U.S. patent application number 13/968182 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-12 for system for unique automated website generation, hosting, and search engine optimization.
This patent application is currently assigned to Internet Dental Alliance, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Internet Dental Alliance, Inc.. Invention is credited to Peter S. AVRITCH, James R. DU MOLIN.
Application Number | 20130332819 13/968182 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48952252 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130332819 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
AVRITCH; Peter S. ; et
al. |
December 12, 2013 |
SYSTEM FOR UNIQUE AUTOMATED WEBSITE GENERATION, HOSTING, AND SEARCH
ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Abstract
A technique and system for automatically generating and hosting
a plurality of unique websites having conceptually similar content
within a business market or profession is described. The system
generates both unique visible content and also unique invisible
content read by search engines but not typically visible to end
users. Each website has a plurality of pages which are visually and
structurally distinct, such that they may all coexist on the
Internet in close geographic proximity without appearing to website
visitors and search engines as being nearly identical to one
another.
Inventors: |
AVRITCH; Peter S.;
(Sausalito, CA) ; DU MOLIN; James R.; (Belvedere,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Internet Dental Alliance, Inc. |
Tiburon |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Internet Dental Alliance,
Inc.
Tiburon
CA
|
Family ID: |
48952252 |
Appl. No.: |
13/968182 |
Filed: |
August 15, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13136491 |
Aug 1, 2011 |
8515941 |
|
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13968182 |
|
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61374762 |
Aug 18, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/234 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20130101;
G06Q 10/10 20130101; G06F 40/14 20200101; G06Q 10/06 20130101; G06F
16/958 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/234 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/22 20060101
G06F017/22 |
Claims
1. A computer implemented method for automatically generating and
hosting a unique website by a hosting service comprising at least
one computer, comprising: receiving, at the hosting service, user
profile data from a user; automatically generating a unique website
for the user based on contents, randomly selected from a database
based on the user profile data, including visible content for
displaying on the website, and invisible content for being read by
a search engine to generate a unique search engine listing, and for
a search engine optimization purpose; and hosting the generated
website, including maintaining its uniqueness and updating its
visible content and invisible content for search engine
optimization.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein maintaining
uniqueness of the generated website includes persisting placeholder
references, by the hosting service, to random selections from the
database of visible content and invisible content for the unique
website, and eliminating an identical set of selections from use in
websites by other users of the hosting service.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
invisible content includes a personalized business title and
personalized business description with targeted search keywords
initially selected and subsequently adjusted by the hosting service
for search engine optimization.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein
automatically generating a unique website includes randomly
selecting a choice of personalized invisible content that includes
making random selections from a set of choices in the database, and
merging user profile data to generate a unique title descriptive of
a business.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein randomly
selecting a choice of personalized invisible content includes
making a random selection from a set of choices in the database,
and merging user profile data so that the personalized business
description includes at least one meaningful sentence with a
sentence structure and ordering of elements different than other
hosted websites.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein maintaining
uniqueness of the generated website includes the hosting service
utilizing persisted placeholder references to perform selective
updates to portions of content of the unique website.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein
automatically generating the unique website includes: randomly
selecting, by the hosting service, a choice of visible user content
to be displayed on a user's website based on the user profile data
and visual templates for a market, including at least a geographic
area, a general market area for a profession, and sub-market areas
for the profession; and randomly selecting, by the hosting service,
a choice of invisible content to be included on the user's website
as content read by a search engine, including attributes chosen
from the user profile data merged with other search engine metadata
chosen for the market, the invisible content including a unique
website title, targeted search keywords, and a personalized
business description of the website that is unique within at least
the geographic area, the personalized business description
including at least one descriptive sentence that is different than
the unique website title.
8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
invisible content is selected to generate a unique listing in a
search report that includes a personalized business
description.
9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the search
engine optimization includes: initially selecting targeted search
keywords for the invisible content and adjusting the targeted
search keywords of the invisible content for search engine
optimization.
10. The computer method of claim 1, wherein randomly selecting a
choice of invisible content comprises making a random selection
from a set of choices in a database for the market and merging user
profile data so that the unique listing is optimized for at least
one search engine and a personalized business description includes
a sentence structure and ordering of elements different than other
hosted websites such that the unique listing has a unique look and
feel.
11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
invisible content comprises: attributes chosen from the user
profile data and further including a selection of other content
unique to each individual user website in a selected geographic
region; wherein the custom invisible metadata content includes a
website title, search keywords targeted for search engine
optimization, and a description having a personalized business
description.
12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein maintaining
unique comprises: persisting placeholder references indicative of
content selection choices and utilizing the persisted placeholder
references to ensure that each hosted website has a unique set of
content selections with individual pieces of content being adjusted
by the hosting service for search engine optimization.
13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein selection
of visible content further includes making a random selection of
content choices from a database of pieces of content, personalizing
the random selection of content choices, and merging the
personalized random selection of content choices into the visual
template.
14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the search
engine optimization includes: incrementally adjusting one or more
pieces of visible content in the database of pieces of content for
search engine optimization and regenerating and republishing the
unique hosted website to implement a change in only the one or more
pieces of adjusted content; and adjusting the invisible content for
search engine optimization; wherein the unique hosted website
retains an initial organization defined by the random selection of
content choices to maintain a unique random selection of content
choices and individual portions of the unique hosted website are
adjusted by the hosting service to provide search engine
optimization.
15. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unique
hosted website retains an initial organization defined by an
initial selection of content choices and targeted search keywords
and individual portions of the unique hosted website are adjusted
by the hosting service to provide search engine optimization.
16. A computer program product comprising computer program
instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium,
which when executed on a processor implements a method comprising:
receiving, at the hosting service, user profile data from a user;
automatically generating a unique website for the user based on
contents, randomly selected from a database based on the user
profile data, including visible content for displaying on the
website, and invisible content for being read by a search engine to
generate a unique search engine listing, and for a search engine
optimization purpose; and hosting the generated website, including
maintaining its uniqueness and updating its visible content and
invisible content for search engine optimization.
17. A system, comprising: a processor to execute computer program
instructions for web site generation and hosting; a database to
store content information for designing a website, including a
selection of visible content and invisible metadata content choices
for at least one vertical industry; a server computer to host
websites generated by the system; and the system generating and
hosting a website for each user in which the system automatically
generates a unique website for each user based on contents,
randomly selected from a database based on user profile data,
including visible content for displaying on the website and
invisible content for being read by a search engine to generate a
unique search engine listing and for a search engine optimization
purpose and hosting the generated website, including maintaining
its uniqueness and updating its visible content and invisible
content for search engine optimization.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein maintaining uniqueness of the
generated website includes the system persisting placeholder
references to random selections from the database of visible
content and invisible content for the unique website and
eliminating an identical set of selections from use in websites by
other users of the system.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the invisible content includes
a personalized business title and personalized business description
with targeted search keywords initially selected and subsequently
adjusted by the hosting service for search engine optimization.
20. The system of claim 18, wherein the system randomly selects a
choice of personalized invisible content that includes making
random selections from a set of choices in the database and merging
user profile data to generate a unique title descriptive of a
business.
21. The system of claim 20, wherein randomly selecting a choice of
personalized invisible content includes making a random selection
from a set of choices in the database and merging user profile data
so that the personalized business description includes at least one
meaningful sentence with a sentence structure and ordering of
elements different than other hosted websites.
22. The system of claim 18, wherein maintaining uniqueness of the
generated website includes the hosting service utilizing persisted
placeholder references to perform selective updates to portions of
content of the unique website.
23. The system of claim 18, wherein the invisible content is
selected by the system to generate a unique listing in a search
report that includes a personalized business description.
24. The system of claim 18, wherein the search engine optimization
performed by the system includes: initially selecting targeted
search keywords for the invisible content and adjusting the
targeted search keywords of the invisible content for search engine
optimization.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/136,491 filed on Aug. 1, 2011, which claims
the benefit of priority under 35 USC .sctn.119(e) to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/374,762, filed on Aug. 18,
2010, and entitled "SYSTEM FOR UNIQUE AUTOMATED WEBSITE GENERATION,
HOSTING, AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION," all of which are
incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The Internet has become a powerful and essential tool for
marketing and promoting nearly any kind of business. Prospective
customers use search engines and online directories to locate
nearby businesses offering the products and services which interest
them, with the further hope that they will be able to learn more
about these services by visiting these business' respective
websites.
[0003] As more and more businesses realize the power and importance
of maintaining a strong presence on the Internet, the field becomes
increasingly more crowded and it becomes even more important to
differentiate one's self from local competitors.
[0004] In the end, it all comes down to identity and branding.
Astute business owners are keenly aware that their online identity
factors in considerably toward their ultimate success. Blending in
with the competition is simply not acceptable. This includes both
the visual appearance of their websites and how their businesses
are located through Google.TM. and other related search
services.
[0005] Costs are another big factor and concern for many new
website owners. Maintaining a unique identity traditionally
requires a level of manual customization and attention which drives
up costs and frequently becomes a competitive barrier for smaller
businesses.
Do-it-Yourself Websites
[0006] Creating and maintaining a relevant Internet presence often
requires a significant commitment of time and resources, as well as
a high level of skill with regard to how to craft websites and be
found in the search engines with any kind of frequency. Without the
requisite skills of the trade, a do-it-yourself approach toward
online marketing is often doomed to fail. And knowing this,
business owners quickly turn to a myriad of products and services
offered by vendors claiming to make it easier to get up and running
quickly and start competing for market share.
[0007] The first hurdle to overcome when creating a website is
learning HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This is an arcane
computer syntax interpreted by web browsers and used universally
throughout the Internet to publish web pages. Fortunately, there
are a variety of products available to help shield users from most
of this; with one of the most popular in recent times being the
free Open Source software named WordPress.TM..
[0008] However, being relieved from learning HTML still leaves a
host of other obstacles to be dealt with. Somebody still has to
write the copy, lay out pages and create dozens of images. And when
that's all done, there will be constant maintenance required to
keep the site current and optimized to perform well in the search
engines.
Ready-Made Templates
[0009] In recent years, a multitude of suppliers have emerged who
offer ready-made templates to give customers a head start on
organizing their websites. At the low end are free and low-cost
artistically-pleasing templates which plug directly into
WordPress.TM. and similar content management systems.
[0010] For those willing to spend a bit more, it's often possible
to find higher caliber templates which even include content, text
and images relating to their profession or industry. But even with
these, unless they are further customized, purchasers quickly find
their sites look identical to those belonging to competitors who
may have also purchased the same "stock" template and also failed
to customize it.
[0011] In the "old days" where nearly all websites were hand
crafted, ending up with a visually unique website was a natural
benefit of the process. However, as automation comes into play, so
does a level of duplication--and customers simply are not happy
with this. They want the lower costs offered by advanced
automation, but they also want to know that their websites are
totally unique; as if hand-crafted by a professional design
shop.
Professional Website Design Shops
[0012] An even more expensive option is outsourcing. Faced with
seeing the enormous amount of time and energy which could easily be
consumed trying to create and maintain a quality website, business
owners looking to excel or dominate in their respective markets
often employ the services of a professional website design shop.
Outsourcing holds the promise of getting the job done right without
the commitment of one's own time, but it often comes at a steep
price--frequently upwards of $10,000, not including monthly
maintenance fees.
[0013] Another advantage of using a professional website designer
is that they would likely be more familiar with search engine
optimization techniques and would therefore have a better chance of
getting their sites to rank well in search engines such as
Google.TM..
Large-Scale Managed Service Providers
[0014] Looking to bridge the gap between using the free
WordPress.TM. software with ready-made templates and the expensive
professional design shops, a new breed of service providers arrived
on the scene promising to keep costs down, yet still offer a mostly
hands-off approach to maintaining a meaningful Internet presence.
These new service providers frequently specialize in just one or
two vertical markets and often work with hundreds, and sometimes
thousands, of businesses in the same industry or profession--for
example, real estate or attorneys.
[0015] In the same vein as how large-scale website hosting
companies such as Yahoo.TM. and GoDaddy.TM. have significantly
lowered the cost of publishing do-it-yourself websites, these
managed service providers have consequently lowered the cost of
entry for small businesses in need of a fully managed solution.
[0016] These providers are able to offer an extreme level of
service at greatly reduced costs by reusing a variety of
highly-specialized and evolved industry-centric content over and
over again as they take on new clients. To keep sites from looking
too much like each other, they have in-house website specialists
shepherd the production process and make whatever adjustments might
be necessary to provide clients with distinctive and
uniquely-looking websites.
[0017] Although the managed service provider model offers many
clear benefits to customers, the model starts to fall apart when a
provider reaches a certain saturation level within specific
geographic markets. The problem is that it becomes difficult to
constantly keep coming up with distinctively unique websites for
competing customers in close proximity to one another when reusing
the same content and trying to reduce labor costs.
Fully Automated Website Generation
[0018] The next frontier for vertical market managed service
providers is to offer the same level of service as just described,
but using a fully automated delivery model which would greatly
reduce costs by eliminating the large labor component which has
traditionally been required to provide the requisite level of
service and customization.
[0019] Employing a fully automated website generation system could
solve a large number of other traditional problems as well, such as
keeping websites up to date with search engine optimization
techniques and quickly integrating emergent Internet technologies
such as mobile web, social networking, video and chat.
[0020] However, the problem with large-scale automation is that we
suddenly find ourselves back to facing the same problem everyone's
been fighting all along--identity. Automation leads to repetition
and reuse of a limited set of content, and this is exactly what
customers do not want.
[0021] The invention described herein is intended to address the
aforementioned concerns as they relate to creating distinctively
unique websites and marketing them in the search engines in the
wake of increased automation being employed by service providers in
order to reduce the cost of delivery.
[0022] The purpose of the invention described herein is to directly
address the issue of repetition in the course of generating
high-caliber vertical market websites without human intervention.
By effectively solving this problem, extremely low-cost managed
services can be offered to thousands of customers without running
into the saturation issues which have traditionally stunted the
growth of existing vendors.
[0023] The described methodology therefore paves the way for a new
level of scale and economy which has otherwise yet to be
achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0024] A method and system is disclosed for automatically
generating a plurality of unique websites having conceptually
similar content within a business market or profession, with each
having a plurality of pages which are visually and structurally
distinct, such that they may all coexist on the Internet in close
geographic proximity without appearing to website visitors and
search engines as being nearly identical to one another. The
websites that are generated may also be hosted for users to provide
a combined service for generating and hosting unique websites
within a business market or profession.
[0025] In one embodiment the system starts by collecting simple
profile information from customers which is used to shape and
filter the selection of a plurality of pseudo random content
retrieved from a database. The content consists of, but is not
limited to, text, images, audio and videos.
[0026] Portions of the customer-supplied profile information are
merged into placeholders contained within the selected content to
further personalize it for that customer and a specific use, and
then the entire collection of content is merged into
customer-chosen prefabricated website templates and processed by a
website generator.
[0027] The placeholders within website templates where content is
injected includes both content which is displayed within browsers
to website visitors, and invisible content which is intended to be
read only by search engines.
[0028] The aforementioned steps for content selection and
processing result in the system being able to generate a multitude
of distinctively unique multi-page websites for customers with
competing business interests. This is especially important when
competing customers happen to be located close enough to each other
whereby there is a likelihood that website visitors will view
multiple competitors' websites while searching online for various
products and services.
[0029] In addition to the websites being visually unique, website
listings presented in search engines will also be unique.
[0030] The present invention facilitates the large-scale production
of websites within a given vertical business sector using a
completely automated procedure, which at the same time, is able
directly address customers' requirements for having websites which
appear to be custom made and manually optimized to perform well in
the search engines.
[0031] In one embodiment the system may also keep track of the
selected content which is assigned to websites, such that future
generation cycles of a given website will retain the same content
selections as originally made when such are still appropriate.
Further, as website templates are enhanced to require additional
content selections, future generation cycles automatically identify
new or missing selections and will populate them from the database
using the same procedure as just described. Additionally, in one
embodiment customers may subsequently override or further
personalize any of the randomly-selected content any time after the
first generation cycle, after which, the newly-personalized content
will be used for all future generation cycles thereafter until
changed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0032] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an overall process in
accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0033] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the organization of a
database containing multiple levels of granularity for
industry-specific random content in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention.
[0034] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing in greater detail how content
selections are made for each individual content placeholder to be
filled within the visual website template in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0035] FIG. 4 is a table of sample data excerpted from the random
content database for a single sub-market record which contains
multiple versions of text suitable for a single defined placeholder
in the visual website template in accordance with one embodiment of
the present invention.
[0036] FIG. 5 is a table showing several sample items of
randomly-selected content from the database along with how this
same content would look subsequent to the personalization process
in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0037] FIG. 6 is a picture showing visible placeholders in the
visual website template which are filled in with personalized
random content corresponding to content seen by website visitors in
accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0038] FIG. 7A is a picture showing invisible placeholders in the
visual website template which are filled in with personalized
random content corresponding to content read by search engines and
used to shape the listings for the website in the search engine
result pages in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0039] FIGS. 7B, 7C, and 7D show three examples of personalized
random content within the invisible placeholders of FIG. 7A.
[0040] FIG. 7E illustrates the search engine result page
corresponding to websites for FIGS. 7B, 7C, and 7D.
[0041] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system environment in
accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0042] The present invention is generally directed to systems,
methods, and computer program products for generating and hosting
unique websites. A service provider provides a user interface for
clients to input commands to generate a website. The same service
provider may also host the websites that are thus generated,
although more generally the two functions may be separately
provided.
[0043] FIG. 1 is a flowchart which identifies a complete process
from a high-level perspective for intelligently selecting random
content from a database and merging it into a visual website
template. As one example, the process may be implemented by a
backend server associated with the service provider.
[0044] The process begins at 101 whereby a variety of profile
information is collected from customers regarding their business
details and personal preferences. This information would typically
include, but is not limited to, name, address, phone number, hours
of operation, geographic areas served and business market segments.
This information may also include images, photos and videos;
possibly including such items as logos, storefront photos and
introduction videos. A corresponding user interface (not shown) may
include data entry forms to collect profile information. The user
interface may also include templates, a menu and drag and drop
capabilities for a user to enter some selections.
[0045] Profile information is initially collected and captured
using data entry forms filled out either directly by customers or
by their respective sales representatives. Profile information is
collected in multiple tiers; specifically, information which is
global to the customer's entire organization, information which is
applicable to a single storefront or office location, and
information which is applicable to a single website to be
constructed. Customers may operate multiple business locations and
may purchase multiple websites. The tiered database organization is
optimized to require the least amount of data entry.
[0046] All profile information is stored in a database 102 where it
may later be recalled, modified, stored back and used during future
website construction. Each time a website is generated, or
re-generated, the entire collection of profile information is
presented as input to the generator and used to guide or shape the
generation procedure.
[0047] For each website to be published, customers must select a
visual template 103 which represents the artistic look and feel of
the resulting website. If the customer skips this step, the system
automatically assigns a suitable default template. Templates
typically include visual designs for a plurality of website pages,
many of which include page-level options such as photo layout
choices. Most website pages are optional and the system allows
customers to individually determine which pages should or should
not be included in their final published websites.
[0048] All visual template preference settings made either by the
system or directly by customers are persisted in a database 104
where they may later be recalled, modified and stored back.
[0049] Website generation uses customer profile information 101 and
visual template preferences 103 as its primary inputs. The visual
templates include a plurality of placeholders for visual content
(See for example FIG. 6, element 200) to be seen by website
visitors, and invisible content (See for example FIGS. 7A, B, C,
and D and search engine metadata elements 220) primarily intended
to be seen by search engines and used to prepare business
listings.
[0050] The website generator analyzes the visual template at step
105 and selects suitable content for each of the defined
placeholders. Referring to FIG. 6, this drawing depicts a sample
web page with a plurality of text and image placeholders (elements
201 through 204). This is only a sample representative design. Each
page may have its own unique visual layout and content
requirements. Content may include, but is not limited to, text,
graphics, photos, audio and video. There is no limit to the number
of placeholders which may appear on a single page or throughout the
set of pages which comprise a visual template.
[0051] FIG. 7A identifies portions of a website template 220 which
are not typically seen by website visitors, but are instead seen
only by search engines (metadata elements 221 through 223). These
normally-invisible portions of a website template are equally as
important as the visual portions 200 and also include personalized
content placeholders to be populated during the website generation
process. FIGS. 7B, 7C, and 7D show three examples of personalized
random content within the invisible placeholders of FIG. 7A. FIG.
7E illustrates the search engine result page corresponding to
websites generated for FIGS. 7B, 7C, and 7D.
[0052] During processing step 105, after the visual template has
been analyzed for required content placeholders, the system must
perform the procedure illustrated by FIG. 3 for each piece of
required content. This procedure is the same for text, graphics,
photos, audio and video content.
[0053] The selection procedure begins at 150 whereby the properties
and attributes of a specific placeholder to be populated are
presented as inputs. These properties are included within the
placeholder metadata stored alongside or within the visual
templates. At the very least, one required property is the assigned
name or identifier for the given placeholder.
[0054] At step 151, the system determines if the customer has
provided a specific piece of content for the current placeholder.
In most cases, they have not, which requires that the system should
intelligently choose a suitable piece of content for that
placeholder. When the customer has supplied specific content, that
content is used as is and the selection process terminates.
[0055] In the more-usual circumstance whereby the customer has not
provided specific content for a placeholder, at step 153 the system
attempts to locate the best piece of content is has in its database
106 which would be appropriate for the current placeholder.
[0056] FIG. 2 illustrates the organization of the content database
available to the system for populating placeholders. This chart
identifies, but is not limited to, three tiers of filtered database
content for a single placeholder. Data at the top tier 121 is very
general and could apply to any business market. Data in the middle
tier (122 through 124) is specific to a given business market or
profession. Data at the bottom layer (125 through 128) is specific
to a specialization of a given business market or profession.
[0057] The purpose for having data divided amongst multiple tiers
is that the overall quality of automatically-generated websites is
greatly increased by using content which is as specific as possible
to the business specialty or discipline being promoted by the
subject websites. With this being the case, database administrators
populate each tier with content which is as targeted as
possible.
[0058] The content selection process at step 153 begins searching
the database at the lowest tier (125 through 128) hoping to find
content which very closely targets the business specialty of the
current website. In a given business market, for example,
dentistry, specialization or submarkets might include braces,
dentures and tooth whitening.
[0059] If the database does not contain any suitable content at the
bottom tier, the system proceeds to step 155 and looks for content
which would be applicable to the primary business market in
general.
[0060] If the database does not contain any suitable content for
the primary market, the selection process drops through to step 157
where content which is very general in nature is used.
[0061] The quality of the resulting websites is closely tied to the
quality and quantity of data in the content database. As the
database grows to include content covering a greater number of
markets and sub-markets, so will the quality of the generated
websites.
[0062] Once the selection procedure at steps 153, 155 or 157 has
determined that the database contains content appropriate for the
current placeholder, processing then proceeds to randomly choose
from amongst the available choices within that portion of the
database. This is illustrated in steps 152, 154 and 156. At a
minimum, one choice must be available. There is no upper limit for
the number of allowable choices. The greater the number of content
choices available in the database, the greater the ability will be
for the system to generate completely unique websites even when the
original profile information from 101 is relatively similar between
competing websites.
[0063] FIG. 4 is a table which includes a single set of sample
random content 160 available in the database at 152. Similar, but
less targeted content would be found at 154 and 156. This sample
represents text copy which is intended to fill a visible
placeholder on the home page of a dentistry website which is
promoting cosmetic dentistry. The sample shows four different ways
for writing the same introductory copy. The actual database may
include any number of permutations of this content--the more, the
better.
[0064] The text phrases in 160 also contain additional placeholders
to be filled in during the personalization process at step 109 in
FIG. 1.
[0065] Once the system has completed step 105 and selected a piece
of content for each required placeholder in the visual template, at
step 107 references to each selected item are persisted to a
database 108 so that these same selections may be recalled and
reused during future generation cycles for the same website. This
makes the content stick to websites, as it would not be desirable
to have the content seen by website visitors suddenly change simply
because the website needed to be regenerated.
[0066] During each website generation procedure, the system always
checks to see if there is an available and valid reference to a
prior selection choice for each placeholder. Missing or invalid
references are satisfied using the already-described procedure
illustrated in FIG. 3. This is important and necessary because
visual templates may be changed or enhanced at any time and the
system must be able to dynamically adjust and regenerate any and
all affected websites.
[0067] At step 109 (FIG. 1), the system begins the personalization
process. This is where the random content is further customized by
merging in profile information from 101. FIG. 5 is a table with
several sample pieces of content from the database 170 which are
personalized to result in the text at 171. Although the sample
shows only textual content, the same applies to other media such as
photos or videos. This procedure is performed for each content item
retrieved from the database which will ultimately be used to
populate a placeholder within the website visual template.
[0068] The personalization step is in important part of the system
because it provides for yet another layer of abstraction to further
separate the content which is displayed on otherwise similar
websites.
[0069] Upon completing the personalization step 109, the system
proceeds to step 110 where the personalized content is merged into
the placeholders on the website's pages. FIG. 6 illustrates a
sample page with placeholders for text (elements 201, 202) and
graphics (elements 203, 204). The number and kind of placeholders
varies from page to page. The system matches up content to its
corresponding placeholders by matching up names or identifiers.
[0070] Similarly, FIG. 7 illustrates placeholders for several
pieces of invisible content which are important for search engine
optimization and the business listings displayed by search engines.
Item 221 is the website title which displays at the top of the
browser; but more importantly, is the website listing title
displayed in search engine search results. Item 222 is personalized
to contain targeted search keywords indicating the subject matter
and business markets promoted by the website, and item 223 is
populated with a personalized description of the website which will
appear in search engine listings.
[0071] It is important to note that the items shown in FIG. 7A,
including but not limited to 221, 222 and 223, are all placeholder
content which are populated from the database using targeted random
selections using the same procedure described for visual content.
This is an essential part of the process because it is just as
important to have unique search engine listings as it is to have
visually unique websites.
[0072] The entire process illustrated by FIG. 1 is repeated for
each website published by the system. The system is intended to
service a plurality of customers each having one or multiple
websites.
[0073] The specific randomization process employed by this
invention ensures that website listings for a plurality of websites
generated by this same system and displayed within a single set of
search engine results will be distinctive and unique, even for
competing customers in a small geographic area who may by nature
have nearly identical profile information.
[0074] The same applies to the visual properties of websites. The
randomization process ensures that the artistic look and the text
copy within websites are distinctive and unique even when working
from nearly identical profile information.
[0075] The system allows websites to be regenerated and republished
to the Internet as often as needed. Since references to
randomly-chosen content are maintained, customers may change their
profile or preferences at any time and the system will reuse the
same random choices, where possible and appropriate, yet apply the
adjusted profile and preferences during the personalization
phase.
[0076] A further benefit of this invention is that system
administrators can make adjustments to the database content at any
time and instantly regenerate all affected websites. For example,
spelling corrections to text copy could be made, or entire text
phrases could be re-crafted to gain better rankings in search
engines. The same applies for images and any other form of
media.
[0077] Returning again to FIG. 7E, in this example there are
several dentists in the same geographic region (Washington, D.C).
Each dentist has the same specialty (cosmetic dentistry). Each
dentist wants to use their own website to advertise their services
to potential customers. Using the method and system of the present
invention, each dentist may generate their own unique website in a
short period of time by inputting their individual profile
information and any selections of visual templates. As illustrated
in FIG. 7E, the respective websites also appear as unique websites
in search engine listings. That is, each dentist has a different
description in the search engine listings. Thus, for example, if a
person seeking a cosmetic dentist inputs "cosmetic dentist" and the
geographic area into the search engine they will not be confused by
identical-looking search listings for the different dentists.
[0078] It can also be seen in FIG. 7E that the invisible content
used by the search engine to generate search listings can be
optimized to display relevant information such as the dentist's
name, phone number, and other information. That is, in addition to
provide a unique search engine listing, the present invention
permits a web hosting service to provide its clients with search
engine results that are optimized in terms of providing relevant
information to potential customers and to optimize placement in
search engine results.
[0079] One aspect of the present invention is that while the
invisible content includes a selection of random invisible content,
the randomized invisible content still retains the core information
required for search engine optimization. As can be seen in FIGS.
7B, 7C, and 7D, the invisible content in items 221, 222, and 223
may include information common to more than one website. In these
examples, items 221, 222, and 223 contain as common content the
geographic area (Washington, D.C.) and the same specialization
(Cosmetic Dentist). However, other aspects of items 221, 222, and
223 are random selections resulting in a different format of the
search engine listing. That is, in the result as illustrated in
FIG. 7E each of the three dentists has a meaningful (but different)
title in the search engine (e.g., "Washington D.C. Cosmetic
Dentistry," "Quality Washington DC Cosmetic Dentistry," and
"Cosmetic Dentist Serving Washington DC") along with different (but
meaningful) descriptions of their services showing up in the search
engine listing, including a different ordering of elements with a
different sentence structure. Thus, the randomization is performed
in a way to effectively guarantee that each dentist in this example
gets a search engine listing having a format with a different look
and feel. Moreover, the format is still meaningful and useful as a
means to establish identity and attract business. As a result, the
present invention is consistent with search engine optimization in
that each dentist's web site may have keywords and metadata chosen
to optimize search engine placement. Additionally, the web hosting
service may automatically update the search engine optimization for
each website, such as by performing automatic updates of keywords
as search engine technology evolves. This relieves customers from
the burden of trying to pick and update keywords for search engine
optimization.
[0080] Some aspects of the present invention related to the example
of generating dentist websites in Washington, D.C. can be
contrasted with the problems that would occur if prior art
techniques were used. The degree to which the format of visible and
invisible content must be varied depends in part on the
application. Studies by the inventor indicate that there is
particular problem in vertically integrated markets for hosting
websites for particular business and professions. Research and
experience by the inventor indicates that customers begin to
complain about these issues when the number of
nationally-distributed websites serviced by a single vendor in the
United States approaches 1,000 and conventional prior art automated
website design techniques are used having essentially identical
content for each user. As that number approaches 2,000, it becomes
nearly impossible to attract new business because in any
reasonable-sized geographic market the hosted websites for
professionals in the same line of business look too similar when
prior art automation techniques are used.
[0081] The reason for these thresholds is simple. When the national
numbers rise above certain numbers it means that it becomes
statistically likely that in any large geographic market there will
be at least two websites hosted by the same service and hence a
likelihood that conventional template approaches would generate
similar looking content and web site search engine listings. As an
illustrative example, for the case of dentistry consider a city
such as Washington D.C. In 2011 the population of Washington, D.C.
is approximately 600,000 people but due to the influx of commuters
the population rises to over one million people during the work
week. In 2011 the US population is estimate to be approximately 308
million people. Assuming that dentists are approximately uniformly
distributed according to population, then 1000 national dentist
websites hosted by a single service would correspond to
approximately 1000.times.1/308=3.2 dentist websites within an urban
center having a population of one million people, assuming dentists
are evenly distributed according to population. However if we
consider the larger Washington-Baltimore Metro market which has
over 8.2 million people then in this example if there are 1000
national dentist websites we would expect on average there to be
26. 6 listings in the Washington-Baltimore Metro market.
[0082] Of course, the U.S. population is steadily increasing and
businesses in a particular industry seeking web hosting services
are not always uniformly distributed by population. More generally,
it can be appreciated that the threshold problem is related to the
fact that saturation is likely to occur when the total number of
websites in a vertical market corresponds to two or more within the
same geographic market such that two or more identical search
engine listings might be generated in the same market using
conventional techniques. The present invention provides a solution
to this saturation problem by customizing both the visual content
and the search engine listing to support two or more websites for
businesses in the same general field and same geographic market.
Additionally, the customization can be extended to sub-markets and
specialties, if desired, to support two or more websites in
sub-market or specialties in the same geographic area and provide
unique search engine listings and content format for each website.
Thus, it can be appreciated that the present invention permits a
fundamental increase in the degree to which website hosting
services can be provided in vertical industries or professions
without generating the saturation problems associated with prior
art techniques.
[0083] The present invention is applicable to generating unique
websites for a wide variety of vertical industries or professions.
For the case of a specific profession, the content choices may be
customizable to mimic the quality and level of detail of hand
crafted websites in that profession.
[0084] As an illustrative example, consider dentistry. In the case
of dentistry, a website could have anywhere from 100 to 200 pages
and may contain upwards of 500 placeholders. A large database of
pre-sized images is provided that matches up with the placeholders,
as well as a huge database of pre-written copy. For each image or
text placeholder, the database contains multiple pieces of content
which would be suitable to plug into that slot (possibly dozens in
some cases). For dentistry, an exemplary database may contain
nearly 10,000 unique pieces of prepared content. When a website is
produced, computer logic selects a piece of content from the
database for each placeholder in the customer-selected website
template. The process first filters down the available choices of
suitable content based on simple profile information collected from
the customer, and then randomly selects from the choices which
remain. It then keeps track (remembers) of which choices were made
for all the placeholders in a given website. This process is
scalable and has the ability to produce thousands, if not millions,
of unique websites which are prepared in a few seconds and ready to
be further customized by clients if they so desire. The websites
will be unique by nature. Making changes therefore becomes a
personal choice rather than an absolute requirement for the website
to be successful.
[0085] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system environment. The
service provider would have hardware to support the service, such
as at least one server computer having at least one processor chip.
For example, a first server may include a processor and one or more
database for storing content and computer program code for
implementing any of the previously described methods in response to
user profile data in order to generate a website. A web server may
also be provided to support hosting the website. The servers would
thus include the accompanying databases and memories, i.e., a
computer readable storage medium to store the software program,
processors to execute the computer programs, databases to store
content and any other required information, and any necessary web
servers to support web hosting. Thus the service provider hosts the
web pages and a search engine indexes the hosted pages.
[0086] As previously described, in a preferred embodiment random
selections of at least some of the visible and invisible content is
used to generate unique websites and search engine listings for
customers in the same market. The choices are pseudo-random but of
course the end result is that the content and search engine
listings are still meaningful to an end user. Thus in the case of
visible content, the individual content materials include a
selection of meaningful materials that can be randomly selected,
arranged, or otherwise combined with profile data in a way that
generates a meaningful result to the consumer. Similarly for
invisible content, the metadata includes portions that are randomly
selected from a set of potential choices but selected and arranged
in a manner that generates a meaningful search engine listing.
[0087] Making pseudo-random selections within a large number of
possible choices, formats, and arrangements of visible and
invisible content helps to ensure a different look and feel of each
website and listing because each website in any given geographical
market is thus likely to have a different format. However, more
generally other selection techniques could alternately be used,
such as iteratively going through a sequence of selections or
permutations of content choices, arrangements, and formats.
Additionally, it would be understood that automated checking
techniques, such as semantic analysis techniques, could be used to
confirm that the results are different and meaningful. That is, the
objective is to automatically create websites and search engines
that have a different appearance when consumers attempt to search
for information. Making random selections is merely one way to make
the selections from a database of potential choices but it would be
understood that other techniques could be used to create an
equivalent end result, namely websites in a vertical industry in
which websites in the same geographic area have a sufficiently
different content attributes, format, and arrangement of visible
and invisible content to have a different look and feel and show up
differently in search engine listings.
[0088] Many alternate embodiments are contemplated. One
implementation option is that the generation of content and the
related content databases can be isolated from the eventual
"serving" of the combined content via a hosting service. For
example, cloud hosting could be used to serve up web pages while a
service provider may use its own datacenter computers to manage
content generation. In many applications it would typically be
desirable to figure out the choices for visible and invisible
content choices together as a matched set in order to make it
simple and easy for a user to build a website that is unique and
capable of search engine optimization. However, while embodiments
of the invention are described in regards to a service provider
providing both hosting and search engine optimization, it will also
be understood that these two functions could be performed
separately. For example, in some applications the search engine
optimization using invisible code with unique features could be
provided as a separate feature for use by a separate hosting entity
or user.
[0089] Embodiments of the present invention provide many advantages
over the prior art. Customers are always in a hurry to publish
newly-purchased websites. In this rush to get online, they do not
typically have the time to write dozens of pages of copy and come
up with all the images, photos and videos which may be required.
They also may not possess the necessary copywriting skills or
knowledge about how to write effective website copy. Furthermore,
as more and more customers in the same business market utilize this
same system for automated website construction, there becomes a
greater likelihood that website visitors will come upon more than
one site created by this system during any given Internet surfing
session. It is important to customers that their website visitors
not perceive that their sites were all generated from the same
source material. Sites need to be distinctively unique, as do their
search engine listings. The system, method, and computer program
product of the present invention accomplishes this very critical
objective.
[0090] Another advantage of this invention which is important from
the perspective of the Internet service provider or vendor of the
website hosting service, is that this process allows a large number
of competing customers within a small geographic area to all
patronize the same vendor and instantly create automated
websites--all having unique content. In the absence of this process
being used, only a very small number of competing customers would
typically be willing to patronize the same website hosting provider
due to concerns that their websites would look too similar to the
websites operated by their nearby competitors.
[0091] The present invention therefore greatly increases the scale
of product distribution which becomes possible for a single hosting
provider, and consequently, greatly increases the amount of revenue
attainable in specific business and geographic markets. In
contrast, the prior art provides only a limited ability to automate
the design of websites. Comparatively little has been done to
automate the process in a way that would generate a different
looking website for different users when there are a large number
of users in a specific business area or profession. Additionally,
the prior does not provide a satisfactory solution for users to
obtain a unique website that also shows up as a unique site in
search engine listings. In particular, the prior art does not
provide satisfactory solutions intended to curb the growing
potential for duplicate titles and descriptions in Search Engine
Result Pages (SERPs). Also, the prior art does not appear to
provide a means to relieve users from Search Engine Optimization
(SEO), understanding keywords, picking keywords, etc. Specifically,
prior art automated generation methodologies requires users to pump
in their own SEO information.
[0092] The present invention also overcomes the traditional
saturation problem encountered when many customers in the same
business sector who are located in close proximity to one another
purchase template-based websites from the same supplier. Absent the
techniques employed by this invention, these websites would all
have a similar look and feel, resulting in a high level of customer
dissatisfaction once a certain saturation threshold has been
reached.
[0093] From the perspective of individual businesses, competing for
top placement in the search engines often represents a significant
challenge for most businesses. Even though most people do not
understand how search engines arrive at their results, everyone
knows that a top slot on the first page is extremely valuable and
will drive considerably more traffic than a link buried several
pages down the list.
[0094] Almost everybody who has ever published a website can tell
you where they rank at that minute in top search engines like
Google. They can also tell you who is edging them out for better
position and relentlessly agonize over what can be done to move up
the list.
[0095] Here again, identity is paramount, and nobody wants their
listing in Google to be similar to a nearby competing listing. This
is even more important for businesses offering local services since
they are often personally acquainted with their competitors; which
introduces an emotional aspect which often eclipses the technical
issues to be worked out.
[0096] Maintaining control of search engine listings can be a
daunting task for people outside the trade who are not familiar
with HTML. They don't often realize that special codes are required
to be invisibly embedded into web pages for the sole benefit of the
search engines. This problem is amplified when adjacent competitive
listings in Google contain identical text. This can easily happen
when several businesses purchase the same stock template from a
popular supplier and nobody realizes these invisible codes need to
be customized.
[0097] The invention described herein addresses these issues
relating to invisible search engine metadata, such as search engine
titles, keywords and descriptions by employing automation
techniques to craft unique and meaningful search engine meta data
without manual intervention whilst at the same time not running
into the traditional saturation limitations traditionally
encountered by service providers when working with multiple
customers located in the same general area.
[0098] The present invention may also be used to solve the
saturation problem associated with hosting websites in given
geographic market. Without such a solution in place, even the most
elegant of automated platforms will quickly be stifled once a
certain saturation level is reached within given geographic
markets. Research and experience by the inventor indicates that
customers begin to complain about these issues when the number of
nationally-distributed websites serviced by a single vendor
approaches 1,000. As that number approaches 2,000, it becomes
nearly impossible to attract new business because in any
reasonable-sized geographic market the hosted websites for
professionals in the same line of business look too similar when
prior art automation techniques are used.
[0099] For an area such as hosting dentistry websites, within which
the inventor has considerable experience, this represents less than
two percent of the total market. It therefore follows that if there
is any hope of attaining a market share upwards of ten percent or
higher, such could only be accomplished by way of a solution which
directly addresses customers' express desire to have uniquely
crafted websites and search engine listings--and it has to be
accomplished without asking the customers to write their own
content, because that is what they were hoping to outsource in the
first place.
[0100] The system also provides other benefits. In one
implementation, search engine optimization is also provided in
addition to web hosting and the generation of a unique website.
Thus, the customer receives a website that is unique, appears
unique in search engine listings, and that is also optimized for
search engine listings.
* * * * *