New InSites into the FAST Search Engine . . . an interview with Stephen Baker of Fast, Part 1

Written by Robin Nobles


Continued from page 1

Cost?

For a "limited time" (they don't say whenrepparttar offer expires),repparttar 128036 annual membership is $18 plus $12 per URL. This is assuming you use Lycos InSite Select to initiate your service. Prices may vary according to reseller.

When you actually sign up forrepparttar 128037 service, you'll be asked to choose between Standard Submission whererepparttar 128038 spider begins at a starting point that you determine, and then indexes as many pages deep as you specify. Advanced Submission allows you to list all pages you specifically want indexed after whichrepparttar 128039 FAST spider will continue to "discover" URLs within your site up torepparttar 128040 total number you've specified. This option assures that your most important pages will make it intorepparttar 128041 FAST index rather than leaverepparttar 128042 indexing to chance.

Here's how Lycos InSite's spider works:

* The spider goes to a Web site and follows hyperlinks throughoutrepparttar 128043 site. * The spider parses and downloads certain pages as it moves throughrepparttar 128044 site. * The spider has reachedrepparttar 128045 limit of URLs determined byrepparttar 128046 user's subscription service, it stops spideringrepparttar 128047 Web site. * The file of spidered URLs are then built into a search catalog. * If your account is missing pages and you use JavaScript heavily, you can submit individual pages using "Advanced Submission." * If your pages use META refresh tags, enterrepparttar 128048 target destination pages instead. * And, further details can be found atrepparttar 128049 web site -- http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/

Besidesrepparttar 128050 basic version of PartnerSite I (explained inrepparttar 128051 list above), FAST offers three additional versions ofrepparttar 128052 program, all geared toward larger sites with different needs. Lycos calls these versions Lycos InSite Pro and within this category they have their PartnerSite II, III, and IV classifications.

Mr. Baker explained, "Recent studies indicate that 80% of shopping carts are abandoned because of poor site search." So, FAST is providing sites with a search-ability solution through its PartnerSite packages.

PartnerSite II: Designed for sites of up to 250 pages and includes a FAST-hosted onsite search engine. Cost: $189 month.

PartnerSite III: Designed for sites up to 500 pages and also includes a FAST-hosted onsite search engine. Cost: $279 month. Mr. Baker elaborated on PartnerSite III:

"When you register for version III,repparttar 128053 FAST spider crawls your entire site, up to 500 pages. In addition to including those pages inrepparttar 128054 FAST index, we host an index of your site's pages and provide you with a Search My Site tool bar that you can paste into your HTML. This allows site visitors to search onlyrepparttar 128055 contents of your site. Inrepparttar 128056 next version, we will provide more control torepparttar 128057 subscriber overrepparttar 128058 site search rankings, but Web search rankings will always be determined by FAST."

PartnerSite IV: Designed for sites up to 500 pages and provides bulk inclusion via XML but no site search.

Baker added, "We have developed our own DTD (Document Type Definition) to integrate XML feeds. XML indexing is actually how we currently index database pages. We haverepparttar 128059 partner create an XML feed according to our DTD that hasrepparttar 128060 'page to fetch.' This essentially tells our crawler not to explicitly try to crawlrepparttar 128061 page, but rather, just 'fetch,'repparttar 128062 page's contents."

Editor's Note: Document Type Definition definesrepparttar 128063 legal building blocks of an XML document. Seerepparttar 128064 DTD School for more information: http://www.w3schools.com/dtd/default.asp

Forrepparttar 128065 latest information onrepparttar 128066 different versions of PartnerSite, visit:

North American Customers: http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/

International Customers: http://www.lycos.de/

Lycos is only one of Fast's pay inclusion program partners in a list that is still growing. Forrepparttar 128067 complete partner list. go to:

http://www.fastsearch.com/products/internet/partnersite_partners .asp

(Continued in Part 2)

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training courses. She also teaches 3-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).


Congratulations! You’ve Gotten Visitors to your Site! Now, can they find what they're looking for?

Written by Robin Nobles


Continued from page 1

But why did FreeFind stand out amongrepparttar others, and why was it so important to me to wait until they could index password- protected areas? FreeFind offers some features that I couldn't find on other onsite search engines, features that would help me tremendously with my work.

For example:

* FreeFind will automatically create a What's New page, after you've any changes torepparttar 128035 site. Just think of how much help that will be for me with my training material? Between my two programs (beginning and advanced), I have over 1000 resource pages to update every single month, and I've been creatingrepparttar 128036 "What's New" page by hand. Now, it's automatically created for me.

* FreeFind isrepparttar 128037 only onsite search engine that enables your visitors to findrepparttar 128038 page they're looking for, then keeps an eye on it for any changes. Their ChangeDetection (tm) monitoring system lets your users monitor a page for content changes, then notifies them whenrepparttar 128039 page is changed. If you set up this engine on your own site, it will build traffic by turning casual, one- time visitors into repeat and loyal visitors who return again and again to look at changes made torepparttar 128040 page that are of particular interest to them.

* FreeFind will automatically create a Site Map of your site. This Site Map is an alphabetical listing ofrepparttar 128041 pages on your site. The Site Map will be even more valuable to you if you have a regular, non-password protected site, because it will giverepparttar 128042 Web search engines a page of links to spider.

* FreeFind will search across several domains. So, if your company has numerous domains, your onsite search engine will cover each of those domains, without having to set up separate engines.

In Conclusion

Look closely at your site. Is it time to add an onsite search engine? Is it time to make sure visitors can find exactly what they're looking for when they land on your site? Are you losing customers who get lost and can't find what they want?

FreeFind (http://www.freefind.com) is an excellent onsite search engine that met my exact needs. However, to be fair, and because this article isn't meant to be an advertisement for FreeFind, here are some other onsite engines that you may want to consider. Look closely at their features, and findrepparttar 128043 one that works best for you.

Other Onsite Search Engines

Atomz: http://www.atomz.com

PicoSearch: http://www.picosearch.com

SiteLevel.com: http://www.sitelevel.com/

FusionBot.com: http://www.fusionbot.com

A listing of numerous onsite search tools: http://www.searchtools.com ools ools.html

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training programs. Visit the Academy's training site to learn more (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). She also teaches 3-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).


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