Local business reviews site Angie's list of the files for an IPO of $ 75 million

Leena Rao is currently working as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school Medill School of journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007 she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney advocacy and community relations in New York. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where it was ... ? Read More

After Jive IPO filing, $ 100 million yesterday, local business reviews site Angie's list is throwing its hat into the ring, S-1 this afternoon. Volia raises $ 75 million, according to the filing.

As we wrote in the past, Angie's list offers consumers the ability to analyse and evaluate physicians, contractors and service companies on the Internet. The company started in 1995, with an emphasis on House, yard and car services in the field, is located at the intersection of local search, user generated content and subscription based services. Today, Angie's list has created nearly 100 million dollars from battery ventures, t. Rowe Price, city investment group, Cardinal enterprises and others.

June 30, 2011, the company offered its service for paying members of 170 local markets in the United States. Angie's list has grown to 820000 paid membership, whose growth was primarily due to its national advertising strategy. However, shelling out big bucks for the maketing advertising, marketing expenses for the acquisition of new members in 2010, and, accordingly, 30.2 million and $29,2 million in the first six months of the year 2011.

In 2010, and six months ended June 30, 2011 year, Angie list income amounted to $ 59.0 to $38,6 million, respectively. In the same period, the company had a net loss of $27,2 million and $25,8 million, respectively.

The company alleges that since 1995, the site gathers feedback from 2.2 million of local services suppliers from members.

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Urbandig the application wants to take you to the experts local tours

Alexia Tsotsis currently works at TechCrunch as a writer. She is also a blogger who attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She majored in writing and art, moved to New York shortly after the end of the work in the entertainment industry and media. After four years of his life in New York and to attend courses in New York. ? Read More

The newest addition to the app space in local detection, an iPhone app Urbandig is designed to help you find a Novel local experience. To make this team, which consists of former Myspacers Mike Macadaan, Daniel Lehman and others pulled the domain expertise of local bloggers like LA Weekly Assistant music editor Rebecca Haithcoat and Bay Area foodie Daria Pino summer tomato, with a view to creating thematic tours as where you can see the amazing live music in La or grab a taste of local SF food.

Co-founder Macadaan tells me that this expert curation as an application intended to compete with crowdsourced tips and advice features apps like Yelp or Foursquare.

"We create original experience on picking the curator site and what to do once you're there," he said. It also underlines the fact that Urbandig, the Village Voice "Best Of" app focuses on unusual activities as "Cougar Dens" tour, spotlighting places to find the "Cougars" (oh just Google and search for the Urban Dictionary definition) on the prowl in SF or "Heaven" hangover, "escape, where to scoop up the best food hangover in La. "This is quality over quantity, uncensored voice expert," he said.

Users can open the Urbandig application and view the collection place for SF, New York, LA and Vancouver, sifting tours through both the city of GEMS, drink, movies, food and music, or curator and proximity. In addition to a small tour description and tutors notes on each page where you can see each tour stop on the map, and check out at various locations on the tour through Urbandig.

Because the application will do anything these days without some sort of social function, Urbandig allows you to save tours and places outside and share them with friends on Facebook. After friends (going to the profile and clicking on the parameters of the wheel) will allow you to fill in your feed to their activities.

Urbandig hopes to eventually support at least 30 locations, to Portland, New York, Austin, Minneapolis, Chicago and DC before the end of the year and also plans on coming to Android in early 2012. Initialization commands and Angel.

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Google's mobile United States Chief negotiator local intent, M-Commerce, geo targeting, and more

Leena Rao is currently working as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school of the Medill School of journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007 she helped lead efforts for advocacy and community relationships Congressman Carloyn Maloney in New York. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003 where it was ... ? Read More

Mobile advertising is a booming business, and Google, with its $ 750 million acquisition of AdMob, clearly wants a piece of the pie. One corner of Google has been pushing late is a combination of local and mobile, whether through the site, suggestions, and soon, Google Wallet. Jason Spero, head of Google in mobile for America sat with us to give us a little more understanding of how the search giant aims to develop advertising, local and mobile.

A major factor in Google looking at when it comes to developing its own mobile product offerings and consumer behavior, said .spero. He said one of the three collaboration at the local mobile phone has the intention, and because of this, Google takes into account this behavior in their own mobile products for enterprises. "Part of this strategy enables users to build mobile property that works on your phone or tablet," explains .spero.

This strategy enabled the mobile version of Google sites, which the company just started as a way for small businesses to create a simple mobile landing page for free. Through these lightweight mobile sites users to post information and even include click-to-call. After a week of availability for small businesses was established more than 3500 mobile pages.

One interesting feature that offers mobile sites is the ability to actually sell products through a landing page with Google Checkout as a payment platform. .Spero said, reflecting the belief of Google that m-commerce is going to be critical to the phones. But it is not easy, just click buy. It also includes a comparison shopping on the phone, click-to-call functionality and online search for shops. "Ultimately, the experience that the user wants their phone fulfills all these pieces of the puzzle," he added.

Another way Google is investing in m-commerce, said Spero, though is his wallet Google initiative that will allow users to pay for items via NFC chip in the phone and NFC reader in merchant's departure.

In terms of local advertising, .spero said that Google is exploring ways to use ad formats to move clients in the physical world, or through a transaction. Click-to-call ads are the focus for Google, and .spero says that these ads work well on mobile phones because the natural way for a consumer wants to bring the phone and get additional information from the merchant or the service. The key in these ads on mobile phones is a "call to action" that might work for a retailer, florist, insurance companies and many other smaller enterprises. So far, he said that more than 500 000 clients Google launched click-to-call campaigns to mobile phone. In terms of other forms of mobile advertising .spero said that the traffic of the Internet on mobile phones is exploding, display environment growth is "."

Of course-geo targeting is also a key component of the mobile advertising and integration user location can improve orientation and perhaps CTRs. .spero said demand for geo ads from advertisers at the local, regional and national level is huge, and that's mainly competing enterprises in all these categories. Today Google you can target advertising and digital Metro area, but soon the search giant wants to be able to target the city zipcode (Google only uses local information of the visitor if the user gives permission).

It is clear from the talk Oaca that Google wants to be a one-stop shop for businesses large and small, to interact with mobile. Whether through proposals (that .spero is not considered advertising), payments, mobile ads, mobile websites, mobile analytics, and much more, Google wants to be the go-to destination. Vision, as he explains, is for Google to be able to assist these enterprises manage everything through the killer combination of local, mobile commerce and advertising.

But the quantity of products not necessarily comes hand in hand with quality, and Google will have to make sure that they offer segments not only work together but also provide value to enterprises (and consumers).

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