WO2014100436A1 - Enhanced social marketing site - Google Patents

Abstract

Techniques are described for creating and providing information of interest to user-defined communities, which may have various types of defined associations, including based on one or more of type or area of business or other activity, interests and/or other attributes of community members, geographical location, etc. The types of information that are provided to a community may have various forms in various situations, including classified advertising and other types of advertising, and/or community announcements or other types of information. Providing information to a community may include, for example, providing information between businesses, between individuals, and/or between businesses and consumers.

Description

ENHANCED SOCIAL MARKETING SITE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001 ] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application

No. 61/739,607, filed December 19, 2012 and entitled "Enhanced Social Marketing Site," which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The following disclosure relates generally to techniques for providing information of interest to defined communities, such as by implementing social marketing classified advertising in specified manners to facilitate business-to- business, business-to-consumer, and/or inter-person interactions.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Over the last several years, people have increasingly turned to the

Internet to connect with others, including to list, sell, search for and purchase goods and services. In one example, many businesses and individuals create stand-alone websites and promote those websites by using individual marketing efforts, or by using online marketing services to reach new customers through targeted offerings. In another example, some businesses create virtual storefronts under a larger vendor site or electronic marketplace site, and use the site's marketing tools to raise awareness and drive sales. Customers also use classified ad sites, such as websites associated with local newspapers. However, each of these existing techniques has various problems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] Figures 1A through 1 BB illustrate examples of providing an enhanced classified advertising and marketing system via an example graphical user interface displayed on a client device of the user. [0005] Figures 1 BC through 1 BN illustrate examples of functions within an enhanced classified advertising and marketing system site.

[0006] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system suitable for executing an embodiment of a system that performs at least some of the described techniques.

[0007] Figure 3 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a Community

Information Provider System routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0008] Techniques are described for providing information of interest to defined communities, including in some embodiments and situations to provide information that is directed to some or all members of a community {e.g., by other members of the community, by businesses or other organizations, etc.). Defined communities may be formed in various manners and have various types of defined associations in various embodiments, including based on one or more of type or area of business or other activity, interests and/or other attributes of community members, geographical location, etc. In addition, the types of information that are provided to a community may have various forms in various embodiments, including classified advertising and/or other types of advertising in at least some embodiments, and including community announcements or other types of information in at least some embodiments. Providing information to a community may include, for example, providing information between businesses, between individuals, and/or between businesses and consumers. Some or all of the described techniques may be performed by automated operations of an embodiment of a Community Information Provider ("CIP") system, such as via a website or other site of the CIP system, as discussed in greater detail below.

[0009] In some embodiments, the described techniques include providing a social marketing classified advertising website and mobile presence for businesses, groups, and individuals. For example, communities may be created for individuals or businesses to interact in ways that support the community, to provide people with a way to connect, to promote products and services, to publish advertisements and announcements, and to stay in touch with other like-minded people who share interests and who desire to make their lives better. Community members may include businesses, members of organizations, groups of friends, or people from around the world with similar beliefs or common interests, such as members of a group concerned about a specific medical issue.

[0010] For illustrative purposes, some embodiments are described in which various types of information is provided to various types of recipients in various manners, including for various types of communities. These examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are simplified for the sake of brevity, and the inventive techniques may be used in a wide variety of other situations, some of which are discussed below.

[001 1 ] The automated operations of a CIP system may provide various benefits in various embodiments. For example, for a business owner, the CIP system may perform automated operations that create a deeper level of customer interaction and loyalty for the owner and his/her business, such as to increase advertising opportunities and sales. A retail business owner may, for example, want to enhance the marketing presence and customer loyalty for a traditional storefront business by tying traditional printed promotional materials to an online community invitation.

[0012] A community for a business can be made up of customers, wholesalers, supply chain partners, affiliated businesses and organizations, or any other group that may be important to the business. As one example, a business may have one community for direct-sales customers and have another community for wholesale customers. This way, different promotions can be posted for each group, for example on a regular (e.g. weekly or monthly) basis. These communities may be either by invitation only, or open to all.

[0013] Other communities may be created for friends, groups, churches, schools, and the like. Members can post their ads or announcements to both the public and to other community members, or they can post ads and/or announcements only within a community. In this way, each community may be configured to have its own autonomy with its membership, and provide what the community administrator wants to accomplish. For example, a parent that forms a community around a child's soccer team may post photos, describe a particular game in an announcement, publish rosters, and generally keep members informed about the team.

[0014] To create a community, a community administrator may in some embodiments determine a community objective and specify rules of operation for the community {e.g., who can invite other new members to the community, such as only the administrator or other designated members; who can be members of the community, such as anyone or only people who are members of an organization to which the community corresponds; who can send announcements to members of the community; types of announcements that can be sent to members of the community, such as any type or more of more of the following: coupons, events, jobs, photos, sports scores or other news, garage sales, items for sale or otherwise available, items wanted for purchase or to otherwise acquire, stories, resumes, estate sales, classified ads, etc.; how and/or when announcements can be sent to members of the community; etc.). Such a community administrator may, for example, be a user of the CIP system who is a member of the created community, a user of the CIP system who is not a member of the created community, a user representative of a business or other entity providing the CIP system {e.g., as part of operation of the CIP system), etc. After its creation, a community may become a social and marketing unit where members enjoy a higher level of trust as they interact with each other and share common interests. As a result, there may be greater possibilities for activities within a community such as fundraising, trading, bartering, swapping, and selling goods and services among members than there would be with traditional classified advertisements alone.

[0015] Users may, in some embodiments, join an unlimited number of communities as long as the user is an invited member in the community, while in other embodiments and situations at least some users may have restrictions involved in community joining and/or participation. Each time a user logs in, announcements for the communities that the user belongs to may be displayed in the announcements box at the top of the user's home page, for example, or on the user's mobile device if the appropriate phone application is downloaded.

[0016] Some example communities and how each might use these techniques are described below.

[0017] 1 . A Restaurant / Business Community. At the cash register (or point of sale), a business may invite customers to join its online community by handing out cards or flyers with the name of the community, a 'watch-for-weekly- promotions' message, and a website address assigned to the community so users know where and how to go online to join. On the community website, the business may post weekly advertising specials or community announcements to boost customer loyalty and repeat business. These announcements can include, for example, coupon specials with a direct link to a coupon page to track coupon redemption; a Saturday morning special; a discount offered to specific community sub-groups {e.g., to members of an athletic team), a Valentine's Day special, or any other innovative offer to help build repeat business and profits. This can be accomplished by using the community function on the CIP site.

[0018] 2. A National Networking Community. A community can be created for building a marketing and information sharing network for direct sales, for technical knowledge, for medical concerns, for specific hobbies, UFOs, for scientific projects such as strange bird deaths, etc. These communities can be on a national or international scale.

[0019] 3. A Farming Community. One or more farmers can sell fruits and vegetables direct to customers by creating a community of people who might be interested in buying organic farm products.

[0020] 4. A Manufacturing Community. Wholesalers may join a business community to help manage inventory. For example, the wholesalers may operate to offer special freight discounts at specific times of the year, to post community announcements to unload excess inventory, or to provide regular (e.g. weekly or monthly) updates announcing upcoming shortages to encourage customers, anywhere in the world, to buy now. [0021 ] 5. A Craft / Hobbyist Community. Enthusiasts can sell crafts direct to those in an "invited" craft or hobby community, or otherwise to any users who elect to join such a community. The enthusiasts can swap, trade, or barter within the group and over time create close relationships with each other and develop a strong community affinity.

[0022] 6. A Friend / Network Community. People often prefer to advertise items for sale within a close community of friends because of a higher level of trust. The community administrator may be provided with the option to create a highly restrictive membership or a broad national membership by offering an open-to-all-option, depending on the community objectives.

[0023] 7. A School, Church, or Social Group Community. Managing massive email lists, texting lists, or phone trees may be replaced by community announcements posted for members to easily see at their convenience. Specific events, for example group fundraisers, can be promoted within the community. In addition, community members can be encouraged to interact with each other in new ways, for example by allowing members to swap, trade, and barter for goods and services. One social group may only have 3-5 members, for example, while another {e.g., a city church group) may have 10,000 members or more, and such social groups may include, for example, any non-business organization.

[0024] These examples of community marketing techniques, including website traffic generation, can be used by main street retail stores, service businesses, and online e-commerce businesses to create brand loyalty, to better promote events, and to drive sales.

[0025] A business with one or more traditional storefronts may in some embodiments integrate its walk-in retail customers with its online business community. For example, a retail customer can be given an invitation to join the business community, which may be a simple flyer, a professional-looking business card, or even a verbal invitation. The invitation can include a URL corresponding to the community site {e.g., a unique URL if each community is effectively provided with a different community website, whether hosted by a single set of one or more web servers, or instead for each community website to have a distinct set of one or more web servers), and/or other unique code to use to join the community {e.g., via a community-independent web page or web site provided by the CIP system; via a community-specific web page or web site provided by the CIP system, etc.). A community-specific code may have various forms in various embodiments, such as a unique numeric community identifier or other unique number, a unique community name or other unique alphanumeric string, a QR code, a bar code, a community-specific URL ("Uniform Resource Locator"), etc. The invitation can also explain how the community works at a high level, for example special weekly announcements, member-only discounts, coupons, special holiday promotions, and so on. To drive membership, the community site may also contain a multi-media Super Display Ad (SDA) functionality that offers a deep discount on a key item for new customers who register for the community. The customer accesses the website, enters any specified registration code, and joins the community. Now the customer's future interaction with this business can take place within this website, enabling the customer to stay loyal, engaged, and informed by interacting with the community. In situations where multiple physical locations of the retail business are sending customers to the website, such a marketing system has the potential to generate massive amounts of website and mobile visitor traffic.

Community announcements may be displayed at the top of the screen of the CIP site for community members to view. Members may also be alerted of new announcement by the auto-email system, such as a system that may be configured on a per-community and/or per-member basis to provide emails on a scheduled basis (e.g., every hour, every day, every 3 days, every week, etc.) that include announcements for the community (or optionally for multiple communities in some embodiments, for users that belong to multiple communities). By posting event photos, uploading a monthly newsletter, and announcing upcoming events, community members may feel excited to look for and read the next announcement. New products can be promoted using a photo upload feature, a discount coupon, or newsletter upload. Loyal customers can be rewarded through weekly specials or special discounts available only through community announcements, which may be used to create special value for a business's best customers.

[0027] Community coupon offers can be used to build a business or to successfully promote a charitable event. People often enjoy coupons, especially if the coupons provide a compelling personal benefit. A community member base can be built by, for example, using an instant PDF Invitation system with a community name and special community code number printed on the invitation. Such invitations/coupons can be handed out to customers at the point of sale to build an internal marketing community around the most loyal customers, those already using the company's products and services.

[0028] To drive attendance for an event {e.g., a charity fun run), an administrator may, for example, build a community for the event, and then use announcements and a special coupon offer to grow the number of community members that are supporting that event. To quickly increase a customer base, a coupon for a product with a high margin can be given away {e.g., as "The Deal of a Lifetime"), for example one free latte for first-time customers, with the redemption requiring enrollment as a member in the business community.

[0029] Customers often join communities and stay because they are like- minded or because they like the products and services offered. A company can build loyalty using coupon offerings, start a monthly newsletter to keep members informed, and use community member coupons to build trust, loyalty, and to make community members feel special.

[0030] Advertisements, in addition to community building functions, are also supported by embodiments of the disclosed CIP site. Advertisements can be used in conjunction with communities for a more targeted reach, or outside of communities for a broader reach. Different types of advertisements may be provided, including standard classified text ads, Top-of-List (TOL) ads and Super Display Ads (SDA). Various types of pricing may be used for different ad types (and/or other types of functionality provided by the CIP site system) in different embodiments and situations, including to provide price parity functionality in some embodiments via which prices for a given ad type are adjusted to reflect a location {e.g., a country) in which the ad poster is located and/or to which the ad will be targeted/displayed, such as to reflect local cost- of-living or other local factors.

[0031 ] Text ads may in some embodiments be posted at a reduced charge or no charge, and be viewable and searchable from the site, similar to how a newspaper classified ad would be displayed. TOL and SDAs may, for example, include additional features to promote the ad, such as a "Full Promotional Package" ("FPP") which provides the advertiser with a persistent marketing presence including rich graphical and multi-media content.

[0032] A Full Promotional Page (FPP) may, for example, be provided as equivalent to a customized "mini-web" page that a vendor can direct customers to. The FPP may in some embodiments be made permanently available for a customer to access as long the link is included in the vendor's print, business card, other advertising materials, or online promotions. Including a URL to a vendor's FPP on a special promotion coupon allows the business to "cross over" between standard retail marketing printed material and online marketing programs. An FPP may, for example, include 21 photos, each with an "enlarging" feature for allowing visitors to more closely view aspects of the vendor's product and/or service offering, and a link to video content. The FPP may, for example, include up to five live hyperlinks and the ability to upload a business card image.

[0033] Top-of-List (TOL) promotional advertising may, for example, be provided as an inexpensive, high-powered marketing system for promoting products and services, and testing classified ad headlines, full-page promotions, coupons, and pricing. It can provide more front-end exposure by moving a text advertisement to the top of a specific classified advertising category list, such as based on a time-sensitive algorithm, and can provide a complete backend marketing system when text ad is clicked on by a website or mobile visitor. A TOL ad can, for example, be placed as the first ad in the advertising list every 72-hours for 30 days for a total of 10 times. TOL promotional advertising can include a Full Promotional Page (FPP) as part of a complete backend marketing system that is managed and maintained within the CIP site servers, and is displayed when an advertisement is clicked on by a website or mobile device visitor.

[0034] A Super Display Ad (SDA) may, for example, encompass a complete display advertising and marketing option for a business. An SDA may, for example, entail two parts, a thumbnail ad and a Full Promotional Page (FPP). A thumbnail ad may, for example, appear in a specific location on the CIP site main page, and in the same location for each subsequent page viewed by the user. When the user rolls their cursor over the thumbnail, display summary ad text may pop up as a text box, providing an efficient way for the user to decide whether to click on the SDA. If the user clicks the SDA, a Full Promotional Page (FPP) may be displayed. In addition, a 10-second audio clip may be played. Only a certain number of thumbnail ads, for example eight, may appear on each page at any one time. Because the placement of these ads are not changed as a visitor clicks among pages, thumbnail ads continue to visually impact a user while the user browses the CIP site to maximize marketing impressions.

[0035] An SDA may ,for example, be set to a specific number of impressions, such as 5,000, with an impression equal to each new page viewed by a visitor (but might or might not include mobile application views and click-throughs). The visitor impressions per ad may include the thumbnail image, plus rollover summary ad text highlighting the offer. Super Display Ads may, for example, enable a business to pay for only the impressions based on the area selected, even if the city is outside of the cities specifically listed in the CIP site. During creation, an SDA may be designated to show simultaneously in multiple cities by selecting the user's "5 Favorite" cities, or by selecting a region where the ad will be displayed. If an SDA is submitted while SDA slots are filled on the home page, the submitted SDA may be held in queue and moved up in the order the SDA entered into the list. If an SDA is republished automatically, it may enter the queue as a new ad would and move up accordingly.

[0036] When a user creates an SDA or selects an SDA to view, the complete backend marketing system, including the Full Promotional Page (FPP) may, for example, be displayed and controlled within the CIP site servers. In one embodiment, the Regional and/or National SDA Ad Package includes both the SDA and TOL ad packages combined.

[0037] For an example of how an SDA may work, consider a cafe in

Leavenworth, WA, which is a city with a population of around 2,000 people, located about 80 miles east of Seattle. The cafe owner selects a 3,000 impression Super Display Ad for promoting the business locally, even though the business is 80 miles away from Seattle. Instead of the 3,000 impressions showing up on all the Seattle ads and wasting the owner's advertising investment, the Leavenworth, WA cafe is only advertised when someone within the local area {e.g., within a 20-40 mile radius using a zip code algorithm depending on available city data) searches the CIP site. In this way, the cafe owner maximizes the number of impressions from the Super Display Ad investment by advertising only to customers living in a local buying radius.

[0038] However, if the owner has associated the SDA with a community {e.g., a community created by the owner), community members, even though they may all live more than 40 miles outside of Leavenworth, would still be able to access all SDAs, community announcements, and other information posted for the cafe's community.

[0039] Examples of how Super Display Ads (SDA) and Top-of-List (TOL) promotional packages may be used include the following.

[0040] 1 . National Product Launches. Use both methods simultaneously for excellent saturation.

[0041 ] 2. New Business Grand Openings. Begin posting one to two months prior to launch.

[0042] 3. Holiday Sales Events. Use the coupon feature to track ad results.

[0043] 4. Continuous Business Branding. Use both SDA and TOL ads for continuous, consistent business branding to local, regional, national, and international audiences.

[0044] 5. Special Promotional Items. SDA and TOL ads will provide extra impact for listing items for sale, for promoting a resume, or for encouraging attendance at an event. [0045] 6. Jobs. To find quality help fast, use an inexpensive SDA in conjunction with a TOL ad to let everyone know that you need help fast. For example, use "Need Help Now" for the text displayed when a user rolls over the SDA thumbnail.

[0046] 7. Missing Persons. Use an SDA with person's photo and "Missing" for the text displayed when a user rolls over the SDA thumbnail.

[0047] 8. Special Items Wanted. In the wanted section, use the SDA and

TOL to your advantage for finding exactly what you need, anywhere in the world.

[0048] Other features may include an "Ad Tracking" system for seeing the number of total views and click-throughs to vendor advertisements in the "My Account" section of the site. This feature is useful for vendor testing and tracking new headlines, copy, and full-page promotions (FPP).

[0049] A Map feature is also available when the address is typed in during the ad setup process, so customers will know instantly where and how to take advantage of any "For Sale" or "Event" promotions advertised, whether free or paid.

[0050] Ad placement. The reach of ad may be set in a number of ways: One example sets the scope of a placed ad up to 150 miles from the home location, which may or may not include a major metropolitan area. By advertising only to those prospects and customers most likely to visit the vendor's business, vendors are connected to the "most local" visitors searching within the vendor's area. In addition, a user may extend the scope to the user's "5-Favorites" cities anywhere in the world, or select a specific region for the ad to be displayed.

[0051 ] The CIP site also integrates with mobile devices and phones such as

Android-based phones and iPhones. By downloading the CIP site mobile application, a user can set up new ads from any location, search for items, review community announcements, local sport team scores, upcoming events, find local coupons when out shopping, and perform many other useful life and business functions anywhere, at any time.

[0052] Various example graphical user interface ("GUI") screens for the CIP system will now be presented with respect to particular embodiments shown for illustrative purposes, although it will be appreciated that other embodiments may include more and/or less information, and that various types of illustrated information may be replaced with other information. In particular, Figures 1A through 1 BB illustrate examples of providing social marketing-based classified information and related functionality.

[0053] Beginning at Figure 1 A, it illustrates a GUI 700 of a main entry page that allows a user to access and interact with an example embodiment of the CIP site system that is providing a classified advertising and mobile marketing Web site. Functionality control buttons 104 allow a user to view and post information in general as well as register, view, and post information with respect to a particular community. Functionality control tabs 102 allow a user to quickly go to areas of the site that are most commonly used such as return to the home screen 102a, get tips on Internet safety 102b, go to the For Sale 201 c or Wanted sections 102d, go to the Job listing area 102e, or look for Available coupons 102f. Top-of-List ads 120 allow a user to quickly view top line information of an ad, and to click on the ad 120a for more detailed information, which will then be presented to the user in a number of different ways depending on how the advertisement was posted, as described below. Super Display Ads (SDA) 106 represent premium advertisements that include high- resolution graphics, links, contact information, coupons, video links, and enhanced photo representations up to 21 images. 106a is an example of a Super Display Ad thumbnail. Super Display Ads may also be purchased based on a number of impressions, for a fixed period of time, or may be pushed for a premium location on the screen 100. There are a number of pre-determined categories which advertisements can be placed into 108.

[0054] When the user logs in, a floating welcome panel 126 is displayed which has the user's login name at the top, in this case David Smith. The user is able to use this panel to search the site by inputting search terms 126a as well as specifying search choices 126b. These choices may include restricting the search to the user's locale, to the user's five favorite locations, to a specific country or the world, or to specific communities the user has signed up for. In addition, the user may restrict the search to proximity with the user based on a set number of miles within a radius of the user's location. To start the search the user selects the "Search Now" button 126c.

[0055] After a user has logged in, announcements related to any community the user belongs to are displayed in the announcements section 128. At any time a user may click on the "Post Free Ad" button 122 to immediately post a text ad, or to otherwise obtain functionality {e.g., for a fee) to enable posting of a top-of-line (TOL) or Super Display Ad (SDA). In addition, a user can click on CityShotz photos 1 10 to post, to view, or to vote on photos associated with any city in the world. The site also contains user-selectable buttons to provide tips to help the user more effectively use the site 1 12, tips for posting effective resumes 1 14, and tips to help users understand how to most effectively market the items they post 1 16. In addition, at any point if a user has any questions on using the site, the user can click on the Q&A button 1 17. If the user has questions on the benefits of using the site for advertising and for other social marketing purposes, the user can click on advertising benefits button 1 18.

[0056] Figure 1 B shows screen 701 showing how a user interacts with a Super

Display Ad (SDA). When the user rolls the mouse over an SDA thumbnail 106a, a pop-up 130 appears and displays the short text description of the ad. In this way, a user can quickly glance through each SDA to determine whether the user would like to click on the SDA thumbnail for more information.

[0057] Figure 1 C is an image of a screen 702 that shows an example of an

SDA ad 132. A prominent part of the display is the full-page promo ad shown in this example as an 800*500-pixel image 144 configured and uploaded by a provider of the SDA. The SDA also contains a special links area 134 which consists of five hypertext links to other sites on the Internet. The SDA provider can add contact information 136 that describes name, phone number, email, or any other way the SDA provider may be contacted regarding the SDA. The SDA provider is also able to design and upload printable coupons 138 which, when clicked on by the user, allows the user to print out single or multiple copies of the coupon. The SDA provider can also associate a video link 140 that is associated with, for example, a YouTube or Vimeo video segment. In addition, the SDA provider may include up to 21 photos that can be accessed 142 via the SDA.

[0058] Figure 1 D shows screen 703, where a user has chosen to look at the photos associated with an SDA. When the user clicks on view 21 photos 142, a thumbnail display of the photos appears 146. The user may then review the thumbnails and identify the photo the user wishes to examine more closely. In this example, the user clicks on the photo 146a. Figure 1 E shows screen 704, which is the result of clicking on the photo thumbnail, and the expanded picture 148 is displayed. The picture can be closed by clicking on it 148.

[0059] Figure 1 F shows screen 705, which is the result of clicking on coupon button 138 within the SDA display screen. The expanded coupon is shown in 139. The user may print this coupon out using various printing options 150 to present to customers to promote a product or event.

[0060] Figure 1 G shows screen 706, which is used to create an SDA. Screen

706 is displayed by selecting a corresponding functionality control button, at which time the Create Super Display Ad panel appears 156. Within that panel, a user acting as an SDA provider can select the location, country, state and city where the ad will be located 158. In addition, the user can select two plan options for displaying the ad. The first, 160, will let the user select a particular city. The second, 162, will let the user select a city plus five favorite cities ("5- Fav's") in which the SDA will be presented. For example, if someone wanted to sell an expensive luxury yacht, they may choose the cities of New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, which are geographically separate but share a large recreational maritime industry. In addition, the user can select specific regions within the United States 164 where the SDA will appear. Once location information has been given, the user then creates the body of the ad. The user can enter up to five links associated with the ad 166 by entering a link title and entering in the respective URL. The user may also enter the URL of a YouTube or Vimeo video that will display as part of the SDA 168. The user also can enter contact information for the best way for customers to respond to the SDA 170. The user enters text that can be formatted that describes the SDA 172 and will be displayed when a user rolls a mouse over an SDA thumbnail 106a. In addition, the user may select an existing coupon or create a new coupon to associate with this SDA 174. To add graphical representations to the SDA, the user can upload a thumbnail picture that will be displayed on the top page that represents the SDA 176. The user can also upload the SDA Full Promo Page Ad 178 as an 800x500 pixel graphic. In addition, the user may enter in up to 21 pictures associated with the SDA ad 180 by clicking on the individual button and then uploading the appropriate picture.

[0061 ] Figure 1 H shows a screen 707, which is an example of a drop-down box

160 where the user selects a choice corresponding to the number of impressions the SDA will receive and the cost the user will pay for the ad 161 .

[0062] Figure 1 1 shows screen 708, which is displayed when a user creating an

SDA ad selects button 174 to create a new coupon. This causes the coupon panel to appear 183. When creating the coupon, the user may include three search terms made up of one or more text words 184, and specify the start date and the end date during which the coupon will be valid 185. The user clicks 186 to upload the image that will be used to display the coupon, and clicks 187 to publish the coupon.

[0063] Figure 1 J shows screen 709, which results from the user pressing the continue to payment/preview button 182 when creating an SDA. This screen shows an order summary 188, payment options 192, and the opportunity to preview the full SDA ad 190. Figure 1 K shows screen 710, which is the result of the user selecting the thumbnail 190 to review the full SDA the user created. The review SDA ad is shown in 194, and can be viewed as a normal SDA ad. To return to the order summary screen 709, the user simply clicks the close button 193.

[0064] Figure 1 L shows screen 71 1 , which is displayed when the user selects

CityShotz from the home page by clicking on either 1 10, or a corresponding functionality control button. CityShotz allows users to view uploaded photos associated with cities throughout the world and to vote on them. To view or upload images, the user inputs information into panel 152. The user may select a city anywhere in the world 152a. From that point, the user may either view pictures 154 or to choose a picture associated with that city and upload it 152b. To submit, the user clicks button 152c. The user may also indicate preferences using various social media links 152d. As the user is viewing the photos associated with a particular city, the user can click on the thumbnail 154a to get an expanded view of the photo. The user at any time may vote for a photo by clicking on the button marked 154b. Once the user has voted, a thank you for voting acknowledgment is displayed 155. Once a vote has been recorded, the number of votes the picture has received is incremented by one, and the pictures are re-sorted by the order of the highest vote.

[0065] Figure 1 M shows screen 712, which is displayed either as the initial home screen, when the user presses a corresponding functionality control button 104o, or when the user presses a functionality control tab 102c to look at items that are for sale. A series of ads 486 each describing price and a brief description of the article being sold 486a is shown. A user may post an ad by clicking the post free ad button 488.

[0066] Figure 1 N shows screen 713, which displays the create ad panel 196 after a user has selected the post free ad button 488. The user may also have reached the screen by selecting functionality control button 104p. The first step for a user when posting an ad is to create the ad reach 198. The user may either choose local only, specific communities, or to the user's five favorite locations 200. The user may choose this ad to be a Super Display Ad (SDA) and select the number of impressions for the amount of money that the user wishes to pay 202. The user may also make this a for a Top-Of-List (TOL) ad 204. This option allows, for example, the ad to circulate to the top of the category list ten times per every 30 day period. The user then selects the location for the ad 206 and, optionally, selects the regions in which the ad will be displayed 208. The second step for the user to create the ad 210. The user first selects the category that the ad is to be displayed in 212, and then up to three text key words that can be used to search for the ad 214. The user can also identify the year and make or model of the item that is being sold 216, give a text title for the ad 218 and the item price 21 1 . The user enters a text description of the ad which can be formatted 213. In addition, the user can enter a URL of a YouTube or Vimeo video to include 209. Finally, the user can add photographs to be associated with the ad 221 . The user then selects the publish now button to submit the ad 215.

[0067] Figure 1 O shows screen 714 displaying an example of how an ad would appear to a user when the user clicks on a link for the ad 486a. The title, price, and text description of the ad appear 217. Thumbnails of pictures associated with the ad can be viewed and expanded 220. A thumbnail picture of the ad 219 can be clicked on for further information about the ad which includes video, HTML links, and other information. The viewer presses the contact button 218 to contact the person who submitted the ad.

[0068] Figure 1 P shows screen 715, which is displayed if the user selects the contact button 218. When this happens, panel 222 pops up and allows the user to compose and format a text message that is sent to the ad owner.

[0069] Figure 1 Q represents screen 716, which is displayed when the user, who is viewing the ad, clicks on the thumbnail image 219. This brings up the Full Promotional Page (FPP) for the ad 223. All information associated with this ad, including coupons, video, related photos, and links to other URL addresses in the Internet can be seen.

[0070] Figure 1 R shows screen 717 which appears when a user selects a "My

Account" corresponding functionality control button. The My Account panel 224 appears, and contains contact information 226, including email name, password, if any, full name, address, state, zip code, and country. In addition, the user can track any posts made 228, and view messages 230 either sent by or sent to the user. In addition, the user can select, activate, or deactivate marketing communities 232. Also, the user is able to update their five favorite locations ("5 Favs") 234.

[0071 ] Figure 1 S shows screen 718 which appears when the user selects the "5

Favs" button 234 to enter their five favorite city locations for posting and viewing advertisements or other announcements. When selected, panel 236 appears in which the user enters a country 236a, a state 236b, and a city 236c, then selects the add/save button 236d to add that location to the five favorite sites. The user selects the close button 237 when complete. [0072] Figure 1 T shows screen 719 which appears when a user clicks the feedback button 101 at any point while using the system. When clicked, feedback panel 238 is displayed where the user can enter the feedback in text form which will be sent to the site administrator.

[0073] Figure 1 U shows screen 720 which appears when the user clicks the

"Free Coupons" functionality control button 104a. A series of coupons 240 are then displayed, ordered by date, that the user may click on and then print and redeem. The user can post a new coupon by clicking button 242.

[0074] Figure 1V shows screen 721 which appears when the user clicks the post free coupon button 242. The coupon set up display panel 244 is displayed. The first step is to create the coupon reach. The user can select either a coupon to be shown just to the user's location, to communities the user belongs to, or the user's five favorite locations 246. The user then enters the user's location 248, including country, state, and city. The user can also identify regions within the United States in which the coupon will be shown 250. The user then creates the coupon by specifying three different text search tags 252 that can be used to search for a coupon, specifying the start and the end dates during which time the coupon will be active 253, and by uploading an image of the coupon into the system by clicking on the upload area 254. When this has been done, the user can then publish the coupon by selecting the publish now button 256.

[0075] Figure 1W shows screen 722 which is displayed when a user clicks on a corresponding functionality control button 104b or selects the functionality control tab 102e marked "Jobs!". In this example there is one job listed: "Graphic Designer" 258, which is a live link that may be clicked on. In addition, there is a "Post Free Job" button 260.

[0076] Figure 1 X shows screen 723 which is displayed when the "Graphic

Designer" link 258 is selected. The details of the job are then displayed which includes the job title, category, salary, description, and other information regarding the job listing 262.

[0077] Figure 1Y shows screen 724 which is displayed when a user clicks on the "Post Free Job" button 260. The post job panel 264 is then presented. First the user creates the job reach 266 by selecting if the job is only to be displayed in the user's location, within communities that the user belongs to, or the five favorite locations associated with the user. The user can choose to upgrade this job listing to be a Super Display Ad (SDA) 268, and also has the option to mark this job listing as a Top-Of-List ad 270. The user then enters in the country, state, and city 272 where the job is located, and also can give the region for the job listing 274. The next step is to create the job listing. The user first identifies the category of the job, the title, minimum salary, and if the applicant must be willing to relocate 276. The location of the position, city, state, country, as well as the contact name of the person and the email or phone number is also entered 278. The structure of the pay, whether it is base pay, base plus commission, or pure commission is indicated 280. The user is also able to associate up to three text search tags that can be used by visitors to search for this job 282. The user enters in a text description of the job which can be formatted 284. Finally, the user enters in a date after which resumes will not be considered and also enters in the job start date 286. Once this is done, the user selects publish now 288.

[0078] Figure 1 Z represents screen 725 which is shown when a user selects the sports event functionality control button 104c. A list of sports teams is presented 290 which includes a description of the sports team as well as the event location. The screen also has a link that allows users to post free sports events 292.

[0079] Figure 1AA shows screen 726 which is displayed when the user selects sports event 290. When this selection is made, a detail of the event is displayed, including team names, final score, sports description, and location 294.

[0080] Figure 1AB shows screen 727 which is displayed when a user selects the "Post Free Sports Event" button 292. A sports events panel 296 is displayed which allows a user to set up a local sports event. The user first enters the schools or team names of those teams competing, whether the sport is categorized as men or women, the type of sport, the final scores, and also the start date for the game 298. The user then adds text-based directions of description for the game which can also be formatted 300, and specifies the location of the game 302 by entering address, country, city, state, a contact name, and a contact phone number. Finally, the user can associate photos with this sporting event 304 by clicking on a thumbnail area to upload a photo.

[0081 ] Figure 1AC shows screen 728 which is displayed after a user selects a corresponding functionality control button marked "Wanted" 104d or by selecting functionality control tab 102d. The system then displays a list of items that are wanted 306, which includes the price, the short description of the wanted item, and the location.

[0082] Figure 1AD shows screen 729 which is displayed when a user selects a particular wanted item 306. The detailed text of the item 310 is displayed. When contact button 312 is pressed a "Send a Message" panel 309 is displayed. On this panel the user enters a text message, formats it, and sends it to the user who posted the wanted message.

[0083] Figure 1AE represents screen 730 which is displayed when the "Post

Free Ad" 308 button is pressed. A "Create Wanted Ad" panel 332 is displayed. To post a wanted ad, the user first creates the ad reach. The user specifies whether the ad should be displayed just locally, within communities to which the user belongs, or within the five favorite locations associated with the user 316. The user can specify this as a Super Display Ad, 318, and specify the price and number of impressions the user wishes this ad to have. The user can also request this as a "Top-Of-List" ad 320. The user then specifies the location, country, state, and city 322 and, optionally, the region in which the ad should be placed 324. The second step is create the ad. The user first identifies the category of the ad, up to five key words that can be used to search for the ad, a year and a make/model number of the article or the item wanted, a title for the ad, and a price 328. The user can then add a text description for the ad which can be formatted 330. In addition, the user can add a URL of a video either on YouTube or Vimeo 333 that describes in further detail what is waned. The user can also upload pictures to associate with the ad 334. To publish the ad, the user selects "Publish Now!" 326. [0084] Figure 1AF shows screen 731 which is displayed after a user selects the

"Resumes" functionality control button 104e. Posted resumes are then shown, including the resume title and the location of the person with the resume 336. In addition, there is a "Post Free Resume" button 338 where users can post resumes.

[0085] Figure 1AG represents screen 732 which is shown when a user selects a resume 336. The title of the resume, category, salary, location, contact, description, and other information is displayed 340.

[0086] Figure 1AH represents screen 733 which is shown when the "Post Free

Resume" button 338 is pressed. To post a resume, the user first creates a resume reach. The user first identifies whether the resume should be distributed locally, within a community that the user belongs to, or to the five favorite locations associated with the user 344. Optionally, the user can upgrade the resume posting to a Super Display Ad (SDA) 346. The user then selects the country, state, and city 348 for the user's location, and then optionally selects a region in which the resume is shown 350. The next step is to create the resume. The user indicates the job category, a title summarizing the resume, a primary category, a minimum salary amount, a start date, location information, including country, city, and state, contact name, email, phone number, and up to three text search tags that can be used for searching for the position 352. In addition, the user can enter a short summary of the user's skills in text which can be formatted 354. The user can then upload a resume file 356, or add a Linked In profile URL 358. Once all fields are filled in, the user can publish the resume by selecting "Publish Now!" 360.

[0087] Figure 1AI represents screen 734 which is shown when the user, while posting a resume, selects the "Show Region Breakdown" hyperlink 361 . This results in a display of each individual region and the costs to display the resume in that region 362.

[0088] Figure 1AJ represents screen 735 which is displayed when a user clicks on the functionality control button corresponding to "Local Events" 104f. The resulting screen shows a list of local events including a description and a location 364. An event can be posted by clicking 366. [0089] Figure 1AK represents screen 736 which is displayed after a user selects 364 to get details on a posted local event. Event information includes an event title, start date, end date, location, description, and other information 368.

[0090] Figure 1AL is a representation of screen 737 which is displayed when a user clicks on 366, the "Post Free Event" icon. The "Event Setup" panel 368 is displayed. To set up an event, a user first creates the event reach. A user can select the event to be displayed either locally, within the communities that the user is signed up for, or at the five favorite locations associated with the user 370. The user can also set this event up as a "Super Display Ad" 372. Next the user enters the, country, state, and city 374 where the event is located. Alternatively, the user can select the regions in which this event notice will be viewed 376. The second step is to create the event. The user enters in address, city, state, country, zip code, a text event title, a start date, end date, contact name for information on the event, email and phone, and up to three text search tags that can be used to search the system to locate the event 378. The user enters a text description of the event in area 380, which may be formatted. In addition, the user may add pictures 382 to be associated with the event. Once all the information is entered to the user's satisfaction, the user can publish it by clicking the "Publish Now" button 384.

[0091 ] Figure 1AM represents screen 738 which is displayed when the user clicks on a corresponding "Community" functionality control button 104g. A floating panel 386 is displayed that gives the user options in interacting with the community. The user can select "Make New Community" 388 to create a new community, select "Publish Announcement" 390 to publish an announcement, select "Invite Users" 392 to invite other users to a community, or select "Browse Public Communities" 394 to view information in other public communities.

[0092] Figure 1AN represents screen 739 which is displayed when a user selects the "Make New Community" button 388. A panel 396 is displayed where the user can enter in the title of the new community 398, the purpose, goal, or reason of the community 400, and select whether the community should be a private community 402 that is not visible and/or accessible to users who are not members or have been invited to be members (e.g., visible only to non-members after they enter a code or otherwise provide private information corresponding to the community). When done the user can create the community by selecting the submit button 404.

[0093] Figure 1 AO represents screen 740 which is displayed when a user selects "Publish Announcement" 390. The "Publish Announcement" panel is displayed 406. The user first selects the community to which the announcement is to be posted 408. The user then enters information about the announcement in text form which can be formatted 410. The user can also upload a newsletter by selecting a file on the user's computer that contains the newsletter 412, and associate photos with the announcement 414. Finally, the user can associate an existing coupon with the announcement or create a new coupon 416. To publish the announcement, the user clicks on the "Publish Announcement" button 418.

[0094] Figure 1 AP represents screen 741 which is displayed when the user selects the "Invite Users" button 392. An "Invite Others To Your Community" panel 420 is displayed. An invitation can take two forms. The first form is an "Online Invitation" 422, where the user first selects a community 422a, creates an invitation by entering email addresses 422b, enters in text 422c that will be sent to the user describing the invitation to the community, and sends the invite by clicking the "Send Invites" button 422f. The user can also invite someone to the community by sharing the URL shown on the panel 422d. The user can also invite people by using their favorite social network by clicking on the appropriate icons 422e. The second form of an invitation is a "Main Street Invitation" 424. The user first selects the community he wants to invite the persons to 424a, uploads a logo or a photo highlighting that community 424b which can be previewed by selecting the "Preview PDF" button 424c. A sample of the PDF that will be sent out and printed can be viewed by the user 424d. This PDF may be printed by selecting the "Print PDF" button 424e to create paper handouts that contain invitation information.

[0095] Figure 1 AQ represents screen 742 which is displayed when a user selects a corresponding "Stories" functionality control button. Individual user stories are displayed 428. A user can post a story by clicking on "Post Story" 426.

[0096] Figure 1 AR represents screen 743 which is displayed when the user clicks the "Post Story" button 426. A panel 430 is displayed where the user can type a title to the user's story 432, and type the text of the story 434 which can be formatted. The user selects the "Submit Your Story" when the user is done 436. In one embodiment, such stories provide a way for CIP system users throughout the world to share, in story form, their experiences using different capabilities within the CIP system to achieve marketing and advertising results for businesses and organizations, although in other embodiments and situations at least some such stories may be related to topics that are not related to the CIP system. Such stories may serve as a valuable resource (e.g., to identify a set of "best practices") to educate and encourage new and seasoned users to implement capabilities within the CIP system in innovative and effective ways.

[0097] Figure 1 AS represents screen 744 which is displayed when the user clicks a corresponding "Affiliate Program" functionality control button 104h. A "Join Affiliate Program" panel is displayed 438 where the user can enter a URL to add to the affiliate program 440. The affiliate program allows users to trade website traffic for free advertising on the CIP site by using special advertising buttons or text links on the user's website. This allows users to accrue points for traffic and then cash them in to receive a free ad. Users can also receive a "Top-Of-List" 30 day classified ad free just for sending traffic to the CIP site. Once a user signs up and places the selected CIP site ad button or text ad on the user's website or in the user's member's newsletters, the CIP site takes care of the rest. Users just check into their "My Account" area to see what totals are and then make a decision as to when the users want to launch their free ad. Different types of ads can be redeemed for different point values.

[0098] Figure 1 AT shows screen 745 which is displayed when a user selects the "Estate Sales" functionality control button 104j . Estate sales are then listed 444 and include the title of the estate sale and the location of the sale. A user can post estate sales by clicking the button 442. [0099] Figure 1AU shows screen 746 which is displayed when a user clicks on a specific estate sale 444. The details for that estate sale are displayed and include the estate sale name, start date, end date, address, contact information, description and other information 446.

[00100] Figure 1AV represents screen 747 which is displayed when a user selects the "Post Free Estate Sale" button 442. An "Estate Sale Setup" panel is displayed 448. The user first selects the ad reach. The ad may be run locally, within the communities the user belongs to, or within the five favorite locations associated with the user 450. Alternatively, the user can list this estate sale as a Super Display Ad (SDA) 452, and select the number of impressions the SDA is to get for a particular price. Next, the user selects the location of the estate sale, selecting the country, state, and city 453. Also, the user can select a region in which this ad is to be displayed 454. The next step is to provide information on the estate sale. The user enters in the event title, the start and end dates, address, city, state, country, and zip code for the location of the estate sale, a contact name and email or phone number, and up to three text search tags that can be used to search for this particular estate sale 456. The user also enters a text description 458 of the estate sale which can be formatted. The user may also attach images 460 by clicking on an individual panel to upload an image. To publish the estate sale, the user clicks the "Publish Now!" button 462.

[00101] Figure 1AW represents screen 748 which is displayed when the user selects a corresponding "Garage Sale" functionality control button 104n. A list of garage sales is given which includes the title of the sale and the location of the sale 464. A user can post a free garage sale by clicking the button 463.

[00102] Figure 1AX represents screen 749 which is displayed when the user selects a particular garage sale to view 464. Details of the garage sale are displayed including title, start and end dates, address, description, and other descriptive information 466.

[00103] Figure 1AY represents screen 750 which is displayed when a user clicks the "Post Free Garage Sale" button 463. A garage sale setup panel 468 is presented to the user. To list a garage sale, the user first creates the ad reach. The user can select the ad to be shown locally, within the user's communities, or within the five favorite locations associated with the user 470. The user can also promote this ad to a Super Display Ad (SDA) 472, and select a specific number of impressions of the ad for a particular dollar amount. The user then enters the country, state, and city 474 where the garage sale is located, and also may enter the region in which the ad will be displayed 476. The second step is to provide information about the garage sale. The user can enter the title of the garage sale, the start date, the end date, the address of the sale, including city, state, country, zip code, a contract name, an email or a phone number and up to three text search tags that can be used to search for and find the garage sale within the site 478. The user can also type a description for the garage sale in a text area 480, and upload pictures associated with the garage sale 482 by clicking on an individual panel to upload an image. When the user is ready to publish his information, the user selects the "Publish Now!" button 484.

[00104] Figure 1AZ represents screen 751 which is displayed when the user selects the "Safety" functional control tab 102b. Internet safety tips are then displayed 492 with information on how to protect the user and the user's family when using the CIP site.

[00105] Figure 1 BA represents screen 752 which shows registering with the CIP site. When the user first logs into CIP site the user receives the floating login panel 494. If the user already has an account, the user enters their login name 494a, their password 494b, and selects "Sign In" 494c. If a user is not yet registered, the user clicks on the "Register for Free!" hypertext link 494d, and the registration panel 496 will appear. In this panel the user enters their desired user name, their first name, their email address, their password, their country, state, city, and zip code 496. The user then selects the "Agree to Terms of Use" checkbox and clicks the "Register" button.

[00106] Figure 1 BB is an expanded view of the individual function control buttons

104 on the main page of the site. The function control buttons include "Free Coupons" 104a, "JOBS! JOBS!" 104b, "Sports Scores" 104c, "Wanted" 104d, "Resumes" 104e, "Local Events" 104f, "Community" 104g, "Affiliate Program" 104h, "Stories" 104i, "Estate Sales" 104j, "My Account" 104k, "Create SDA!" 1041, "City Shotz" 104m, "Garage Sales" 104n, "For Sale" 104o, and "Post Ad" 104p.

[00107] Figures 1 BC through 1 BN illustrate examples of functional flow through an example embodiment of the CIP site.

[00108] In particular, Figure 1 BC is a flow diagram of the functions available from the Main entry page 520. The user can use the floating search box 523 to either register 524 or to login to the system 522. The user can also view an announcement coupon 524, an announcement full screen photo 525, an announcement newsletter 526, or view a previous announcement 527 or a next announcement 528. In addition, the user can select a feedback dialog box 529 to give suggestions or comments to the site administrator. The user can also create a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 552 or display an SDA or TOL ad 540 (described further in Figure 1 BD), read a FAQ 568, read the site policy document 570, read the Internet safety document 572, or read more about communities "Community Learn More" 574. Users can also view City Shotz 576 and create coupons 586 (described further in Figure 1 BE). Users can also access a marketing tips page 600, view the affiliate program 590, read or create new stories 598, and read or create sports scores 596 (described further in Figure 1 BF). Users can also go to the community action selector 602 to create and view communities and publish information to them (described further in Figure 1 BG). Users can also access the My Account dialog box 530 (described further in Figure 1 BH), Garage Sale lists 618 (described further in Figure 1 BI), Estate sales 628 (described further in Figure 1 BJ), Jobs lists 637 (described further in Figure 1 BK), Resumes 648 (described further in Figure 1 BL), Classified lists 658 (described further in Figure 1 BM), and Events 668 (described further in Figure 1 BN).

[00109] Figure 1 BD is a flow diagram describing two functions. The first is creating a New SDA TOL 552 by including coupon information in a Coupon Selector 554 to create a New SDA Coupon 556, and by using a Dynamic Image uploader 558 to get coupon images into the SDA or TOL. After the data is entered, the Checkout page 560 is used to purchase the advertisement, payment is made with the PayPal/Google Checkout function 562, and the user is thanked and is returned to the main page 564. The user may also preview the ad 566. The second function is to view the SDA in enlarged view 540. The user may view custom offsite URLs 542, view videos associated with the SDA 544, view photos with the Show SDA Photo View 548 including a Full screen image view 550, and print Coupons associated with the ad 546.

[001 10] Figure 1 BE is a flow diagram describing two functions. The first is viewing and working with the City Shotz picture list page 576, in which the user can upload a city shot 578, change the city viewed 580, vote for a City Shot 582, or view the full-screen image of a city shot 584. The second function is the coupon list page 586. Here, the user can set up a new coupon 587 with a user specified graphic through the dynamic image uploader 588.

[001 1 1] Figure 1 BF is a flow diagram describing four functions. The first function is the Marketing tips page 600 that provides tips, hints, and pointers for more effectively selling and promoting goods and services. These tips are detailed in the Article pages 601 . The second function is The Story list page 698 that allows users to read stories submitted from other users, and to submit their own stories 599. The third function allows Sports scores to be listed 596 allowing users to record New sports scores 594, and view existing Sports scores 595. Finally, the Affiliate program, which provides incentives for cross-promoting the disclosed site on other websites, can be viewed 590. Part of this process involves sending a affiliate program validation email to a user 591 , and after the validation the user can participate in the affiliate program by entering information in Affiliate program verification screen 1 592 and screen 2 593.

[001 12] Figure 1 BG is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Community

Action Selector 602. Here, the user can create a New Community 603, Browse the Public Community List Page 604 and Invite Users to join a community 606 by Uploading a Logo 605 and Creating a Custom Community PDF print view 607. The user can then Print and distribute a PDF with invite codes 608 to invitees. When the invitee accepts the invite 609, the community invite alternate entry page 610 is displayed and the user is taken to the Main Entry page 520. Alternatively, the user at the Community Action Selector 602 can choose to Publish an Announcement 61 1 to the community that may include: graphic images brought in by the Dynamic Image uploader 613, an uploaded Newsletter 612, or a Coupon 614. When uploading a coupon, the user can select an existing coupon 615 or create a New Coupon 616 that includes an uploaded a coupon image 617.

[001 13] Figure 1 BH is a flow diagram describing the functions of the My Account dialog box 530. Here, the user can select "5 favs" 531 that indicate the five cities the user wishes to include when posting and reading advertisements. The user may also view and reply to a message 537 regarding an item the user listed, which includes a Message sent notification 538 to the user. The user may also mark an item listed as having been sold 533. Users may Edit a post 536, Archive a post 535, and Delete a post 534. The user may also choose to Exit a particular community 532. Finally, a user can edit and save any user information 539.

[001 14] Figure 1 Bl is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Garage sale list page 618. A user may view a garage sale 624, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 626, and send a message to the person posting the sale using the author dialog 625. A user may list a new garage sale 619, which may identify the location of the garage sale by region 620 or through a "5 favs picker" 621 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post to. In addition, the user selects the community to list the sale in 622, and finally to upload any images for the garage sale through the Dynamic image uploader 623. Also, the user has the option to list the garage sale as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522.

[001 15] Figure 1 BJ is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Estate sale list page 628. A user may view an estate sale 629, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 631 , and send a message to the person posting the sale using the author dialog 630. A user may list a new estate sale 632, which may identify the location of the sale by region 633, or through a "5 favs picker" 634 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post to. In addition, the user selects the community to list the sale in 635, and finally to upload any images for the garage sale through the Dynamic image uploader 636. Also, the user has the option to list the garage sale as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522.

[001 16] Figure 1 BK is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Jobs list page 637. A user may view a Job page 638, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 639, and send a message to the person posting the job using the author dialog 640. A user may list a new job 642, which may identify the location of the sale by region 646, or through a "5 favs picker" 645 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post to. In addition, the user selects the community to list the job in 644, and finally to upload any images for the job through the Dynamic image uploader 643. Also, the user has the option to list the garage sale as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522.

[001 17] Figure 1 BL is a flow diagram describing the functions of the resumes list page 648. A user may view a resume page 656, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 657, and send a message to the person who posted the resume using the author dialog 655. A user may list a new resume 650, which may identify the location of where the resume can be viewed by region 651 , or through a "5 favs picker" 653 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post to. In addition, the user selects the community to list the resume in 654, and finally to upload any images of the resume through the Dynamic image uploader 652. Also, the user has the option to list the resume as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522.

[001 18] Figure 1 BM is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Classified list page 658. A user may view a regular classified ad 664, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 666, and send a message to the person listing the ad using the author dialog 665. A user may list a new regular classified ad 659 by entering in text. The user may identify the reach of the ad by region 661 , or through a "5 favs picker" 663 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post the ad to. In addition, the user selects the community to list the ad in 660, and finally to upload any images for the ad through the Dynamic image uploader 662. Also, the user has the option to list the garage sale as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522. [00119] Figure 1 BN is a flow diagram describing the functions of the Local events list page 668. A user may view an event page 669, including viewing any included images in full-screen view 670, and send a message to the person posting the event using the author dialog 671 . A user may post a new event 672, which may identify the location of the event by region 675, or through a "5 favs picker" 673 that includes the five cities the user wishes to post to. In addition, the user selects the community to post the event in 676, and finally to upload any images for the event through the Dynamic image uploader 674. Also, the user has the option to list the event as either a Super Display Ad (SDA) or Top-of-List (TOL) ad 522.

[00120] It will be appreciated that the GUIs and other information presented with respect to Figures 1A-1 BN are included for illustrative purposes, and that such information and/or other information and associated functionality may be presented or otherwise provided in other manners in other embodiments. In addition, it will be appreciated that GUIs and other information presented to users may vary with the type of client device used by the user, such as to present less information and/or functionality via client devices with smaller display screens and/or less ability to present information to or obtain input from the user, such as under control of a mobile application of the CIP site system executing on the client device, or otherwise based on information sent to the client device from the CIP site system.

[00121] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a server computing system 800 that is suitable for performing at least some of the described techniques, such as by executing an embodiment of a CIP site system. The computing system 800 includes one or more central processing units ("CPU") or other processors 805, various input/output ("I/O") components 810, storage 820, and memory 830, with the illustrated I/O components including a display 81 1 , a network connection 812, a computer-readable media drive 813, and other I/O devices 815 {e.g., keyboards, mice or other pointing devices, microphones, speakers, GPS receivers, etc.). The computing system 800 and software system 840 may communicate with other computing systems via one or more networks 880 {e.g., the Internet, one or more cellular telephone networks, etc.), such as fixed-location client devices 882, user-carried mobile client devices 884 and/or 885, external data sources 886, and third-party computing systems 888. Some or all of the other computing systems may similarly include some or all of the types of components illustrated for server computing system 800 {e.g., to have a CIP site client application executing in memory of a device 885 in a manner analogous to system 840 in memory 830), which are not illustrated here for the sake of brevity.

[00122] In the illustrated embodiment, an embodiment of the CIP site system

840 executes in memory 830 in order to perform at least some of the described techniques, such as by using the processor(s) 805 to execute software instructions of the system 840 in a manner that configures the processor(s) 805 and computing system 800 to perform automated operations that implement those described techniques. As part of such automated operations, the system 840 and/or other optional programs 835 executing in memory 830 may store and/or retrieve various types of data, including in the example database data structures 821 -829 on storage 820. In this example, the data used may include various types of user-supplied information in database ("DB") 821 , various types of community-related information in DB 823, various types of user profile information in DB 827, and/or various types of marketing-related information in DB 829.

[00123] It will be appreciated that the illustrated computing systems and devices are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Computing system 800 may be connected to other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or more networks such as the Internet or via the Web, one or more cellular telephone networks, etc. More generally, a "client" or "server" computing system or device may comprise any combination of hardware that can interact and perform the described types of functionality, optionally when configured with appropriate software, including without limitation desktop or other computers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, PDAs, smart phones and other cell phones, wireless phones, pagers, electronic organizers, Internet appliances, television- based systems (e.g., using set-top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders), and various other consumer products that include appropriate intercommunication capabilities. In addition, the functionality provided by system 840 may in some embodiments be distributed in various components (not shown), and the functionality of the illustrated systems may not be provided and/or other additional functionality may be available.

In addition, while various items are illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while being used, these items or portions of them can be transferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes of memory management and/or data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of the software systems and/or modules may execute in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computing system via inter-computer communication. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the modules may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc. Some or all of the system modules or data structures may also be stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a network, or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. The system components and data structures may also be transmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, including wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and can take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations. [00125] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the Web pages and other data structures discussed above may be structured in different manners, such as by having a single data structure split into multiple data structures or by having multiple data structures consolidated into a single data structure. Similarly, in some embodiments illustrated data structures may store more or less information than is described, such as when other illustrated data structures instead lack or include such information respectively, or when the amount or types of information that is stored is altered.

[00126] Figure 3 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a Community

Information Provider System routine 3000. The routine may be performed by, for example, CIP site system 840 of Figure 2 and/or the system providing the display or otherwise performing the functionality described with respect to one or more of Figures 1A-1 BN. In this example embodiment, a portion of the functionality of an example CIP system is illustrated in routine 3000, although it will be appreciated that other embodiments of the CIP system may perform other functionality, whether in addition to or instead of the illustrated functionality.

[00127] In the illustrated embodiment, the routine begins at block 3005, where a request is received from a user or potential user of the CIP system or from another system. The routine continues to block 3010 to determine a type of the request and to proceed accordingly.

[00128] In particular, if the routine determines in block 3010 that the request received in block 3005 is to create a new user-specified community, such as from a first user who is already a registered user of the CIP system, the routine continues to block 3015. In block 3015, the routine creates a community in response to information received from the first user, such as to be associated with a business or other defined criteria, and optionally having rules of operation specified by the first user. Additional details related to creating and configuring communities are included elsewhere herein. After block 3015, the routine continues to block 3020 {e.g., in response to further instructions from the first user) to generate one or more invitations for use by the first user in inviting others to join the community, such as a printable invitation and/or an online electronic invitation. Additional details related to generating and using community-specific invitations are included elsewhere herein. After block 3020, the routine continues to block 3022 to wait (while optionally performing other activities for other users and communities) until other users use the generated invitations to initiate membership in the community, and adds those other users to the community if permitted by the rules of operation for the community.

[00129] After block 3022, the routine receives one or more announcements for the community in block 3024 (such as over a period of time following the community creation, such as a few minutes, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, etc.) from the first user and/or one or more members of the community, and in block 3026 initiates display of the announcements to the community members. Such display may occur in various manners in various embodiments, including when community members login to or otherwise access the CIP system and request or pull information for display (e.g., request one or more Web pages from a web site provided by the CIP system), and/or by sending emails or other electronic communications to some or all of the community members {e.g., on a periodic basis). Additional details related to receiving and displaying announcements are included elsewhere herein.

[00130] If it is instead determined in block 3010 that the requested received in block 3005 is not to create a community, the routine determines if the request is instead from a user to create a super display ad (SDA), and if so continues to block 3040. In block 3040, the routine creates an SDA based on information received from the user and associates it with one or more indicated communities and/or indicated geographical areas. Such an SDA may have a variety of types of information, including, for example, promotional text, one or more photos, one or more videos, a user-selectable link or other information that a user may use to obtain access to an indicated coupon or other promotional information, etc. Additional details related to creating and using SDAs are included elsewhere herein. After block 3040, the routine continues to block 3070 to initiate display of the SDA to corresponding users in the indicated community(ies) and/or geographical area(s), such as in a manner similar to that described with respect to block 3026 and/or to Figures 1 A-1 BN. [00131] If it is instead determined in block 3010 that the requested received in block 3005 is not to create an SDA, the routine instead continues to block 3085 to perform one or more indicated operations. Additional details related to other types of functionality that some embodiments of the CIP system may provide are included elsewhere herein.

[00132] After blocks 3026, 3070 or 3085, the routine continues to block 3090 to optionally obtain payment from one or more users for performed activities, such as from a user who creates an SDA with respect to block 3040 {e.g., based on the promotional package selected by the user, or otherwise based on use of the SDA within the CIP system), from a user who creates a community with respect to block 3015, from a user who specifies an announcement with respect to block 3024, from a user who specifies other operations to perform with respect to block 3085, etc. After block 3090, the routine continues to block 3095 to determine whether to continue, such as until an explicit indication to terminate is received {e.g., from a human operator of the CIP system). If it is determined to continue, the routine returns to block 3005, and if not continues to block 3099 and ends.

[00133] It will be appreciated that in some embodiments the functionality provided by the routines discussed above may be provided in alternative ways, such as being split among more routines or consolidated into fewer routines. Similarly, in some embodiments illustrated routines may provide more or less functionality than is described, such as when other illustrated routines instead lack or include such functionality respectively, or when the amount of functionality that is provided is altered. In addition, while various operations may be illustrated as being performed in a particular manner {e.g., in serial or in parallel) and/or in a particular order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that in other embodiments the operations may be performed in other orders and in other manners.

[00134] From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by corresponding claims and the elements recited therein. In addition, while certain aspects of the invention may be presented in certain claim forms at certain times, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any available claim form.

Claims

What is claimed is:

[ci ] 1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more configured computing systems of a community information provider system that has a plurality of users, one or more instructions from a first user of the plurality of users to create a first community corresponding to a business with which the first user is associated, wherein the community information provider system provides multiple other communities that each includes one or more of the plurality of users as members;

generating, by the one or more configured computing systems, a printable invitation for the first user that is specific to the first community to enable the first user to print and distribute the invitation to customers of the business to invite the customers to join the first community, wherein the invitation includes a code specific to the first community that recipients of the invitation may use to become a member of the first community;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, indications of use of the code by multiple users of the plurality of users, and adding the multiple users as members of the first community based on the indicated use of the code;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, one or more announcements from the first user for the first community; and

providing, by the one or more configured computing systems, the one or more announcements to at least some of the multiple users who are members of the first community.

[c2] 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, instructions from a second user of the plurality to users to create a super display ad and to associate the super display ad with the first community, wherein the super display ad has information indicated by the second user that includes promotional text, one or more photos, and information to enable access by a viewer of the super display ad to an indicated coupon; and

initiating, by the one or more configured computing systems, display of the super display ad to at least some of the multiple users.

[c3] 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, after the initiating of the display of the super display ad to the at least some users:

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, a request from one of the at least some users for access to the indicated coupon using the information included in the super display ad; and

providing, by the one or more configured computing systems, the indicated coupon to the one user.

[c4] 4. The method of claim 2 wherein the initiating of the display of the super display ad to each of the at least some users includes, for each of the at least some users, sending an electronic communication to the user that has multiple super display ads, the multiple super display ads including the super display ad created for the first user.

[c5] 5. The method of claim 2 wherein the initiating of the display of the super display ad to each of the at least some users includes, for each of the at least some users, when the user next logs in to the community information provider system, including the super display ad in a predetermined location of a page of information provided to the user by the community information provider system.

[c6] 6. The method of claim 2 wherein the information indicated by the second user for the super display ad includes a solicitation for participation by viewers in an indicated fundraising activity or in commercial activities related to one or more products and/or services, wherein the commercial activities include trading, bartering, swapping, or selling activities. [c7] 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more announcements include a classified ad or a coupon.

[c8] 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more announcements include a photo, a newsletter, information about an event, information about a job, photos, information about a sports score, information about a garage sale, information about a product for sale, information about a product wanted for purchase, information about a service for sale, information about a service wanted for purchase, a story, a resume, or information about an estate sale.

[c9] 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the received one or more instructions include specified rules for operation of the first community, wherein the first user is an administrator for the first community, and wherein the method further comprises providing functionality to members of the first community in accordance with the specified rules for operation.

[do] 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the one or more announcements to the at least some users includes, for each of the at least some users, when the user next logs in to the community information provider system, including the announcement in a predetermined location of a page of information provided to the user by the community information provider system.

[ci i ] 1 1 . The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the one or more announcements to the at least some users includes, for each of the at least some users, sending an electronic communication to the user that has multiple announcements from multiple users, the multiple announcements including the one or more announcements from the first user.

[ci 2] 12. The method of claim 1 1 further comprising receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, one or more additional announcements for the first community from at least one of the multiple users, wherein the at least some users are members of the first community, and wherein the multiple announcements in the electronic communication further include the one or more additional announcements.

[ci 3] 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indications of use of the code by multiple users includes, for each of the multiple users, after the user has contacted the community information provider system, obtaining an input of the code from the user.

[ci4] 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indications of use of the code by multiple users includes, for each of the multiple users, receiving an electronic message at the community information provider system that is initiated by use of the code on a client computing system of the user.

[ci 5] 15. The method of claim 1 wherein, for one of the multiple users, adding the one user to one or more additional communities of the multiple other communities, to enable the one user to simultaneously be part of two or more communities.

[ci 6] 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated invitation includes a coupon for use by the multiple users after they join the first community.

[ci 7] 17. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating an electronic version of the invitation, and sending the electronic version of the invitation in electronic messages to users indicated by the first user.

[ci 8] 18. The method of claim 1 wherein the first community is a private community that is not identifiable by users of the community information provider system that have not received the invitation.

[ci 9] 19. The method of claim 1 wherein the first community is a public community that any of the plurality of users is allowed to join, and wherein the generating of the printable invitation for the first user includes performing multiple interactions with the first user to specify a visible appearance of the invitation and to specify information to include in the invitation.

20. A system, comprising:

one or more processors of one or more computer systems; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, configure the system to:

receive instructions from a first user regarding specified rules for operation of a first community, wherein the first user is an administrator for the first community;

generate an invitation specific to the first community to enable the first user to distribute the invitation to others to invite the others to join the first community, wherein the invitation includes a code specific to the first community that recipients of the invitation may use to become a member of the first community;

receive indications of use of the code by multiple users, and add the multiple users as members of the first community based on the indicated use of the code and in accordance with the specified rules for operation;

receive one or more announcements from the first user for the first community; and

provide the one or more announcements to at least some of the multiple users who are members of the first community.

21 . The system of claim 20 wherein the one or more computer systems are server systems of a community information provider system that has a plurality of users and that provides multiple communities.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the first user is associated with a business, wherein the instructions received from the first user are to create the first community to be associated with the business, and wherein the multiple users are customers of the business. [c23] 23. The system of claim 22 wherein the generating of the invitation specific to the first community includes generating a printable invitation to enable the first user to print multiple copies of the invitation and to distribute the printed invitation copies to customers of the business at one or more physical stores of the business.

[c24] 24. The system of claim 20 wherein the first community corresponds to a school, a church or a non-business organization, and wherein the specified rules of operation restrict members of the first community to people who are members of the school, the church or the non-business organization.

[c25] 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing system of a community information provider system to perform a method, wherein the community information provider system has a plurality of users and provides multiple communities for use by the plurality of users, and wherein the method comprises:

receiving, by the configured computing system, instructions from a first user of the plurality to users to create a super display ad that includes promotional text, one or more photos, and information to enable access by a viewer of the super display ad to an indicated coupon, and wherein the super display ad is associated with one or more geographical areas;

determining, by the configured computing system, multiple users of the plurality of users who are associated with the one or more geographical areas; and

initiating, by the configured computing system, display of the super display ad to each of the multiple users.

[c26] 26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the method further comprises, after the initiating of the display of the super display ad to the multiple users: receiving, by the configured computing system, a request from one of the multiple users for access to the indicated coupon using the information included in the super display ad; and

providing, by the configured computing system, the indicated coupon to the one user.

[c27] 27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the first user is a member of a first community of the multiple communities, and wherein the determining of the multiple users includes selecting the multiple users from members of the first community.

[c28] 28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the received instructions from the first user further indicate a first community of the multiple communities, and wherein the determining of the multiple users includes selecting the multiple users from members of the first community.

[c29] 29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the initiating of the display of the super display ad to each of the multiple users includes, for each of the multiple users, sending a periodic electronic communication to the user that has multiple super display ads, the multiple super display ads including the super display ad created for the first user.

[c30] 30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the initiating of the display of the super display ad to each of the multiple users includes, for each of the multiple users, when the user next logs in to the community information provider system, including the super display ad in a predetermined location of a page of information provided to the user by the community information provider system. [c3i ] 31 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing system, and wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the configured computing system to perform the method.

[c32] 32. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more configured computing systems of a community information provider system that has a plurality of users, one or more instructions from a first user of the plurality of users to create a first community corresponding to a business with which the first user is associated, wherein the community information provider system provides multiple other communities that each includes one or more of the plurality of users as members;

generating, by the one or more configured computing systems, a printable invitation for the first user that is specific to the first community to enable the first user to print and distribute the invitation to customers of the business to invite the customers to join the first community, wherein the invitation includes a code specific to the first community that recipients of the invitation may use to become a member of the first community;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, indications of use of the code by multiple users of the plurality of users, and adding the multiple users as members of the first community based on the indicated use of the code;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, one or more announcements from the first user for the first community;

receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, instructions from a second user of the plurality to users to create a super display ad that is associated with the first community, wherein the super display ad includes promotional text, one or more photos, and information to enable access by a viewer of the super display ad to an indicated coupon; and

initiating, by the one or more configured computing systems, display of the super display ad and of the one or more announcements to at least some of the multiple users who are members of the first community.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the second user is one of the multiple users, wherein the instructions received from the second user further indicate one or more geographical areas for the super display ad, and wherein the method further comprises, before the initiating of the display of the super display ad, determining that the at least some users are located in the one or more geographical areas.