Penton Plunge?
April 6, 2011
Yesterday a former publishing executive asked me about my write up about traffic to enterprise search vendors’ Web sites. If you want to review those data, read “Enterprise Search Vendor Web Traffic.” The main point of the write up was that I used Compete.com data, which I viewed as indicative, not definitive. Across enterprise search vendors, the majority of the vendors’ Web sites get minimal traffic. Even the big dogs like Autonomy and Exalead are not pulling at the level of magnetism of some big blogs. Lady Gaga type traffic is just not happening.
The person with whom I was conversing expressed surprise that large companies were getting such lousy traffic. He asked, “How can that be?”
I told him that I would give this some thought and post my observations in Beyond Search. This write up captures the ideas that crossed my mind. I decided to focus on one publishing company, Penton in New York City, as my representative example. The company has a number of Web sites but the flagship is www.penton.com.
Compete reports this:
Traffic is less than 13,000 uniques per month. But more interesting is the alleged data’s indication that usage of the Penton Web site has dropped by 30 percent in the last couple of months.
The question becomes, “Why?”
First, I think that the data are in line with traffic to some other publishers’ Web sites. The information on the Web site is not compelling and, therefore, does not attract the MBA students, job seekers, or competitive intelligence professionals. Penton’s financial performance has been lackluster as well, so the Web site is in line with the overall performance of the company.
Second, I think that more and more company information is becoming harder and harder to find. Forget Google and the SEO marketers’ best excuse for lousy traffic. The Penton site is little more than brochure ware. The substantive information is lacking in my opinion. A quick look at the source code for the splash page shows that the company is using an open source tool, lots of tagging, and stuff like this:
Tidy code? This bloat can be addressed for major browsers, including Chrome, by making a change to the master page. Without the fix, you get this junk as a cookie workaround.
Third, Penton is not using its corporate Web site with intent. Whoever is the brains behind the Web site is walking in step to a different drummer than the goslings in Harrod’s Creek follow. Now I know that the slick New York crowd is with it, but in terms of creating an information service that ignites excitement, I see a typical big media Web presence.
The Arianna Model of Husqvarna Buzz Saw
April 5, 2011
I have never met Arianna Huffington. Here in Harrod’s Creek, media luminaries rarely visit. Since the death of Barry Bingham, even the big media moguls who turned up for one of Barry’s lunches at Melcombe don’t light up my radar. That’s okay. I like to watch New York media deal with what I call the Arianna buzz saw. A few weeks ago I pointed out that the Googler running AOL was going to have his hands full. Now I want to suggest that outfits like Forbes, which cut back on its in house library, may want to put on Kevlar jockey shorts. Bzzzzz. That’s the sound of the Arianna buzz saw chopping through some big media foliage.
This, gentle reader, is one of the more accurate depictions of Arianna Huffington. Ready for some chopping down to size?
Here’s a statement in “AOL Defector Blasts ‘Content Farming’ and ‘SEO Spam’” I found interesting and useful in understanding why the buzz saw is likely to chop through the deadwood in revenue, management, and New York tradition:
Huffington, since coming aboard, has made it clear the AOL Way is no longer the blueprint, but then her site has long engaged in its own forms of search-baiting and page view juicing.
I like that “page view juicing.” Maybe I will slip it into my next SEO sucks talk? Bzzzzzz. Ouch! Some one just suffered an amputation. Bzzzzzz. Ouch! Another one. Journalistic sequoias may become recreation room flooring.
Stephen E Arnold, April 4, 2011
Freebie unlike a year’s subscription to Forbes. Where did the founder’s big honkin’ Harley go?
Internet Savvy Available in Free eBook
April 2, 2011
Search Engine Journal is helping us out by publicizing a free resource in “Insights from Google and Microsoft Released in Free eBook.” Microsoft’s 2010 panel assembled experts in an effort to help the N.P.O DonorsChoose.org:
“The ‘Social Hackathon’ was a panel sponsored by Microsoft (via Bing and Hotmail) that brought together industry experts from a number of major companies, including O’Reilly Media, Bing, Twitter, Google, and Facebook. The entire objective was to help the non-profit organization “DonorsChoose.org” figure out ways they could reach the internet audience.”
Now, Deep Focus has compiled information from that panel in a free eBook called The Goodness Engine: Driving Greater Social Impact in the Digital World. It, and videos from the panel, are available here. Check it out- the price is right.
We want to point out that low cost or free books seem to be a mini-trend. The idea is that price can be a barrier. By removing the price barrier, the author gets ideas disseminated and generates buzz. The “revenue” comes when the author gets a consulting job or some other remuneration. We like this idea. The last hard backed book I looked at sported a $30 price tag. Sticker shock!
Cynthia Murrell, April 2, 2011
Freebie
A Juicy Hollywood Style Revelation about Engineers. Shocking.
April 1, 2011
I read some biographical “fiction”. In today’s word processor world, I find it difficult to separate the goose feathers from the giblets. I read “Paul Allen: Bill Gates Is A Traitor Who Eats Chicken With A Spoon” and decided to abstain from biographical “fiction.” The write up describes some information in a book allegedly written by the giga billionaire who helped found Microsoft. The giga billionaire? Paul Allen.
What was the snippet the publicists paid to pump the forthcoming book? Here you go:
Allen claims Gates welched on an original agreement to split their interest in the newly formed Microsoft 50-50. Gates wanted to amend it to 64-36 in his favor because he felt he did more work. “I’d been taught that a deal was a deal and your word was your bond. Bill was more flexible,” Allen writes. “There’s a range of elasticity in any business deal, a range for what might seem fair, and Bill pushed that range as hard and as far as he could,” says Allen, who ultimately relented to Gates’ demand.
Cool. Two pals figuring out how to share a pizza.
What does this article tell me? Real journalists are now following in the rhetorical footsteps of high traffic gossip sites. What else does this article tell me? Some of the biographical “fiction” shows the deft touch of an editor who has logged quite a few hours in front of rich media. How different is this “real” behavior from the way in which those who want to have piles of money act? Not different at all.
For a more entertaining look at the antics of these two giga billionaires, check out their present activities. The “now” reveals more than the past edited by folks from publishing houses. I will wait for the YouTube video.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2011
Freebie
Newspaper Chart Raises Goose Bumps on Beyond Search Geese
March 31, 2011
Not much scares the geese and goslings at Beyond Search. We are unflappable and mostly goose bump free. Note “mostly.” But Business Insider’s “Chart of the Day: Why the Newspaper Industry Collapsed” presents a very striking picture, created by Marc Cenedella of TheLadders.com. If it is correct, hello Titanic!
We all know newspapers have been struggling since folks started getting their news online. We should also consider how being able to find each other over the Web impacts the papers.
This chart shows how badly they’re doing in classified ad revenue, a key part of most newspapers’ bottom line:
[Cendella] shows ad revenue from help wanted classifieds dropping 92% in last 10 years, hitting $723 million last year, down from $8.7 billion in 2000. Once that easy money left the newspaper industry it was a lot harder to earn as much profit.
Cendella believes the papers only have themselves to blame, and I agree. Oh, well, at least this is good news for the trees. More goose bumps for newspapers? Yep.
Cynthia Murrell March 31, 2011
Freebie
Is an AOL Management Shift Coming?
March 26, 2011
Let me go out on a limb. I have observed Googlers in cubes and in management positions. Unlike the Google believers, I think that the equation Google = Good Management is a bit like 1 + 1 = 3. I read “Huffington-Armstrong Smackdown at AOL” and realized that the author is pretty much on the right cow path.
Here’s the passage I liked.
Meanwhile, Armstrong has to keep control of the company. He needs Huffington — now regarded as the company’s savior — more than she needs him because she has such a strong image. I wonder how long Huffington, who has grown accustomed to speaking her mind and having all the power at her company, will remain content to report to Armstrong. AOL has done nothing since the Huffington Post deal to show that it is in control of its destiny, that it has a coherent growth strategy and that it knows how to win. Arianna Huffington, the theory goes, surely knows how to win.
I think this is on the money, but it does not make the point clearly enough. I think what I would have said is that the Googler (Tim Armstrong) is going to find himself reporting to a person who can manage, and dominate. In short, the Googler is going to have his hands full. Several decisions of the Googler will come back to hang like a cloud over the “new” AOL.
First, the play for local content was expensive and is going to be exposed as a move that won’t yield the money the local golden goose is alleged to reside in the AOL offices.
Second, the expensive New York media wizards will find themselves looking into the eyes of a person who knows how to get traffic and eye balls without expensive New York media talent. You can terminate folks in India today but tomorrow, the empty cubicles will be in the good old USA.
Third, in a day to day content of “who can manage better”, the Googler is going to be in one of those corporate Mixed Martial Arts’s battles. I go with the Huffster.
Stephen E Arnold, March 26, 2011
Freebie unlike the local news company AOL bought
Arnold Columns for March 2011
March 1, 2011
The for-fee columns for March 2011 cover a range of topics. If you want to access the full text of these documents, please, contact the publishers who own the rights to the versions of the write ups I submitted this month.
ETM (published by IMI Publishing in London), “Choice: A Growing Problem in Enterprise Search.” Google seems to be trimming its product line but other vendors are expanding theirs.
Information Today (published by Information Today), “Autonomy’s Surprise Move into Health Care.” Who would have thought that Autonomy would dive into improving what a health care worker does for a patient and toss in access to third party journal papers?
Information World Review (published by Bizmedia in London), “Search 2011: Shape Shifting Accelerates.” This year promises to be one in which search is subjected to some potentially severe earthquakes or user pushbacks.
KMWorld (published by Information Today), Semantics is yesterday. Semiotics is the future at Sophia Search in this article “Sophia and Semiotics for Enterprise Search”. Don’t know what semiotics is? Read the KMWorld story when it comes out in a couple of months.
Online Magazine (published by Information Today), “Tracking Solr Activity” reviews some places to locate information about open source search and some of the cost factors to consider when deciding whether to go open source or proprietary search.
Smart Business Network, possibly available in online and in print. I am not really sure at this time. The article is “StumbleUpon: A Dark Horse in the Web Traffic Race”. The point is that one can advertise on StumbleUpon and use a free promotional service provided by the online service.
The quality of the research and writing in the ArnoldIT.com for-fee work is more detailed than the information that appears in the Beyond Search blog, on the ArnoldIT.com Web site, and in our data fusion blog IntelTrax. An explanation of the differences is at this link.
If you want content for your technical or business blog, write us at seaky20000 at yahoo dot com. Our team of writers is able to produce high quality writings at a competitive price.
We will be announcing two new Web logs in the next few weeks.
Stephen E Arnold, March 1, 2011
Freebie but the publishers listed in this story pay me to write articles for their readers. The total circulation of these publications is in the 100,000 readers per issue across all six publications.
SysTools Offers New PDF Tool
February 17, 2011
Nifty tools catch our eye in Harrod’s Creek.
SysTools is offering a new PDF Batch Stamp Tool to Add Metadata, manage page order, add labels, format text, insert date and time or other text, and add password protection.
“PDF batch stamp tool . . . can easily modify [any] PDF document . . . and is a multi-lingual program that supports all versions of Adobe Acrobat.”
A demo version can be downloaded for free on the SysTools website and the full version is available for $129. While the software is currently only supported by Windows operating systems, Mac users will recognize that many of these features are already available to them on Preview, the Mac proprietary PDF reader software. For Window users who use Adobe Reader but can’t justify the investment in the full version of Acrobat, the PDF Batch Stamp Tool may be a good solution for basic editing of PDF documents.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 17, 2011
Freebie
Will We Pay for News Online?
February 10, 2011
BBC Mobile’s article “News Corp Launches Daily Newspaper for iPad” prompts a few questions.
The article examines the Rupert Murdoch empire’s launch of the Daily, via Apple’s iTunes store. A dedicated staff of journalist has been hired, a choice which separates this from most device-specific news sources. Alongside traditional news articles will be interactive graphics, videos, Twitter feeds, and personalized content.
The Daily will cost 99 cents a week. That doesn’t sound like much, but will consumers be willing to pay anything to access news online?
“Mr Murdoch has made no secret of his desire to get consumers paying for news on the Web. The Wall Street Journal, The Times and The Sunday Times, all owned by Murdoch, have introduced pay walls for their websites. However, the Times has since seen an 87% drop in online readership.
We now have many sources for free, quality news coverage online, so it is no wonder readers are reluctant to pay. However, I predict that that flow will be stemmed in the coming years as companies become less willing to give their work away for free. Nevertheless, it is difficult to generate significant revenues online. Experimentation ahead.
Cynthia Murrell February 10, 2011
MySpace, News Corp., and Credibility
February 4, 2011
I read “News Corp’s MySpace Sale Options Include New Investors, Management Buy-Out”. The story was clear. News Corp. is going to get rid of the social networking service. What caught my attention was this statement in the write up:
“The new MySpace has been very well received by the market and we have some very encouraging metrics. But the plan to allow MySpace to reach it’s full potential may be best achieved under a new owner.”
I had in my Overflight files a 2006 story in Fortune via CNNMoney.com called “News Corp. (Hearts) MySpace.” That story reported:
MySpace has simply exploded since the deal was done last July. Measured in terms of page views, MySpace has become the second-most popular site on the Internet — behind Yahoo!, but ahead of MSN, AOL and Google. It has 66 million members, and about 250,000 new ones sign up each day. That’s a mind-boggling growth trajectory for an Internet site that was launched less than three years ago. “It looks like the best acquisition we’ve made in a long, long time,” Peter Chernin, the second-in-command at News Corp., said in an interview with FORTUNE. “MySpace is the single biggest growth opportunity this company has.”
Has MySpace been the home run referenced in the 2006 story? I had tucked away a story call MySpace vs Facebook, which ran in HubPages. The original was offline when I checked this morning, but I found a copy of the 2009 article in the Google cache. TechCrunch reported in January 2009 that Facebook had 200 million unique worldwide visitors. The figure was twice MySpace’s traffic.
Short take: consumers vote with their clicks. In the click department, Facebook is at 500 or 600 million and MySpace is for sale. Does this case example shed light on the outlook for the News Corp. iPad newspaper. We think it does.
Stephen E Arnold, February 4, 2011
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