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(Continued) The Rank for $ales Weekly Newsletter, Apr. 29, 2006. Page 18 
Microsoft hires the Big Guns!This week, this piece of news really grabbed my attention! As you've read in this newsletter earlier, Microsoft has hired Steve Berkowitz, former CEO of Ask Jeeves. Why did it grabbed my attention? For a number of reasons. First, Steve Berkowitz is a respected member of the search community, being solely responsible for a 180 degree reversal at Ask Jeeves, now Ask.com. Under Berkowitz’s leadership Ask Jeeves rebranded and restructured its search engine into Ask.com and has repositioned itself into the respected information and usability driven engine that it is today. In addition Ask.com (or IAC Search & Media) revenue more than tripled while Berkowitz was manning the bridge. Goes to show that less ads can equal higher revenues under the right monetization plan. According to Microsoft, Berkowitz “will be responsible for running the Online Business group, which includes MSN.com, MSNTV and MSN Internet Access programming, advertising sales, business development, and marketing for Live Platforms, MSN and Windows Live.  This team’s mission is to deliver world-class go to market leadership, that wins customers to our services and builds a world leading advertising business. The responsibility for the monetization of our Live Platform, MSN and Windows Live assets is owned by this team, and includes end-to-end management of the online P&L.” In his previous role as president of Ask.com, Berkowitz is credited with building the management team that orchestrated the turn around of Ask.com, today the second largest pure search site on the Internet. In September 2001, he made the critical decision to acquire Teoma Technologies and integrate their unique approach to Web-wide search into Ask.com. He also oversaw Ask.com’s redesign, which improved ease-of-use and removed pop-ups and banner ads from the site in favor of a more contextually relevant search experience. As a result, user satisfaction has grown steadily since 2002, and the Company has more than tripled its revenue since Berkowitz came on board. My take on all of this By hiring Steve Berkowitz, Microsoft is sending a strong message that it is serious in the search engine war. But the question is, will it be too little too late? Only time will tell... Stay tuned to this newsletter for more real soon! Well, thats it for this week. Have a pleasant and relaxing weekend. I will see you all next Saturday! Serge Thibodeau, Please note that I am available for SEO consultative work or to help you optimize your website for the major search engines. Feel free to contact me for an honest and fair assessment.  All logos, trade marks and service marks on this newsletter are the exclusive property of their respective owners. Note: Although I always try my best to answer each individual question that I receive, there are times when it's just impossible for me to answer every one I get, as the amount of emails sent to me keeps increasing all the time. Also, please note that, for confidentiality reasons, the names of people writing to us are never disclosed. Please send all your questions, comments or general enquiries to: questions@rankforsales.com Subscribe to the free Rank for Sales Weekly Newsletter <<< Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  Bookmark the RFS Newsletter by simply clicking here. Search engine industry news corner:  About Rank for $ales Rank for $ales can be reached via email at info@rankforsales.com or you can call from anywhere in the US or Canada, via our toll free number at 1-800-631-3221. Our offices are located near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Visit our web site at www.rankforsales.com About Serge Thibodeau Pagina+™ is offered by Rank for $ale's parent company: GCIS Inc. Besides serving as editor and CEO of Rank for $ales, Serge Thibodeau currently writes professional search engine optimization articles in some of the following publications:
SEO Today (www.seotoday.com) Additionally, Serge Thibodeau has successfully developed and deployed Global Business Listing, a powerful and flexible 'paid inclusion' search engine that will further increase any company's rankings and visibility in the major search engines. On the Web, at: www.globalbusinesslisting.com Bookmark the Rank for $ales newsletter by simply clicking here. Legal Notice This newsletter is sponsored by Rank for Sales, a professional SEO firm in business since 1997. We suggest you bookmark our newsletter and place it in the list of your favorite websites by clicking here. Feel free to contact us if you need to have your website optimized by a professional SEO firm, or if you have any question on the subject of search engines. |
