Buzzmachine’s Jeff Jarvis opened Borrell Associates’ Local Online Advertising Conference with an extensive report about the revenue possibilities presented to hyperlocal sites. Amid an flurry of stats that aimed to show that hyperlocal sites like Gasta.com and Europasearch.com can attract thousands of dollars in revenue with just a s small support staff, his primary point was that sites in general need to do more than just sell ads and post news items. The need to sell services, including optimizing advertisers’ web presence across search and directories sites, as well as on social media and the mobile web. In terms of content, Jarvis rejects the notion that there’s too much content on the web, which many observers has said dilutes the value of major publishers’ ad sales. He pointed the value of establishing networks that filter the huge waves of content as the best way for media companies to recapture revenue. (Jarvis has posted an outline of his presentation, here.)
Jarvis also wanted to clear one other point up, before handing the things over to a panel presentation on hyperlocal. “I’m often misquoted as saying that I’m against the concept of paid content,” he said. “I’m not against it. I’ve got a book to sell right there”—he points to his What Would Google Do?—“I just don’t think it will work.” Speaking of Google, Jarvis offered current AOL (NYSE: AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong’s focus on hyperlocal blog network, Patch. Armstrong invested in Patch when he was still at Google (NSDQ: GOOG). After he became CEO of AOL, Armstrong decided to buy Patch and has said that he considers the site central to its local content strategy.
The first presented was Chris Hendricks, McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) Company’s VP of Interactive Media, who said that the newspaper publisher has been pursuing a hybrid hyperlocal content model of professional and amateur reporters. So far, the hyperlocal sites have contributed $2.5 million in revenue. The biggest site so far is the Raleigh News & Observer’s work with Triangle’s. That site did $500,000 in revenue last year. At that point, Jarvis praised him for doing God’s work. But when an audience member asked Hendricks if any of those revenues are being shared with the amateur contributors, he admitted that McClatchy wasn’t doing that yet, though they’re working on it. At that point, Jarvis said half-jokingly, “I take back what I said about God’s work.”
While McClatchy’s existing resources gives it an easy head-start when it comes to attracting users and advertisers. For others, it takes a mix of new and old media to gain any traction. Inn addition to becoming adept at SEO strategies, Mark Potts, CEO and co-founder of GrowthSpur.com advocated handing out leaflets outside the local supermarket to hosting gatherings at coffeehouses.“Marketing is the hardest part of this,” he said. “It takes a year or two to get critical mass on a local site.”
Chris Jennewein, president of U.S. Local News Network, also said that turning to the oldest media can help build a hyperlocal community. “We’ve put ads on billboards and on radio and those mediums still work pretty well.”
Showing posts with label Europasearch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europasearch. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Monday, July 27, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Search Advertising remains king of the Marketing world
Search engine marketing, like nearly all digital media forms, is evolving rapidly. Text ads
accompanying search results came into the world with little fanfare, but the real-time,
individually targeted, bid-based buying system they spawned is now on the verge of
becoming the dominant method for all commodified media buying. During the most
difficult economic times that the search marketing industry has seen in its decade-long life,
search marketers are more relevant than ever.
The Web itself is getting ―smarter.‖ Web 1.0 was mostly static with publishers
communicating to consumers. Web 2.0 is two-way, with consumers talking back to
publishers. Web 3.0 uses information from the consumer to tailor the experience to
individuals. Gmail ads already do this. By taking advantage of email content, Google is
able to serve ads that are immediately and individually relevant. The new search site
Hunch.com asks searchers to tell the site about themselves in order to predict interests and
suggest searches. Why this matters to search marketers is that the entire infrastructure of
the Web 3.0 economy is built on what‘s known as the ―semantic web.‖ Having a
background in search engine optimization and PPC advertising is just about the best
possible way to prepare for the new ways of doing business this technology enables.
While the consumers of the world get nervous about change, it won‘t be long before an untargeted
―dumb‖ ad provokes as much consumer backlash as the first targeted ads did in
the last few years. As advertising undergoes a transformation from annoyance to utility, it
will be the semantic marketers of the world who make it happen. It‘s a very good time to
be in this business for a variety of reasons. You represent the first wave of a new media
economy. If that isn‘t enough to convince someone of the increasing relevance of search
marketing, perhaps the promise of money to be made will.
accompanying search results came into the world with little fanfare, but the real-time,
individually targeted, bid-based buying system they spawned is now on the verge of
becoming the dominant method for all commodified media buying. During the most
difficult economic times that the search marketing industry has seen in its decade-long life,
search marketers are more relevant than ever.
The Web itself is getting ―smarter.‖ Web 1.0 was mostly static with publishers
communicating to consumers. Web 2.0 is two-way, with consumers talking back to
publishers. Web 3.0 uses information from the consumer to tailor the experience to
individuals. Gmail ads already do this. By taking advantage of email content, Google is
able to serve ads that are immediately and individually relevant. The new search site
Hunch.com asks searchers to tell the site about themselves in order to predict interests and
suggest searches. Why this matters to search marketers is that the entire infrastructure of
the Web 3.0 economy is built on what‘s known as the ―semantic web.‖ Having a
background in search engine optimization and PPC advertising is just about the best
possible way to prepare for the new ways of doing business this technology enables.
While the consumers of the world get nervous about change, it won‘t be long before an untargeted
―dumb‖ ad provokes as much consumer backlash as the first targeted ads did in
the last few years. As advertising undergoes a transformation from annoyance to utility, it
will be the semantic marketers of the world who make it happen. It‘s a very good time to
be in this business for a variety of reasons. You represent the first wave of a new media
economy. If that isn‘t enough to convince someone of the increasing relevance of search
marketing, perhaps the promise of money to be made will.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Push for 'instant-on' web search
A company that provides "instant-on" computing will bring "instant search" to the PC for the first time.
Splashtop, made by DeviceVM, already lets consumers access email, chat with friends, share photos or surf the web seconds after turning on their PC.
The deal involves three search leaders including Yahoo in the US and Japan, Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia.
DeviceVM's Dave Bottoms said the deals make sense because web searching is fundamental to computer users.
"Search is the tip of the iceberg in being able to offer a lot of different web services, but when you think about where people spend their time online, it's in search," Mr Bottoms, senior director of product management, told BBC News.
"I think this is the next new start experience frontier we are witnessing at the device level."
A web analytics firm, Comscore, found that in June alone Americans conducted more than 14 billion core searches, up from 10.8 billion in 2008.
"A lot of people use search as a basic navigation tool," said DeviceVM's marketing director Sergey Krupenin.
"Instead of typing in Facebook.com in the address bar, users are typing it into the search box."
'Accessible'
Depending on what part of the world users are in, as soon as they switch on their computer, they will be greeted by a front page that offers a free Yahoo branded search box or one that says Yandex or Baidu.
"Web search has emerged as the dominant and universal navigation tool...and providing instant search will further expand our search leadership in China, the largest and fastest growing internet search market in the world," said Haoyu Shen, vice president of operations for Baidu.
"The search distribution landscape is changing, and instant search is one of the ways Yahoo provides our users with a convenient and highly accessible Yahoo search experience," said Tim Mayer, vice president of North America search and social experiences for Yahoo.
In America analysts are not so sure this "instant-search" feature will make a big difference in driving more users to Yahoo, which has 20% of the US market versus Google's 65% share.
"I don't think these deals have a dramatic impact on market share," said Greg Sterling of search news site SearchEngineLand.
"People's habits are fairly well established now when they go online. However some people will undoubtedly use Yahoo for their search because they are lazy and it's right in front of them," said Mr Sterling.
"That might mean Yahoo will get an incremental bump, but it won't be significant."
'Instant internet revolution'
Splashtop comes pre-installed on computers. At the moment it is on over 10 million PCs across 200 models made by Asus, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Acer and LG.
Mr Bottoms said the company estimated that by the end of this year, Splashtop -and the "instant internet revolution" that it heralds - will be on 40 million devices.
By the end of 2010, he believes, that number will be up to 100 million computers.
DeviceVM said the growing popularity of netbooks is key to this success and that this new instant search feature plays nicely into how people use these low-cost mini laptops.
"Users generally use netbooks on the go for chunks of a half an hour or so compared to notebooks or laptops where they will spend around three hours at home or in an office.
"With the emergence of netbooks, we are definitely seeing a lot of consumer demand for always being connected, always on and being able, at the press of a button, to get searching on the web quickly," explained Mr Bottoms.
A report by DisplaySearch said that demand for netbooks has been hot and looks to get hotter.
They are projected to grab a 20% share of the worldwide market for this year with consumers expected to buy almost 33 million netbooks - a doubling of last year's 16 million.
"The culture of 'on-the-go' means that speed is important to these users," said SearchEngineLand's Mr Sterling.
"I think that will be a benefit to the netbook experience and this is where that quick search box will have its appeal."
Windows 7
Splashtop and other "instant-on" offerings from other companies bypasses Microsoft Windows, the dominant operating system on PCs.
But software giant Microsoft has said Windows 7 promises to be a leaner, lighter propositsion that can compete in this space.
The company has just released Windows 7 into the hands of computer makers in a process known as "release to manufacturers". This is the last big step before the product reaches users in late October.
Microsoft claims that Windows 7 test results showed PCs have gone from a "cold boot" - from switched completely off - to a ready desktop at speeds comparable to the instant-on environments.
But DeviceVM's Mr Krupenin said that still does not solve the basic problem of speed.
"It is not about how fast an operating system is but how much is loaded onto it. Six months after people have bought their computer, it works at least two times slower because of all the applications that have been added on.
"Splashtop is an optimised environment around the browser and you are not installing anything there," he explained.
The company said it expects to see their 'instant-search' page on devices from September onwards.
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, Silicon Valley
Splashtop, made by DeviceVM, already lets consumers access email, chat with friends, share photos or surf the web seconds after turning on their PC.
The deal involves three search leaders including Yahoo in the US and Japan, Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia.
DeviceVM's Dave Bottoms said the deals make sense because web searching is fundamental to computer users.
"Search is the tip of the iceberg in being able to offer a lot of different web services, but when you think about where people spend their time online, it's in search," Mr Bottoms, senior director of product management, told BBC News.
"I think this is the next new start experience frontier we are witnessing at the device level."
A web analytics firm, Comscore, found that in June alone Americans conducted more than 14 billion core searches, up from 10.8 billion in 2008.
"A lot of people use search as a basic navigation tool," said DeviceVM's marketing director Sergey Krupenin.
"Instead of typing in Facebook.com in the address bar, users are typing it into the search box."
'Accessible'
Depending on what part of the world users are in, as soon as they switch on their computer, they will be greeted by a front page that offers a free Yahoo branded search box or one that says Yandex or Baidu.
"Web search has emerged as the dominant and universal navigation tool...and providing instant search will further expand our search leadership in China, the largest and fastest growing internet search market in the world," said Haoyu Shen, vice president of operations for Baidu.
"The search distribution landscape is changing, and instant search is one of the ways Yahoo provides our users with a convenient and highly accessible Yahoo search experience," said Tim Mayer, vice president of North America search and social experiences for Yahoo.
In America analysts are not so sure this "instant-search" feature will make a big difference in driving more users to Yahoo, which has 20% of the US market versus Google's 65% share.
"I don't think these deals have a dramatic impact on market share," said Greg Sterling of search news site SearchEngineLand.
"People's habits are fairly well established now when they go online. However some people will undoubtedly use Yahoo for their search because they are lazy and it's right in front of them," said Mr Sterling.
"That might mean Yahoo will get an incremental bump, but it won't be significant."
'Instant internet revolution'
Splashtop comes pre-installed on computers. At the moment it is on over 10 million PCs across 200 models made by Asus, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Acer and LG.
Mr Bottoms said the company estimated that by the end of this year, Splashtop -and the "instant internet revolution" that it heralds - will be on 40 million devices.
By the end of 2010, he believes, that number will be up to 100 million computers.
DeviceVM said the growing popularity of netbooks is key to this success and that this new instant search feature plays nicely into how people use these low-cost mini laptops.
"Users generally use netbooks on the go for chunks of a half an hour or so compared to notebooks or laptops where they will spend around three hours at home or in an office.
"With the emergence of netbooks, we are definitely seeing a lot of consumer demand for always being connected, always on and being able, at the press of a button, to get searching on the web quickly," explained Mr Bottoms.
A report by DisplaySearch said that demand for netbooks has been hot and looks to get hotter.
They are projected to grab a 20% share of the worldwide market for this year with consumers expected to buy almost 33 million netbooks - a doubling of last year's 16 million.
"The culture of 'on-the-go' means that speed is important to these users," said SearchEngineLand's Mr Sterling.
"I think that will be a benefit to the netbook experience and this is where that quick search box will have its appeal."
Windows 7
Splashtop and other "instant-on" offerings from other companies bypasses Microsoft Windows, the dominant operating system on PCs.
But software giant Microsoft has said Windows 7 promises to be a leaner, lighter propositsion that can compete in this space.
The company has just released Windows 7 into the hands of computer makers in a process known as "release to manufacturers". This is the last big step before the product reaches users in late October.
Microsoft claims that Windows 7 test results showed PCs have gone from a "cold boot" - from switched completely off - to a ready desktop at speeds comparable to the instant-on environments.
But DeviceVM's Mr Krupenin said that still does not solve the basic problem of speed.
"It is not about how fast an operating system is but how much is loaded onto it. Six months after people have bought their computer, it works at least two times slower because of all the applications that have been added on.
"Splashtop is an optimised environment around the browser and you are not installing anything there," he explained.
The company said it expects to see their 'instant-search' page on devices from September onwards.
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, Silicon Valley
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Europasearch headed for big things
With Interest building from several leading European VC companies not least Ariadne Capital (The Global Investment & Advisory Firm), and Chinese search giant Baidu ,not to mention global portal Alibaba, to name just a few. It seems like everyone is keeping one eye on web 2.0 viral search and share engine Europasearch.
Europasearch is a blended search network that can replicate itself in seconds and deliver search results and more to point advertising revenues in any region or territory. Europasearch believes it ethos of working from the ground up with local clients is starting to see benefits as communities, industry sectors and sovereign states see the value of retaining search revenues for themselves. This is no young upstart in the form of the Gasta search network Europasearch has been around almost a long as internet time itself, morphing from portal to metasearch to full blown search engine has been a long and often excruciating experience for the founder Francis Higgins. The Belfast native has long been aware of the importance of search to 'deliver the shop window to the client'but it seems its The latest innovation from Gasta to Europasearch that has grabbed VCs interest, As lead developer Stuart Manning (A graduate of QUB) say "the point of fact is that people want to share things, they want to do it as simply and effeciently as possible, On Europasearch.com you can share news items from a variety of news sources, you can share videos, you can share web results, you can share images, and best of all you can share advertising. When a client purchases a contextual SearchMatch ad on gasta.com that Ad can be pushed out onto Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg", sure, nothing really new there for all those content exploiters! but its the simplicity and ease of use that is appealing. Europasearch is a web 2.0 search engine in action; giving the Twitter generation what it wants, what it demands! can we share it? YES we can!
Europasearch is a blended search network that can replicate itself in seconds and deliver search results and more to point advertising revenues in any region or territory. Europasearch believes it ethos of working from the ground up with local clients is starting to see benefits as communities, industry sectors and sovereign states see the value of retaining search revenues for themselves. This is no young upstart in the form of the Gasta search network Europasearch has been around almost a long as internet time itself, morphing from portal to metasearch to full blown search engine has been a long and often excruciating experience for the founder Francis Higgins. The Belfast native has long been aware of the importance of search to 'deliver the shop window to the client'but it seems its The latest innovation from Gasta to Europasearch that has grabbed VCs interest, As lead developer Stuart Manning (A graduate of QUB) say "the point of fact is that people want to share things, they want to do it as simply and effeciently as possible, On Europasearch.com you can share news items from a variety of news sources, you can share videos, you can share web results, you can share images, and best of all you can share advertising. When a client purchases a contextual SearchMatch ad on gasta.com that Ad can be pushed out onto Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Digg", sure, nothing really new there for all those content exploiters! but its the simplicity and ease of use that is appealing. Europasearch is a web 2.0 search engine in action; giving the Twitter generation what it wants, what it demands! can we share it? YES we can!
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