Scoot Blog

Scoot’s parent company TouchLocal are conducting weekly polls to UK SMEs. These polls are undertaken so business owners have a forum where they can share their thoughts on business, economic and general developments that may well have an impact on their operation.

As the ‘Voice of Local SMEs’, TouchLocal will circulate poll results and feedback with appropriate news publishers and websites.

About TouchLocal

TouchLocal are experts in connecting local businesses with local consumers, each and every day. The TouchLocal online business directory, www.touchlocal.com, offers blanket UK coverage and contains over 2 million business listings. It attracts 4 million unique visitors a month who in-turn undertake 6 million searches for local businesses. TouchLocal also enables users to review and rate businesses they have used, so local people can make an informed choice based on the feedback of others.

Reviews can be added to any business on Scoot.co.uk using a Scoot account or Facebook login.

To create a Scoot account simply visit the following link www.scoot.co.uk/register.html

How to add a review

• Search for the business you would like to review using the who/what and where boxes on Scoot.co.uk
• Click on the review tab
• Add your review using the form provided
• Submit your review by entering your Scoot or Facebook email address and password
• Your review will go live immediately

With the Scoot iPhone App and iPad App you can find information about local suppliers of products and services wherever you are.

Scoot iPhone App

Scoot is one of the UK’s leading online directories that gives you all the information you need about local businesses. Now, with the Scoot iPhone App and iPad App that information will always be at your fingertips.

We Have Just Been Voted a Staff Pick by the Staff at Apple

Scoot iPad App in the Apple Staff Picks

Scoot have just launched the all new Scoot iPhone App and the UK`s first iPad Business Finder App. We have listened to the many user requests from our previous iPhone app and have included all of the features that were requested. These include the all new Free Text Search which covers most of the problems people found with the previous versions.

Scoot iPhone App Free Text Search

The Free Text Search allows users to bypass the iPhone and iPad Geo-location and search for anything anywhere. However with the new Apple Software and hardware releases the Geo-Location service is now better than ever so the Find Your Nearest feature is getting better and better.

One other problem some of our users came across was when they wanted to visit the business website or to see the business on a map, they had to leave the Scoot App. In version 1.2 of the iPhone and iPad App this is no longer an issue. We have introduced the In App Browsing feature which allows users to browse a business website see the products and services they need then go straight back to the business listing in the App and view the business on a map or just call them direct from the App (iPhone only).

But it doesn`t stop there

As with all companies who are at the forefront of their field we have add many more fantastic features.

To give our users a more friendly experience we have vastly improved the user interface and have included a Save Your Favourites feature which allows users to find their favourite businesses, special offers or points of interest to a special folder accessible from anywhere in the App. We have also introduced the Recent Searches List which allows users to review thier recent searches, great if you have found a supurb restaurant then search for a taxi to get you there but forget the name of the restaurant. The Points Of Interest feature has brought together a whole range of businesses. These businesses include places to visit such as Parks, Museums and Theme Parks excellent for a day out or even a spontaneous descision to go out and have some fun. Adding an business Icon to the App homepage has been made much easier with the Alphabetical search. if you want to add Mcdonalds just press M, pressing C will get you businesses like Currys, Costa Coffee, Cinemas and Chemists.

Finally we have added two more features that will give our users a more useful App. We have included the Where Am I search which will give the user the up to date geo-location data being used by the Scoot App as provided by the iPhone or iPad. We have also added a new way for people to add a business to our directory. Using the Camera function of the iPhone users can take a photo of the business through the Scoot iPhone App, this get`s sent to Scoot and we will do the rest.

So if you own an iPhone or iPad and are in the UK, even if your just visiting, why not try downloading the Scoot iPhone App or Scoot iPad App.

Scoot, the UK Business Finder, has announced a raft of new ways for their users to find the information they need. Using the popularity of the best social networking platforms Scoot has developed a range of exciting new products and avenues for businesses to advertise their products, services and special offers to a whole new demographic of customers.

These new innovations now allow users throughout the UK to find businesses on a multitude of new websites as well as the already popular buisness directories. It also allows businesses to access other methods of advertising which may have been beyond their know-how or budgets at a reasonable or even free cost. Innovative products such as the new Video Montage will push businesses onto the major video sites such as Youtube and Metacafe. The Special Offer add-on to the in demand listing product will advertise businesses on Twitter.

Scoot also has profiles on many other social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace. For more info and descriptions of the Social Network Advertising products please visit our site Social Network Advertising.

As of 24th September, local search and business reviews website, Touch Local, acquired 100% of the share capital of Enable Media, the company that owns and operates Scoot.  Touch Local’s CEO, Mark Livingstone, summarised the key benefits of bringing the 2 companies together:

• A combined customer base in excess of 25,000 local business advertisers on annual subscriptions and growing at some 8% per month
• More than 2m UK businesses listed, 500,000 of whom have activated their profiles
• Over 3.5m uniques and 6m searches per month
• A field and telesales team in excess of 130 people and a really established platform for further growth
• A forward combined revenue run rate in excess of $32m and EBITDA in excess of $7.5m
• Strengthening of distribution strategy that will enable more exclusive partners to be added this year in addition to our local search partnership with AOL.

We’re really looking forward to bringing some great new products to our combined customer base!

To receive information about the very latest special offers added to Scoot, follow ScootSpoffers on Twitter
 - http://twitter.com/ScootSpoffers

If you own a business and would like to post your special offers on Scoot, click here  for more information.

You can now download a Scoot widget to your desktop and find all the information you need about local businesses in just a couple of clicks. Go to http://www.scoot.co.uk/about-us/scoot-widgets.html to add the Scoot widget to your Apple Mac Dashboard, Microsoft Vista desktop or iGoogle home page.