Aside from giving your site's navigational interface an overhaul, the next best thing is a personal search engine! Now, obviously I don't mean the type that searches the web (such as AltaVista or Yahoo) but instead, one that will carefully sift through your site and deliver the specific pages that your visitors are looking for.
I've tried out so many cgi-based and offsite search engine programs on my site that I've honestly lost count. Why did I never pick one of those and stick with it? -- none of them seemed to be able to keep up and deliver the targeted results I was looking for.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
I wanted a search engine that would:
- give good, accurate search results
- be fast so visitors wouldn't have to wait
- automate the process of indexing the site (to include new pages)
- be easy to set up and manage
- deliver reports on what people "are" actually searching for
- conform to the design of my site (not just a cheap template)
- search non-html pages (such as flash and pdf)
- restrict the indexing of "non-public" pages
Atomz.com provides web site owners with a free search engine that can do all (and more - surprisingly!) of the things I outlined above! The program runs offsite (on their servers, not yours) so there are no complex installation procedures, as with many other competing programs.
Before I go on, I wanted to make sure you understand... the Atomz.com Search Engine is FREE! (though if your site has over 500 pages there are "premium charges").
You can configure Atomz.com to re-index the pages of your site automatically as often as you like (for instance, every night). This will allow new pages that you've recently added to be included in future searches.
One of the things that really did convince me that Atomz.com is "the best" solution for site searching was the list of MAJOR COMPANIES that are using it on their own sites! A few of these include:
Webmonkey.com
OReilly.com
EmailAddresses.com
WHAT'S THE CATCH?
Unlike most providers of "free web services" - Atomz.com doesn't require you to plaster your site with advertisements for them in exchange for use of their services. The one requirement is that the small Atomz.com logo is displayed on the search results pages on your site (which as I mentioned, are easily configured to look exactly like the rest of your site!). If you choose to go with the "Prime Service", it'll be unbranded and will not require any mention of Atomz.com at all - anywhere!
Users are provided with a detailed control panel which allows you to customize the parameters of your search engine, as well as view reports on what and how many searches are being made on your site.
SOUNDS GREAT, EH?
I know you will immediately "fall in love" with your new (free!) Atomz.com Search Engine. Feel free to take a look at some of the sites (listed above) that are using it themselves.
Good luck my friend, and enjoy!
