SEARCH SCHOOL
Company teaches users how to get most out of Google
Most people search Google only one way: they type in a term and look at the first page of results. A small number of those people go to the next page. A tiny fraction move on to the third page. Those searchers seldom bother with “operators” — the search variables like “AND” or “*” that help produce better search results.
Victor Alhadeff, who back in the 1980s started the technology retailer Egghead Software, has jumped into an online business that teaches people how to use the Google search engine more productively.
He doesn’t call it “Google for Dummies” because there’s already a book with that title. But that’s what it is, with all the teaching done interactively online.
His recently launched site is Seattle-based BoostElearning.com. It’s a tiny operation so far, with just three employees.
His target market is corporations, agencies and higher education institutions — places where using Google more effectively should translate into better results and less time wasted hunting for information, he said.
No one’s come up with a good estimate on how much productivity is expended on search. But Alhadeff said “people in the business environment are probably wasting a tremendous number of hours on faulty searches. It would come to days and weeks per year (for some companies).” Few companies or agencies try to teach effective search, he added. Most assume employees will pick it up or ask power-users for tips. And that’s not the case usually.
His solution: a sort of a Google 101, that costs $29 for all 20 online sessions.
“None of the information in our courses is hidden or secret information. It’s all out there, but it’s scattered. We put it all together and bring it to people so they can learn it,” he said.
For the first year or so, BoostElearning will focus on gaining new customers and becoming better known. Over time, Alhadeff said he’s examining how to tool the Google courses to specialized markets, such as financial services or medical or education.
At age 62, Alhadeff falls in the older demographic segment among West Side entrepreneurs. He started Bellevue-based Egghead Software in 1983, and the retail company opened a call center in Liberty Lake a few years later.
He sold off his interest and then took one small segment, Egghead University, and changed its name in 1989 to Catapult Software Training. In 1993 he sold that business to IBM, he said. Catapult was a precursor to the notion of using the Web for online instruction.
The idea for the new business was one of those moments when he thought about how people are not using Google’s full bag of tricks.
“I thought to myself, people would probably want some relatively easy way to learn how to use search better,” he said.
Another future consideration is how to modify the online courses to the age of customers. Older users, according to surveys, learn best by reading and then repeating a task.
The under-25 crowd, who’ve grown up with electronic devices, don’t want to waste time. Said Alhadeff, “They want the information quick, without a lot of discussion. They prefer to just be told once how to use it and they’re done.”