What is Your Website Worth?

I have run across hundreds of websites claiming to help determine the value of your website. The problem with most of them is that either they are broken, outdated, use the wrong data sets (in my opinion) or are just plain so far off that you know it can't be right.

Well, every once in a while you run across a new(er) service that seems to actually have their act together. The one that I recently found is called Real Website Worth and it tends to do generally do a good job and is somewhat accurate. I really like the amount of data sources and information that it all pulls into one nice report within 60 seconds. The great part about all of it is that the service is free and has no strings attached.

So, check it out today for FREE at - www.RealWebsiteWorth.com.

RIP - The End of Business.com and Ask.com

First, on November 9th we hear that Ask.com decided it no longer really wants to be a search engine. You can read more here - Ask.com Update from their blog (I think it is weird that the President of Ask.com decided to write his name in all caps, what is that supposed to mean?).

Then, 1 day later, on November 10th we hear that Business.com is going to 'realigned' into some other Dex One Offering. There press release is here - Dex One Realigns Interactive Operations

This after all the excitement of Yahoo! also deciding to get out of the search business earlier this year, has created a lot of change within the search space in such a short time. The problem is that as we lose things we seldom get anything back and/or if we do get a new web property it is usually never as good as something else we lost.

Hopefully, Blekko, a new search engine proves me wrong and fills in the void of Ask.com. So far it does not appear to be happening, but there is always hope....:-)

Entireweb Guaranteed Website Inclusion Black Friday Sale!!!

Entireweb is having a great sale today (Black Friday) on their guaranteed inclusion service. Below is the information from the website:

Get listed in less than 48 hours!

Your entire site (up to 1,000 pages) will be listed throughout one of the major search engine networks on the web. We will update your listing every 48 hours for a full year, refreshing any new information you've changed on any page and listing any new pages you've added. If you keep your website updated, we'll do the rest!

Your website will be listed within the Entireweb search engine network which includes (but is not limited to) the search engines below:



The promotion is highlighted below in their promotion graphic:



Click the banner ad below to sign-up and get your savings today!

Fun New(er) Beta Search Engines!

In the last year the search engine selection, at least among the larger players has vastly diminished. This year Yahoo decided to no longer be a unique search engine and is now completely powered by Bing results (both organic and paid listings) and recently Ask.com waved their white flag and have basically announced they are no longer going to compete in the search space and be a search engine. That basically leaves us with two large players left - Google and Bing.

But....all is not lost! There are some new players coming on the scene and while they may not topple the Google and Bings of the world, they do offer us some new and unique opportunities within the search space. Below is a list of 3 of the new(er) search engines available. I decided to let their descriptions from their own 'About Us' pages doing the taking for each one. I recommend that you try them all and see what you take is on them.



Using BweezyWeb, Bweezy makes web search faster than ever by allowing the user to open multiple search results in the original browser window without having to leave the search page. All the user has to do is click a button next to the search result, causing an embedded BweezyWindow with the desired website to open up on the page. This allows you to immediately see whether that search result is what you're looking for. No more having to open a bunch of tabs or windows! The Bweezywindow can also be maximized and minimized, allowing the user to check each search result out in either full screen or half screen - either horizontally or vertically - and if desired, use the Bweezywindow as a browser window.

Search Engine Link - Bweezy



slash the web!

blekko is a better way to search the web by using slashtags. slashtags search only the sites you want and cut out the spam sites. use friends, experts, community or your own slashtags to slash in what you want and slash out what you don't.

web search bill of rights:

1. Search shall be open
2. Search results shall involve people
3. Ranking data shall not be kept secret
4. Web data shall be readily available
5. There is no one-size-fits-all for search
6. Advanced search shall be accessible
7. Search engine tools shall be open to all
8. Search & community go hand-in-hand
9. Spam does not belong in search results
10. Privacy of searchers shall not be violated

Search Engine Link - blekko





48ers was created to help you search for what's happening right now.

We trawl conversations from all the major social networks across the web to bring back nuggets of information to help you:

* Discover what people are saying about your company or brand
* Find out what other people think of the TV shows you're watching
* Be the first to find out about breaking news stories
* Tap into the public mood about the latest sporting events

Search Engine Link - 48ers

The Ongoing Failure That is Ask.com

Ask.com just cannot seem to get things right. It's search traffic volume rarely changes, but it's focus seems to change with the wind and it has seen a lot of change as of late with most of it not being considered good. Here is a hit list of fun items over the last year:

- A new look and feel with a new direction as more of a Q&A engine (haven't we done this before?)



- Barry Diller say he sees no value in it - TechCrunch article, Barry Diller: Ask.com Has No Value Inside Of IAC. Somebody get him a muzzle before he further devalues his 1.85 billion dollar investment, please!


- The guy who created the search algorithm leaves - Ask.com’s Founder Of Search Technology Leaves: Apostolos Gerasoulis



- The rise and fall of Ask Deals (a lot of Brady Bunch, but little actual substance)



- The return of 'Jeeves' in the U.K. only (what, is 'Jeeves' not good enough for everyone else?)




.....and now they just sent a message out to all self service credit card advertisers that reads:

Ask Sponsored Listings will be discontinuing the self-service credit card channel on September 30th, 2010.

When the self-serve credit card channel is discontinued, your advertising account will be permanently closed. As a result, your ads will not longer be in distribution and your account will become inaccessible.

Please review the timeline below as this outlines the account deactivation process.

September 1st, 2010 - The Client Services Team will disable the auto refill feature on all accounts. This will prevent any future credit card charges to your account.

Mid September - The Client Services Team will begin deactivating self service credit card advertising accounts and processing refunds for their remaining balances*. When your account is deactivated, you will be given "Reporting-only" access which will allow you to run click reports until September 30th.

September 30th, 2010 - The self-service credit card channel will be discontinued and access to the advertising console will be removed.

*Please note: The refund process can take up to 90 days, but this deadline may be extended.


So, where does this leave us? It leaves us a new interface, lack of confidence from the owner, loss of our technology lead, failed product extensions, a revival of a lost icon (in the U.K.) and now......the end of self service paid ads. Why not just drop another nail in the coffin and also get rid of one of your revenue sources - well it sounds like a good idea, right?

All I can say is that Ask.com once had a chance to be bigger and better than it is today, but I think that time has long passed us by.

Some Amazing Stats About Facebook

Miniwatts Marketing Group just released some fun new data:

* There are 6,845,609,960 humans
* There are 1,966,514,816 Internet users
* There are 517,760,460 Facebook users

Put another way:

* About 7% of the world's humans are on Facebook
* About 26% of Internet users are on Facebook

For all the stats check out - Internet World Stats

20% of Best of the Web Directory (BOTW) Listings for a Limited Time!

My favorite web directory is at it again with a special and not well known promo code until the end of October. This code is for 20% off any of their directory submission services - US and UK web directory listing submissions and blog directory submissions. All the details are below:

Code: SAVE20

Link: Best of the Web Discount Link (use code on checkout)

Good luck and happy submitting!