random Xconomy stories, some of which were merely one-paragraph newsbriefs. I thought it would be more useful for people to land on the Xconomy page that lists all my stories along with links to them, so I moved that page into the top five. I also put my personal website and the book’s site in the top five, along with the link to the book’s Amazon page. (Sorry, it’s that shameless self-promotion acting up again.)
Vizibility makes a convincing case that even the world’s most well-known people should be controlling their Google profiles. On Vizibility’s website, you can see how curated search results might help President Barack Obama, for example. If you Google Obama without Vizibility, the top five results will include his official White House site, along with a lot of random links, including a YouTube video from his election in 2008. But if you Google the President via Vizibility, you get his Facebook and Twitter pages, plus his official White House page—and no outdated videos.
Alexander’s New York-based company raised $1 million in seed funding last November from Boston Harbor Angels, Race Point Capital Group, Zinc Ventures, Waterbridge, and Halberd Cross, the investment arm of the patent firm Novak Druce + Quigg.
Then Alexander quickly went about figuring out how to monetize his tool. The basic version is free. But for $2.95 a month, users can get alerts whenever they’re searched on Google, as well as the IP addresses and locations of people who searched for them. Vizibility offers packages for companies, ranging from $29.95 to $199.95 a year, which include extras such as unlimited phone and e-mail support.
The paid versions of Vizibility have caught on with some companies, including law firms that want their partners to show up prominently in Internet searches, Alexander says. Novak Druce and Lowenstein Sandler are among the firms using the technology.
Alexander says he’s working on boosting Vizibility’s capabilities. Ultimately the technology will be able to tell users more about who’s searching for them, such as whether the link to your Vizibility results came from a professional source, such as LinkedIn, versus, say, a dating site. “That will tell you the intent of the people who are searching for you,” Alexander says.
Indeed, perhaps someday Vizibility will help fledgling authors determine exactly who is searching for information on the books we’re trying so desperately to sell.
