Sign Up Today for our
Marketing Newsletter! |
Net Profits is our newsletter sent directly to your email
|
|
Sign Up Today for
our Shopping Newsletter. Just what you need if you offer your
customers products to purchase or if you shop yourself |
|
|
Not enough time to write your own newsletter. Riclin House's Professional
writers can produce a monthly newsletter to send to customers
and potentials.
VERY Affordable
See More Here
Featured Site
Tahoe Mall
Wholesale Prices on 1,000's of Gift Items.
|
|
|
More Articles
Sept. 1998 - "Now is the Time"
Oct. 1998 - "What is the Internet?"
Nov. 1998 - "It's an Email World"
Jan. 1999 - "Little Help from a ..."
Jan. 1999 - "Is the Internet Safe?"
Mar. 1999 - "Desktop Clutter"
Apr. 1999 - "Searching the Net"
May 1999 - "What's in Domain Name?"
June 1999 - "Inernet Chaperones"
July 1999 - "Mind Your Online Manners"
Aug 1999 - " Chasing the Porsche"
Sept. 1999 - "Buying Hardware"
Oct. 1999 - "Buying Software" |
|
(This article was originally published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune)
Searching the WorldWide Web for a particular piece of information
can be a monumental journey. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of
the web (exceeding 100 million pages), most people’s first question
is, How do I find the information I need? A valid question, and
considering the size of the task, it is not uncommon to click
through dozens of sites harboring information only remotely connected
to your interest. So what are you to do when you want to know
the fastest, yet safest way to defrost a salmon, the last pitcher
to record 100 strikeouts in less than 100 innings, or the earth’s
highest mountain peak (and how high)?
The short answer is by utilizing Search Engines. Search engines
are tools that find and sort databases of information, then chronicle
that information by specific criteria to make searching an easier
process. At least that is the theory.
Ease is not always the case because each search engine developed
independently, which translates into no consistent operation formula.
The mode search engines cultivate and utilize information is as
different as the beverages at a coffee house, each with a unique
flavor waiting to be indulged. Like the coffee house, each person
will have to sample the products before finding the one they really
like.
Think of search engines as giant libraries. First, you enter the
doors (home page) and find the catalog file. Like a physical library,
you can look for information by topic, author business, or any
number of other ways.
Most search engines are set up in hierarchy fashion. In other
words, the main topic, Sports and Recreation, gives way to a list
of sport types (archery, baseball, fantasy sports, horse racing,
etc.). Some topics have dozens of second level topics. Those topics
then list a sub-grouping, which in turn gives way to a list of
web sites particular to your search criteria. As you click through
the hierarchy, you hopefully near what you want to find.
Each search engine has its own search techniques as well as unique
expanded search capabilities. Let’s examine Yahoo, which is the
largest and oldest search engine.
At Yahoo’s main web site (www.yahoo.com), there is a listing of
topics, beginning with Business and Economy. By clicking those
links, you will get more lists within the Business and Economy
section, such as art, recreations, sports, etc. You can click
through those lists until you reach a level that houses the information
you are searching.
That approach, though interesting, may not secure the results
you desire. At that same Yahoo opening page, there is a text box
where you add specific search criteria.
Let’s say you want to search food. Adding food will bring up a
list of every web site that deals with food or even has the word
food on its page. That search will give you millions of choices!
Let’s say you want to more accurately search information about
blueberry muffins. Within Yahoo, criteria is searched by adding
+’s between words like this: blueberry+muffins.
Note: Since each search engine has its own set of rules, look
for definitions on how to best search using their particular engine.
Some engines may require quotes (“ “) around certain words; others
may use the Boorlean approach, which require words like AND, OR,
NOT as connectors between words such as blueberry ANDmuffins.
A bit clumsier , the boorlean search technique is nonetheless
utilized by several top search engines.
Remember that the more pin-pointed the search, the better the
listing of associated sites. Always narrow your search to be the
most specific you can.
According to most experts, 90% of people use the top 7 search
engines. They are Yahoo, AltaVista, Infoseek, HotBot, Excite,
Lycos, WebCrawler. Again, each search engine judges criteria and
develops their databases in different formats; learning to use
more than one will gather more and better information per your
interests. Try all and choose the two or three you like.
The journey can be half the fun, more so if you arrive at the
destination you wanted to find in the first place
Rick Langford is founder of Tahoe Mall, The Tahoe Net and Cache-World
Email
|
