Localcents.com Launches New Local Search Site

Today Localcents.com announced the beta release of their new online service, providing a free venue for community members to post, search for and view classified ads. In addition, the site can be used to download and print out coupons offered by local merchants. Localcents.com seeks to involve communities and improve access to local information.

Rather than restricting its reach to major cities, Localcents takes a more organic approach to online classifieds. Ads can be posted at any zip code in the United States. Entering a starting location will automatically pull together everything within a 30-mile radius. Based on the results, those who are searching can then choose to reduce or expand that radius to fit their needs.

Localcents’ cofounders, Theron McCollough, Arron Kallenberg and two other partners, created the site because they were frustrated with the lack of local information available on the web. “Traditional search engines are designed to connect you with a world of information,” McCollough says. “Our focus is on connecting people within their community.”

The current beta release is intended to get communities acquainted with the idea of a local search engine and involved in the development process. “We see Localcents as a social experiment. The technology is really secondary to community participation,” says Kallenberg, who heads the site’s development. “At this stage, community participation and feedback are the most important things we can get. It will allow us to continue to offer services that connect people with relevant local information and ultimately with each other.”

The classifieds and coupons are the first of many free services that the website plans to offer. Localcents’ development team is currently working on another service that will allow community members to read, write and share reviews on local businesses.

“As strange as it may sound,” McCollough explains, “our internal mantra is: ‘Get off your computer.’ We aren’t aiming to become another social networking site, at least not in the conventional sense. We want people to visit Localcents, get the information they need and then use that information to interact with their community in tangible ways.”

Localcents Inc. (www.localcents.com) was founded in December 2005 by entrepreneurs Arron Kallenberg, Theron McCollough, Anthony Dimitre and Christos Batsakoutsas. A startup company based in Bellingham, Washington, Localcents is backed by modest private investment and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. The company’s mission is to continue developing web-based community services that connect people, empower communities and stimulate local commerce.

Arron Kallenberg, (360) 201-7202
Theron McCollough, (360) 223-7555