WebMediaBrands CEO Alan Meckler
December 2004 Archives
Search was the big Internet story of 2004 and it will continue to be so in 2005.
Google is everywhere. From its stock price explosiveness to its rapid rollout of new services, Google has grabbed the brass-news ring for the time being. However, the last story has not been written in the Great Search Race. We all know about Microsoft, but watch IBM and watch out for the next wave of Filos, Yangs, Brins and Paiges.
The real power of Search can been seen in the financial success of smaller players. Recently iProspect was acquired for $50 million by the UK based Aegis Group of advertising companies. Acquisition and consolidation will accelerate in the Search field. And look at the financial success of Russ Horowitz's public Marchex. Few know of Marchex, but its success illustrates that vertical opportunities abound in the Search arena. (Marchex is part of my stock portfolio.)
The other big story is the continuous onslaught of ecommerce companies gaining ground on traditional forms of retailing. Holiday online sales were up 28% this year over 2003 numbers whereas brick and mortar sales increased by only 4%.
The Internet had a great 2004. 2005 will be much better.
Back to an old and tired and somewhat painful topic. This blog was created back in February 2003 to write about Jupitermedia's experience in creating a new trade show called cdXpo to take on and replace the venerable Comdex.
We won. There was a need for cdXpo and Comdex died. We lost too because we did not continue with cdXpo. The people who own Comdex (Media Live) periodically indicate that Comdex is not dead, but only suspended. Believe me. It is dead. The reason for my certainty is the lineup of keynoters at the CES show next week in Las Vegas.
Microsoft -- Bill Gates
Intel -- Craig R. Barrett
Hewlett Packard -- Carly Fiorina
Motorola -- Ed Zander
Texas Instruments -- Rich Templeton
All these heavyweights are not from consumer electronics companies. Years ago CES would have had keynoters from Sony, Phillips and a host of other Japanese consumer electronic companies. CES is the main event forever and ever.
Comdex missed the evolution and blending of consumer electronics with computer-related devices. I doubt the creator of Comdex would have missed this trend. But once Sheldon Adelson sold Comdex, the pretenders that ran Comdex had the creative skills of zombies. And that folks is how a franchise is lost.
In the late 1990s I had thought that the VHS rental market would fast succumb to movies being rented over the Internet. Of course I was wrong. But incorrect in timing, not in concept.
Today we have ecommerce battles raging amongst Netflix, Amazon and Blockbuster. Monthly membership fees are tumbling. This is great news for the consumer as the Internet once again turns an industry on its head.
More importantly, however, is the certainty that as broadband expands we are sure to see prices tumble even more as delivery will actually take place over the Net. I believe we will see the day when a one-time viewing will cost about the same as downloading a song from the likes of Apple and others.
Recent weeks have brought us several stories about the trade book publisher Random House considering to sell books via the Internet thus creating a sales path that avoids giving a large percent of sales to retailers.
No large pubisher could survive (presently) without having a Barnes & Noble or Amazon type company doing the heavy selling. However, over time, it is not crazy to think that large publishing houses might be able to keep the bulk of every sale because of ecommerce initiatives aborning.
I recently read an interview with Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins. Two points were made by Friedman in a 10 November Wall Street Journal story:
1. "The Internet is a marketer's dream. For the first time you can actually know the people buying your books. It's much easier to reach people who like mushrooms by going to a mushroom site than by appearing on the 'Today' show....The more we can advertise directly to the consumer who is really interested in what we're offering, the greater sales we'll enjoy."
2. WSJ Interviewer: "Will there be any fallout if you sell directly [online]." Ms. Friedman: "None. If retailers are publishing books, publishers may have to become retailers. We need to get our books into the hands of readers to make our industry even healthier."
And this in the WSJ yesterday from Peter Olson, chairman and CEO of Random House Worldwide: "Random House is evaluating 'pricing and distribution models' a strategy that could one day include selling books directly to consumers online."
The Internet has changed many industries of which travel is the best example. Could the Net be getting ready to change traditional book selling --- the answer is a definite yes!
Internet news was explosive today!
The financial press had a variety of stories ranging from Barry Diller spinning out Expedia.com as a new public company from his IAC empire to an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal about search engines that find the cheapest price for current bestsellers.
But the best dealt with a story in The Wall Street Journal entitled "How an Artist Fell Into a Profitable Online Card Business" by Gwendolyn Bounds. I would suggest that anyone in ecommerce clip this article and keep it on their desks as a reminder that there are still thousands of great ecommerce stories to come.
For those who will not read the article let me summarize: A British artist named Jacquie Lawson has created an incredibly successful online greeting card company. Some metrics: two employees, no marketing costs, revenues approaching $5 million, tiny inventory of 500 greeting cards, and an $8.00 per annum subscription price!
The success of jacquielawson.com is just one of thousands of ecommerce gems that few of us ever learn about. And it reminds me of our good fortune to have purchased a company called arttoday.com (which is comprised of photos.com, clipart.com, flashcomponents.com and animations.com) about 18 months ago. Revenue at the time (June 30, 2003) was about the size of Jacquie's and the business grew by word of "net." We have gone on to add more components (both organically and by acquisition), but the basic business continues to grow by leaps and bounds because of the value offered by the various services.
As an aside I must mention that my mother of 89 years has been sending Lawson cards for several years. Shame on me for not checking out the source. I was not able to reach my mother today to ask her how she found out about the Lawson service, but will report on this shortly.
Our own Rebecca Lieb (editor in chief of Clickz) has written an indepth report about the four-day SES show that ended in Chicago on Thursday. Check it out.
Our colleagues at MediaPost recently published an unscientific survey trying to find out which Search Engine got the highest free rankings amongst the various Search Engines (the article is presented below).
Ironically, in several cases, depending on the term(s) used, our searchenginewatch.com came out on top!
This anomaly comes from the fact that searchenginewatch.com is an incredible editorial portal. SEW has captured the worldwide readership for those interested in analysis, news, chat and just great general information (not to mention the great reputations of writers Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman). All of these assets combine for a very high ranking amongst the various search engines.
Here's the article and survey:
Of Serendipity and Search Engines
by Gord Hotchkiss, Thursday, December 16, 2004
I LOVE THE WORD SERENDIPITY. It's like an entire poem in one word. Just saying it out loud makes you feel... well... serendipitous.
So, this week, with the holidays approaching, I was in a serendipitous mood and started noodling (another favorite word) with my Google toolbar. "Hmm" I said to myself, "I wonder how Google ranks on Google for the words "search engine." Google's whole promise is to bring the best to the top, right? So which search engine is Google giving its all-powerful vote of confidence?
Well, no one, as it turns out. SearchEngineWatch.com, Jupiter's portal for search marketing and optimization, grabs the coveted top spot. So, surely, Google must be second. Nope, that would be Lycos. Now, as far as I can remember, Lycos is dying a long and lingering death, but according to Google, they're No. 1. Well, actually No. 2, behind the site that isn't a search engine.
In fact, Google ranks itself fifth, behind Dogpile and AltaVista. Can it be? Does Google have a secret inferiority complex? Is the cockiness of every Google employee I've ever met just a front for a shuddering mass of vulnerability? I dig further.
What if I refine my search? Let's try "smartest search engine". Oops, no search engine I recognize makes it to the top 10.
Okay, how about "best search engine"? Again, there aren't too many familiar names in the top 10, although Dogpile does manage to sneak in at No. 8.
I'm getting desperate now, and serendipity is hanging by a thread, in mortal danger of giving way to unhealthy obsession. I type in "Larry and Sergei's search engine," figuring it's time to get really specific. The strategy is lost on Google, which again serves up a list of unfamiliar sites, with the exception of Go.com in the No. 10 spot. Well, at least the first two letters are right.
One last stab in the dark: "Search engine with recent IPO that's aiming for world domination." Nada.
Maybe I'm using the wrong engine. I switch to Yahoo! And sure enough, there's no identity crisis here. Yahoo! proudly ranks itself No. 1 for "search engine" and in a concession to the competition, throws the No. 2 spot to Google. Apparently, Yahoo! thinks more of Google than Google thinks of itself.
Let's take Microsoft's new algorithm for a spin. Again, MSN thinks a lot of SearchEngineWatch and gives them the top spot. And guess who gets No. 2? Google. Looking down the page, I see Search.com, AltaVista, Dogpile, Lycos, Northern Light (are they still around?), Webcrawler, and... no MSN. Didn't even break the top 10. Well, maybe they haven't gotten around to spidering themselves yet.
It's time to Ask Jeeves. First, I had to scroll down past a zillion sponsored ads that pushed the real results off the page. And when I finally got to the results, they did a pretty good job of nailing the top engines. Like Yahoo!, Jeeves doesn't mind blowing his own horn. Ask Jeeves is No. 1, Teoma (owned by Jeeves) is second, AltaVista third, Lycos fourth, AlltheWeb fifth, and Google comes in a distant sixth. Webcrawler, Dogpile, Yahoo!, and Excite round out the top 10.
All relevant, and all search engines, although the one-two finish of Ask.com properties smacks of a little judicious human intervention. Seems that Jeeves might know his stuff, even if he is a little egocentric. Google thinks Lycos is a search engine powerhouse, so how does Lycos feel about itself?
Well, Lycos apparently has no idea what a search engine actually is, because the only two search engines to break the top 10 are Overture and AOL. HotJobs is No. 1 and an eBay page for Thomas the Tank Engine is firmly embedded in the No. 3 spot. At least the HotJobs link might come in handy for the engineers currently working on the Lycos search algorithms.
There seems to be a building ground swell for AltaVista. Could this be a dark horse? I went to Yahoo!-owned AltaVista and found out that once again, the portal SearchEngineWatch takes the top spot. Is it coincidence that a portal for search engine optimization consistently takes the top spot, beating the engines at their own game? It's deliciously ironic, if you ask me.
The irony continues with the fact that Google takes the No. 2 spot on the competitor's engine, with hometown favorite AltaVista in No. 4, Yahoo in No. 5 and Dogpile in No. 6.
Survey Says...
And so, in a serendipitous, non-scientific poll, using GordRank, a sophisticated algorithm of my own invention, here are the top search engines, as ranked by the search engines themselves
1. Google (ranked higher by almost all the competitors than Google ranked themselves)
2. AltaVista
3. Yahoo!
4. Dogpile (yes, Dogpile)
5. Lycos
6. Teoma
7. All the Web
8. Webcrawler
9. Hotbot
10. Metacrawler
There are a couple of points that have to be said. Perhaps Larry and Sergei could hire a search optimization firm to help them rank better on Google. I know they have the money and it seems to be a challenge for them.
And despite Bill Gate's bravado and bank account, no one seems to know that Microsoft has a search engine. Not even MSN!
Til next year, Happy Holidays!
We wrapped up a hugely successful SES Chicago today and now look forward to Search Engine Strategies New York in late February.
I came away from SES with many thoughts. One in particular was the presence of MSN at the show for the first time. And what a presence it was! First MSN had the biggest booth and the tallest booth. If the size of the display is an indicator of MSN's intentions, then the industry is in for a real fight for search supremacy. MSN had a large team. They even had a nicely printed brochure soliciting attendees to come to work at MSN search.
Clearly Microsoft means business when it comes to search.
Another little war that is going on is one that many thought had ended 5 or 6 years ago --- the browser war. There was a time when Netscape and Microsoft were slugging it our for browser supremacy. Many people no longer remember Netscape, but it was one hot company from 1995 to 1999 until Microsoft clobbered them into submission.
With this bit of history out of the way, I was blown away today upon seeing a two-page spread in The New York Times advertising Firefox 1.0. For a moment I thought I was back in the late 1990s watching Netscape and Microsoft going at it. One can learn more about this open source browser and then decide if it is worth trying.
And to be fair, Opera is yet another player in the new browser wars (Opera is based in Norway).
One knows that they are in a hot industry when skirmishes abound. The browser and search wars show that our industry is hot with growth sure to explode.
Danny just finished his keynote. The themes: the next big things are personal search and the about to boom local search arenas.
More later.
We had an exciting first day at SES Chicago. The show runs through Thursday with exhibits taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lots of press coverage already. And of course more to come with Danny Sullivan's keynote tomorrow to some 2000 or more attendees.
Case Study On Clickfraud Refund
Search Engine Watch
December 13, 2004
Danny Sullivan - blog
Hello From Chicago!
Search Engine Watch
December 13, 2004
Danny Sullivan blog
Lloyd-Martin Goes to WebSourced
ClickZ News, CT
December 13, 2004
Zachary Rodgers
Hot Search Engine Strategies In Cold Chicago
WebProNews - Lexington,KY,USA
December 13, 2004
Andy Beal, Contributing Writer
Hot Banana Integrates WebTrends With CMS
WebProNews, KY
December 13, 2004
Staff Writer
Hot Banana Integrates WebTrends 7 Market-Leading Web Analytics ...
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
Emediawire (press release), WA
December 13, 2004
Inceptor Adds News Search Engine Optimization Services
PR Web (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA
December 13, 2004
Search Engine Strategies Sexiest People Alive - SES Chicago December 13-16, 2004 - Industry Observer, Meredith A.C. Roth, Announces Search Engine Marketing Sexiest People Alive
Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA
December 13, 2004
Meredith A.C. Roth
Is It Time for DIMA?
DM News - New York,NY,USA
December 13, 2004
Tad Clarke, Editor-in-Chief
Prime to Attend SEO Conference in Chicago
Onlypunjab.com (press release) - Punjab,India
December 10, 2004
DMA Scraps net.marketing Trade Show
DM News - New York,NY,USA
December 10, 2004
Brian Morrissey, Senior Editor
WebmasterRadio.FM Internet Business Radio Hires European Powerhouse
PR Web (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA
December 10, 2004
Prominent Placement At Search Engine Strategies
WebProNews - Lexington,KY,USA
December 10, 2004
Staff Writer
Yahoo, Ask Jeeves set desktop search tools
Investor's Business Daily (subscription) - USA
December 10, 2004
Frank Barnako
Search Rushes to the Desktop
InternetNews.com, CT
December 10, 2004
Susan Kuchinskas
SEO Expert Stacy Williams to Speak at National Search Engine ...
PR Web (press release), WA
December 10, 2004
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb187184.htm
Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo Exhibitor Profiles
Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA
December 9, 2004
Search Engine Strategies Chicago - December 13-16
WebProNews, KY - Dec 8, 2004
December 8, 2004
Andy Beal, Contributing Writer
More to come.
Our Chicago Search Engine Strategies trade show opens on Monday. A few thousand professionals will converge on the McCormick Convention Center and this has sparked a flurry of announcements from a variety of companies that are exhibiting at SES.
One of our staff writers has written an excellent piece about some of this news. And I am sure more developments will be released during the show next week.
The success of our SES shows has sparked more expansion. We are a few days away from formally announcing yet another SES show --- India in March 2006. India will join with already established or new shows in Canada, England, Japan, China and Sweden.
I have been running around Europe the last three days -- Geneva, Luxembourg, Berlin and London and I am now back in New York City.
While in London I saw that the venerable TIMES is now printed tabloid style. I am sure the main reason for the change was to save on production costs, but I would wager that the Internet played a role in this change as well.
Many newspapers have lost ads to the Net. Going to a smaller print format is one way to continue publishing, but to save money as the Internet grabs more and more local ads. One day most newspapers (famous and not so famous)will go the same way as the TIMES of London.
Forbes European edition (29 November 2004) had a terrific article on a Search Engine company Quigo. Writer Chana Schoenberger reports that Quigo feels that its search platform and contextual ad service is equal to or better than the Google offerings. I have no idea if the claim is true or not, but the real point of the article (to me) is that there is always a better mousetrap waiting in the wings.
Nice article in the Wall Street Journal today entitled "Web Retailers Try New Game" by Mylene Mangalindan. The gist of the story is that we all know about the large etailers, but what about the specialty product sites? Mylene mentions several such as Zebrahall.com.
The fact is that this trend has been going on for years. But it is only in the previous few months that the business press is realizing that vertical "is in." Just as Danny Sullivan is predicting that vertical Search Engines might well be the next wave of Search, vertical shopping is already the next wave of etailing. We are even seeing this in the verticality of auctions sites, event ticket sites, travel sites and and a host of other fields.
Verticality is what has made our JupiterWeb sites more significant than the tired horizontal tech trade print magazines. Going further, our searchenginewatch.com owns the editorial side of the Search ad industry -- an honor that 5 years ago would have been part of the industry weekly Advertising Age.
Vertical is all over the place! We have been thriving in the business area of selling images online (photos, clipart and animations). Part of our success is the vertical slice we possess in the field of selling images by subscription. Others in the image arena have been slow or loathe to be in the subscription area and now it is really too late for them to catch us.
The moral of this post is that opportunities abound for those who can grab the vertical slice on almost any ecommerce or informational area. Internet opportunities are all around us. I cannot wait to see more vertical thrusts and ventures in the coming years.
Readers have noticed our redesign of this blog. We recently invited comments to my posts. First let me say that most of the comments I receive are legitimate. However I am now finding that about 20 percent of the comments are a form of spam. None to date are x-rated. Most are offering things from insurance to online poker.
Fortunately I only get a few comments per day. If the volume increased I would have to cut off the comment option as it becomes a chore to have to look at this unwanted email.
