Here is a recap of posts from last week, in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full.

AutoTrader Lays Off Some Field Reps; Vows Reinvestment

With many auto dealers closing their doors or cutting back on advertising, AutoTrader has announced that it has laid off a “modest percentage” of its field representatives to keep the company stable. In a video addressed to the AutoTrader community,  CEO Chip Perry and Sr. VP of Dealer Sales Alan Smith emphasized that the Cox-owned company is “rock solid” and is “very bullish on the future.” They noted that traffic to the site hit a record 16 million visitors last month and they believe there is “pentup demand” in the marketplace. (read more…)

Some Perspective on High Churn Rates

Are small businesses really churning from search packages in droves surpassing 60 percent per year? That’s the contention of a recent report, and it has important implications (i.e., that the value-added reseller industry isn’t sustainable). To learn more, we talked with leaders from G5 Search Marketing, Marchex, Matchcraft, WebVisible and Yodle. (read more…)

Great Idea for IAC’s New Sidewalk.com? Enter Contest

Citysearch publishing head Kara Nortman reminded us today that Citysearch and IAC are set to do great things with the Sidewalk.com brand it acquired from Microsoft in 1999. In the best spirit of Web 2.0, the company has announced a contest to get ideas from the public. The winner will receive $10K, a piece of the new company, and the possibility of a full-time job. (read more…)

MerchantCircle Adds Local Coupons on Twitter

Coinciding with its high showing in the Quantcast analysis, MerchantCircle today announced that it has added a local city coupon feed for Twitter. Merchant coupons will now be fed to city-specific Twitter feeds (i.e., @MCircleNY) so local consumers can find local coupons and events in real time. (read more…)

Quantcast Publishes ‘Top 10’ Online Directories

Figuring out who is on top of the heap in the online directory business is a complex task: On one hand, a “directory” category is kind of an oxymoron, given that so much of what is quantified is based on search engine optimization. (read more…)

ADM’s Gordon: ‘Yellow Pages Is Very Well Positioned for the Future’

Today is Herb Gordon’s last day as a consultant to the Association of Directory Marketing, Inc., although he will continue to edit ADM Flash. Flash, the newsletter of the ADM, is sent to more than 1,500 people, and its stories, factoids and tidbits provide direction to those of us in the Yellow Pages industry. (read more…)

MojoPages Lands $5 Million, Pushes Local Affiliation Strategy

MojoPages, a 12-person local search/directory player based in the San Diego beach town of Solana Beach, has landed $5 million in Series A funding from Austin Ventures. Mojo has settled on $5 million as the amount it needs to get to breakeven on a cash flow basis, says CEO Jon Carder, who founded the company in 2007 after he got “ripped off” by some movers and wanted to build a local ratings and review site. (read more…)

New Hyperlocal Network Created via Community Paper Sites

Kaesu, a provider of online services to free community papers, has received “more than $1 million” to jump-start its efforts. The strategic investment, from Media Space Solutions, is geared to open up community paper inventory around the U.S. for Media Space’s national advertisers. (read more…)

Larkin: When It Pays to Advertise in a Niche Publication

Niche publications serving specific demographics, like gays, seniors or Koreans, can make a lot of sense, whether they are online or in print. But not every niche is the same. Longtime YP executive Dick Larkin, the “Small Business Commando,” lays out some rules of the road for niche advertising in the latest edition of his newsletter. (read more…)