Wolfram Alpha - a web site promotion puzzle
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There are tons of us here who not only develop software for others but also run companies or do projects of our own, and more often than not these are web sites. We all love programming and building cool things, but when it gets down to the marketing, everyone just chants the massively incorrect mantra, "If we build it, they will come." The reality, of course, is "If we build it, it will be ignored." Coding is easy. Building traffic is hard. With that in mind, I've noted that everyone's been talking about the Wolfram guys for a couple of weeks now. Here, /., Cnet, you just can't swing a dead cat (to coin a favorite phrase of the small hairless canine crowd) without hearing about these guys. Honestly, I couldn't give a rat's rear end about yet another pseudo search engine query and response web site. However, in terms of media coverage and publicity, these guys went from 0 to 60 at an impressive speed. If you've ever built a web site, what you should really be asking yourself is not how they do their internal little algorithms, but rather how did they promote themselves to so quickly become a household name? How did you hear about these guys? Where did you hear about these guys? And more importantly, how did they get themselves noticed in these places? What marketing, promotional and other devices did they use to garner such widespread attention? And how was this accomplished so quickly? This is a puzzle of sorts, folks - an exercise that will reward you well should you take it on. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs that lead you to them and see if you can mentally reverse engineer the promotional techniques that they used. Regardless of whether or not the site itself is worth anything, what you learn through the exercise will be of great value to you the next time you want to launch and promote a site of your own. So what's the prize for this puzzle? The most valuable one on the web, of course. Free traffic. Let the games begin... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
From what I've noticed about stuff like this, the thing that makes a difference is how controversial the subject is. Controversial and massively exaggerated claims are the key to this. This guarantees people will rant and rave about it, they will will repeat the various claims without regard for accuracy, with each repetition getting more and more fantastic. This causes still more controversy, which results in more people checking out the various web pages that "report", which in turn causes more people to "report" the claims! Things like Digg, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Slashdot are *perfect* for this kind of thing, which then percolate into the "press" who simply copy-n-paste the "information" and post articles on it. This works well with Google ratings, since the more sites link in to yours, the better. So the secret is to make fantastical claims, the more outrageous the better, and hope to stir up controversy over it. P.T. Barnum would have *loved* the Internot.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
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There are tons of us here who not only develop software for others but also run companies or do projects of our own, and more often than not these are web sites. We all love programming and building cool things, but when it gets down to the marketing, everyone just chants the massively incorrect mantra, "If we build it, they will come." The reality, of course, is "If we build it, it will be ignored." Coding is easy. Building traffic is hard. With that in mind, I've noted that everyone's been talking about the Wolfram guys for a couple of weeks now. Here, /., Cnet, you just can't swing a dead cat (to coin a favorite phrase of the small hairless canine crowd) without hearing about these guys. Honestly, I couldn't give a rat's rear end about yet another pseudo search engine query and response web site. However, in terms of media coverage and publicity, these guys went from 0 to 60 at an impressive speed. If you've ever built a web site, what you should really be asking yourself is not how they do their internal little algorithms, but rather how did they promote themselves to so quickly become a household name? How did you hear about these guys? Where did you hear about these guys? And more importantly, how did they get themselves noticed in these places? What marketing, promotional and other devices did they use to garner such widespread attention? And how was this accomplished so quickly? This is a puzzle of sorts, folks - an exercise that will reward you well should you take it on. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs that lead you to them and see if you can mentally reverse engineer the promotional techniques that they used. Regardless of whether or not the site itself is worth anything, what you learn through the exercise will be of great value to you the next time you want to launch and promote a site of your own. So what's the prize for this puzzle? The most valuable one on the web, of course. Free traffic. Let the games begin... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
I heard about it here for the first time, and nowhere else ever. As far as I can tell, the secret to success online is to get a couple of CPians to pimp your site in the Lounge, then let nature take its course. Fame and fortune are sure to follow, unless your site crashes under the load as so many have. I called that the CP Effect many years ago, but I guess I don't have the charisma to make it stick; the term never took off. :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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There are tons of us here who not only develop software for others but also run companies or do projects of our own, and more often than not these are web sites. We all love programming and building cool things, but when it gets down to the marketing, everyone just chants the massively incorrect mantra, "If we build it, they will come." The reality, of course, is "If we build it, it will be ignored." Coding is easy. Building traffic is hard. With that in mind, I've noted that everyone's been talking about the Wolfram guys for a couple of weeks now. Here, /., Cnet, you just can't swing a dead cat (to coin a favorite phrase of the small hairless canine crowd) without hearing about these guys. Honestly, I couldn't give a rat's rear end about yet another pseudo search engine query and response web site. However, in terms of media coverage and publicity, these guys went from 0 to 60 at an impressive speed. If you've ever built a web site, what you should really be asking yourself is not how they do their internal little algorithms, but rather how did they promote themselves to so quickly become a household name? How did you hear about these guys? Where did you hear about these guys? And more importantly, how did they get themselves noticed in these places? What marketing, promotional and other devices did they use to garner such widespread attention? And how was this accomplished so quickly? This is a puzzle of sorts, folks - an exercise that will reward you well should you take it on. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs that lead you to them and see if you can mentally reverse engineer the promotional techniques that they used. Regardless of whether or not the site itself is worth anything, what you learn through the exercise will be of great value to you the next time you want to launch and promote a site of your own. So what's the prize for this puzzle? The most valuable one on the web, of course. Free traffic. Let the games begin... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Don't forget 1 thing. wolfram alpha is well known within one very small community. How many people outside of the development community have heard about it. Yes I agree, it has grown quickly, but it's not got the same level of penetration that something like facebook has.
Simon
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Moreno Airoldi wrote:
Wolfram for example is well known,
Actually, I'd never heard of them before a few weeks ago, which is why their sudden ubiquitity impressed me from a marketing perspective.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
You're kidding right? Did the whole "A New Kind of Science" thing not ring a bell? Or Mathematica? The run ups for NKS were very similar to Wolfram Alpha, outlandish claims, controversy, etc. For example: "I have come to view [my discovery] as one of the more important single discoveries in the whole history of theoretical science."* That's pretty bold, almost guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and it hasn't gathered much steam either as far as I know. *Wolfram, A New Kind of Science, page 2. (retreived from http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1[^])
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
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I heard about it here for the first time, and nowhere else ever. As far as I can tell, the secret to success online is to get a couple of CPians to pimp your site in the Lounge, then let nature take its course. Fame and fortune are sure to follow, unless your site crashes under the load as so many have. I called that the CP Effect many years ago, but I guess I don't have the charisma to make it stick; the term never took off. :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
I think the term you're loooking for is "Slashdotted." Oh, my, what a nasty glare I just got from the hamsters... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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From what I've noticed about stuff like this, the thing that makes a difference is how controversial the subject is. Controversial and massively exaggerated claims are the key to this. This guarantees people will rant and rave about it, they will will repeat the various claims without regard for accuracy, with each repetition getting more and more fantastic. This causes still more controversy, which results in more people checking out the various web pages that "report", which in turn causes more people to "report" the claims! Things like Digg, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Slashdot are *perfect* for this kind of thing, which then percolate into the "press" who simply copy-n-paste the "information" and post articles on it. This works well with Google ratings, since the more sites link in to yours, the better. So the secret is to make fantastical claims, the more outrageous the better, and hope to stir up controversy over it. P.T. Barnum would have *loved* the Internot.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
And several points with their accompanying 5 go to Mr. Crafton, (illustriousness naturally implied)! Controversy is a huge promotional advice. Another angle to Google this from would be variations on "contrarian thinking."
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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Well if it were me I think I'd try to appeal to natural human laziness, and in particular the average overworked journalist's reluctance* to spend time and effort researching a story when a perfectly good one (pre-fabricated by yours truly) lands in their laps. I give you Operation: Testify Phase 1 Knock up holding web page. Be deliberately obscure about what the site will do - create a certain "mystique" and an aura of "shhhhhh!". Phase 2 Pick a famous/high-profile "target" competitor. Create a dossier highlighting the weaknesses of your competitor's platform and the strengths of yours. Include (made up) business projection about how much more successful your platform will be. Include made up, anonymous and unattributable "quotes" from your competitor. Include made up, anonymous and unattributable positive feedback from industry commentators. Make sure to include some method that you can be contacted by for the inevitable "no comment" you'll give later. Print multiple copies. Put each copy in its own nondescript brown folder with the words "Top Secret" and or "Private and Confidential" emblazoned on the front. As we all know, if you want to keep something secret, the last thing you do is put "Top Secret" on the front as people as drawn to those words like moths to a flame. Phase 3 Phone several IT journalists and gently probe to see if they've heard anything about your website. Employ a little subterfuge and pretend to work for your competitor. "Lose" one (or more) of your top secret dossiers. Trains around big cities are a good bet, taxi's, IT conferences - anywhere there might be journalists. Pick one journalist and send him/her a copy of your dossier - pretend to be a third party who thought the recipient "might be interested". Phase 4 Issue some statements via your (still alpha) web site. You might allude to the "missing" documentation, give some vague progress reports or simply chew the cud. By now there'll have been at least one or two stories reported in the online press - contact those journalists and offer some interview time if they haven't asked already. Rumor mill well and truly started, it's time to start offering "exclusive" pre-registration. Start a few online discussions anonymously - these will invariably pop up anyway due to the strange phenomena that is the "fan boy", but a few more can do no harm. Issue more statements via the website and be available for comment when journalists phone. And I'd see how it goes from there :)
:laugh: Most excellent, several more points! Once again, you take reality, wrap it in a humorous disguise, but nonetheless point out some very valid (and free!) promotional techniques.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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And several points with their accompanying 5 go to Mr. Crafton, (illustriousness naturally implied)! Controversy is a huge promotional advice. Another angle to Google this from would be variations on "contrarian thinking."
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Just out of curiosity (and I'm wondering out loud here, not criticizing you), doesn't the whole "controversy is a huge promotional advice" get a bit tiring, maybe even disheartening? Maybe it's just the Internots, but the level of absurdity that this get's taken to online is just kind of depressing. Controversy because something is legitimately good, or has specific features that can be objectively measured is one thing, but it seems to me that most of what we see online is just controversy for the sake of controversy, and typically about utterly bullshit claims. Isn't there a little bit of the boy who cried wolf syndrome here? What happens when, in order to become controversial, you have to resort to wilder and more fantastical claims to gain any attention? Doesn't, at some point, it become a self defeating thing?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
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Just out of curiosity (and I'm wondering out loud here, not criticizing you), doesn't the whole "controversy is a huge promotional advice" get a bit tiring, maybe even disheartening? Maybe it's just the Internots, but the level of absurdity that this get's taken to online is just kind of depressing. Controversy because something is legitimately good, or has specific features that can be objectively measured is one thing, but it seems to me that most of what we see online is just controversy for the sake of controversy, and typically about utterly bullshit claims. Isn't there a little bit of the boy who cried wolf syndrome here? What happens when, in order to become controversial, you have to resort to wilder and more fantastical claims to gain any attention? Doesn't, at some point, it become a self defeating thing?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
You make a good point, and it's a pitfall to watch for when you're using this device. One of the recurring themes when I wrote Tribes was the dangers of short term thinking, something that's rampant in the corporate world. When you generate controversy, you have to remember that tomorrow comes quickly. It's okay to be outlandish if you can support your claims, but if you go to extremes that damage your reputation and make you look like a bufoon you'll ruin your long term credibility. Not a tradeoff I'd care to make. Like most things it's an exercise in tradeoffs, so it's important to generate controversy by spinning something you can legitimately defend rather than saying stupid things because the stupid get 15 minutes. If done properly it's an excellent technique. You just have to make sure that the barrel isn't pointed at your foot. :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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You're kidding right? Did the whole "A New Kind of Science" thing not ring a bell? Or Mathematica? The run ups for NKS were very similar to Wolfram Alpha, outlandish claims, controversy, etc. For example: "I have come to view [my discovery] as one of the more important single discoveries in the whole history of theoretical science."* That's pretty bold, almost guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and it hasn't gathered much steam either as far as I know. *Wolfram, A New Kind of Science, page 2. (retreived from http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1[^])
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Oh
What you're describing is somthing that a friend of mine who promotes rock concerts calls "four walls syndrome." It's a common mistake in promoting things. People subconsciously think that since they know about it, and everyone in their office knows about it, then clearly so will the rest of the world. Consequently, they don't make the proper effort in advertising, promotion, etc. and then are shocked to find an empty concert hall on the day of the show. Happens more often than you'd think. In other words, nope, not kidding. The fact that you're interested in these things doesn't guarantee that others, even those who might be tangentally related (such as fellow programmers) are. For instance, while I've heard the name Mathematica, I don't associate that with anyone because it's not something I use or care about. Nor have I heard of the new kind of science thing. It's not that I'm a complete cave dwelling troglodyte, merely that I have other things which consume my time. :-D And you'd be surprised how often this describes 80% of your potential customer base.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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There are tons of us here who not only develop software for others but also run companies or do projects of our own, and more often than not these are web sites. We all love programming and building cool things, but when it gets down to the marketing, everyone just chants the massively incorrect mantra, "If we build it, they will come." The reality, of course, is "If we build it, it will be ignored." Coding is easy. Building traffic is hard. With that in mind, I've noted that everyone's been talking about the Wolfram guys for a couple of weeks now. Here, /., Cnet, you just can't swing a dead cat (to coin a favorite phrase of the small hairless canine crowd) without hearing about these guys. Honestly, I couldn't give a rat's rear end about yet another pseudo search engine query and response web site. However, in terms of media coverage and publicity, these guys went from 0 to 60 at an impressive speed. If you've ever built a web site, what you should really be asking yourself is not how they do their internal little algorithms, but rather how did they promote themselves to so quickly become a household name? How did you hear about these guys? Where did you hear about these guys? And more importantly, how did they get themselves noticed in these places? What marketing, promotional and other devices did they use to garner such widespread attention? And how was this accomplished so quickly? This is a puzzle of sorts, folks - an exercise that will reward you well should you take it on. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs that lead you to them and see if you can mentally reverse engineer the promotional techniques that they used. Regardless of whether or not the site itself is worth anything, what you learn through the exercise will be of great value to you the next time you want to launch and promote a site of your own. So what's the prize for this puzzle? The most valuable one on the web, of course. Free traffic. Let the games begin... :)
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
It's not really a puzzle - I think it starts with a clear, preferably one sentence description that's easy to grasp. Pass the description on to everyone you know (email, IM, Twitter, etc), get in contact with high-profile people to promote, and finally end up on the high-traffic sites like cNet and Slashdot. There are other ways to get noticed - ads (internet, printed ads, radio, maybe TV), appearances at conferences, handing out freebies with your name/URL on it, and network, network, network! Gotta get out there to get noticed!
Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation at +1 416-809-1453 or via wWorkflow.net -
It's not really a puzzle - I think it starts with a clear, preferably one sentence description that's easy to grasp. Pass the description on to everyone you know (email, IM, Twitter, etc), get in contact with high-profile people to promote, and finally end up on the high-traffic sites like cNet and Slashdot. There are other ways to get noticed - ads (internet, printed ads, radio, maybe TV), appearances at conferences, handing out freebies with your name/URL on it, and network, network, network! Gotta get out there to get noticed!
Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation at +1 416-809-1453 or via wWorkflow.netYet another good batch of point worthy points. And of course, a 5!
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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:laugh: Most excellent, several more points! Once again, you take reality, wrap it in a humorous disguise, but nonetheless point out some very valid (and free!) promotional techniques.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
I'm about to test a theory... questioning the un-questioning faith in a product that has nothing to do with the individuals involved. I suspect I'll get savaged, my intelligence, provenance and integrity questioned... let's see what transpires[^]...
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?