Yodle, Inc
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online advertising |
| Founded | New York, New York, USA (2005) |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
| Website | www.yodle.com |
Yodle, originally named Natpal[1] , was founded in 2005 by Nathaniel Stevens[2] while attending The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania[3]. Nathaniel then teamed up with friends Ben Rubenstein, John Berkowitz, Milind Mehere as well as one of his professors at Wharton, Dr. Kartik Hosanagar, to build the business.
While working at his father’s car dealership in Connecticut[4] on online advertising, Nathaniel saw a gap in the local lead generation market. He came up with a system that would use a unique bidding algorithm developed to optimize online search for local businesses and drive new business leads. The system also included the ability to track the leads, in the form of phone calls and emails, so local businesses can quantify the results. Yodle made its first sale to a Philadelphia optical business in the winter of 2005.
Yodle provides advertising services to small businesses. The company is funded by JAFCO[5], Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fischer Jurvetson, and Draper Fischer Jurvetson Growth[6]. From these initial investors, Yodle has raised 4 rounds of funding totaling $38 million.
Based in New York, Yodle has regional offices in Charlotte, NC; Scottsdale, AZ; Philadelphia, PA; and Boston, MA. Yodle’s CEO is Court Cunningham, who previously held positions at Community Connect and DoubleClick[4].
In April 2010, Yodle CEO Court Cunningham worked with Wiley Publishing, of the Dummies Series, to write Local Online Advertising for Dummies[7]., a reference book for small businesses who want to learn more about online advertising. Some of the topics covered in the book include consumer trends and the local online advertising landscape, planning an advertising campaign, building a website, measuring advertising results, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social networks and social media, banner ads, and email marketing. The book has 364 pages.
Contents |
[edit] Awards
In August 2010, Yodle was ranked #35 on the Inc. 500 list[8].
In May 2010, Yodle was a Lead411 Hot 125 Winner.[9]
In June 2010, Yodle received a Stevie Awards. The company was a finalist in the two previous years.[10]
In January 2010, Yodle was an AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 Winner.[11]
In 2009, the company was #37 on the SAI Top 50.[12]
[edit] Acquisition of ProfitFuel, Inc.
On May 24, 2011, Yodle announced[13] the acquisition of ProfitFuel, Inc., an Austin, TX based company that specializes in local search engine optimization.[14]
[edit] Products and Services
Search Engine Marketing: Since 2005 Yodle has had a paid search advertising product called Sponsored, which distributes ads on search engines including Google, Yahoo!, and Bing and across a local advertising network which includes directory, local, and Yellow Pages sites. Yodle’s paid search advertising product also includes a lead tracking platform called Yodle Live and call recording for local business clients.
Search Engine Optimization: In early 2010 Yodle launched its second product, called Yodle Organic [15], which utilizes a set of best practices to get websites to rank on search engines for relevant keywords. In addition, this product includes local business maps listings, content creation and syndication, and social media management.
Yodle Display: In 2011, Yodle launched its first display advertising product. [16] The first release of Yodle Display is meant for Franchise and multi-location businesses. Yodle Display uses contextual targeting on sites that have content related to an advertiser's services and also retargeting of individuals who previously visited an advertiser's website.
Website Creation and Hosting: Yodle offers website creation and hosting for local businesses that purchase Yodle Sponsored or Yodle Organic.
[edit] References
- ^ Foley, John (21 April 2008). "Yodle Gets Google Seal Of Approval". Information Week SMB. http://wep.wharton.upenn.edu/newsletter/spring06/meetthevc.html. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ Zipkin, Amy (2008-02-14). "Small Companies Are Finding a Home on the Web". http://www.nytimes.com/ The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/business/smallbusiness/14sbiz.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
- ^ "Meet the VC". Get it Started (Wharton Journal). Spring 2006. http://wep.wharton.upenn.edu/newsletter/spring06/meetthevc.html. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ a b "Clicks Are Great But Calls Are Better". Forbes. 23 April 2007. http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/23/google-microsoft-yahoo-ent-sales-cx_kw_0423whartonselling.html. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ^ "Local Advertising Booster Yodle Growing Like A Weed, Raises $10 Million". http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/12/local-advertising-booster-yodle-growing-like-a-weed-raises-10-million/. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ Sorkin, Andrew (2010-02-02). "Yodle Has Investors Singing Its Tune". http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/ The New York Times. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/yodle-has-investors-singing-its-tune. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
- ^ McMahan, Ty (2010-04-07). "Yodle Writes The Book On Local Online Advertising". http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/ The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/04/07/yodle-writes-the-book-on-local-online-advertising/. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- ^ "The 2010 Inc. 5000 List". http://www.inc.com/ Inc. Magazine. 2010-08-24. http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/yodle. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
- ^ "NEW YORK CITY HOT 125"
- ^ The American Business Awards
- ^ Yodle Selected By Alwayson As An Onmedia Top 100 Winner
- ^ The SAI 50+: World's Most Valuable Internet Startups
- ^ "Exciting News from Yodle". http://www.yodle.net/post/big-news-from-yodle. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
- ^ Yodle and ProfitFuel merge
- ^ http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/09/yodle/ Yodle launches Organic to optimize web traffic and leads for small businesses
- ^ /http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3icc863fd066bcf6b6091944bc6c5e35a5 Yodle Furthers Local Focus With Ad Tool
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