Search Yogi

This blog has moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:14:00 +0000

Please update your bookmarks.. See you at www.searchyogi.com
Rajesh

Funny or Die

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:05:00 +0000

On the heels of my post about Jonathan Schwartz CEO plugging Aggregate knowledge, I was reminded about another event from the past. Sequoia Capital partner Mark Kvamme was speaking at the Stanford Venture lab panel. As part of the discussion, he announced that the site funnyordie was going live. His spin on it was that it was an amateur effort by his teenage son who had spawned the idea and had roped in actor Will Ferrel into the project as well.
This had the intended effect on me and I was wowed by the ingeniousness of the folks involved. However, I later found that it was a well-orchestrated start-up and not a serendipitous accident as it was projected to be. No doubt Mark had full reason to plug his start-up, but I felt hoodwinked on what I perceived to be a mis-representation.

Modular robot reassembles when kicked apart

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:18:00 +0000

New York & Company email spam

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:25:00 +0000

I am checking an email account that has not been used for the past few months. The inbox had a preponderance of emails from New York & Company. I have received 19 emails in April from them. Ditto for March. I wonder what their click through and unsubscribe rates look like, given this spamming.

PR for Aggregate Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:56:00 +0000

At the web 2.0 conference, Sun CEO Jonatha Schwartz brought up Aggregate Knowledge's technology and its sophistication. I was quite impressed by the traction that AK was receiving. But later on, I got to know from their competitor Baynote that Schwartz is a Limited Partner at Kleiner Perkins, one of the investors in Aggregate Knowledge. Another connection being that Kleiner Perkins was also one of the investors in Sun in its early days.

Great Public Relations for AK. But the plug did not feel good after knowing the facts.

OLPC

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:28:00 +0000

Undoubtedly an interesting twist to the long running OLPC - Intel saga. See techcrunch article below. Ironically, this new outfit is for-profit and the founder has previously worked at both Intel and OLPC!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/10/pixel-qi-towards-a-75-laptop/

GOOG and IPTV

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:02:00 +0000

Google announced that it is tying up with Matsushita to launch Internet TV. While this had immediate pop out effect on Matsushita's shares, GOOG did not show the same effect. Perhaps because of market conditions that day, in addition to the fact that this may not have significant and immediate revenue impact for Google.
However, in the medium term, I see this as a tipping point for you tube. Google proactively bundling some of their more TV-friendly offerings (aka video and photos) with TV makers out there is a smart move that will sit well with the natural upsurge in interest in viewing online video content on TVs. One can only speculate on the ad revenue implications for you tube once this convergence gathers steam.

Google Universal Search

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:15:00 +0000

Hot off the press:

Google has just announced "Universal Search" (Sergi Brin was in attendance), a moniker for an effort to integrati several channels into the Google search results: Google local, videos, images, books etc. This is bringing together several parts that seemed apparently disparate until now (You Tube, Publishing project, Google Local etc.).

To make this happen, Google has implemented a new scoring algorithm that will be able to compare information from different media (comparing Apples and Oranges as they put it). An example would be whether to rank a video of Martin Luther King higher than an text article about him. Youtube and Google videos will be integrated into the search. The vidoes will be embedded in the search page and the user can view the video without leaving the page. In the initial phase, they will also be pulling in videos from select video sites like Metacafe. This will be a thumbnail that will direct the user to the third-party video site.

Clearly, this will increase the time spent/user on the Google.com site. It's as if the search results page is becoming a content page to some degree.This may have interesting Advertising implications and may open the door for Google to experiment with display ads on the search page.

Google will also start offering experimental search pieces at www.google.com/experimental
Users will be able to sign up to integrate these experimental features into the search results they see on their screen.

The Google stock is already showing a spike today. It almost seems like Google timed the announcement to prop up the sagging stock price (the YTD growth has been under 2% for 2007).

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:12:00 +0000

Google has started showing some sponsored search ads at the bottom of the page i.e. below the organic search results. Here is a screenshot -

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 May 2007 04:39:00 +0000

In case you are looking for traffic trends, the following three sites are generally accepted as standard for free sources. Couple of them have traffic growth graphs:

alexa
Data sourced from tool bar downloads by users.

statsoholic
Formerly Alexoholic. It sources data from Alexa, but has better presentation. Amazon (which owns Alexa) is trying to block statoholic from having full access to their API.

compete
Toolbar download by users.

quantcast
Arrive at numbers based on statistical calculations on internet traffic data. Quantcast have a very good interface in my opinion. Taking a different tack from others, they are encouraging and giving companies the capability to correct the traffic numbers that quantcast is reporting for the particular company. However, it is not very clear what incentive companies have to correct/share this data with the general public.

You will see differences in numbers between these sources, but their direction of trend should be in the same direction. However, here is a case where Peter Rip found the numbers were moving in different directions.

"I am Starbucks" Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:26:00 +0000

Starbucks has received lot of negative publicity lately for not using fair trade coffee. According to consumer watchdog organicconsumers.org, only 3.7% of Starbucks coffee purchases annualy are Fair Trade Certified. This does not bode well for Starbucks suppliers who may hail from Costa Rica, Ethiopia or other developing countries etc. Of course, Starbucks contention is that requiring Fair Trade certification will make their coffee more expensive.

It appears that Starbucks' new Ad campaign, "I am Starbucks" is aimed at deflecting this negative publicity and to promote a farmer-friendly image. Takers anyone? :)

Attachment to a Vintage Necktie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:02:00 +0000

The WSJ ran an article today (behind a pay wall) about how divvying up family's belongings has the potential to ignite family feuds. These items in question are knickknacks that have sentimental value rather than monetary worth to the parties involved.

The article talks about apparently novel strategies to keep peace. Some notable ones:

Family Auctions: Silent auctions, either online or submitting bids to the estate planner. In one example, three siblings set up a private web based auction to bid for their late fathers personal property, including his vintage tie.

Round Robin Strategy: Heirs draw straws and whoever wins gets to pick out items in a particular room. Repeated for each room.

Rotating Possession: If more than one sibling covets an article, the possession of the article rotates every few years.

In all the above strategies, the common thread is a psychological attachment to the items. The solutions all conform to the rule that this attachment needs to be satisfied and ascribe a certain value (either emotional, financial or both) to these items. However, the attachment to these items itself is never questioned. We need to question the assumptions and the thought structure underlying this attachment. Relationships are nurtured not by drawing up elaborate strategies but by "letting go".

Google Double Click

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:41:00 +0000

Microsoft and AT&T claim that the Doubleclick acquisition by Google violates Anti-trust provisions. As is apparent, this is quite ironic coming from players who themselves have a long anti-trust legacy.

I had pointed out a few months ago that Google could become dominant enough to attract attention in this vein. Here is the post.

Target increases price-point in the $1 aisle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:44:00 +0000

The familiar Target Aisles in the front that carried $1 goods is an excellent hook for users. And a great way to dispose unsold inventory. However, Target has quietly introduced products that are at the $2.50 price point in the same aisles. The price tag is there, but its unlikely customers are noticing it. Many customers must be assuming that all products are at $1. A classic habitual response.
At least this is what happened to me and another shopper. A Hawaiian style straw hat looked like a very good buy at $1, only to realize later that it was priced at $2.50. Increasing the price point makes financial sense, but I wonder if customers will feel cheated if and when they find out that their purchase was not such a good bargain after all. There has to be some sort of visible delineation/marker between these products. At best, these aisles will lose their effectiveness as a purchase hook. At worst, its an easy way to lose customer trust. A bit at a time.

CBS inks deal with online video players

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 06:24:00 +0000

In the latest sign of the networks going the way of distributing current/recent content to online viedoe networks, CBS has announced that it will make available previously shown episodes of CSI, NCIS and others. The deals are interesting in that it covers several online players, both mature start-ups and those that are just taking off. The players are:

CNET - Text content + video

Brightcove - Youtube like model

Joost - in private beta (need an invite from a current user). While Youtube focuses on UGC, Joost seems to focus on syndicating content from TV networks.

Netvibes - Just made their US/"universal" debut after making their name on their hometurf in France. This deal will fit very nicely with Netvibes strategy of providing as many feeds as possible to users.

Sling Media - It will be interesting to see how Sling will use CBS content, since the Slingbox out in the market now is essentially to enable "location shifting".

Comcast - Online video play for a cable company?

Veoh Networks

Compete.com registeration

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:46:00 +0000

I was trying to get some traffic stats and I went to Compete.com to get it. The links on the home page were not working and so I decided to register. They asked me some prickly questions:

Salary

Gender

Year of Birth

I was a bit unnerved about being asked for these tidbits, but since I wanted the data, I continued with the registeration. After the registeration, I checked my account options. It turned out that they decided to sign me up for their newsletters, without asking for my permission.

So they are follwing an auto opt-in strategy. I had to take myself off their emails.

While start-ups need traffic, I think its unethical to sign-up users on email lists without asking their permission. When a company adopts this approach, it runs the risk of getting caught by spam blockers. Its much easier to press the "report spam" button (in Gmail for example) than it is to unsubscribe. Overall, an unhealthy approach to increasing traffic.

Inserting Ads seamlessly into Video

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:31:00 +0000

The Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall) reported today Advertising.com, a subsidiary of AOL will be Ad distributor for the as-yet-unnamed NBC - News Corp. joint venture for online video. It seems like advertising.com is leveraging some of the IP it got through AOL's acquisition of Truveo back in Dec 2005. The technology allows advertising.com to insert ads into video clips seamlessly at any point in the video. I can see advertisers being very interested in this. Imagine a Kellogs ad right as a family sits for breakfast in the video or a Circuit City ad just as viewers are in the middle of watching a football match.

Adwords on Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:13:00 +0000

The ads that appear at the top of my emails in my Gmail account have become extremely targeted lately. I can't seem to stop clicking on the ads that show up. Google has figured out my interests in start-ups and travel. I get mostly content links from Business week, NY travel and others that are right down my alley. Scary on one hand, but superb targeted,relevant content on the other.

Green Efforts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:34:00 +0000

http://sustainlane.com/

VC Anti-Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:48:00 +0000

Check out this page from the Bessemer Venture Partner site. An interesting (and witty!) profile of missed opportunities.

http://bvp.com/port/anti.asp

Full Disclosure: Bessemer is an investor in the company I work for.

The Dissent from Within

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:31:00 +0000

Are corporate-types finally waking up to the need for enviromental responsibility?

Here is an extract from a Wall Street Journal article (behind a pay wall)

NONDALTON, Alaska -- Soaring in his private plane above the pristine tundra here two years ago, Robert B. Gillam experienced a conversion: The money manager and pro-business Republican became an impassioned conservationist.
He took the flight after reading reports that a Canadian company planned to build North America's largest open-pit gold and copper mine in Southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region. The proposed Pebble Mine would stretch two miles across and be deep enough to swallow the Empire State Building. And it would be scraped from the headwaters of rivers that feed the world's largest wild-salmon fishery.
So Mr. Gillam -- whose Alaska investment firm holds more than $1 billion in mining stocks for clients -- launched a second career. He has become the unlikely front man for a band of Native Alaskans, fishermen, hunters, environmentalists and business leaders opposing the project. Mr. Gillam, 60 years old, has helped pay for ads, lobbyists and polls to convince Alaskans that Pebble Mine could be an environmental disaster.
"Mining is no longer the ideal of a prospector with a pick-ax and pan," he says, "but a dirty, industrial business."

Say No to Skiing at Heavenly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:20:00 +0000

The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe is planning to cut-down hundreds of trees to make way for a chair lift. Here is an extract from an article in the Wall Street Journal (behind a pay wall).

...ski resorts, which cut down forests to create ski slopes and build condos, still haven't completely won over environmentalists. A group called the Sierra Nevada Alliance recently condemned a proposal by officials at the Heavenly Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe to chop down hundreds of ancient fir trees to make way for a new chairlift, even as it praised the participation of Heavenly and its parent, Vail Resorts Inc., in the global-warming campaign. "While some of the resorts are thinking globally, they aren't thinking locally," says Autumn Bernstein, land-use coordinator for the alliance.
Officials at Heavenly say they plan to mitigate the loss of the trees by working to protect old trees in other parts of the forest. "What environmentalists need to understand is that we are excellent stewards of the environment," says Heavenly spokesman Russ Pecoraro.

Bangalore Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:01:00 +0000

I was in Bangalore recently and could not help but notice the apartments that are popping up everywhere. Real estate prices are at an all-time high. So are the stock market valuations for apartment builders. The IPO of 'Soba builders', a local builder, was oversubscribed 108 times.

Finding 5-star hotel rooms is also difficult. There are only 5 such hotels in Bangalore and apparently they get booked a year in advance. The availability of 5-star hotel rooms is also at an all-time low. A silicon valley VC I was chatting with a couple of days ago mentioned that he paid $650/night to stay at the Leela palace (which is close to one of the IT hubs in Bangalore). More than what he pays to stay at the Waldorf! Another bay area company that has a substantial presence in Bangalore pays $350/night for its senior execs to stay at the Leela. The reason they got a better deal?:) They have a long term contract for the rooms with the Leela!

Given this pressure on land prices (and on cost of talent), some of the capital is likely to move (or is already moving) to Tier 2 cities near Bangalore or to Hyderabad, Chennai (Madras), Poona among others. Mysore is likely to benefit from this capital flight. It is about 3 hrs from Bangalore. But with a new multi-lane highway being built between Bangalore and Mysore, the commute time will decrease. Moreover, Infosys already has presence with a large training center in Mysore.

SEMPO Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:24:00 +0000

A recent SEMPO Survey says that Yahoo is on a solid footing on the SEM front. To substantiate this claim, it cites the survey statistic that 4 out of 5 or 86% of the respondents run SEM ads on Yahoo.
I think this is misleading. Historically speaking, Overture (which was acquired by Yahoo) was the pioneer and advertisers have always run ads on it. Moreover, Yahoo continues to retain approx. 20 - 25% search market share. Given this fact, advertisers have no choice but to advertise on Yahoo, no matter how unweildy the platform. A more relevant question to ask advertisers would be "what % of your SEM spend is on Yahoo?"). Responses to this question will likely show a skew that corroborates Yahoo's woes in the SEM space (atleast until the Panama launch).

On a positive note though, the new Panama platform will finally give advertisers the flexibility they need and will mean increased SEM revenues for Yahoo. Yahoo is well aware of this and therefore has given an upbeat revenue forecast for Q1.

Survey: $10 Billion Spent on Search Marketing in '06

Mike Shields

FEBRUARY 08, 2007 -

Advertisers in North America laid out close to 10 billion dollars on search engine marketing in 2006, a year that saw a 62 percent spend increase versus 2005, according to an annual survey conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

SEMPO found that, based on its survey of 587 search agencies and advertisers, spending in the medium will double by 2011, reaching $18.6 billion (SEMPO counts both paid search advertising and spending on companies' internal search engine optimization in its dollar estimates, while other firms do not). According to the report, The State of Search Marketing 2006 Executive Summary, that rapid growth will be driven by continued advertiser demand, rising prices and a new wave of small-to-midsize businesses discovering the medium.

Not surprisingly, Google dominates the search advertising business. Among the marketers and agencies surveyed, 96 percent of them report using Google AdWords to promote their brands.

Yet despite its recent urgent push to improve its own search ad technology, Yahoo is on solid footing according to SEMPO respondents. More than four out of five advertisers--86 percent--say they have run ads on Yahoo's search product.

Meanwhile MSN, which has struggled in a distant third-place position in the search race, even losing some market share in recent months, has made great strides among advertisers, found SEMPO. Sixty-eight percent of advertisers said they used MSN for their search campaigns in 2006, up from just 29 percent in 2005.

The reason for MSN's surge is that despite low usage, the search engine's ad environment is less cluttered, and it tends to deliver the right ads to users. "The ROI on MSN is extremely strong," said Kevin Lee, co-founder of Did-it.com and chair of the SEMPO research committee. "And there is not anywhere near the competition, as it's a less mature marketplace."

Another less-than-mature marketplace is that of search advertising for brand advertisers. Despite claims that more and more brands are using the medium for branding, as most respondents reported, just 21 percent of search advertisers actually track or measure the branding impact of search for their campaigns.

Lee said that in practice, more brands are looking at a combination of search and branding metrics. "A lot of search marketers are being more holistic."

--
www.SearchYogi.com

Adwords Editor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 01:47:00 +0000

The Adwords editor is one of the most useful Ad applications that Google has come up with in recent days. From a search advertiser's stand point, it gives a great deal of flexibility in making large scale changes relatively quickly. The tool is specially useful when dealing with complex accounts where keyword characteristics tend to be multi dimensional in nature.

This is one more place where yahoo has not been able to deliver. Search ad spend tends to be correlated to the ease with which changes can be made to campaigns. It is to be seen how Yahoo V2/ Panama will affect the search ad spend share of google and yahoo. V2 is likely to put Yahoo on par with Google in relation to the main Adwords application. Most likely the average ad spend per advertiser is likely to increase in Yahoo because of V2. However, I do not see Yahoo coming up with an Adwords Editor like application at least until August 2007.