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The Promotion World Informer
Issue #50 December 28, 1998
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Contents Of This Issue:
- Editor's Notes
- Cool Quotes
- Feature Article
- Sponsor Message
- The Discussion Board
- Searching With Hayden
- What's New At Promotion World
- Bits And Pieces
- Sponsor Message
- Website Usability
- News Headlines
- Misc. Information
=========================== Editor's Notes ======================
Wow... issue number fifty! I can't believe we've had fifty issues already.
Looking back through the archives at
http://www.promotionworld.com/informer/archives.html I see that we have
come a long way. In fact, I am kind of embarrassed to read some of those
early issues!
It is one of my main goals to help you learn more about website promotion,
and how to increase the traffic to your site. Not to mention helping you
increase your sales! Let me know how it's going... is this newsletter
helping you? Judging from the comments people have sent me at
http://www.promotionworld.com/fanmail.html it is helpful, but I would
like some more feedback from you all.
To celebrate our fiftieth issue, I would like to announce the fact that we
are switching back to weekly publication! Don't worry, it won't be volume
without any quality, I will put much effort into the newsletter each week to
bring you only the most useful information on site promotion there is.
We respect your privacy! The Informer is only sent to those
who subscribe to it. We will never give our subscriber list
to anyone. If you don't remember signing up, let me jog your
memory. You probably signed up on my site, found at
http://www.promotionworld.com. If you don't want to
receive this newsletter anymore then just follow the simple
unsubscribe instructions at the end of this newsletter.
============================ Cool Quotes ========================
I hope you all have enjoyed Christmas! For some of us we get another week
off, so we still have another week of Christmas to enjoy. In all the
Christmas season's activities, let us not forget the true reason for the
season:
For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on
his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government
and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 9:6-7
========================== Feature Article ======================
Choose Your Ezines Wisely!
By Scott Owen
I need to vent. I just checked my email and looked through some of
the many ezines that I subscribe to (I can't resist a free
subscription). I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack
of effort put forth by the majority of these publishers. Is it
that difficult to produce a quality, educational publication which
is not dominated by classified ads? Must *every* publisher
regurgitate the same articles over and over again? I just read
five ezines and three of them had the same article! What a joke!
I decided to go through every ezine in my mailbox and establish my
own criteria for a quality ezine. Those that didn't make the cut
were sent packing. Needless to say, my mailbox is now close to
empty! Here goes:
1) Original Content - Give me articles which I can't find in 5
other publications. I prefer to see articles written by the
publisher as that shows he/she has put some effort into their work.
Guest columnists are fine also, just make sure the material is
fresh and educational.
2) Advertising Methods - Don't give me a five page classified
section with articles used as filler! Sponsorships and
conservative classified sections are fine with me, but they should
complement the publication and not be a nuisance to the reader. I
just read an ezine that had *twenty-five* classified ads and *one*
recycled article! I am perfectly aware of the revenue-generating
powers of classified ads and will use them in my new ezine for that
purpose. However, I will be very selective about the products I
endorse (I have much more to say about advertising vs. endorsing,
but I will go into that some other time).
3) Website - It is not necessary to have a website, but it lends
much more credibility to your cause and gives your readers a place
to receive more information (ie. back issues, free articles,
etc...). It doesn't need to be fancy, but it must have quality
content and be easy to navigate. Check out Jim Daniels' BizWeb2000
if you need an example of how to do it right.
4) Prompt Delivery - This is simple....just make sure the ezine
goes out when you say it will!
I would love to add to those criteria if anyone has suggestions.
Based on the above criteria, I can identify only 6 to 8
publications which make the grade. I know there are more out there
and I will keep searching until I find them. Thanks for letting me
vent!
Scott Owen
http://www.BestEzines.com
Choose Your Ezines Wisely!
mailto:sowen@bestezines.com
Editor's note: Yes, this is a reprint! I rarely reprint articles, but this
subject was so valuable I just had to get reprint permission. It was first
printed in the I-Sales Digest. To join the I-Sales discussion list, send a
message to join-i-sales@list.mmgco.com . I-Sales is an excellent
marketing digest that I can highly recommend.
Remember to check out http://www.BestEzines.com. They have profiled a
number of my favorite newsletters! Unfortunately, The Informer isn't on the
list yet. Why don't you all email Scott and tell them how much you like it?
========================= Sponsor Message =======================
Top ten things to do with Webcards:
1) Send WebCARDS to all your customers
2) Use them to notify people about new features at your site
3) Give them out to customers making purchases
4) Send them to the competition to make them envious
5) Send them to your family to show how hip you have become
6) Send them to suppliers
7) Send a copy of your home page to all your contacts who do not
have Web access
8) Post them on bulletin boards in stores and computer centers
9) Give out at trade shows
10) Send to your "media" list
For your *FREE* samples visit
http://www.printing.com/promo.asp?site=prowor4
===================== The Discussion Board ======================
Each issue in this new section we will feature a quote from a post on the
message boards located at http://www.promotionworld.com/discus/.
Appropriate credit, of course, will be given. What a way to get some free
advertising! This is yet another reason to become an active participant in
our discussion forums. Not only do you get great promotion help but you
might win some major free advertising!
This week's quote from the discussion board:
"I went and found out some tips to getting Yahoo to change
your listing faster, or at least maybe get them on the ball
to getting it done. I plan to try this out and see how it
works.
To make a change in your listing first go to this URL:
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change
If your just trying to get your description changed to get
a better ranking then your gonna have to do more than just
change your description on the change form, perhaps you could
put in another contact email address for them to get in contact
with you if need be. Or change the contact persons name or
address, etc. Your gonna wanna combine things together so they
feel that your reason for sending in the change form is more
serious than just wanting your description changed. It could
improve your odds of them acting on your request.
Then after you submit your change form, wait about a week, if you
do not see a change, then e-mail them at url-support@yahoo-inc.com
Give them your contact name, URL, email address, the date when
you filled out their change form and information you want changed
(remember to combine your change request so they may act on it
quicker). Then again wait and see what happens, I've heard that
when someone did this that 4 days later their listing was changed.
I'll try it out and let y'all know how it worked out!
Jim Conley II
ECS Webmaster
Accept and process credit cards online with a low cost credit card
merchant account from Electronic Card Service! Visit our site today at
http://www.acceptvisamastercard.com for more information!"
Visit the message boards to comment on this quote or just to catch up on the
other exciting discussions going on! We have a number of new posts every day
going up, and we are all learning lots. Why don't you join us?
http://www.promotionworld.com/discus/
====================== Searching With Hayden ====================
Q. I have an online gift shop and have been trying to get myself in the top
10.
In the process of doing research I noticed something interesting. I did a
search on Infoseek with the keywords: gift unique gifts. The #1 page that
came up had something interesting in their source code. Their <title> tag
was filled with keywords and then repeated 5 times. Then they had
"keywords" and "description" META tags, then a "head keywords" tag.
Not so unusual I guess, But here's where it got interesting. Next, they had
an "input type=hidden value" tag filled with their keywords list, repeated 5
times!
Have you ever seen this before? Or is it old news? I had never seen
anything like it, but hey...they were first in line! Do you have any idea
if this has anything to do with their ranking?
A. The type of keyword stuffing you are talking about sounds like the
positioning template that was included on the old Spider web posting
software. This software in wide use about a year ago would create template
pages based on
the keywords and description that was entered into the program for use in the
posting of pages to various Search Engines and directories.
The system did work very well until the Search Engines caught on and developed
blocking for the generated pages. A few of these old pages still remain that
were posted before the blocks were put in place. I still have a few good
listings that were done with this system. Unfortunately, these techniques no
longer work.
Hayden Mitchell
=======================================================================
100% On Target Advertising, Marketing and Promotion
"Life is good at the Top" - Search Engine placement and much more!
For details send email to Auto-responder mailto:webhitman@infofree.com
Web Themes - http://www.webthemes.com ph. 805-270-1607
Send in your question for Hayden. It might be answered in an
upcoming issue. webmaster@promotionworld.com
================== What's New At Promotion World =================
~ Tips for Getting Your Web Site Listed in Yahoo
By Shari Thurow
Having a hard time getting listed on Yahoo? Aren't we all! Shari
presents us with some easy to use tips for getting listed on Yahoo.
http://www.promotionworld.com/se/yahoo.html
======================== Bits And Pieces =========================
Okay, okay, this is starting to get annoying. Another website listing
associate programs have sprung up in the last few weeks! This is starting to
be a *very* crowded corner of the web!
http://www.associate-it.com is the newcomer to the game. They say it is
the largest directory out there! It does look quite impressive.
____________________
If you are looking for some good newsletter advertising deals, this may be a
interesting stop. Whole Hog Computer services offers a unique package: For
$55, you will have access to their wide range of newsletters, most of them
offering very generous discounts on their advertising packages. The Informer
is included there! You would have to buy a largish amount of advertising to
make it pay for itself, but it could be a money saver if you use this method
of advertising extensively.
Oh yes, I think they have a Christmas special on, for a limited time you can
sign up for only $35.
http://www.hometown-ontario.com/co-op/nitro/members/pworld.html
____________________
Don't forget the big survey over at Perfect Presence. You could win a zip
drive for participating! I also found the free resources you are allowed
access to in exchange for filling out the survey quite helpful. Remember to
mention The Informer when you sign up!
http://www.perfectpresence.com/survey.html
____________________
The company that puts out the very useful HitBox Tracker has recently
introduced a new site that summarizes all the statistics from all the
millions of sites that use the service.
It is quite interesting... apparently, IE is now way ahead of Netscape! You
can learn many other interesting tidbits of information, including reports
on everything from browser and operating system versions to referring
search engines, plug-ins, and even screen resolutions.
http://www.statmarket.com
____________________
You may have heard me talk about GoTo, the pay for listing search engine.
Instead of having to worry about fighting to get a top ten listing, you bid
for the top ten listing. And no, you don't just pay for it up front. You
only pay for the click throughs that your site receives!
I find this a very intriguing concept, especially so because I find their
search results are highly relevant to my queries.
If all goes as planned, I will be experimenting with bidding for keywords on
their services in the New Year. I will write a review of detailing my
experiences when I am finished! If you have advertised with GoTo, I would be
interested in hearing about your experiences.
http://www.goto.com
======================== Sponsor Message =========================
Want to increase your Web Site Traffic?
WebPosition makes it easy to monitor your search positions
and to improve your rankings! Don't be buried in last
place, move up to first place!
Be sure to check out the new WebPosition software. If
you're struggling to make your site known on the Internet,
WebPosition can help!
Just visit this URL to try it out:
http://www.webposition.com/cgi-local/index.pl?DS1=RP&DS2=89R-55CB
======================== Website Usability =======================
Usability Is Crucial for the Small Guy
By John S. Rhodes
Barriers to entering a market often mean that large organizations and
corporations monopolize that market. The Web is different in that it allows
any person to publish their thoughts, enter a market, or start a new
endeavor. This is good news for the small guy - the Web appears to be a
great equalizer.
While I am all for the ease of access and ease of publishing, there is a
pitfall. The problem can be summed up this way. When people can do something
too easily, they usually do it with too much haste and too little planning.
For the small guy on the net, this can translate to a production of shabby
Web pages. So while barriers to entry are certainly bad, they point out that
a lack of planning and effort lead to poor Web sites.
There are social and economic problems associated with poorly constructed
Web sites. I often, but not always, see that smaller Web sites put
themselves at risk of Web class stratification. That is, small Web sites
unnecessarily end up at the bottom of the Internet heap. Problems can sink a
small Web site, whereas large institutions and companies can weather the
storm. If the small guy on the Web too rapidly puts together pages, the
result can be catastrophic. Poor content development and poor design can
occur, forcing the little guy's Web site into the sewer.
For the small company on the Web, the economic costs are devastating. If a
site is not designed with usability in mind, people will be frustrated with
the site. People that are frustrated don't bookmark, don't buy, don't
revisit, and won't tell other people about the site. While the small guy
should be able to compete, poor usability can prevent success.
Large Web sites are spending a lot of time perfecting their content and
design. Most pay attention to usability, in one way or another. Or, they are
so big with so many viewers that they don't care. By itself this is not
critical, but in relation to the lack of usability work done by small sites,
it does become critical. Here is something to chew on. For every page of
junk page produced by the small guy, ZDNET at <http://www.zdnet.com>, CNET
at <http://www.cnet.com>, USA Today at <http://www.usatoday.com>, etc. are
producing something better. The content void will be filled by those with
power unless the small guy utilizes the weapons of web site improvement.
The weapons are the following: employ usability practices like crazy,
develop good content, and plan ahead. It also helps to focus on niche
markets and aim for a high level of personalization (e.g., one-to-one
marketing) and customer service. Do things like the big guys, such as
accepting credit cards. Be nimble, respond quickly to customers, and go
beyond their expectations. The small guy on
the Web can win.
=========================================================================
John S. Rhodes -- mailto:john@WebWord.com
Human Factors Engineer and Usability Professional
Internet Usability and Web Site Development: http://www.WebWord.com/
========================= News Headlines =========================
Here is a compilation of URLs to interesting news pieces on an Internet or
website promotion theme.
~ Confessions Of A Christmas Shopper
http://www.searchz.com/Articles/1224983.html
~ Do You Really Need A Web Site?
http://www.searchz.com/Articles/1223981.html
~ Ode To Customer Service
http://www.searchz.com/Articles/1224981.html
~ Hot and cold hurt Net access
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2179040,00.html
~ Internet ads you must watch
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2178444,00.html
More Internet related news headlines at
http://www.promotionworld.com/news.html
======================== Misc. Information =======================
To comment on the issues covered in this week's newsletter, use the
appropriate forum on our Discussion Boards.
http://www.promotionworld.com/discus/
If you are looking for some good advertising deals, you might like to
consider Promotion World and the Informer as places to advertise. You can
see our media kit at http://www.promotionworld.com/sponsor.html
To subscribe: informer@oaknetpub.com with
SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of the message.
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I appreciate all your mail with your comments and suggestions!
webmaster@promotionworld.com
Newsletter Credits:
Joshua Reimer, Editor
webmaster@promotionworld.com
http://www.promotionworld.com
John S. Rhodes, Usability Specialist
john@WebWord.com
http://www.WebWord.com/
Hayden Mitchell, Search Engine Specialist
hayden@webthemes.com
http://www.webthemes.com
And now for the mandatory legal stuff:
This newsletter is copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Joshua Reimer. No part may be
reproduced in any way without prior permission.
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