findcomLooking for a new search engine? Find.com is a relatively new search engine using Yahoo’s Application Platform. After testing many search terms I found all of the results to be very relative. Infact, I like the results a little bit more than Google’s on some of the terms. Good luck arguing that one though.

Because it’s using Yahoo’s Application Platform you can expect similar results as found on Yahoo, but it’s not exact. Testing the key phrase “Best Web Image”, my site, Find.com pulled up more relevant results than Google or Yahoo. I like that. It wasn’t like that for everything, but the results were excellent overall. The engine is geared to FIND. Meaning, the results seemed more geared to finding your keyword or phrase. The difference is when searching, not finding, on a search engine like Google, your results may be more topic oriented to your keyword, putting less emphasis on the keyword itself.

Another thing I liked about the site was the manner the results were displayed, big and easy to read. Sponsored results were clearly identified, and not blended into results like some sites do. Something I didn’t understand about the site though was it’s selection of categories displayed on the home page. They were not the normal categories you would expect for a general search engine, and they did not seem to have a logical order. I also did not like that they had the category, Holidays, on the home page, and then also posted a couple of categories that were holiday specific. They should just all fall under the main category, Holidays.

Forgetting the category issue I was very impressed with the results and also enjoyed the clean format.

Nov 132008
 

mediasave

The holiday season is nearly upon us, and I know what you are thinking. You want to buy me the  3M Littmann ® Electronic 3000 Stethoscope. It’s only about $250. “Yeah Right” you say. Well, honestly I don’t want one. I sold that kind of stuff for nearly ten years. I sold first aid and safety supplies, and at one point, I had a box of stethoscopes. So what does Medisave have to do with the Holiday Season? It was their great big banner about their shipping.

Sell Shipping

shipping

The shipping banner partially seen above here is there for a reason. It’s there to sell not just their product, but a reason to buy the product from them. Year after year selling products online has only gone up. You might think this year might be different, but with the number of new Internet users still growing, it could still be better than previous years for online sales.

Looking for a Deal

You can bet for sure customers are going to be looking for deals, and if you are like my wife, you can really work the system for free shipping. In fact, it can be the deciding factor for her, “How much is that dang shipping?” I was in sales for a long time, and I always referred to the magic word, “SALE”. Married guys, did you know you can buy beer anytime without one complaint if you mention that it was on, the magic word please, sale. You can, just don’t try it everyday.

Point being, “Free shipping” can work just as well, and though Medisave isn’t currently offering free shipping, they are still selling the options. Method of shipping can have high value as well. If you are having a hard time this holiday season, give that free shipping option a try. If you can’t do it for just one product make it a “if you spend over this amount, $xxx” deal to get the free shipping. It’s haggling online.

Don’t be Shy

If you do decide to offer free shipping, give some kind of shipping discount, or are just having a huge sale, don’t be shy. Take the lesson from Medisave site and sell the WHY shop at your website. Make it obvious, make it clear, and make it sell.

Oct 132008
 

hauntsHalloween is around the corner, and though I have yet to give a little holiday flair to my site, entire sites are being built for just the occasions.

Here is a pretty good site if you enjoy going to Haunted Houses, Real Haunts. They list all the major haunted houses that are going on throughout the U.S.. The listings give a brief overview of the who, what, where, and when. Mosts of the houses listed  had dozens of feedback comments from previous events in prior years. The Winchester Mystery House, one I had gone to in the past had over 150 comments so you should get a good idea what it’s going to be like. I thought the description was fairly accurate as well. One quick note, if you click on your state using their right sidebar menu, make sure to look for your city afterwards. It’s not obvious, and I found I was missing out on a couple of local events until I found it.

Starting to get excited about Halloween, it’s my favorite holiday.