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Search Like A Geek
ome people search the Web dominated by computers, software
like a Neanderthal standing and the Internet. It is wise to
before the Library of learn how to use the Internet as
Congress steps grunting, "Me want best you can. By understanding
food!" While other, more how search engines and
sophisticated searchers, act more directories work, like many geeks
like a person actually entering already do, you will find the
the Library of Congress, information you're looking for
approaching the librarian, and more easily, quickly and with a
saying, "Pardon me, please lead lot less frustration. Knowing how
me to your books on agriculture to pinpoint specific bits of
and growing food, and while information quickly will give you
you're at it, please show me your an advantage over most other
books on fine dining in the people who do not have these
Washington D.C. area.". Who would skills. And this advantage can
you rather be? turn into big money by saving you
time in your day to day business.
Back in high school there was the And learning about how to search
‘in-crowd', often populated by will help in your search engine
the jocks, and then there were optimization efforts if you run
the geeks, among other social your own website too.
clicks. Today, many of those
‘geeks' are wildly successful; So, I invite you to pull up your
while some of those unfortunate pants to make high-waters, apply
others are asking us if we'd like some masking tape to the bridge
fries with our burgers. of your eye glasses, and insert a
pocket protector in your front
So it's not so bad being a geek shirt pocket, and join me in
today, especially since so much learning how to search like a
of our lives and economy are geek.
websites, I still hadn't found
The more appropriate words you what I was looking for. I was
use the better. getting frustrated, impatient and
Let's say I want to find tickets was just about ready to toss my
to a new Broadway musical show PC out my window and give up
called Wicked next weekend in New totally.
York City. If you just type the
word ‘tickets' into Google's If instead, I used a few more
search box, you'll get 99.6 appropriate words in my search,
million results, which is very my results would have been much
unwieldy. The first result is better. I tried typing the words
ticketmaster.com. It took 4 ‘new york city broadway wicked
clicks for me to get to their musical tickets' in the Google
listing of Wicked tickets, but search box and came up with
they were out of inventory up to 230,000 results instead of 99
6 weeks from now, so it was a million, which is slightly more
dead end since I want to go next manageable.
weekend.
The first result was
The next result was Tickets.com, www.musicalschwartz.com which
and when I searched for Wicked on offered ‘Ticket Tips - Wicked
their site I found tickets on Broadway, Seating info'. So I
available to Wicked in Toronto clicked on that and learned a
only. Another dead end, I need number of things about purchasing
tickets to the NYC production. Broadway tickets, NYC travel tips
and other information on Wicked
The third result only sold the musical.
airline and cruise tickets, not
what I'm looking for either. The next two Google results were
After clicking on another 4 http://www.eagletickets.com and
http://www.bestshowticketslasvega probably get you little or no
s.com, and they both offered results. So there is a "sweet
tickets for the Broadway musical spot" you'll have to discover for
Wicked in New York City on the any given search, but it is
weekend I wanted. So by carefully almost always using more than 1-2
choosing appropriate words to words.
search with and using more than
one or two words, I found what I Use more than one search engine.
was looking for much more easily When I search on the Web, I use
and quickly than just searching more than one browser and more
using the word ‘tickets'. than one search engine or
directory. The difference between
I am not suggesting you use lots the two is that search engines
and lots of words willy nilly. are run automatically while
The best method is to think of directories are run by humans.
very specific words related to Google is a search engine and
what you're looking for, be a show search results of websites
little creative, and watch what that no one has actually looked
order you put the words in. at in advance. Directories on the
Searching for ‘broadway wicked other hand contain websites that
musical tickets' and ‘tickets have actually been reviewed by a
broadway wicked musical' will person. Therefore, the results
give you different results. you get will differ. A good list
of directories can be found at
Never search using one word. http://www.directoryarchives.com.
Avoid only using two words. Try
to use 3-7 words. This search Open up your browser and click on
rule follows the law of ‘File' in the top left of your
diminishing returns however. So browser and select ‘New' >
searching using 25 words will ‘Window'. Do this a couple of
times until you have three or York
more browsers open on your Even better search: airline
desktop at the same time. Choose tickets to New York -theater
your search words carefully, use
more than two words and try the So if you are getting a lot of
same exact phrase in Yahoo, MSN, extraneous results in your
Google, and a favorite directory searches, try adding a minus sign
using a different browser for to words you don't want showing
each. That way you can compare up in your results.
results to find the best ones.
You can also try a new site I Another good tip is using quotes
found called around your phrases. By doing
http://yagoohoogle.com which lets this you are telling the search
you perform a simultaneous search engine to find the exact phrase
on both Google and Yahoo. and in the order you are
specifying. By adding quotes, you
Use modifiers in your searches. are being much more specific.
Going back to the tickets You'll get very different results
example, let's say I wanted to using quotes. If you searched for
find airline tickets, but each ‘2005 NBA playoff tickets'
time I performed a search on (without quotes) you are asking
tickets, most of the results had the search engine to look for
to do with sports and theater sites that have the words 2005,
tickets. I could weed out all NBA, playoff, and tickets
those irrelevant results by using associated with them. So you will
the minus (-) sign next to the probably come up with airline
word ‘theater'. tickets, football playoff
information, NBA history and so
Bad search: tickets forth. If you put quotes around
Better search: tickets to New your phrase you'll get much
closer to what you want. you time if you remember to use
it.
Use the ‘Find' function.
Trust me; this one suggestion is One can get lost on the Net.
worth the price of admission There is so much information, and
alone. You will save lots of almost all of it is not
valuable time if you do this. applicable to what you want at
Ever get to a Web page that has a any given time. If you use the
lot of text on it, and quickly Net for your business,
scanning the page doesn't pinpointing appropriate and
immediately produce what you're relevant information quickly will
looking for? In fact, the put you ahead of the pack every
scanning just makes you dizzy. time. By following these simple
suggestions, you will find more
Try this: while holding down your accurate results which will
‘Ctrl' key hit your ‘F' key reduce your frustration, save you
(this works on PCs only). A time, and give you an edge over
‘Find' dialog box should pop others who are still searching
up. Simply type the word or for information like a caveman at
phrase you're looking for in the the steps of a library.
box and hit ‘Enter' and it will
immediately find each and every Article by Jason O'Connor
instance of it on the Web page "© 2005
you're on. This will truly save
About the Author:
Jason OConnor owns and operates Oak Web Works, LLC http://www.OakWebWorks.com - the synthesis of Web marketing, design, and technology. Jason also runs http://www.BestShowTicketsLasVegas.com where you can buy Las Vegas, Broadway Show & Concert Tour Tickets. mailto: joconnor888@hotmail.com
Read more articles by: Jason OConnor
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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