Every now and then something comes along that is destined to have a profound effect on our lives, and in this instance the way we use the Internet. You are fortunate to be able to witness this fundamental change and be in the enviable position to make the best possible use of this advance notification from the outset.



The way we use the Internet has changed very little since its original conception. Techniques have changed and the various forms of communication have advanced tremendously, but the way we search and submit our sites or even conduct our business online hasn't. That is until now.

In the mid to late nineties it became apparent to every business owner large or small that an online presence was not only necessary but expected. If you were expanding or intending to trade globally this was the most effective method available to achieve your objectives.

This not only applied to businesses that produce physical products, but also to service related industries, hobbyists, business opportunity promoters and information publishers. In fact anyone and everyone who uses the Internet to trade or search.

There are currently two major flaws affecting your ability to either promote your business or subject and to search for the information or product you require and its all down to the vast amount of information now at your fingertips, and the current method of presenting said information.

Having a choice and utilizing your ability to make those choices is essentially what makes you human. But there comes a point when the choice is so overwhelming, that you switch off and the laziness of human nature takes over.

This results in a tendency to only use or view the information or product which is placed directly under our noses, making us totally oblivious to the vast amount of useful products and information still to be discovered.

Some examples of this can be seen in a recent search of Google for three totally different products. Lets look at a business service that most, if not all other, business have to use in order to trade lawfully.

Accountants

Total results 45,600 forty five thousand six hundred

Now lets look at a middle of the road hobby such as Soap Carving. Not the most popular hobby when compared with say fishing.

Soap Carving

Total results 900,000 nine hundred thousand

Finally I searched Business Opportunities and the results were staggering.

Business Opportunities

Total results 185,000,000 one hundred and eighty five million

The results displayed are mind boggling and far beyond the research abilities of any of us,even the most hardy.

When searching the Internet how many of us even bother to go beyond the first three pages of results. In all honesty I would be very surprised if many of us searched beyond the first three results on page one.

Where does this leave the millions of other results. It leaves them wandering in the Google wilderness, with no hope of ever being discovered.

Another area where the Internet has and still is having a profound effect is the local small business. Your local Plumber, Carpenter, Electrician or Car Mechanic. The guy you rely on when things go wrong in your day to day life. Here are a few examples of searches carried out just for New York.

Plumbers

Total results 1,320,000 one million three hundred and twenty thousand

Carpenters

Total results 3,780,000 three million seven hundred and eighty thousand

Car Mechanics

Total Results 1,170,000 one million one hundred and seventy thousand

This is only the tip of the iceberg. When you find what you are looking for how can you be positive that the product, information or service is suitable for your requirements, and is the best available solution for your particular problem. The answer is. You cant.

Yours may be a start up business and you need the services of an Accountant. If you search the Internet and settle for an Accountant you find within the first three pages of the search how will you ever know if you are receiving the best possible service for your particular business.

The simple fact is you don't and you never will. You have checked out the testimonials and all seems well but are they truthful or are they the ramblings of his receptionist who was given the task of writing them one boring rainy Monday afternoon in December.

Lets take my business as a prime example of how the Internet fails the small independent. I run my own laminate and real wood flooring supply and installation business. A one man business run from my home. I have been operating for the past nine years and I am very experienced in my field and relatively successful.

I utilize the classified section of my local newspaper and the services of Yellow Pages to advertise my services. I also have a website devoted to my business. So where do I receive most of my inquiries from. Mostly they come from the the classified section of my local paper, simply because unlike the Internet and Yellow Pages, my ad is placed directly under the very noses of the people who might require my services.

That leaves me with two areas of advertising which are costing me money, yet are not delivering value for my advertising dollar.

The Internet costs me for site construction, maintenance, submission and hosting.

Yellow Pages costs me an annual fee for insertion. My customers expect me to have a presence in these areas yet neither of them yield any results for my business, and this is simply because my website and Yellow Pages ad are lost amongst the all the other results.

With Yellow Pages we have no control, because listings are displayed in alphabetical order and we can't all have a business whose name is Acme. The Internet is a different matter altogether. With the Internet we can use various methods to promote our business and try to push our websites into the top search results with the search engines. At least in theory.

Lets look at the ways of promoting your site online. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as its more commonly referred to. This will cost anything from nothing for a service that doesn't work to a couple of hundred dollars just to prepare your site and make it search engine friendly.

Then search engine submission, a half decent service will cost you upwards of twenty dollars per month. Content, this is the killer, content is king thats what we are constantly told, and if this is truly the case then we should be changing the content of our sites regularly.

I don't know about you, but my business is the same business I started nine years ago, so how do I change my content and why would I want to if it adequately conveys my business and the service I offer.

The same could be said of any website on the Internet. The Accountant doesn't change his business model every month. There are no new innovations in soap carving which would warrant monthly changes in this site either.

If changing the content of your site is a major way to get your presence felt on the Internet then it leaves most of us destined to remain in the wilderness.

How do we combat this problem and where do we go from here. In my opinion and I have carried out a substantial amount of research on this matter. The only way forward is the newly emerging Search Sub Engines.

Unlike the standard search engine this is mostly a paid for submission. But you certainly get value for your advertising dollar.

The Search Sub Engine offers you the opportunity to list your site for a selected period. It allows you a full page to promote your service and a direct link to your site.

Within the promotional page you get various tools to promote your site, including an auction style feedback facility for your customers to use. This serves to instill confidence into new customers by enabling them to read the comments of your previous clients. Allowing them to make a truly informed choice as to whether your service, product or information is really adequate for their purposes.

The greatest advantage the Search Sub Engine has over a standard search engine is that it rotates your site. This means that say you submit your site for fourteen days, throughout those fourteen days your listing progresses up the search results until you are eventually result #1. Top of the tree for your search category.

This is the greatest single benefit that any site owner can ever receive from any online service. To finally be #1 and without all the Seo, search engine submission or worrying about constantly changing your content.

Sure you have to pay for it, but you're paying for the search engine system. It may be indirectly but you're paying all the same and without the desired results.

How does this benefit the searcher. The main benefit to the searcher is that every time you search a category the Search Sub Engine will display a completely different set of results. This allows you to finally truly search your subject and discover some of the once obscure sites that offer just the product, service or information you require.

As for the small local independent it enables you to put in place a feedback system that allows future customers to trade confidently with you, knowing that your business and your level of service fits their requirements exactly.

All in all the search sub engine has something for everyone and as its popularity continues to grow I am positive we will find it an invaluable ally for all our varied uses of the Internet.