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Atricle Dump - How to Improve Your Site Search
Is there an easy way to make the competition irrelevant? In an age with so much access to information, bombarded by advertisements and commercials, is it possible to keep the attention of your potential customers? What is the secret to help customers make an easy decision to buy? There is a secret formula that works for e-commerce, retail, bids and proposals. It is a simple formula that has worked since the days of bartering beads, beans and burrows.Create DifferentiationCreate differentiation within your own products or services. If you have an assortment of products or services to offer, you may have identified your differentiation already. Common examples of differentiation for products may be based on size, speed, colo
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: d
You know there are many things in our civilization that are so important really and picking up the trash is clearly one of them. In fact it is a super important responsibility to protect our civilization from disease and build of filth, which can cause all sorts of horrific issues for society. And to this point one of the most important jobs and careers in this case is that of being a Garbage Man or Woman because you can help keep our civilization clean and safe.So often we say the wrong thing to kids growing up and we tell them you better go to college and get a degree otherwise you will end up a garbage man. Well, that maybe one way to get gets motivated thru fear to stay in school, get a degree and enter corporate America, but
As an example: on Monday 12th December 2005, I wanted to buy a copy of Jamie Oliver's new cook book Jamie's Italy from amazon.co.uk. So, I went to the "Books" section of their website and searched for "olivers italy" and these 9 items appeared on the results page:
1. "The American Tractor" by Patrick W. Ertel
2. "A Garden in Lucca: Finding Paradise in Tuscany" by Paul Gervais
3. "History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans" by Pamela Ballinger
4. "Oliver Tractors" by Jeff Hackett, Mike Schaefer
5. "Wyoming (Moon Handbooks S.)" by Don Pitcher
6. "Wines of Australia (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides)" by James Halliday
7. "All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music" by Ron Wynn (Editor), et al.
8. "Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia" by Prosper Montagne
9. "The Teacher's Calendar: The Day-By-Day Directory to Holidays, Historical Events, Birthdays and Special Days, Weeks and Months" by Holly McGuire (Compiler), et al.
Jamie Oliver's book didn't appear anywhere on the results page, even though it had been Amazon's 3rd best-selling book in the previous 24 hours.
The problem was that I had typed "olivers italy", instead of "oliver's italy" (which would have returned Jamie Oliver's at the top of the search results list). That single missing apostrophe was all that it took for Amazon's expensive search engine to splutter, fall over and fail.
So - if Amazon can't do it, it must be impossible, right?
Wrong - here are some things the boys & girls at Amazon could - and should - have thought about.
Two types of problems
There are two basic types of problems that a user can experience when they are searching for something:
- User-error - the correct search term is entered incorrectly (i.e. the user intends to enter a search term that would cause the search engine to return results that are relevant to their needs, but they enter it incorrectly).
- Search engine error - the wrong search term is entered (i.e. the user enters a search term that the search engine does not relate to their needs).
User error
People generally enter the correct search term incorrectly because they either:
- Don't know how to spell it.
- Have made a typing error
It's important to realise that there are millions of potential customers who can't spell very well. For example, a 2003 survey of the literacy (i.e. reading and writing) estimated that there were 16% of English adults (aged 16 to 65-year-olds) had literacy levels no higher than those expected of an 11 year-old (source: The Skills for Life Survey).
Also, let's not forget that according to the British Dyslexia Association around 4% of the population are severely dyslexic and a further 6% have mild to moderate dyslexia problems.
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: di
When you are thinking about income, one thing that might be crossing your mind is an easy way of getting cash, and this might be a residual income business opportunity. There are many things that can turn out to be a good residual income business opportunity for you and all of these things could end up being the key to your comfortable life. However, there are some things that you should know about residual income business opportunities and things like them before you start.What Are theyFirst of all, you should know that residual income business opportunity are income opportunities that are based on you not having to do anything but you being owed money anyway. This usually happens on the internet, when you have put an add
4. "Oliver Tractors" by Jeff Hackett, Mike Schaefer
5. "Wyoming (Moon Handbooks S.)" by Don Pitcher
6. "Wines of Australia (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides)" by James Halliday
7. "All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music" by Ron Wynn (Editor), et al.
8. "Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia" by Prosper Montagne
9. "The Teacher's Calendar: The Day-By-Day Directory to Holidays, Historical Events, Birthdays and Special Days, Weeks and Months" by Holly McGuire (Compiler), et al.
Jamie Oliver's book didn't appear anywhere on the results page, even though it had been Amazon's 3rd best-selling book in the previous 24 hours.
The problem was that I had typed "olivers italy", instead of "oliver's italy" (which would have returned Jamie Oliver's at the top of the search results list). That single missing apostrophe was all that it took for Amazon's expensive search engine to splutter, fall over and fail.
So - if Amazon can't do it, it must be impossible, right?
Wrong - here are some things the boys & girls at Amazon could - and should - have thought about.
Two types of problems
There are two basic types of problems that a user can experience when they are searching for something:
- User-error - the correct search term is entered incorrectly (i.e. the user intends to enter a search term that would cause the search engine to return results that are relevant to their needs, but they enter it incorrectly).
- Search engine error - the wrong search term is entered (i.e. the user enters a search term that the search engine does not relate to their needs).
User error
People generally enter the correct search term incorrectly because they either:
- Don't know how to spell it.
- Have made a typing error
It's important to realise that there are millions of potential customers who can't spell very well. For example, a 2003 survey of the literacy (i.e. reading and writing) estimated that there were 16% of English adults (aged 16 to 65-year-olds) had literacy levels no higher than those expected of an 11 year-old (source: The Skills for Life Survey).
Also, let's not forget that according to the British Dyslexia Association around 4% of the population are severely dyslexic and a further 6% have mild to moderate dyslexia problems.
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: d
Office Furniture play an important role in daily lifestyle of people who use to go to office everyday. It is the furniture you have to stick to when you are in the office. It is often assumed that your chair and desk are vital things to your workplace, and it certainly have some role to help you perform your work suitably. Office workers are often heard complaining about the furnitures being nuisance to their work. In such way, this is very important that a office have furnitures designed to comfort the workers.The kind of furnitures that a office requires depends upon the type of company they are, their budget and needs of furnitures to be set at a particular space. A fully computer operated office will need rolling chairs and c
So - if Amazon can't do it, it must be impossible, right?
Wrong - here are some things the boys & girls at Amazon could - and should - have thought about.
Two types of problems
There are two basic types of problems that a user can experience when they are searching for something:
- User-error - the correct search term is entered incorrectly (i.e. the user intends to enter a search term that would cause the search engine to return results that are relevant to their needs, but they enter it incorrectly).
- Search engine error - the wrong search term is entered (i.e. the user enters a search term that the search engine does not relate to their needs).
User error
People generally enter the correct search term incorrectly because they either:
- Don't know how to spell it.
- Have made a typing error
It's important to realise that there are millions of potential customers who can't spell very well. For example, a 2003 survey of the literacy (i.e. reading and writing) estimated that there were 16% of English adults (aged 16 to 65-year-olds) had literacy levels no higher than those expected of an 11 year-old (source: The Skills for Life Survey).
Also, let's not forget that according to the British Dyslexia Association around 4% of the population are severely dyslexic and a further 6% have mild to moderate dyslexia problems.
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: d
You set up a retail business, you advertise in your local newspaper, you get customers coming into your store, and you receive payment at the cash register. Create an online store, and...how do you get customers? How do you receive payment?The concept is the same, but the steps are different.Step 1: Create your websiteIf you don’t have web design skills, you can hire a qualified web designer to create a website for you, or you can use an online site builder. Think of it as hiring an architect and an interior decorator compared to setting up shop in an existing store.Using a web designerWith the services of a web designer, you can have a unique website template and website customized to yo
User error
People generally enter the correct search term incorrectly because they either:
- Don't know how to spell it.
- Have made a typing error
It's important to realise that there are millions of potential customers who can't spell very well. For example, a 2003 survey of the literacy (i.e. reading and writing) estimated that there were 16% of English adults (aged 16 to 65-year-olds) had literacy levels no higher than those expected of an 11 year-old (source: The Skills for Life Survey).
Also, let's not forget that according to the British Dyslexia Association around 4% of the population are severely dyslexic and a further 6% have mild to moderate dyslexia problems.
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: d
Have you ever wondered why it has been a big deal for companies to have a web site of their own? Yes, it is because the Internet is the widest and most popular medium that they can use to market and sell their products or services. Not only that billions of people go online each day that can be possible customers, but also having a Web site that is visited by most Internet users will make the company increase its market appeal, aside from the fact that it is much easier to do business online.But then with a lot of Web sites that has been created for years, how can one make sure that more and more people will visit their Web site? The answer… a process called Search Engine Optimization or SEO, which makes it possible for Web sites
This means that your search engine has to account for people making basic knowledge-based spelling mistakes.
Your search engine should also account for people who know how to spell what they are looking for, but make typing errors. The main categories of typing error are:
- Characters close to one another on the keyboard being entered erroneously (either in place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor.
- Characters being omitted. For example: missing/missng ; oliver's/olivers.
- Characters being entered too many times. For example: impossible/imposssible.
- Characters being entered in the wrong order. For example: disaply/display ; being/ebing.
Your search engine should allow people to make these mistakes and still return useful and relevant results.
Even though we have named these types of issues ‘User error', if your search engine fails to return information that that the user is looking for it is, of course, your fault and not theirs!
Search engine error
When people enter the wrong term into a search engine, it is only wrong because you have not anticipated it. You should aim to cover as many bases and anticipate as many different search terms as possible.
What to do
The next steps for making your search engine perform better are really simple:
- Sit down and make a list of all the spelling errors, typing errors and alternative search terms that you think could possibly be relevant to your site (e.g. actually look at your keyboard and think about what letters are close to one another).
- Ask other people in your organisation to make similar lists.
- Do some research into what search terms people are using on your site (e.g. interviews, questionnaires, check your search engine logs, etc.)
- Apply everything you learn to your search engine.
And that's it. You now have the knowledge you need to begin improving your site's search engine.
Other thoughts
- Improvements in word processing software have made people lazy typists. Software that auto-corrects many spelling and typing errors means that people are no longer forced to review and correct their work to the same extent as in the past. This means that many people are getting out of the habit of precise spelling/typing. So, when they move out of an auto-correcting environment (and onto a website, for example) they are more likely to make - and less likely to notice/correct - mistakes!
- Search results pages should display the search term the user entered in large text (e.g. 28pt). This would help people spot any inadvertent errors.Results pages should also provide the telephone numbers for customer enquiries/assistance.
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