Ask Throws In The Towel - A Woman’s Search Engine
According to Forbe’s Ask.com has finally thrown in the towel to fighting off the Google. They realized that they can’t compete under their current model. They decided to focus all of their energy on attractive married women. No it’s not what you think its for, get your mind out of the gutter. According to Forbes here is what the search engine will focus on:
The leaner Oakland-based search company will be retooled as a homemaker’s resource providing answers to queries about cooking, gardening and health. The target audience will be married women living in the American South and Midwest.
Investors did not seem to think this was a great idea, but did like it somewhat. I disagree completely I think this is a GREAT idea. I am for more vertical search engines. The Google results are not relevant to everyone, and although they are trying to create personalized search, I think that Ask is on the right track. This also supports an earlier post about Vertical Search stealing Google Search Share in the future.
3 comments
They should have a butler give you answers to your questions. They should name him Jeeves.
Done.
Search is morphing…. The Vertical Search Report 2008 has just been released . To download a free online copy of the full report, click here http://www.convera.com/survey/
Highlights:
CPM will be fastest-growing revenue stream for publishers in 2008
Online revenue set to increase while print income flattens or decreases
Content owners must ensure visibility within fragmenting digital landscape by embracing RSS, widgets and toolbars.
Publishers see vertical search as opportunity to ‘reclaim the online community from Google’.
The fastest-growing revenue streams for publishers in 2008 will be internet display advertising and online sponsorship.
Some 72% of publishers are expecting an increase in income from CPM advertising next year and 67% are predicting a rise in digital sponsorship, while print revenues are more likely to flatten or decrease. Just under two thirds (64%) are expecting a rise in paid search (PPC) revenue.
The findings come from a survey which was circulated to members of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), American Business Media (ABM), Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) and E-consultancy’s early-adopter community of internet marketers.
The research also highlights the need for specialist publishers to react quickly to major changes in the digital environment in order to maintain and increase their market share and visibility.
Publishers need to adapt to maximize their digital revenues at a time of shifting advertising budgets. Trends in digital marketing are leading towards a fragmentation of the online landscape and ‘atomization’ of content. Content owners have a great opportunity to increase visibility for their content through the effective use of vertical search, feeds, widgets and toolbars.
The level of uptake for feeds and customized homepages is very high among this early-adopter audience surveyed but this kind of online behavior will soon become more widespread among knowledge workers across a wider range of industries.â€
Some 93% of more than 500 media and internet professionals said that they would be ‘very likely’ or ‘quite likely’ to use a search engine that focused on serving their specific business or work needs.
More than 70% of publishers perceived ‘reclaiming the online community from Google’ to be either a major benefit or a minor benefit from vertical search.
To download a free online copy of the full report, click here http://www.convera.com/survey/
@ Andy… a bit of a spamy self promoting comment, but at least it adds value unlike the Rx and Gambling Link Spam I keep getting ;)
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