It’s lonely at the top. It’s even lonelier when you can almost reach the top but just can’t seem to get recognized beside the beautiful 900-pound gorilla that is at the top. It’s even lonelier when you’ve developed a truly powerful product. Like Netscape was to Internet Explorer and Audi is to BMW, AlltheWeb might be the best search tool you’ve never actually used when compared to Google.

Operated by Norwegian search firm Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), AlltheWeb became a serious search player in the late autumn of 2001. With a database that is actually slightly larger than Google’s and a totally unique ranking algorithm that is better at preventing SPAM-laden results, in another world or a different time, AlltheWeb would likely be in the position Google now enjoys. In many ways, AlltheWeb is actually a superior search tool to Google as the results returned have as much or more relevancy that those returned by Google but tend to contain much less spam, or irrelevant results. Results from AlltheWeb may also include references to WORD documents, FLASH documents, PDF documents, images, news articles, videos and FTP files, all clustered together to offer searchers a more holistic view of the Internet. Give it a try; you just might be pleasantly surprised! www.alltheweb.com

LookSmart has surprised some by moving into the black thanks to better than expected returns on the paid search listings it has embraced.

Many likely remember the unforgivable switch that LookSmart made last year to pay-per-click from paid inclusion. Many companies had paid the $149 to $299 'one-time' fee to be listed within its human edited directory only to have LookSmart change the rules and request that each of their clients pay for click-through's even after paying for this fee. This left many companies with a sour taste in their mouth. Well, unfortunately this change has proved profitable for LookSmart who posted a profit of $US34.6 million. According to recent stats provided by LookSmart, paid listings now account for 77% of its revenues.

Transit Shoes is a Montreal based shoe and accessories retailer with a broad vision, styling merchandise and one of the nicest applications of FLASH web design we’ve had the pleasure of working with. The website was designed by Montreal’s award winning, Dynamo New Media.

Transit is a Canadian company and is thus sells stuff suited for the Canadian environment. With a string of shops stretching across Canada, Transit offers youthful consumers a shopping experience based on meeting the latest trends. Lined ankle boots and leg-long faux-leather boots are the staple of the Transit’s Modern Vintage design concepts. With fashion for both girls and guys, and a website to write home to one’s clients about, Transit Shoes is preparing to take steps into a shopping center near you.

Look for them in the real world by visiting them in the virtual world at www.transitshoes.com

Approximately once every 30 days Google begins to revisit and reshuffle the web sites within its database. The reshuffling can be extremely disconcerting as many placements will be moved between Top5 and low 30 positions while it makes final determinations. When reviewing client web listings we sometimes see a different order of the Top20 placements every hour. This update is nicknamed the "Google Dance" simply because it is so unpredictable during this time and many placements get bounced all over the place until they settle in rarely predictable positions by the end of the dance.

As a result of this disconcerting "Dance" it can be very easy to overreact and worry that your web site will be demoted. Conversely it is possible that a newly submitted site will appear in the Top10 for 2 or 3 days and then show up in the lower Top20's once the Dance is finished. In either situation, do not get over excited. This is a time where second-guessing Google can be fatal.

As a final note; do not alter your web site during the Google Dance unless you are certain that the alterations you are making will provide more positive results.

Currently the Google Dance is in full motion and listings may solidify by the end of the week.

CBS MarketWatch's Internet Daily newsletter noted that advertisers during the Super Bowl received so much traffic to their web site's that their servers were overloaded until after the game. This is likely because of the emergence of WI-FI technology (home wireless internet) which allows viewers to sit in front of their TV and surf to advertiser's web sites at the same time.

Many futurists had predicted that the Internet and TV would have been combined into a single appliance by now, perhaps this is the first big step in that direction. It seems that yet again Humankind has found another way to cram more sensory input into life.