Comments on: a noteworthy conversation… http://www.evansink.com/2009/02/a-noteworthy-conversation/ musings on local media, and other random acts of two cent journalism. Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:15:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Marty Himmelstein http://www.evansink.com/2009/02/a-noteworthy-conversation/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Marty Himmelstein Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:35:54 +0000 http://www.evansink.com/?p=140#comment-3 Thanks, Perry, for pointing out my blog post and the ensuing conversation. I couldn't agree more that the job of local search is to winnow results down to a short list. One reason why is that sometimes a user's final decision on the business he will engage will be based on offline activity, such as getting a price quote, personal interaction, asking the kids what they're in the mood for, and so forth. As you allude to, one of the most interesting aspects of local search is the interplay between online and offline activity. Trying to get the online or automated part of local search (and software in general) to do too much is a fruitless endeavor. The best systems will know that some things are 'above their pay grade.' Marty Thanks, Perry, for pointing out my blog post and the ensuing conversation.

I couldn’t agree more that the job of local search is to winnow results down to a short list. One reason why is that sometimes a user’s final decision on the business he will engage will be based on offline activity, such as getting a price quote, personal interaction, asking the kids what they’re in the mood for, and so forth. As you allude to, one of the most interesting aspects of local search is the interplay between online and offline activity. Trying to get the online or automated part of local search (and software in general) to do too much is a fruitless endeavor. The best systems will know that some things are ‘above their pay grade.’

Marty

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