New Domain Names Announced

In December we wrote that The Internet Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC), was going to add seven new top level domain names. This would give users more choice beyond *.com and *.net, etc. On Monday, the IAHC issued a press release announcing what these seven new domain names would be and their intended use.

• *.firm for businesses, or firms
• *.store for businesses offering products for sale
• *.web for sites emphasizing activities related to the World Wide Web
• *.arts for entities emphasizing cultural and entertainment activities
• *.rec for entities emphasizing recreation entertainment activities
• *.info for entities providing information services
• *.nom for those wishing individual or personal nomenclature.

AT&T Business Site Closes

Earlier this month an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal declaring the Web publishing industry unprofitable. Many new businesses fail regardless of the industry. When that business is a web site, it's easy to make sweeping predictions about the fate of the Internet. Web ventures are susceptible to the same mistakes as other media ventures. Poor content, insufficient marketing, and bad planning can fail any business.

The latest casualty is the AT&T Business Network Web site. The site is no longer being updated on a daily basis and is expected to be removed by April. The site was produced for AT&T by Nets Inc.

Did the site fail because it was never meant to succeed? We don't think so. The site provided little new content and was primarily a list of links to other sites. There was very little promise of content change to lure the user back. When a site closes its doors, it's an opportunity to learn from someone else's mistakes. --Linda Wilson

Article Research Association

The Article Research Association provides a PR vehicle for you to promote your site. For a fee, they will post an article you write in a searchable database. Journalists then have free access to use the copyright-free material. If you are lucky and have written an article with strong editorial appeal you could get some exposure. However, this exposure is not cheap. The Article Resource Association charges $2,400 US to post up to three articles in one year. If this exceeds your PR budget you might still want to search this site for free content to add to your site. An article related to your content but written by a non-competitor could add editorial value.--Linda Wilson

Interview with HumanSearch

Before we could write about HumanSearch it became a victim of its own success. HumanSearch was a search engine powered by humans. Questions on virtually any subject were researched and answered in 24 hours by several university students. After receiving a lot of exposure, demand exceeded their resources. HumanSearch temporarily shut down. Clay Johnson, founder of HumanSearch, explains what happened.

1^ST STEPS: How did you get started?
We started up here very slowly. Basically, we got initial use by sending out posts to about 15 different UseNet groups. After awhile, we started getting around 3 or 4 searches a day.

1^ST STEPS: How did you market your site?
Shortly after getting featured in the campus newspaper, and the Providence Journal Cybertalk section, I scheduled an appointment to ask for university support. I got nothing. Although I was told "we'll see what we can do." Indisearch was something more of a marketing ploy from hell. I wanted to be listed in Netscape's search page, and search.com. So I made a search engine, that would submit the bookmarks that people submit to us. (Netscape doesn't have a link to us yet, but I'm sure that is due to the sporadic availability of the product.)

1^ST STEPS: How did you go about getting media attention?
I told the guys on the team "If you build it, they will come" is not a paradigm on the Internet. We needed some media attention. So I quickly drafted a press release, and sent it off to news.com. After we made the front page, described as the "The Ultimate Low Tech Search Engine", we started getting around 200 searches per day. We had to bring on more searchers (who are all volunteers) to meet the demand. We are still understaffed, even though we get volunteers to search every couple days.

1^ST STEPS: We also saw you featured on other sites as a result of that press release. What is your current status now?
We're on Netscape's Whats New page, which has topped us up to 500 searches per day, and caused us to shut down.

1^ST STEPS: What are your plans?
Now we need financial backing. We need some resources to do this right. We want to keep HumanSearch free, but if my searchers aren't making any money, its only a matter of time before we explode. We are currently looking for venture capital and/or advertisers for the site.
--Linda Wilson