LV company melds ‘Net, phone features

Wednesday, July 5, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Kirk Arbogast knew long ago that it was only a matter of time before telephones and the Internet could somehow be integrated.

Arbogast, the president and chief executive officer of Las Vegas-based SimpleSearch.com, had worked for Sprint and AT&T Wireless in the Midwest before taking the step of developing his own dot-com company.

Just over a year ago, Arbogast incorporated SimpleSearch with two employees. Now, there are 40 who work at the company's new headquarters at 3690 N. Rancho Drive, many of them developing the company's newest product, Search-N-Connect.

Search-N-Connect uses Internet technology to find a company, then connect the user by voice by clicking on an icon on the Internet listing.

Arbogast started the business by developing a search engine for Internet newcomers -- "newbies," as they're referred to in the computer world.

Knowing that most newbies are children, company officials built the Internet site and the search engine around a cartoon character called "the S-guy." The character, a blue S holding a pair of binoculars, appears all over the website and is the instructor on a number of tutorials specifically directed to people who aren't familiar with Internet technology or vocabulary.

The site also uses bright colors and a friendly look that is more inviting to inexperienced users.

"There are thousands of search engines on the Internet and maybe a half dozen to a dozen really big players," Arbogast said. "We know that our niche is with the new user and there are always new users out there."

Because children are a large part of the target market, SimpleSearch has dedicated resources to the development to its online learning center. Arbogast said the search engine is carefully monitored so that users are never directed to sexually explicit sites.

SimpleSearch makes its money by bidding positions on the search engine list. For example, a search of "Las Vegas" produces a list topped by the Las Vegas Wedding Chapel Guide. That listing is first because the company pays SimpleSearch 27 cents every time a computer user clicks on the listing. Rival companies that want to be higher on the list can bid more in a program the company calls "S-clicks."

S-clicks customers pay a deposit and each new hit debits the account by the amount of the bid price.

SimpleSearch also sells banner advertising as a revenue stream, but its newest product, Search-N-Connect, enables a user to connect to a company at no charge with a voice link or arrange on the Internet for a return telephone call for computer users whose machines aren't equipped with speakers and microphones.

Company officials are encouraging their customers to use S-clicks and Search-N-Connect in conjunction with each other.

An analyst who follows the high-tech industry said search engine companies need e-commerce products to thrive in the highly competitive market.

"In the mid-'90s they (search engines) were mostly about cataloguing content for the Internet," said Dave Willman, managing director of Integrated Information Systems, Las Vegas.

"The only revenue model was that of selling advertising space, in the form of banners, and additional incremental revenue from referring traffic to other websites," he said. "Now, the search engines have had to find additional methods for generating revenue. Revenue potential has always been about attracting eyeballs to the site. When you have a lot of eyeballs, there are numerous revenue opportunities that go beyond advertising and referrals. The largest of these is e-commerce."

What's on the horizon for SimpleSearch is under wraps, but Arbogast said it would involve the natural problem he generates for himself by focusing on new users -- eventually, they'll no longer be new and move on to more sophisticated search engines.

"We have a strategy that addresses that," Arbogast said. "I can't tell you what it is at this point, but stay tuned."