Sometimes one tequila sunrise is all it takes to put a person in the creative mood to drop the neverending to-do list and want to make a blog entry. Although I haven’t had much to write about lately, there is plenty going on at Best of the Web. The challenge, of course, is talking about works-in-progress without spilling too much of the beans. There are folks all too willing to take your blogged about ideas and beat you to market with them.

Anyhoo, we don’t have a lot of fancy charts and graphs yet like the other guys, but statistically speaking, I can tell you that we just passed a cool quarter of a mil blog post entries that power the Blog Directory Post Search. Incidentally, I linked you to a page you may or may not be aware of. It’s the default tab on Blogs.botw.org: “Posts”, but since it’s the default, you never really click on it and hence, never see how cool it is to watch new posts get spidered. Of course we’re caching them for performance so it’s not necessarily an immediate update, but still, you can see what went in within the last couple minutes. Pretty cool to think that *right now* X amount of people are finishing off an entry in their blog. I’m sure we’re going to address this, but for now you’re on the inside track, my friend.

I’ll admit that it’s a challenge to filter out the various sorts of HTML tags that most posts contain; one problem we’re having is that if the text in a link within the post is a match to your query, and then we filter out that link, then it isn’t readily apparent what exactly in the post matched what you searched for.

It looks easy until you try to build a usable blog post search; there are many many inconsistencies regarding the different feed formats and how folks are implementing said formats. But regardless of whether or not our search capabilities need more work, I think it’s readily clear that our results are still fairly high quality over a wide range of searches. You want to find who’s talking about something specific, in as recent a history as possible; well I’m pleased to report from our stats that folks are doing just that. Aside from our index, the post search “page” is among our highest trafficked pages. And of course our sponsors benefit from being displayed when a query matches any of the terms they’ve set up when they signed up to sponsor. They get relevant traffic, and we get some cash to fund the next project, which adds value in turn. And around and around we go.

Well, my tequila sunrise has just about “set” if you will. Drinking on a thursday? Ehhh… Well, close enough to the weekend anyway. I met my BOTW Blog post quota so my boss will be happy. (Just kidding: there is no quota; But I can tell you that everyone who posts believes in the project and having a quality well-known and well-respected resource). So, until next time…

In the past, the average Internet user searched topically. However, local searches are becoming more and more popular. When a person wants to find quality links to local entities, it only makes sense to utilize a directory edited with quality control in mind.

There is nothing like the simplicity of going to one’s home-state or home-town and being able to access information about that area, knowing that the sites will be functional, informative, high quality and truly representative of the business. When going on a vacation or relocating, this is a very handy feature as well.

When editing in Regional, it is sensible to consider what type of sites are going to be of most interest to our users. For instance, under “Business and Economy”, it is helpful to list automotive resources, quaint shops, real estate agencies, rental information, the chamber of commerce, financial services and other items of interest to consumers. Useful information in other categories would be local attractions, schools, medical centers, sports, parks, lodging, weather, organizations and transportation hubs.

Here at BOTW, we seek to build our regional section so that our users can enjoy the time they spend utilizing our directory. When someone gets on the Internet seeking local information, we want them to automatically think “Best of the Web” for the most efficient, qualitative and logical way to glean the information. They know BOTW is a place where they don’t have to sift through useless items to get to the really outstanding websites.

BOTW editors are adding quality sites to the regional section daily. We are not only building the United States, we endeavor to add sites for other countries as well. Next time, you are considering a European or Asian getaway, BOTW wants to be here, serving your needs as a place that offers you the most for your time. Be on the lookout as we continue to build our regional categories!

We receive a fair amount of questions from people about our different products and services. More and more each month – there is a direct correlation with traffic and customer care. While most of the inquiries are specific to a user’s individual circumstance, many of them are somewhat redundant – or frequently asked.

To address the increasing amount of FAQs, over the course of the next few months, we will post those questions, and their appropriate answers here.

The first of these FAQ is one from this morning:

I was going through your site, and I was just wondering what is the difference between sponsoring a category and submitting a site to a certain category?

Kind regards,
Joe Webmaster

There are a few specific differences between the two, and depending upon your type of site, your mileage may vary with one as opposed to the other. So knowing the specifics of the two may help in determining which is right for you.

Sites are listed in the BOTW Directory according to relevancy. Whether you submit a site or sponsor a category, the site must be relevant to the category. Degrees of relevancy may differ though.

Directory listings (sites submitted to a category) are listed within the most relevant category, and may also be listed within an applicable Regional category. For instance, a website for a store in Fort Lauderdale, FL that sells collectible figurines would get a listing in both Business/Shopping_and_Services/Antiques_and_Collectibles/Figurines/ and Fort_Lauderdale/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/ Directory listings are given a proper title, and a description of what the user can expect to find on the site. Descriptions are typically short, containing no more than two lines of text. Descriptions are also devoid of any marketing hype, and do not contain any prices or phone numbers. Reviews for directory listings are free for non-commercial sites. For commercial sites, and those seeking an expedited review, we currently offer either a $49.95 annually recurring review fee, or a one-time review fee of $149.95. For more information see the submit site page.

Category sponsors are able to tailor their message, and display their listing in a more lenient fashion. To maximize exposure, category sponsors are located at the top of each category, above subcategory links, and category listings. Category sponsors are limited to three advertisers per category, but advertisers may choose multiple categories for sponsorship. Though each advertiser must be relevant to the category, the sponsored listing does not need to be in the most relevant category. For instance, in the aforementioned example, the owner of the figurine site would be able to sponsor a category further up the directory – Business/Shopping_and_Services/Antiques_and_Collectibles/ and reach users interested in more than just figurines. The same site owner would be able to also sponsor the Arts/Crafts/ category and reach a new audience.

Additionally, category sponsors are prominently displayed in BOTW search results. Advertisers are able to choose up to ten keyword phrases that they would like to appear for. Category sponsors are displayed along the right hand column of the search results, with advertiser message and description. So, our figurine site owner would be able to choose up to ten keyword phrases (figurines, antiques, antique shops, figurine seller, online figurines, etc…) and appear along the right hand side – see here Category sponsorships are a great way to boost your online visibility, and are priced competitively. Category sponsors are FREE for the first 60 days, and are $39.95 (third spot) or $49.95 (top two spots) per month thereafter. For more information see the category sponsorships page.

In summary, for most webmasters and site owners, a directory listing will suffice. A listing in a relevant category describing your site using descriptive keywords can really help in your online marketing efforts. However, for webmasters and online marketers seeking greater control over their marketing message, or seeking a listing outside of their most relevant category, a BOTW category sponsorship may be the right choice. Or, you could always choose both

What a week. Our first time exhibiting at SES proved very successful. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of traffic we saw at the booth. Everybody wants a BOTW shirt . So many in fact, that after the first day of the show we had to make a run back to the offices (luckily only 30 miles away) to get 5 more boxes.

Kudos to Jupiter Media on attracting such a crowd – the largest ever for a SES show. I heard it mentioned by a few more seasoned exhibitors that SES had actually outgrown the Hilton. I wonder if this will be the last show there. The keynote from Barry Diller was very interesting, and the standing room only was a good indicator of the sessions. From what I heard, most sessions were over-crowded, with many spilling out into the hallways, only to be viewed on a plasma screen. One point of criticism – the evening events were disjointed, with the only clear party being the Ask.com party Monday night.

The networking opportunities were tremendous. We were able to meet with a lot of important people, and we should see some nice opportunities for business development in the months to come. For pictures from the show, see the BOTW SES Pics.

Thanks to everybody for coming by the booth – we were really happy to have received such a warm reception, and we look forward to seeing you all at the next show.