SUPER SEARCH TIPS

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Eight Tips for Super Searching

Plain old Web searching doesn’t do the trick anymore: It yields too much random data. Here’s how to get what you want when you want it—sometimes before you ask for it. By Bill Dyszel

Nobody “surfs” the Web anymore. Some 80 percent of all online sessions begin with a search. Just look at Google: It makes over $1 billion every quarter on search ads. But plain old Web searching doesn’t do the trick anymore. Most Web searches turn up too much random data, or they don’t give you what you need when you need it.

If you’re an efficient searcher, you know to hit the Web running. Here are tricks that will help you get what you want when you want it—sometimes before you ask for it.

Go on the Alert

Why search every day for news about the next release of your favorite game? Google Alerts can send you a daily, weekly, or up-tothe-minute e-mail that sums everything up.

TOPIC TRACKER

Let Google keep an eye out for topics of interest to you with Google Alerts.

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LIvE MACrOS Microsoft Live Search macros let you build and save frequent searches within specific sites.

Yahoo alerts don’t offer Google’s level of detail, though the menu-oriented interface gives novices a clear idea of what alerts are available. But Yahoo makes you sign in before you can create an alert, a task that could easily sidetrack distractable users.

Know an Operator or Two

You can create tightly defined searches through search operators. For example, if you want to search only PCMag.com, append the operator site:pcmag.com to your query. If you really want to geek out on all the search possibilities, peruse Google’s and Yahoo’s lists of search modifiers.

Take a Shortcut

Firefox launches a search when you rightclick selected text and choose Search in Google from the shortcut menu. See “Firefox 3: 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do” to learn how to get zippier performance from Firefox.

Get Personal

Vanity surfing isn’t just an exercise in ego building. If you have a reputation to protect for any reason, you need to know what people can find out about you. Google’s Profiles service allows you to set up a personal page in which you describe yourself to the world of Google searchers (you know, everybody). This page gets priority in Google search results. Google profiles don’t erase nasty comments others may have made about you on the Web, but they do give you equal time to make your case.

When you’re looking for personal information about other people, Web searches are often too general, but if you go to www .pipl.com, you can find a slightly scary level of detailed personal information about

FIREFOx SHORTCuT

Firefox users can select text on a page and rightclick, then choose Search in Google to do a quick search on that text.

yourself or anyone else. The information you find on Pipl is frequently much more detailed than what you’ll get from Google. Even if you don’t like bad news, it’s usually better if you find the dirt on yourself before someone else does.

Troll Twitter for Timely Tips

Despite its reputation for disseminating drivel, Twitter is probably your best source for fresh, time-sensitive information, and an essential resource for ensuring that you’re dealing with current information. It also delivers information of a different nature—search engines tell you what a machine thinks you’re looking for, but a Twitter search tells you what other people are choosing to say about that topic right now. The mainstream search engines also conflate today’s information with stuff that’s been hanging around for years, while Twitter searches skew toward recent relevance. Twitter’s plain old search box can deliver a mother lode of information about what’s on the world’s collective unconscious right this minute, as can the search tools in the most popular third-party services like Twitscoop and Twitterfall. You can also ferret out current trends through the search tools built into many of the free, downloadable helper applications for Twitter, including Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop, and AlertThingy.

Live a Little

Microsoft Live Search macros let you build and save frequent searches. For example, if you’re new to the Linux OS distribution Ubuntu and search the forums a lot, you can build a search (or use the already available macro) that includes those sites. When you’re ready to search, just plug in what you’re looking for and the search will automatically be limited to those sites.

The macros are buried in the More menu at the right end of the main Live Search screen, and they can be really helpful. Go to the bot-

tom of the More menu and choose See All. You’ll see two headings that refer to Macros: Edit Macros and Find Macros. The Find Macros menu lets you browse macros other people have created, while Edit Macros is your choice for creating menus yourself.

Tailor the Responses You Get

The Internet makes more wrong information available to more people than ever before. Google now invites you to promote items from your search results (that is, move them up in the search ranking), or remove them altogether, by clicking the gray icons next to each returned link. As you repeat this action in different searches, Google’s software learns to deliver results that are more reliable for you—more in line with what you tend to look for. So, for example, you might get recipes when you search on “chicken,” while Farmer Pete gets items about the care and feeding of laying hens. In addition, Google now tries to deliver “personalized” results by taking into account what you’ve clicked on in the past, so your own past search habits could affect the results you get as well.

If you can’t have Web search results injected directly into your brain, that’s only because Google’s engineers haven’t yet figured out how to push advertising up there, too. The minute they do, you’ll know. n

16 Cheap or Free Marketing Ideas

How can you get your business noticed without breaking your budget during these tough economic times? By Kathy Yakal

In this economy, you need all the help you can get to ensure that your business is noticed amid all the noise. Marketing is key, but which approach to take? The first thing you may think of is to send out e-mail blasts or hire a consultant. While these are good ideas, everyone’s already doing the first, and the latter can be pricey. Besides, there are lots of things you can do on your own that are cheap or free.

increase Visibility in Your Community

Join local organizations that provide business networking opportunities, or start your own. Do volunteer work for a large charity. You’d be surprised at the marketing support such activities can bring.

Participate in online Marketing Groups

Search Twitter and other social-networking sites for groups meeting to discuss marketing. For example, Understanding Marketing holds a chat on Twitter for small businesses. It’s live each Tuesday from 8 to 9 p.m. eastern time. Search #smallbiz on Tweetgrid .com.

submit information to Blogs

Blog writers are always looking for content for their sites. Target appropriate ones and send them press releases or descriptive e-mails.

Reward Existing Customers

Offer an exclusive incentive to your regular customers—only your regular customers. Notify them via e-mail or other contact methods, and direct them to an otherwise inaccessible page on your Web site where the offer appears.

Get Your Customers to Bring in new Customers

Offer an incentive like a discount for every customer who gets a friend to make a transaction with your business.

Provide Free, Helpful information to Your Customers

Such content should be related to your type of business and can include tips, hints, reviews, and other information that can drive sales. For example, a business selling paint can provide a guide to selecting the

inExPEnsiVE iDEAs The Web site Good Marketing Ideas offers excellent marketing tips that cost very little to implement.

best paint for different uses. Such informative content is often available from suppliers. Use it.

spruce up Your Web site

Stale sites don’t attract customers. Fresh, frequently updated Web sites show browsers you’re a vibrant and active business. Let users subscribe to get update notices, then add new material regularly and often.

offer Your noncompeting Business Customers a link Exchange

A link exchange is much like a bulletin board that holds your customers’ business cards. The more links your business has to its Web site, the better your search engine placement. If more people see your business’s links, more will visit you.

use Downtime for Marketing

When times are slow, keep employees busy contacting customers. Create e-mail marketing documents your employees can send to individual customers. Personal contact with customers gets results. Mass e-mails are less effective and, given today’s e-mail spam filters, may not be seen by many. Go for quality contacts rather than quantity.

Visit Your own Web site Frequently

Look for ways it can be improved. Too often, small business Web sites load slowly, are poorly organized, and are difficult to navigate. Fix bottlenecks that impede customers, and look for ways to get customers to act. Make sure all links work and lead to upto-date content. Test campaigns with printable coupons and other incentives. For more tips, see our story “Build a Better Web Site.”

Get Active in the online Community

Encourage employees to do the same. Don’t spam discussion forums or other social sites, but don’t be afraid to use signature lines containing links to your Web site. Establish common-sense rules for yourself and your employees regarding these social-

networking and discussion sites, and always strive to be positive and helpful on them.

Check out Your suppliers’ Web sites thoroughly

Add links on your site to informative and helpful content. Many corporate sites offer instructional videos and other material that can inform your customers and lead them back to you, ready to do business.

Get a toll-Free Phone number

It makes you look more professional and encourages business—and the fees aren’t as high as you might think.

launch a Blog and update it Daily

Nothing reads “I don’t care” like a blog whose most recent entry is days old. Assign this task to employees who can write and spell—an illiterate blog is worse than no blog at all. Introduce people to your company and its staff. Highlight products. Run contests and give away company swag. Announce specials and upcoming productline changes. Establish a “customer-of-themonth” tradition and do regular write-ups.

Yes, use Facebook and twitter

Having a Facebook page may not earn you any new business, but not having one may cause customers to ask why you don’t. Use the page to somehow put a more human face on your company identity (perhaps with photos of your office and employees). Twitter is a young technology, and everyone’s scrambling to figure out useful applications. In the meantime, let your customers at least follow you, and implement a strategy similar to what you’re using in your blog.

Visit online Marketing sites

Good Marketing Ideas is an excellent site, with plenty of useful tips. The suggestions here cost little or nothing to implement, and will likely lead you to resources you might never have thought of on your own.

never surrender

Getting new and potential customers to notice you is an ongoing—and sometimes uphill—battle, and one you can’t ever stop fighting. Pick a new idea every week or two and implement it, no matter how small it is. Call a meeting of employees, order pizza for lunch, and brainstorm; offer prizes for ideas that get picked. Before long your marketing might just pay off in new sales—and happier, more committed customers. n

CHAt on tWittER The site Understanding Marketing holds a weekly chat and Q&A session geared toward small-business marketing.