The Internet is designed to keep businesses on their toes and Groupon is no exception. They're smart enough to realize that they need to evolve or they will shortly become yesterday's news and with that in mind Groupon has officially taken the jump into being something more than a Daily Coupon site.

Like Foursquare announced late 2012, Groupon is stepping out of their little nitch to become a Local Marketplace. You can now go to their site and search for a deal on something specific. Let's say you really want to get your carpet cleaned in your house. Before you'd have to patiently wait for a deal to hit your inbox and make your move then. Now, you can go to their site and do your search to find a deal on the service you're looking for in a matter of minutes.

For now, Chicago and New York are the first cities enjoying these features, but Groupon promises to roll these out to everyone soon.

"As of today, we've opened the doors so you can search and browse that inventory of deals, both daily deals and real-time Now! deals. Yes, you can actually type in a search ("pizza," "couple's massage," "oil change"), and you can browse by category (Food & Drink, Beauty & Spa, and so on) and subcategory (Indian Cuisine, Massage, Yoga). You can also specify exactly where you want your deals. Just type in an address, a neighborhood, or a city, and we'll instantly find the closest, most relevant deals for that location."

If you have signed on with Groupon in the past, then you're on the short list to be contacted to offer deals that have a longer shelf life. If you're new to Goupon then now is the time to signup with their marketing team to see if they're the answer to your local marketing needs this quarter.

I also highly recommend that you read our featured article so that you can get the most out of your promotion and don't get burned by too many deal seeking customers, Leverage A Groupon Promotion and Boost Your Bottom Line.

- Kristi Hagen, Writer & Chief Editor, SearchEngineNews.com