• Price (@ $80.00)
  
• Easy to install
  
• Pulls in searchfeed results for backfill
  
• Integrates with a few cc merchants
  

CONS:

• ASCII Database (Not SQL)
  
• Performance
  
• Scalability
  
• Customizability
  

Performance and scalability concerns go directly to it being an ASCII Database based system. SQL is the way to go, if you're serious, and have plans to "go large". If you're hitting a small niche, or dont have high-traffic plans or needs, then it might be a good fit.

Nevertheless, all of these drawbacks can be addressed without too great a drama.

Firstly, drop on over to ScriptLance.com. There, you'll find a community of freelance programmers - many of whom have extensive experience tweaking, hacking and customizing SmartCGIs' scripts. For a minimal outlay, you should be able to port the database over to an SQL/MySQL or similar solution, beef up the security elements of the script and its affiliate program features and create support for XML feeds in and out.

The database switch is the most essential mod, and will have a measurable effect on the speed and scalability of the engine once your traffic and/or account levels reach the point at which the flatfile database starts to buckle. Other modifications can generally wait unless your needs are very specific.

Overall, SmartSearch may not be the ultimate product on the market, but it's a better entry-level system than some would have you believe.

Unfortunately, at it's price point, it attracts lots of non-businessmen (and women) as its users, and that's the reason I think we see what we see here...

Looking at from another angle, if third parties can make important Mods then so can the original authors, so why have they not done so?

I understand the only significant difference between Smartsearch and Hyperseek is the SQL/MySQL database functionality of Hyperseek/Jackhammer which is obviously an important aspect if high user counts are predicted

Although I am not a programmer I do not believe on the other hand such a price difference can be justified if the only grounds for that price disparity was flatfile versus SQL/MySQL

Can anyone kindly comment on any other aspects between the two programs that are so different or unique that could be said affects the price to the extent evident in the two example programs featured in this post?

thats half the fun

quote:

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Looking at from another angle, if third parties can make important Mods then so can the original authors, so why have they not done so?

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In reality, though, the fact is simply that no one script can be everything for everyone without introducing security holes, conflicts and more redundant features that you can point a cursor at (just look at Windows ).

If you do want to go the SmartSearch route, but have reservations about working with a third-party programmer, you could certainly request that the SmartCGIs team perform some custom work on your scripts. They seem more than willing to carry this out, and their work is obviously of a high quality given their intimate knowledge of the script's core.

Now, to take this thread ever so slightly off topic, and this is aimed mainly at John. If a SmartSearch user was to build their product around a MySQL or SQL base, how difficult would it be for them to port their entire userbase/stats/data archive over to a Jackhammer solution if SmartSearch started to crumble under the weight of massive increases in activity?

If the process is not terribly intensive (and if you can compare this to a switchover from UBB to vB *hopes Jim's listening*, it should be a snap), could a user effectively 'grow up' on SmartSearch before making the commitment to transition to a sturdier product. I imagine that there would be a significant market to embrace there - so long as the coming PPC consolidation doesn't claim too many startup players.

Anyway, just a thought.

I can and have converted smartsearch data over to Jackhammer, so it's quite an easy transition from system to system in terms of the physical act of making the move. The difficulty lies in the increased expenditures of new software, and new hosting. I'd assume that a smartsearch moving to Jackhammer is doing so for reasons of too much traffic (a good thing), so there's bigger hosting concerns to deal with as well. But if your traffic is at the point where this becomes necessary, then costs are going to be one of your lesser concerns.

Our company and software is really aimed more at small to medium sized business than it is to the casual or hobbyist user. This is probably why some of my comments to smartsearch users come off as venomous sometimes ... I see the business level mistakes, and the consultant in me just screams "Do the right thing, please!"

As an aside, on the forums .... Jimworld is moving to SQL Based forum software (I've got a little something to do with it ...). The transition from UBB was a pain in the neck, but is definitely do-able and possible.

John

making money = cover your server costs if you are lucky, maybe have some pocket change left over

making a reasonable amount of money = netting anything over 100 USD per month from your site with minimal effort

(I know people who own single family home properties, and more often than not, they only net a few hundred a month off of each property. Assuming not much work is involved, then that is a reasonable amount of money.)

(There's another level here where you would be making 1/4 to 1/2 of your existing day job income from your internet business.)

making Quit-your-day-job money = netting more than your day job salary + benefits + whatever else your day job throws in as 'extras'.

Like any software, you have to see what your requirements are and compare that to the feature set offered by the software.

For a low traffic site, or to try it out, or to learn about how PPC's work etc, I'm sure it would be the best if not one of the only inexpensive ways to go. The next cheapest solutions is about 500 USD from Done-right.

However, part of running a successful business is perception. This must be taken into account when trying to present a successful, and knowledgeable business. Take a look at the top 5 PPC's and then take a look at any site running the above script. Where would you spend your advertising money?

The one big problem I see with the script is scalability. I've seen numerous requests to modify it to connect to a mysql database.

I haven't checked your site, so I don't know what your traffic is like, but in my case I would not go with anything other than Jackhammer.

Other advantages are that SmartSearch is becoming kind of a standard interface for the smaller PPCs, which means that many of the potential advertisers will have encountered the user interface elsewhere and know how to use it without training. It's also getting to an installed base level where add on programs -- such as bid management software -- should start being available for it.

On the other hand, the "start small and port later" option always sounds better in theory than it does in practice. My guess is that the fully-loaded costs of converting over, in terms of time, business disruption, etc., will more than offset any savings from using the cheaper script to start out with. That is, of course, if you ever get to the stage where converting really matters.

Either way, if you are starting a search engine as a business rather than as a hobby or as a "see what happens" venture, the other costs of running the business are going to far outweigh the cost of the software. Even the expensive options aren't that expensive; the issue is which is going to yield the lowest ongoing cost of operation in the kind of business you plan to run.

It's being farmed out to someone else to do, and then he'll be reselling it.