I'm interested in hearing how people phrase their searches, the broader the cross section of responses I get the better for this purpose.
Even if you dont have anything new to add it helps demonstrate any "trends" if say a large percentage of people use single words.
Things to consider might include:
Do you use multiple words.
Do you use single words.
Do you use booleans.
Do you use plurals (signwriter vs signwriters)
Do you phrase your query as a question.
Do you include your locale in a query for a potential purchase.
Got any tips or tricks for egtting the best results?
The results will be available to anyone who would like them (anonymous numbers of course) and if I can get a sizable enough response I think they could prove useful to letterheads with websites and involved in online commerce.
If you know of a source of information like this I'm sure there would be others on this board that would be interested also.
For the hardened cynics amongst us, there are no sinister marketing motives involved here just an interest in the subject both personal and commercial - no spam, no other use of the results etc.
Feel free to email me with your responses at fisherd@rocolqld.com if you prefer.
I post this request here because I know there is a VERY broad range of web users that visit letterhead.com
I considered building a page for this purpose but survey pages are so impersonal and un-thought-of possibilities are easily missed.
Thanks in advance,
David
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D.A. & P.M. Fisher Signwriting
Brisbane Australia
da_pmf@yahoo.com
) I use multiple words if necessary..never use booleans...never phrase as a question..sometimes include a location to narrow down a search. One thing I ALWAYS do is enclose my search words in quotations. That way most search engines look for EVERTHING that is within the quotes.I am sure you know all about the meta tags and make sure that you only use each keyword once and include every possible word that might possibly describe the type of work that is involved by the website owner.
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Dave Grundy
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
dave.grundy@quadro.net
www.quadro.net/~shirley
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gail
wacky wetcoast of bc
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D.A. & P.M. Fisher Signwriting
Brisbane Australia
da_pmf@yahoo.com
The, other other Dave,
I had to find the place that made Stain Glass Windows for St. Patrick Church in Decatur Illinois (the renovation project I was involved in)
Anyway, I was just looking for historical information because I didn't know the place was still in operation.
I typed this in the search window:
Stain Glass Munich Germany
The place came right up in the top 10 searches! Seems they are still very much in business after an incredible 150 years!
Imagine having a business span 5 generations!
I'm getting off the subject, but I got really excited!
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Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA
Be Sure to Check Out My Next Article On "Sign Shop Photography" in the March Issue of Sign Builder Illustrated!
309-828-7110
drapersigns@hotmail.com Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
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Designing... it's like an itch in the brain... an itch you can't scratch, that if you can figure out how to scratch it, it just itchs more
http://www.slamgraphics.com
Rochester, N.Y.
mark@slamgraphics.com
The best advice I can give is to register the site with as many search engines as you can. You will get a broader base with each search engine added, and you will score high on meta-searches because the same hit was found on several web engines. Alta Vista, MSN Web Search, Netscape Netcenter to name a few. A lot of other search engines use the Open Directory Project. There are a lot more, some free and some not so free.
BOOLEAN
The term "Boolean," often encountered when doing searches on the Web, refers to a system of logical thought developed by the English mathematician and computer pioneer, George Boole (1815-64). In Boolean searching, an "and" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear AND apple") means one is searching for documents containing both of the words or values, not just one of them. An "or" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear OR apple") means one is searching for documents containing either of the words.
In computer operation with binary values, Boolean logic can be used to describe electromagnetically charged memory locations or circuit states that are either charged (1 or true) or not charged (0 or false). The computer can use an AND gate or an OR gate operation to obtain a result that can be used for further processing.
This definition brought to you (not really) by the fine folks at www.whatis.com - a very handy site for computer related information. -such as a list of every file format in the world (almost)
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Bob Darnell
London, Ontario, Canada
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Personal portfolio: www.members.home.net/bob.darnell
Where I work: Excellent Signs and Displays Inc.
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[This message has been edited by Bob Darnell (edited March 11, 2001).]
