Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

Google buys JotSpot

...we kinda thought Yahoo was going to make a bid for Jotspot, but I guess not! Meanwhile, DigitalGritters are happy because, from the email below, "We will no longer be billing customers for the use of the service."

Jotspot, for those unfamiliar with the service, is a wiki farm -- and probably the best wiki farm out there. Don't know what a wiki farm is? Here's a definitition.

Also from said email, here's what JotSpot (Googspot? Jotsle?) has to say about the aquisition:

Why is Google acquiring JotSpot?

Google shares JotSpot's vision for helping people collaborate, share and work together online. JotSpot's team and technology are a strong fit with existing Google products like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Groups.

What does this mean for JotSpot customers?

We believe that joining Google will accelerate our team's vision of offering users the best collaboration platform on the web. Google shares that vision and presents us with the world's best environment for delivering on it. We'll be taking advantage of Google's world-class systems infrastructure and operations expertise to ensure that access to your JotSpot is fast and reliable. We can't share any of our plans publicly just yet, but we can tell you that we're incredibly excited about the possibilities. We can't think of a better company to have been acquired by.

Does this mean wikis are now officially "mainstream?

Here's some news coverage on the acquisition.

Will Google be Bigger than Microsoft?

HipMojo predicts that Google could be bigger than Microsft by 2010.

Right now: Google is at $130 billion while MSFT is at $280 billion.  That’s less than 4 years to increase by $150 billion.  And yes, that assumes MSFT does not increase in value.  Is that realistic....

Today, MSFT has a market cap of $284 billion, and that includes a wallop of cash.

Tale of the tape: Google $287 billion; MSFT $284 billion

Pretty crazy, huh? Yet not unthinkable, considering how quickly Google innovates. There's something to be said for those massive beta launches; there's method to the madness there. Google's not afraid to make bold moves early on -- I mean, when did they launch Blogger? And how long did it take Microsoft to launch its own paid search, post-Overture? Microsoft may still own our desktops, but they're just not keeping up with Google in the Web space. And Google may just squeeze MS out of our offices, as well.

Thanks to Andy Beal for this one!

New! Customized Google Search for Your Site

Google launched Customized Search last night. From the Google Co-op site:

Build and customize your own search engine

• Specify the sites you want to include in searches.
• Place a search box and search results on your website.
• Customize the look and feel to match your website.
• Invite your community to contribute to the search engine.
• Make money from relevant ads in your search results.

The offering seems to incorporate the previously offered site-flavored search and the search box customizations, now under the Google Co-op umbrella, allowing publishers to build their own vertical search engine for use on web sites or blogs. From Yahoo! News (had to do it):

According to [Jennifer] Simpson [of the Yankee Group], the new tool will build Google's strength in vertical search, a sector of the search-engine market that, until now, has been primarily occupied by small companies specializing in creating search engines for specific topics.

"Smaller companies and niche search have been challenged in the past to find an audience without having to spend a lot," said Simpson. "This does that."

Comprehensive articles here and here, and of course, on Google's Blog.

Google Up, Yahoo Down

While Yahoo hangs its head over a 38% drop in revenue for Q3, Google reports more than a 70% increase over last year's revenues, exceeding analyst expections by a good $50 million. With $2.69 billion in reported revenue for the quarter, I think they're OK to cover the YouTube deal.

Google says "MVT for MVP"! Launches Multivariate Testing Tool

Companies like Offermatica have been espousing the virtues of Multivariate Testing (MVT) for years. At DigitalGrit, we were one of the early adopters of this type of technology which allows for advanced and accelerated testing of online advertising campaigns and websites. By using MVT we have seen quantifiable results that more than pay for themselves.

Not to be outdone, it looks like Google is getting into the act. They just announced the "beta" release of a new product called Website Optimizer which performs Multivariate testing. We haven't tried it yet so we can't say how well it works or how it compares to the tools currently on the market, but we welcome Google to the MVT "converted". Google's entrance into MVT should bring added exposure to the value of multivariate testing which will help marketers further maximize the ROI on their campaigns while improving the user experience.

Snoozin' at the Keyboard: Interactive Marketing Wrapup for Last Week

Where did the time go? The week ending Friday the 13th has ended -- and without a peep from DG.

The big news of the week was, beyond a doubt, GoogTube. There was no missing that one.

But we'll refer to some of our favorite blogs for coverage of everything else that happened while we were dozing off.

• The week's posts from Search Engine Watch
• Blog Herald's October Posts
• From Search Engine Journal -- a post about the launch of Work.com (by our friends at Business.com) and the return of small biz portals
• Debbie Weil's Corporate Blogging Book plastered all over TypePad (It's the book of the month!)
• And to make sure you haven't missed anything on the more technical (yet still amusing) side, The RSS Blog's October archive covers it all.

Hopefully, that covers everything...

Cha-Cha on Good Morning America

To follow up on our previous post, the buzz about Cha-Cha continue to grow. The new search engine was featured on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday.  In a segment entitled "Make Money From Home While You Cha-Cha," Tory Johnson (CEO of Women for Hire) focused on Cha-Cha as a new emplyment opportunity:

Unlike many other jobs, serving as a ChaCha guide does not have to be scheduled in advance. It's all about flexibility.

There is no set schedule and no minimum time requirements that you must work.

This type of work can be done at your convenience — during the day when the baby sleeps, at night when you return from another job, or weekends for fun.

Talk about humanizing search.

It's a PR tactic that's working for Cha-Cha, too. According our IG2 analytics reports, we've seen nearly 10X the traffic on this blog since the segment aired -- all from folks searching for "Cha cha search". (We're actually ranking above Cha-Cha in Google right now.) No wonder Cha-Cha's site's been down so much over the last few days.

Quick DG News

Just a few quick updates --

You may have missed our Co-Founder, Dan Lynn, on News12's "It's Your Money" this weekend, but we'll have the segment up on the blog soon. Stay tuned - as soon as we get the DVD, I'll post it.

A quick thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi at OMMA last week. We had a good time at the show and enjoyed seeing all of you at the party last Monday. (Thanks for the mention, David!)

I'm putting next year's event calendar together now, so I'll let you know where we're planning to be next year. (We're attending MarketingSherpa's West Coast B2B Demand Generation Summit, and that's the last event for '06.)

Later -

$40 and a Dream -- Cocaine is a WOM Success Story

hI'm a little late with this one, but I just read this MediaPost story about Cocaine, the new energy drink that has 350x the caffeine of Red Bull. (Yum, liquid migraine.)

Regardless of how good or bad the stuff is, they've gained national recognition with a marketing budget of less than $40.

"Our entire marketing and promotional investment in the launch was $37.50," says Jamey Kirby, senior partner and founder of Redux Beverages, Las Vegas, which launched the controversial brand Sept. 9 during Fashion Week in New York "That's what we paid a courier to deliver a case to the New York Post."

Between a contraversial product name, a product that should sit on shelves somewhere between Stacker2 and "Jackass" DVDs, and a brilliant marketing team sporting a serious pair, Cocaine has become a true WOM marketing success.

While not all PR is good PR, Cocaine is basking in the glow of inevitable medical warnings, parental outrage and the prestige of government attention. When you're targeting the cool kids, the more ire you can raise, the better, it seems.

So, although this product is likely to be pulled from shelves (or at least black-boxed) in the very near future, it's going gangbusters during its bi-coastal rollout. Nevermind that it allegedly tastes like sick and is likely to cause a premature death via ventricular fibrilation. It's cool.

Good or bad, when you get mentions in the New York Times, the Daily Mail and pretty much every other major news outlet on $37.50 -- you're doing something right. Most products couldn't withstand the flames fueled by Cocaine, but this product is in a place where the more contraversy it stirs, the better it looks to its target audience.

Read the MediaPost article.