It's
been said that if you build it, they will come.
Data
is the most important commodity for any information business, whether
it is used for internal purposes or put it on a web site to attract
visitors.
It
is data that provides a business with a competitive edge and it is
data that allows a business to differentiate itself from the myriad
of other companies offering similar services. Data alone will not
make a business successful, but lack of information will almost
certainly lead to failure.
With
the advancement in technologies and the accessibility of the
Internet, data is available in abundance. However, it takes effort
to find, mine, filter and display the information in a usable form.
For most businesses, this should involve the use of web grabber
software to automate the process and free up resources for other
critical tasks.
What
is a Web Grabber?
A
web grabber is a tool used for automatically capturing data from
target sites and transforming into text files, spreadsheets, excel
files or any other database format. Web grabbers can be customized
to capture data from both dynamic and static websites and is able to
grab both text and images. It also is programmable to allow
automating the process to be performed at scheduled times when it is
convenient for the user.
Some
highlighted features of web grabber
-
User-friendly
interface and easy to install
-
Web
grabber extracts data from highly dynamic sites including AJAX
websites
-
It
extracts complete data from the sites such as text, images and
product catalogues, links, Meta tags and tag attributes
-
It
is possible to schedule your web grabber activity on daily or weekly
basis
-
Comprehensive
API and custom post-processing
-
Duplicate
data detection so that only new and updated content is captured
-
Semi-automatic
data extraction can be achieved from the sites which use CAPTCHA
-
The
data can be extracted from framesets and iFrames
Why
use web grabber software?
Most
companies that perform information gathering are still using a “Copy
& Paste” method to grab data from their target sites. The
problem with this is that it is a time-consuming, unproductive and
inaccurate way to work, even if the people doing the work are
proficient.
A
lot of time is spent on copying, pasting and re-formatting data if
these tasks are performed by workers. They have to navigate
thousands of web pages, which results in human errors. With the help
of a web grabber, accuracy and productivity is assured and
predictable. This saves time, effort and money.
The
data can be made available in a shorter amount of time, too. Timing
is an important aspect when it comes to business intelligence,
especially in competitive environments. Web grabbers can do wonders
to your business, allowing you to put distance between yourself and
your competitors.