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February 2000Webhelp.comWeb searching with the personal touch Webhelp.com is the Internet's first human-assisted search engine. Proudly displaying the motto: "Real answers from real people in real time," Webhelp.com is a revolutionary new service that adds the human touch to the complex, highly technical task of searching through the vast amount of information available on the Internet. Webhelp keeps a staff of searchers online, 24 hours a day, to communicate with you in real time and steer you to sites that have the information you need. The result is search results that are both relevant and personalized and—best of all—free. How does it work? Webhelp.com prides itself on being fast and efficient. For most Internet users, not familiar with performing advanced searches or using Boolean operators, the service probably produces better results than a traditional search engine. The most distinctive element of Webhelp.com's services is the excellent customer service. The company claims that all their "Wizards" go through an extensive training period before they interact with customers. Show me the money! For users who don't like to wait in line, the company offers the Webhelp.com Express service that acts as a ticket to the front of the queue. For $0.99 a session or $9.99 a month, users pay to get their search request addressed without the usual wait. "We expect the Webhelp.com Express product to be especially popular in the business-to-business market," says Kerry E. Adler, President and Chief Executive Officer. "A [business user] looking up information on a company, for example, may not want to wait a couple of minutes for an answer. The Express service provides an instant connection with a wizard." But the real promise for revenue growth stems from the site's ability to help merchants draw in customers. The company's "Ad Wizard" links a merchant's ad banner to a Webhelp.com wizard, so that people who click on the ad get a wizard to walk them through the transaction. "The ad banner link is really our primary growth area," says Adler. "It's a proven fact that people are more likely to buy when there is a salesperson present to offer support. Buying is a very emotional experience. Webhelp.com provides the human element that's missing from Internet transactions." Webhelp.com is also exploring possibilities with various Internet service providers. The company just signed a contract with US West to place a wizard on the regional Bell's Web site. Adler claims that the revenue generated by advertisers and ad banner links is more then sufficient to cover costs. Conclusion Launched on November 30, 1999, Webhelp.com is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and employs over 900 people worldwide.
January 2000BizRate.comThe most successful online retail sites understand the specific needs of Internet shoppers and provide superior service to their customers. But which online stores really know how to serve their customers? The answer is at BizRate.com, the Web's most thorough and unbiased assessment of shopping satisfaction. BizRate.com is the Internet's leading e-commerce merchant rating site and marketing research firm - an independent rating guide built on the experience of millions of actual online buyers, who rate merchants immediately after making online purchases. How does BizRate.com work? To maintain impartiality in its ratings and integrity and trust with consumers, BizRate.com does not accept advertising on its site nor does it charge merchants to participate in the program. Furthermore, BizRate.com does not sell, trade, lease or rent personal information. BizRate.com performs various procedures to assure the validity of online store ratings, including actual analysis of raw data, response rate, user identification, time stamps, and email addresses. In addition, online store information is systematically checked for fraud prior to being listed on BizRate.com and periodically thereafter. Benefits to consumers: Benefits to merchants: Research products available
from BizRate.com: The Consumer Online Report is available on a quarterly basis and is the most up-to-date online shopping and consumer satisfaction market research report available. The report offers aggregated retail e-commerce industry and category-level reports that provide detailed and actionable information for companies interested in the online buying experience. Beyond reporting top line sales and order volume, the report includes insights regarding demographics, life stage segments and buyer types (first time vs. repeat buyers). Looking into the future, BizRate.com uses an advanced, proprietary forecasting model to produce the industry's leading indicators of online growth. This forecasting model has proven to be the most reliable in the industry. Custom Cuts, client-specific research projects, are geared to answer almost any e-commerce question and provide online buyer feedback, demographics, and transactional behaviour. Custom Cuts draw on BizRate.com's database of millions of survey responses gathered over three years, across all key online categories and hundreds of merchants. BizRate.com Growth: Strategic Alliances: BizRate.com History: Summary:
June 1999The Industry StandardWhat is the opportunity in the Internet economy? Who controls the Internet economy? Find answers at TheStandard.com, the online component of The Industry Standard, the leading source for news and information on the Internet Economy. TheStandard.com features the latest news and in-depth analysis of the people, companies and business models driving the Internet Economy. TheStandard.com includes content from the Industry Standard, as well as original daily news coverage and special daily features. The site features a bevy of powerful business tools, including a comprehensive metrics section of Internet statistics, beloved by readers for telling the lengthy stories in a glance; a database of industry leaders, called "The Network"; an online bookstore including reviews of industry books and a list of hot titles; and a suite of free e-mail newsletters, including "Net Returns", which highlights the new technology categories and the new players, analyzing their prospects for delivering ROI. Unlike other high-tech publications such as Wired and Red Herring, TheStandard.com eschews elaborate design for quick readability. The writing has been described as "top-notch, with personality and flair." The brevity of its news coverage works well for online readers. TheStandard.com has numerous marketing partners, a free yellow-pages style directory of Internet commerce companies, and an advisory board that reads like a Who's Who of Internet movers and shakers. The Standard offers advertisers a variety of innovative marketing vehicles, including banner ads, enhanced directory listings and the ability to sell Power Point slide presentations, with transactions cleared through e-commerce partner Qpass. TheStandard.com is an interactive publication that serves its target audience with outstanding levels of journalistic integrity, interactivity and service, and has become the leading destination for top-tier news and commentary on the Internet Economy. If you could have only one source for news and information on Internet marketing, this would be your best bet.
May 1999Broadcast.comLooking for unique online advertising opportunities? Check out Broadcast.com , the leading aggregator and broadcaster of streaming media programming on the Web. In the early days of the Internet, it was necessary to download an entire audio or video file before you could start listening or watching. Streaming technology allows Web users to start watching or listening before the entire file has arrived. Streaming technology has been around since 1995, and free streaming audio and video players are available today, including RealPlayer from RealNetworks and the Windows Media Player from Microsoft. Once you've installed the software to access streamed media, all you need is content. That's where Broadcast.com comes in. Broadcast.com is the leading broadcast network on the Internet. Just like TV networks, Broadcast.com makes a wide variety of programs available. However, unlike TV networks, there is no limit as to the number of shows that can be broadcast at one time. What's more, Broadcast.com also archives programs and makes them available on demand, for those who missed the live broadcast. The company has developed a truly remarkable network infrastructure and exceptional expertise in streaming technology, and is capable of delivering hundreds of live and on-demand audio and video programs to hundreds of thousands of Internet users. Broadcast.com serves an average of over 1.1 million users daily, and broadcasts on the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Programming includes sports, with live play-by-play broadcasts of more than 450 sports teams; radio (both talk and music) and television, with more than 410 live radio and TV stations; political, business and special events; more than 3000 full length CDs in a CD Jukebox; and over 1400 full-length audio books. In total, Broadcast.com provides more than 50,000 hours of programming every week. Since its initial live broadcast in September 1995, Broadcast.com has been a pioneer in streaming media, making history with many Internet "Firsts", including the Internet broadcast of the first live commercial radio station, first live sporting event, first live corporate quarterly earnings call and first live stockholders' meeting. Broadcast.com is also a pioneer in the field of online advertising, breaking new ground with a variety of media-rich audio and video advertising opportunities. Since broadcast.com's content is fully audio or video, advertisers' multimedia ads can be seamlessly integrated into the consumer's experience. Broadcast.com's online advertising offerings include gateway ads (with guaranteed click-thrus); sponsorships for both channels and events; and banner ads, in both traditional and multimedia flavours. In addition, Broadcast.com offers the ability to insert Internet-only commercials within existing broadcast.com programming. Broadcast.com has also created an innovative, targeted ad solution that automatically drives traffic to an advertiser's jump page, in conjunction with an audio or video ad. On April 1, 1999, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced a definitive agreement to acquire broadcast.com (Nasdaq: BCST) in a stock swap valued at $5.7 billion on the day of the announcement.
February 1999The Year 2000 Information Center™The "Millennium Bug" is the talk of the town. If you haven't heard, read or seen something about the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem, you've obviously got a great hiding spot, and you've been holed up there for a while. I recently saw a car with the vanity license plate "Y2K TKO". The car was probably owned by a Y2K remediator (someone involved in exterminating the Y2K bug). I find the TKO reference to be somewhat ambiguous. Who is getting knocked out... the Bug, or the rest of us? As the publicity reaches a fever pitch, articles on the Y2K problem are appearing everywhere, but don't believe everything you read. Go directly to the source. The Year 2000 Information Center™ is the brainchild of Peter de Jager, considered by many to be the worldwide leader in creating awareness for the Year 2000 crisis. De Jager wrote the ground breaking Doomsday 2000 article published in Computerworld in September 1993, and since then has been very busy bringing the Year 2000 problem to the awareness of both the technology community and the business world at large. Year2000.com "Provides a forum for disseminating information about the year 2000 problem... and for the discussion of possible solutions." The site is a compendium of everything related to the Y2K problem, chock full of articles, links and fixes. You'll also find the best "Insider Info" from de Jager, who maintains a huge network of contacts in various business and government positions around the world. His opinions on our collective level of preparedness are certainly "Informed" and his warnings definitely deserve attention. Be sure to check out the Year 2000 Press Clippings section for links to the latest online news stories related to Year 2000 computing issues, updated daily. The new Bug Bytes section contains news clippings about the latest Y2K-related failures. The Year 2000 Archive contains past feature articles and the Year 2000 FAQ. In case you're worried that every company in the world is in danger of total collapse come New Year's, take heart with the Year 2000 Promises Kept section, which lists companies and organizations that have acted responsibly to mend their Y2K problems. Insiders know that the legal, accounting and insurance aspects of the Year 2000 problem are as big a concern as the Bug itself. Check out the Year2000.com Law Center for info on avoiding liability and maximizing recovery. If you're looking for a Y2K-related job, or looking to hire for a Y2K-related position should check out Jobs 2000, a labor exchange devoted exclusively to the growing Y2K industry. On the lighter side, you'll find some comic relief in the Great Y2K Humor Contest. The Year 2000 Products section contains ordering info for such necessities as the Millennium 2000 Countdown Clock™ and Y2K Bug Spray (the perfect gift for your Y2K friends ;-) De Jager's site has been successful in attracting traffic, with a claimed 230,000 visitors per month. Students of new media marketing know that an essential way to increase Web site traffic is via links from other Web sites. De Jager facilitates this process by providing several graphical banners for use in conjunction with links to year2000.com. The Peter de Jager "Brand" is responsible for much of the traffic, given his high profile in the media. In addition, the site has garnered praise from many, and is ranked fifth in the Lycos Top 5% Technology News category, with an overall score of 89/100. As this year progresses, the Y2K issue will only become more important. Businesses that do not prepare for the crisis will likely disappear. Whether you believe the Y2K Bug will bring on the Apocalypse or just cause a minor hiccup in everyone's New Year celebration, remember that "Forewarned is forearmed."
January 1999The Advertising Media Internet CenterThe Advertising Media Internet Center (AMIC) offers a wealth of useful information for online marketers. The most unique feature of this site is the Media Guru (Erwin Ephron), who answers media planning questions posed by site visitors. Before you ask a question, check the Guru Archives, as your question may have come up before - a likely scenario, given that the Guru has been at this since January 1995. Use the basic or advanced search engine to find related questions and responses. The Ad Talk & Chats section contains several e-mail discussion forums and chat rooms supported by AMIC which allow the visitor to carry on a dialogue or network with other advertising and media industry professionals. These forums include discussions on media planning, buying and research; ethnic, lifestyle, lifestage and interest group segmentation; and marketing for non-profit organizations. You can search for relevant discussions using the forums search engine. Another great resource is the comprehensive list of Advertising Media Industry Web Sites, organized into 20 categories. Once again, you can save browsing time by using the convenient Web Site Links Search feature. In association with Amazon.com, AMIC hosts the Bookstore, a section containing a list of books for the online marketer, including titles on media, research, market segmentation and leisure reading, including fiction. Ad jobs is a great resource for both potential employers and for those looking for work. This section includes both an area for employers to place job ads and an area for candidates to post resumes. Rates, Dates and Data provides current data from some of the industry's leading suppliers, both online and traditional. AMIC hosts Web sites for several industry organizations, including the Advertising Research Foundation, a nonprofit professional organization in the field of advertising, marketing and media research; CASIE, the Coalition for Advertising Supported Information and Entertainment; and CAN, the Community Action Network. Alas, some features at the AMIC site require registration. According to the registration form, the information requested for this registration is used to manage information requests and forums, and to help track the usage of the site. In other words, they promise not to sell your data to third parties, or send out unsolicited e-mail. Who pays for all this? AMIC is a public service of Telmar, the world's leading supplier of media planning software and support services. AMIC is an excellent example of how a Web site can be both promotional and useful.
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