ReferWeb Overview
is a sophisticated public access Internet search engine
that locates and displays Human Service Provider information from your
organization's Information & Referral Resource database.
ReferWeb offers these feature:
- Each website is custom designed for the customer's needs,
including branding, links, and functionality.
- Provides extremely accurate search results.
- Fully hosted at the RTM Designs Data Center
ReferWeb offers several user-friendly search methods to accurately
locate service providers:
- Category/ Subcategory (#1 choice by users of I&R search engines)
- Taxonomy or Keyword
- Agency and Site name
- AKA name
- Program Name
- Area Located
- Area Served
- Conditions and Filters
The ReferWeb interface is completely customizable and is generally
designed to integrate seamlessly with your current Website's graphics.
The customer decides which font styles, graphics, page layout, and
search options are right for their needs. ReferWeb tracks and reports
user statistics such as web hits, Zip Codes, city, age, gender,
services, searched and which service providers users are viewing.
ReferWeb is simply the most advanced, affordable customizable Internet
Search Engine for Human Service Resource Databases.
Why is ReferWeb a better search engine than the other website option?
In one word - "ACCURACY"! There are two methods utilized by I&R web
search engines to display resource information to the user: the "Direct" method and the "Shotgun"
method.
The "Direct" method utilizes sophisticated search logic to return
accurate lists of service providers. When the user enters their ZIP or
city, the displayed service provider will serve the entered area. If
the user enters their age and gender, the service provider will serve
their age and gender. Any additional information entered by the user
will also filter out service providers not meeting the search
criteria. The displayed list of service providers will be accurate.
To help the user further, the list of service provider are also be
listed by proximity to the user. "Why display thirty service
providers when only eleven are viable for the user?"
The "Shotgun" method displays all service providers that offer the
service selected by the user, whether or not the service provider
actually serves the user's ZIP code or city. Most web search engines
using the Shotgun method also use text searches to find service
providers. Example: Food is entered as the search criteria therefore
all service providers that have the word "Food" in any text are
displayed, including the providers with the phrase "offer no food
services".
In short, the Shotgun approach consistently displays "False Positives",
which means a significant number of the displayed service providers are
not viable for the user. This approach is comparable to walking into a
library and the librarian says, "The book you are looking for is in
there somewhere".
The majority of service provider web search engines use the Shotgun
method. RTM Designs only uses the Direct method.
How much does it cost?
ReferWeb can be purchased to run on your organization's Web Server (or
ISP) or can be leased on an annual basis and hosted by RTM Designs.
