The millions of sites and resources on the Internet can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, there are a number of tools to help you find what you're looking for online. Learning to use the search tools effectively pays dividends in time saved and useful business information gathered.
Using search tools, you can find information online that can be helpful in developing your marketing strategy. You can find data about competitors' promotions, product lines and pricing. You can also use the internet to study government data, finding low-cost suppliers and research trends in your market.
Linking to web sites of interest using hotlinks on the web page you're reading is an easy way to move around the Web. However, you may find yourself wandering around the Web for hours without locating any useful information.
Certain web sites, often termed "portals," list collections of web sites for various topic areas. Business groups, universities, and professionals in the field develop these lists. You may encounter portals when you're surfing the Net, or you may find their addresses in news and feature articles around the Internet. Evaluate the completeness and quality of these listings and whether they remain up-to-date. Add a bookmark to your browser for sites you find helpful so you can return to them again. University, trade association and library web sites often provide good places to start.
Search engines build databases of key words to help you locate web sites. You type in one or more keywords or a question, and the search engine attempts to return a listing of relevant sites. There are many popular search engines, each offering certain advantages.
Most popular search engines are free because they generate revenue from advertisers on their sites. Some search engines claim they are larger, faster or more selective than others. Some rate the match to your keywords, and many offer options of listing just the web page title or alternatively, a summary or several lines of text to describe the web site.
Learn to use advanced techniques to refine your searches. Each search engine offers tips on how to use compound searches. For instance, in Google if you click on "Advanced Search" to the left of the search box, you will be presented with a wide variety of options for refining your search.
It can take a long time to repeat a search when trying out different search engines. Metasearches look through several search engine databases at once, returning a merged list of results. Because regular search engines don't include every web site in their individual databases, you may discover web sites listed in databases you don't regularly use if you use a metasearch engine.
Here are some popular metasearch engines:
To find other metasearch engines, simply enter the word "metasearch" in any search engine.
Most search engines have directories that allow you to select a general category or topic from their list and then search for keywords within that category or topic. Typical categories are travel, health, sports, business, companies, entertainment, and education. By indicating that you want to search for your keyword(s) in only sites that are included in one of those categories, you have the ability to be more specific in your search.
For example, if you wanted to find sites related to small business, you could limit your search to the "business" category.
One of the largest and most popular directories, Yahoo, allows you to see how relevant a site is to your subject area by ranking the match to your set of keywords. The most likely match is listed first, the next likely is listed next, and so on.
Some popular directories are:
If you are looking for a person or a business, Switchboard.com is a free database of white pages, yellow pages, directories and maps. You can enter a name and other identifying information to narrow your search.
Usenet is worldwide bulletin board system that can be accessed through the Internet or through many online services. It contains more than 14,000 forums, called newsgroups, which cover every imaginable interest group. They are a good way to interact with other people about a topic of mutual interest. Networking through the newsgroups is a way to find out other sources of information about topics you are researching. Many general search engines also include newsgroup categories in their directories.
Many text online resources, especially those of universities, were first organized into "gopher" sites prior to the development of the World Wide Web. (Gopher is the name of the mascot of the University of Minnesota where the protocol was developed.)
In a gopher site, files and folders are available, but there is no interface to guide you through intuitive paths to the specific information. Changing the old information from the gopher format into the newer format takes time.
Once you've located a web site, can you trust what you find there? You should consider the source of the information with the same criteria you would use for any written material. One clue to the origin of the web page is the top level domain name (appears at the end of the URL):
.gov for government
.edu for education
.org for non-profit
.com for commercial sites
.net for commercial technology-related sites
Like any skill, practice makes you a better researcher. Each time you explore the Web you learn more about what works for you in finding what you need. Try a variety of methods in your research. The more different lenses you look through, the better picture you will have of what you are seeking.
