CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2000-- Logika Corporation, a leader in improving Internet-based information searches, today launched the first-search.com collection of topic-specific search engines (search portals), built on advanced technology that automatically assembles a comprehensive search index made up of Web-based information pertaining to the particular topic.
Logika licenses the search portals to B2B marketplaces and other vertical portals (vortals) as a user-friendly and cost-effective way to deliver pertinent information to their publics. Whether members of a vortal belong to the same community or industry, or share similar demographics or psychographics, Logika can build a search portal for the group.
``The first 100 Logika search portals are available now, and the remaining 400 are scheduled to be ready for public use by the end of January. Even when all 500 search portals are complete, there will be countless more waiting to be built,'' said Matt Fordham, Logika CEO. ``First-search.com is a good tool to show what the Logika search portals can do, and while we expect to license the existing portals to a large customer base, we also expect these examples to attract customers that want a search portal built especially for their niche, whatever that may be.''
Search portal topics available on first-search.com span fourteen categories, and each category contains several specific search portals. For example, the Business category contains 32 search portals in and of itself. Visitors interested in business can choose to search within portals that contain only accounting, advertising, consulting, e-commerce, financial services, insurance, investing, marketing and many other types of information.
``This is the best way to help users find highly relevant search results, especially when conducting a search that can fool the typical engine,'' said Fordham. ``A great example of this is the word Tiger. A typical search engine finds this word in many places, but we've designed Logika's golf-focused search portal to deliver only golf-related information. When you search against the word Tiger in the Logika's golf-focused search portal, you'll get information only on Tiger Woods.''
Search portals on first-search.com appear within categories like arts, business, home, news, recreation, science and sports. For almost any information need, users can choose the appropriate portal and expect concise, relevant results.
Currently, most B2B marketplaces and other vortal sites that wish to deliver pertinent information to their publics and be perceived as a source for expert information are using syndicated content as a means for delivering relevant information. Some have begun considering vertical search to substantially enhance that offering.
Syndicated content delivers real-time news to vortal publics, and search portals enhance that user experience by providing:
``Search functionality has lagged behind content and communities in the migration from horizontal to vertical nature for far too long,'' said Fordham. ``Logika offers a way to deliver a completely vertical experience to users. Considering this and the fact that they often pay for themselves and generate additional net revenues for the sites, it makes sense for every high-traffic vortal site to have one.''
Vertical search pays for itself, because it creates additional pages with highly targeted audiences. When sites experience heavy traffic, they can charge a good price for their banner ads. Forrester Research claims that vortals and niche sites will account for 57 percent of online advertising revenue in 2004, and these are the very sites that make up Logika's search portals' customer base.
``It's no secret that we expect our portals to redefine how vortal sites deliver information to their publics,'' said Fordham. ``We want them to do it effectively and profitably, and the nature of their sites alone make them great candidates for large advertising-generated revenue streams. Our initial predictions, after examining the existing market for syndicated content, indicate thousands of customers that may show interest in the coming year.''
About Search Portals
Search Portals represent the platinum level of the FusionBot product family. They are fully-automated search engines, built on comprehensive, topic-specific search indexes. The FusionBot product family also offers a free intra-site search utility, and the bronze, silver and gold FusionBot products enable increased intra-site search functionality, as well as the ability to offer visitors access to a mini-portal search utility. Mini-portals, while serving the same purpose as a full-blown search portal, carry a lower cost and utilize a search index built around a URL list provided by the client. To enjoy highly relevant search results, visit the portal collection at http://www.first-search.com, or to learn more about the entire FusionBot product family, visit http://www.fusionbot.com.
About Logika Corporation
Logika Corporation, a Chicago-based leader in next generation Internet search solutions, provides today's most innovative search tool kit available for license and use on the Web. Products powered by Logika enable Web sites to better attract and retain the traffic they need to succeed or offer innovative searching capabilities to help users navigate the Web. Logika's innovative business model is based on extensive custom-developed technology and includes a variety of revenue streams. Logika's suite of products includes FusionBot.com, for building single site and custom vertical search solutions; First-Search.com, the Web at a glance; and Namedroppers.com - the Web's premier domain name search engine. To learn more about Logika Corporation, visit their site at http://www.logika.net or call John Sortino, vice president of sales, marketing and planning at 773.529.3482, extension 227.
PR21 for Logika Corp.
Kraig Smith, 312/396-9792
kraig_smith@pr21.com