Human-powered Search Gets More Humans: ChaCha Hooks up with Facebook

Human-powered search engine ChaCha has hung on (let’s face it) longer than anyone thought possible. Although it abandoned guided web-based search almost two years ago, ChaCha is still thriving in the mobile Q&A market. Back in December, they raised $7M in funding—and it looks like the ultimate result of that cash was an API and a Facebook app.

Yep—ChaCha’s getting into social search. The Facebook app takes questions users post to friends and connections and broadcasts them to ChaCha. The app checks the database of pre-loaded answers to see if they’ve already covered that topic.

Definitely not an app I’m interested in. I’ve joked with friends in Gmail chat that Google should just popup with the answer to any of our factual questions right in our chat window. But really, we definitely wouldn’t appreciate the intrusion (even if we were just going to google that same question in a minute anyway—although TechCrunch doesn’t clarify whether ChaCha actually supplies the answer or just suggests that it might already know the answer). Most of the questions I pose my social network are going to be opinion-based, rather than factual—so ChaCha’s can’t to help there.

However, ChaCha has also turned this into a kind of game—the more participating questions you answer, the more points you get. They’ve also added a number of social features, including the option to have an “Ask ChaCha” box on your profile, share questions and their answers on selected friends’ walls and more.

Meanwhile, ChaCha has also developed an API to allow other developers to interface with their Q&A database. They’re also the #1 SMS search service, according to Nielsen Mobile, answering more than a million SMS questions a day.

What do you think? Should ChaCha even count as a “search engine” since they’re serving up solely structured data? Do you use ChaCha, and will you use their new apps and APIs?

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Turkey Suing Google for $47M in Back Taxes

Dear World:

Google is advertising in your countries.

Duh.

Turkey has recently determined that Google owes them $47M US (71M Turkish lira) in back taxes on advertising sold in Turkey. The government maintains that because Google sells advertising in Turkey and maintains an office and registered subsidiary in the country.

Google, on the other hand, points out that “it runs its ad network operations from Ireland and thus is not obliged to pay taxes in Turkey merely because it owns a subsidiary there.” The suit recognizes that bills and checks (or should I say cheques?) for such advertising are addressed from/to the company’s European headquarters in Dublin.

Says TechCrunch:

In a statement, Google said it is acting in accordance with the tax laws of every country in which it operates, including Turkish laws, and that its negotiations with the government on this issue are ongoing. . . .

We’ve also been in touch with a Turkish lawyer, who tells us the government is making a valid claim, pointing out that Google has set up a full-fledged company called Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti. (which means Google Advertising and Marketing Ltd.) in Turkey rather than what he refers to as a ‘liaison’ branch. Had it done the latter, says the lawyer, the company would have had to pay very little or no taxes at all.

Personally, I’m a little skeptical of the Turkish government’s claim, mostly because if Google has really been taxable all this time (and since Google is the #1 online and search ad company in Turkey), they (the government or Google) would have figured this out a lot sooner. Did the Turkish government just figure out they could tax Google? Or is this, as TechCrunch points out, just a bargaining tactic tor force Google’s negotiations to go faster?

(Note: the Turkish government says they’ve determined this after a year of investigating. Again, a year? It doesn’t take a year to figure out that someone should be paying you taxes, especially not if a Turkish lawyer can figure it out in one email. If they really wanted the taxes, they could have indicated that Google should be paying taxes at the beginning of the investigation instead of stalling a year while Google racked up more income that they could penalize. I think being dishonest like that should be reason enough to lose the suit.)

Here’s what I think: if you really want to tax Google, countries of the world, then do it—but pass a new law that they can’t get out of. Don’t try to cobble together a legal argument, backform your present laws that may or may not fit the situation, or stall an entire year to try to squeeze more out of them. Because, after all, taxing Internet companies for selling stuff in your jurisdiction has worked really well in New York, North Carolina, etc.

What do you think? Will Turkey get their cash, will the case get thrown out, or are they really just hoping for Google to settle for any amount? Will this make Google reluctant to operate in that country in the future?

Google Chrome: Copyright Infringer?

Sometimes, when you have a really good idea, you have this irrepressible urge to do something crazy with it. Like register it with the government. And then, when other companies independently develop similar ideas, you protect that registration by suing the pants off those other companies. It is, after all, the American way.

And it’s what Red Bend Software is doing to Google over an algorithm in Google Chrome. The Courgette algorithm checks the software for updates (using a difference table), then pushes the packed updates to the software. Unfortunately, it violates a 2003 patent owned by Red Bend, which protects a substantially similar idea.

This does happen from time to time (probably more often than we’d think). Red Bend informed Google of their error on September 7 and waited for them to update Chrome.

But nothing happened. To make the case worse, Google had also published the algorithm as part of the open source code for Chrome, which Red Bend says is even worse. That combined with six weeks without redress, brought Red Bend to sue Google for willful copyright infringement, which carries three times the financial penalties as unintentional copyright infringement.

Sometimes, of course, companies use the patent system as a kind of legal trap—they register “obvious” ideas, or those with the potential to be used, and lie in wait for unsuspecting companies. But Red Bend does appear to be a legitimate mobile software company—and, interestingly enough, a member of the Open Mobile Alliance, the organization that promotes open standards development for mobile software.

A little ironic, then, that they’re especially upset about the open source code for the algorithm.

What do you think? Should Red Bend get their money? Or should they “get with the program”?

15 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started as an Internet Marketer

By Chris Tynski

For anyone who’s joined and had success in the Internet Marketing world, there are likely a great number of things you have learned over the years that allow you to be successful today.

This list is compiled from my own experience with Internet marketing,  it consists of the top 5 lessons I’ve learned in 3 areas of Internet Marketing that I believe are essential to success.

These areas include:

Mentality/Frame of Mind

Business Direction

and Marketing Technique.

Mentality:

1. Fake it till you make it.

When you start out with Internet Marketing, you WILL be overwhelmed.   The breadth and depth of this field is staggering, and it’s changing every day.  Don’t let this deter you. Trust that you will eventually “get it” , it will come together, and you will begin to see the big picture soon enough.

2. Focus and persistence on one thing leads to success, even if that one thing isn’t the best thing you could be doing.

One of the most common causes of failure in any particular Internet marketing venture is simply giving up too soon.  Pick an idea and stick with it. Put your heart and soul into it, until you succeed, or are 100% sure it is no longer viable.  Failure to follow through and/or constantly jumping from “brilliant” new idea to “brilliant” new idea is one of the biggest reasons people fail in Internet Marketing.

3. Let the hype get you excited, but realize that people lie, A LOT!

Perhaps a success story got you into this business. Images of huge checks from Google, people sitting on their computers on the beach, or images of people watching their bank accounts fill up.   There are a great number of successful Internet marketers  out there that are real, but 99% aren’t bragging about it.  Let the hype get you excited, but don’t buy into anyone or anything that promises to make you rich without a considerable amount of time and effort.

4. If you’re not learning, you’re falling behind.

Massive success happens when you can identify an unexploited opportunity, and exploit it. The only way you will ever be able to identify real opportunity online  is to have a broad scope of Internet Marketing, and to understand the working of the Internet as a whole.  Get yourself involved in several forums, top notch blogs like seomoz.org and MarketingPilgrim.com , stay abreast on as many aspects of Internet Marketing as you can, including black hat methods.

5. Building your business/brand is your goal, not hits, diggs, rss subscribers, or accolades.

It can be easy to pat yourself on the back when you see quantifiable goals reached.  Getting visitors, diggs, rss subscribers, or accolades from your peers might feel great, but it’s really only of value to you if it helps to make you money or to build your business.  Visitors do not always equal sales, Diggs do not always guarantee links, RSS subscriptions do not always equal an engaged community; Make sure you are thinking about your true goal.

Business Direction:

6. Ecommerce over affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to start when you first begin with Internet Marketing, but don’t be afraid to move beyond it.  E-commerce can provide massively better ROI, if you put in the time to develop your business.  Affiliate Marketing is the renting of the online world, where as E-commerce is purchasing a house.   If you find a great niche, start your own e-commerce store instead of looking for an affiliate program, you’re profit margins will be 30-70% better, no joke.   The reason most don’t do E-commerce, is because they think it is prohibitively difficult to set up.  In reality, it is quite easy.  There are many open source E-commerce platforms you can use for free, and you can hire a programmer to build you a custom site for a very reasonable price. Once you’ve built a site, find a dropshipper within your niche and start marketing.   Not only will you make more money, but every ounce of work you put into your site will be adding value that can be sold later on.

7. Find and exploit niches yourself.

If people are talking about a niche being really great, chances are, its already too saturated.   Do your own research and find your own niche. Take cues from the real world.  Find things that sell well offline, and see if you can help bring them online.

8. Learn all the basics.

Before you attempt anything in Internet Marketing, learn all the basics.  Until you have a firm grasp on the basics from each of the following, do not move forward:

• How search engines work
• Ranking Factors
• Basic HTML/CSS
• Basic Site-Side seo
• Basic Link-Building Strategy
• Basic PPC understanding
• Confidence in your ability to pick out scams, and identify real opportunity/legit knowledge

9. Crowdsource and outsource everything you can.

Many of your competitors will not be outsourcing or crowdsourcing their work properly.  Spend time learning this skill and it will reward you ten times over.  Develop processes for every aspect of your business, and figure out ways you can hire people overseas to do them for you.  You can find competent full time employees for 2$ an hour. I’m not joking.

10. Learn to program, or find someone who can, that you are willing to pay.

You will soon realize that without the ability to program, or without someone you can pay to program, you won’t be able to accomplish very many of  your goals online.   If this is not your forte, or if you have no desire to learn programming,  get to work finding someone trustworthy and reliable.

Marketing Techniques:

11. Brainstorming before almost anything else

Without a good idea, all the marketing dollars, social media connections, and mounds of traffic will be close to worthless for you.   Spend the required time brainstorming ideas before implementing them. Linkbait and viral marketing will never succeed if the idea is not a good one, so focus your energy there first, then worry about promoting it.

12. Utilize all channels that make sense, but avoid meatball sundaes.

Twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube, digg, reddit, and every other possible marketing channel has value, but doesn’t necessarily have value to every marketer, or every marketing situation.  Don’t try to force your business or project to utilize all of these technologies if they don’t seem to fit, it’s a waste of time.

13. Repurposing already successful content, unique ideas are not always necessary.

The Internet is huge, and there are thousands of great ideas out there that could be modified slightly, or simply done better.   Find these ideas and make them your own.

14. Understand and try to build true virility when link building.

True virility comes when you create something that is shared faster than it is abandoned.   Your goal should be to engage users in a way that encourages or even incentivizes sharing.  When you reach that magical point where more people are sharing your idea than abandoning it,  you will see the true power of the Internet.

15. Get a few Aces in your marketing pocket.

The best marketers online don’t do it alone, they have a few Aces in their back pockets.  Sometimes these are tools or programs, sometimes they are people. Visit  black hat forums often, see what the buzz is about. There is an underground most people don’t know about, try to infiltrate it.

This is an entry to Marketing Pilgrim’s 4th Annual SEM Scholarship contest.

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