I'm very excited to write that today we unveiled the next phase of
Smalltown's growth: the launch of Webcards.com.
Webcards.com is a site where anyone can go to make a Webcard™ listing,
even if there isn't a Smalltown hyper local site in their town yet. Why would
small business owners want to make a Webcard listing when there isn't a
Smalltown site in their community? Two reasons:
1. Traditional websites simply are not the best online solution for
small businesses. Webcard listings are a new type of Web presence tailored to
their unique needs. They are easy to make, easy to change, affordable and
include built-in functionality merchants don't have the time or resources to
build themselves. And just like a traditional website, Webcard listings have
unique urls and are indexed by the popular search engines.
2. Webcard listings are "portable". This
means they can be embedded into other websites such as IYPs, ad networks, local
verticals, social networking sites and so on. Best of all, if users change
their Webcard listings in one place, that change is instantly made everywhere
the Webcard listing is published.
Isn't this a departure from Smalltown's focus on local websites with
deep local content?
Webcards.com has always been in our plans for kick-starting the
expansion of Smalltown's into hundreds of other communities across the country.
Remember that classic local chicken-and-egg problem… Which came first, the
content or the visitors? We say "content comes first". We'll monitor
Webcards.com to identify hot spots of Webcard listing activity, and use that
data to inform us about where to launch the next Smalltown sites. For example,
Webcards.com might identify a certain zip code that has at least two Webcard
listings in every category, and then we'll launch a Smalltown hyper local
website in that region, which is pre-loaded with rich local content.
Here's the press release supporting today's announcement:
Smalltown®
Launches Webcards.com to Simplify Online Advertising and Marketing for Small
Businesses
Webcard™
Universal Business Listings Are Portable Websites That Are Easy to Publish
Anywhere on the Internet
San Mateo, CA —
May 13, 2008 — Smalltown, the company redefining
online local advertising through technical innovations, today unveiled Webcards.com, where local merchants
can go to create Webcard™ listings to promote their businesses across the
Internet without having to produce multiple campaigns in different formats on a
variety of platforms. Webcard listings, which are a hybrid of yellow page ads
and multimedia websites, can work on their own or be embedded into other Web
pages. When merchants make changes to their Webcard listing, the changes are
instantly reflected everywhere on the Internet the Webcard listing appears.
"Merchants
typically do not have the time, money or resources to build the features
required to get value out of traditional websites," said Hal Rucker, founder and CEO of Smalltown. "So we created a totally
new type of portable Web presence tailored to their unique needs. We’re
building a critical piece of the online advertising ecosystem that will enable
a small business owner to make a single Webcard listing and use it everywhere,
whether it’s as a stand-alone website, a banner ad, a mobile ad, an interactive
gadget ad, or a multimedia addition to a Facebook page or yellow pages
directory. After working with hundreds of our customers in six pilot towns to
optimize the features that work best for them, we’re excited to offer Webcard
listings to small business owners everywhere."
"After
more than a decade of the Internet it's surprising that developing an effective
online presence is still such a challenge for small businesses," said Greg Sterling, principal, Sterling
Market Intelligence and Program Director of Local Mobile Search. "The
launch of Webcards.com, combined with their syndication to local sites and the
broader Internet, offers an appealing solution to that problem."
Easy to Create
Once, Publish Anywhere, Change Often
Webcards.com
includes a step-by-step publishing tool called the Webcard™ Factory. In as few as ten
minutes, merchants can create a customized, affordable Webcard listing with
video, photo galleries, coupons, formatted text and reporting. Future
functionality will include call tracking, appointment calendars and outbound
audio messages.
Each Webcard
listing has a unique Web address, and they are indexed by Google, Yahoo! and
other popular search engines. Once created, it only takes seconds to make
modifications and promote new content such as daily specials, upcoming events,
coupons and sales.
"We had a
website before we got our Webcard," said Wendy Narlock of The Spa Studio. "The great thing
about our Webcard is that we can so easily change our coupon and try out
different ideas for promotions. Plus, our Webcard has paid for its one-year
subscription price within the first two months."
In connection
with the Webcards.com launch, Smalltown is announcing integration with three
companies that will showcase Webcard universal business listings: YellowPagesLive, Trulia and WebVisible. The company
anticipates additional key partnership announcements in the months ahead.
"The whole
point of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and
online advertising is to lead potential customers to a compelling destination
so they will take actions with the business," said Carey Ransom, VP of
Sales and Marketing at WebVisible. "About half of small businesses don’t
have websites, and those that do have difficulty changing them. Smalltown’s
Webcard listings are an innovation the market has needed for a long time
because they are such a great source of current and local merchant generated
content. Webcards are a compelling destination to drive online and search
engine advertising campaigns."
See the rest of
the press release at Webcards.com.
Here are a couple Webcards made at Webcards.com
Snappy Wellness: http://www.smalltown.com/webcards/snappywellness
Boss Glass Artists: http://www.smalltown.com/webcards/boss
- Hal Rucker
