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Nine months ago, the search and advertising world was surprised to learn the New York Times was purchasing About.com for $410 million. Covering 57,000 unique topics and containing a library exceeding 1.2 million proprietary documents and files, About.Com draws nearly 50 million visitors each month.

Staffed by an estimated 500 experts (known as guides) who add content to vertical directories, About.com is a cross between an encyclopedia and search directory. Guides are paid on a CPM formula based on the number of pages-views generated by their content.

In the coming months, About.com CEO Scott Meyer said quality control and monitoring of content is going to be a high priority, one of five major steps to be taken to relaunch and rebrand About as an information destination and advertising distributor.

About.com is already doing well as an ad distributor, a fact that originally drew the NYTime's attention in the first place. According to an article in DMNews, about half of About.com's revenues come from its AdSense partnership with Google. The NYTimes, which also runs AdSense generated ads was making far less per ad in terms of overall revenues.

The other major portion of About's revenues are generated through deals with major advertisers such as Walmart and BestBuy. Another step in the relaunch is to work with large advertisers to create and build upon customized package deals on long-term contracts. It also wants to peruse new advertising contracts, stressing the extraordinary market reach offered in partnership with NYTimes owned publications. About.com as a part of NYTimes Inc. has integrated ad inventories from all NYTimes sites onto a commonly used platform, allowing contextual or directly targeted advertising across an international network.

For the NYTimes, acquiring About.com and the content that generates those revenues offers a strong source of online income, ability to deliver ads to multiple distributors based on topical relationship between ad and content, along with a diversified platform to expand online operations. For competitors such as IAC owned Ask.com, the relaunch of About.com should push a few buttons.

Google's Ten Golden Rules, (at least 70% of the time)

Google gets lots of news coverage as it has grown into the behemoth it is today and has been fighting a corporate image problem. People are starting to compare it with Microsoft in the most unflattering of ways. Google is naturally defending itself and its reputation but, in a recent interview with John Battelle, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google appreciates all the criticism but sees much of it as an indication it has a communications problem.

Schmidt has undertaken a communications initiative of his own by co-writing an article published at MSNBC Newsweek called Google: Ten Golden Rules . In it, Schmidt outlines ten essential tips to getting the most from knowledge workers.

Staff at Google can expect to be hired by a committee after speaking with at least six interviewers. Hiring committees are made up of managers and potential colleagues. Once hired, staff can expect Google to cater to their every predictable need enjoying dozens of life-services such as dentistry, laundry and massages on the Google campus along with a competitive benefits package.

Having services close at hand is important because Google organizes itself by task-groups, making teamwork an essential skill. Gathering the members of a team together is made far easier with services close at hand.

The piece goes on to cover other ways Google strives to keep its staff happy and creative. It also touches on the oft-used phrase, "Don't Be Evil". To quote:

"Don't be evil. Much has been written about Google's slogan, but we really try to live by it, particularly in the ranks of management. As in every organization, people are passionate about their views. But nobody throws chairs at Google, unlike management practices used at some other well-known technology companies. We foster to create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect, not a company full of yes men."

In his interview with John Battelle, Schmidt expounds on what the phrase means to workers and task-groups inside the Googleplex.

"I was in a meeting where an engineer said, "That would be evil." It was as if he'd said there was a murderer in the room. The whole conversation stopped, but then people challenged his assumptions..."

Lower in the same paragraph, Schmidt notes that his definition of the word evil might differ slightly from some one else's but suggests it offers a framework to consider ideas in. "Think of "Don't be evil" as an organizing principle about values. You and I may disagree on the definition of what is evil, but at least it gives us a way to have a very healthy debate."

Giving frank interviews and offering a glimpse inside the minds that run Google is likely the best way to circumvent or at least exercise some control over the growing image problems the company faces. The two articles referenced here are worth reading in tandem as they offer two views on Schmidt's thoughts.