eNew Egypt

Ladies and Gentleman, start your Search Engines!

Last week we started a series of discussions relating to the various search services available on the Internet. I stated search services come in one of two main flavors. However, the column as it ran failed to discuss the second type of search service available on the Internet. Due to the space limitations we had to drop that part of the column and for that I apologize and hope we didn't you cause too much inconvenience.

Getting back to the search services I explained that search directories are a collection of web documents, organized by professionals, into a hierarchical, subject-based structure. I also said that search directories are most useful when looking for information in clear categories, such as makers of yogurt or listings of educational institutions. The second type of search services, is the search engine. Search engines behave differently than directories in that they index words in web documents. Excite, AltaVista and Infoseek are some of the more popular search engines.

To find web site documents in a search engine you ask a question or submit a query. The search engine then matches your query words against the indexed words it has in its databases and presents a listing of possible documents. Typically, search engines are most useful when looking for more difficult topic areas or for those topics that do not fit into the clear categories used by directories.

In general, three out of every four search engine users said that they use the Internet primarily for finding information. While the same percentage claims their biggest frustration lies in their inability to find the information they want, which is largely due to the fact that even the biggest search engines only index up to one third of the Internet's public documents.

Remember there's no magic bullet and the fact is-- bad queries return poor results; good queries return great results. Therefore, over the next several weeks I will develop a tutorial to help end the frustration. I will show you the techniques necessary to create effective search engine queries. Until then don't get too frustrated and God Bless.

QuickClicks

We will also be listing 3 web sites each week that may be of interest to you.

www.irs.gov - At this site you can download and print forms and publications that you may need for personal or business tax filings. It also offers a Small Business Resource Guide, tax regulations, taxpayer help, electronic services, and much more.

www.souprecipe.com - Here you will be presented a "soup du jour" and over 500 soup recipes. The site gives the ability to enter an ingredient and then returns a list of soups with that ingredient in it.

www.stamps.com - This site offers a postage service to print postage right from your printer. They offer a free no risk trial offer and a chance to win up to $5000 in free postage.

Vince Lotito is President & Founder of Internet eBusiness Solutions Center, a business and technology firm based in New Egypt. Have any questions you want answered but were afraid to ask? Drop me an email at eNewEgypt@mainstreetsusa.com or call 758-8858