B2B Directory Knowledgestorm Sold for $58 Million

I first became aware of KnowledgeStorm as a result of their volume of PPC activity.

TechTarget always struck me as the VerticalNet of the software/server vertical. In my view they've been groping for traction as a sales lead generator for awhile.

What TechTarget gets with the KnowledgeStorm aquisition is a platform that does things a bit more efficiently than TT's "quality content" ->leads model ever has.

Interesting model: Software related PPC -> Vendor "Directory" -> Leads -> $$$. Basically arbitrage, using Adwords PPC to aggregate software purchase intent leads. Somewhat like KnowledgeStorm being the PPC manager for a variety of firms that don't wish - or domain quite yet have the ability - to do it for themselves. The PepperJam of the "software affiliate" marketplace? ;)

Jeff, I used to think the same way many years ago because a casual review of Knowledgestorm makes it appear as if they are indeed simply arbitraging PPC to sales leads, but that is not the case. Perhaps this is how they leave their competitors behind scratching their heads. Knowledgestorm syndicates it's listings across an enormous swath of top tier technology and business websites. In terms of reach and eyeballs, Knowledgestorm has no peer. Beyond that, Knowledgestorm ranks organically for industry specific terms.

The value Knowledgestorm brings to those who list their wares there is that Knowledgestorm has developed meaningful traffic to the site that converts for those listed. Not just from organic and PPC, anyone can do that. They've gone beyond that and brought in converting traffic from vertically related websites in addition to their organic and PPC efforts. They simply don't have peers and are a model for how to approach lead gen.

Yummy, so it can be done, directories really can be valuable,

Okay, so thats been my view for a while, but 3rd party afirmation is nice