Dot What?
In a move that surprised many, ICANN, the body that administers, among other things, the Internet's addressing conventions, approved a plan to basically open up the domain system (technically known as generic top-level domains) to all comers (actually all comers with at least $50K to spend). If dot com, dot info, dot net, etc. don't catch your fancy, now you can order up your own top level domain. How about dot stuff? Dot data? Dot jones? If you've got enough cash, it's yours.
If that isn't mind-boggling enough, ICANN is also pondering the use of non-Arabic script in domains as well. Yes, Chinese websites may someday have domains using Chinese characters.
Rationale for this move? It's hard to say. Some pundits suggest that ICANN is just looking for more money, but ICANN is indicating it will have to invest $20 million to implement this new system. Is there huge, pent-up demand for these new top-level domains? It really doesn't appear that way.
As far as implications of this move, this is a tough one to call. Internet domain registries seem generally upbeat, presumably because it gives them more merchandise to sell. At the same time, their public pronouncements talk only generally about how this new policy will "spur creativity." It doesn't seem that anyone knows exactly what is going to happen or how. Possible losers from this move include companies that have amassed tens of thousands of domains in the hope users will navigate to them accidentally and then click on one of the paid links on those pages. These companies need limited domain inventory to make their business models work.
While dot com domains are likely to retain their cachet for some time, as more business web addresses leech into new domains, I will made a prediction of a modest upside for data publishers. Right now, a user can guess many company URL's simply by typing in the company name followed by dot com. As that formula becomes less certain, the need for directional information (i.e. directories) will increase. When it comes to information, confusion and uncertainty create opportunity for those who will take on the task of organizing and simplifying things. Just one more reason why the wild, wild Web has been more beneficial to data publishers than most other media.
Go Ahead, Make My Page
If you think back to the early days of the web when excitement was high and comprehension of what the web was and how it worked was extremely low, a popular offering of many data publishers was what was called the "template web site." Publishers would make available to their advertisers a series of fill-in-the-blank web page templates that would give advertisers a modest, semi-custom online presence at a very low cost.
The early template-based web sites were expectedly quite crude. Even the notion of the advertiser having its own domain name hadn't evolved. Sites tended to be limited to a few pages, and were heavy on graphics and light on content. Still, it was a website, and it delivered value in an era when the few people competent to build them from scratch were both overbooked and overpaid. It was a nice revenue producer for publishers, but publisher enthusiasm faded as it became easier and easier for companies to create their own websites.
Clearly, times have changed. Or have they? While there's little question that creating one's own website is now both inexpensive and relatively straightforward, advertisers are once again turning to publishers to both develop and maintain their websites for them. The trend appears to be particularly pronounced among local retailers, who still see websites as big hassles that are unlikely to do much for their revenues, but it also cuts across a surprising range of companies even at this late date.
Indeed, some data publishers never got out of the business of building websites for their advertisers. ThomasNet.com reportedly has a very nice business developing online catalogs for its advertisers, a complex specialty where there is lots of opportunity to add value. And both Lexis Nexis Martindale Hubbell and Thomson West continue to build a large number of remarkably sophisticated sites for their law firm customers, many of them leveraging these companies' own proprietary legal content, another powerful form of value-add.
Part of this renewed interest on the part of companies to rely on data publishers for website development is a new-found understanding that just building a website doesn't mean that anyone is ever going to see it. Data publishers offer not only ease in developing sites for their advertisers, but can also leverage their own enormous site traffic and SEO expertise to make sure the sites they develop rank high in search engine results pages. That's today's holy grail, and many data publishers are well positioned to deliver. Maybe there's an opportunity for you in this business that never really went away, and seems to be coming back strong.
Labels: lexisnexis, martindale
Acxiom Enhances Online Directory Data
Acxiom Corp. has teamed up with Moon Valley Software to provide more accurate and detailed information for the company's InfoBase-X Telephone Directories Online. Acxiom will utilize Moon Valley's proprietary software and technology that mines the web for richer, more up-to-date business information.
Acxiom plans to incorporate the data found by Moon Valley into its existing online directory files to help local search engines present the most relevant results for their users. InfoBase-X is a repository of U.S. business and consumer marketing data that powers Acxiom's directory products.
The information that will be integrated by Moon Valley into InfoBase-X will offer a larger number of merchant web addresses, enabling local search publishers to link an online listing to the merchant's own web site. Moon Valley's software also standardizes terms by industry and works with synonyms and other variants as initial search terms with the goal of helping users find the research results they desire as quickly as possible, as it focuses on more detailed merchant attributes.
In addition, Acxiom is working on a new data delivery system that is designed to help online publishers keep up with latest information. InfoBase-X customers will be able to receive real-time updates, corrections and additions they can access through an online connection to the database.
Competition is so tight in the search engine space that companies need to do all they can to ensure that the results they generate are the best and most comprehensive available. Searchers demand the most robust results they can get, and will frequent only those search engines who regularly deliver.
By partnering with Moon Valley, Acxiom is on track to really improve the quality of local search and give users the results they need. It's clearly not enough to provide basic contact information anymore, so such a move by Acxiom was really required. In the long run, there will be many beneficiaries to this partnership: users who will find the results they want (and find them quickly) and the merchants who want to be found. It will be much easier for them to showcase their value proposition to potential customers.
BtoB and SRDS Join Forces to Launch Direct Marketing Search Tool
Crain's BtoB Magazine and The Nielsen Company's SRDS this month launched a new direct marketing list search tool for business-to-business marketers. The new tool, BtoB's Direct Marketing List Search, is accessible at www.btobonline.com and is free to BtoB subscribers. It provides access to SRDS's complete list database of more than 20,000 business-to-business datacards as well as its search functionality.
BtoB Magazine provides subscribers with the latest business-to-business marketing news, analysis and insight, while SRDS (Standard Rate & Data Service) provides its direct marketer and list broker customers access to list data and media rates.
This partnership makes sense for all parties involved. The synergies between the two make this a great match and both BtoB Magazine and SRDS are well-positioned to provide relevant content and services to their shared customer base of direct marketers.
Obviously, they could not do this alone. But together, BtoB and SRDS have created a complete suite for direct marketers who seek to receive information about the direct marketing channel and want to follow that up with actual list research. The new tool should drive a lot more traffic to the BtoB site and could truly help SRDS recruit new customers who seek additional education in list rental, as well as boost the profile of the media outlets (magazines, newspapers, broadcast, direct marketing, online and out-of-home) that SRDS covers.
Experian Launches New Widget
Information services company Experian has launched a new widget that includes information from the company's commercial database, BizSource. The widget provides a real-time view of Experian's business information in a viewer-friendly database.
The information contained in the widget is the same as the data included in Experian's BizCheck reports. These reports summarize business information and include a credit rating system for the companies that are featured.
In the report, a green check mark means that a business "checks out," a yellow question mark means that questions were identified; and a red X signifies that problem areas were uncovered. The reports also include key facts about the featured companies, including years in business and address history. Information about potential problems, such as liens, judgments or bankruptcies are also included, along with links to more detailed Experian business credit report information.
Widgets are becoming increasingly popular in the business information space. They seem to be an effective way in which to distribute content on a very broad scale. Experian’s idea to use the technology to provide free general access is a great idea. Such access, in actuality, is a low cost marketing tool. Getting Experian content and tools into as many users' hands as possible should be the ultimate goal. Widget seem like an ideal solution to help Experian (and other business information providers) accomplish their goals.