aidscholar

Why hasn't anything replaced Webmd for general health information? And why isn't there a vertical search engine for symptom/potential issue matching?

Seems like an opportunity, but I'm curious why there isn't a site that already exists for this.

What are some verticals where building you own structured data could be a viable business?

I asked this 2.5 years ago and believe there is still plenty of opportunity following this model.

For example, here is the rough general model: * Identify a vertical with large number of distinct data sources * Create structure around the data * Make the data browseable and searchable * Allow users to supplement data with their own content (usually in the form of reviews/ratings/organization)

Growth model: * Expose smaller set of high quality pages * Gain first users by promoting in target market blogs/forums/news channels * SEO heavy * Expand when there is enough data coverage * Focus on utility first * Layer in social for added distribution

Here are some verticals with existing businesses that roughly follow this model: * Travel - TripAdvisor * Jobs - Indeed * Laywers - Avvo * Doctors - Avvo/Vitals * Movies - IMDB * Used Products - Priceonomics * Local - Yelp * Autos - CarGurus

What do you think are some good opportunities to apply the structured data biz model?

A few thoughts: * Disease / Medicine - It's still hard to get the information I want. * Schools / Degrees / Expected Career Success - Extremely hard to compare higher education schooling options.

Ever since Google acquired ITA and Metaweb, I've been thinking of other verticals where building / aggregating structured data would be valuable. Seems like many niches have already been covered:

- Lawyers: Avvo

- Doctors: Vitals

- Location: Yelp/Foursquare/etc

- Cars: Vast

- Pets: Vast

- Movies: Imdb

- Credit Cards: NerdWallet

I think it would be interesting to brainstorm some other verticals where building your own structured data could be a viable business.

Here are some that I'm thinking about:

- Colleges: It's a pain comparing which college is better vs another. Having a single structured database/model for all colleges would be great. Could extend it to comparing courses/costs/future salaries/etc.

- Disease: There are some companies already doing this, but I feel like it could be more open. Symptoms, cures, timelines, progression, location, etc.

- Soft Goods: Clothes, accessories, etc. Not sure how you'd go about creating / gathering enough structured data, but seems like there is a need.

What do you think are some good opportunities to apply the structured data biz model?

Site: http://aidscholar.com/

Hi everyone.

I built this site because I was annoyed with how bad FastWeb is for finding scholarships. At FastWeb you have to register before you can look for any scholarships - most of the time the results are not relevant and I keep getting marketing emails from them.

So I kept it simple and tried to provide a good easy to use interface.

I'd appreciate any feedback on the app, thanks.