patrick 'g" asked about lok elsewhere ....

PG was interested in what has happened to this Internet Co, since 2003. Why has it gone backwards, he asked .....

< Can you shed some light as to what drove Sales in Yr 2003 and what resulted in the massive downturn in Yr 2004 ? >

Lots have happened since 2003 when LOOK were finally profitable, with a deal they had at the time, with MSN. Things were really looking 'rosy' until MSN 'pulled the pin'. They said they were not happy with relevancy of results provided by LOOK, that they were getting, but I'm not so sure. (They became 'greedy', IMO). LOOK then lost 65% of it's revenues from this sourse alone, along with a number of major listings, (& smaller) that has resulted in the SP downfall, ever since. It has been a long road back. Some even felt that Looksmart would not survive.

Lots of changes have been made (including a new CEO in David Hills) along with a few software purchases (including Furl.Net, a product that enables full articles to be saved privately or, shared) and a change in direction, once again. It was realised, (that ,as a now lowly Tier 3 Search Engine) there was NO future in trying to 'take on' the BIG Tier 1 Portals and hope to beat them, at their own game. (Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask James, etc).

So David Hills, (with a respected publisher involvement search, type background) was attuned to the problem that the print media (both newspaper & magazine) Publishers were experiencing, chiefly being, a 21% LOSS in circulation, that has led to a loss of ADS revenues, accordingly. LOOK continued to work on (both internal & search) improvements to what has (now) become a complete search "package" being offered to Publishers, that has (so, far) been successful. (It certainly appears).

LOOK, (these days, now considered neutral in the 'eyes' of the 'old world' print media) has begun working alongside them in their effort to rescue some of those 'lost' revenues back, from the BIG search Co's, who have now (argueably) become their 'enermy'. An initial 'breakthrough' announcement (of a Publisher/Media Co purchase 'deal' of LOOK's 'box of tricks') made very little impact on the SP from a market that (as yet) is not quite sure of the 'enormity' of the MANY behind the scenes progress movements. Publishers have realised that their CONTENT (both archived & current articles of interest, journals, teaching documents, popular magazines, sports, etc) is a most sought after and often searched for 'treasure' on the web. They also realised that BIG Portals were providing a service for enquiries of such (albiet) proven to be hard to find, within their general search results, and that they are generating strong revenues from them. Google (alone) pay out around $380M a quarter to 3rd party site 'clicks' on such content filled ADS, through an Adsense programme, whereby they (GOOG) place ADS of interest on pages of published content, according to relevance of material on a particular page.

Publishers now saw an opportunity that would not only allow them to utilise their (own) "content" (these much sought after articles) but they could then control advertising surrounding (the interest on) separate pages and retain/attract a stronger audience, to their own web sites. (Become a stronger destination, in reality). With Looksmart's technology (Licensed to them by LOOK) they could now embark on a programme that also includes safely 'sharing' these same articles with LOOK. (On a 50% revenue share basis, I would imagine, for ADS 'clicked on', that both they & their advertisors, now have placement control of). Looksmart have now come out with a dozen, or, more Vertical Search sites, (Being search engines concentrating on specific search parameters) that are designed to attract audiences looking for articles of interest, & according to their own demographics. These Verticals ( Looksmart now have 18 sites in all) are well worth a look at here ( http://search.looksmart.com/ ) to provide a better idea of the many publications spread throughout these 'custom made' sites. (Bottom of the page. Simply 'click on', to view each Vertical).

A number of Looksmart shareholders (a dozen or, so) have a private board for some time that we post on and we have shared lots of info in relation to progress being made by some MAJOR publishers who look have partnered with Looksmart, surrounding this 'counter attack' being made, against the BIG Portals. It will NOT happen overnight but I can confidently predict (from this very point) that a 'double- ya' of any investment made in LOK, at least (!!) will be assured within 12 months, or, sooner, is my honest opinion. Once these Publishers get their act together, they, (now working together & almost as a concentrated "Network" effort) will make ground quickly. It will then be in (ALL) their interest to then 'ride up' the Looksmart Verticals as by doing so, they are creating some 'extra' revenues for themselves, through 'clicks' generated on their very own articles, within these very LOOK Verticals. (More are planned, no doubt).

What it means, PG, is, IF your interest was in (say) FISHING, a seach engine specifically dedicated to 'fishing' is theoretically there for you to visit. It has everything you ever wanted to know about fishing, ALL on the one site. The most popular articles written can then be gauged on each Vertical with relative ADS then placed on each page of these articles, accordingly. (Contextual advertising). It is already a proven, most efficient concept. Articles can also be "saved" and shared with other users. A community of common 'interest' is quickly formed on these Verticals. There are 'other' additionals, that I won't go in to now. This is an obvious better 'alternative' than to be searching for HOURS on Google, or other large natural Search Engine (as we now know them) and advertisors too, will be very 'keen' to now place their product, or, service ADS in front of a 'relevent' user, one being, part of their VERY target audiences. And with the weight of the massive (print) media behind it 'in force', it is not about to fall over. Even Rupert Murdoch has now finally, 'seen the light' and has taken the plunge & bought a piece of the action, for Newscorp, only the other day. This follows the like of The New York Times & many others, who are ramping up for an 'onslaught', IMHO. Looksmart (almost right in the middle) have "DOUBLED" their articles (for the FindArticles' bank of content, over the last 3 months) and it is NO secret (following a bit of a hunt around) as to where these 'treasures' are coming from.

Cheers Patrick George !!

:)
LC

PS: I did read that article (myself) on Snap.com - The one relating to the "transacional advertising model basis", as you have pointed out. Ideal, but has already shown to be not so practical, by the poor number of search enquiries it has had to date. Time will tell with it, though.

Just as it will tell with Looksmart's new adventure.

< Why do you see LOK as a sustainable competitor to both the current big boys in the industry but also the emerging- I saw an article the other day where a start up firm said it was looking at a transacional advertising model basis rather than the current business mode of a fee per 'hit'. >