Warmest Greetings,

:: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 ::

Do I Look Like a Sex Goddess to You?

For months now I've been receiving reports from the freebie site search engine app I put on the Cre8pc.com site (Atomz Search). What people actually search for tells me my users don't read sometimes, or think Cre8pc.com is a porn site.

For example: "nightclubs", "paths2pleasure" - What in heaven's name has either of them got to do with SEO, UI or Usabilty????

For example: "psychosonique" - Ok, I think I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much. (But it still has no relationship to SEO, does it?)

For example: "joshr122 aol com" - Well, whoever he is, he's not hiding on my site. I hope.

For example: "manual development" - What the hell is that, exactly?

For example: "they" - Could we be a bit more specific here?

For example: "coat of arms" - This is a site about UI/Usability/SEO and Web Design. I think this user was just plain lost.

For example: "cerate a website" - God only knows what happens when you "cerate" a website, but if you want to "create" one, I'll be happy to help.

And my all time favorite word which someone typed in, "website" - the most common term on the 'Net that even search engines ignore it.

My search box originally said "Search Cre8pc.com", and I'd hoped this would be a clue to users that I meant the search field was for searching MY web site only, not the entire Internet. My little search box is not a metasearch engine. You can search for naked people all you want from my site but you won't get back stimulating results, if you catch my drift.

Today I broke down and made the search box more user friendly. It now says "Search the Cre8pc.com Web Site" instead of simply "Search Cre8pc.com". Apparently I needed to really spell this one out for people. And in case they still don't get it, I added more user instructions at the bottom that say "This search box is for THIS site only, not all search portals on the 'Net."

Do you think I should add a note that Cre8pc.com is definitely NOT a porn site or do you think users will eventually figure it out?

Have a great day. Use it wisely. And remember to check your spelling when searching and be aware of the environment from whence you perform your search. Your results may actually make some sense then.

Kim

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 9/04/2002 09:51:02 AM

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