* There are hundreds of search engines, but only 20-30 main ones, and just four-five of them account for 60-75% of total search engine traffic. For example, Altavista gets about 17% of total engine market and it equals roughly 40 million searches a day; as opposed to Lycos or HotBot which each get 2-3% of market. It would shock you to know Yahoo only gets about 24%! *

My two favorite search engines to locate what I'm looking for is dogpile.com and alltheweb.com

dogpile.com allows you to search through 14 search engines at same time! Type in your word(s), click on FETCH, and WaLA! You've just worked a little smarter, not harder. At dogpile.com you can choose to search through images, audio, auctions, news, FTP, Discussion, and Small Biz.

At dogpile you can use advanced searching techniques, by using additional syntax, that will help * you gain added control over your search and weed out any unwanted results. *

Additional Syntax for Searching Techniques:

>> Type AND between words or symbol + before a word thus allowing a specific combination of words to be present in all search results. Example: Home AND Clutter or Home + Clutter will result in different search results.

>> Type NOT between words or symbol - before a word Example: Dogs NOT Cats or Dogs - Cats will result in sites when only dogs appear but not cats.

>> Type OR to include both words. Example: Office OR Clutter

Not all search engines support these syntaxes in dogpile; therefore, dogpile will only search engines that support syntax you use, allowing a more tailored result.

alltheweb.com searches for documents on Internet that contain your search word(s). They offer a pull down menu to left of search window where you can choose from different syntaxes. They also offer an advanced search where you can perform word filters, word(s) that should be included or excluded from your search.

Here's to finding what you are looking for!

Smiles, not Piles, Janet L. Hall is owner of OverHall Consulting, an organizing firm for office, home, computer clutter, and your life. Visit her website at http://www.overhall.com Phone consultations and coaching are available.

Copyright (c) 2001 by OverHall Consulting P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute this article so long as article is kept intact, this copyright notice, and full information about author is attached.

That being said, there are lots of advantages for doing business on Internet! It truly offers one of best opportunities for 'average' person to test their entrepreneurial spirit. Some of advantages of being an online business owner are:

+ Affordable startup costs. You can get started with just a few hundred bucks.

+ Flexible. Because your work is done on your computer and from home, you get to choose when you work.

+ Possibility of more free time -- eventually. Some online businesses can be automated to a certain extent. Automation will help to reduce your workload and eventually give you more free time. + Testing and research are relatively cheap. Need to find out what your potential audience thinks of a product idea? Chances are, there's a message board (or a hundred) where your potential audience gathers. Need to research your competition? Use search engines. There's so much you can do online for little or no money.

+ Exciting! If you thrive on change, Internet is one of best places to get it! You can experiment and test to your heart's content for minimal cost.

+ Ever-growing. Every day more people get 'connected' to 'net. That means that your potential audience is always growing.

+ Multiple streams of income. You have ability to sell lots of different products online -- including other company's products, in return for a commission -- which means that you can potentially earn several 'pay cheques'! A bunch of 'smaller' cheques may not seem like much on their own, but add them all up and they can become a solid stream of income.

+ Opportunity is everywhere! The Internet reaches a worldwide audience with a wide variety of interests. There are countless niches on which you can focus your energies!

Some people turn a profit within just a few months; others take years. There are lots of 'little guys' -- small, home based businesses -- who are happily and successfully earning a living from Internet. Will you be next?

_____

Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical guide that shows eBusiness beginners how to build an online business on a shoestring budget. Visit her online at http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html or request a series of 10 free reports to get you started: mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com .