A couple of weeks ago Nic and Matt posted pics and commentary about the world first public screenshots of the Wikia Search project (also picked up by Mashable and TechCrunch) that were recently shown in Johannesburg. Well, now I see that iCommons has released the video of his whole talk (here). I’ve edited it down to a short clip just about the Search project:
In the clip, Jimmy explains that Wikia is developing a freely licensed search engine, using open source software, to compete directly with Yahoo, Google and all the big search players. It Aims to match or exceed the quality of the major search engines
He also makes a strong “political statement” that it’s not healthy that so much power is in the hands of a few search companies who are secretive about how the information is ranked (other’s think so too).
Lastly, he showed screenshots of the Facebook-like contributor interface, dubbed by others as his “Socialpedia”.
Mango Airlines hasn’t done any Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to back up their big-spend tv and print advertising … And they’re losing out big time!
If you type in “Mango Airlines” to Google, you’ll see that Kulula.com (their direct competition) have taken up a cosy spot right at the top of the sponsored links there. (Nice move Kulula!)
I laughed when my friend Eric mentioned Mango in his personal blog and got top ranked for the search term “Fly Mango” on Google… He had thousands of visitors landing on his site, some actually thinking his was the official Mango site (have a look at the comments there for a laugh)! He’s now put up a Travelstart ad there so he can make some money out of it!
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is probably the most effective direct marketing tool that any corporation can use these days to back up their traditional media adspend. SEM should be a part of every new marketing campaign… Don’t be a Mango!
Search, as in Google and Yahoo, is the marketing game-changer of the day. I’m stating the obvious here, but sometimes we need to look at the fundamentals to see what’s really important and effective in marketing today.
The simple fact is, that if no-one can find your product or service, you’re not going to get any business.
Search marketing is about more than just placing well on the major search-engines though. I predict that people will be using smaller, more targetted, community-driven search portals to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Take iDRIVE.co.za, for example, it’s a South African search engine specifically dedicated to connecting students with SAIDI-registered driving school instructors in their area. Students get far more accurate results than non-dedicated search would yield. Soon they will be able to rate their experience of each instructor too, which means that schools that give the better service will get more business.
Look for innovative search portals specific to your industry and region (more to come!) and get listed!
p.s. If you’re not yet on LinkedIn, that might be a good place to start;)
I'm a Digital Media and Marketing educator based in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Search, as in Google and Yahoo, is the marketing game-changer of the day. I’m stating the obvious here, but sometimes we need to look at the fundamentals to see what’s really important and effective in marketing today.
