Article - How To Find The Coolest Sites on the Web

How to Find the Coolest Sites on the Web
"The last thing to do is Google it"

The Google search engine is a great free service. But its not always the best resource of information. Google searches for results by keywords. The flaw in this is that people don't always know alternative keywords. For example, someone may want to find "sites like Craigslist". A classified ads directory would show multiple sites like Craigslist.org, but won't show up on a Google search because it doesn't have the phrase "sites like craigslist" on any of its web pages. That means that if you were to search for "cool websites" on Google, you would only see results of websites that say "cool website" somewhere on the page. If a website has to state in writing that it's cool, then its probably not. The really cool sites are the ones that just are. They don't have to say it; everyone knows it. When looking for the coolest websites on the web, you could try using Google, or you can try the following tips for better results:

Visit traffic ranking websites.

The classic example of a website that ranks other websites according to traffic is Alexa.com. Alexa shows the most popular websites on the web, and there is usually a reason why they're the most popular. The fact that the sites are popular doesn't necessarily mean you know about them, though. You may be surprised what you find.

Ask a real person

There are plenty of sites out there which open communication between users. If you were to go to Answers.yahoo.com or Answers.com and ask what people think are cool websites, you'll find sites that aren't even ranked on Google (even though they should be). Just make sure you check each suggestion with siteadvisor.com to make sure its safe for your computer.

Social bookmarking sites

Have you ever seen the button at the top or bottom of a web page that says, "digg this"? That's an opportunity for website users to vote on their favorite website content. This creates a great massive multi-human edited website ranking list. The websites who receive votes show up on places like Digg.com and Delicious.com.

Search for website awards

If a website has won an award then it's probably pretty good. At least someone thought so when the award was offered. Sites that offer awards to other sites will usually create a list or directory of all the websites that have won. Thefwa.com, for example, offers awards to some of the best-designed websites on the web. Visiting the sites listed there will open your eyes to the amazing things that can actually be broadcast on the internet.

Professional reviews of websites

Websites like pcworld.com & pcmag.com offer professional reviews of websites. They write articles, make lists, and describe in detail some of the coolest sites on web. Another good resource is the 50 Coolest Websites listed every year by Time.com.

Website Directories

Website directories can offer a way of searching for websites by category, not by keywords on the pages. Dmoz.org is a nice human-editied directory. Yahoo! also has a directory that websites pay to get listed on. Another type of directory is one like jimmyr.com which uses really simple syndication (RSS) to bring headlines from all the most popular sites together in one place. And of course, there are sites like ActuallyFree.info, whose editors spend a lot of time aggregating the best sites in certain categories, such as "freebies". By visiting these sites you don't have to spend the time they've already spent looking.

Follow these 7 tips (Google being the last of them) and you're on your way to finding the coolest websites on the internet.

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