| |
MrWeb's InsightClopedia
Today we are beginning the roll-out of the InsightClopedia (IC), MrWeb's biggest new feature in a very long time. The IC immediately replaces our existing directories, events listing and news search, but aims to go way beyond that and provide a search engine and comprehensive reference source for the insights world.
 ...so it's very ambitious - and it's a work in progress, but as it's reached the point where it's massively more up-to-date than the old company listngs, the time seems right to begin a 'Beta' period for it. I've included a lot of further information in a Q&A format below, but if you're willing and able to help us, the main points please are:- have a look at it
- get in touch via www.mrweb-ic.com/1st-contact and let us know the person in your company who can be responsible for filling out your company entry and then keeping it up-to-date - they are basic at the moment although there are a vast number of entries (2,200 plus and growing fast)
- spread the word to other companies and organisations and get them to do the same
- give us your feedback on nick@mrweb-ic.com .
Thank you, and we really hope you like it!
Nick & the MrWeb team
IC Q&A
What will it include?
In addition to currently operational businesses, the IC will include sub-brands, merged and closed companies. If you want to search for a supplier or partner, you can select only live firms; if you want to find out what happened to company X, or who owns brand / company Y, or what company Z changed its name to, you can search for all companies and brands and if you're lucky the IC will give you the info - we are adding the sub-brands and historical references only gradually but eventually we hope it'll answer such questions much more often than not.
All the types of companies that appear in DRNO will be listed - you can refine your initial keyword search to show just full service research or consulting firms; MR software and platforms; MR support services; data and analytics services / business intelligence providers; and/or other companies and organisations such as industry associations, event hosts and publications.
In addition to businesses and brands, the IC is beginning to index documents - from press releases and news articles to white papers and case studies, conference write-ups and opinion pieces, technical papers, legal documents and product demonstration videos. With a few exceptions, results from these searches will lead off-site - in other words MrWeb's servers will include keywords, titles, short descriptions and URLs but not the documents themselves - functioning as a curated search engine. We hope that the 38,000 DRNO items currently searchable under this heading - one of the exceptions to the above - will before long be outnumbered by submissions and listings from other sources, and eventually form a tiny minority. At the moment, most document categories are greyed out in the search, but there are a few case studies and comment articles there to show how it'll work / look.
How often will it be updated?
The IC has been in preparation for around two years, and will aim to add content every day. Most company info has been compiled and/or checked in the past year: as the new site clicks into gear we will aim to review key data for each company / brand entry every 4 months. We'll be entering new companies that come up in DRNO almost-live, every day or two, and at the same time bringing in firms from slightly older stories, and from a dozen other sources. We hope that once the documents side of the index gets going, there will a very large number of these added each day, by companies posting for themselves, with us merely skimming the content.
Where does company information come from and what does it include?
There are three main sources:- Data entered by companies for our pre-existing directories, which date back many years
- updating this where required, new descriptions and details either from
- current company web sites or
- DRNO articles.
Going forward the fourth main source will be companies' own input.
Company entries will incorporate more information as time goes on, but for the moment - in addition to name, logo (in most cases) and web address - they include four drop-downs:- Services - a more detailed description of what the company does or (in the case of historical entries) did
- Expertise - linking to documents posted by the company (as above, a few documents are already posted so just a few companies will have content here at present - try one of our regular advertisers to see an example)
- In The News - linking to recent DRNO articles about this company - note that a simple keyword search has been passed over here in cases where we feel company names are insufficiently distinctive, and company numbers have been used to improve accuracy, 'though there will still be the odd false positive; and
- Jobs - linking to any current listings in the MrWeb Index. Companies with paid directory entries can also link to their careers page here.
What's free and what's not?
The IC will operate on a 'Freemium' model, that is to say basic company listings are free but paid entries will get promoted up search results and will contain more information. A large number of documents from our partner organisations and existing major (display) advertisers will be added for free. Listers not falling into one of these categories can include one document for free. Subsequent event and document postings can be purchased in packs of 10+, job listings individually or in packs of 3, 10 or more.
There is space for up to 6 'NEW TODAY' items at the bottom of the IC search page - these can be used to promote anything being added to the IC, for example a webinar, call for papers, best practice or thought piece, news announcement (whether or not the news makes it into DRNO) and so on. These cost £80 / $110 for a single day / document or £300 / $420 for a package of five spread over time: PR agencies can book packages and use them for multiple clients, and the fee includes layout of your words on a background of your choice if you don't have the designers handy yourself.
We hope those of you who value DRNO but have not taken display ads will see the IC as a lower-ticket way to support our news provision, with the bonus of extra exposure for your company in a new and heavily-promoted source. Paid company entries come with an equal value of document and/or event credits so you get double the value for your initial spend.
What can I do to support it?
Whether or not you take any of the paid options, you can support us by quickly getting in touch, nominating a contact person for us and checking / amending your entry as required - there's a first-contact form here.
Timetable for roll-out / What's running so far?
There are more than 2,200 companies in the directory, with plans to add 50-100 every week until this number is more than doubled. As of late April there are very few documents in the search other than DRNO items. There are around a few dozen events in the diary, with a lot more being added now.
We aim to have enough documents in the index to make this part of the IC a really valuable resource in a few months' time, at which point we'll announce a full launch in DRNO.
Where can you find it?
There is a separate domain for the IC: www.mrweb-ic.com . You can also go to the MrWeb home page and click on 'Directories' at the very top, or on the link to the IC a couple of screenfuls down. Try it now!
What are the photos?
The IC home / search page features a selection of c.10 photos by our own Ian Paterson or from image banks - you may get a different one each time you visit or hit Refresh. If you have your own images you'd like to submit to be considered for us, you are most welcome, We like colourful stuff, nature pics etc. Business photos tend to be... not the greatest :)
Feedback
Yes please, good or bad, we thrive on user comments of course - please email nick@mrweb-ic.com with any comments at all. The first contact link, again, is at www.mrweb-ic.com/1st-contact .
...and again, once your own company is in there and looking the way you want, please do spread the word - tell other companies you deal with and get them to complete the 1st contact form. We're very excited about the potential for the IC and we hope you like it.
Thank you!
Nick Thomas
|
