when an ordinary list can be more valuable than a database

Keep it simple -- sometimes an ordinary list is more valuable than a database

by Richard Seltzer, seltzer@samizdat.com, www.samizdat.com

This article was heard on the radio program "The Computer Report," which is broadcast live on WOTW 900 AM, Nashua, NH 12-2 PM Sundays.

A company I'm doing some consulting for had a list of a few hundred names and addresses in a database. This company produces a publication, with a print edition and an online edition, and with paid advertising in each. As a separate Web site, they had this database of vendors with products and services of interest to readers of the publication. The database was awkward to update. And visitors at that site had to enter information and click several times and put up with slow response time to get a single name and address. The system was set up to make it possible add listing enhancements -- bold and large type and display ad options like you see in a printed yellow pages. But you would have to go through the whole database search process to arrive at a page that showed such enhancements. In other words, you already selected that company for detailed information -- the enhancements weren't at a level where they could catch someone's attention to the benefit of the advertiser. And, in fact, no one had ever chosen to advertise in it.

I suggested that with a list that small it would be far simpler and more effective to create static HTML pages that listed all the information. One large page could list all the companies, with their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, and a quick summary of the kinds of products and services they offer. Then separate pages could list the companies offering specific categories of products or services. And simple links could tie these directory pages together in a variety of ways.

In a case like this, a simple list has many advantages over a database:
1) Visitors could print an entire list with one simple command, instead of having to first do a series of database queries.
2) You could add enhancements (bold, italic, large type, graphics) as easily as you add to a Word document, without the need for special software or for any technical skills.
3) Visitors would see the enhanced listings side-by-side with the unadorned, free listings; so you might be more inclined to pay attention to them; and so advertisers could easily imagine the benefit that they are paying for.
4) Visitors could also see all the entries in context, companies listed with their competitors, making it easy to do followup comparisons of offerings.
5) All the listings could easily have links to related Web pages and email addresses, making followup all the more easy.
6) Unlike with a database, the content could be indexed by search engines, bringing more traffic to your site, and hence raising advertising revenue based on impressions.
7) Some search engines, like AltaVista, give more weight to large informative pages than to short ones with little text; so when the search engines index this page it is likely to get relatively high ranking.
8) Also, the variety of text on that page -- with all those company names -- is likely to serve as a magnet for search engine queries.

Many Web page designers, as a rule, don't create large pages. They tend to limit the size to what you can see on the screen without scrolling, or maybe no more than twice that size. But large pages can be far more convenient for visitors than a multitude of small ones. Visitors can always use the Search or Find function in their browser to go right to the content they want. And it is easy to add internal links from an alphabet displayed at the top of the page, as an extra aid to navigation. It is also easy to link from any place on any page to any place on any other page of yours.

So don't presume that a high tech solution is the best solution. Beware of over-engineering. Always consider the possibility that a simple direct approach, that anyone could implement, might lead to better business results.

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My Internet: a Personal View of Internet Business Opportunities by Richard Seltzer, on CD, includes four books, 162 articles, and 49 newsletter issues that will inspire you and provide the practical information you need to build your own personal Web site or Internet-based business, helping you to become a player in this new business environment.

Web Business Boot Camp: Hands-on Internet lessons for manager, entrepreneurs, and professionals by Richard Seltzer (Wiley, 2002). No-nonsense guide targets activities that anyone can perform to achieve online business success. Reviews.

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