4 different practitioners showcased how they had cut the length of existing web texts down to half the size – and how that alone had resulted in increased sales and user satisfaction. By cutting the length in half (or more), the text became more readable and focused. One practitioner reported that this exercise took her approximately one hour per text, which was a very worthwhile investment.

Your efforts won’t yield many results though, if you prevent the users from finding your content in the first place. Many web writers are not choosing the right words, as Gerry McGovern recently commented:

“According to Google, every month an average of 300,000 people search for climate change, while 2.2 million search for global warming. Yet the official term on most government and media websites is climate change.”

When eliminating half the words, how are you making sure that the remaining words are the right ones? Feel free to share the short version of your best advice.

However, for existing customers who have spent resources implementing the products from SurfRay, the bankruptcy introduces some new and rather unpleasant concerns:

• What will happen with the product?
• Where can I get support?
• Do I have to change vendor – and when?

In our community of practice some members have already reported that certain features have stopped working. Most parts still work but no one knows for how long.

Search expert Adriaan Bloem from CMS Watch argues that it is likely that the remains of SurfRay is picked up by another vendor. The SurfRay website is still running, so hopefully for existing customers, Bloem will be right in his predictions.

A less pleasant scenario would be if the product simply disappears, as was the case with Speed of Mind, another now defunct Danish enterprise search vendor, who discontinued their Oracle search solution completely (before being accquired by SurfRay btw).

Here’s what the news means to customers:

1. You can still find experienced help. Talk to one of the many SurfRay partners if you have an issue that needs attention.
2. Expect critical questions from your colleagues. To answer these appropriately, make sure to communicate openly what’s going on and why some things don’t work.
3. You should start considering alternatives, in particular if search is essential to your organisation. Act swiftly and get a plan in place that can get you out of the hands of SurfRay in case it really stops working and/or is too expensive to fix.
4. Talk to other customers and learn from them. It is generally cheaper to share knowledge than to buy it from consultants. Some other SurfRay customers are already busy migrating and can give you important insights on what they are doing and why they are doing it. This will help you internally make the case for the next step.
5. Be prepared to listen to some really funny stories from SurfRay competitors. Most of them will be desperate to pick up your business, even though they might appear cool, calm and collected.

For additional details and background:

• Beyond Search: Everything on SurfRay

Are you an existing customer, please let us know what the bankruptcy has meant for you.