Comments on: Getting Off the Crack http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/ There are those who experiment and those who follow the formula Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:44:51 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Alex http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-14078 Alex Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:28:11 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-14078 I also agree search engine marketing alone as a method of acquiring traffic will not be sustainable / profitable long term. Some price comparison sites like www.cubalaya.com have developed new and innovative ways of attracting traffic such as shoppers and merchants blogs. A. I also agree search engine marketing alone as a method of acquiring traffic will not be sustainable / profitable long term. Some price comparison sites like http://www.cubalaya.com have developed new and innovative ways of attracting traffic such as shoppers and merchants blogs.

A.

]]> By: Scott Walters http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-14028 Scott Walters Sat, 03 Mar 2007 01:26:46 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-14028 Hey, took at me! I'm a tool! No, seriously, though, the "big management shuffle" was some of the founders finishing easing themselves out (as had been planned for some time, the planning being something of common knowledge). Running a big shopping comparison site wasn't what they wanted to do in life (it was a doctorate program project after all). One wanted to devote their time (and presumibly cash from the Scripps buyout) to environmental causes. The "new" management are all people who have been around the company for some time. Except for Scripps. That's a whole 'nother story. All I'll say on that now is that now is that being integrated into the fold of a large public company has, in the past, in other cases, caused management to make comprimises in the balance between doing the right thing and ensuring short term profitability. Just taking the chance to clarify a bit (my views are my own, etc). Yes, things have been changing in the market. Happily, Shopzilla has had essentially a symbiotic relationship with Google, Yahoo!, and other major players, and have grown as they've grown. Google passing out AdWords positions too easily to arbitrage brokers would hurt Google in the long run, which would, in the long run, hurt Shopzilla. So I view this as a resettling. I've seen a lot of resettling in my 16 years of hanging out on this Interweb thingie. All of that out of the way, there are a lot of people doing interesting things besides trying to raise price comparisons to an art: * http://mypicklist.com/ * http://usuggest.com * http://browsegoods.com * http://shopwiki.com (my personal favorite, though they're still changing rapidly) I think we'll see a lot of interesting things with Yahoo! Pipes and Amazon's feeds still, though. Cheers, -scott Hey, took at me! I’m a tool!

No, seriously, though, the “big management shuffle” was some of the founders finishing easing themselves out (as had been planned for some time, the planning being something of common knowledge). Running a big shopping comparison site wasn’t what they wanted to do in life (it was a doctorate program project after all). One wanted to devote their time (and presumibly cash from the Scripps buyout) to environmental causes. The “new” management are all people who have been around the company for some time. Except for Scripps. That’s a whole ‘nother story. All I’ll say on that now is that now is that being integrated into the fold of a large public company has, in the past, in other cases, caused management to make comprimises in the balance between doing the right thing and ensuring short term profitability. Just taking the chance to clarify a bit (my views are my own, etc).

Yes, things have been changing in the market. Happily, Shopzilla has had essentially a symbiotic relationship with Google, Yahoo!, and other major players, and have grown as they’ve grown. Google passing out AdWords positions too easily to arbitrage brokers would hurt Google in the long run, which would, in the long run, hurt Shopzilla. So I view this as a resettling. I’ve seen a lot of resettling in my 16 years of hanging out on this Interweb thingie.

All of that out of the way, there are a lot of people doing interesting things besides trying to raise price comparisons to an art:

* http://mypicklist.com/

* http://usuggest.com

* http://browsegoods.com

* http://shopwiki.com (my personal favorite, though they’re still changing rapidly)

I think we’ll see a lot of interesting things with Yahoo! Pipes and Amazon’s feeds still, though.

Cheers,
-scott

]]> By: All Roads Lead to a Compelling User Experience at Starting Up by Rahul Pathak http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-13981 All Roads Lead to a Compelling User Experience at Starting Up by Rahul Pathak Fri, 02 Mar 2007 03:48:38 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-13981 [...] As we’ve been spending time getting to know the deals/shopping space, it’s become clear that sticking deals on a page is not sufficient. You need to provide users with a reason to come back to your site. If you have to keep acquiring customers for the first time, every time you want them to visit, you’re going to have a problem. Arbitrage margins are narrowing and that trend is unlikely to reverse itself anytime soon. There are some great posts on this topic at Bronte Media and Jellyfish’s blog. [...] [...] As we’ve been spending time getting to know the deals/shopping space, it’s become clear that sticking deals on a page is not sufficient. You need to provide users with a reason to come back to your site. If you have to keep acquiring customers for the first time, every time you want them to visit, you’re going to have a problem. Arbitrage margins are narrowing and that trend is unlikely to reverse itself anytime soon. There are some great posts on this topic at Bronte Media and Jellyfish’s blog. [...]

]]> By: Mark McGuire http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-13943 Mark McGuire Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:12:17 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-13943 More thoughts from the Jellyfish blog here: http://www.jellyfish.com/blog/2007/03/01/comparison-engines-and-search-arbitrage/ More thoughts from the Jellyfish blog here:
http://www.jellyfish.com/blog/2007/03/01/comparison-engines-and-search-arbitrage/

]]> By: Mark McGuire http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-13941 Mark McGuire Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:57:36 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-13941 Thanks for the tip of the hat Niki. We've stayed away from the keyword game because we don't think we can win the arms race it is becoming. Thanks for the tip of the hat Niki. We’ve stayed away from the keyword game because we don’t think we can win the arms race it is becoming.

]]> By: Jellyfish :: Blog Archive :: Comparison Engines and Search Arbitrage http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-13940 Jellyfish :: Blog Archive :: Comparison Engines and Search Arbitrage Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:54:50 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-13940 [...] Kudos to Niki Scevak over at Bronte Media for a great post yesterday on the dilemma facing the big boys of Comparison Shopping.  Using Shopzilla’s recent struggles as an example, (thanks to Brian Smith’s coverage of Shopzilla here and here) Niki correctly points out that the gravy train of Search Marketing for big PPC-based Comparison Engines like Shopzilla and Shopping.com may be coming to an end as keyword competition becomes more intense.  [...] [...] Kudos to Niki Scevak over at Bronte Media for a great post yesterday on the dilemma facing the big boys of Comparison Shopping.  Using Shopzilla’s recent struggles as an example, (thanks to Brian Smith’s coverage of Shopzilla here and here) Niki correctly points out that the gravy train of Search Marketing for big PPC-based Comparison Engines like Shopzilla and Shopping.com may be coming to an end as keyword competition becomes more intense.  [...]

]]> By: Rahul Pathak http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/comment-page-1/#comment-13899 Rahul Pathak Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:49:36 +0000 http://www.homethinking.com/brontemedia/2007/02/28/getting-off-the-crack/#comment-13899 Niki, Great post. You absolutely can't rely on paid search for ever. Cheers, Rahul Niki,

Great post. You absolutely can’t rely on paid search for ever.

Cheers,

Rahul

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