Search Taxonomies equal Semantic Mecca

“The perfect search engine,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, “would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.” How to define ‘want’ in search? It is intent. Simply, Larry is stating that search engines must be capable of predicting intent. How can intent be best anticipated, and discovered through Search? Is it important to improve search services to address user intent better? Is there more than
“one way” to do so?

Intent:
Broder, a highly respected and knowledgeable IBM engineer in the scientific analysis community[1] states that user intent, in regards to Information Retrieval (IR) and specifically web search, classifies under three taxonomies, informational, transactional, navigational. Informational is defined as the intent to acquire some information assumed to be present on one or more web pages. (e.g. search terms “how do i bake
a cake” or “origin of the species”).

Search or Die

Open letter to the publishers of the world.

Introduction:
I would like to take you, if you are willing to journey with me, on a
‘transcendental’ journey. It may change the way you perceive yourself,
your brand, the Internet, and in the end, hopefully bring enlightenment
and pleasure for you. You may find this journey fundamentally changes your
business philosophies about the net, or you may choose to cling to what
you are familiar with, in how you interact with your web users. So be it.
That is your free will, your choice. But perhaps, you may decide to
reinvigorate your perceptions about what is possible on the net. You may
seize a new opportunity that I am about to explain. This journey may seem
long in words, but it is laid out to provide you a step by step path for
understanding. Let our journey, together, begin.

PATH OF NO RETURN:
the “old school” search box

When a typical web user has visited your site, browsed around, clicked on
a couple things, read a few articles, or purchased some items and finally
was completely done with their experience on your site, what did they do?
If they wanted to try going elsewhere on the net they may have clicked a
hyperlink and departed, clicked out through the bookmark in their browser,
or ’searched’ themselves away from your website through a search engine
box you embedded. Perhaps, you have one of those Google search boxes
integrated into your website that says “search the web” or “search this
site”. Whether or not your site has one, you’re probably very familiar
with these search boxes.

Truth in your vision

Vision is one of those things that people have a hard time explaining. If you have it you are blessed. If you don’t your lucky.

Taking heat for passion has been the bane of man’s existence since the beginning of time. It is the curse that follows those who really are endeared to their vision. It makes the process of actualizing that vision an almost intolerable and persistent suffering that more often than not drives those of lesser gumption to throw in the towel well before they really even start.

That is why those who see their vision through to the end, and deliver in its purist form are those who I personally admire most in my life. There are innumerable examples throughout history. The visionaries who change the way we think, and live. They are the ones who go down in the annals of history as individuals who overcame any obstacle to drive home what really matters.

Taking the gloves off for the crabs.

Many readers of this blog know I am the president of adUup and I am launching a new serach engine by the name of fleeQ.com

I just finished my seed round, raising $500k in angel investments.

John Cook of the Seattle PI just interview me and my company, and the post went on his venture blog only yesterday.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archives/142012.asp

“An alternative to the Google monopoly”

“An alternative to the Google monopoly”

Online ad networks are a dime a dozen. But adUup founder Dylan Rosario — whose Seattle startup just closed a $500,000 seed financing deal — believes he has a new twist on the concept.

The idea is to add a new metasearch engine to the Web sites of small publishers and blogs, creating what Rosario calls “an alternative to the Google monopoly.” Beginning this week, adUup plans to have its new fleeQ search box installed on the Web sites of some of its 300 publishing partners.

A visitor to a Web site that has fleeQ enabled who decided to conduct a search would see results in a separate box that overlays a sponsor’s Web page. For example, a search for “sandals” or “high heels” could produce results from various properties — Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo or eBay. Those search results would “float” over the Web page of a publishing partner in the adUup network. In this case, that could be an online retailer that specialized in selling shoes.

AdUup handles the advertising around the search results, including video ads and a sponsored “skin” that wraps around the results. It also serves up the Web page of the publishing partner, which resides in the background. That technology is patent-pending, according to Rosario.

“The fleeQ product is for publishers to earn traffic and revenue from the searches that they are giving away to the big search engines for free,” says Rosario.

In the end, Rosario believes that he can offer small publishers a larger cut of the ad revenue by agreeing to install the search tool and participating in the ad network. He plans to pay out as much as 70 percent of the advertising revenue to larger publishers who sign up, which he believes is much higher than what Google or Yahoo offers. At the same time, Rosario said a publisher could choose to receive traffic rather than a split on the ad revenue.

adUup and fleeQ are certainly big ideas, with Rosario looking to swing for the fences. The company already employs 20 people, with plans to more than triple by early next year. To get there, he is looking to raise $15 million in a first round of funding, some of which would be used for an acquisition.

The 32-year-old entrepreneur says investors and advertisers have been receptive to the concept, noting that much of the ad inventory running through fleeQ has already been pre-sold. He’s also been meeting with the creators of social networking companies to see if they are interested in deploying the ad framework on behalf of their users.

The next phase for adUup is to integrate video ads into the search results, with Rosario saying they offer one of the first technologies to bring 30-second television spots online in a contextual way.

“The great thing is as you mouse over (the ad), you can watch the video and as you mouse away, it goes away. It is totally up to the consumer if they want to watch the video. It is not shoved down their throat,” he says.

Because of its focus on video ads, Rosario says he views Comcast as a bigger potential competitior than Google, even though the search giant has been experimenting with video ads as well.

Rosario has some experience in the online advertising arena, co-founding the pop-under advertising network ExitExchange.com in 1999. That company, which holds a patent on pop-under advertising technology, grew to more than 100,000 affiliate Web sites. He’s also worked as a senior architect at IBM.

Posted by document.writeln(showE2(”johncook”,”seattlepi.com”,”John Cook”))John Cook John Cook at June 26, 2008 2:54 p.m.

Of fairy tales and reality checks

hello

A question in my mind in 2006 was, how do I assist smaller companies in marketing and branding online in the face of the dynamics of the internet? Looking around me I saw problems left and right. It was increasingly difficult (if not impossible) for a smaller company to achieve any level of recognition online, and even more difficult if you don’t have a creative angle, or some edgy message. The fact that most of those smaller companies were likely to be forever adrift in vast seas of online information seemed untenable.

Companies who cannot achieve some level of Internet /famedom/ must compete at a level often tilted unfairly in an opponent’s direction. You might wonder why I say ‘opponent’. It is because; online a company is in competition with every other company website out there. There are always a finite number of individuals (browsers) to go around on the web any given time, any given day and plenty of savvy, deep-pocketed competition for their attention.

A new Philosophy? Not really…

Here’s a question for you. What is really going on with the online marketing space? How did we get here? Where is it going?

• How does a marketer today compete against the growing cost of SEM marketing?
• What are the other options available to them today?
• Is there anything else out there other than Google and Yahoo?
• Why does television seem to think that they are the only ones capable of reaching millions of people in a single market?
• How does our company address these problems?

To begin with must understand the needs of the publisher and the desires of the advertiser. Each and every single client of our ad network is an integral part of what we call a search exchange. Many unique websites and publishers all working towards the same goal.

Biz or Dev? Heads or Tails? Its all the same coin.

I have been seeing the age old argument from all over the place lately.

Tech Start Ups: Business Men or Computer Scientists which are more important?

It seems to me there are many different arguments and I personally believe that you need both sides to hack it in the tech startup world. Two sides of the same coin.

Just a fact: If you want to do anything it requires resources, so having only hackers is no good for generating revenue, and having a sales heavy team with no understanding of how to create a quality product is shooting yourself in the foot.

New Technologies

Hey all we are working on some awesome new ad technologies. adUup is adding a series of tools for advertisers and publishers alike.

The recent moves we are making online will add the latest and most effective ad formats anywhere online – Ancillary and Pop-Unders. Our new ad delivery technology Guarantees ad delivery regardless of the client using any ad blocking software. Also some new stuff regarding mobile advertising is coming down the Pipe also.

I have to get some time in with the Patent Attorneys to get the latest. More on this later today in my update post. Investments in the Bridge round look promising, and we have been very active in the community. They guys are going over the extensive publisher list and we are planning a push to over 1000 startup publishers this next week.

Lots more to come! Hooray!

Ciao.

Honor and Integrity

In the days of old, people used to put things such as principles and integrity above all else. Belief that we are all here to share in this experience we call life. Respect eachother and do good by our fellow man. Live by the golden rule.

To be compensated for our hard work and to compensate other for theirs. Sometimes we find we are faced with hard choices, ones that become obvious yet still trouble us in their presence. The word and works of a man are judged by the value he provides in his life and interactions with others. His kindness and honesty become question when he claims to deliver and promises things that he can not.