Internet citizenship

The truth is out there.

X-files

Playing with Web addresses

"Resource discovery" is the fancy name for finding stuff on the Web. It is surprisingly difficult. Search engines, in particular, are unreliable and frustrating to use.

Here are some of the ways that people might find your site, or you might find theirs.

Guessing

The address for David Jones is probably http://www.davidjones.com.au/. That means that it is the Web site for David Jones, a commercial company in Australia.

The address for the Queensland government is probably http://www.qld.gov.au/. That is, the Web site of the Queensland (Qld) government in Australia.

The address for the United Nations might be http://www.un.org/. The Web site for the United Nations (UN), an international organisation. Please note that international groups or companies, and organizations based in the United States often do not put a country code on the end of their Web or e-mail addresses.

There is a standard structure to addresses on the Internet. Once you get used to how it works, it is sometimes easy to guess what an address will be.

Word of mouth

"Gidday mate. I'm looking for a good site that deals with ..." "Just found a great Web site. Check this out!" It might be a phone message, or an e-mail, or just a note scribbled in a cafe and passed on from a friend or colleague. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising.

Because of the immediacy of e-mail, word of mouth works really well on the Internet.

Business cards and letterheads

Just like your phone number, your Web site should be listed on your business card and your letterhead. Seems straightforward, but lots of people don't do it.

Most business people have a system of keeping track of business cards. They might enter them into a database or file them in a little box. Or they might throw them in a drawer and hunt through them when they need them. Whatever system they have, it is a good way of giving someone your contact information. And that includes your Web site.

Letterhead is equally important. If you send someone a letter, they might want to find out more information from your Web site before they reply. If they do, they will probably save you time in the long run.

And, as you do more business by electronic mail, make sure that all the information that would normally be on your letterhead appears in your signature file.

Amputating a Web address

The Web address for this page is:
http://www.vmore.org.au/~jonathan/tutorial/discover.html

If you want more tutorials, just cut off the file name, 'discover.html' and look at:
http://www.vmore.org.au/~jonathan/tutorial/

If you want to find out more about me, just cut off the last part of the Web address and go to:
http://www.vmore.org.au/~jonathan/

To find out more information about the organisation that stores my Web pages, Virtual Moreland, just ...
http://www.vmore.org.au/

I'm sure you get the idea.