From Wendy Boswell,
Your Guide to Web Search.
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Chat with LookSmart CEO

I had the pleasure of chatting with Mr. Dave Hills, CEO of LookSmart this morning. LookSmart just rolled out the biggest vertical search offering in the history of the Web, with 13 separate topic clusters and 181 separate vertical search sites. I talked with Dave about LookSmart's vertical search launch and a few other topics, including LookSmart's plans to refine and promote their stellar search services, what LookSmart is focused on most, and more.

Background

From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Hills was the COO and President of Sales for About, Inc, so we chatted about where About has been and where it's going, especially with About's recent acquisition by the New York Times. He stated that his About gig was on the "list of his favorite jobs" in his long career, and that even when things were a bit crazy, he would look forward to getting to work every single day (which was nice to hear, since I love being part of the About network!).

LookSmart Intro

Dave Hills arrived at LookSmart about a year ago, and noted that it had "great assets, great people, but no plan." Based on his over 27 years of experience, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work, knowing that vertical search, or targeted niche searches, was really where the future of search was headed.

LookSmart and the "future of search"

Dave gave this analogy: back in the 80's, when there were just three big TV networks, people were very dismissive of this new-fangled system called "cable." The pundits declared that maybe, just maybe, regular people could handle more than three channels - maybe even up to 8 or 10 channels. Well, obviously, cable TV took off and there are now literally hundreds of channels that the consumer can choose from.

The same is true with search. Most people know about the big search engines, and will automatically gravitate to those when executing any kind of search. However, vertical search services such as LookSmart offer more than just a general search experience. It's a targeted search, and it can be more effective.

LookSmart and Visibility

How do people find about LookSmart? Hills responded by stating "users will find us because we have a good product." The huge vertical search launch was very successful. Searchers will most likely go to the big search engines first, but over the course of time, searchers will want what is essential, not what is exhaustive. That's where vertical search, and LookSmart, would be most useful. Instead of doing a "needle in the haystack" search, users could go to LookSmart and do quick and easy searches for quick meal ideas, for example. From the consumer's point of view, LookSmart could be a complimentary service to the large search services out there, providing a quick and easy way to find relevant answers.

This phone briefing with LookSmart CEO Dave Hills is continued on page two.