Making Web Site Search Better for Users and Search Engine Optimization
October 3, 2012
When it comes to improving search engine optimization, there are many services available to choose from. One of these services is discussed in the article, “Smart Rank – Make Your Website Search Engine in a Smart Way.” The author has this to say about the service:
There are many things you have to do if you are looking for a solution regarding making your website top in sales. You would have also come across various seo websites, which are exclusively out there over the internet to help in search engine optimization. A best example for this kind of seo agency is Smart Rank. Smart will help you to increase website traffic without facing the difficulties of technical aspects of search engine optimisation.
The author adds that increasing the bottom line and visibility should be the main focus upon when you own a business or Web site online. And while he advocates Smart Rank, details of the service are not explained but rather that it is simply an easy solution to boost SEO. It may be worth reading into, but you might consider looking at a service with a proven record. Fabasoft Mindbreeze’s InSite solution offers faceted search for your site to give visitors the latest and most relevant content. Additionally, InSite allows you to extract the value of real-time search reporting to give insight so to keep your site optimized.
Philip West, October 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Semantic Search May have Google on the Offensive
October 2, 2012
Search Engine Watch follows the latest in the world of search and they are filling us in on the latest competition to Google, Wolfram|Alpha’s Siri. Some see semantic search as the future, with Siri being the leader of that particular parade. Google may therefore be in jeopardy of becoming outdated and irrelevant. Read the full analysis in “Is Google Afraid of the Big Bad Wolfram?”
The article also gives a good introduction to the new buzz term semantic web:
Search experts have been talking up the ‘semantic web’ for years and no doubt you will have read about how it will ‘transform the landscape.’ For those that have not yet had had the pleasure, let’s explain the basics of what it really means.
While semantic web has many facets, intrinsically it is about organizing data in a way that helps understand the user intent behind a search query. It makes that process easier by mapping things like the relationship between words and phrases to ‘entities’ (people, places, etc). The word semantics literally means ‘the study of meaning.’
So is semantic search important and how can it benefit your organization? Yes, the future is moving toward semantics. But there are ways to incorporate semantic search into your web presence without your own personal army of developers or spending a fortune on an outsourced solution. Fabasoft Mindbreeze brings semantic search to your web presence through its InSite web site search. Insite is immediately ready to use as a Cloud service and can bring your organization into the latest search technology without the customary pain and suffering.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 2, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
GoodData Has More Offerings for Business Analytics
October 1, 2012
GoodData has already made a name for itself by offering SaaS cloud service that also provides its users with a healthy batch of big data analytics. Gigaom reports that, “GoodData Targets Big Business Data With New Offering.” The new service is called GoodData Bashes and it allows users handling marketing, sales, or subscription data to connect the sources into one analytics tool. The primary purpose of GoodData Bashes is to be a simplistic data analytics to the business world.
Even if everything referring to analytics these days is tied to big data, GoodData is actually doing it:
“And despite some reservation over the overuse of the term “big data,” that’s exactly what GoodData is doing — even if its customers don’t know it. As they connect more data sources and expect deeper, faster analytics, GoodData has to step up its operations. Stanek said his company’s infrastructure, which runs on the Amazon Web Services cloud-computing platform, handles about 20,000 data feeds per day from its 6,000-plus customers. GoodData is running Hadoop, in-memory databases, analytics software and everything else necessary to ingest, process, analyze and visualize data so customers don’t have to.”
Cloud computing is an essential part of GoodData’s plan to give its users real-time analytics. Most big data plans are heading in the cloud direction as mobile access grows in higher demand. It means more streams of opportunity to tap into generating more profit.
Whitney Grace, October 01, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Quick Tips for Boosting Web Site Search Rankings
September 28, 2012
With the growing number of active Web sites, getting noticed online can be a challenge for small businesses. TheStar.com shares some insight on the topic and provides tips for improving a site’s search rankings. Jeff Quipp’s article, “Seven Tips to Improve Website Search Rankings,” starts off the list of tips with adding secure links to your site, updating content regularly, and adding variety to the content.
The author has this to say about social media integration:
Ensure the site is “social media optimized” – With the growing influence that social media has on a company’s relationship with potential and existing customers, it’s vital to ensure all website pages have the company’s social profile icons (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest). These icons encourage and make it easy to share the information and increase the chance of it being found in a search.
Quipp also points out that keywords should be used in page titles and offering valuable and unique content that is user-friendly will help boost search rankings. Part of making a site user-friendly is a comprehensive search feature. Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers InSite, a Cloud based service that allows you to generate search tabs on your site to customize the searching experience for your visitors. With semantic and faceted search, site visitors can quickly and easily locate your content.
Philip West, September 28, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Amazon Web Services Announces Online Marketplace for Selling Reserved Instances
September 27, 2012
In the PCWorld.com post, “Amazon Web Services Allows Users to Sell Reserved Instances,” Mikael Ricknas discusses the recent Amazon announcement of an online marketplace where users of cloud computing services will be able to sell their reserved server instances to other companies. Riknas explains reserved instances:
Reserved instances allow avid cloud users to lower their cloud costs by making a one-time payment to reserve compute capacity for a specified term, and in turn, receive a discount on the hourly charge, Amazon said. For example, a standard Linux instance costs from US$0.08 per hour, while a reserved instance with a one-year term and light utilization costs $69 plus $0.039 per hour. That cost divided by the discount means that it is a good deal after running the instance for more than 70 days.
Ricknas says the change is an effort to make the marketplace more attractive and flexible. The announcement may be worth the read if you’ve been looking at Cloud options, especially to learn more about the fees associated with the one-time transactions. You may also consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze’s InSite solution. InSite is a Cloud service that brings together all content from your Web sites, blogs, social media networks, and more so that information can be indexed and accessed remotely with proven security.
Philip West, September 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Amazon Adds SQL Server Support to Manage Big Data Rush
September 27, 2012
As businesses and enterprises rush to chase Big Data in the cloud, Amazon is jumping in by adding additional SQL Server support. DataMation informs us about the support addition in “Amazon Web Services Simplifies Private Cloud Configuration, Adds SQL Server.” We learn that Amazon Web Services has recently added two new capabilities to its Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), the first of which is added support for static routing.
The article tells us more about the changes to the Amazon VPC:
“Organizations must connect to VPC via an encrypted virtual private network (VPN). In the past, Amazon required companies to use BGP routing protocol for those connections, but BGP can be difficult to set up and manage. The static routing option will make it easier for organizations to use VPC.
AWS is also adding support for Microsoft SQL Server within VPC. It had recently also added support for Oracle’s database.”
This service addition from Amazon could attract more enterprises to the service as companies search for Big Data solutions that help them manage the mass of information available in the cloud. We are anxious to see how corporations implement this new support and hope other web services follow Amazon’s suit in this venture.
Andrea Hayden, September 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Amazon Introduces New Virtual Computer Marketplace
September 25, 2012
WIRED recently reported on a new service put out by Amazon in the article, “Amazon Opens Marketplace for Virtual Computers.”
According to the article, the online retail giant has historically operated two distinct services that never really fit together. One the one hand it is an online retailer and on the other it is a massive cloud service. Now, Amazon has come out with a service that bridges the gap. Earlier this month Amazon introduced an online marketplace where you can buy and sell virtual servers called Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance Marketplace.
When explaining the new service, the article states:
“EC2 is short for Elastic Compute Cloud. Akin to services such as Microsoft Azure and Google’s Compute Engine, it lets you access processing power over the net — so you don’t have to buy your own physical servers. Originally, EC2 was a place where you spun up and paid for virtual servers as you needed them. But about two and half years ago, Amazon introduced what it called reserved instances. In short, you could reserve virtual server instances for use in the future — at a cheaper price.”
While Amazon is not the first company to combine cloud computing services with an online marketplace, it does seem to be a natural fit.
Jasmine Ashton, September 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Yandex Offers Cloud Storage Service to Compete with GDrive
September 21, 2012
Looks like Yandex is jumping on the latest search vendor bandwagon and offering cloud storage service, joining the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. The “Google of Russia” has unveiled Yandex Disk which is currently in its beta version and can synchronize files across multiple devices. Wired.com’s article, “Yandex, the ‘Google of Russia,’ Erects Own GDrive,” shares with us about Yandex’s hopes to continue to hold off the Google monopoly.
The article tells us more about the competition between search leaders:
“[…]the giants of the web are building their own services. Apple introduced iCloudlast October, Microsoft re-launched SkyDrive in April, and Google launched GDrive the next day. But much like its U.S. counterparts, Yandex has been expanding beyond search into other areas, such as digital music sales, e-commerce, and much more. The company has also been inching into international markets with English- and Turkish-language products and services.”
Besides Yandex’s powerful role in Russia and Baidu’s presence in China, Google easily is the strongest and most visible search vendor worldwide. However, with all of these changes in services by other leaders in the market, Google will need to stay on its game to ward off the competition, because it is fierce.
Andrea Hayden, September 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Munich International Trade Fairs Depends on Mindbreeze InSite
September 20, 2012
In the online environment, customer service obviously means something different than simply having pleasant face-to-face interactions. Online businesses have to go the extra mile to meet their customers’ needs, but have to assess these needs without the benefit of personal interactions. One key factor in online customer service is an intuitive Web interface and an effective Web site search mechanism.
If customers cannot find what they need, the odds that they will move on to another vendor or site is quite high. Munich International Trade Fairs, which organizes trade fairs around Europe, learned the value of intuitive Web site search through Mindbreeze InSite. Read more in, “Munich International Trade Fairs counts on Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite.”
The article begins:
Munich International Trade Fairs offers a special service to online visitors of the Communication World 2011: easy, secure, and intelligent search through Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. ‘We are pleased to be the first trade organizer in Germany to offer this service on our websites. With a structured overview, the visitor can get to the information he needs faster. I was particularly impressed by the swift implementation. The product was ready for use in less than 10 minutes,’ says Prof. Dr. Manfred Mayer of Munich International Trade Fairs.
So if you are looking for a way to improve your overall customer satisfaction, the painless and hassle-free addition of Mindbreeze InSite will pay dividends in happy customers.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
SharePoint Cannot Meet All Enterprise Needs
September 19, 2012
For all of the talk about what SharePoint can do, sometimes it is good to know what SharePoint cannot do. Avoid an unnecessary expense as well as wasted time and frustration by exploring the BetaNews article, “3 Things Not to do With SharePoint.”
The author begins with an analysis of what SharePoint can do well:
I’m a big fan of SharePoint. I’ve worked with it for years, right back to SharePoint 2001. It does a lot of things very, very well (Since you ask — document management, collaborative working, and increasingly social networking functionality). However, SharePoint also does lots of things, its feature set is simply huge. Not all of these features are as mature as others, and as a result it is easy for SharePoint systems to end up feeling a bit mixed and matched. Some things work well, some less so, and some should have been avoided altogether.
The author then goes on to list the three things you should avoid doing with SharePoint: 1) creating a public facing Web site, 2) customizing graphic design, and 3) treating it like a database. For each of these functions, a smarter choice is to find a third party solution that can work with SharePoint or an existing infrastructure to seamlessly accomplish that goal. For public facing Web sites, we recommend Mindbreeze InSite, a solution that will automatically set up intuitive search on your Web space.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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