NONE: Re: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> WHY search engines are dying
Re: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> WHY search engines are dying
Ray Taylor (taylor_at_bizbiz.com)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:07:50 +0000
> For instance I got an email from yahoo.co.jp on Sunday telling me our
> site had been listed, and giving an email address if we want
> advertisinginformation. I replied immediatedly, briefly describing our
> target customer and keywords we are interested in. Still no reply...
>
This is a common problem, with Yahoo in particular, because of the size
of the Jerry Yang fan club. You have to have some sympathy, they _are_
very popular, a lot of people have questions to ask.
But how difficult is it to channel this response according to urgency
and cash potential? The whole point of using the Internet for customer
service is that it should provide more efficient, more effective
response, and therefore greater opportunities for building sales. If you
get millions of emails it might be difficult to respond to them all, but
just think how tough it would be to handle the same number of telephone
calls, or worse still, letters?
If Yahoo cannot separate out the paying customers from the net groupies
then they can probably afford to - they have so much money flying in
through the window at present. But I give them 6-12 months before the
bubble bursts and they go down big time.
I've recently had a conversation with an entrepreneur in London who
tells me that he is in the process of launching a new search engine for
the UK market. Unlike many of the previous, and unsuccessful, attempts,
this project is commercially funded, uses purpose-built software, and
has a business plan.
I am not sure that they want to go public on the plans just yet, and so
you will have to wait to check the product out. And not being a
clairvoyant, I am in no position to judge their likely success. But if
they are able to provide a better level of customer service than the
Magnificent Seven Search Engines, then I for one will be pointing UK
clients in their direction.
And I promise this will be my last post criticising the search engines
(for the next few weeks at least).
Ray Taylor
New Media Communications, London
http://www.bizbiz.com
+44 181 639 0015
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