NONE: Trend towards centralization?
Trend towards centralization?
Steve Glover (XXX_at_freebairn.com)
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 10:11:19 -0400
I was wondering if anyone has noticed a trend towards centralization? I
saw a report on the top 25 moneymakers on the web, and while a few of them
were in the 7 digit range, it appears that a bunch of them were in the low
to 6 digit range (this is advertising revenue only).
Of course, there was no way of accurately assessing the income/loss from
these private companies (a few search engines were public--but too new for
shareholder reports).
Anyhow, what I was wondering. Has anyone noticed a trend towards
centralization for advertising (meaning only the hottest sites), and with
that centralization a change from traditional advertising towards PR type
(i.e., editorial content) links within the local server?
I mean, I don't mind doing a search for "Web Editing Software" on Yahoo,
but when I get 50,000 responses, I am finding it more valuable to go to
dejanews and search for customer comments, rather than sift through
responses that are sometimes stacked (like listing every page of
Microsoft's web server as a separate entry). Or to ZDnet and search for
reviews. Basically, going to "Editorial" sections of mass market
publications (USENET is IMHO a "Mass Market" publication).
While our clients are going to be spending several hundred thousand dollars
over the next year or two to put up their own web sites, I have
consistently reminded them that as corporate entities their web sites will
be secondary sources of info--unless they can provide useful content--such
as a regular ezine related to the industry. My current plan is to develop
a minimal but inclusive corporate entity, and then to invest heavily in
trade-related publications on the web. The search engines are little more
than "Loads o' Links", and relevance to our clients or their customers is
of little or no importance to the way they are categorized. What would be
a nice feature is a FULL PAGE of editorial rather than a 2-line summary.
Lycos' A2Z seemed to attempt this, but they seem to have fired all their
writers as it really doesn't seem any bigger than the first day it
launched.
Best Regards,
Steve Glover
SteveG_at_freebairn.com
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