One of the most intriguing aspects of the web is that in addition to an incomprehensible amount of information coursing through its electronic veins, a lot of this information can also be aggregated with relative ease. And while simple aggregation often adds value in and of itself, it's often possible to unlock even more value by flipping these aggregations of data over and creating analytical datasets which are sometimes more valuable than the data from which they were built! Consider some examples, all either current or former InfoCommerce Models of Excellence winners:

Consider one of our favorite examples, Wanted Technologies, which gathers up help wanted advertising from all over the web. But rather than trying to create a simple aggregation of all this advertising, Wanted flips it on its head to create a powerful and sophisticated prospecting tool for executive recruiters.

Another great example is TitleZ.com, which noticed how much publishers and authors were coming to rely on Amazon.com book sales rankings for marketing purposes. TitleZ, with Amazon's permission, created an application to monitor sales of any book over time, and chart it against other titles as well.

Still another great example is Vendio. Vendio began life providing software to eBay merchants to streamline their online selling activities, but quickly realized there was gold in all the transaction data flowing through its servers. It began aggregating these data to create a historical pricing database to help eBay merchants optimally price their merchandise.

These are just a few examples of the lucrative opportunities that are presenting themselves to flip and re-shape data to create new and valuable data products, in many cases leveraging data created by others, meaning none of the traditional compilation costs associated with data publishing, and it's an even better opportunity if you can find creative ways to turn your own data inside out ... not coincidentally the theme of our InfoCommerce 2007 conference where you'll be able to meet many of our Model of Excellence award winners, companies just like these. InfoCommerce 2007 puts the future of data publishing at your fingertips. Check out the program and register today!

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