Forum Moderators: phranque
SE and directories are not mature industries, and we've not reached a point of stable commoditization. 10 year old toasters look like today's toasters and will probably look like those from 10 years from now, but we can't say that about SE/Directory products.
If we set aside the "web is different than anything we've ever seen before" argument, can we envision future models from what works elsewhere?
One commoditized directory product that initially comes to mind is the phone book. If you sign up for a phone line, you get a local phone book. Businesses with a phone line get a listing, but if they want a special "yellow pages" advertisement, they pay a rate that matches what they are willing to spend.
Telephone users who want to search for a specific number can do so with directory assistance, usually for a nominal charge.
In a mature SE industry, could a bundled services (SE/Directory:Web::Phone Book:Telephone Service) model work?
Alternately, in a mature industry, could either a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) or subscription search service be sold to consumers?
Right now the PPC/PPI model seems more comparable to the classified ads of newspapers (both major dailies and those "Thrifty Nickel" circulars of classifieds that you can get for free.)
Many publishers derive income from a combination of advertising and consumer purchase (PAYG and subscription).
If a SE/Directory could provide consistently useable and effective editorial results, would general consumers be willing to purchase those services? At what point does a SE/Directory product become valuable enough that consumers will be willing to pay for it?
[Yup, I know...I'm full of questions. :)]
If a SE/Directory could provide consistently useable and effective editorial results, would general consumers be willing to purchase those services?
As long as there is someone who will provide quality results for free I don't think people would be willing to pay. I could, however, see paying a service similar to Yahoo which has a search function as well as news, email, sports scores, movie times, etc. If enough extra value is added to the product I think eventually people would be willing to pay.
At what point does a SE/Directory product become valuable enough that consumers will be willing to pay for it?
I think this would come when consumers feel that it is easier to pay $10 and get quality results than spend time sifting through a bunch of garbage to find what they are looking for. There are sometimes I would be very willing to pay when I am looking for information I can't easily find and end up checking out a site that sends me to pop-up hell.
