Appendix 5
How do I search
for things?
The Internet
The Internet is like a library of books, articles, flyers and waste paper, dropped from 1/2 mile up and left in a huge pile. Therefore, the secret to mastering the Internet is to make use of ‘search engines’ and other guides. We have given you the easiest way of searching by providing a web-page with all the search engine entry forms on one page. Here you can enter your key search word in a selection of search facilities and we deal with all the different commands that you would otherwise have to learn. This is the most valuable thing the accompanying website offers you and we recommend that bookmarking this site is the first thing you do when you visit this book on-line. Go to:
http:/www.marketingnet.com/cybermarketing/search.htm
Even if you get nothing else from the accompanying website – this will provide you with an easy starting point to explore the world wide web for yourself.
The main ways of searching for things on the Internet are:
Your own bookmarks
Whenever you go to a site that is interesting and you are likely to return to again, all you have to do is ‘bookmark’ it. This is supported by most Internet software and you usually just make a menu selection when you are on the page that you wish to bookmark. We would recommend that you immediately bookmark:
www.marketingnet.com so you can return to us at any point.
As you become more experienced on the Internet, the fuller this bookmark list becomes, and it then becomes your starting point for searching. We recommend that you follow a structured approach to bookmarking with a hierarchy at the top level similar to the following:
Search tools
Your company website (if you have one)
Competitors
Professional interest
Personal interest
Fun and entertainment
News and general information
Needs sorting out
Magazines
The most popular way to find out what is new on the Internet is to read Internet magazines. They are becoming more and more targeted towards a certain age and interest area so you need to decide the one most suited for your needs. They typically review new and popular websites by subject area and are good for giving you an overview of what is available online.
After you have whetted your appetite with these magazines, you may now want to conduct some searches of your own on a specific subject. Because there is not one centralized search facility on the Internet, we have provided you with a list of search facilities under this chapter on our accompanying website. Below, we explain what the differences are between these and recommend some good starting points.
Robots
There are computers connected to the Internet which spend all of their time following links from web-page to web-page. As they go, they collect information about each page. They are continuously searching and some of the more established machines have absolutely enormous databases containing extracts from a high percentage of all web-pages. They allow you to enter keywords and return lists of possible sites of interest. It is important to remember that the searching is automatic and so you have to accept lots of inappropriate recommendations. For example if you want to understand the concept of the ‘world wide web’ and you type this in as your search criteria, you will receive a huge list of almost every site as often web-pages say ‘on our world wide web page, we can . .....’.
Lycos is one of the most popular robots on the Internet and with a well designed interface is a good starting point. The search results displays the first set of words which appear on that particular page.
Categorized lists
These computers are connected to the Internet but are not actively searching around the Internet but are databases which people submit information. People add entries describing their website which is then updated to appear in a classified list. It is up to the person publishing their pages to define where their entry appears. The extracts held in the database are also specifically defined for entry into this database and as such make for much better reading when you have completed a search.
Again, you can enter keywords and receive lists but the descriptions are usually more intelligible. However, the real strength of this approach is that you can start with a broad category, e.g. travel, and then explore down a decision tree to narrow your search. This is a very good way of assessing how much other related information exists for a particular topic and therefore how popular this topic is.
Yahoo is one of the most popular categorized lists. It is free to make an entry and it's free to search. They sell advertising space to make their money. When you get the results of your search, you will get a panel enticing you to click on it and move to a company's website. Because this service is so popular, they provide the opportunity for advertisers to gain access to a large number of users.
Infoseek is free to add an entry into the database and also free for users to search on a limited basis. For full search functionally they make a small charge. You set up an account giving your credit card number over the phone and then they deduct payments as you use this service. One nice feature is the ability to store your search criteria and return to them at a later point. This is an excellent way of tracking competitors outlined in Chapter 2.
Haystack is free to search but you have to pay to have your website as an entry. There are various levels of charges depending on how much information you want displayed on the search results for your customers to look at.
News group searches
Although news groups are classified into subject areas, it is sometimes difficult to guess where a particular issue will be discussed. Therefore, an excellent way of finding the right way to talk is to use one of the news group search engines.
X is a good example. You enter a key search word and it will report back a list of messages that have been sent recently with this key word in – listed by news groups.
The best of…
Particularly loved by the ‘global beachcombers’ (see Chapter 7), these give you a chef's tour of interesting or new sites to review. The Top 5 per cent is an example of one where sites are nominated by anyone who cares to express an opinion and the top five each year are given a Top 5 per cent Award – this is the equivalent to the Oscar and is a very sought-after award. For the ultimate beachcombing experience there are several sites which will randomly choose a site for you. It is quite incredible what you can see using this approach. We recommend that you do this just to soak up the atmosphere of the Internet.
Links off other sites
It is a common feature of a website to offer links to other relevant websites. What usually happens is that web publishers agree to cross-link their pages in this way.
Advertisements
It is becoming more and more popular to include a website in all your promotional literature. Look out for this in papers, magazines and TV.
Asking people on forums
It is quite acceptable to find the right news group and post a question asking for recommendations. ‘Do you know of any websites that do …?’ Many news groups would appreciate if you posted back a summary of your findings for use by other people. This is an extremely good way of coming in on a news group and also of publicizing your website if it is of relevance to your particular news group.
Guessing URLs
This is very desperate, it is a last ditch attempt but quite common. This is where you type in a likely company URL at the bar at the top of the screen. It is very hit-and-miss but try several combinations as follows:
Also try product names in the same way.
This Appendix has given you the basics for searching. Please remember that you are unlikely to find all your needs satisfied by only one search mechanism and it is the combination of the above which can make you a true Internet professional.