JimWorld Gazette Issue #49 04/17/1998

Gazette - Issue #49 - April 17, 1998

It's been a fun week. The site is now all running on the new server at Verio (was iServer at http://www.iserver.com ) and things just took a lot longer than I expected. Moving the whole community has become a major task that I won't willingly undertake again without a really good reason!

As far as I know, everything is OK except the memory game, which I am working on. IF you spot problems, let me know.

As luck would have it, I undertook another task for the site during this same week, and I really need a vacation. You'll see it in the first article for the week.

Internic has still not moved the JimWorld domain name to the new server, so keep using the IP link from the home page to reach the new server.

Next week is the one year anniversary of the Gazette. Seems like only 12 years ago that I started writing it. I have already identified the perfect Scumbag for the anniversary issue.

The Forums are cranking. An amazing amount of activity going on in there. If you haven't been in, do so. You'll learn so much you'll be hanging out in there every day like everyone else does. For all of you AOL users, the bug is fixed that kept some of you out of the Forums. If you still have a problem, let me know.

And now, the final issue of the first year of publication. < small tear falling >

-- Helpware is here!
-- Yahoo! Making the perfect submission.
-- Ready to write a book?
-- Adam's Toolbox - Part V
-- Snippets

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g49

HELPWARE IS HERE

You thought I would never get it done, didn't you?

For the new members, the Gazette community suggested we formalize the Helpware concept so we held a design contest.

We received lots of submissions, and with my usual heavy-handed approach I whittled it down to six finalists. The Gazeteers voted and there was a winner. There it sat while awaiting its turn in the effort rotation.

The great Helpware design by Alex Dillon of Carbon Places <http://www.carbonplaces.com/> was a very popular choice and was the winner. But the other designs each gathered a strong following and I will be posting all of them to the permanent site.

Yes, there now are several pages that allow the visitor to take the Helpware pledge and grab a graphic to display on their web site.

But you knew there had to be more to it then that, right?

There is now a fully automated searchable, web site directory (looks a bit like Yahoo, flattery being the sincerest form of.... hmmmm, I seem to have that wrong.)

Each Helpware Member site may have up to five listings in the directory, but each must point to a different page within their site, and each page listed in the directory must display a Helpware button.

The directory will have its own domain name, probably helpware.net which I have filed for, but I'd really like us to get helpware.com. Unfortunately, it is taken by a local computer store in Tennessee. If anybody knows them, I'll bet the Helpware community could make it worth their while to give it to us. Talk about getting some killer site promotion just for giving up a domain name.

The reason for the requirement to display the Helpware button is fairly obvious, but let me explain it anyway.

The Helpware community is not mine. It is ours, and as such is a private group of individuals and companies willing to try setting a higher standard of behavior in the hope that it will rub off onto the rest of the web. To that end, anything you do to promote the Helpware community through its directory of sites benefits everyone in the community. When it is known that sites with high standards of conduct are clustered together in one place, the traffic will come, and it will be going through the directory to your sites.

The directory software has been donated by the author of the YooHoo directory software package. It has been a joy to work with John while I got this up and running.

John operates several sites that you should find very interesting, such as CGI World <http://www.cgi-world.net>, JavaScript World <http://www.javascript-world.com> and HTML World <http://www.html-world.com>. His main site is at <http://www.interactive-web.net/> and you can check out his complete line of scripts there. I'll be writing more about the YooHoo system in the near future. Thanks John for all of the help.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from the Helpware Directory. I expect I'll be a bit busy reviewing sites this week, but that's OK with me. Get your sites listed.

Helpware needs a publicist. I'm about at my limit until I turn some more work over to new volunteers, which is a high priority for me. The current JimWorld and Gazette helpers have been such a blessing that I will be expanding that program.

If you have the time and skill to mount a PR campaign for Helpware, let me know. Hopefully I'll get several volunteers and several of you can work together to get the traffic flowing through the directory to the member sites.

Enjoy, and thank you all for giving me one of the most satisfying and enjoyable years I've ever had the pleasure of living. You have no idea how much I look forward to the next year of knowing you.

PS: The banners for the six finalists in the Helpware design contest will start rotating this week on the Helpware Directory. Look for them and click!

YAHOO, MAKING THE PERFECT SUBMISSION

...the best way to insure listing.

Not in Yahoo yet? It could be a blessing in disguise.

Getting your site listed in Yahoo can be a frustrating experience, but a worse experience is trying to change a bad listing. Your first submission, like your first attempt at a web page might not be the best it can be.

Before you submit your site take into account Yahoos objectives. It IS NOT to list every site on the net! It is to have a good site available for every surfer that depends on Yahoo to help them find the site they are looking for. If you keep this in mind it is the first step to not only being listed, but having a really productive listing.

Think of yourself as a partner with Yahoo, not just another web site owner. They give you a listing, and in turn you are providing their customers with the content they are looking for. In this issue we will go over how to submit properly. A proper submission not only has a far better change of being accepted, but will be more productive for you, bringing in the people that are looking for your site!

First, take off your web site owner shoes. Put yourself into the shoes of the person you is looking for your site, but does not yet know the name of it. What will they search for? Do a search on that and see what you come up with. You got hundreds of results? Maybe you are being too general, try a more specific search. The average search will bring up 4 or 5 categories. Now, look them over from your present surfer shoes, which category is most likely to have the web site you are looking for? Once you have identified that one you are off to a good start!

In addition to their stated instructions there are some tips that will not only help get you listed, but will help make it a quality listing for you.

First, I do not care how many thousands of times you have typed your url out. Cut and Paste it from the actual page. Nothing worse than you wasting your time and theirs with a mistyped url. Take no chances! Remember this is a professional partnership, a trading of professional services, you certainly do not want them thinking you can not type.

Now, the title. This is actually very important. It is known that they list alphabetically, and it is very tempting to have an 'A' title, or even worse one that begins with a symbol. Unless your company name actually does start with symbol this is a VERY BAD IDEA. Think about from the partnership angle. It looks very unprofessional. Do you want to trade professional services with an unprofessional looking company? Neither do they.

The most important aspect of your title is that it is a searchable term. Even if you commonly use an acronym of CAR, it is better to spell your company name out, Classic Automobile Restorers. (This is a false name for demonstration purposes, I apologize if I have used a real company name). Already you have pleased Yahoo with a professional title, AND provided yourself with four useful search terms to be found by. This one would show up for, classic automobile restorers, classic automobile, classic restorers, and automobile restorers. If you are submitting a commercial site you MUST use your company name. If you are a company known mainly by the acronym Yahoo does prefer that you use the acronym as your title.

Now, on to your description. While it is tempting to load your description with keywords this looks messy and unprofessional. Many also make the mistake of adding information that can be found after the visitor gets to the site. Capitalize on more of your main search terms (not the same as your title) by creating a short sentence about it.

'restoration of vintage cars and other vehicles to their stock condition.'

This example not only defines your site, but, combined with your title affords you at least 13 search terms your site can be found under. When you are writing your description out it is important not to repeat the name of your chosen category in your description.

The next page provides you an opportunity to suggest a new category for the Yahoo directory. Use this only if there really was no category for your site. If you could not find a category submit to the next higher one and add your suggestion here. Most of us will not need to do this. If you find your competitor in category X that is where you belong too.

Geographical information is NOT where your site is hosted, but the actual city you are licensed to do business in. This is help identify your regional entries. It also comes into play if your region gets broken down into smaller components, such as from a county listing this year, to cities next year. If your site is Internet related (ISP, design, etc) , or if it is a real estate company you must submit for the region your business is located in. This also applies for other industries where your business is done locally.

Written by
Janet Berg
Virtual Tapestry Web Site Design <www.virtualtapestry.com>

READY TO WRITE A BOOK?

I've been watching the launch of Clyde's new book and update service, The Search Engine Bible, very closely for a couple of reasons.

First, it is an excellent treatment of a very confusing subject: search engine submission and ranking. It is not an easy subject to explain because there are so many variables. But judging from the mail I'm getting from the Gazeteers, many of you have bought the book and agree with me that it explains the whole subject so that it can be understood. If you want to check it out for yourself, go to <http://www.softwaresolutions.net/sebible/>

The second reason is, to me, even more interesting. As I've mentioned before, the publisher of the Search Engine Bible is our fearless Gazette writer, T.J. Walker from Software Solutions. He is also the worldwide distributor for all of the products at SmartDesk, so I get the chance to talk to him often.

Lately I have been asking him lots of questions about how it is going with the book. The reason for my interest is the chance to see how well it works to self -publish an electronic book instead of going to a book publisher and trying to get the book published and sold in the stores.

I've talked TJ into giving us a report or two on electronic publishing, but my observations are that it is a subject that is coming of age. For the author, the numbers work in your favor, assuming that your target audience is to be found on the web.

The early days of web publishing did not go well. There were no publishers concentrating on e-publishing that had a good book publishing background like TJ has. So the authors had to go it alone and try to convince people to buy his or her book. There was no general awareness of the value of an electronic book. It was perceived to be just another long text file, and who in their right mind would pay for that?

We've all seen where these 'books' have wound up. "Join my Pasteurized Snail Dung MLM: The Final Cure For (insert name of disease here) and you'll receive, absolutely free, no fewer than 100 professionally written, much in demand, electronic books that you can sell forever without paying another penny to me! I just want you to become as wealthy as I have become with Pasteurized Snail Dung! Beware imitators! Slug Dung does not work, and Snail Dung is the time-proven original."

Things have changed a lot since then. Now a well written and properly promoted book that has a knowledgable publisher can make very good money for everyone involved, and they can be published in weeks instead of the traditional months or even years.

If you've got a book just burning away inside of you, and you wouldn't be too happy with 5% of retail book sales as your fee, think about electronic publishing. I just know that TJ will enlighten us, but I'm not sure I should read it. I've managed to keep my book's fire from blazing up into a passion, not because I don't want to write it, but rather, where would I find the time?

If your fire is out of control, talk to TJ at Software Solutions. He'll point you in the right direction. tjwalker@softwaresolutions.net>

ADAM'S TOOLBOX - PART V

In my last article I showed you how to use Server Side Includes and Perl to track links from your affiliate program members by setting cookies in a users browser. In a previous article, I accomplished the same thing with JavaScript.

However, as you are no doubt aware, some people have been frightened by misleading news reports into believing that cookies are security problems, threats to privacy, and dangerous to our national security. These people aren't aware that cookies are anonymous, cannot harm you or your system, and can greatly enhance your web surfing experience. They have a nasty habit of disabling cookies in their browser.

A few miscreants shouldn't keep you from paying everyone who was kind enough to link to your site. What you need now is a way to track referrals for users that don't accept cookies.

As I stated in the first article of this series, the problem with tracking information about your users is that the HTTP protocol starts a new session for every web page requested. None of the information from previous pages is remembered when a new page is requested. That is why I used cookies. The basic idea behind the cookie is to allow the browser to remember things for the server and sending the information to the server every time a web page is requested. Another way for the browser to send information to a web server is to attach the information to the end of a URL by placing it after a question mark.

I am doing this when I create the link from an affiliate site to mine by using <http://www.yoursite.com/somepage.html?src=123>

I can take the concept of this link a step further if I place some code on each page to retrieve that id code. I now have a way for each page in the site to gather the information that the browser sends. Now I just need a way to get the browser to send the id code every time it requests a web page. I will accomplish this by using some special SSI statements.

The last entry in this series introduced you to the basic SSI statement and used SSI to launch a Perl CGI program. This week I'm going to use an extended set of SSI statements that are available on Apache and Netscape servers. Among other things, XSSI allows you to place the contents of a URL query string (the part after the '?') in a variable and write the variable into the HTML output. Like other server side includes, the code is completely browser independent; everything happens on the server, with only the resulting HTML being sent to the browser.

Using this feature, I can rewrite every link on the page to contain the query string. This way, each time a user clicks on a link, the id code is tacked on to the end. The next page retrieves the id, and rewrites all the links on that page. This continues throughout the site, wherever the user goes.

This is part of the method that Amazon.com uses in its affiliate program. If you enter their site through one of their affiliates, you are assigned a user id. As you travel through the site, each link on the page will be rewritten to contain your user id. From this user id, they can determine where you came from.

For the purpose of this project, creating a user id is not necessary. We can track the affiliate's id instead and achieve the same end results.

The code for this is very simple. To get the affiliate id out of the URL, place the code at the very top of every page in the site. Inside each HREF tag, add ? to the end of every URL (make sure not to put this in links to other sites). For example, Buy It.

Your server must allow SSIs in general and support XSSI specifically for this all to work. Pages that use SSI also need to be named in a way that tells the server to look for SSI commands. Usually this involves using .SHTML as the extension instead of .HTML. If you have an accommodating ISP, ask them to turn on the xbit hack. This allows you to set the permissions of any file to be executable (Unix CHMOD 755), and regardless of the file extension, SSI commands can be included. This way, you don't have to rename all your files to .SHTML, you just set the proper permissions on your HTML files.

Then all that is left is to grab the id from your query string and use it as part of your form when the user checks out. You can place the id in a hidden field in your form with the code ">.

In future articles, I am going to spend more time analyzing how Amazon.com's affiliate program works and using this as a model to further develop this affiliate tracking application.

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Adam Kalsey <adam@tmsonline.com>
the marketing store! <http://tmsonline.com>

SNIPPETS

Link-O-Matic
<http://www.linkomatic.com/index.cgi?10097>

Rather than introducing a new product line, they're just going to give members more of what they wanted in the first place. Links! Starting immediately, new members will receive 16,000 credits upon sign up rather than 10,000. Their web site has already been updated accordingly.

Talk about value. 16,000 credits is enough to submit one site to their entire database 40 times. Membership is still just $100, so that works out to just $2.50 for something that would take at least 30 or 40 hours to do manually. And upgrades are now available at just $50 for an additional 16,000 links.

This offer from Link-O-Matic won't last long, so if you've been sitting on the fence about trying their traffic building service, get off the fence.

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I LOVE YOU MAN!!

I voted for JimWorld a few months ago in the Surfers Choice Awards, in which they offered a year's worth of web hosting as a prize if you voted.

I won!! Now JimWorld is two of the best things that have ever happened to me!

If you want to see the site, it's at <http://209.204.202.153/>. (my personal site is <http://209.204.202.153/emmons>) I have a domain for it that I'm working on getting transferred to this server. The domain is <http://www.sitenetwork.com>

I'd appreciate it if you'd thank Wally Gross at globalserve.net in the Gazette for sponsoring the award !!

I think I owe you one!
-Dale Emmons

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Associate Programs Directory
<http://www.AssociatePrograms.com>

If you missed my telling you about a new(ish) site that is stuffed full of lists of people just waiting to pay you money to help them sell their products, I'm back to say that I have visited again and I'm amazed at how many associate programs this group has dug up. Takes lots of time to get through them all.

If a buck of three might make web-life a bit easier, go figure out which of these programs fits your site's community. But remember: check out any program you are considering. Carefully.

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WARNING!

Just a reminder. When you want to register for a domain name, DO NOT go to internic.com. That is exactly where you will wind up if you just type internic for location. Remember that everything defaults to .com. They pretend to be Internic, but they aren't. They charge you $100 just to file the paperwork, which usually never happens. And if you pay them the money to pay Internic with, they just keep it and you wind up paying Internic direct or lose your domain name. They wind up with your $200 and you're out a total of $300. Bummer.

The real Internic is at internic.net. You do know that the 2 year cost for a domain name went down to $70, don't you?