Commercialized
Cat & Mouse
Web
= Cheap Targeted Marketing
As the
Internet grew in popularity, people realized it was an incredibly cheap
marketing platform. Compare the price of spam (virtually free) to direct mail
(~ $1 each). Spam fills your inbox and wastes your time.
Information
retrieval systems (search engines) must also fight off aggressive marketing
techniques to keep their search results relevant. Search engines market their
problems as spam, but the problem is that they need to improve their
algorithms.
It is the job
of search engines to filter through the junk to find and return relevant
results.
There will
always be someone out there trying to make a quick buck. Who can fault some
marketers for trying to find holes in parasitic search systems that leverage
others’ content without giving any kickback?
Becoming
a Resource
Though I hate
to quote a source I do not remember, I once read that one in three people
believe the top search result is the most relevant document relating to their
search. Imagine the power associated with people finding your view of the world
first. Whatever you are selling, someone is buying!
I have been
quoted as a source of information on Islam simply because I wrote about a
conversation I had with a person from Kuwait who called me for help on the web.
I know nothing about Islam, but someone found my post in a search engine…so I
was quoted in their term paper. College professors sourced some sites I am
embarrassed to admit I own.
Sometimes good
things happen to you and sometimes the competition gets lucky. Generally the
harder you work, and the more original and useful your site is, the more often
you will get lucky.
0 comments:
Post a Comment