Two weeks ago, a team member wrote a terrific report. You read it and then filed it, but did you put it in the client's folder on the G: drive, or in the solutions folder on the E: drive? Last month a colleague sent you an email about an innovative solution that she a read about in an online article. Since then you've received more than 80 emails a day; what are the chances you can find that one easily? And just this morning your best client called with a problem you know you could solve easily if you could only figure out what folder that report was in and where you filed that email.
Sound frustratingly familiar? The problem has never been filing information - it's always been finding it later when you need it. It used to be that storing information in shared folders required rigorous application of rules as to where everything went. But of course, the more people who added content to the folders, the more likely it became that something would not be filed where it "belonged." In the massive virtual filing cabinets we keep these days, data may be safe and secure but it's not always easy to locate.
Until now. Both Google Search Appliance and Microsoft SharePoint Server for Search offer a way to dip into your deep stores of data and come out with just what you're looking for, no matter where it may be hiding. Companies have been working on developing enterprise search tools for several years, and these two are good examples of the power of positive searching to get just the results you need, when you need them. These wonderful tools allow you to search for files in a whole host of areas, and the "hits" you get back are usually what you are looking. Best of all, it doesn't matter where they are!
One company had more than 300,000 documents in various repositories including wikis, blogs, websites, CRM systems, eRooms, PDFs, and MS Word documents. This company also had to balance access to information with maintaining the security of sensitive company information. By installing an enterprise search solution, and adding some customization, the company opened up a new world of information retrieval. Now, both their employees and offshore workers are able to do their jobs much more effectively.
The capabilities of these search tools to pull together useful, timely information are truly impressive. If you ever find yourself wondering, "Where did I put that…?" you should take a look at the new generation of search tools.
At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don't sweat - Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.
Showing posts with label search engine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label search engine. Show all posts
Friday, May 02, 2008
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Why Won't My Listing Show Up on the Google?
That's the question many businesses ask. You spend money to design a great, effective website, and you sprinkle the content with what you think are sure-fire keywords. You know enough about search engines to realise that they "look" for not only keywords but also frequent updates to content and activity when calculating your search engine ranking. Each of the major engines – Google, Yahoo, Ask, and others – has a closely guarded system for ranking web sites.
So you have a great site. You want to see your listing there on the search results page. You start trying your keywords in a search and scan down the page of results – your listing isn't there! You go to the next page, then the next…and somewhere down the line you finally find your company.
If you have a product or service that is not unique in the world, this has probably happened to you. Try searching on "computer repair" – in Google I got 17,200,000 possible results! Narrow it a bit more to "computer repair service" and now we have 2,200,000 results. Try again with "computer repair service Sydney" and it's down to 166,000. But that's still a massive number, and if you're not on the first couple of pages of results, chances are people won't scroll long enough to find you.
Why do some companies always seem to be at or near the top of the list? The answer is simple: They pay to be there. That's right, you can buy your way to the top of the page. Look again at your search results, and notice that the very first few results have a slightly different background colour and, in small print, "sponsored results."
But unlike traditional advertising, where you put an ad in a magazine and hope your potential customer sees it, advertising on search result pages is very much targeted. All of the search engines have such programs; you choose your engine and then plan your advertising campaign around it. Google's AdWords is one that has been around for several years and has features that not only help you get business but also help you tweak your ads for best effect.
Here's how it works. You create an ad that Google displays above or beside regular search results, based on the keywords you choose to be associated with. For instance, if you have that computer repair service, you might want your ad to appear when people search for "PC repair" or "computer parts" or even "memory chips."
What's different from traditional advertising is that you don't pay Google to run your ad. You pay them when someone actually clicks on your link, at so much per click. How much? That's also up to you. You "bid" on keywords. If you bid more than other people then your ad will appear nearer the top. In addition to your bid, Google considers how effective your ad is, based on how many people click through, when choosing how high on the list to display your ad.
The major advantage of using AdWords is that, if someone uses your keywords in a Google search, you know they are looking for what you are advertising. You've hit your target. Google also has great tools that help you refine your ads to be better targeted. Using their reporting capabilities, you can even tell you which buttons are being clicked.
AdWords can be a cost-effective part of you marketing. To get started, visit our web site and let us help you.
At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don't sweat - Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.
So you have a great site. You want to see your listing there on the search results page. You start trying your keywords in a search and scan down the page of results – your listing isn't there! You go to the next page, then the next…and somewhere down the line you finally find your company.
If you have a product or service that is not unique in the world, this has probably happened to you. Try searching on "computer repair" – in Google I got 17,200,000 possible results! Narrow it a bit more to "computer repair service" and now we have 2,200,000 results. Try again with "computer repair service Sydney" and it's down to 166,000. But that's still a massive number, and if you're not on the first couple of pages of results, chances are people won't scroll long enough to find you.
Why do some companies always seem to be at or near the top of the list? The answer is simple: They pay to be there. That's right, you can buy your way to the top of the page. Look again at your search results, and notice that the very first few results have a slightly different background colour and, in small print, "sponsored results."
But unlike traditional advertising, where you put an ad in a magazine and hope your potential customer sees it, advertising on search result pages is very much targeted. All of the search engines have such programs; you choose your engine and then plan your advertising campaign around it. Google's AdWords is one that has been around for several years and has features that not only help you get business but also help you tweak your ads for best effect.
Here's how it works. You create an ad that Google displays above or beside regular search results, based on the keywords you choose to be associated with. For instance, if you have that computer repair service, you might want your ad to appear when people search for "PC repair" or "computer parts" or even "memory chips."
What's different from traditional advertising is that you don't pay Google to run your ad. You pay them when someone actually clicks on your link, at so much per click. How much? That's also up to you. You "bid" on keywords. If you bid more than other people then your ad will appear nearer the top. In addition to your bid, Google considers how effective your ad is, based on how many people click through, when choosing how high on the list to display your ad.
The major advantage of using AdWords is that, if someone uses your keywords in a Google search, you know they are looking for what you are advertising. You've hit your target. Google also has great tools that help you refine your ads to be better targeted. Using their reporting capabilities, you can even tell you which buttons are being clicked.
AdWords can be a cost-effective part of you marketing. To get started, visit our web site and let us help you.
At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don't sweat - Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.
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