Andy Hagans recently started a weblog to track ask jeeves. He also does some freelance site development and marketing, including marcomm and SEO work. From my conversation, he seems very well qualified to talk about ask jeeves. I've already added him to my bloglines account. Check out the unofficial ask.com Weblog.
pc4media: Andy, You there?
chowyunfatND: hi, yes
pc4media: how's it going?
pc4media: have you ever done an interview over IM?
chowyunfatND: good, and you?
chowyunfatND: nope!
pc4media: very well thanks.
pc4media: I intend to post it to my blog. Is that cool?
chowyunfatND: No problem.
pc4media: The reason I am interested in chatting is cause we have some of the same interests. I thought it was cool that you started a blog on ask. As I mentioned, I had started a blog on another search engine, eurekster. So, anyways, why ask? Do you really use it as much as google?
chowyunfatND: I think Ask is up and coming. There is of course a lot of media coverage on Google, Yahoo! and MSN, but those are certainly first tier. There's a very large dropoff after those three, in terms of market share- but when Ask Jeeves bought Interactive Search Holdings, I think they began to close the gap.
chowyunfatND: I do use Ask a lot
pc4media: I agree with you on that. Ask is really the only engine with their own algorithmic and crawling technology after yahoo and google that has consumer marketshare.
chowyunfatND: I think they are about tied with Google, in terms of search quality. Two things make ask stick out: the natural query, which allows them to differentiate between simple things that Google can't (for instance, 'How can I buy a laptop' versus 'Where can I find laptop information')
pc4media: yep
chowyunfatND: and the subject specific link populairty algorithm they use helps them sort out spam a bit easier than PageRank
pc4media: hmm.
pc4media: i never thought of it as a value for sorting out spam. I thought of the 'teoma' grouping as more of a way to help a user narrow down a search? how does it reduce spam?
chowyunfatND: Well, with PageRank and the Google algo, it is not hard to buy a link from say a PR7 site with your keywords as the anchor text- the link does not even have to be from a relevant site. This can get you ranked very highly. The 'Hilltop' concept has not really been implemented, in my opinion, so Ask is really the only SE that takes into account subject clustering/ authorities.
pc4media: cool. i see now.
chowyunfatND: Although, I would agree, clustering is the main feature of subject-specific popularity
chowyunfatND: (I suppose I was answering from an SEO perspective, rather than a user's perspective :-) )
pc4media: yes. which leads me to this...
pc4media: the index that ask has isn't as frequently updated nor is it as large (number of pages of the web indexed) as yahoo's or google's right? for example, my new blog, pc4media, doesn't show up there yet even though I started it over two weeks ago. it showed up in google the day after my first post. so, although they may have the clustering thing as a better tech, they aren't delivering the timely queries that I want. I imagine there are a lot of people that weigh the size and timeliness of a query as important? don't you think?
chowyunfatND: Yes, definitely
chowyunfatND: Size and speed matter, and Ask is clearly lagging
pc4media: so, why don't they buy some more servers and crank that up?
chowyunfatND: haha, that's a good question that I can't necessarily answer
pc4media: cool.
chowyunfatND: although, to grow, they will have to
pc4media: when i ran the blog for eurekster and was more active on it, i was in frequent contact with the tech team. it was in their best interest to answer my questions quickly. maybe you should work to get a contact their?
chowyunfatND: They aren't sitting on the pile of cash that Google, Yahoo! and MSN have - but I would not be surprised to see their spider frequency and index size upgraded considerably in the next year
pc4media: i hope so.
chowyunfatND: That's an excellent idea
pc4media: cool
pc4media: so, what do you by day?
chowyunfatND: honestly, I was hoping someone at Ask would stumble across my blog and contact me
pc4media: be a pest. send them an email.
chowyunfatND: By day, student full-time, emarketer part-time
pc4media: you take paying gigs?
chowyunfatND: Yes of course :-) I'm a student = I need money! Of course the thing I love about this business is every new project is unique, so I enjoy learning from part-time projects.
pc4media: You sent me a site called http://www.customizegirl.com and mentioned it was your newest project. what was your role in bringing that online? Is it your site or did you set it up for an offline company? You also mentioned you are doing some online marketing of the site. What are you doing to market it?
pc4media: oops. http://www.customizedgirl.com
chowyunfatND: Well, the site is directly owned by Greek House International, and I am very involved in that company. Bascially my role was web design (working with a programmer) and marketing
pc4media: were you doing SEO or SEM?
chowyunfatND: Marketing a site like this has particular challenges because our product is unkown, so traditional methods (such as CPC for your product name) dont really work for an unknown product
pc4media: good point.
chowyunfatND: We are of course using SEO and CPC but only as a small part of the larger picture-
chowyunfatND: and the larger picture consists of magazine ads, press releases, affiliate program and banner advertising.
pc4media: and you are doing all that?
chowyunfatND: Yeaaahhhh....
pc4media: Thats pretty impressive. Are you a graphic artist as well?
chowyunfatND: Yes, a *subpar graphic artist
chowyunfatND: We do outsource some graphic work.
pc4media: what about event marketing and sponsorship? is that in the marketing mix?
chowyunfatND: Possibly - although experience has taught me that event marketing / sponsorships usually have a smaller ROI than other methods
pc4media: that is what my company does. http://www.whizspark.com depending on the cost.
pc4media: we do it cheap.
pc4media: we do a lot of online promotion of events. all local stuff. right now, a lot of nightlife stuff.
chowyunfatND: Oh, ok
pc4media: anyways, don't let me get on my soapbox. maybe something we could do later on.
pc4media: what other search engine guru sites do you visit?
chowyunfatND: haha
chowyunfatND: yah I'd be gald to talk about possible ideas
pc4media: cool.
chowyunfatND: Well, WebmasterWorld is one of course
chowyunfatND: I also read the Google Weblog, Google Blogoscoped, Search Engine Journal...
pc4media: we've done some promo for local companies where they provide a gift cert and we tie it in with web promo as well as offline at the event. no cost other than the gift cert. anyways.
pc4media: what about john battelle's search blog?
chowyunfatND: Yes, definitely
chowyunfatND: And shellen.com
pc4media: searchenginevisibility report by merrick lozano?
pc4media: that's a good one.
chowyunfatND: don't think I've come across that one
pc4media: worth a read.
pc4media: there are two guys that aren't as well known that I know that do search engine stuff.
pc4media: bradfallon.com. he is a very cool guy.
pc4media: also steve johnston in the uk. his address is http://www.johnston.co.uk/blog.html
chowyunfatND: I'll be sure to check them out, I find I run out of things to read in a day!
pc4media: never heard of shellen. will check it out.
pc4media: how do you read blogs?
chowyunfatND: I actually visit the sites rather than using an aggragator
pc4media: i just started with bloglines. I'll never go back. i just visit the site when i want to leave a comment.
pc4media: it is so much quicker.
chowyunfatND: maybe I should reconsider for productivity's sake
pc4media: you should. i was resistant at first, because some blogs rely on the ad impressions and/or clicks for revenue, but they are the minority. and this'll force somebody to figure out how to make $ another way by blogging.
chowyunfatND: I'm definitely in the group that depends on ad revenue- it seems Adwords is about the only way to monetize a blog
pc4media: i have some ideas. they aren't for release yet, though.
chowyunfatND: Although, I tend to think there isn't much money to be made in the blogging business, besides by the fortunate few
chowyunfatND: :-)
pc4media: true
pc4media: do you use linkedin?
pc4media: linkedin.com
chowyunfatND: No, I'm not familiar
pc4media: ryze.com?
chowyunfatND: Ah, I think I have come across this actually
pc4media: I'll send you an invite to them.
chowyunfatND: OK
chowyunfatND: do you find them helpful?
pc4media: yes. i've been using linkedin a lot lately. it is geared to a higher end networker. someone that has an established offline network that they can help by hooking other's into.
pc4media: ryze is more for a consultant or someone just starting a bizness.
pc4media: i am kinda in the middle. I use both.
chowyunfatND: Oh ok
pc4media: hey, i gotta get going. i should pay attention to my fiance a bit. good luck in school. let me know if i can ever help with anything you are doing. i know a bit about SEO and SEM as well as web design and code development and general how to run a bizness (finance, legal). I'll be sure to be reading your blog. looking forward to talking later.
I lost the rest of the conversation. it was mostly niceties anyways.
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