Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 09:07:12 -0400
From: Bob Rankin
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS - 02 June 1998 - Web Rings
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TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: Web Rings
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP : http://www.webring.org
Looking for a new way to surf the web, or a new idea to build traffic to
your own site? WebRing could be the answer.
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WebRing is a free service that offers easy access to hundreds of
thousands of websites organized by topics in "rings" that make it easy
to go from one to the next. New webrings are being started daily, and
thousands of people join existing rings each day.
The Webring concept was the idea of Sage Weil, a native of Claremont,
California. Back in 1995 (when Weil was just 17) he started Webring as
a personal experiment, and it has since become a very popular way for
netizens to share common interests. In addition to that, it's fast
becoming a new way of organizing and finding information on the Web.
WebRing offers more than 400,000 sites in over over 23,500 topical
rings, and over 2000 sites join the network each day. To check out
WebRing and search for a ring that interests you, visit:
The WebRing Home Page - http://www.webring.org
...and use one of these navigational aids:
- Ring Index: A huge alpabetical list of rings
- Search: Webring's own keyword search engine
- RingWorld Directory: A topical directory of WebRing rings
You'll find rings about Education, Literature, Music, Museums and
Galleries, Theater, Electronic Commerce, Real Estate, Computer Graphics,
Software, Hardware, Health, Cars, Travel, Comics, Humor, Religion,
Philosophy, Science, Pets, and more.
I found rings devoted to the Florida Keys, finches, the Titanic, Clark
Gable, and Video Game Cheats. You could find all this stuff by using
search engines, but at WebRing it's already organized topically.
SEARCHING: LESS IS MORE
-----------------------
When I give seminars, people always ask how to find things on the Web.
If they're searching for information on a specific topic, I recommend
trying a hierarchial directory like Yahoo first. Sure, it contains less
information than a brute-force search tool like AltaVista, but it's
organized information.
When you search for "apple" at AltaVista, it doesn't know if you want
pie recipes or Macintosh software. What does one do with 3,905,958
hits? At Yahoo, you can click on a few subject headings usually find a
handful of relevant sites with ease. But it can be a nuisance to check
out each site, because you have to constantly return to the Yahoo index
page.
WebRing makes the process a whole lot easier. Any site that's part of a
ring will display a little box at the bottom of the page, with links to
other Web pages in the ring. This makes it easy to surf to lots of
sites on the same topic, without returning to the search engine of
directory.
I'm not quite ready to recommend WebRing as my #1 starting point for all
topical searches, but I suggest you give it a try next time you're
looking for web sites that fall into a specific category.
GOT WEBSITE?
------------
Let's say you've just spent weeks building the perfect website about
your alternative music band Toe Fungus. It's a veritable work of art,
with photos, smokin' hot Java and Real Audio sound clips. But for some
reason people just aren't flocking in. How do you get folks to visit?
Joining a web ring is a great way to build traffic to your own site.
You could add your site address to every search engine out there, but
that doesn't always help a great deal. One advantage of a ring is that
it helps people interested in your subject matter find your site. If
you joined a webring devoted to "Rock Bands With Dumb Names", then you'd
be sure to attract more visitors.
If you have your own website and want to become involved with Webrings,
the easiest way to get in the game is to join an existing ring. The
first step in joining a ring is to visit the RingWorld directory and
find the most appropriate ring to join.
You'll want to pick one that matches your subject area, but in order to
maximize the benefit of increased exposure, you should pick a ring that
doesn't have more than a few dozen sites. If you join a ring with 247
sites, the chances are small that people will ever make it to your site
when visiting other sites in the ring.
To join a ring, visit that ring's homepage. The process for joining
varies from ring to ring, so you'll need to pay attention to the
instructions found there.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO JOIN THE CIRCUS
---------------------------------
... to become a ringmaster. If you don't find a webring on a given
subject, you can create your own! But be forewarned - operating a
high-quality Web ring requires a good deal of time, and a working
knowledge of HTML (the lingua franca of web page design).
As soon as you get a total of five sites in your ring, you can have it
added to the RingWorld directory so visitors to the WebRing site can
find you.
See you next time! --Bob Rankin
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