iBegin Blog

We have gone in and completely re-written our phone verification system. From the user-perspective, we have reversed it.

The original system would give you a four digit PIN. You would then be called, and you would have to enter the four digit PIN. This introduced problems in regards to voicemail, PBX/extensions, and also people accidentally putting in the wrong PIN.

The new system now calls you and tells you the PIN – which you enter online. This is easier as it deals with voicemails, it will (soon) deal with extensions, and you can correct an incorrectly entered PIN when using your computer.

While we have been working on this for a while, yesterday we officially added the Lifestream Plugin to iBegin Labs.

The Lifesteram Plugin is simple – used with WordPress, it lets you create one single feed for all your activities online. One feed that can collate what you are listening to, what you are buying, and what you are doing. Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, your blog, Flickr, Steam, and a lot more – all in one easy to read place.

After sifting through thousands of records on how phone #s were claimed, we have gone back and re-designed the entire UI for claiming your phone #. It is now in a simple three-stepped wizard, and best of all, lets you schedule a call for later (eg now, 5 minutes, an hour, etc).

Our search is still not working at this moment, but it is a top priority and is being worked on right now.

One of the greatest problems we face (if not the greatest) in local business listings is – context. Sure categorization gives context, but it is weak context. The real data comes from descriptions, pictures, tags, and so forth.

So about a month ago we relaunched a completely new platform for iBegin. A system where business owners can now claim and control their business listing (and by claim, I imply a legitimate claims process, not one that requires just registering an email address). The gigantic benefit for a business is that once the data is correct in our database, it gets filtered to all of our customers. One listing, 150+ potential distribution points – a win for everyone.

While we released iBegin Places a while ago, our focus was on the primary backend for iBegin, and our attention on it fell to the wayside.

I was recently at a little meetup of NYC hyperlocal/LBS operators, and a discussion got underway on the underlying data powering their own business. And, while I agree that there are issues, I think the bigger issue is the problem with relevancy between that data and real world applications. Our lives are based on informal and relative space – “go down two blocks,” “it’s across the park,” “you will find the best bars in X neighborhood,” “it’s very close to the 6 station.” And yet, while companies like Urban Mapping and Maponics push the core envelope (kudos on UMI’s transit information), it boggles my mind that a more open approach has not been taken. Heck, we are mapping the entire world using OS, all while the minutiae of our daily lives is ignored.

Not one to watch from the sidelines, we’ve started to push for a better understanding of what space means what to everyone. And not just for creation, but also for usage – all places (and subsequent ‘collections’ of ‘places’) are easily exportable via GeoRSS, Google Maps JS, JSON, and/or KML. We’ve already collected all the New York MTA subway points (it is the location of the point that is important, not the actual underground pathway), and 45 neighborhoods in Manhattan. We’ve also started on the Toronto neighbourhoods. All fully downloadable and free to use however you want.

We have a shinnier homepage now. More emphasis on exactly what we offer to everyone.

And yes it is bland. We will re-visit it in a bit (when we have time) – there are more pressing issues at hand.

So over the weekend we rolled out the new version of the www.iBegin.com directory and the new system is screaming fast.

Of course lots of work to do – from business submission/edits/claims to the underlying search engine. Regardless – exciting times are at hand. Once we have the basic functions all ironed out (roughly by mid-next week) we can then work on expanding the usefulness of the data for everyone.

Better late than never!

As promised earlier, the newest version of iBegin Share is out. Beyond the little bug fixes are three new skins, and a simpler little image + text option.

We’ve just released a new version of iBegin Share. It comes with:

1. A few bug updates
2. Supports the Open Share Icon
3. Now includes click stats!

Please note that the stat-tracking is localized – we do not track any of your sites.

In the next few days we will be releasing different color versions:

I recently read a post by David Mihm on The Ten Commandments of Online Marketing for Small & Local Business (whew how is that for a targeted link text!), and was not surprised to not find iBegin.com listed.

I sent a quick email to David outlining why adding to iBegin.com is a good idea:

1. Submission is free. Submission is easy.
2. We have over 75 paying customers using our data. So if you submit to us, not only are you listed with ‘us’, you could appear on another 75 sites
3. When we list your business on www.iBegin.com, and you have a URL – our link is not nofollowed. I find local sites that nofollow links to the business owner’s website despicable.
4. The search engines love our site! Some Google and Yahoo stats:
   • Google has 4.8 million pages indexed for iBegin. Google trusts us (and we have earned it!)
   • Google reports 80,000 backlinks to iBegin.com (this from Google Webmaster Tools)
   • Yahoo has 3.25 million pages indexed for iBegin. Just like Google, Yahoo trusts us
   • Yahoo reports almost 190,000 backlinks to iBegin.com

   We have worked hard to build a reputable site.

5. iBegin.com itself gets over 600,000+ unique visitors a month. And we are not targeted as a destination site.

By submitting your busines to iBegin.com you get both exposure and SEO value out of it. Could be why we are getting more and more submissions every day.