Using portals and information gateways effectively18 August 2005
Portals are web sites that offer both search engines and subject directories. They provide a 'gateway' to web-based information, often about a specific topic, industry or region.
Why they're useful
- Subject-specific information gateways and portals are compiled by people with expertise in that specific topic, and who use some form of quality assessment criteria to decide which sites to include.
- If you're searching for the major or 'best' resources on a topic, using a portal and browsing its subject directory can make it easier to find resources that have been recommended and often annotated by experts. A search engine will simply provide every resource that matches the search criteria.
- Portals can also be useful when searching for more general or broad categories of information or topics. Entering too broad a search into a search engine will make it difficult to filter the results by relevance, but browsing the subject lists on a portal can help you to identify relevant topics.
- Many portals offer interactive options such as e-mail, chat rooms and customised news content.
Getting more out of portals
- Look for a portal that you can personalise to suit your own preferences. With information gateways such as My Yahoo you can personalise everything from the background colour to the areas of interest you require.
- Portals can help you keep up to date with current news on a specific topic or sector. Search engines are less effective as sources of news as they tend to look only at headlines that match your search criteria, or the most recent news. Using a portal can provide you with more specific news on your chosen subject and, if the portal offers RSS options, you can keep up to date with constant news feeds to your PC.
- Portals are often useful sources of directory information. For example, the Kompass portal is a good resource to find information about specific businesses. The Trade Association Forum is a source of links and contacts for specific sectors. And the Media UK gateway is an acclaimed source of information and contact details for the UK's media, listing websites, addresses, telephone numbers, programme schedules, live links and more.
- Portals are usually commercial and, as their popularity grows, 'portal sales', or sales by businesses choosing to advertise on the portal, are growing. You can often promote on portals with an advertisement and your contact details. You may also be able to market or promote your business via the portal by submitting relevant articles or reports about your sector, or participating in a portal-based discussion forum.
