Citysearch wields local sales force in marchex deal

before this month Citysearch sealed a deal with AOL with potentiality to expand Citysearch stock list for insurance premium business listings across local AOL place. A similar content and ad statistical distribution alignment was formed with Local.com in Dec of last year.

Citysearch ads and content will be fed into Marchex sites such as BostonVeterinarian.com, DenverAutoRepair.com, and Zip code-based domains like 10013.com start in the next couple months. Marchex signed a similar agreement with Idearc in Jan, putting Superpages.com advertizer listings on Marchex sites, which include business listings, reviews, and Yahoo text ads. People seeking local and vertical-specific information often land on Marchex sites via hunt engines and directly navigation.

"Our scheme is to have a select group of spouse who will bring to our advertisers qualified eyeballs," said Citysearch CEO Jay Herratti. The agreement with Marchex is a way for Citysearch to reach a "hyper local" audience for its advertisers, and make Marchex destinations, "more content rich," he added.

Part of the firm's promise to spouse is the ability to monetize their content. Key to that, said Herratti, is Citysearch's multi-tiered sales force, which characteristic both metro and local field and interior sales reps, along with its self-serve ad tools.

"For us to deliver monetization, we have to support that promise with a scheme of edifice our merchandiser base," said Herratti.

Citysearch opened a sales business office in capital of Georgia about a year ago, with the purpose of building up its inside sales team to 180 people by last spring. Herratti would not state the current number of salespeople in the Atlanta office.

"This is an area where we want to grow," said Herratti, in reference to boosting the company's ability to satisfy publisher monetization needs through its sales force. "We go to our partners and we say to them, 'Trust us. We've been in this business awhile. It's a tough business... Let us do the dirty work for you so to speak.' "

Peter Christothoulou, Marchex's chief strategy officer, affirmed that Citysearch's sales team is part of the appeal for the local publisher. "It's important... That the people we partner with are the ones who have scale at the local level," he said. "It's not just about relevant content; it's also about having the right advertisements."