Information Website

 


Internet is basically an information medium. The other purpose that it mainly serves is entertainment. That is why most websites are either an information website or an entertainment website or combination of both. An information website could be one of several types and may be serving one of many or many purposes, at the same time. Most popular information websites have a basic focus and then they provide some additional services, too. Broadly speaking, an information website could be general or specialty oriented. While there are numerous types of a specialty oriented information website, even a general information website could be very different from the other or others, and may have a basic focus, along with other services that it may provide. Basic focus is usually the niche, shared by many others. While the specific set of services provided an information website makes it unique and provides it a special position on World Wide Web.

Among general websites, take the example of web search engines. Whiles there is very large number of search engines present around the world, almost every search engine provides a unique set of services, that along with it’s visitors, defines it’s unique position on Internet. Take the example of prototype search engine, Google. Google started with an idea that most people thought was wild and invalid from business point of view. The basic idea was to create the world’s largest database that would be available to the Internet users world wide that would be searchable in the blink of an eye. But, there were several problems with this idea, that even the most intelligent and experienced business professionals could not understand. First and foremost was, how you are going to generate this world’s largest, enormous database that would virtually have everything considered as ‘information’. This was because people thought that, even if possible, only the biggest and most powerful governments like United States have the kind of resources required to gather that kind of huge information database. To solve this ‘huge’ problem, incomprehensible to even the most intelligent and experienced, Google used mainly two simple methods and technologies, that were not even invented by Google and were already there in use by several other existing search engines. These were, one, a simple URL submission page, that made it possible for virtually every Internet user to get involved in Google’s development and growth, and really helped a lot in gathering that world’s largest database. Two, the use of spiders and crawlers which just spidered and crawled the Internet and added all the information available on Internet into Google’s database. Question is what made Google wildly more successful, compared to other search engines, if these methods and technologies were already being used by others? The answer is by speeding up the process and improving the technology. First of all, Google did not waste any time in useless, wasteful, cumbersome, stupid and ridiculous, editorial policies, in place at Yahoo and other major search engines. It did not get involved too much in right and wrong, good and bad, what we like and what we don’t, what fits our editorial policy and what doesn’t, what our visitors like and what they don’t? Instead of it Google adopted a relatively very liberal policy that information is information and everyone has a right to access all kind of information, with very few reservations, of course. This saved Google a whole bunch of waste of limited monitory and manpower resources, and above all it saved lots of time, which helped it very much in getting ahead of the curve, while Yahoo, AT&T, AOL, Excite, Lycos and others were wasting enormous resources in these ridiculous technicalities. In addition to this Google improved the spidering and crawling technologies to a great extent and designed a unique, highly effective and efficient method of database organization called pigeons. A very liberal URL submission and acceptance policy, along with the highly improved, faster and almost indiscriminate crawlers and spiders made something possible which seemed impossible to the most of so called business and investment gurus. Google was able to generate the unbelievably large database for it’s global search engine, a database, equivalent of which is even not available to government of United States. This leads us to the second skeptical point of view that gurus had, at that time, about Google. It was, even if you gather that enormous database, how you are going to store, generate, distribute and provide it to your target customers? The Internet technology, in general, and search technology, specially, was at a very early and primitive stage. At the top of it, Internet bubble busted, and many idiots even declared the death of Internet. Traditional media was specially happy about it. They lost a potential communication and information leader which was  the greatest threat to them. But, for really smart and farsighted business persons, corporations and investors, Internet’s brightest future was unavoidable and they kept investing billions of dollars on Internet sites, while all the fake ones were running away. 

Skeptics were wondering that the availability of a technology that can gather, store, organize and deliver such a huge database, in a competitive manner, was still a far fetched dream. But, it was the genius of entrepreneurs, developers and inventors, due to which Internet kept growing at a very rapid pace. The necessary and required technology was made available in a record time. Broadband and faster processors, hard drives, and data and video cards, brought a revolution, too soon for most skeptics, still celebrating the death of Internet. Contrary to it’s general stance, because they are not green and consume large amount of energy all the time, Google built huge data centers, everywhere that delivered the rapid search results from this huge database. 

This leads us to the third and most important concern that skeptics had. It was, even if Google is able to do that, how it is going to make money with this “largest database”. Very early on, a search engine known as Goto.com introduced a new advertising technology called pay-per-click or PPC. It was later taken over by Overture and Overture was later bought by Yahoo. The problem was that none of them had a database and technology to properly cash on this technology. But, when Google combined this technology with it’s database and technology, it gave amazing results. Google generated huge, and I mean huge, advertising revenues. All the skeptics were now rushing to buy Google stocks, while people who joined and invested in Google, early on, virtually became billionaires and millionaires. 

Even with Google’s amazing database, search technology and PPC advertising, it is not possible for it to compete on the basis of web search only. That is why Google still invests large sums in R&D and keeps adding new technologies and services that it provides to Internet users worldwide. Another method Google uses to remain competitive is merger and acquisition. Google, like Microsoft, is one of the largest buyers of high tech companies.

A Shop