Not only did we fix the antenna issue, but we tricked out our resident iPhone 4 with a customized rubber wristband. It’s easy, interchangeable and doesn’t involve a single trip to the Apple Store.Tin foil bunny ears work too, but we think this has more curb appeal.
By Dave Cosper · July 26 2010
iphone
Go to a large corporate website and click open their site map. You will be inundated with a multitude of boastful links and phrases, all in the same vein: “Community & Giving,” “Helping Society,” “Giving Back,” “Doing Our Part,” “Corporate Philanthropy,” “Social Responsibility,” “Charitable Giving,” etc. The effect is humanizing. Suddenly, the corporation seems a bit more friendly, a bit more caring.
I certainly won’t begrudge a corporation for promoting their philanthropy, good deeds deserve good press. However, corporations don’t hold a monopoly on charitable work. America’s small businesses are certainly no stranger to helping others. Yet, many don’t capitalize on the opportunity to promote their involvement in charities. They should.
Small businesses are usually local entities. They hire locally, market locally and give back locally. While a large corporation may be impres...
By Jorge Cordova · July 13 2010
zuluz, ezlocal, local search, local business search
Update 05/10/2013: We have released a new 2013 update. Check out Largest Fast Food Chains in the U.S. 2013.
What are the 10 biggest fast food chains in the United States?
Subway - 23,336 U.S. Locations
McDonald's - 14,000 U.S. Locations
Starbucks - 11,000 U.S. Locations
Pizza Hut - 7,566 U.S. Locations
Burger King - 7,233 U.S. Locations
Dunkin' Donuts - 6,500 U.S. Locations
Wendy's - 5,877 U.S. Locations
Taco Bell - 5,604 U.S. Locations
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) - 5,162 U.S. Locations
Domino's Pizza - 4,927 U.S. Locations
By Jorge Cordova · July 07 2010
mcdonalds, subway, burger king, taco bell
Last week EZlocal unveiled zuluz, 16 handy business attributes added to the point of search, which allow users to add extra specificity to their local queries. While local search used to only accommodate a "what" and a "where," EZlocal's zuluz now bring a third dimension to local business search, a "with." Let's take a look at how it works.
It's late and you just got bit by the coffee bug. However, work has been pretty hectic and you still have some email to catch up on. To complicate matters further, you are completely out of cash; wherever you go had better accept credit cards. Using traditional local search to track down a coffee house that is open late, accepts credit cards and provides wifi isn't an easy task. A query for coffee houses in your local area may yield plenty of results, but how do you zero in on the coffee houses that have the features you desire? By doing an EZlocal zuluz sea...
By Jorge Cordova · July 07 2010
zuluz, ezlocal, local search, local business search
Frequent visitors to EZlocal may have noticed a change to our search in the last week. Gone is the conventional two-box, location-based local search. Taking its place is an exciting new search, which now offers three dimensions: "what", "where" and "with". Capably filling the role of the "with" criteria are our beloved zuluz.
In the coming weeks we will tell many stories about the creation of zuluz. You will learn of our palindrome obsession and love of the letter "Z". You will learn how we decided upon the name "zuluz" and what it means. You will even learn about the new patent pending technology that supports this third dimension of local search. All in good time. First, a quick zuluz primer:
Zuluz are meaningful, searchable business attributes that add extra specificity to your local queries.
One or more zuluz can be selected at the point of search...
By Jorge Cordova · July 02 2010
ezlocal, zuluz, local search
When you work for a local business search engine, you grow accustomed to a certain amount of spam. Offenders will choose a city and create 5 to 10 business profiles that center around a specific industry. The business names will all be different, but the profiles often have the same phone number, link the same website and display the same stock photo. Once in a while you will run across a craftier spammer who uses a different phone number for each profile, but if you take the time to call each number you will be greeted by the same person.
I don't relish deleting these profiles. On the other side of those phone numbers there is a guy who runs a real business and performs a real service in that geographic area. He may even perform it very well. Does he deserve to be found in local searches? Yes. Does he deserve to be the only one found in local searches? Absolutely not, which is why his profiles are always 86ed.
Far and away, the biggest offenders belong to the service industry. It is no...
By Jorge Cordova · June 28 2010
local search marketing, local business search
Google Street View's coverage extends well beyond local business search. We took a virtual cruise through South Africa and got an amazing sneak peak at some popular World Cup destinations including inside
peaks at seven stadiums. A great adventure for football (aka "soccer") fans. We even got off the beaten path and spotted an elephant! Yup. Not too many of those roaming around on Main Street.
These images are pretty fresh as Google just snapped a slew of new ones in and around host nation South Africa. Here are some amazing Street View portals to get you started:
Soccer City Stadium
By Dave Cosper · June 22 2010
street view, google maps
The online metric provider, Comscore, put out an interesting blog last week, noting that the average length of internet search queries is getting longer:
The average number of words per search in the United States in March was nearly 3.2 words and it has been growing for some time [up from just under 2.9 in July-08]. This is a far cry from our original limitations of "shoes" in order to now search for and find a pair of "nike air jordans."
None of this should come as a shock. Search engines are constantly tweaking their algorithms, striving to deliver the best and most relevant search results to their users. According to Matt Cutts, the head of Google's Webspam team, Google tends to make a change to their core search algorithm at least once a day. The co...
By Jorge Cordova · June 15 2010
query length, comscore, business listings, business profiles
