There is no doubt about the fact that the world of online search is a competitive field. The vast majority of Internet users remain incredibly loyal to the major search engines such as Yahoo! and Google, and often small search engines come and go before affecting any significant ripple. However, there may still be room for something new. Enter Quintura.

Quintura is a Russian search engine (boasting significant support from U.S company OpenView Venture Partners as well as European support from Mangrove Capital Partners who backed Skype) that introduces a new dynamic approach to online searching. The company previously operated as a downloadable search application, but evolved into an all-online service before relaunching with a new interface in February 2007 as an innovative visual search engine. The name is drawn from the word "quintessence" and according to the co-founder and CEO Yankov Sadchikov, it reflects the company's mission to bring a pure essence of search to its user.

The main way that Quintura aims to fulfil this mission is by offering an alternative method of Web search based on the human process of concept development and understanding driven by intuition. Quintura simulates this process to organise and present search results.

The company is currently involved in compiling an index of its own, but for the moment Quintura operates on top of Yahoo! Therefore, the difference lies in the visual navigation layer it provides, and the main distinguishing feature is the use of the "tag cloud". The tag cloud is a grouping of numerous words and terms that relate to the search term. The tag cloud appears on the left side of the page once the search has been activated. The words and terms in the tag cloud vary in size and boldness depending on the degree of relevance to the original search words. On the right side of the page a scroll-down list of results appear. The tag cloud allows the searcher to narrow or refine these search results, whilst gaining a substantial overview of the relevant information field. By hovering the mouse over words in the tag cloud, the list on the right will adjust to better match the spotlighted term.

Without having to click anywhere or enter new keywords, the searcher can view a whole array of results lists focused on specific terms and topics. If the cloud offers up a keyword that is relevant and will narrow the search, it can be clicked upon to eliminate other search words in the cloud that are not of interest. Furthermore, search results can be saved or shared or embedded in blogs or Web sites.

So far, Quintura offers specific search tools for image, video and Amazon products, and it also has a site dedicated to kids search. Quintura offers a new dimension of opportunities for research as well as online advertising with its ability to display graphics and images next to tags and in search results.  

Check it out and see what you can find at www.quintura.com.

Contextual Advertising

Contextual advertising is all about effectively targeting interested consumers at crucial stages during the process of product or information research. It is a sophisticated method of online marketing and is adaptable to the various needs of different businesses.

As we all know, search engines have long been the hubs of online advertising activity. They provide an entry point to the Internet for a majority of Web surfers and many businesses work hard to ensure their Web sites are visible to potential consumers, by employing search engine optimisation techniques (SEO) or purchasing pay-per click campaigns (PPC) to achieve a high ranking amongst relevant search results. Both of these online advertising methods are undoubtedly important to businesses of all kinds. However; larger companies often possess the buying power to bid with greater success for the most popular keywords, or have the advantage of greater resources to ensure SEO results. The need for alternative methods of online advertising delivery resulted in the emergence of a different type of contextual advertising.

Contextual advertising is a form of online advertising that involves the targeted placement of ads for display amongst relevant content. Many of the major search engine companies that offer PPC advertising also feature contextual advertising systems, such as "Google AdSense" and "Content Match" offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing. 

Some aspects of these systems operate in a similar manner to PPC programs, in that the advertiser pays when the ad is clicked. The main difference is the placement of the ads. Systems such as AdSense match ads from their advertising inventory to Web content that is included in their "content network" (a network of affiliated webmasters). Web sites that are part of an advertising system's content network are encoded to call up relevant advertising when there is user traffic. The contextual advertising server provides this by assessing the keywords in the content that is being viewed. When an advertisement is clicked it provides revenue to both the Web site that hosts the advertisement and the ad server.

Content-based Web sites (such as publishing sites) that feature focussed information pertaining to a particular topic through regular newsletters, articles and blogs can benefit from adding contextual advertising to their sites. Each time an Internet user clicks on one of the ads and leaves the site, the host site gets a fee. However, it is important to maintain a high standard of information and regular updates in order to attract the audience to re-visit the site, seeing as the aim of contextually placed ads is essentially to attract viewers to their own content-related sites.

Contextual advertising provides real exposure opportunities to businesses beyond initial Search rankings and can provide vast benefits for small businesses by saving time and money in finding online target markets.

Marketing Tip: Prospect with a task force

An excellent example of this comes from Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, who said "No one of us is as smart as all of us."