Mural Ventures Blog

Duck Duck Google: Why The Game is Rigged

2009-09-29T12:42:10Z

Have you heard the news? Duck Duck Google is a new game being played that could impact millions of business owners and online marketers around the world. The game is a great enhancement to Google Maps and looks like fun for consumers searching for information about specific geographies. It also looks like fun for local small [...]...(read more)

How Google’s Guessing Game Is Hurting Online Directories

2009-09-17T12:45:31Z

Imagine if you were Google. Hundreds of millions of people come to you everyday and ask you questions. A large percentage of the questions are generic and vague. What are you supposed to do if you don’t really know what the person is looking for? In Google’s case they are increasingly making assumptions and guessing the [...]...(read more)

Mashable.com Features CloudProfile

2009-08-31T19:07:49Z

CloudProfile was featured today by Mashable.com as part of their Spark of Genius series which highlights innovative start-ups. So what’s the genius idea behind CloudProfile? Quite simply, it’s the modern equivalent of the print yellow pages and helps SMBs talk about themselves online so they can engage consumers in authentic conversations and attract more customers. To learn [...]...(read more)

5 Ways to Make Facebook and Twitter Relevant for Small Business

2009-08-31T12:11:06Z

Lot’s of small businesses know about the millions of people interacting on Facebook and Twitter — but most of them don’t know how to use these services to help bring customers through the front door. Here are 5 things small business owners can do to make Facebook and Twitter relevant: 1. Visit www.CloudProfile.com and signup for a [...]...(read more)

Look for CloudProfile in the Demo Pit at TechCrunch 50

2009-08-31T11:40:28Z

The countdown is on! 50 companies, including CloudProfile, have been selected to strut their stuff and show their innovation in the demo pit at TechCrunch 50 on September 14th and 15th in San Francisco. SMBLive is one such company and I am super excited for the world to see how CloudProfile is helping small businesses like the [...]...(read more)

SMBLive Announces CloudProfile

2009-08-28T05:27:00Z

After 4 years building software in partnership with British Telecom, SMBLive has launched a conversational web presence for businesses here in the US. The solution, called CloudProfile (http://www.cloudprofile.com) addresses the following:

In 2008, more than 50% of consumers never opened a Yellow Pages. They searched online. (Kelsey Group - www.kelseygroup.com)
Yet SMBs still spent > $10 Billion on offline ads (and also > $10B on Google). (Kelsey Group)
Meanwhile > 80% of consumers want businesses to not only be online, but to interact with them online (eMarketer)
And > 50% of consumers feel more strongly connected to a business with whom they have a social (Facebook or Twitter) relationsip (eMarketer)

In response, SMBLive built CloudProfile such that a business can:

Create and maintain an online profile with rich content and status updates that customers love.
Get found in both traditional (Google, business directories) and “real time” search (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Publish to their profile from anywhere – on the site, via e-mail, on their mobile device, etc.
Syndicate that content automatically to their Twitter and Facebook streams.
Participate in the social, real-time Web, using our Social Media Radar to see and respond to opportunities to market their business and help their customers.
Stay connected to their customers with integrated click-to-call, text/SMS messaging and e-mail marketing tools.
Create simple products and services galleries to promote their business.
Track and manage engagement with their customers across ALL of these different touchpoints in an “Engagement Stream” – which can be managed online or on their mobile or desktop.

For more details, check out: http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?q=+CloudProfile&submit=post&searchfrom=header

Listen Up! A Simple Way to Attract More Customers

2009-08-28T01:58:35Z

Are you interested in attracting more customers to your business? One easy way to do this is to improve your online listening skills. Listen to people talk. Hear their needs. Discover their likes and dislikes. Believe it or not — the simple act of listening enables you put your finger on the pulse of people and [...]...(read more)

Why Twitter is Just Like Real Estate: It’s All About Location!

2009-08-24T20:25:36Z

Twitter is just like real estate because it’s all about location. Online marketers everywhere are abuzz with talk of social services like Twitter and Facebook and are busy trying to create interesting ways to leverage these rich online conversations to help businesses get found by more customers. Adding fuel to the fire is Twitter’s recent announcement that [...]...(read more)

CloudProfile: The Perfect Tool for Small Business Marketers

2009-08-18T17:17:52Z

Whether your business has a web site already — or you’re creating a presence for the first time — CloudProfile is the perfect way to promote your business on the web.. Whether you’ve been in business for 20 years or 20 minutes, CloudProfile provides a simple way to talk about your business online so more consumers [...]...(read more)

Facebook Acquires FreindFeed: Why Small Businesses Should Care!

2009-08-11T16:06:19Z

Facebook announced yesterday that is has acquired FriendFeed for a reported $50m. As a small business owner, you’ve probably never even heard of FriendFeed and you’re probably wondering why in the world you should give a crap? Here are 3 reasons you should care: 1. This deal is proof that Facebook has it’s heart set on becoming the [...]...(read more)

Four Years At SMBLive: A Lesson Learned In Time

2009-08-01T14:24:53Z

Four years ago this week I got together with a group of really smart guys and co-founded a company called SMBLive. We began by partnering with British Telecom to develop a white label online directory platform called Tradespace. The idea was simple. Help UK based SMBs get online and get found in Google. It’s been a [...]...(read more)

The Simple Reason Why Newspapers Are Dying

2009-07-27T18:53:08Z

Alot of folks these days seems to be talking about the inevitable death of newspapers. It’s a big and complicated subject — and it’s refreshing to come across someone like Steve Baldwin offering perspective that is both insightful and simple. To understand why newspapers are dying it’s important to highlight some fundamental issues about the information economy: Today’s [...]...(read more)

Why Amazon Bought Zappos and Why it Matters to SMBs

2009-07-23T00:42:14Z

The reason Amazon loves Zappos is because Zappos, unlike any company in the world, obsesses over customers — and Jeff Bezos knows that obsessing over customers is the key to long term success. Just watch this video and see for yourself. So what should small business owners take away from the Amazon and Zappos deal? By obsessing [...]...(read more)

Why It’s Important to Keep Your Cool on Twitter

2009-07-20T14:59:08Z

Thanks to Chris Brogan for highlighting this post by Doug Meacham in which he reports on a “rather tense” Twitter exchange between Doug and Best Buy CMO Barry Judge. It’s a interesting read. I’ll let you form your own opinion about who is right/wrong in the conversation. More importantly, this is yet another example of how Twitter [...]...(read more)

250 Million Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Talk to Facebook

2009-07-18T03:46:38Z

As highlighted by my colleague Alex Hawkinson, Facebook announced yesterday that it signed up its 250 millionth user. So what does this mean for small business owners? It means that, more than ever, you need simple online marketing tools to help you get found not only in Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft search engines — but also on [...]...(read more)