September 29, 2008
Convera® and Dowden Health Media launch multiple vertical search sites for healthcare professionals and their patients
September 24, 2008
Convera® and Aspermont launch a search site for Mining Professionals
September 15, 2008
Convera® to Create Multiple Vertical Search Sites for Diversified Business Communications
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- The Windows Cloud starts rolling
by Andy Black on October 3, 2008
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday promised it won't be long before the world gets to meet what he is calling "Windows Cloud" - something that acts like Windows but operates over the internet. Ballmer also said the shifting expectations people have for software, pointing to the MySpace generation as one that expects people to have social capabilities and easily distributed widgets built-in to their software.Ballmer said: "The young people you hire today, they grow up on MySpace, Facebook and instant messaging. They grow up with a fundamental notion that applications have knowledge of other people. In order for business applications to go that direction, we need to provide fundamental platform operating system services that really provide what I might call the social web or the social graph."
- Can publishers use search and widgets to generate revenue?
by Andy Black on September 16, 2008
Publishers should ask themselves a question? How many work-related Web searches does their target audience do each day? If their print circulation is 30,000 and each of their readers does 20 work-related Web searches per week, that’s more than two million page impressions per month that they are missing out on. Publishers need to reclaim this traffic and also monetise it. Perhaps publishers should talk to widget makers and search providers like FAST and Convera to solve this problem.
- Over 40% of affluent US professionals use mobile devices to access Internet
by Andy Black on September 10, 2008
Although virtually all affluent US households own and use computers and cell/mobile devices, 40% use their cell/mobile devices for internet access. Internet access via cell/mobile devices rises with increased affluence, reaching 57% among those with incomes of $250K or more. The affluent connect frequently to the internet both on their computers and on their cell/mobile devices, but their average number of activities and purchases are more numerous and varied on their computers. Perhaps publishers should extend their brands across mobile devices using search toolbars, search boxes and widgets to serve this growing trend.
- UK search market to rise 24% in 2008, alongside greater emphasis on ROI
by Andy Black on September 10, 2008
E-consultancy's just released Search Engine Marketing 2008 report estimates that the total UK search market will grow 24% to £2.75bn this year, with paid search spending rising 23% to £2.42bn (88% of the total market), while the SEO market increases 32% to £330m. The report says that as concern about budgets will lead to a greater emphasis on search marketing ROI. The emphasis will be on keywords and phrases with proven returns alongside the targeting of specific demographic audiences. This could be good news for B2B publishers.
- IDG transitions to "web-first" publishing and targets China
by Andy Black on July 7, 2008
Interesting article from today's Guardian Newspaper regarding how a B2B publisher is transitioning to a web-first publishing strategy and also targeting China - is this a blueprint for other B2B publishers?
- Can B2B, STM and specialist publishers use vertical search to generate revenue from the Asian "long tail"?
by Andy Black on July 2, 2008
China has unveiled a blueprint that will guide scientific research for the next 15 years boosting spending on R&D from $26 billion in 2004 to $110 billion in 2020. According to China’s Vice Minister of Science and Technology, Cheng Jinpei, the plan is part of China’s strategy to become a world leader in science and technology. Compared to the United States, China is spending a greater percentage of its R&D investment in the hard science areas that underpin modern defense and commercial activities, whereas the United States is investing more heavily in the medical, psychological and social science areas that underpin an increasingly ageing population lacking social cohesion.
- Top advertisers shifting to Web as Asia Pacific gets richer and the US gets poorer
by Andy Black on July 1, 2008
According to a just released analysis from Ad Age, the top 100 advertisers in the U.S., who represent 41 percent of total advertising spending, shifted about $1 billion last year from TV and newspapers to the Web. The analysis shows that overall media spending in “measured” categories (TV, print, radio, Web) by the top 100 advertisers was flat in 2007, with 0.3 percent growth to $61.3 billion. But spending on Web display ads rose 33 percent to $4.2 billion. The analysis says that "these top-tier marketers increased measured internet spending by $1 billion; and slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million." The analysis is based on data from TNS Media Intelligence for 2007. TNS only measures display advertising, and not search.
- Vertical Search gets beautiful
by Andy Black on June 3, 2008
In the just released Convera eNewsletter, it has a story that Convera and Vance Publishing have just launched a new vertical search site, ProBeautySearch.com.
- Vertical Search and the Digital Economy
by Andy Black on June 2, 2008
Already some far-sighted publishers, like GlobalSpec, have built toolbars, RSS and widgets that extend their brands from being an external vertical search website into being embedded into the customised homepages and workflow of their user community. B2B publishers like GlobalSpec, ThomasNet and SearchMedica may also benefit from the "long tail" effect of the emerging professional classes in the Far East who will go straight to online and consume trusted and "editorially" vetted "English language" professional content - particularly as their economies need fast access to trusted information on the engineering, medical, telecommunications, satellite, construction, bio-tech and other related industry sectors.
- Will publishers use Software as a Service?
by Andy Black on May 8, 2008
With print revenues declining, online revenues accelerating and content being distributed and atomized across multiple channels using vertical search, search toolbars, widgets and RSS - many publishers are rightly perplexed about the ROI of investing in large capital intensive IT infrastructures, getting locked into long-term software and hardware licensing contracts and of dealing with their own digital skill shortages.
- Will publishers drop print and go Web only?
by Andy Black on May 5, 2008
IDG a leading B2B trade publisher is ending the print versions of more and more of its publications and adopting an online-first publishing model. A detailed article on IDG's strategy was in last week's New York Times and is well worth a read.
- Do publishers need to atomize?
by Andy Black on May 1, 2008
Syndicated content is certainly not new on the web, but atomization involves the publisher needing to think beyond their own sites and how they can distribute their content by making it available to other sites. The use of widgets, toolbars and gadgets on third party sites and the distribution of content via syndicated RSS feeds are the best examples of atomization.
- Vertical Search: B2B Survey Says ... Blazing Hot at SearchEngineWatch
by Iain Fletcher on January 14, 2008
It was good to see some coverage of the Convera sponsored E-consultancy survey over at SearchEngineWatch. In the SEW article, Eric Enge asked three very perinent questions. Here's how I'd answer them. - Value in Those Vertical Search Engine Exhaust Fumes
by Iain Fletcher on December 14, 2007
CMPMedica, a division of United Business Media and a Convera vertical search customer, are now releasing what they call "The Clinical Search Terms Quarterly Report". We can learn from this report... - Web Search, A Key Business Tool
by Iain Fletcher on December 11, 2007
The Convera sponsored E-consultancy survey, the results of which became available last week, was deliberately aimed at a professional audience. Plenty of research has been done... - Universal search. Vertical search. What about Universal-vertical search?
by Iain Fletcher on November 30, 2007
Working with Convera, primarily in the B2B publishing sector with companies like Incisive Media, United Business Media and Centaur Media on vertical search applications, my viewpoint is somewhat different from the mainstream I guess, but here goes.
- Convera named by Outsell as Rising Star for 2008
by Andy Black on October 18, 2007
Outsell Inc, the leading analyst of the publishing and information industry, has just named Convera as one of five rising stars in the Search, Aggregation & Syndication segment in its influential and highly regarded Information Industry Outlook for 2008. - Convera partner SearchMedica.com Earns Standard of Excellence WebAward
by Iain Fletcher on October 9, 2007
It's been a good couple of weeks for CMPMedica's SearchMedica websites. First, their UK property was short-listed for the prestigious 2007 Innovation award by the UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP); now their US property has picked up an award from the Web Marketing Association. - Widgetization - a rare opportunity for business publishers?
by Iain Fletcher on October 2, 2007
The way people use computers for work purposes probably hasn't changed much during the last few years, and the habitual usage patterns that most people follow favor the established players such as Google and Yahoo. Desktop Widgets are by no means new. Yet for B2B trade publishers, Widgets may provide an opportunity to win market share. - When will B2B online revenue exceed print revenue?
by Andy Black on September 11, 2007
The leading analyst firm Outsell is forecasting a major crossover in 2009 – they are forecasting that B2B trade publishing print revenue will have fallen to 34.3% of total revenue, lower than revenue generated from online products (38.6% of total revenue) for the first time ever. - Is there no such thing as bad publicity?
by Andy Black on September 6, 2007
As the growth of media channels proliferates, the reputation of governments, businesses and brands can quickly be affected by negative coverage in the press and online media. But the links from authoritative sites generated by such stories create search engine optimisation opportunities.
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