According to The Kelsey Group, a research and consulting firm, local commercial searches will grow from approximately 15 percent to 25 percent by 2010. Therefore, online marketing will become increasingly important for small businesses in Canada as consumers turn to the Internet to find local information. The online marketing services ServiceMagic provides creates a connection between homeowners and its prescreened member businesses by matching online service requests of homeowners to the specific profiles of its member businesses.

"As the leading online marketing solution for contractors in the U.S., we are excited to expand our operations into Canada to provide residential contractors with an online tool that will increase their revenue and profits by connecting them with the growing number of homeowners going online to find local home service professionals," said Michael Beaudoin, co-CEO and co-founder of ServiceMagic.

To date, the ServiceMagic network includes nearly 40,000 residential contractors and home service professionals in the U.S. The company currently has more than 2 million unique visitors to its Website on a monthly basis, which generates more than 150,000 monthly consumer service requests for home improvement needs.

Publication date: 03/20/2006