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Without question, people are getting more and more
tired if not annoyed of searching through mountains of irrelevant
search results. Today. we are bombarded with so much information that
the Internet, which is supposed to simplify our lives, is doing the
converse. On the other hand, niche-based portals (i.e., vertical
portals or "vortals") promise to save the day.
I have preached inexorably in this
editorial, time and time again, about the many benefits (if not the
necessity) of narrowing one's focus online. Indeed, an Internet
marketer must today become an expert in a specific field in order to
gain credibility, quality traffic and high conversion rates.
But the search engine is not immune to this problem -- and is probably
the area in which niche orientation is most needed. So vortals
provide, as Larry Chase once called it, "Funnel vision instead of
tunnel vision." In other words, it offers us netizens a chance to look
outwardly at the web from a focused starting point, simplifying
browsability and providing needed relevancy.
However, there is a catch in all this. The only problem right now is
that vortals are not as accessible and usable as the majors.
Agreeably, major search engines will always have a place in online
marketing. But it is my estimate that these overvaluated behemoths
will lose some of their punch over time. (We see a glimpse of such
with the rise in popularity of human-reviewed and paid placement-based
engines. Vortals are likely next in line.)
So web designers and Internet marketers alike will need to find
innovative ways to streamline vortal visibility, in order to make them
more accessible and easy to use. Similar to the TV, which is comprised
of hundreds of specialty channels, we will need a portal-like TV Guide
to help us. "A search engine for search engines" you say? Maybe. Maybe
a desktop or browser-integrated tool could do that -- and I know that
some now exist.
"Would it be a great place to advertise?" Absolutely. Being
immediately visible to a qualified, targeted audience would be far
more effective for advertisers. For example, I would say that buying
ad space, in the form of a placement-based link on a Goto.com-esque
vortal, quality content streamed directly to a targeted audience
through narrowcasting (e.g., often referred as "push technology"), or
banners and interstitials (i.e., pop-up windows) on a vortal engine,
would provide a much better return on one's investment.
Possibilities are endless -- but for now, it's food for thought.
The evidence is staggering. Pundits are agreeing that smaller portals
are slowly taking over the web. In a HypertextNow issue, Mark
Bernstein, in "Beyond the Portal," predicts: "Over the long haul and
while high-traffic sites will prosper, the overwhelming majority of
web page visits will be made to and from smaller sites. (Indeed, one
of the fastest-growing applications of the web today is the
highly-specialized site [...])" (For more, read the article at
http://www.eastgate.com/HypertextNow/archives/Portal.html.)
As web usability guru Jakob Neilsen once commented on an article by
John Dvorak, "[I agree that] it is better to be a focused site than a
bland portal that tries to do everything." He continues: "The vertical
portal opportunity is screaming at us and nobody is picking it up. Any
VCs listening?" (Dvorak's article is at
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/insites/dvorak/jd990524.htm.)
For the Internet marketer, narrowing one's focus will effectively
broaden sales. Take Dr. Mani at
http://drmani.com.
A well-known heart surgeon and ezine publisher, Dr. Mani is the web's
expert on congenital heart defects. I've been an admirer and reading
Dr. Mani's many contributions on various discussion lists. While he
has extended his expertise to ezine publishing, his stature proves a
point -- be it on a website or in an ezine, marketers must focus.
In fact, until the dawn of web "vortalization" is upon us, the safest
and surest way to market online is through specialized ezines, whose
subscriberships logically match one's target market. And like Dr. Mani
proves so well, once you have rooted yourself online as an expert in a
specific niche, you will outgrow into natural extensions -- byproducts
of your core competency. Your credibility in such areas will carry
more weight than if you would attempt to be "all things to all people"
from the beginning. And believe me, because of all these worthless
search results on the web credibility is the key to success.
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