You also might get lucky and have some leet tech blog pick up the story on the wire; just, don’t count on it. (two posts ago)

Count on it!  In terms of trade press, Search Engine World is about as 1337 as it gets!  Check out Vanessa Zamora’s  podcast coverage of ButtonALL. 

Like clockwork, the good folks at PRWeb published our first press release this morning…

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) June 25, 2008 — 4What, LLC today launched ButtonALL (http://buttonall.com), the Internet’s universal remote search engine. ButtonALL gives users a single screen search page bundling the most popular websites on the Internet.

“We think the term ‘universal remote control’ is the perfect metaphor for the functionality of ButtonALL,” said Wray Mills, co-founder of 4What and chief engineer of the ButtonALL project. “Like the single universal remote which replaces multiple controllers, ButtonALL simplifies things by consolidating all the most popular search engines and ‘Web 2.0′ applications into ONE single search page. It saves you time by not having to open new windows and re-starting searches.”

 The ButtonALL search buttons are organized topically by rows or channels: the search channel, reference channel, people channel, and shopping channel. Each channel also features one button highlighted by its red color. Rotated bi-weekly, Red Buttons represent the hottest and newest websites. The companion ButtonALL blog (http://blog.buttonall.com) will introduce each new Red Button release with additional commentary and background information.

“There are so many Internet search engines and new ways of presenting search results in the market place,” stated Mills. “ButtonALL will be a great place to catchup on what’s out there for the average user. You can keep up with the latest breakthroughs in search engines and the Internet industry by reading our blog.”

ButtonALL will soon be launching complete user-customization of buttons and home page layout. Users will be able to pick and choose those buttons that are most relevant to their search preferences. In addition, social networking functionality will allow friends and colleagues to share each other’s personalized search engines.

About 4What:
4What is an Internet startup focusing on innovative online products, applications, and systems solutions. 4What is the creator of ButtonALL, a search engine aggregator. 4What is headquartered in the farmlands of Goochland County, Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. Our corporate workforce currently consists of more horses, dogs and cats than software engineers. For more information visit http://www.ButtonALL.com.

This week ButtonALL begins our local marketing strategy in earnest.  Our “exclusive” press release pitch was graciously passed on by some local media, so we’re lifting our self-imposed communications embargo and pressing ahead.  The official press release will be distributed via PRWeb on Wednesday morning. Why even bother with a PR service if the blog is already syndicated?  Good question.  At the very least, using a PR service will quickly get your website some recognition by the search engines.   It is the first rudimentary step for SEO.   There are so many RSS aggregators out there, you’re almost guaranteed to get 5 more pages (50 websites) worth of search engine result citations (granted most of them will be garbage).    You also might get lucky and have some leet tech blog pick up the story on the wire; just, don’t count on it.

So how does one market a new internet product with ZERO budget?   How can you possibly compete with, say, a Sequoia funded firm for attention in the agora?  There’s just way too much noise to cut through the national chatter.    START LOCALLY.  Craig Newmark did it with Craigslist (history).  It started off as a San Francisco-centric site (actually, a rudimentary list-serv) and slowly scaled up to the classified, newspaper-killing behemoth that we all love today.  While we’re on this topic, because Craigslist bans national searching of its databases, ButtonaALL’s button for Craigslist just searches the Richmond, Virginia site. :)  

Focusing on local gives you a nice statistical sample of whether your concept is any good (before you start spending time and money in the bigger arena).  Your local neighbors might also be more open to trying a new product or sharing feedback with the hometown kid.  It’s also easier to break through the mass communications barrier.  I guarantee you the Virginia Associated Press, at least, read our press release.  I don’t think it would have even gotten into the spam box of a Wired magazine.

As I blog locally, I can spread the word via that medium (apologies to my gentle readers for sullying the Richmond Good Life with crass banner ads.  Poppa needs to pay the bills!)  The good folks at RVABlogs (which just got some national pub touting Richmond as the blog capital of the nation) will also syndicate this blog, since it’s local.  Then there are friendlies like the local Chamber of Commerce which will gladly spread the word to their membership.  You never know if a local angel might be reading.