Mr. Thornley: LookSmart has been in business about five-and-a-half years, and our focus throughout that time has been making Internet search an environment that creates value for users and online marketers. LookSmart's position in the industry is a unique one: we are the dominant provider of Internet directories and our directories are used by many of the leading portals, media companies and ISPs. Let me explain what an Internet directory is: when people do a search on the Internet, they type in a query, which is then matched by a search engine that searches a large database of Internet Websites. Many companies provide search engine technology that searches for results, but very few companies provide the underlying database from which the answers are drawn. LookSmart is the leading provider of that type of directory database of sites. LookSmart provides its database companies like Microsoft MSN, Excite-At-Home, AltaVista, Time Warner, Prodigy, Juno, and about 400 other companies all with use of LookSmart's directory as the heart of their search experience for their users. LookSmart creates revenues by providing search environments that are highly targeted ' enabling online marketers to reach qualified customers in a very direct way. We do that in two ways: we provide advertising services that are targeted towards specific search queries or search categories 'this enables advertisers to target specific customer segments; and we also enable online marketers to get their Websites and specific products Websites listed within our directory, so that customers have direct access to their products and services at the exact time they are searching for them.
TWST: Do the things that you've just mentioned give you a distinct
competitive advantage?
Mr. Thornley: Yes: Firstly, because searches actually are both the
largest volume and most highly target marketing environment on the
Internet. Search is the second most popular application behind e-mail,
and so it has huge volume, and yet it's incredibly targeted. Paid
Listings provide tremendous value for our advertisers seeking to
establish and strengthen their online brand identity. Whenever a user is
typing in a very specific search for a particular type of product,
service or business, you know that that person is definitively qualified
as a customer who's interested in those products, services or
businesses. LookSmart's high quality directory serves as a foundation to
ensure that marketed products and businesses only get in front of a user
at the very time that those results are relevant to that user's search.
By doing so, we provide more relevant and higher quality search results
for the user and a more targeted environment for the online marketer.
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