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Zabidz.com Chooses Nashville, TN For Location Of Corporate Headquarters And Incorporates In The Volunteer State. Nashville, TN – December 19, 2005 -- Cofounders Aaron Helmlinger and Kelly Helmlinger have chosen Nashville, TN for the location of the Zabidz.com corporate headquarters. The company has also registered with the State of Tennessee as a Limited Liability Company, Zabidz, LLC. Formerly Florida residents, the Helmlinger brothers have decided to locate their core operations in the heart of the Volunteer state. “We are simply following in the foot-steps of other successful companies. Nissan is moving their U.S. corporate headquarters from California to Nashville, in order to reduce operating and payroll overhead. We realize that Silicon Valley is not necessarily the best place to launch an Internet business,” stated co-founder Kelly Helmlinger. Zabidz plans to start out its operations on a very limited basis with service of its online Home Service Marketplace being in place only in Nashville during the coming months. Co-founder Aaron Helmlinger stated “There is a lot of work ahead of us; we have to develop our service, test, launch and market it. We have no time frames exactly, but Nashville will be our test site. We have only the beat of the Music City to keep us moving forward.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Acquires Online Auction Software For Powering Their Home Services Marketplace And Dedicated Server From GoDaddy.com. Nashville, TN – January 11, 2006 -- To aid in the rapid deployment of the Zabidz Home Services and Lead Generating Marketplace, Zabidz has acquired auction software from Phpauction located in Barcelona, Spain. Also, the company has leased a dedicated server from Godaddy.com preconfigured with enough capability to serve the site for its first two years of operation. Aaron Helmlinger, cofounder of Zabidz said “By purchasing the software and server, we have substantially reduced our development and deployment time. The software is very customizable and gives us the basis to build exactly what we want. The Go Daddy server allows us not to have to worry about setting up our own. The whole solution just gets our service to market sooner than later.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Launches Home Services And Lead Generating Marketplace For Beta and Market Testing. Nashville, TN – March 1, 2006 – Zabidz officially launches its Home Services Marketplace into the greater Nashville area market for beta and market testing. In order to get a grasp on the acceptance of the marketplace, and how changes to the service affect its performance, Zabidz has implemented a beta test and trial of its online service. “We are trying to gain a better understanding about what kind of advertising is most effective in getting visitors to the marketplace. We also want to see what conversion rates will be. Basically, how many of the visitors convert to members,” stated Kelly Helmlinger, Zabidz cofounder. According to Aaron Helmlinger, co-founder of Zabidz.com, “The home services marketplace is fully operational, but users may still experience some bugs, until we can find them and deal with them. But that is what this test is geared for.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Launches Advertising Campaign In Middle Tennessee Area. Nashville, TN – April 3, 2006 – In order to promote the Zabidz.com Home Services and Lead Generating Marketplace, the company has purchased advertising on several radio stations, and will launch this campaign starting on April 10, 2006. In order to begin market testing of advertising and it's effectiveness for generating traffic, Zabidz has to begin advertising the site. Aaron Helmlinger, cofounder of Zabidz.com commented “I am the one in charge of marketing the site, and the time is perfect for testing how effective radio advertising will generate visitor traffic. The weather has warmed up and homeowners are starting to begin those household projects they have put off during the cold winter months.” Zabidz.com will be advertising on: About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Receives First Bid Request On Its Home Services Marketplace Nashville, TN – May 1, 2006 – Zabidz.com is pleased to announce that they have received their first Bid Request from a homeowner. Also, the site has signed-up several local business owners during April. Cofounder Kelly Helmlinger said “We are really excited about the business, getting the homeowner Bid Request and Businesses to register is a huge milestone. It is like seeing your first dollar framed and hanging on the wall, you know the ones you see in small businesses or shops. It has been a lot of work so far, but it has been worth it.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com To Conclude Test Market And Beta Testing And Prepares To Launch Its Home Service Marketplace Into The 500 Largest Cities In The U.S. Nashville, TN – November 1, 2006 – Zabidz.com has concluded its market testing of the Zabidz.com Home Services and Lead Generating Marketplace. The company has also decided to include the 500 most populated cities on official launch day in January. According to Aaron Helmlinger, Zabidz.com cofounder, the testing was very successful. He stated “The market testing was very important to the future success of the marketplace. We tested radio ads, coupon books, real estate signs, guerrilla marketing tactics, web search keywords, etc. everything but television. The best traffic generator was online search engines like Google and Ask.com, with a close runner up being radio advertising. Overall, we found that just doing some type of promotion or advertising increased visitor traffic to the site.” The numbers have been analyzed and the conversion rates have been considered to be very positive. Kelly Helmlinger elaborated on this subject further saying “Our conversion numbers were very positive, pointing to the overall success of the company. During the last nine months of market testing, it took 169 visitors to the site in order to acquire a business owner customer, and only 32 visitors to get a homeowner member. At this time, there are currently five homeowners to every business, which makes since because there are many more homeowners than there are businesses that serve them.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Expands Product Offering To Include Zabidz911.com Business Directory And Sets Pricing At Only $14.95 Per Month. Nashville, TN – January 3, 2007 – Zabidz.com plans to expand its product offering in order to help small start-up businesses get more exposure. The Zabidz911.com business directory will be added to the Zabidz service offering, which will add additional value to the $14.95 per month subscription price. Zabidz wants to help start-up companies by providing tools that enable them to search for and receive leads. “We are expanding our services to include the Zabidz911.com directory because it simply adds value to our overall service package, which currently includes our Lead Search Engine, About Me Page and other marketplace tools. Business owners can get up to 25 total listings in Zabidz911.com by choosing up to five service categories and five service areas,” stated Aaron Helmlinger, Zabidz cofounder. In regards to price for the service, Kelly Helmlinger, Zabidz cofounder said “Zabidz wants to price our services affordably, so that all businesses big or small, start-up or existing could try the Zabidz.com service for themselves. At $14.95 per month this is an exceptional value for getting a listing in Zabidz911.com alone; but then we add the Lead Search Engine and Marketplace Tools, now that is a value. I remember spending several hundred dollars on a small two inch advertisement in a local paper, when I started my lawn care business. I wish I could have only spent only $14.95 back then.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Officially Launches Its Home Services And Lead Generating Marketplace. Nashville, TN – January 16, 2007 – One day after Martin Luther King Day, Zabidz.com officially launched the Zabidz Home Services and Lead Generating Marketplace. The site is now deployed to the 500 most populated U.S. cities. Online advertising begins to drive traffic to the Zabidz.com Home Service Marketplace immediately. The Helmlinger brothers, who are the cofounders of Zabidz.com were very excited to see this day. Aaron Helmlinger said “My brother (Kelly) and I started talking about Zabidz more than two years ago. To see it officially launched is something to be proud of. It has been a really long road, but worth every second of the wait. I thank everyone who has helped make Zabidz.com happen up to this point.” Kelly Helmlinger added “This is the beginning of something really big. Aaron and I know this is one of the next big internet sites to be launched. We solve a huge problem, providing a new customer source for businesses at a fractional cost of traditional advertising, while helping homeowners find local service providers without the hassle and getting them the best deal as well. Those are the ingredients of all successful online businesses.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Receives Its First Bid Request Only 49 Hours After Official Launch. Nashville, TN – January 18, 2007 – In only a couple of days after the official launch of the Zabidz.com, a homeowner from Florida has submitted a bid request for service providers to view and bid on. Cofounder Aaron Helmlinger was very excited saying “I am fired up to see that we have our first bid request after our official launch. We have had bid request submitted in the past, but that was during market testing; now we are ready to grow with the site at full capability, that is exciting.” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Increases Web Visibility To Drive Homeowner Traffic Through Listings On Nearly 1,000 Directories And Search Engines. Nashville, TN – February 1, 2007 – Zabidz.com increases it's online footprint through the use of more than 1,000 online search engines and directories. “Increasing the homeowners’ awareness of the Zabidz Home Services and Lead Generating Marketplace is our main focus, since the site is functioning fully,” said Aaron Helmlinger, cofounder of Zabidz.com. He added “with the deployment of these listings, Zabidz will see a substantial increase in visitor traffic. Just this morning we have seen an approximate 300% gain in traffic versus the same day last week. This is what Zabidz does, we market the site to attract homeowners so businesses don’t have to” Kelly Helmlinger, cofounder of Zabidz.com said “We have been working on this project even before the web site was launched, starting just after New Years Day. It took quite a while, but the traffic increases to the site are well worth the time and effort. ” About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### Zabidz.com Launches Home Service Marketplace Version 2.0 For Beta Testing And Renames The Zabidz911.com Business Directory To Zabidz411.com. Nashville, TN – February 22, 2008 – After two years of market testing Version 1.0, Zabidz.com launches the next version of its Home Service Marketplace. The site has a new look and a more refined set of tools for both homeowners and service pros to use. During the beta testing period, which is scheduled to last for the next six months, all fees will be waived for its members, making the web site free of charge. In addition to the launch of beta test version 2.0, Zabidz is renaming their business directory service to Zabidz411.com from its current name of Zabidz911.com. Aaron Helmlinger, Co-CEO of Zabidz, LLC stated, “The launch of the version 2.0 beta represents the culmination of what we have learned up this point, and how it applies to our business. We are truly trying to build a useful set of tools for both homeowners and service pros to use to build and conduct relationships. We look forward to feedback concerning version 2.0.” In addition to the beta release, we announce that the name of our business directory has changed from Zabidz911.com to Zabidz411.com. This name change will allow visitors easier comprehension of what the service is at first sight. The number “411” is associated with directory assistance, which has a much clearer association to directory type service. Kelly Helmlinger, Co-CEO of Zabidz, LLC commented, “Zabidz911.com was just too much like emergency phone number 911, which was intended in the original name concept. We wanted people to have a home service directory for times of emergency, but that seems not to be working. Plus, there was the relationship of the number to the events that happened on 9-11. So we decided to change it to 411.” All information in the Zabidz911.com directory and the directory itself will be maintained and updated, however a sister site will be launched with the address Zabidz411.com. About Zabidz.com Zabidz.com is a home improvement and services marketplace that provides a local place for businesses and homeowners to find one another. A place where home service businesses can search for leads and jobs, and homeowners can find quality service providers to do the work. With over four dozen service categories, the marketplace is NOT just another online yellow page directory or classified site; it is an open marketplace solution that aids both parties in building a relationship, enabling members to meet, bid for work, communicate about the job, and inform others of the relationship by leaving feedback for one another. It works much like an auction website, with the only difference being that it is for home services only and not merchandise. By using the Zabidz marketplace, homeowners and business owners can experience more than just the start of a valuable business relationship, but the start of a wonderful friendship. Contact: http://www.zabidz.com ### |
