Bethel University (Google Mini)

Written by
Andy Altepeter
Manager of Web Development
Bethel University

Based in Arden Hills, Minnesota, Bethel University offers students a Christian higher education that integrates strong academic programs with a vital spiritual life and purpose. Approximately 5,600 students are enrolled in nearly 100 undergraduate, graduate, and seminary programs.

In our quest to improve search for both our web site and intranet, we needed to replace a customized free search engine that underperformed by delivering non-relevant results as the most relevant results. For example, a search for "Bethel University" consistently returned old, obscure news releases from our archives as the most relevant results.

After careful review of our needs, we determined the new search technology we would implement had to be 1) world-class technology, 2) affordable 3) easy to set up and easy to use and 4) familiar to users. For our money, the Google Mini was the obvious choice.

For our Google Mini deployment, we partitioned our web space into collections for both public and intranet use and provided a customized interface for both. Once out of the box, we had the Google Mini up and running in no time, and we now highly value the following features:

* Easy, but powerful configuration capabilities; down to the one button on the Mini that makes it very simple to use

* The ability to index our fileservers as well as intranet content. Getting
results from the fileserver is an unexpected benefit for our searchers. This
feature approximately doubled the anticipated number of indexed documents.

* The ability to view all indexed documents in HTML, and cached versions showing
highlighted keywords.

The Google Mini has truly delivered for Bethel University. Now instead of grumblings about our search engine, our web department consistently hears about how impressive our search capability is. And, our users are putting actions behind their words: we've seen the number of searches increase to approx. 800 searches per hour.

Hillsborough County Florida Public Library

Written by Jason Biggers
Principal Librarian
Hillsborough County Florida Public Library





The Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System promotes life-long learning through a network of free libraries with open access, a community focus, welcoming environments and a broad range of relevant materials in a variety of formats.

The library needed an effective search solution for its public website presence as well as its internal intranet. For the web site, we'd tried using a variety of solutions including PSSearch and free software plug-ins, yet nothing proved reliable, much less easy to configure. And for the intranet, we determined we needed to replace the native NT search indexing.

We chose the Google Mini for use with both our web site and intranet because the Google Mini is easy to set up, easy to use, fully configurable and compliant with almost all security issues right out of the box.

The Google Mini's impact has been very positive. So many times you are promised the world by software/hardware sellers and re-sellers. Google has delivered with the Google Mini. So much so that tech support is rarely an issue, and when it is, Google Technical Support is up to the task. The flexibility of software based collection restrictions as opposed to multiple units gives a customer the opportunity to comfortably test implementations without over committing ever decreasing IT hardware budgets. In addition, the Google Mini has been instrumental in helping us reduce help desk calls by more than 50% for issues relating to "where can I find?".

For our web site, we frequently receive comments from the public on how much they enjoy and depend on the new search capability. And for our intranet, the Google Mini provides an interface our librarians are familiar and comfortable using.

Tasked to do more with less but also provide reliable, resilient access? The Google Mini steps up well to the task.

Jason Biggers
Principal Librarian
Hillsborough County Library Services

CouponWinner increases sales via effective site search

Written by Aydin Karadeniz
President & CEO
SurfMyAds.com, Inc.

CouponWinner.com, a provider of online coupons and promotional codes, requires an effective keyword search tool. Through Google Mini, our users have access to more than 2,000 merchants and tens-of-thousands of online coupons.

Initially we used a basic search feature, but our needs began to outgrow its limited capabilities as our traffic increased. The Google Mini not only helped us build a user-friendly website, but aided in increasing our number of sales by 100%. And CouponWinner.com users feel comfortable with the Google Mini search feature because it closely resembles the Google interface they use everyday.

Google Mini also allows us to track user activities and enhance our site based on the results. With Google Mini we can see what our users are specifically searching for, and we are thus able to customize CouponWinner.com offerings to better fulfill their needs. Recently, we optimized our category selections based on user search trends we discovered with the Google Mini. It also allows us to view the exact coupons our users are looking for so we can be sure to maximize exposure of the most popular ones.

The KeyMatch feature has also been a great tool for our business. Based on words entered by a user, we can program Google Mini to display particular merchants. It creates an additional, highly sought after placement opportunity for our merchants. It increases our sales by immediately directing users to the offers they are most likely to use.

At CouponWinner.com, the shopper is our first concern. The primary goal of our site is to help people save money, simply and easily, everyday. Time is money and we want our users to save both. The Google Mini significantly amplifies usability and allows us to better serve our customers. CouponWinner.com is the most user-friendly site on the web and the Google Mini has proven to be an invaluable tool.

Forex.com adds Google Mini Search for online traders

Written by Steve Suhocki
Webmaster
GAIN Capital Group (www.forex.com)

FOREX.com is a division of GAIN Capital Group, LLC, one of the most respected online foreign exchange trading firms in the industry. Founded in 1999, GAIN Capital Group provides forex trading & asset management services to institutional investors and professional money managers in over 140 countries.

When we decided to redesign our website, www.forex.com, in 2006, we knew search would be an important feature for end users. We selected the Google Mini because our research confirmed that the Google Mini combines Google's reliable search technology with the ease of use and integration users desire.

The Google Mini has delivered a number of key benefits including helping us reduce our bounce rate. The longer users visit and search our site, the more likely they are to sign up for our services. Since we work in a financial industry, there are many terms that can be unfamiliar to the user. Providing users search in an integrated fashion allows them to find what they are looking for on our website, and not bounce to another search engine.

We've found the Google Mini offers a number of attributes that have made it an integral component to our web site infrastructure:

* Reliability – We've had it consistently running since we plugged it in, without any downtime. It's nice to have a box that doesn't require a reset periodically to ensure quality performance.

* Customization - Without any previous knowledge of XSLT to start, we were able to customize the layout to match our website.

* Foreign Language Support - Our brand services four major languages, and the two we've implemented to date, we've done so easily.

* Viewable Metrics – With the Google Mini, we can analyze what our users find most interesting, and decide whether new content needs to be added to the website to meet those needs.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay the Google Mini is that I practically implemented the whole solution myself.

The Google Mini is a simple, quick solution backed by search technology that works

Nuvo.net leverages Google Mini KeyMatch and reporting

Written by Kris Arnold
IT Manager
Nuvo.net (www.nuvo.net)

NUVO.net is the web site counterpart to NUVO, Indianapolis' popular weekly publication for real news in local, politics, culture and art. The web site covers all the stories in the print publication and more – including videos, podcasts, streaming music and photo galleries as well as access to the interactive myNUVO community, for an easy way for NUVO readers to connect with one another.

Our website contains thousands of archived articles from our newspaper dating back to 1995. Many of these articles are stored as static html files - from before we were using modern database technology to power our article management.

We knew we needed to incorporate search technology into our site and the question we had to answer was how best to do so. We could have developed our own search system but we would have lost a tremendous amount of time with development, and even then, we could not have matched the advanced searching capabilities the Google Mini has delivered to NUVO.net

There are a number of features that set the Google Mini apart from competitor offerings, and the keymatch features is my personal favorite. On a monthly basis, I can now pull a report of what people are searching for, and based on these results, I use keymatch to setup keywords based on popular searches to help guide users to the content I think they were most likely trying to find.

With the Google Mini, Nuvo.net is deploying an affordable, powerful search technology that enables our users to easily and quickly find content that previously would have been lost in a virtual needle and haystack.

MotorcycleUSA.com replaces basic website search with Google Mini

Written by Don Becklin
Founder
Motorcycle USA (www.motorcycle-usa.com)

MotorcycleUSA.com is the most comprehensive motorcycle magazine on the web, offering, industry news, buyer's guide, race coverage, message boards and more. In addition, our Motorcycle-Superstore.com ecommerce site offers a range of the finest in motorcycle gear, parts and accessories.

With both a magazine and ecommerce site to manage, we needed high-performance search for various and different reasons. For our magazine, we wanted easy access to archives for our editors and readers, accurate keyword search, ability to add synonym results, and the Google look and feel so familiar to our site visitors.

For our ecommerce site, we primarily needed a way for customers to easily find one particular product; for customer service reps to quickly get both service rep and customer on the same page during a call; easy customization overall to help refine results based on search criteria; and options for additional merchandising capabilities to push specific products and sales based upon related search terms.

Prior to deploying Google search technology, we used a simplistic search technology for site search on both web sites. The previous site search only looked at product descriptions and page text and had trouble putting the search results into a context that made sense to users and customers. Because Google.com is the preeminent Internet search engine, we felt that using Google based search technology on our websites would best meet our needs and deliver the relevant search results our staff, readers customers seek - everyday.

Currently, we are deploying the Google Mini for the MotorcycleUSA.com magazine and the Google Search Appliance (GSA) for the Motorcycle Superstore to take advantage of the additional capabilities of the GSA. We appreciate the fact that the Google Mini and GSA spider the sites from the front/user side. This methodology leads to better search results and less back-end management issues than if we were dealing with a database focused search technology. Once set-up, we've found the Google Mini and GSA provided dependable site search that needs little maintenance. And the Google search algorithm is obviously best in class, and we value having that technology available on our sites.

Google Support for the Google Mini and GSA has been outstanding. From initial training seminars and tips for optimizing use of the products to quick responses to product-related questions, Google has provide us the product support we need when we need it.

Site search was something we used to try to hide and dissuade users from using until we implemented search using the Google Mini and GSA. Now it's a tool that outside users and internal employees can use with great effectiveness.

ESAB Welding simplifies search with a Google Mini

Written by Danny Young
Manager of Ebusiness Development
ESAB Welding (www.esabna.com)

ESAB is a leading manufacturer of welding and cutting equipment and welding filler metals. More than 100 years of continuous research, development and manufacturing have made ESAB the world leader in welding and cutting.

The Google Mini has enabled ESAB to seamlessly and effortlessly mold two website search tools into one and has been selected as the global search tool for more than 40 ESAB websites comprised of 30+ languages.

Our product catalog is hosted with a 3rd party provider in Philadelphia and our company websites are hosted in an ESAB facility in Florence, South Carolina. Prior to the Google Mini, our search technology required a user to choose between two search interfaces – one specifically for product information and one for company information. This resulted in a confusing experience for many customers who often used the wrong search box for the particular information they were seeking.

The Google Mini solved the problem by providing a low-cost solution that indexes both sites and provides a single search interface for both product and company information.

The Mini's features including multi-language capabilities, intuitive administration interface, filtering capabilities, the keymatch feature, synonym functionality and the trusted Google "familiarity" have been instrumental in making search at ESAB.com a rewarding customer experience.

The key match feature allows ESAB to target specific content based on the customer’s keyword input. ESAB can suggest relevant content to improve the customers experience while at the same time, up selling ESAB products.

The Google Mini experience – from its quick, easy-to-install set up to its accurate sub-second delivery of accurate results – has enabled ESAB to migrate from a cumbersome search interface to the best in the business.

eCompressedair.com's site search is powered by a Google Mini

Written by Pat Kelly
General Manager
eCompressedair (www.ecompressedair.com)

Charlotte, NC based eCompressedair serves the compressed air market through its e-commerce business-to-business Website: www.ecompressedair.com. As a growing web-based business, offering more than 25,000 products for sale, we realized that improved search was THE business tool needed to enhance customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

Our existing search technology had several downsides: it only indexed store product pages, could not recognize partial part numbers, and often returned inaccurate search results. After considering a variety of search alternatives, we selected the Google Mini for a variety of reasons:

· It's a low risk business decision;

· delivers relevant search results formatted similar to Google.com results providing customers with search familiarity they appreciate

· provides keyword and synonym functionality;

·requires little technical know-how and can be seamlessly integrated with any site

Rolling out the Mini was a smooth process. From out of the box to crawling our website took only minutes. And for any questions, I found the Mini's online support website well organized, stocked with a wealth of data, and easy-to-use.

We've found that the Mini has added value across the board – from easily managing subcollections, URL removal and retrieval errors to assisting our inside sales and service reps for use with customer service.

Most of all, the Mini has improved our bottom line. Web, phone, and fax orders all increased as a direct result of improved search capabilities. And in a seven month period directly post installation of the Google Mini – with no additional changes to our website - website transactions increased 204%.

Williams Scotsman International has Google Minis for site search and intranet search

Written by Gary Williams
Webmaster & Application Developer
Information Technology Department
Williams Scotsman International (www.willscot.com)

Williams Scotsman International, Inc., is a leading provider of modular space solutions. With more than 100 locations across North America and Europe, the company provides customers with everything from a simple construction trailer to complex, multi-story buildings such as schools and medical facilities.

In early 2006, we committed to improving search functionality for our public facing website and corporate intranet. While information was abundantly available on both sites, customers and employees experienced difficulty finding what they needed quickly and efficiently.

We selected the Google Mini for our website because of its low cost, flexibility and overall ease of use. Plus, we wanted to leverage the same quality and reliability that powers Google.com

Within an hour, we installed the Google Mini, which instantly began crawling our website and returning accurate results. In less than two hours, we were able to provide our customers with relevant search information. The benefits were many. For example, the Mini's reporting tools enable us to remain abreast of what customers search for most, so we can quickly adjust our website to enhance and increase inbound customer product interest via email and phone.

Our successful traction with the Google Mini convinced us to utilize an additional Google Mini for our intranet efforts. Our intranet was unorganized, inaccurate, and troublesome to navigate. After incorporating the Google Mini throughout our intranet, almost immediately, positive employee reaction poured in from across the company. A typical response: "this makes my job easier."

The Google Mini has been a valuable company asset and has apprised us of the power of search to both generate sales and significantly improve company efficiency.