Jan 03 2007

In the Beginning (dLook)

Published by at 11:57 pm under Australian Startups,Australian Websites,dLook,Google Adwords,Overture Yahoo!,Search Engine,Search Engine Marketing,Sensis Bidsmart

It all started with an idea. My husband and I decided that what was on offer in our particular sector of the internet industry (online directories), could be vastly improved on. Never one to do things by halves, so began the journey (something akin to Ben Hur).

Funnily enough we started with an Internet Marketing Consultant who had been referred to us by a business associate. He was contracted for 12 months and got his regular cheque each month. He’s about the only one who was receiving a nice steady income. He didn’t come cheap, but what I learnt from him probably lessened the hurt of “signing the cheque” each month.

I learned all about Google AdWords, and how critical they are to any internet startup. I learned about Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) & Sensis BidSmart. I HATE using Overture. It’s awkward and messy and you have to wait for your ads to be approved. Admittedly our Overture campaign is nowhere near as comprehensive as the Google one, but I seriously believe that Yahoo is nowhere near as popular as Google in Australia and no where near as good a search.

Something happened to MSN search (for us anyway) around the beginning of September. We used to have between 150 to 210 referrals from them a day, and then it just dropped drastically to the point where we’re lucky to get 50 a day.

3 responses so far

3 Responses to “In the Beginning (dLook)”

  1. # Finding a Website Developer « Dipping into the Blogpondon 05 Jan 2007 at 3:27 pm

    […] a Website Developer Following on from In The Beginning (dLook), our next step was to find a developer up to the task. We were introduced to Ben Stickland from […]

  2. # Barryon 24 Jan 2007 at 7:44 pm

    I have to agree with what you said about all these search products, having spent the best part of 7 years in this industry.

    Thankfully Yahoo is about to get better, I recently attended SES Chicago & witnessed the launch of Yahoo’s new ad system Panama, it looks better than adwords by a long shot.

    Yahoo are launching Panama in Australia at Search Summit (www.searchsummit.com.au) in March (1st & 2nd).

  3. # Megon 25 Jan 2007 at 12:07 am

    Hi Barry

    Thanks for the “heads up” – I look forward to hearing more about the system.