| Vice President of LookSmart, Dakota Sullivan, is | | | | search engine partner for the major portals is a |
| apparently a very busy man. Nevertheless, he | | | | company that delivers best of breed search |
| finally took time out to be interviewed by Web | | | | relevancy, yet does not compete with their brand |
| Rank CEO Kalena Jordan. In the interview, Mr | | | | for ownership of the search user. With our |
| Sullivan reveals how the Yahoo/Inktomi deal will | | | | purchase last year of WiseNut, a world class, next |
| affect LookSmart, the new features LookSmart | | | | generation search engine, we're focused on |
| will be introducing for Small Business Listings | | | | meeting this need. |
| customers shortly and why he thinks WiseNut is a | | | | >> Question 5 (WR) - There have been some |
| better search engine partner for the major | | | | complaints in the various search engine forums |
| portals than Google: | | | | about the inability to clearly track traffic from |
| (WR) = Web Rank, (DS) = Dakota Sullivan | | | | LookSmart pay per click campaigns or even |
| Question 1 (WR) - With Yahoo purchasing Inktomi, | | | | clearly track keywords which will trigger an |
| how will this affect LookSmart's search results? | | | | appearance of their listing. Given click-tracking is |
| (DS) LookSmart, Inktomi and Yahoo are | | | | vital to ROI measurement and standard with PPC |
| discussing our relationship going forward. For now, | | | | models like Overture and Google AdWords, do |
| it's business as usual, with LookSmart listings being | | | | you plan to introduce a more transparent click |
| distributed throughout the Inktomi network, and | | | | tracking and reporting system in the future? |
| Inktomi providing fall through results on and on | | | | (DS) Today, LookSmart enables and encourages |
| LookSmart's hosted properties. | | | | our larger advertising customers, who work |
| Question 2 (WR) - A recent email from | | | | directly with dedicated account managers, to add |
| LookSmart Public Relations staff mentions "The | | | | URL tracking to their LookSmart listings. This |
| Yahoo! deal makes LookSmart prime for | | | | spring, LookSmart will be expanding this |
| partnership (or the picking!)". Are LookSmart | | | | functionality to Small Business Listing customers |
| currently looking for new business partners? Have | | | | who use our web-based platform. At that time, |
| LookSmart received any take over offers? | | | | both large and small advertisers will be actively |
| (DS) LookSmart already partners with more than | | | | encouraged to include their own tracking on |
| 100 major portals, search engines and ISPs | | | | submitted URLs, whether the site is submitted |
| including MSN, About.com, AltaVista, Netscape, | | | | using our on-line forms or via our account |
| Inktomi, InfoSpace, Cox Communications and | | | | management staff. |
| Road Runner in the US, MSN in Japan, Australia | | | | Question 6 (WR) - According to this Ezula press |
| and the UK, Lycos in Japan and Yahoo in Australia. | | | | release from 2001, LookSmart have partnered |
| We are continually in discussion with other portals | | | | with Ezula. According to Scumware.com, there |
| and search engines in the US and around the | | | | have been suggestions that LookSmart's |
| world, as we expand our distribution network. | | | | partnership with the Ezula/TopText plugin |
| Question 3 (WR) - Following the industry backlash | | | | produces false PPC clicks due to the way |
| last year when LookSmart moved from a | | | | TopText siphons off traffic from other sites. With |
| directory to a pay per click model, there seems | | | | no way to track clicks and no accountability |
| to have been a large loss of search market share | | | | measures in place, people are understandably |
| and customer loyalty. Does LookSmart now | | | | suspicious that their clicks are not "genuine" and |
| regret their change of business model and are | | | | instead come from TopText and affiliate links. |
| there any plans to counter the market share | | | | Can you comment on this? |
| loss? | | | | (DS) LookSmart no longer has a relationship with |
| (DS) The truth is, our customer base has grown | | | | eZula. |
| significantly since last April. At that time, a number | | | | Question 7 (WR) - Given LookSmart results now |
| of businesses had paid a one-time fee to be | | | | rely largely on Inktomi and MSN, what does a |
| reviewed for our search directory,yet we had no | | | | listing in LookSmart offer customers these days? |
| customers paying an ongoing fee. Today, we | | | | Why should people advertise on LookSmart when |
| have more than 30,000 businesses renewing their | | | | they can get high rankings in MSN using Overture |
| accounts with us each month, and actively | | | | PPC? |
| participating in their relationship with us. This spring, | | | | (DS) Actually, LookSmart serves >45 million |
| we'll be introducing the first update to our Small | | | | search results per day on MSN, About.com, |
| Business Listings product. The update will give | | | | AltaVista, Netscape, Inktomi, InfoSpace (Excite, |
| customers more control over their account | | | | WebCrawler, MetaCrawler), Mamma.com, Cox |
| management and performance tracking, new | | | | Communications and Road Runner. According to |
| tools to optimize their campaigns, and reduce | | | | Media Metrix Digital Media Audience Ratings, |
| costs for adding listings and making changes to | | | | LookSmart search listings reach more than 77% |
| their listings. Here are some of the new features | | | | or 4 out of 5 U.S. Internet users each month |
| you can expect: | | | | through this network. |
| Simpler submission of new listings - automated | | | | Specific to MSN, LookSmart's paid inclusion listings |
| checks that look for incomplete submissions or | | | | are an important complement to Overture's |
| potential violations of editorial guidelines, ability to | | | | pay-for-placement listings for a number of |
| automatically upload a large number of listings for | | | | reasons: |
| our customers who have applicable contracts (our | | | | Appear in core search results: LookSmart listings |
| larger clients), and greater detail around guidelines | | | | provide the main body of search results on MSN. |
| and submission requirements. | | | | According to an extensive network traffic study |
| Flexible options for grouping listings together - | | | | completed in 2002, |
| Multiple listing campaigns can be grouped together | | | | 74% of search users click in this section of the |
| within a single billing account or each listing | | | | page, while ~25% click in the Sponsored Listings |
| campaign could be set up in its own account, each | | | | section. Therefore, without LookSmart, |
| with its own billing. (Note that monthly budgets | | | | advertisers are missing a large percentage of |
| can already be set up for each campaign) | | | | possible lead volume. |
| Different levels of on-line account access - | | | | Improved ROI: By using Overture's |
| Several people can be given access to the same | | | | pay-for-placement for product introductions, |
| account, but each person would have their own | | | | seasonal and featured products and high margin |
| log in and password. Additionally, each user could | | | | products, and using lower cost paid inclusion for |
| be given a different level of access to the | | | | everything else, advertisers can get more total |
| account; for example, one user would just be able | | | | leads while lowering their costs, thus improving the |
| to see campaign information, but not change it, | | | | return on their search investment. LookSmart's |
| while a second user had permission to view and | | | | paid inclusion listings, at a flat $0.15 CPC, are an |
| edit campaign information. This will be highly | | | | ideal way to get into categories on MSN that are |
| beneficial to SEOs, agencies or other people who | | | | hotly contested on Overture and have high bid |
| manage listings on behalf of clients. | | | | prices. |
| Ability to set flight dates - Ability to set a specific | | | | Access the full range of searches: 40% of all |
| start date and end date for a particular listing | | | | searches are for terms with 3 or more words. |
| campaign. This is especially relevant to advertisers | | | | Unless an advertiser is willing to manage |
| with seasonal products or promotions. (Note that | | | | thousands of keywords, it's tough to capture all |
| monthly budgets are already available to | | | | the 3,4,5 and more word searches that happen |
| advertisers to help manage spending levels) | | | | every day on MSN using pay-for-placement alone. |
| Question 4 (WR) - That same email from | | | | However LookSmart's paid inclusion listings deliver |
| LookSmart Public Relations staff talks about how | | | | this granular search traffic to advertisers |
| "LookSmart is plotting against Google". Can you | | | | automatically. |
| explain this? | | | | Show up for more searches: On MSN, Overture |
| (DS) Google provides an excellent search | | | | listings only appear for the most popular searches. |
| experience, and has helped raise the bar in terms | | | | For example, do a search for "French cooking" or |
| of search relevancy for the entire industry. | | | | "men's jeans." You'll see that all the results |
| However, Google's rapid growth has come at the | | | | displayed come from LookSmart or LookSmart |
| expense of its partners' search franchises. Most | | | | and MSN. Using LookSmart paid inclusion listings |
| new Google users are former Yahoo or AOL | | | | alongside Overture pay-for-placement listings gives |
| search loyalists. Our position is that the optimal | | | | you access to a much higher volume of searches. |