons from the website. Sometimes it take a little while to inform the community as to what a new value proposition is so in the meantime, you can still print coupons via Local Proud. We are adding new offers daily so keep coming back – we’re about to overtake the Buffalo, NY area!

Rev Up announced today another great feature built into MyLocalLookup. We continue to lead the way in local search when it comes to developing new ways for our customers to get the most opportunity within Local Search.

My Local Lookup, a local search engine similar to a Yellow Pages on line has now incorportaed video players into their search results.

About 6 months ago, we announced how we’ve incorporated Twitter results into MyLocalLookup searches and now we’re the first to announce that we have videos within our search results for our paying clients. It works like this…

When a consumer is on one of our stations websites like WKBW.com. (This is one of our stations however someone can go directly to MyLocalLookup and get the same results.) they type in a keyword like Auto in Buffalo, NY and the search results appear. Pretty impressive as the first 6 listing are paid advertisers and their video results appear before any of the free results.

We are also building in video players to all our landing pages that consumers can access through our station partners. This gives the local business so much exposure and we are delighted to introduce the new players.

Keep coming back, we have more features and new partners we’re adding all the time!

Written by Kevin Conway.

OK, I finally said it publicly, Social Media for business is Crap! .

Maybe because my feeling for the hyped-up benefits of social media was recently confirmed by a top millionaire online guru. If you follow the most successful gurus his name is always at the top of the list. As a matter of fact, he was the first online entrepreneur to make a MILLION $$ in a day. That said, recently he published a PDF where he said “I think social media Su-ks”. When I read that I felt a sigh of relief, “maybe I am not off the tracks after all”. You see when you don’t “follow the pack” you tend to sometimes feel like you are going down the wrong path or at least missing an opportunity. Now, I must admit I use all the major social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo, etc, etc. However, not for direct marketing. And, even though I publish new product releases on Twitter, analytics tells me no convertible traffic comes from that source or Facebook. My primary use of social sites is for building backlinks, but that is for SEO purposes. And, of course the added exposure. i.e. “branding” doesn’t hurt.

However, I never felt like any of the exposure or traffic was ever really serious “convertible traffic”. In other words social media is used for entertainment and communication, ahh, socializing. “Socializing” people are not in the “consumer mode” when they are cruising the social sites. They are looking for friends, maybe a date, etc. Proof of this observation is that these social sites still cannot monetize themselves via paid advertising to nearly the level of search engines like Google or Yahoo. Why? Because you really cannot target potential consumers when they are out at their “buying behavior mode”, i.e. when they are specifically looking to buy a product or service. To try and pull social surfers out of the “social mode” and into a “buying mode” requires many steps before a behavioral shift is realized. Sure, you can start a dialogue and maybe down the road they will recall your business, but the effort to generate business is much more ROI effective using PPC or SEO. The one bright spot for social media as a business tool may be list building, but my own results have been mixed (via measuring quality of opt ins).

And yes, I have read the eMarketer predictions that social ad spend will increase by about 400% by 2013. But, these same groups are also publishing reports like today’s “Does Social Media Work for Small Biz?” where 88% of all small business owners say social media is not helpful to their business. Proof that most of us are not yet seeing the tangible benefits, i..e., sales, leads, etc, from our social media profiles. Personally I am not even seeing much return on creating and maintaining groups within the social media outlets. And, one of the most raved about tools within social media is creating specialized groups.

So, at the moment using social sites for business generation, in my opinion is still highly overrated. As an owner of several e-commerce business I don’t see myself investing advertising dollars in social media any time soon. And, even though there are those that will disagree, I don’t think many of them can show you their own e-commerce business that has experienced any serious ROI using social media. If anyone can show me any REAL results otherwise, please I am all ears. But please Hold the HYPE.

The rest of this article comes to us from Mark Dolliver…

Here’s a bit of Internet Age heresy from small-business owners: 46 percent regard it as a “myth” that every company needs a Web site.

That’s one tidbit from a release this month of supplemental data from the ongoing Discover Small Business Watch polling. When small-business owners were asked in an August round of polling whether their company has a Web site, fewer than half (45 percent) said it does.

Among respondents whose business doesn’t have a Web site, the foremost reason (cited by 41 percent) was that “my business doesn’t need one.” Other reasons included “cost” (cited by 19 percent), “not enough time to monitor and manage” (16 percent) and “complexity” (9 percent).

Do consumers penalize small businesses that choose not to have an online presence? Not as much as you might expect. Polling in September among consumers asked, “Are you more likely or less likely to use a small business that has a Web site?” While a plurality (47 percent) said they’d be more likely to do so, half said either that they’d be less likely (17 percent) or that “it would have no impact” (34 percent).

Nor is there a consensus among consumers that it’s odd if a company doesn’t have a Web site. Asked whether they “expect every business, large or small, to eventually have a Web site,” those saying “yes” (46 percent) were outnumbered by the sum of those saying “no” (37 percent) or “not sure” (17 percent).

The same poll also asked consumers whether they would “consider using a service or small business that you heard about on a social or business networking site.” Forty-three percent said they would consider it, but 32 percent said they wouldn’t and 26 percent weren’t sure.

Some say we are on the road to Recovery. Some say otherwise so it depends on which side you believe. I will say this…

Productivity grew by an annual rate of 8.1% in third quarter of 2009, the biggest increase since 2003, according to the Commerce Department. This followed a 6.9% rise in productivity in the second quarter of 2009. As productivity increased, labor costs fell at a 2.5% annual rate, indicating that inflation remains under control. But, this also signals that workers’ wages are decreasing, experts say, raising a cause for concern on the durability of the nation’s economic recovery.

What does this all mean? It means that we still have some tough time ahead of us. But I like to pose the question… is your glass half full or half empty? Me personally, mine is always half full, no matter what. I will say that the month of December has been my best billing month in 10 months… I feel it getting better!

As people of the Greatest Nation on earth, we need to always be “Half Full”!

I recently asked the question to a few small businesses and clients that I’m close with around the country… How effective has Local Search been for your business.  The answers that I’ve been given have been all across the board, some good, some bad but more over what most people say to me is “we don’t use it at all” 

For the businesses that use local search as part of their Internet strategies, you get it… but for the latter, I find this to be fascinating. Let’s look at a few facts about local search and how consumers are online today.

92% of all people are online today and let’s face it, the Internet has become our lifes, both personally and professionally.

97% of people with online access will research products and services online before they buy – we still like to buy from the bricks and motars. 
Interesting enough, 35% of all searches are done with an intent to buy.
and 55% of all local searches are done with an intent to buy.
Of all local searches, 8 out of 10 call or visit a store and 60% of those result in a purchase of some kind.
Times are rapidly changing and traditional advertising mediums are losing their effectiveness.

The internet has changed the way the world communicates, gathers, stores and sends information. However, this global connection has created a problem for the local business in their local markets. Why? Traditional print advertising has become less effective.  Most people have thrown their Yellow Pages away and search online instead and Newspaper’s readership is down over 50% and many papers are declaring bankruptcy.

On the other side of local business and local search is big business. It’s true that search results in general are dominated by large companies. That is proven to be true with Local search as well. The big guys understand that us consumers are smart and we’re looking everywhere for the best deals, including using local search engines.

Business owners reading this post, I hope by now you are reading all there is to read about search, search engine marketing, blogging and anything else related to getting you better exposure with your online presence. We’re doping everyday and we’re a small business just like you!

Now this is the kind of story I like to read… A newspaper company finally getting it! I found this story and of course, had to give my opinion. I wrote earlier about the merging of big companies and how, in my little brain, feel that those types of mergers are worthless to you and me.

But this little merger makes me scream with joy! In the big picture I’m not sure it really means a whole lot as far as competition but I like hearing about a small company with a great idea who though may not get hugely rich from it, they do get the reward of selling their idea. WikiCity has some great potential. There are many cities not yet populated within the site but it is farily new, less than a year old.

The Omaha World-Herald Co.’s flagship publication is the Omaha World-Herald, with a 200,000 Sunday and a 160,00 daily circulation. This opens the door for great growth opportunity and shows me that Omaha World-Herald is a great company. They are looking to the future, they know that they can’t grow just being a newspaper. I like that kind of thinking. You can read more here at Nieman Lab.

According to Mike Shields and Performics, the search-specializing shop within Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi, its retail clients increased search spending in July by 13 percent versus the same month last year. That was the first such jump in monthly spending recorded this year—a year when Americans have been saving more and reluctant to spend during the ongoing recession (as evidenced by recent poor retail sales figures).

Previously, during the first six months of the year, though spending was not on the rise, efficiency was; Performics’ retail brands saw their return on investment climb 8.8 percent as overall search spending slipped, in part driving down pricing. During that period, Performics noted a five-cent, or 8 percent, decline in the average cost-per-click paid by search advertisers.

July’s surge in spending is providing hope for the rest of the year. Besides retail brands, the agency saw increased spending in the auto category, driven by the U.S. government’s Cash for Clunkers initiative.

July also proved to be promising for Bing, Microsoft’s much ballyhooed search reboot. Performics’ clients spent 40 percent more in search dollars with Microsoft than during the previous month when Bing debuted. Competition for ad inventory on Bing is also on the rise, as Performics recorded a 19-cent lift in average cost-per-click on the new search engine.

I know this has nothing to do with what this site is about however I felt compelled to share this with our friends. It has to do with life, living and really keeping our lifes in perspective… it only takes a minute to read but I believe will last a long time in your mind… enjoy!

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete….

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ‘ I love you ‘ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Although My Local Lookup might be one of the smallest David’s to come down the pike, we thought we’d take a shot at Google and Yahoo at the same time. After all, we’re targeting the local arena – which is an area that the majors have not put much focus into. You can’t blame them , really, there’s too much money in their current business model. But we can point out their flaws. Bing is trying to go down the same road (as us) with their new television campaign – pointing out the information overload experienced with search engines today.

Now, more than ever, with so many millions of new web pages being indexed each month, do we need more local search directories to help local businesses. We don’t have the ad dollars that Microsoft has to promote Bing (did that really have to be said?), but by partnering with local television stations around the country, slowly My Local Lookup can get into the heads of consumers.

This blog is dedicated to small businesses around the country. We’ll talk about creative ways to get your business more exposure through technology, local search and social and traditional media. Who knows, maybe we can just start a new David Army.

Check out our latest TV commercial!