Exercise 23a

Google,Yahoo and MSN not only allows you to search for sites you are interested in but also allows you to include your own site to their index and webcrawlers.They also provide an array of services to help businesses establish sites that would fit their financial goals and capabilities. These services are done for a fee.They have several tools available to help users troubleshoot "crawling" and indexing their sites as well as how to establish and maintain them.

Google allows you to submit your URL and to add and update your site to their index for free. They have a crawler, Googlebot, which will help promote your site to other users.Google updates its index on a regular basis, so updated or outdated link submissions are not necessary. There is a form you fill in. As for advertising a site, they have programs called Google AdWords( for advertisers) and Google Adsence (for site owners) wherein you only pay when people click on your ad. They also have other business programs for a fee.

Yahoo has an advanced search option that permits users to expand their search even by country, language and file format. Google and MSN have similar features. In other words, these 3 search engines allow users to apply SEO or "search engine optimization" to their websites. SEO examines how search engines work and considers what people search for. If you manage or own a website, you have to make sure that not only does your site's content encourage people to visit it but that the source code utilized improves the traffic entering your site. These 3 search engines helps you achieve these goals by providing the right tools to do so.

One suggestion Google made that interested me is a technical one. They suggest you use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site because according to them, most search engine crawlers see your site much as Lynx would. The premise is that if fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, etc. keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then regular search engines may have trouble crawling your site. This is the first time I heard about Lynx!

In terms of design quality, Google Webmaster suggests that you provide a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. Make navigation easy! This is an important feauture you want to maintain because if your visitor finds it hard to go through your site, chances are they would immediately leave and find a different one that is easier to navigate.

My 3 Favorite Fashion Sites

I had to change my web blog bec. this particular topic did not fit the the ambience of my Mystery Blog.Having said that, let me proceed with my 3 favorite fashion sites. Let's start with:

1. JLM Couture-This site is the home of 4 designers: Jim Hjelm, Lazaro, Alvina Valenta and Tara Keely. It has an attractive homepage that makes it easy for the visitor to navigate each designer. After entering each designer's space,the format of each site starts to differ. Jim Hjelm's is probably the best because it features the front and back of each attire. Though the others do the same, they only do that with a few selected styles. I also like Lazaro's site because the photographer they use makes the fashion portraits look very ethereal, with the spring 2009 collection,in particular, evoking a "painting-like" feel.

Comments:They could have made all designers employ the same photographer and web designer to achieve a cohesive site. Though the discrepancy among each designer was not startling, it is evident that different web designers where utilized.I

2.Jessica Mcclintock - This site would definitely please teenagers and the rest of their family. It has the delightful feature of either enlarging a prominent part of the gown or showing the front and back of the attire with the color swatches available. It is set up as a commercial site wherein clothes are displayed in an appealing setting without the haute couture extravagance imbued by the JLM Couture site.

Comments: I think the site has achieved it's goal in reaching out to its targeted audience. They have several features and several products that were housed in one site without clashing with one another. The site is very functional and has all the links it's prospective clients want.

3.Dessy Group-Like JLM Couture, this site houses 4 designer brands. It's photography is not as artistic as JLM but this site is definitely meant to urge it's prospective customers to buy! Though there is no online store, it gives you an idea on how much the gowns cost and has a feature that changes the colors of the dresses when you press the color swatches!

Comments:Each designer has a slightly different format , but at this point, the clients couldn't care less. They would be more concerned with which boutique in their particular state would they visit.