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Altavista will re-launch its site in the hunt for profits. The new Altavista is already in place in Denmark [altavista.dk] and Norway [altavista.no]. Sweden and other European countries will have to wait until next year.
The idea with a portal offering a "smorgasbord" of sites has been scrapped. In its place AV will offer extended functionality for pure search. Among this new functionality is a button, "Power Browser" (Lynsøgning in AV Denmark) which can be dragged from Altavista and placed in the quick links area of Internet Explorer (4+) or Netscape (4+). Windows is required. If a word or a phrase is marked on a page and Power Browser clicked, the search for that word or phrase will be performed.
"We found that while 80 percent of our time was spent filling the site with content, 90 percent of our visitors were interested only in the search field" Vesey Chrichton told DI. He is marketing director of Altavista Europe.
Nine weeks ago Denmark became the first country in Europe to see the new version of Altavista. Altavista intends to open the new lean site in two new countries per week.
Altavista, owned by American David Wetherell, has never made a profit and is now cutting costs. "Profit is a new concept. We used to be critisized for not burning money fast enough. Now we will be profitable within a quarter, Vesey Chrichton said according to DI.
Altavista's advertising deal with porn firm Private has caused controversy in the Nordic Area and Altavista Nordic has distanced itself from the matter. Chrichton says he is against porn personally, but that he cannot see any business advantage in saying no to porn deals in Europe. "It is such a big market, that we cannot afford to ignore it."
According to the information on Altavista.dk's Power Browser page, the quick search will not work for framed pages. It is unclear why this would be so, if they are properly linked to the site. Perhaps our Danish WebmasterWorld-members can figure it out.
