Comments on: MerchantCircle Takes $10 Million Series B http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/ Startup and Technology News Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:27:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: paradise5000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1793951 paradise5000 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:25:58 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1793951 They are doing a great job, the support and tools available there are only getting better with time. I am a member of this community and I have been member since 2006, and I am very happy with their overall support and customer service. They are doing a great job, the support and tools available there are only getting better with time. I am a member of this community and I have been member since 2006, and I am very happy with their overall support and customer service.

]]> By: local concert scout http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1744137 local concert scout Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:00:54 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1744137 What happened to their program of offering localized coupon feeds? THere was also zixxo - I tried creating an account on that site several months ago but got only errors - is zixxo in the deadpool?? I'd love to find a real source of localized discount coupons presented as an rss feed or through a query API or even an ad-inclusion script that localized the ads... What happened to their program of offering localized coupon feeds?

THere was also zixxo - I tried creating an account on that site several months ago but got only errors - is zixxo in the deadpool??

I’d love to find a real source of localized discount coupons presented as an rss feed or through a query API or even an ad-inclusion script that localized the ads…

]]> By: Robert Jack http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1738370 Robert Jack Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:03:21 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1738370 For a small business with little to no web presence, Merchant Circle can be extremely useful. Their local and business profile pages already rank well in google, providing a free method for quickly getting a business into the SERPs. And then there's the contextual backlinks. I launched a website for a new Valet Parking comapny in Naples, Florida one month ago. I purchased a virgin domain name and on the day of the site's launch, I discovered Merchant Circle and created a free profile. Within 2 days, the merchant page for Gulf Coast Valet ranked #1 on the google serp for "Valet Naples" and #2 for "Naples Valet". It's been a month and I still maintain the same rankings, but here is the interesting part. The site www.gulfcoastvalet.com quickly rose in the serps on its own in the last few weeks, and google registers external links from merchant circle on my stats. The back links from merchant circle profiel have positively effected gulfcoastvalet.com 's rankings. I've never paid them a penny and my website has benefited from their service. Not bad. For a small business with little to no web presence, Merchant Circle can be extremely useful. Their local and business profile pages already rank well in google, providing a free method for quickly getting a business into the SERPs. And then there’s the contextual backlinks.

I launched a website for a new Valet Parking comapny in Naples, Florida one month ago. I purchased a virgin domain name and on the day of the site’s launch, I discovered Merchant Circle and created a free profile. Within 2 days, the merchant page for Gulf Coast Valet ranked #1 on the google serp for “Valet Naples” and #2 for “Naples Valet”. It’s been a month and I still maintain the same rankings, but here is the interesting part. The site http://www.gulfcoastvalet.com quickly rose in the serps on its own in the last few weeks, and google registers external links from merchant circle on my stats. The back links from merchant circle profiel have positively effected gulfcoastvalet.com ’s rankings.

I’ve never paid them a penny and my website has benefited from their service. Not bad.

]]> By: AnonTroll http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737685 AnonTroll Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:55:02 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737685 I predict deadpool sooner than later. I just checked out their site and it is a merchants listing with 0 reviews for the service I requested. Why is this useful beyond a yellow page or Yahoo or Google business service? At least with Google, it aggregates reviews from multiple site for a business. This site is completely useless to me. I predict deadpool sooner than later. I just checked out their site and it is a merchants listing with 0 reviews for the service I requested. Why is this useful beyond a yellow page or Yahoo or Google business service? At least with Google, it aggregates reviews from multiple site for a business. This site is completely useless to me.

]]> By: Lindy Asimus http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737329 Lindy Asimus Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:36:20 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737329 New money? Great! Connecting up with other business owners and promoting your regular website, (or using your Merchant Circle profile while you don't have one yet) - and that's terrible? Too bad there aren't more such terrible sites on the internet providing useful tools and resources for small businesses as free memberships. Is Merchant Circle perfect? Hardly. Does it help small businesses improve their traffic. Apparently so. At least that's what the members are reporting on the forum. But what would they know? They are only using the facility... New money? Great!

Connecting up with other business owners and promoting your regular website, (or using your Merchant Circle profile while you don’t have one yet) - and that’s terrible?

Too bad there aren’t more such terrible sites on the internet providing useful tools and resources for small businesses as free memberships. Is Merchant Circle perfect? Hardly. Does it help small businesses improve their traffic. Apparently so. At least that’s what the members are reporting on the forum. But what would they know? They are only using the facility…

]]> By: Scott Wyffels http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737211 Scott Wyffels Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:57:43 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1737211 You have to wonder how much value Merchant Circle has now that Facebook offering many of the same features to businesses with its new "Pages" feature. You can either live within Facebook's Social Graph, or hope someone finds you on a search engine. You have to wonder how much value Merchant Circle has now that Facebook offering many of the same features to businesses with its new “Pages” feature.

You can either live within Facebook’s Social Graph, or hope someone finds you on a search engine.

]]> By: Adriana Gascoigne http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736838 Adriana Gascoigne Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:44:20 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736838 Congrats Wayne, Kevin and team . . . Looking forward to checking out the new and improved Merchant Circle. Adriana Congrats Wayne, Kevin and team . . .
Looking forward to checking out the new and improved Merchant Circle.
Adriana

]]> By: nick of cebu http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736676 nick of cebu Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:54:46 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736676 Great post Duncan. Can't believe these guys were under my radar. Very intriguing site. It seems they have managed to build real and substantial content, though they don't rank as well in Google as they say they do. Basically their business model is, forget about driving traffic to your amateurish home page which has no backlinks anyway, get a listing with us instead. As such they form an alternative to Adwords, and how their site's pages rank in Google serps should be carefully watched. Great post Duncan. Can’t believe these guys were under my radar. Very intriguing site. It seems they have managed to build real and substantial content, though they don’t rank as well in Google as they say they do.

Basically their business model is, forget about driving traffic to your amateurish home page which has no backlinks anyway, get a listing with us instead. As such they form an alternative to Adwords, and how their site’s pages rank in Google serps should be carefully watched.

]]> By: Hman http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736506 Hman Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:52:33 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736506 MerchantCircle has several levels of service, including a free membership. Do we know if the 250,000 merchants are all at a paid level? If not, what proportion are paid vs. free? MerchantCircle has several levels of service, including a free membership. Do we know if the 250,000 merchants are all at a paid level? If not, what proportion are paid vs. free?

]]> By: TechVeil http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736354 TechVeil Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:53:14 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736354 They will be joining the deadpool ranks very soon. This current investment is a desperate attempt at salvaging their initial investment. Hopefully they can use the money to acquire a company that has some real business value and potential, or they can take the facebook and opensocial approach and open up their platform to developers. They will be joining the deadpool ranks very soon. This current investment is a desperate attempt at salvaging their initial investment. Hopefully they can use the money to acquire a company that has some real business value and potential, or they can take the facebook and opensocial approach and open up their platform to developers.

]]> By: Jessica Mah http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736349 Jessica Mah Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:52:04 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736349 Hmm... the fact that merchantcircle targets small, local businesses outside of major cities concerns me. They target brick and mortar shops that aren't necessarily web savvy. I wouldn't be surprised to see some company like AOL acquire them. Hmm… the fact that merchantcircle targets small, local businesses outside of major cities concerns me. They target brick and mortar shops that aren’t necessarily web savvy.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see some company like AOL acquire them.

]]> By: jimbo http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736311 jimbo Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:42:31 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736311 these guys are a bit of scammers and they will not win in the long end with such unscrupulous business practice of automatic cold calling. Someone should sued them for misrepresentation. these guys are a bit of scammers and they will not win in the long end with such unscrupulous business practice of automatic cold calling. Someone should sued them for misrepresentation.

]]> By: Startup News http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736216 Startup News Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:04:00 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736216 Hehehehee Its the same company ... Hehehehee
Its the same company …

]]> By: TechcrunchBook http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736165 TechcrunchBook Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:41:35 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736165 Is Merchant Circle that company that cold calls you and tells you that your business has a negative review on its website or is that a different company? Is Merchant Circle that company that cold calls you and tells you that your business has a negative review on its website or is that a different company?

]]> By: Startup News http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736032 Startup News Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:50:33 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/merchantcircle-takes-10-million-series-b/#comment-1736032 They must have a decent number of paid subscribers otherwise why would they get the 10 million They must have a decent number of paid subscribers otherwise why would they get the 10 million

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