Another .com bites the dust due to lack of viable business model

VisualCV.com website will be ceasing operations, effective December 30, 2011.

An interesting case study  … the site maybe technically brilliant and solve a problem/need but doesn’t reach the tipping point of users and doesn’t have a viable business model.

This is the email notice from VisualCV

Dear VisualCV Member

We regret to inform you that the VisualCV.com website will be ceasing operations, effective December 30, 2011.

Since our launch almost four years ago we've been gratified by the response to VisualCV, and how it has enabled thousands of professionals to better represent themselves online. Even more importantly we have been delighted to see VisualCV help people secure significant new career positions. However, we have been unable to turn the site into a viable, self-supporting business and therefore we reluctantly made this decision.

We recognize that many of you need time to recover your resume data from VisualCV -- which is why we are providing you with thirty days' notice. We recommend saving a PDF copy of your current VisualCV. You can easily do this by clicking on the button on the bottom of the page you see when viewing or editing your VisualCV. We also recommend you separately save any images, videos or documents in your portfolio that you do not currently have stored somewhere else.

To ensure we meet all our members' privacy concerns, we will destroy all user data once website operations have ceased. This includes any and all backups we have. As a result, once the deadline has passed it will not be possible for us to recover any member data. You can be assured that we will not be providing any user data to third parties of any kind.

We will be contacting the small number of paying customers that still have active subscriptions to arrange a prorated refund for the months remaining on their annual subscription.

Thank you for all your support over the past four years. We wish you well in your future career endeavors.

Best Regards,
The VisualCV Team

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Privacy policy:
http://www.visualcv.com/privacy

Our address:
11654 Plaza America Drive, #636
Reston, Virginia 20190

Google is playing the privacy card, but in half measures ... user defined would have been better than default

Commerce Disguised as Privacy at Google

Google has announced yesterday that they are "Making Search More Secure" - Read Google's blog post to see how they are selling it to us! Search Engine land did a fantastic write-up about this move, especially if you are technically minded. 

I decided to try and simplify the move into what it means for each player: Users, Google, and measurable marketers and web publishers/owners.

Users: Most users [>90%] who use Google's organic search without being logged in/registered will still have their search data referred to 3rd parties. 100% of users that click on Google's Adwords will still have their search data referred to 3rd parties. Watch out Google will probably push for more users to register "for security reasons". So in fact currently, very limited users are actually more secure!

Google: Competitively this is a good PR move for Google, they are ahead of their competitors, they are waving the privacy card ahead of others. Like Facebook who simply abuses users and just apologizes when they get found out. Google is locking in more users of search and users of Google Analytics/WebMaster. Google will generate more ad revenue as more marketers rush to buy more AdWords and CPC prices go up even further. Google owns and keeps even more data about users as more users register. So in fact, this is a very good commercial move from Google, but they should not sell this as helping protect users.

Measurable marketers/web publishers and owners: For many this is going to be a blow because tracking just got more difficult especially because this is only going to get worse as Google will be pushing for more registered users. Now is the time to change your strategy. Don't rely on others to give you data about your users. Give your users a reason to register. Collect and analyze your own data about your own users. When setting up your SEO make sure each separate [landing] page on your site is using unique keywords - then you can track which keywords are working the best, by tracking the landing pages.

My conclusion ... If this was really about users security and privacy, Google would have been totally transparent and given users choice around how their data is used, rather than serving up default settings that suits Google. 

Read more about privacy and online publishers on another of my blog posts: The EU Privacy Directive and the online publishing industry.

The EU e-Privacy directive and the online publishing industry

Currently, I am completing the Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing at CIM and I had to write a discussion paper on an emerging theme.

I chose “The EU e-Privacy directive’s impact on the online publishing industry, considering the emerging consumer theme of carefree to careful”.

Below is the Abstract of my paper

The amended EU ePrivacy “cookie” directive, is not really about cookies, it is about “tracking, transparency and trust”. 

This directive is also not going against, or even trying to stifle the “new competitive principles, of openness, peering, sharing and acting global". It is actually moving the EU online economy closer to realizing these principles,however it requires companies to act transparently and give choice and control to consumers. 

As consumers move from a “carefree to careful” attitude online, online publishers may find that engaging more ethically with consumers transforms this industry and its business models by re-engineering the customer experience. 

As a result, online consumers are more likely to trust EU sites, because they are being more transparent, open and respecting consumer choice and therefore building trust. 

As long as the industry responds, in an ethically responsible and consumer focused way, the cookie will live on, but will be seen in a more innocuous and palatable format [like its original motivation to enhance the user’s web experience]. Online publishers may find these same consumers more willing to pay for content as a result.

If you would like to read a full version of this paper, just tweet me at @claireipowell and as long as you are not a CIM candidate, I will be happy to forward it to you in PDF.