Following is a collect of recent news from industry suppliers:
Local Book Publishing selects Front Door Insights
Front Door Insights LLC. announced that it has signed an agreement to license its software and associated suite of products to Local Book Publishing, based in Midway, Utah.
“We are very excited to have a company like Local Book Publishing, who is widely considered one of the best Yellow Pages publishers in the country, join our platform. We look forward to working together with Local Book to provide their advertisers with new digital media tools and increase the value of their advertising proposal.” stated Tom Tolbert, President of Front Door Insights.
Front Door Insights’ platform includes an industry leading suite of services and intuitive web-based software that can be re-branded for seamless reselling opportunities. Front Door Insights customized “Call to Action” graphics have been developed specifically for print resellers. These graphics create instant interactivity when incorporated into traditional print advertising and online directories.
“We have been looking for a product that supports and extends the reach of our print product in the digital media space. I believe that Front Door Insights combines their experience in Yellow Pages Publishing with their platform making them the ideal mobile marketing solution for Print Directory Publishers.” stated Bryan Willets, President of Local Book Publishing.
Localeze Makes Searching for Local Business Tweets Seamless by Integrating with Twitter’s New Places API
Localeze announced that with Localeze’s extensive database of persistent ID (PID) numbers, developers working with Localeze can now easily integrate Tweets about a location within their app providing users a more dynamic and social location-based experience.
By using Localeze’s PID numbers, partners can quickly retrieve all Tweets related to a place, giving users more local context about a business. Previously, developers had to search for Tweets, which was a laborious and manual process.
“Our relationship with Twitter enables sharing of geo-tagged content with developers utilizing the Localeze persistent ID, encouraging the proliferation of contextual content,” said Jeff Beard, president, Localeze. “Our local search platform partners continue to benefit from our trusted business data as it becomes the common language for major search and LBS apps.”
With the widest distribution of standardized content to online, mobile and social search platforms in the industry, developers can access the largest set of verified, enhanced business listings data actively managed by local businesses themselves.
Videobar™ Increases Video Ad Views and Ad Sales for Online Directories
The Videobar, an online advertising unit that plays up to six video ads and increases online advertising revenue for online directory publishers has been introduced by WebShoz, Inc.
The Videobar which can be configured numerous ways, is typically deployed to offer premium placement of video ads at the top of a directory category such as lawyers, restaurants or doctors. It enables the viewer to preview six video ads by simply mousing over each of the thumbnail images. A click on any chosen video will link the buyer to the advertiser’s profile page, website or whatever page the directory or advertiser has chosen.
This same solution can be used to bring video ads to e-commerce sites “above the fold”, helping consumers to shop faster. Finally, search engines can also deploy the software to bring videos collectively to the top of results with a sneak peak opportunity before committing to a click.
WebShoz is also offering free video ad production to encourage more advertisers to benefit from the Videobar.
“The patent pending Videobar will raise awareness of online video ads and increase the number of video ads played meaning added ‘hits’ to significantly boost leads for advertisers and income for online publishers”, says Alexandrea Day, President and CEO of WebShoz.
Click here to visit a live demo and run your mouse over the thumbnail visuals.
“This is a game-changer when it comes to video ads on the web, particularly for small businesses”, she adds.
“Until now video ads were buried in listings, or appeared one at a time in a banner or linked to, from within a display ad. Now the viewer has a menu of video ads with live-action and previews. The viewer has more opportunities to choose their vendor and the advertisers have more opportunities to impact the viewer. Meanwhile, the publisher is seeing more clicks and more revenue,” said Frank Rocco, WebShoz VP Marketing & Sales.
The first Videobar has just been launched in the SureWest Directory. And with the Videobar’s ability to draw more attention to video advertising for SMBs, a corresponding spike in video ad sales and a wide network of directory clients is expected. WebShoz plans to expand that network of publishers making video ads available to all its publisher members and also to distribute video ads outside the network and throughout the web.
