News & Media

Google, with over two billion documents in its search database, is the most popular search engine on the planet. Here’s how to get the most out of it.

Ever wondered how late entrant Google overtook its entrenched competitors to become the most popular search engine on the planet? Or how a small upstart called Hotmail became the leader in web-based email and was then purchased by Microsoft for a cool $US400 million?

Why are the vast majority of websites generic and static, when the web is an interactive medium? A website isn’t just a collection of pages; it’s something you do, not view. It’s time website managers dusted off their log files, databases and other untapped goldmines of demographics, psychographics and clicko-graphics (how your visitors traverse your website), and tailored their sites to each visitor’s needs.

Remember 20th century e-commerce? Perhaps you’d rather forget. The days when people threw money at any e-business idea that sounded vaguely plausible are long gone, but they shouldn’t be forgotten. Some of those famously ill-fated ideas had merit, but the execution let them down.

Email can be your company’s secret weapon, or it can end up biting you in the backside if it’s seen as junk email or spam. It all depends on the execution. So says Debbie Mayo-Smith…

Van Dyke’s Restorers is pretty happy with the results of its site redesign. With a 450% increase in traffic within three months and a 500% leap in revenue, why wouldn’t the Woonsocket, SD-based cataloger be happy? What’s more, the redesign didn’t involve major changes to the Website offering. All that the marketer of woodworking and furniture restoration supplies had to do was …