Google It! Most people know what that means but as of June 2009 how about Bing It!

MSN has been my daily on line newspaper now for years and one day in June it offered me something more. A new name and a brand new game for Microsoft.

Bing is a  newly designed way to search for products and services on the internet.

The first thing I noticed was the ability of the search engine to preview what is found in certain web sites.

Secondly, as a visual person the launch of the image search is key to it's cost to develop and launch. Imagine a product that will have a billion dollars worth of research, development and advertising associated to it and you will find Bing.

Google and Yahoo have been number one and number two for years when it comes to who people select to find information. MSN was a close third followed by AOL. Who you use determines what you will find.

So far in 2009, there are four and a half websites created EVERY SECOND as the web continues to expand. While more searchable information is cool, nearly half of all searches don't result in the answer that people are seeking.

Technology shifts faster than we in the building industry realize and it effects business in a big way today.
 

So what does it matter to someone reading this editorial if a company like Microsoft spends a billion dollars creating a new way to search for products and services?

If you are in the market for builder services or products it means that you have often been frustrated trying to locate the right contractor or builder. It also means that you may have been stuck in a pattern of using only one search engine because that's all you know. You may have also depended on a phone book and don't fully understand technology or computers as well as you should.

Whatever the case the reality is that new technology points to visual stimulation with the use of images. Challenge yourself to find services in Bing and Google images alone.

This multi billion dollar technology is easy to use. Simply select images from the field of choices and start surfing the web for that new kitchen, outdoor living or project that you have a need to solve. Instantly images come to life before you and if you like what you see it will allow you with one click to see the web site that it came from.

So change the way you surf on the web. Start with Binging it or Goggling It, but use the image based search so you can see what you want and visually retain what you see.

It is said that people remember 80% of what they see instead of what they read.

This technology is fun and instantly rewards you with visual reminders of why this is the way to find what you are looking for.

Michael Valentine is the publisher of Carolina Design and Build and a commercial photographer happy that technology is enhancing the visual images that he creates.