By Colby Horton
Shop Site of the Month
Meyer's Auto Tech - Kennewick, Wash.
www.meyersautotech.com
This site uses several innovative features throughout, including an appointment scheduler and e-mail service reminders. But one of its nicest features is the ability to watch the progress of repairs through the shop's four Web cams. Visitors to the site can also download an impressive shop newsletter and apply for 90 days same-as-cash financing. The "Diagnose My Problem" section is a great tool to help drive customers to the shop.
Web Wise
Web Logs Not Just for Teens Anymore
Need another word to add to your Internet vocabulary? How about "blog," or "blogging?" Although the words aren't exactly new, technology is changing the way the terms are used.
Blogging is becoming an enormous online entity. As a basic definition, blogs, or "Web logs," are literally online diaries with articles, photos, Web links and other entries made by the blog's creator. Yes, it sounds like something your teenager would create. And yes, that's where blogs seem to have originated - in the teen culture. In fact, you might be hard pressed to find a teenager not blogging on a weekly or daily basis.
Today, however, blogs have made their way into the corporate world, the political arena and even religious sectors. Not only are major news organizations such as CNN, ABC News and MSNBC implementing blogs on their Web sites, but some auto manufacturers such as General Motors have added blogs to their sites as well. Some Fortune 500 companies have created blogs written by CEOs, explaining views of the company or addressing concerns.
Most blogs allow readers to leave comments or links to topics and other Web sites relevant to the entry or the blog's topical focus. This interactive nature allows bloggers to refer to each other's blogs, creating what some Internet analysts are calling "blogospheres" - groups of blogs centered around specific themes, topics or interests. It's this interactive approach that is causing blogs to take off on the World Wide Web.
Although the simplest blogs are text-only, many companies are adding multimedia content such as digital video, photos and audio to their blogs, often rivaling the traditional press release or news conference outlets used by traditional companies.
In addition, the widespread use of cell phones with built-in digital cameras and wireless Internet connections is also evolving the use of blogs. Bloggers are able to take a picture, write a caption and post it on a "moblog," or mobile log, regardless of where they are located.
Blogs have become so popular that Google, one of the largest search engines on the Internet, recently introduced its blog search engine. The site, unveiled in September, can be accessed at blogsearch.google.com and focuses exclusively on the material found in blogs.
Net Numbers
Technorati, a Web log tracking service, reports that the number of blogs online doubles every five months. The company currently indexes 19.1 million blogs. Source: Technorati (www.technorati.com)
ASA Web Ways
ASA's Ultimate Buyers Guide
The Automotive Service Association has launched ASA's Ultimate Buyers Guide for Service Professionals. The new site, accessed through www.asaultimatebuyersguide.com, is a vertical search engine that allows users to search for a product or service specifically catered to the automotive service industry. The goal is to cut through the clutter of Internet search results, yielding results pertinent to the industry. ASA's Ultimate Buyers Guide can also be downloaded and accessed offline through a desktop icon, anywhere at anytime, with or without an Internet connection.
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Net Worth is written by Colby Horton, ASA's electronic communications manager. He can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 234, or by e-mail at colbyh@asashop.org.
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