•Website owners have put in place protection prevent access to

sensitive data or display data dynamically and in a way that can be

viewed but not saved or downloaded.

•Some websites have password protection or require user registration.

•Some websites have automated tools to monitor user activity and will

block user IP if attempts at data downloading are detected.

•The amount and variety of data is stupendous and the number of

websites is staggering. It is simply impossible or far too time-

consuming to visit each site manually, download data if possible and

then refine it into a usable format.

The smart thing to do is enjoy

the benefit of computer

technologies and find web

scraping software online that

will automate the process. In

addition, the software will do it

intelligently, almost simulating

the way human minds work.

What is more, the software will

order and refine data into a pre-

defined format. A wish list of

what is required in a data

scraping software would read

something like this:

•An easy to use interface, even if it is web based, that will allow

users to input keywords and further options to add command line

options for exact matches.

•Specify URLs or simply keywords and let the inbuilt web crawler

trawl websites to find data.

•Let the software download data and then organize it into a format

that is ready to be used, stripped of tags and extra text. What users

get is pure data.

•Crawl to all website regardless of whether they are password

protected or require user registration and log ins.

•Configure once, use many times by saving parameters to a theme

that can be applied to future searches.

Not all web scraping software online are equal. Some have limitations in

that they cannot access image data or audio or even video. Some may

find tables restricting. What users need to look for in online web scrapers

is that they must be versatile and easy to use while being fast and

accurate at the same time. The objective is to get maximum amount of

quality data with the minimum inputs in terms of time and labour.

Does it cost much? There is a

cost to everything. However,

the user must view it in the

right perspective. If he were to

spend time and labour, he must

factor in costs of such efforts

and balance these against the

money he spends on services to

get quality and voluminous

data. He could consider the

value of productivity he

achieves by devoting the time

saved to other more pressing

tasks. In balance it will be seen

that using online web scrapers

is more cost effective.

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