One of the most requested features we have received over the last year has been to allow business owners to add a new business or claim their existing business page on Matchpoint.com.

Well, today I’m pleased to announce that the wait is over. Business Owners can now list their business for FREE or claim their existing business page on Matchpoint.com.

Lots of other yellow page and directory sites offer free listings, but I think we are taking a very different approach in what we are offering business owners. While most other sites want to charge business owners for enhancements like adding their logo, coupons, and photos, we are offering all business owners their own enhanced web page complete with all the trimmings for FREE. That’s right, add your logo, add your business specialties, lists of products, messaging, and discounts you offer, all for FREE.

As a reward, businesses that add content to their page will appear higher up in our search results!

This doesn’t mean that your businesses will appear at the top of results (keep reading for how to get placed there), but it does mean that the more content you add, the better your ranking will be.

But that’s not it, not even close.

Content is important, but we also wanted to provide the maximum number of ways for people to contact and connect with businesses. That’s why every business page on Matchpoint.com now contains three easy ways to contact a business:

• Web site link – allows users to just click over to view the business’s web site.
• Phone number – we don’t hide this like some other sites do. Our users can easily call the business on the phone.
• Contact via E-mail – this built-in contact form allows users to ask the business a question, request a quote/proposal or appointment times all via e-mail.

Also, business pages now also include built-in action buttons that make it easy for people to connect a businesses to their friends and contacts on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. If you play your cards right, your business could get some serious exposure from this.

So, at this point you might be thinking that with all these free features and benefits it’s a “no brainer” for a business owner to sign up and setup their FREE business page. We agree.

But wait a second, there’s more…

Once you’ve added or claimed your business page, you can now opt into Matchpoint Promote – our paid offering that, for as little as $25, gives a business increased exposure on Matchpoint.com and additional features such as:

• Top placement in Matchpoint search results!
• Inclusion in the “You might also like” section of related business pages
• Removal of all ads from their business page
• Click, phone call, and e-mail lead tracking
• Exclusive e-mail leads
• Performance/ROI reporting

We packed a lot of value into Matchpoint Promote and made it really easy to opt-in to the product any time after you sign-up and setup your FREE business page. Setup literally takes a minute (30 seconds if you have your credit card out already!).

We hope you enjoy this latest release. Now go setup a FREE business page so you can start meeting new customers through Matchpoint.

Every day, connections are being made between searchers and businesses at Matchpoint across a diverse set of local and national service categories. From people seeking resume writing help, to those in need of a car detailing specialist or a LASIK eye surgeon, Matchpoint is helping folks make quick work out of finding the best service provider for their needs.

Over the past 10 months since we launched the beta product, we’ve kept an eye on the interactions between businesses and consumers and collected feedback from both parties. A major theme that emerged is that people wanted to use Matchpoint to connect with one another over the phone and on the web.

Many businesses, especially local businesses, valued the more direct, immediate contact that web visits and phone calls can offer them. And, many consumers wanted to more quickly get to the end goal of their search; making an appointment, getting a price quote or learning more about the specialties of the businesses that matched their needs.

In response to this feedback, we recently launched two new products—TrafficPoint™ and CallPoint™—to complement our OfferPoint™ product and made improvements to the Matchpoint user experience both for consumers and advertisers.

Here are some of the details:

CallPoint combines the ad targeting features of OfferPoint (user supplied geographic targeting, business defined qualifying questions) and is loaded with helpful features for those that prefer to have prospective customers call their businesses:

•    Unique, toll-free, track-able phone number
•    Businesses can define up to three numbers to be called, either all-at-once, or in sequence
•    Per call pricing
•    Detailed call tracking and reporting

TrafficPoint also leverages the same ad targeting platform as OfferPoint, but is designed for those that want to drive visits to their website. Key features include:

•    Prioritized placement in search results
•    Image upload to add a company logo to be displayed in ads
•    Per click pricing
•    Unique destination URLs to enable tracking, data passing

To support the integration of these two new products, we revamped the Matchpoint Ad Center interface to make room for product specific metrics and reporting, upgraded the design a bit, and streamlined the ad creation experience. We also made it easier for advertisers to select the product category that best fits their business. On the consumer side we’ve simplified the process of getting to the results of a business search, while still enabling those who prefer to contact businesses through Matchpoint privately.

As we continue to refine the products to deliver the best user experience, I hope you will try them and give us your feedback. In the meantime, we’re hard at work on some new features that will even further improve the results for searchers and businesses looking to make the right connection.

Today we announced the expansion of Matchpoint to local businesses across the United States. This is really exciting news for everyone that is frustrated with the amount of time and effort that it takes to find and connect with service providers.

Specifically, what this means for consumers is that you can now use Matchpoint to solicit competitive offers and proposals from over 10 million local businesses across the United States. Whether you are looking for a local gym/health club, landscaper, or a career counselor, there is now a quick new way to broadcast your needs to businesses in your area, evaluate their responses and determine which to choose to do business with.

Consumers remain competely anonymous to businesses throughout our entire process. We protect their privacy, by obscuring their personal contact information and relay the responses that they receive to them via e-mail. Our model ensures that consumers stay in control of who receives their personal information at all times. No more unwanted phone calls or e-mail.

This announcement is also very exciting for local businesses across the country. What it means for them is that there is finally a way to meet new customers on-line without having any online marketing expertise or even a web site.

What new fangled technology have we cooked up to make this a reality?

The answer is simple: the telephone.

The majority of local businesses do most of their business over the telephone and are not yet on-line. Knowing this, we wanted to meet local businesses where they were and not ask them to learn a whole new way of doing business. That means calling them.

When a business receives our phone call they are given a special telephone number that they can enter into Matchpoint.com to see the details of what the person is looking for. If they think the person matches the type of customer they want, they respond by calling the phone number and leaving a detailed voice mail message that is delivered to the user via e-mail.

So starting today, local businesses across the country are starting to receive phone calls from Matchpoint.com delivering them potential customers — for free!

That’s right, we are giving away a limited number of introductions to potential customers to every local business in the United States.

We are confident that once businesses experience the value Matchpoint delivers that they’ll want to sign up for an account and take advantage of the benefits that our paid program provides. This includes:

• Access to many many more leads.
• Targeting control – by category, geography
• Qualification questions – the ability to ask qualifying questions to the consumers on search forms
• Ability to respond to consumers via rich HTML e-mail

So if you are a local business that has been frustrated with other on-line marketing products that have you buying clicks or impressions, you are going to want to give Matchpoint a try.

Or at the very least, answer that phone call.

Today we launched a number of new self-service features that allow businesses of all shapes and sizes to sign up and start participating in the marketplace within minutes. Businesses can now self-serve their way through opening an account, setting up a campaign, and paying for leads with a credit card.

So no matter if you are a real estate agent, Yoga studio, or a major insurance company, you can now get started using Matchpoint to generate qualified leads 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Just sign up and give it a try for yourself. We’re now open for all businesses.