Sunday, January 11, 2009

Community Supported Googility

I've just completed a complete rewrite of the Googility.com website. I have changed the philosophy of the web site so that it can better serve the agility community and added a bunch of new features.

For the Community and by the Community

Soon after starting Googility I found that there are so many agility related web sites that it would be a full time job to inspect them all and categorize them correctly. So I wrote this new version of the site to allow anyone to add and update the information in the Googility database. I also provided pages so anyone can browse the information.

Just like Wikipedia, all edits and additions are moderated and changes are not applied to the database until they are approved. This is to prevent mischievous people or spammers from putting inappropriate sites or information in the database.

As information is added and updated in Googility Google automatically updates the search engine, so it is always searching the latest websites and blogs.

So the future of searching for agility information on the web is now in the control of all of us in the agility community.

New Features

For searchers using the site:
For agility blogs, websites and businesses:
  • You don't need a website.
    It is increasingly unusual for agility businesses and trainers to not have a website. But even without one, when "search nearby" is implemented your location will be found just like all other businesses!
  • A page giving the contact information for your business, website or blog.
  • Driving directions to your location
  • The contact and driving direction page's addresses doesn't change so you can link to them
  • Your site gets higher rankings in web searches.
    Your site benefits from the permanent links from Googility.com
In an effort to answer questions about the new site I've written up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list with a link in the footer of every page.

There is also a Contact Us page in which you can leave any suggestions or comments. I want to know what you think.

What's Next?

The FAQ hints at two next directions: searching near a location and mobile access. These two features can go hand in hand. As more agility businesses add their street addresses a natural thing to do is put them into Google Maps so you can search for a trainer, classes, or ring rental near your home. Once I add mobile support you could do the same while driving cross country right from your cell phone...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Steve,

What a wonderful idea! We wish you the best of success in this new venture. I just submitted two of our websites, that we have in addition to our parent one, and everything went smoothly.

We look forward to seeing how the agility world benefits from your unique service.

Happy regards,
Pamela S.
president, Affordable Agility, Inc.
www.AffordableAgility.com

Steve said...

Pamela,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I just hope it will be taken up by the community and people will enter the sites they own as well as sites and pages they enjoy.

Steve