Hello & Thanks

[daveaus]

Hi,

Thought I would make a quick post saying hello and thanks for the list of Australian search engines!.. I have been thinking about starting a aussie search engine because I find a lot of the big ones really lack something on there Australian sites.. So you might hear about this soon if we decide to go ahead. Anyone got any ideas?

Regards,

Dave

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Dave! :hi:

Make it unique. Think 'out of the box'. :)

[Kal]

Hi Dave

I say go for it! :thumb: Australia definitely needs more search engines. Perhaps one that allows people to drill down by region rather than/including topics?

good luck!

[Dez]

Hi "daveaus",

if you're starting from scratch, have a long hard think about why you're doing it, please.

There's a glut of "also ran's" out there and I hate to say it but the zillions of cut and paste link junkies don't really add a great deal of value if they don't have a solid basis upon which to build on, such as:

1 - honest to goodness point of differentiation
2 - genuine business model that makes business sence
3 - business plan that backs up what the "great idea" will provide
4 - financial reserves to fund the project for up to five years if necessary
5 - a sales and marketing strategy that backs up the business plan
6 - smart external investor options to support growth spurths
7 - sensible exit strategy if you a) want to sell out or b) need to fold the firm
8 - don't re-invent any round things, we've got all the wheels we need thanks
9 - parnter with someone who's already got 99% of what you need to get started
10 - make sure your technology is automated, scaleable, and can be made profitable

If you put a tick against 10 of those 10 to get started, then and only then should you take the leap - if you're not 110% certain, don't do it - honestly, there's dozens of sites in Australia, and outside of Australia, who have started a "Search Engine" or "Link Farm com Directory", and even if they grab DMOZ and dump it into Chatalogica or Gossamer Threads, whats the point? DMOZ has done it already and you'll never compete or add value or differentiate right? And you'll go mad trying.

I remeber a loverly fellow who built on top of what I think was Gossamer Threads, with FAST CGI a neat little link farm Directory called www.ozsearch.com.au and then sold it through a back door listing by a Mining firm in WA I think it was, and the site is still running, but I don't think it's ever made money, and even though the directory had almost double the volume of links Yahoo! AU had, most of it was junk, still is!

And I suspect that the approx 1,000 daily visitors and proably around say 50 clicks tops they handle, it's a very expensive, and messy project to run for 50 clicks and no profitable revenue right?

Heck, if you want to just tinker with a search site, I'll do it for you for free, search feed from http://WebSearch.COM.AU and even cross polinate paid listings / sponsored listings / text ads / boxes and host the thing, and manage it for you, for nothing, if you just want to get into the game and experience it.

Don't go burning cash on something that isn't going to explode in the already full market - put the money in the bank and invest it for now.

And get someone like http://WebSearch.COM.AU to help you build something to start with and prove to yourself that it's worth the effort before you go too far down the track.

As of March 25th, 2004 I will have invested millions, and ten years of development into http://WebSearch.COM.AU and I can say objectively that it's not a bad engine and it's generating hundreds of thousands of clickthroughs daily for Australia sites and runs 24 x 7 x 365 without fail, and yet it's still "just a pet project" for me to be honest, and even with a solid monthly turnover in the tens of thousands, it's not something I'd be giving up a "day job" for ( http://CradleTechnologies.COM by the way if you were wondering - CEO * grin * ).

If I was asked by anyone ( I'll asume it would be your next question ) "so what woudl you recomend I do to scratch that entreprenerial itch?" I'd have to recomend partnering with small to medium search engines, and value add in the form of handling priority submissions $paid and sponsor listings ( ads ) for revenue share and do it well, lean and mean, 100% email and web based, and crank up the volume!

Cheers,

Dez

ps: sorry if that was a kick in the guts, but I wish people would tell me honestly when I was about to embark on a wild ride that I perhaps should have thought through better - there are some lessons that we don't need to learn the hard way right. especially when it involves so much money for so long.

[Kal]

Hi Dez

Just wanted to say welcome to the forums and thank you for your insightful posts in the Aussie SE related threads. Your time and efforts are appreciated! :thumb:

[Dez]

Originally posted by Kal
Hi Dez

Just wanted to say welcome to the forums and thank you for your insightful posts in the Aussie SE related threads. Your time and efforts are appreciated! :thumb:


I'm honoured - thanks for the welcome, and indeed I look forward to being
able to bring my expereince and knowledge to this forum and share what I
can with you all, and to learn in turn from you what I can.

Search is "in my blood" and it's great to have a forum where I can engage in
discussions with what I consider peers and to be able to add value to what
is already a very well established group of peers in the search engine space.

I look forward to earning my wings here and to many great threads of insight
and experiences with one and all.

Cheers,

Dez