Why the Encyclopedia Britannica Cannot Compete with Wiki -- An Example of Incompetent Marketing
Wiki is free. For any academic topic, Wiki is going to be close to the top of a Google search. It may be the top.
Encyclopedia Britannica's link is down the list. The link takes you to a brief snippet from an article. It then tries to sell you on a one-week free subscription, after which it's $79.75 a year. So, you learn early never to click an Encyclopedia Britannica link. It will waste your time. Never click here!
The marketers think this is smart marketing.
But can you buy the whole encyclopedia on CD? Yes. Sort of. Maybe.
I used Google to search for "Encyclopedia Britannica". It took me to this home page:
On this page is an image promoting its CD-ROM:
New! Britannica 2007It's on the screen's right-hand side. I clicked it. This took me to this page:
Ultimate DVD/CD-ROM
The world's premier software reference source.
Here I read:
Get the entire Encyclopedia Britannica collection on a single DVD for only .
For only what?
But that's not all!
Get instant, searchable, interactive access to the entire Encyclopedia Britannica -- and more for just .
The best is yet to come. Here is the close -- the salesman's best pitch to get you to buy.
Order now and get the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on DVD or CD for just .
These marketing masters forgot to list the price!!!!!
I tried to warn them. But there is no email address listed for the American branch. Why, that would mean someone might actually contact them. They don't want that!
But there was an email address for the Australian branch. So, I sent a warning. I got back this reply:
Good morning Mr North:
Thank you for your interest in our products.
The page you identified is from our US Company's test web site and is currently not in use.
The correct page for that product in the US is:
http://store.britannica.com/jump.jsp?itemID=765&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C7&KickerID=560&KICKER
In Australia the page is:
http://www.britannica.com.au/product.asp?prod=BCD07DVD
Thank you for your interest.
I see. I accessed the defective page from their web site's home page -- the home page which Google took me to. But it's not in use. No, no, no. Yes, Google took me to it, but it's not in use. It's a test web site.
The webmaster failed the test. Nobody else spotted it. This is typical.
The webmaster then forgot to type in the /robots dot txt code which keeps search engines away.
I went to the home page again. I find that sometimes I got the defective page when I clicked on the link. Sometimes I got a different page. The different page was the one the Aussie sent me:
All over the web, webmasters don't know what they are doing. But you cannot warn the people up the chain of command because higher management doesn't want to deal with actual customers. They prefer not to be warned.
The low-wage employee who did get my warning made it sound as though it was my mistake for going to a web site that is not in use. Silly, silly me. Also, silly, silly Google.
CONCLUSION
Wiki is free. To beat Wiki, the Encyclopedia Britannica had better be market-driven.
My opinion is this: The marketing division at the Encyclopedia Britannica could not find their collective hind quarters if they used both hands and had a map.