Website Costs Parameters

Finally you have decided to build a website and join the web world. Now, you'll have to make valuable judgments on the money involved. This article will guide you through the cost involved to build website.

Website costs will include:

1. Computer Equipment: To develop a website you'll need equipment like computers and other electronic gadgets. I can hear you say that you already have them. If that's the case, do go for upgrading the computer before moving to design the website. For, you wouldn't want the designer complain of outdated software in your web site.

2. Design: Even if you know bits and pieces of design, it is better to go for a professional web designer to get an impressive site. However, you can work closely with the designer and he'll include the features you ask for. Some clever web designers may charge additional charges for graphics. Beat them on it. Clarify and include the services charges and settle for prices which are all-inclusive.

3. Content: You'll need to calculate the cost on content and content management. The content should be rich in keywords and keyword phrases. Good keywords will help in getting visitors to your site through search engines. You must be thinking of a good Thesaurus. Don't - go for a professional content developer. He would be able to make the content valuable, interesting and give the right keywords. If you pause and think-the web site costs will be a lot lesser if a content developer is employed as the revenues would be more.

4. Web site maintenance: You'll also have to consider the cost of the web site maintenance while calculating web site costs. Websites will have to be updated regularly to attract visitors to the site. Surely, you wouldn't want a website which looks the same all the time. So, it would be wise to hire a web designer to update the site on hourly basis.

5. Advertising: There is no use in having a site if nobody visits it. Spending money on advertising helps in increasing the revenue. Calculate the cost for a high rank in the search engine. And, don't stop with the calculations; do pay for the high rank in search engines and directories. Professional will help you register the site in various search engines and directories. Thus your website will appear in the very first page of the search.

6. Domain names: Domain names are very important. Are you asking me why? Well, it's through domain names that people identify your website. Select a name which reflects your business. For example a name like- books for sale.com will attract people who want to buy books. The domain name should be as short as possible. Professional web designers will be able to buy domain names for you. It is also possible to buy more than one domain name but it's better to stick to one to reduce costs.

Hosting

Hosting is exclusively different parameter which takes care of all the above parameters and which needs to be taken care of properly.

The HTNL code of your website is placed on the internet server. In simple terms, Commercial hosting companies store this code for a fee called hosting fee. Check out the rates of different hosting companies before registering the code.

Spend time and look out for the best bargain available. Having said that, do not settle for some features based on the cost factor alone. The cheapest may not be the best. So do extensive research before building a web site.

2nd- Google and other popular search engines use a link based system finder. When they index your websites they check for links. The more links your article has the better it's potential in their eye's so it will appear at the top of searches more frequently. This is key to get people to view your articles, the more it's shown on search engines the more people will read it.

3rd- Spamming, google looks for useless links. If you create an article don't put links to everything else you've ever written under the sun because people will consider it a pain in the butt. You'll need links but only put links to articles that are related to the subject and put a link to a medium (Link to your Blog) that will allow people to find every other article you've written fast with personal info on you and what you currently are working on.

4th- Infomation Is Huge!!! The more accurate the info is the higher the odds also increase of using the article. Don't get half way done and start repeating yourself to make it look more useful. Go and do nessecary research to find the infomation you need to construct a good viable article that has potential of helping others understand what it is your addressing.

5th- Try to stay objective. If you write an article about why to do something or why not to try to stay objective and write an article on the other side of the aurgument then go back and try to disprove the other side wrong. using popular questions that may or may not break the others plan etc... This is good cause it provides your readers with multiple options and they have to form thier own opinion about what it is they are reading plus you get to add on useful links creating more traffic to your website and/or Article.

These are all important things that need to be looked at when writing someting thats going to be online. This is one of many things you can use to Increase Your Efficiency With Triond.

Search Engines

When the Web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, conceptualized the World Wide Web, he did so to make it a system of sharing information from different geographical locations. He probably did not intend it to be the world's largest depository of knowledge. Now, it has become the world's largest library, and because of its enormity, there's no one reliable way of retrieving information except through the use of search engines.    The greatest challenge is locating the pieces of information that we need from the immense ocean of Web sites. An obvious resolve is to make use of a search engine, designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Anyone who uses the computer is familiar with search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and others. Nowadays, even individualized and business Web sites have search boxes. All we need to do is type a keyword or phrase into the search box, click 'Enter' and there you go! What appears is a list of thousands of websites we can use at our fingertips.

Types of Search Engines

Not to be too technical about it, search engines can be categorized as a single search, meta-search, and directories. Where there are instances of overlaps between results from competing search engines, no one engine covers the entire web, not even the giant Google.      

Single search engines (also called 'spiders' or 'crawlers') continuously scan the Web by using programmed robot-like search agents. They visit the Web sites at regular intervals and record a variety of details such as domain names, special information called meta-tags, headers, first-page content, Web site popularity and other attributes. Once found, Web sites are indexed into a database. When a user queries the database, the list of sites is ranked according to its complexity and unique in-house algorithms. This very simplistic mechanism I've described is how the search engines basically work. Meta-search engines are programs that return the first hits of several single search engines. An example is Dogpile. It sends user requests to several other search engines and consolidates the results into one list according to their source.

The rationale is that the Web is too large for any one search engine to index everything and that a more comprehensive results in searching can be taken by combining the results from several other engines. This can also save time from having to use multiple search engines separately. Directories are also different. They classify information according to predetermined criteria and headings. Yahoo is an example of a directory. Practically, everyone is a single search engines user.     

Keywords

So, we are often overwhelmed by all the Web sites we find in our endless search. The question is: how many of these sites are relevant to our needs?  How about another situation wherein after spending long hours searching, we hardly or can't come up with the right information results? What we need are the keywords, the relevant words or phrases we type-in or submit to describe and identify what exactly we are looking for. Simply, if we want the color black, then we search for 'black' and not 'blue-black' or 'gray.'    We should always bear in mind that the Internet is a dynamic environment and so many things are bound to keep changing. For example, the search engines now are using much more advanced techniques, logarithms more sophisticated. The buzz words are search engine optimization (SEO), content density, and so forth. Online searching and researching can be exhausting but challenging, and certainly a joy, when at day's end, we have in our hands information we need.

Everybody from private individuals, to home-based offices, to small and medium-sized businesses all the way up to large organizations, major corporations and government can all avail themselves of these strategies.

Recent Findings

Recent research and consumer surveys conducted by Gartner Research have shown that there really is no single, “magic” formula that is guaranteed to increase the flow of traffic to your website, blog, info site etc.

Most surprisingly however; is that what these surveys did in fact find was that on the whole the majority of large organizations and elite webmasters are in fact already using these traffic generation secret tactics.

With a little work and a multi-strategy marketing plan you will definitely be able to markedly increase the flow of unique visitors to your site(s).

Master Plan

When it comes to improving the traffic flow to your website it is most important that you do have a well thought out plan. This so-called; implementation master plan should involve more than just two to three different traffic generation strategies.

Rapid Response - In the event that one of your preferred strategies proves to be ineffectual you must be able to respond rapidly and address these issues as and when they arise.

Plans B, C and D - It has been proven over the years that having a plan B (or even C and D if appropriate) ready and waiting in the wings contributes significantly to the robustness and 24/7 availability of your website.

Repeat Business versus No Return - Lost visitors are irrecoverable and generally do not return.

Steady State - One more point before I get to the list. These tips are designed to produce a steady flow of traffic rather than intermittent spurts. I have always found it best to start promotional campaigns by getting a hundred or so new unique daily visitors and then building on this rather than a quick thousand today and that's it.

The Long Run - Big business makes money a bit at a time just like everyone else. It's just that they do it so many times at so many different sites or offices. Like big business you need to be in it for the long run. If so; this list is for you.

Traffic Generating Strategies

I have not placed the traffic generating strategies contained in the following list in any particular order of merit. The reasoning behind this decision is that this better reflects the dynamics of the Internet today.

Internet Vagaries - This includes the vagaries of the manners and ways in which users surf the Internet today along with any peculiarities directly attributable to search engine behavior or user instigated override of search engine behavior.

This means that the results delivered by a search today are most likely to vary from those returned in a week or so. Thus; you should never put all your marketing and information eggs into the one basket.

Multiple Concurrent Complimentary Strategies - Because; “many hands make light work”, I do recommend that you try at least 5 of these strategies simultaneously. Your chances of attaining greater success increase exponentially as more traffic generating avenues and strategies are added to your arsenal.

Internet Presence - In these ways you can attain a broader Internet presence than would have otherwise been the case. Now for the list:

Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN)

Getting your own Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is undoubtedly the most important element of all of the traffic generation strategies included in this list.

The reasons for having your very own Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) rather than a sub-domain within a third party's FQDN are many-fold and include; greater versatility, flexibility, freedom and security. You also get the option to sell your domain “as is” or with value-added benefits to the purchaser.

Domain Name System (DNS) - DNS was established to overcome the problems that people were experiencing from attempting to use long binary strings or even the more user friendly dotted decimal notation system for IP addressing.

This made the locating and identification of end systems (your computer and some website) a very unpleasant task especially for those actively contacting or colluding with many people on a daily basis.

Out of this; arose the need for a more user friendly network and end system identification and management system. This is why the Domain Naming System (DNS) was created.

Hosting Services - If you have decided to use a domain hosting or web hosting service it is imperative that you establish prior to signing up that you can take your domain name with you should you ever find the need to change hosting service providers or to take the plunge and host your own domain yourself.

Child Domains - Once you have a FQDN you can create as many child domains as you wish. Design, coding, building and production implementation are considerably easier and far more streamlined than would be the case of sharing a sub-domain with thousands of sub-domains.

Regionalized Domains - If you intend to promote your wares within a fixed geographical region then you should look into obtaining a FQDN that reflects this. One of the easiest ways is through using a FQDN with country suffix.

User Friendly - Having your own FQDN also results in making your URLs much shorter and easier to remember and manage.

Website Design and Optimization

There are a number of website design aspects that can be optimized to improve your sites traffic pulling prowess. Here are a few of the more productive ones:

CSS Tableless Website Design - Use CSS to organize the layout of your website using div tags rather than using tables. Search engines tend to view your site's text content with a higher weighting if you do this.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Realize that in the bigger scheme of things Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website is a long term strategy and that regardless of how well optimized your website may be you are not going to get rushed off your feet tomorrow. That is unless you are targeting keywords with little or no competition.

There are numerous sites dedicated to the topic of SEO as well as thousands of online SEO forums so if you want to check them out further just search using SEO as the keyword.

Newsletter and RSS Feeds - Have a newsletter subscription form that your visitors can use to subscribe to prominently displayed on your website. Incorporate the capacity for visitors to subscribe to RSS feeds.

Both newsletter and RSS feeds work best when you use them to attract visitors to your site in order for you to have a shot at selling them something. Make both your newsletter and RSS feeds free to subscribe to. Use a professional online auto-responder service such as aweber.com or getresponse.com

“Tell-a-Friend” and “Share This” - You can also install scripts that will allow you to exploit the standard Share This button. It is an easy way for visitors to send articles or website information that they found enlightening, entertaining or useful to family and friends as well as to work colleagues.

Site Maps - It is important to create site maps for your website and to submit it to Google. Visit xml-sitemaps.com to create free site maps for all of your websites. Once done upload it to your website and then submit it to Google at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview?hl=en

Alternatively you can create and submit a sitemap for each website you run using Site Explorer: http://www.siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

User Comments - In today's Web 2.0 world it is important to include some user interaction features in your website's design. Viewer comments and forums are easy to implement and do add significantly to your visitor's overall experience. You might even consider a short but funny video. Starting a blog or user's forum on your website are options worthy of consideration.

Back Links

There are a considerable number of ways in which you can use back links to increase your sites traffic.

Blog Commenting - Search your own primary and preferred keywords to locate blogs relevant to your website. Visit select blogs every week or so and leave short comments along with the occasional back link. Every now and then contribute a longer more detailed piece with top quality, well researched information about the topic that is not to be found anywhere else on the blog. Insert your back links into the additional information you have contributed rather than with your comments.

Epinion.com - Visit epinion.com and post your “opinion” on products and services relevant to your website. Don't forget to include back links to your website in with your post. Try to have your back link in the body of your comment. Most viewers will judge your post to be spam if all you do is leave a five word sentence with your link at the end. Here is an example of what not to do: “Awesome dude. Have you seen the green ones over at spammer.com?”

Forum Linking - Prepare a signature file containing links to your websites or to web pages within a web site. Use catchy titles and your preferred keywords within your links. You can search Google using your preferred keywords to locate forums on topics relevant to your site.

Yahoo Answers - Visit answers.yahoo.com and answer some questions remembering to include back links to your website in an appropriate manner similar to epinoion.com. The important thing with this Yahoo site is that your answers should be relevant and correct. So research and verify that you have indeed got it right. If you make a boo-boo here other users will shoot you down in flames and there goes you and your sites credibility. Don't spam. Users visiting your site from here are considered to be qualified targeted users (the most valuable kind).

Articles and Directories Submission

One option that most people know about but may overlook is to make sure that you submit your website to directory services as this well help generate a lot of back links. Check out the strongest links site for a fairly extensive list of the more predominant directory linking services on the net. strongestlinks.com/directories.php

You can also submit keyword rich articles to various sites to gain back links. Don't forget to submit your article's URL to social bookmarking sites such as Simpy, delicious, dig, Furl and bluedot etc.

Social Networking and Social Bookmarking Sites

There are untold numbers of online communities that you can join to promote your website. Some of the possibilities include: Hubpages.com Myspace.com, Squidoo.com, Stumbleupon.com, and Yahoo Groups to name but a few.

The basic idea here is to join groups and start dropping back links or in the case of Stumbleupon.com to thumbs up your site.

Most social networking sites have some form of “friends” arrangement. You join the site, make friends with others of a like mind and then start recommending them to your website. Free reports are big with Yahoo groups.

Social bookmarking sites are another option that you should be using. Links to articles on your website seem to be the most productive in this arena. Sites such as Digg tend to send visitors in bursts. You may get a bunch of visitors now and then zilch. Do not expect any traffic from Digg after 24 hours from the time you posted an article/story.

Giveaways

Giving away free reports in order to get people to sign-up and join your mailing list is another tried and true marketing strategy. Viral eBooks loaded with your sites links are a favourite.

Advertise

Using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engines to generate traffic may be worth considering. They may also be worth considering as a means of monetizing your website or blog. Google Adwords, Microsoft Ad Center and Yahoo Search Marketing are the big three here.

You can submit ads to craigslist.com for free but don't overdo it as you can get yourself banned for spamming.

Newspapers and the media are possible places for you to advertise but you need to have extensive turnover to make them a viable and profitable proposition.

You can buy advertising on high profile websites from adbrite.com considerably cheaper than with the mass media (TV, radio etc). Just be selective of the sites that adbrite.com places your ads.

Here are 11 search engines (other than Google) where you can still find exactly what you want...

Technorati

Technorati is by far the best alternative to Google. The 'blog search' allows you to search the hottest blog items, including a list of 'most-linked-to' blogs, a top searches list, as well as movies, music, games and videos that most bloggers link to. It is user-friendly as you can sort results according to timeliness (based on the newest content) or blogs with more inbound links.

Draze MetaSearch

Just like a typical Google page, this site allows you to search results from Google, Yahoo! and MSN quickly. You can choose to view the results from either one of the search engines. There is a 'Peek-a-Boo' feature that gives you page previews so that you do not have to click through unnecessary pages.

Rollyo

stands for Roll Your Own Search Engine. It allows you do category or general searches to get results from the Web or blogs. You may also create your own search engine if you intend to search only specific sites.Rollyo

Clusty

Clusty collects the results from several search engines (excluding Google) and arranges them in clusters to further refine your search. For instance, a search for Sony Vaio returns clusters such as various Sony Vaio model numbers, reviews and prices.

Ask.com

Focusing on "subject-specific popularity", this site is rich in features. It orders results by 'popularity' among pages considered to be experts on the topic of your search. The 'page-preview' and 'editorially selected smart answers' are its best features.

Chacha

At Chacha, you can chat with a real-life professional by submitting your query, and he will return you with results that are customised to your needs and specifications. The service is free and you can have a whole lot of fun.

Scour

Scour aggregates the results from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. There is a social element where users can 'vote' the results up or down.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon lets you rate pages and sites that you visit with the thumbs-up/thumbs-down icons in your toolbar. Once it learns your preferences, it becomes better at directing you to the topics you like. You can also add friends to your list. Their preferences will help to further refine your search results. This website is great for finding content that you may not be able to find elsewhere.

Kosmix

This search engine is based on searches by category, including politics, finance, health, travel, autos, video games, etc. It scored better with less-time sensitive issues and search terms. For example, it provided lots of information (prevention, cures and risk factors) on health-related topics.

Can't Find on Google

If you can't get any result for your search query on Google, you may post it here and wait for another user to help you. However, the response-to-post ratio is not very high as there are too many queries. But it is still worth a try if you are desperately looking for something that you can't find on Google.

netTrekker

This site is targeted at schools and students. Each site listed in the search results has been specifically selected by educators whose aim is to ensure safe surfing.

With so many search engines around, I am sure you will be able to find the things you want on the internet. Hope you will find this list useful. All the best! 

Results may vary.

1. News Results for Google

Up to the minute news on what is popular with the Google range of web and non-web products including the hugely anticipated Google phone and how many rupees it will cost the average Indian resident, will it out do the Apple iPhone, and how Google is giving somebody $10 million for the best idea for a new product.

2. Google

Somewhat strangely, the second result when googling the word Google on the Google Search Engine is the Google Search Engine. That's right; you are directly linked to the site you originally typed the word Google into. Yeh go figure!

3. Google Reader

If you are set up with a Google account then Google Reader lets you share and follow along with content that you are interested in including blog sites you have chosen to follow on Blogspot. This site also brings you the recent happenings within the world of Google.

4. Google Maps

Provides you with a range of mapping tools including street maps, satellite images and even traffic maps. Search the route you need by using the very effective Google keyword search tool. Interestingly when you enter the Google Maps site, the first map you are provided with is a map of the United States of America.

5. Google

Yes you guessed it, a link to the Google Search Engine's home page but with an international flair. Depending on the country you live in and your service provider, you are linked to the Google Search Engine which sets the results to the most popular and relevant sites in your country i.e. www.google.co.nz

6. Google Video

Google's equivalent to You Tube, Google Video lets you watch, upload and share video from all corners of the internet. Again a keyword search tool is provided for your convenience so that if it happens that you want to hear Sarah Palin's riveting talks, it's all at your finger tips.

7. Google News

Not quite the same as the number 1 result for googling Google but a feature that lets you view all of the top stories in the world of news and providing you with your own defined Google News Search Engine. Great!

8. Google.org

Pulls together all of the information and technology resources to address the world's issues. Number 1 on their list of issues to resolve: Climate Change! Follow the blog to keep up with Google's progress.

9. Google Groups

Use your iGoogle account to access Google Groups and join in with thousands of others discussing different aspects of life. Or alternately, create your own group and encourage others to join it. You might like to start your very own "Ban Skateboarding" group.

10. Google Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia

Surprisingly very low on the list of what you get if you google Google as Wikipedia generally make the top five search results in any search but not when you google Google. Find out all you need to know about the workings of Google, its origins, history and more.

11. Google

Not again, this time it's the U.K. specific Google Search Engine homepage. So if you're a Brit, google your guts out right here.

So there you have it. The top search results if you google the word Google in Google's search engine. Your off to google the word Google now aren't you?

How often have you filled out all your information on a paid site just to find at the very end, which can be 2 hours later, they are asking for a credit card number or a check routing number?  Isn't that so frustrating?  We are looking for work to make money, not to buy a job!  I mean, what's up with that?  So many sites claim they need people to do whatever it is the site is promoting and then when the people go to the location and spend time and energy putting in all that information, they are disappointed to find they have to PAY for it! 

I'm tired of it!  So, now I want to write!  And I want to tell you stories and give you ideas on what you can do to on the internet for cash without spending it yourself.  You must always use the word "free" in your searches.  But remember, free does not always mean FREE.  It can mean just registering is free, but then you are hit with those credit card icons at the end to actually be called to do the work.  Not this time!  I'm writing to have fun now.  If I get paid for it, that's great, and if not, okay, I am still spending time doing what I love to do and not being duped somehow by some bogus site claiming I can earn lots of cash if I will max out my credit card!  So, here's my advice to you... do what you love and THEN find a site that caters to it without asking for your life savings or credit card info.  Best of luck to you in your search for free paid work on the internet and most of all, remember to do what you love doing first and foremost.  You might not make money doing it, but you won't be frustrated at the end of the night.

In contrary to what many people think, meta description and keyword tags do not affect Google. Google doesn't use it to determine your position in the search results. You may still want to define keywords and description, because other or smaller search engines may still use them.

Yahoo still reads the keywords and description. How do we know? We tested it.

The Test:

first, we generate a unique key, e.g. with a password generating tool. then we search the key on the web, and we make sure it returns no results. Do not forget your key, save it in a text file.

Then we create a new website, on a free hosting service. We create a blank index.html, with only our key in the meta and description. Our key is "hdhuziobcYGYECYNCGFHEHH464" e.g.:

 

 

 

After that, we tell the search engines to index our page. Then we wait. About a month later we search for our key on google: no results found. Then we searched it on yahoo: 1 result found, our page.

So using meta keywords and description might help a little bit, but expect nothing from it.

But watch out! If you have too many keywords or a too long description, google will think you are spam! Try keeping it around 5-7 keywords, and don't let your description get longer then 250 characters, I recommend a max of 100 characters.

This has to be one of, if not the most popular and useful toolbar around. From the toolbar, you can check out the web, get pictures, check the news….and anything else you need to do.

Here is another hugely popular toolbar. You get a chance to surf the web with this one. You need to sighn up first, check off a list of you favorites, as in things you do, things your interested in, and hobbies. The more you check off, the more sites you "stumble" through. There are also "like and dislike" buttons that you can rate the sites by. There s also a button that you can stumble through your friends fav's.

I love the "new" Triond toolbar! It's a Firefox add-on, and I use it almost as much as the Stumble toolbar. I put new in quotes because I'm not sure just how new it is, I just found it a couple day's ago. My favorite part of it is the Random part. Click this, and it takes you to different area's within the Triond website. From there, you see all the different sub-categories there are too. Which is great for thinking of what to write about.

I never noticed there were so many sub-categories before. I normally find a topic and write it up, then put it in the place it fits, but now I think I will try it the other way around… find a sub-category and write up an article for it.

The toolbar also has your money amount that you make too, which I like. Also, your friends and what they write on. And any comments left by your readers.

Now if only Associated Content had a toolbar too!

Anna Patterson says that the new search engine is more user friendly than Google and is more valuable than Google. Exact details are not available yet. Patterson also states that she intends to enter into competition with Google and does not intend to sell her new invention! Cool Cuil.

A group of individuals which consisted of Ms. Anna Patterson, Tom Costello (Anna Patterson's husband), Russell Power (former Google engineer) and Louis Monier (another former Google) had been experimenting with newer and better search engines for some time. Now they have found the ideal search engine and have obtained $33 million venture capital to launch her new search engine. This may sound like a lot of money but for ventures like this cost can be as high as $1 to $2 billion.

Is Cuil better than Google? This question begs an answer but I cannot answer it. The inventors of Cuil believe that it is at least three times better because its index is about three times larger than that of Google. Does index size indicate that it is better? Again I cannot answer this question. Only end users can answer this question. Google stopped quantifying its index breath about three years ago. So there in no objective way of knowing Google's current index breath. At that time, three years ago, Google's catalogue was 8.2 billion Web pages.

According to current reports Cuil's search index spans 120 billion Web pages. Yes, this is many times larger than Google's 8.2 billion Web pages. I am not sure if it translates into “better” performance and usability for the end user.

Google is not conceding defeat at this time. A statement released by Ms. Katie Watson, Google spokesperson said that Google believed that its index was the largest and that its quality was superior to that of Cuil's index. Cuil disputes this.

Cuil's promised advantage is that it will not retain information about user's search engines which Google does. Privacy watchdogs and many individuals resent this violation of privacy.

Cuil intends to upstage and displace Google with superior technology which goes into the actual content of a web page instead of just focusing on the page. Consequently Cuil's results will be presented in a magazine format instead a vertical stack of data about Web links. Cuil's results will display more photographs with sidebars which may be clicked to learn more about the specific data.

NOTE of CAUTION: Cuil is not the first new comer to challenge Google. Previous challengers include Teoma (this technology became the groundwork for Ask.com), Vivisimo, Snap, Mahalo and Powerset. Powerset was purchased by Microsoft Corporation earlier this month.

In my opinion this is the first time that Google has been challenged by a “general-purpose” search engine which has been created by its former employees. These ex-employees obviously had some inside knowledge and only they know the exact reasons for advancing a new search engine. Financial advantage is probably high on their priority list. There will be other challenges in the future because Google has more than 20 thousand employees.

Good Luck Cuil.