Small Business Commando News

vFlyer is a service that simplifies distribution of classified advertising by providing a template and distribution assistance.

It’s an interesting concept, because although Craigslist and LiveDeal receive most of the attention, there are dozens of other free classified advertising sites where a local advertiser might gain traction.

vFlyer announced that they were officially launched and were offering subscription plans for businesses ranging from $20 to $80 monthly.

They offer a personal version that is ad supported with limited features.

Some of vFlyer’s distribution partners are automatic such as Google Base, Edgeio, and Oodle. They provide html templates for the channels that require manual input such as craigslist and LiveDeal.

Ultimately, vFlyer may provide a valuable service to businesses who post a high volume of advertisements across multiple distribution sites.

Couple of things:

1. The Pew Internet and American Life project repeased a report showing that 55% of teens use social networking sites and have built a personal profile.

That’s a big number, but this is more interesting:

- 48% of teens visit social networking sites daily or more often.

If you’re wondering where consumer behavior will be in a few years, look no further than today’s youth. Social networking is going to be a natrual way for people to exchange ideas in every aspect of their lives.

Teens may not be the audience that you are marketing to, but guess what. Teens grow up. I don’t do everything now that I used to do as a teen (such as guzzle Mountain Dew), but many of my behaviors remain unchanged.

2. I met with Jon Carder and Jager Fornal, founders of MojoPages.com, a new web 2.0 social networking / Yellow Pages site.

I am naturally very skeptical about new businesses that set their sites on changing the business of local marketing. And MojoPages has their work cut out for them.

However, there is an intersection of local business referrals and social networking that WILL happen. Several people are chasing the dream, and at least a few will succeed.

MojoPages intends to use the lessons of social networking and a background in lead generation to build new type of company. As Yelp, InsiderPages, Judy’s Book Yahoo Local and several others have demonstrated, this is not an easy task.

But, I liked Mojo’s spirit and thinking. Their site has a very interesting video blog showing the behinds-the-scenes look at the start of their company. The actual launch of Mojopages is a few months away.
They have something, shall we call it mojo?, that a larger organization will never have.  I think that they have a very good chance at success.  They’re keeping their burn rate low, they are creating great buzz, and most importantly, I think the market timing is excellent.
The point to all of this is that social networking is an important phenomenon that is still in its early stages, but it will impact local marketing in a major way.  MojoPages may be a winner in a very important game.

Donna Bogatin’s ZDnet post addresses the importance of local salespeople versus the Google “come buy ads” approach.

She notes that InsiderPages, Backfence and other local startups failed to gain traction.  I might add that they did not use the traditional Yellow Pages feet on the street approach.

Yellow Pages publishers know that local ad sales is a belly-to-belly business.  It’s not pretty, it’s not cheap, but by God it’s worth about $16 billion in the US this year.

To be successful in local ad sales, you need to get the advertiser’s attention, build trust, provide a good value and deliver the goods promised.

Tall orders for any business, but especially difficult in the local channel.

Google: $31 billion local dilemma ZDNet’s Donna Bogatinatin — The local advertising opportunity is currently wide open.

There has been a mini-buzz around the blogosphere sparked by the massive headcount reduction at BackFence.com.

Being successful in local publishing doesn’t require a magic pill or some Web 2.0 (groan, I hate that term) formula.

I grew up in Loogootee, Indiana (pop. 2,500), which happened to be the largest “city” in Martin County.  I didn’t have any photos of Loogootee, so I posted an old country music program to show what a wonderfully hick town it is.

The local newspaper “The Loogootee Tribune” is a very profitable venture, and was recently purchased by a local entrepreneur, Larry Hembree (my brother’s high school classmate).

The paper has not changed much in the last several decades. The front page always includes minutes from the city council, obituaries and highlights from the local basketball team. The revenue model includes such standards as classifieds and display advertising, but it also includes highly profitable “turkey pages.”

“Turkey pages” are pages that congratulate the basketball team on winning a tournament, or recognizing a local business leader on his retirement, or some other “event.” The ad sales reps ask local businesses and individuals to show their “support” of whoever is featured on the page. I don’t know the cost, but it’s low enough to capture several dozen advertisers who collectively pay more than the page costs to run.

A comment on The Local Onliner by David Chase, owner of a hyper-local site called SunValleyOnline.com hits the nail on the head regarding successful (translation: sustainable) local publishing.

1. Focus on providing valuable local content (births, deaths, bake sales, city council minutes, etc.)
2. Run extremely lean so that your hurdle to cover costs is very low.
3. Pay your dues by sticking with it long after the initial burst of enthusiasm has worn off.

Over time, community involvement will increase and advertisers will follow. Using a variety of mini revenue sources, you can develop a property that has legs and will continue long into the future.