How Search Engines Operate

While often very complex in their calculations and data processing, the critical operations performed by the major search engines in order to rank websites isn’t as lengthy as one might think. The processes they use to provide relevant results when a web search is undergone can best be described in the following four steps.
* Send out the Web Crawlers
Search engines use invisible “bots” or spiders,” which are really programs or automated scripts, that browse (or “crawl”) the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Search engines use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data. This type of technology is necessary because the rate at which people create new Internet documents greatly exceeds any manual indexing capacity. In fact, an estimated 20 billion web pages exist, and search engines have crawled about half of them.
* Index the Pages
After a spider crawls a web page, it makes a copy of it and adds it to its database. This process is known as indexing. With so many search queries submitted each minute, it is very important that search engines are steadfast in their index management so that they can search and sort billions of documents in fractions of a second.
* Process Queries
Search engines process hundreds of millions of search queries every day. When someone keys in a search term and clicks “Search,” the engine retrieves from its index all of the documents that match the query. It determines a match by finding the same terms or phrase entered into the search bar. Entering a multi-word phrase by itself can return literally millions of results, but entering that same phrase in quotes can greatly narrow the results, giving the user a more accurate listing of websites that relate to their particular search.
* Rank Pages
A very closely guarded mathematical equation, called an algorithm, is employed by each search engine to determine how to sort and rank search query results. This algorithm allows the engine to rank the most relevant web pages first, and the rest in descending order of importance to the user.

What You Can Do for Your Website: Avoid Speed Bumps & Walls

You may not know it, but you could be hindering or preventing your website from being crawled by search engine spiders. As spiders crawl the web, they rely on the architecture of hyperlinks to find new web pages and revisit those that may have changed. Complex links and deep site structures with little unique content may act as “speed bumps” in the process by slowing down the spiders. Even worse, data that cannot be accessed by web crawlers are really like “walls” in that they completely prevent your web pages from being ranked.

Beware of the Following "Speed Bumps":

* URLs with 2+ dynamic parameters; i.e. http://www.url.com/page.php?id=4&CK ... User=%Tom% (spiders may be reluctant to crawl complex URLs like this because they often result in errors with non-human visitors)
* Pages with more than 100 unique links to other pages on the site (spiders may not follow each one)
* Pages buried more than 3 clicks/links from the home page of a website (unless there are many other external links pointing to the site, spiders will often ignore deep pages)
* Pages requiring a "Session ID" or Cookie to enable navigation (spiders may not be able to retain these elements as a browser user can)
* Pages that are split into "frames" can hinder crawling and cause confusion about which pages to rank in the results.

Beware of the Following "Walls":

* Pages accessible only via a select form and submit button
* Pages requiring a drop down menu (HTML attribute) to access them
* Documents accessible only via a search box
* Documents blocked purposefully (via a robot meta tag or robots.txt file)
* Pages requiring a login
* Pages that re-direct before showing content (search engines call this cloaking or bait-and-switch and may actually ban sites that use this tactic)

In order to avoid the above pitfalls and ensure that your website’s contents are fully crawlable, be sure to provide direct, HTML links to each page you want the search engine spiders to index. Remember to make every page of your site accessible from the home page, since the home page is usually the place spiders begin their crawl. It’s also a good idea to add a sitemap to your website in order to increase its navigation.

This article was written by David Montalvo, Senior SEO at Active Web Group.

Where do great new ideas come from?

To all of you out there that think you know design: unless you have a solid design morgue of great concepts to find inspiration from, you don’t have a firm handle on how the process really works!

I have actually met/worked with designers (and even past partners) that don't see the value in going to design shows and never build a library of design other then their own concepts. This is sad because they are missing out or have forgotten why we all went into the field of design in the first place.

All of the greatest creative people from history drew their inspiration from something they were exposed to by a predecessor. My dad always said: “Good designers create, great designers steel!” Meaning that all great designs start with inspiration from seeing something that stirs their creative juices and gets the ideas flowing. Remember: there is a big difference between inspiration and plagiarism!

I recommend that you, as a designer or marketing professional start collecting brochures that make you stop and go wow! Organize them by type and whenever you have a project, take a few minutes to relax and look through your collection. Keep the collection growing too.

There is always a new twist to see and find inspiration from. You might like the approach someone took with the typography on a brochure. You might like the way someone positioned his or her photos in relation to the page and text. You might like the way that a picture was taken and the technique used to make it memorable. Put this all together, coupled with your - skill set and talent, and you have a fresh new design that (hopefully) others may find inspiration from.

I feel that in order to be a great designer, you must first get over the notion that you have the market cornered on creativity and embrace the concept that others around you can provide you stimulating ideas that will help you grow. Confidence and arrogance are very different. Add excitement and curiosity to your lexicon and ideas will be abundant.

- Tom

Great Design Concepts

Advertising and Marketing…Radical Simplicity

In advertising and marketing communication, to many people believe more is more. Cram the page! Say it all - about everything! - and don’t forget the kitchen sink!

The fact is, more ain’t more!

Direction! Focus! Application! Say just enough to nail the sale…and save the rest for a company biography.

Good advertising and marketing design, like the selfless Samaritan, takes one step back to push the message three steps forward. It surrounds the story in a pleasing visual environment, stubbornly refusing to compete for attention. Rather, it is happy to pause the eye – sometimes in inexplicable ways – and tenderly, persuasively draw the reader in.

From corporate advertising to retail advertising, our well thought out creative designs get attention for our clients.

Curran Corporate Design, Inc.Think…Create…Succeed.
Advertising and Marketing Services

Direct Mail…It Really Works!

Post card mailers, call-to-action mailers, dimensional mailers, newsletter distribution, information pieces, circulars – They all have one thing in common. If they are composed with a simple and compelling message and are visually appealing, direct mail works. It works really well.

Couple a well-designed piece with a strong distribution list direct mail can truly be a tremendous source of new business development and support. Direct mail is an ideal accompaniment to strategic advertising when tested in the right markets.

Is direct mail right for your business? It could be. Is Curran Corporate Design, Inc. the best choice for you to partner with in your direct mail campaign? Definitely. Give us a call and lets explore the possibilities together.

Curran Corporate Design, Inc.Think…Create…Succeed.
Direct Mail Services

Hey Brainiack…Where’s Your Web Site?

Flash…eCRM…ePRM…HTML Mail…Delivery Channel Management…SFA Modules…Collaborative Filtering…WLA tools…RSS feeds,,,Affiliated Marketing...raise your hand when your head starts to explode!

There are so many electronic media tools out there designed to convey your message and help you serve your customers better as well as market to new potential customers. But where do you start?

We don’t suggest that you grunt and throw a Mastodon bone at the Moon, but it is important to know your needs and the needs of your customers before you jump on the next space shuttle to planet techno.

That being said, it is important to face some facts. The world is moving to electronic media as the new source for bringing businesses and people together. Electronic marketing is quickly replacing conventional Print, TV and Radio advertising as the way to reach a larger marketplace.

You need to begin to learn more about your options to communicate your services, products and needs to your potential audience...but first, you need a good web presence as your platform for "the world of tomorrow"!

From attractive business-to-business web sites, to full-blown ecommerce initiatives, we have produced effective solutions that help our clients stay on the cutting edge of societal evolution so that they can market smart.

Let us show you how.

Curran Corporate Design, Inc.Think…Create…Succeed.
Corporate website design