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12/09/2006: "What's the Matter With Amazon? Not Much, But . . ."

Here's a secret. I'm a terrible speller. Oh, I know. I get paid very well to write so you thought I was a wonderful speller didn't you? Wrong!

If my clients could see their copy before I polish it for three days, they would never hire me. I never could spell well. I know all the capitals in the world and I can diagram a sentence. I just can't spell.

And guess what? Very few people can --- and that includes most professional writers.

So what's this got to do with Amazon.com? Just this. I search for a book or a topic in their search engine and come up with a blank. Says, "Your item can't be found." Well duh --- I know it's there. I also know I didn't spell the damn thing right --- would that I could!

Now, I do the same search on Google and dear ol' G offers me the correct spelling! Thank the goddesses for Google. It helps me get the right spelling. Oh it makes mistakes. I mean, Web site is right and website is wrong. Google thinks it's website. Oh well, I can live with that. So Google doesn't know style. It does know spelling

So here's where I'm going with all this. You should have search on your site if you have a site of any decent size at all. But be sure it's a good search. Make sure it will help the visitor find what he's looking for regardless of how bad his spelling is.

Amazon doesn't make too many mistakes in its business plan. But in this one area it made a bad one. Try not to make it yourself.