I think it's about giving the user what they want, be it unique or not. If I was looking for information on a subject and all the information was scattered acrosss 1000 pages on a 100 different sites, i'd love someone to take it all and put it in one place, even if none of it was unique. If it was presented well and saved me time, then i'd be happy. If whoever did this could make it even more appealing, even better.
Unique Content
- Thread starter nareau
- Start date
miromulus
Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2004
- Messages
- 570
jgwright said:And unique ways of presenting it I dare say?
All shops want to present the content in a unique way. But here we face the same problem as ODP (nobody reads the help and faq). If your design is really fancy, the visitor will have problems navigating through the content. So, we try to work on the information, rather than on unique ways to presenting it.
This is an example of why any reality (including the web) needs to be indexed from multiple perspectives. The ODP's unique perspective is that of WEBSITES WITH UNIQUE CONTENT. Nobody else does that: as a result, even dmoz.org's pitiful site search will blow away anything else on the web for certain kinds of searches.
Obviously, the ODP can't do everything: ccel.org has a couple of unique indexes to often very deeplinked content in very specific topics. Google indexes web pages, not sites -- and by keywords, not topics. The Yellow Pages directories have their own emphases and values. Google has independent "image" and "shopping" and "news" indexes -- each with its own set of rules. MSN offers a dozen different ways to buy listings -- presumably something of commercial value to someone (although not, I imagine, sensible surfers.) Several other approaches, with good potential, were designed with inadequate protection against spam-assassins or recicivist-convicted-monopolists -- and were murdered.
But (1) we need more different approaches; (2) the ODP needs to retain its focus until it has come much closer to accomplishing its goal.
Obviously, the ODP can't do everything: ccel.org has a couple of unique indexes to often very deeplinked content in very specific topics. Google indexes web pages, not sites -- and by keywords, not topics. The Yellow Pages directories have their own emphases and values. Google has independent "image" and "shopping" and "news" indexes -- each with its own set of rules. MSN offers a dozen different ways to buy listings -- presumably something of commercial value to someone (although not, I imagine, sensible surfers.) Several other approaches, with good potential, were designed with inadequate protection against spam-assassins or recicivist-convicted-monopolists -- and were murdered.
But (1) we need more different approaches; (2) the ODP needs to retain its focus until it has come much closer to accomplishing its goal.
Delighted I joined up, great words of wisdom from such a prolific poster. I would like to provide you with a gem that I tell all the business owners and their sales people that I coach
"Don't tell them what your product does, help them understand what your product will enable them to do and indeed how to measure the value of that new capability"
thus a website is a tool - I sell Sales & Marketing advice for business owners, but in reality I am helping them "create wealth" - sales is just a means to an end.
So when submitting or reviewing a website for inclusion, ask your self - "is it clear what visitors to my (or the reviewed) site, will be enabled to do, upon visiting or following a call to action"
Peter Lawless
"Don't tell them what your product does, help them understand what your product will enable them to do and indeed how to measure the value of that new capability"
thus a website is a tool - I sell Sales & Marketing advice for business owners, but in reality I am helping them "create wealth" - sales is just a means to an end.
So when submitting or reviewing a website for inclusion, ask your self - "is it clear what visitors to my (or the reviewed) site, will be enabled to do, upon visiting or following a call to action"
Peter Lawless
jeanmanco
Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2003
- Messages
- 1,926
Truly unique content is hard to find? I don't think so.
Browse around the Open Directory and you'll find a feast of it. We have listed hordes of museums, libraries, archives, schools and universities. We can lead you to thousands of churches, cathedrals, chapels, temples, mosques and synagogues. Officialdom abounds, with sites of local and national governments, police forces, embassies and all kinds of other bodies. Then there are masses of charities, hospitals and clinics.
If you follow a sport, you're in luck, because we have oodles of local and national teams, clubs and individual sportsmen and women. Or if art is your passion, there are masses of artists and galleries. Music? We're pulsing with it. The sites of bands and artists are there in droves, not to mention a few of the critics. Newspapers, magazines, Radio and TV stations, cinemas, theatres - they may have a lot in common, but each is unique.
I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned some of my favourite categories. But you get the idea. We are never short of sites with unique content.
Browse around the Open Directory and you'll find a feast of it. We have listed hordes of museums, libraries, archives, schools and universities. We can lead you to thousands of churches, cathedrals, chapels, temples, mosques and synagogues. Officialdom abounds, with sites of local and national governments, police forces, embassies and all kinds of other bodies. Then there are masses of charities, hospitals and clinics.
If you follow a sport, you're in luck, because we have oodles of local and national teams, clubs and individual sportsmen and women. Or if art is your passion, there are masses of artists and galleries. Music? We're pulsing with it. The sites of bands and artists are there in droves, not to mention a few of the critics. Newspapers, magazines, Radio and TV stations, cinemas, theatres - they may have a lot in common, but each is unique.
I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned some of my favourite categories. But you get the idea. We are never short of sites with unique content.
I was going to echo what jeanmanco said
, but miromulus' follow up says it all: eCommerce businesses are such a small fraction of all the businesses, organizations, and topics available in the World and reflected on the internet, yet they dominate the internet forums about SEO and business promotion. Many webmasters only see the large volume of whining and hand-wringing in forums such as this, and conclude that "almost everyone" has a problem getting an ODP listing. The editors simply see a vocal minority, who often have sites that don't even meet our guidelines, complaining about the process. I think the difference in perspective is a primary source of confusion and misunderstanding on the part of webmasters when they try to figure out the ODP.