Travel Your Way To More TrafficWritten by Ken Mowery
I am not a professional photographer nor am I in travel business. However, I stay very busy these days taking scenic photographs and featuring them on my web site because my "not so" professional travel photos are bringing serious traffic to my web pages. I consider myself a serious hobbyist when it comes to photography. It's a hobby because so far no one is willing to pay for any of my pictures. I know it's a serious hobby because I am never totally honest with my wife when she wants to know just how much I spend on photography. Over years I have been privileged to see and shoot a few of spectacularly scenic locations that exist in U.S. When I started designing web pages I was constantly on search for fresh images. One afternoon my search for a waterfall took me into basement of my home where my wife had stored dozens of shoeboxes filled with hundreds of ordinary vacation snapshots. I found perfect scene for my project among many photographs I had taken of Niagara Falls. I scanned several of Niagara pictures into my computer and tweaked them slightly with an image editor. I was very pleased with results and decided to post images on my personal website. I made a mistake when I typed words and file ended up as "NiagraFalls". I didn't think that much about it because I only planned to publicize Niagara Falls pages to a few friends and relatives so they could enjoy pictures also. A few weeks later I was checking stats for my website and noticed that a number of guests had surfed in through search engines. To my surprise 30% of my visitors had come through a search for "niagrafalls". I went to one of major search engines and keyed in that phrase and was amazed to see that my site was in top ten returns.
| | Search the Web More Efficiently: Tips, Techniques and Strategies (Part II)Written by Daniel Bazac
Search Web More Efficiently: Tips, Techniques and Strategies (Part II) By Daniel Bazac - November 6, 2003 Copyright © 2003. All Rights Reserved.Which Search Tool Should You Choose? * If you're looking for specific information use search engines. * If you're looking for a unique or obscure search term or if you want to make an in-depth analysis of what's out there on a specific subject, then use meta search engines. * If you're looking for general information on popular topics, use subject (web) directories. * If you're looking for scholarly information use virtual libraries. * If you're looking for real-time information or for dynamically changing content such as latest news, phone book listings, available airline flights, etc., then use specialized databases (invisible or deep web.) There are thousands of search engines, hundreds of meta search engines and dozens of web directories and specialized databases. Choosing right search tool - from start - can make difference between a successful search and a frustrating experience. Before Starting Search The easiest way to find information is when you know a web page Internet address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) such as Fortune Magazine at http://www.fortune.com. You can find these addresses on business cards, TV commercials or newspapers. Simply type URL in browser's address box and hit (PC) or (Mac) key. Be aware that in most browsers, you do not have to type "http://" or even "www" before domain name. You can access a site simply typing domain name such as "sony.com." Special note: Be careful when you copy and paste a long URL from an email message or from some web sites. URLs that span two lines have a gap (space) between last character of first line and first character on second line. First, get rid of gap and then paste it in browser's address line. Other times you may not know URL but... you can guess it. Often companies will use their name, acronym or abbreviated name followed by ".com", such as ibm.com or apple.com. The same thing is true for educational institutions (add ".edu" suffix) or government sites (add ".gov") So, whenever you don't know an URL, you can try to guess it. If you do not know URL, you'll have to find it by searching Internet. In many cases, a simple search on name of an organization within most search engines will return a direct hit on their web site. Tips For Searching Smarter: * Read search engine's "search tips" or "help" page before using a search tool. Strangely enough, most of time you'll find "search tips" link on "Advanced Search" page or on "results page." Anyway, regularly check search tips page because rules often change. * Customize output of results. Use search engine's "preferences" page. Some search tools allow you to select value for: * total results per page; usually 10 by default (select * maximum - often 100) * search tool's timeout - select maximum * search depth - select maximum. Be sure to save new "settings" or "search preferences" for next time you use search tools. Also, set browser you use to accept cookies. Tips To Make Your Search Faster: If you're searching for information and you are not interested in graphics on pages you see, turn off or disable graphics. You can also turn off sounds, animation, Java, JavaScript, etc. See your browser documentation for instructions. If you decide to keep graphics, in case of a "heavy" page, you can always press button in browser, immediately after you see text and before graphics are entirely loaded. More Tips: * Most search tools are case-insensitive which means that you can construct a query - your search request - by typing all words - even proper names - in lower case text. * If you type a long query, most of search tools' search boxes are not very wide so you cannot see entire query. Write query in a word processor and then "copy and paste" into search box. Be aware that Google™ only allows 10 words in search box. * Some search tools offer an option called "similar pages" (Google™) or "related pages" (AltaVista and Teoma.) Clicking on that option will show you relevant results for page you're interested in. * Some search engines have a function called "see more hits/results/pages from same domain." Sometimes it can be useful. * Also, some search tools, such as Google™, allow you to see an English translation for a results page that is written in a foreign language. If you want to translate a web page and you have URL, you can also use: * Systran [ http://www.systransoft.com/ ] * Fagan Finder [ http://www.faganfinder.com ranslate/ ] or * alphaWorks (IBM) [ http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/aw.nsf/html/mt ] Remember, don't expect perfect translations because that seldom happens. * Looking for pages in a specific language? Some search engines (Google™, AlltheWeb, etc.) have an advanced search page that allows you to select language from pull-down menu. * If your search terms contain letters not present in English alphabet such as "é" or "ü" (example fiancé or München), use Fagan Finder's (Search Engine Ultimate Interface) which allows you to use these special letters in many major search engines. It makes a big difference. A search for Munchen in Google™ gives 570,000 results while for München - "u" with umlaut - gives 51,700,000 - almost 10 times more. So, let's start searching! Most of search tools can be searched using keywords. Web directories and invisible web databases can also be searched by browsing categories and subcategories. Start with a popular search engine such as Google™, for example. Before typing keywords, take your time and brainstorm relevant words. Create a list of search terms. Write them down. A few seconds of brainstorming could save you minutes or hours of retrieving irrelevant results. Advice for Searching Better: * Select most descriptive words. Brainstorm thoroughly. * Use at least two keywords. * Place most important words or phrases first.
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