Providing our end users with a first-rate experience is one of our top priorities. When people come to BOTW and enjoy using the directory, they will be sure to return. We work hard to provide meaningful navigation throughout the directory. In the end, this creates a gratifying experience for our users, more traffic for our advertisers and a great sense of accomplishment for our editorial team.

When first beginning to edit with BOTW, the most bewildering aspect of the job was learning about @links and “see also”. What exactly is an @link and what purpose does it serve? When is a “see also” necessary and when is it best to just leave well enough alone?

An @link is used when the user may try to find a certain topic in one place, but we uniformly would add that topic elsewhere in the directory. For instance, a person may look here thinking Restaurants and Bars would be under A&E: Missouri/Cities/Kansas_City/Arts_and_Entertainment however, they would find an @link to Restaurants and Bars which would lead them here: Missouri/Cities/Kansas_City/Business_and_Economy/Restaurants_&_Bars/ because Restaurants and Bars are unvaryingly placed under Business and Economy. In this way, @links improve the user experience because they guide the user to the proper place when looking for something that could reasonably be placed under other category headings.

Currently, we are working on @linking the major categories to localities within the directory. Such as the following: California/Travel_and_Tourism/Localities/ If you go to this link, you will find @links for every locality in California which further guides the user who might be looking in the broad category of California/Travel & Tourism to all 220 cities currently listed in California and specifically to Travel & Tourism in each city. We have started listing @links in all states to all localities under Business & Economy as well as Real Estate under Business & Economy. You will also find some states where we have already @linked localities within Travel and Tourism as well as Lodging under this category. This improves traffic for those who have submitted their business links to our directory as it gives extended coverage for regional information to those subscribers. You will find more information on this development here: Regional Listings and the Future of Search.

“See Also” improves the user experience as well. The function is to point the user to related information in other areas of the directory. For instance, if a person is interested in Parenting and they are looking around in this category, they will find a “See Also” for Home: Family: Child_Care ; Business: Shopping_and_Services: Children ; Home: Family: Grandparents ; Kids_and_Teens ; and Health: Reproduction . This makes navigation throughout the directory effortless because the user is guided from one area of information to another within that same interest with ease.

Whether you are an advertiser, reseller, user or editor, it helps to understand the purpose of @linking and “see also”. It gives you an idea of where we are headed in this area. As we build out the directory, more and more of this development will be visible and contribute to the overall project here at BOTW. As a result, advertisers will receive even more traffic, resellers will have more great features to expound upon, users will have an informative, enjoyable experience and editors will be able fill in their @links and give even more thought to the end user’s experience as they place their “see also” links.

For my first entry to the BOTW Blog, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joan Vasquez and I telecommute from Missouri. I love to read, research, write and learn new things, which makes BOTW my dream job. I have worked as an editor for BOTW since July and can honestly say I have never enjoyed a job more.

Contributing to a company that values quality as highly as BOTW is a very rewarding experience. It is exhilarating to approach every project from the standpoint of quality and not feel pressured to produce mediocre mass amounts instead. At BOTW, quality is what sets us apart from the rest; quality people, a quality directory and a quality company.

Editors at BOTW get to enjoy some independence while building their own little corner of the directory. This is a motivational factor when making that area exemplary in regard to content, excellence and professionalism. We all follow an undeviating path in our pursuit of not good, not better, but the BEST.

When considering which sites should or should not be chosen for entry, it is always enjoyable to find the unique and unusual. It is fascinating to note the variety and the creativity that exists online. The vast array of topics, ideas and extremely useful information is infinite, which makes our jobs here at BOTW a never ending pursuit for the BEST.

Whether learning something from a website, some techno tidbit or something that enhances my knowledge about the big picture here at BOTW, erudition is a daily experience. This is what makes life as an editor interesting and motivating. Even when working on projects that seem a little repetitive at the time, I know the work I am doing is useful, educational and somewhat permanent, providing a small contribution to an overall mammoth picture.

Speaking of pictures, here is one of me in my “Best of the Web” editor shirt:

In one month, Jupiter Events and SearchEngineWatch host SES 2006 in New York City. As mentioned earlier, this will be our first time as an exhibitor at Search Engine Strategies.We are looking forward to seeing friends, and making plenty of new contacts.

As an exhibitor, we are able to provide discount passes to friends and family. So if you haven’t bought your pass yet, please take advantage of our 20% discount code. For all the details, follow the instructions here, then head over to Search Engine Strategies, and sign up.

Make sure to stop by the BOTW booth. We will be handing out the “world famous” BOTW t-shirts, and we will have some promo codes for SES attendees. I am sure that the event will be a success – we look forward to seeing you there!

Like millions of other Americans, today I will kick back and watch NFL playoff football. While not an ardent sports fan, I do enjoy the excitement and urgency that comes with the playoffs. With the season riding on every play you can count on the stars bringing their A-Games. The players kick it up a notch, the fans foam at the mouth, and the media goes nuts. It’s a perfect slice of the American pie.

Earlier this morning, I spent some time reading up on the big games. While most of the “experts” seem to agree on who will win, any football fan knows that anything can happen come game time. So before the games start and your eyes are glued to the boob-tube, take a minute looking at some of the resources for today’s teams:

Denver Broncos
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
Carolina Panthers

And I’ll go on the record picking Denver over Pittsburgh, and Seattle over Carolina. Two weeks from now Seattle takes it all at SuperBowl 40 in Detroit.

Well, the new Blog Directory Search really is ready to rock and roll, however the team, in its infinite wisdom has decided we should hold off a little to pretty ‘er up. I think it already is pretty, but I brought my design skills to bear on the problem and I do believe I have come up with a little something pretty. What do you think?

No? What’s wrong with it? Well, it’s probably for the best that we sic some professional graphic designers on it, plus that gives us more time to find any other tweaks we’d like to make. Since we’re already slightly behind schedule, hopefully it’s not a big deal for those of you who have been breathlessly anticipating it. So make sure you take a couple breaths. Do It! Breathe! No turning purple on my watch.