Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
possibilities for action (i.e., affordances). This perception of object possibilities helps
drive people's action (i.e., perception drives action). Sometimes these affordances
are what designers intended. At other times, people bring their own affordances to a
technology, which has certainly occurred with the use of the Web.
So for our virtual business, we have to get our Web site indexed by the major
search engines. Luckily, this is fairly easy to do. Sometimes, we have to do nothing.
Other times, we may have to request the search engine to index our site. Given that
we are somewhat technically suave, we quickly get the Web site for our framing shop
indexed by major search engines.
Once indexed, though, our real challenge begins. The screen space on any computer
or computing device is limited. There is only so much space (or screen real estate) to
show information. So, when a searcher submits a query to a search engine, there are only
so many results that a search engine can display. Let's say this number of results is ten.
Actually, ten is an exaggeration, as there are typically fewer than ten results that
appear above the fold (the portion of the screen that first appears to the user where the
user does not have to scroll down). Most users do not scroll down [
4
].
So, a potential customer submits a query that relates directly to your business.
Although you might imagine that one of the results would be for your site, there is no
guarantee. It is rare for a business to have a market alone to itself. Rather there may
be from dozens to hundreds to thousands of businesses (all with viable products for
the potential customer) competing for one of those ten result slots.
Your business wants to be one of these ten slots on the first page of results, which
is where most of the consumer traffic is; actually, you want to be at the top of this list.
With each business equally viable, the search engine uses a variety of factors to rank
which businesses get one of those ten slots. However, you have only a limited idea of
what factors the search engine uses for ranking, so it is somewhat of a crapshoot.
What other options does your business have to get on this page of results? One
answer lies with sponsored search (a.k.a. keyword advertising, paid search, pay-
per-click). Sponsored search is the process in which advertisers pay to have their
advertisements appear on a search engine results page in response to a query from
a searcher. In sponsored search, advertisers pay search engines for traffic from the
search engine to their Web sites. With sponsored search, major Web search engines
have significantly altered online commerce.
Potpourri
: Sponsored search can come in various forms; the most common is
pay-per-click.
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) defines
pay-per-click as a model of online advertising in which advertisers pay only for
each click on their ads that directs searchers to a specified landing page on the
advertiser's Web site.
Let's say that our framing shop does not show up in the top ten for the query
“frame shops” in our area. Then, we are really going to depend on sponsored search
as an advertising medium.
