about us
contact us
Will you make the leap to Leapfish?
A newer search engine made its debut this week called Leapfish.com. Those that recall the launch of cuil a while back know that it wasn’t received well by many online critics. Does another newcomer within the search arena have enough traction to become a mainstay?
As a search engine marketing guru, cuil did very little for me in the way of persuading me to use the search engine on a regular basis. Although cuil’s search engine interface resembled many popular search engines, their search results were totally in a league of their own, which in my opinion was asking a lot from an average search engine user to switch over to. Additionally, recent times suggest that relevancy is one of the most important key factors in winning the search engine wars over having the largest index, a portal like homepage, or more advanced search features. So when I heard about Leapfish’s transformation from a former domain appraisal site into a search engine, my interest was sparked with a bit of skepticism.
Unlike cuil, Leapfish doesn’t rely on its own search technology and closely resembles a typical search engine interface. Users should feel right at home with the ability to select search results from Google, Yahoo, and MSN. But the real attraction lies within Leapfish’s unique interface that offers users more than search results such as news, questions and answers, videos, and more. A search for “marketing companies” for example, included a couple of press releases, YouTube videos, images, and shopping results. As such, Leapfish may be better classified as a universal search engine for its ability to aggregate related content into search results.
What’s more interesting than Leapfish’s search results however, is its monetization model. Leapfish offers businesses the ability to permanently own sponsored keyword spots ranging from generic to long tail keyword phrases. Pricing for keywords vary, but isn’t too dissimilar from the current supply and demand scenario. Typical registration fees are around $1000 and keywords can be purchased from a 1 –3 position. From that point, sponsors may choose to sell their sponsorship to another company…much like domain name buying and selling.
For myself, Leapfish offers a unique experience, however I’m not entirely sure if and when I would make a switch. After all, if it were all about great search technology and terrific add-ons, then AOL would likely be leading the race. In any regards, I think Leapfish is definitely worth looking at. Its unique but intuitive interface gives it an edge over recent search engine launches.
