JimWorld Gazette Issue #57 07/12/1998

Gazette - Issue #57 - July 12, 1998

You really have to see this one sent in by Cary Brown, past contributor to the Gazette. When I clicked on the link and entered the URL for VirtualPROMOTE's home page I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. Then I picked up the phone and called a few people to show it to them. You'll have the same kind of reaction.

THIS SITE NO LONGER AVAILABLE
The Dialectizer http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/ lets you enter a URL, select a dialect and see the translated results, graphics and all.

If you're thinking French, German and Japanese, you are way off.

Try Redneck, Jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Moron and Pig Latin. Important stuff. Anybody can translate into French.

Be sure to take a look at the page about linking to this site. It is very well thought out and explains exactly why you shouldn't link directly to the script for the translation. It makes sense and is a good lesson in fair play on the Internet.

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I mentioned a banner exchange last week and neglected to include the URL. Sorry. It's http://multi-x.hypermart.net/

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The Helpware Directory is growing like a weed -- but having a few growing pains. As I continue to learn the role of administering a directory, John and I keep adding new tools to make the directory function without spending all of my time doing it.

The latest was a solution to a rapidly growing problem -- invalid submissions. As you know, the rule is you must display the Helpware button on your page if you want to be listed. Helpware is a community effort by all of the members to generate new traffic for everyone involved.

Well, I was receiving 10 submissions that didn't comply to every one that did have the button on display. But to find the one, I had to spend time looking at all of them.

Now, the submission program checks for a valid URL, fetches the page and verifies that the button and link are already there. That has solved the problem for me. But it does mean that you can't submit until you have uploaded the button to your server.

The worst offenders have been the whole range of income opportunities. I've had so many hundreds of DebtZapper auto-replicating pages submitted and not one has the button. They can't have the button because they are not real sites, just database output of pages. I routinely mass delete those submissions without even having to look.

If you are trying to make some inroads into promoting an income program, think carefully about the damage you can do to your future by running wild on the Web trying to cram your page down everybody's throat. Be professional and take you time to do it right. If it isn't worth that kind of time investment, why are you bothering with it at all?

A Special Deal Just For Gazeteers
Tips From The Hitman - Part XXXV
Review: Netscape Guide To Internet Research
Something To Do With A Press Release
Partnering For Profit
Get Linked
Snippets

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g57

A SPECIAL DEAL JUST FOR GAZETEERS

Discounted Virtual Servers

iServer is excited to extend a great offer to the members of the Gazette community. The great work you do to design and maintain a web site doesn't mean anything if you don't have an equally great place to host it. This is where we come into the picture.

Before you settle for basic virtual hosting, we want you to experience first hand the added power, flexibility, and reliability of our Virtual Servers. We're extending to all Gazeteers a 30% discount for 6 months on all Virtual Servers maintained with us. This discount will be extended beyond the 6 months if you have a minimum of 5 Virtual Servers at the end of this period. Even better, when you have 20 Virtual Servers, your discount jumps to 50%.

Ordering a Virtual Server Feel free to check out everything we have to offer at http://www.iserver.com, including our server packages and prices at http://www.iserver.com/servers/. However, when you're ready to order, make sure you come back to the JimWorld site and click on the iServer order link so that you can enjoy your limited 30% discount. After you've set up your account and ordered your first Virtual Server, you will no longer need to use this order page. You will simply order additional servers at our site http://order.securesites.com/order/index.html using your Reseller ID.

We look forward to working with you and assisting you in building your business. If you have any questions regarding this offer or any other services we offer, please feel free to contact us at sales@iserver.com or 801.224.9346.

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Jim Here: Dawn Wells (iServer) and I have been working on this since we moved the entire community to their servers and I think we have hammered out a very significant program for you. The discount is far better than I had even hoped for originally, but I soon came to understand that they really are happy to have us on their servers. Thus, the great offer.

iServer has extended to us their current specials through August 15th in addition to the special pricing. They are:

--For iServer clients, a free download of NetObjects Fusion 2.0.2 or purchase Fusion 3.0 for $99 ($249 value).

--$25 setups on all new Virtual Servers.

To get the Gazeteer Special just order with this link: iServer Gazette Offer and it will hit Dawn's desk and get taken care of right away. I'm glad we could arrange this for you. I know you'll enjoy the service.

TIPS FROM THE HITMAN - PART XXXV

--Grabbing your share of E-Commerce

This article will address some of the concerns of selling products and services on the Internet. I am going to base the article on my personal experience and my observations and success with selling on the Net. I am sure that some of what I have to say will be met with some disagreement, but hey, I can only tell it like I see it after all.

The Internet is projected to produce sales exceeding billions in the very near future. The growth of E-Commerce as it has been labeled is very much like the growth of the Internet itself and the real gold rush is still ahead of us all. I know from talking to new people that they sometimes feel like they've missed the boat somehow by not getting on the Net sooner. Those of us who have been around awhile can only laugh, as this phenomena is just warming up. I can almost be jealous. When I started, articles like this and publications like the Gazette just were not there. I think that someone signing on today could catch up to the level of expertise that has taken me three years to acquire in a year or less if they took advantage of all the resources now available to teach the skills needed to succeed in business on the Internet. So, if you are new to the game, consider yourself lucky, you are in the position to learn from my mistakes and successes and those of others like me who have carved out a level of exper tise in almost any area or subject you might be interested in.

For the purposes of this article, I will assume you have a product or service you wish to sell to the growing numbers that are flocking to the Net every day. I am going to touch on some of the basics as I see them and perhaps elaborate in a future article. I will not go into all the marketing angles that affect attracting people to your site, we have covered this subject in other articles and JimWorld is a gold mine of this type of information just a mouse click away.

OK, you have a product or service for sale, and you have a Web site where you go out of your way to provide some great content that is related to your area of expertise. Yes, become an expert on your product or service, this is essential, you want to be known as the guy or gal with the answers and of course the free information and resources at your Web site. This is a real factor in getting the traffic and the only marketing advice this time around.

There are a couple of things I feel are essential to closing sales on your site. The first is that you need to have a credit card merchant account. I don't care what anyone says, I increased my sales by 500% the very first month I switched from accepting checks only. This includes Virtual payment systems and bank draft "check by fax" and all those other systems, I tried everything that was out there in 1996 and the Merchant account made the real difference. My sales took off and I crossed the line when I could accept credit cards.

The second item that I consider an absolute essential is an easy to find form to place orders on your site. I do not mean:

Name____________________________

email address___________________

credit card number______________

Print this page and fax it to... this does not cut it! You need to have a standard fill in the boxes, hit the submit button form that is not too complex at a minimum. If your form is not easy to find, and easy to fill in, you lose the spontaneous sale. When I decide to buy something on the net, I want to pay for it by credit card and get it yesterday, and so do many potential customers who you will lose if they cannot "do it now and get it quick". You may want to consider a shopping cart program (they are free if you know where to look) if you have multiple items for sale.

I know that in the past there was reluctance by many to use a credit card on the net. This is changing thanks to people like Master Card running ads on TV proclaiming their card as "the way to buy on the Internet".

Next, you really have to have at least the credit card information section of your form on a secure server. Even though statistics will show that a plain old form that sends the information by email is safer than handing your card to a waiter after buying dinner, it is now expected, and is a good business practice, to have a secure page for credit card transactions. It increases sales, it did for me.

Make sure your customer can find a link to the order form! I don't know how many times I have gone to a site, decided to order then had to hunt for the darn order form link! Don't lose them when they are ready to buy! I made this mistake early in the game at my site. Learn from my mistakes!

Make sure that your page has your name, address, phone number and email address in plain sight somewhere. You have nothing to hide if you want to be perceived as honest and reliable. Whatever you are selling, have confidence in your product and give a guarantee of satisfaction. People want to know that you will give them back their money if it comes down to it. One of my favorite guarantees is on Planet Ocean. They have the famous "my dog ate it" guarantee that says that you can ask for a return for any reason if not satisfied, within 90 days. This conveys confidence in the product and gives the customer the "what have I got to lose" attitude.

So what are you waiting for, get out there and get your piece of the billions that will be flowing in from all corners of the globe.

Hayden Mitchell
The Web Hitman
http://www.webthemes.com

REVIEW: NETSCAPE GUIDE TO INTERNET RESEARCH

Official Netscape Guide To Internet Research
Written By: Tara Calishain and Jill Alane Nystrom
Published By: The Coriolis Group, Inc.
https://www.coriolis.com
391 pages, $29.95 paperback

One of the questions that most frequently comes into my email box is from other newsletter publishers asking where I find all of the information that goes into the Gazette. Most assume that there is a research staff feeding the information to me so that I can write about it.

If only that were true!

Instead, I have become very efficient at mining for information on the Web. And very good at finding ways to get companies to feed information directly into my email box. These techniques are my 'secret weapon' in the war against info -overload.

Now, along comes a book by a Gazeteer that gives away all of my 'secrets' for only $30. And just in time, too.

The Official Netscape Guide To Internet Research is a gold mine of information for anyone - anyone - who needs to develop content for their web sites or newsletters.

Newsgroups, Telnet, discussion lists, forums, press releases, search agents, search engines, directories, web sites, local information, international resources, government information, news sources........ well, you get the idea. All you need to know about finding information without sinking under the weight of it.

But finding information is just part of the story. So maybe they haven't given away all of my secrets!

Not so. They then go on to tell, in great detail, what to do with the information, how to protect your own privacy while doing research, what is fair use of other's materials, how to avoid paying for the information when it is readily available for free.

Then they wander into the world of promotion. What to do with all of this wonderful information that you have assembled. Do you put it in a web site? In a newsletter? On someone else's web site or newsletter?

This section is where the authors show their truly world-class understanding of the publishing side by displaying in their book a picture of the home page of JimWorld. What better way to show that they really understand.

My only question left unanswered by this book is: Where was it three years ago when I was trying to figure all this stuff out? You could have saved me a thousand long nights.

You can order the book through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1566048451/o/002-8195490-0036663 for $23.99 making it probably your best investment this year.

SOMETHING TO DO WITH A PRESS RELEASE

You (or your PR firm if you're fortunate enough to have one) writes up your latest breakthrough, set-the-world-on-fire, everybody's-gonna-want-this announcement. It tells the world, through the Oh-so-cooperative media, just how great your latest 'thing' is.

Out it goes on the wire to thousands and hundreds of thousands of news-hungry reports that are thrilled to now have some Internet news to write about, 'cause there are so few announcements about the Internet lately. Be sure to have lots of people come to work tomorrow a few hours early to handle the flood of calls that will be piling up from reporters.

You should also make sure they bring a Monopoly game to work with them so they'll have something to do. They won't be answering that many phone calls. The average reporter gets several hundred Earth-shaking news announcements every day. If your news is actually news, and not just a plea for some ink so you can get some sales or traffic, you will get your appropriate share of ink.

Want some more? Want to reach out directly to the readers with a message that they will respond to? There is a way, and it will get you lots of ink even if your 'news' isn't really news. Even if it's not even New.

For more information about this technique, send $50.00 to Jim Wil...... Oops, forgot where I was for a moment.

OK. Here's the trick.

Write it up as a story. But not a story about your product or service. But rather about the need filled by your product or service. Let's say you have a new program that generates Javascript code with just a few clicks by the user.

If you write a story about how cool your new program is and why everyone should want to buy it, and then you send it to me as an article for the Gazette, guess what you'll get back from me. Advertising rates for the Gazette. If you want me to run an ad for your product, the rate card is where you start.

If you want me to run it as an article, it had better have some good information for the readers of the Gazette. The fact that you have a program for sale is not 'good information.' It is an ad.

So, step back from your product and try to think of something to write about that is information.

If it were my program that I was wanting to get attention for, I would probably write an article about how many really functional things can be accomplished on a web site by using Javascript. I would focus on the 'functional' things, not on the goofy stuff like pop-up insult windows and time of day displays in 43 different colors.

Write about the things that serious people would want on their web sites. Like shopping carts, form data verification, improved navigation. Things like that.

Then I would write about the compatibility issues between Explorer and Navigator. What can be counted on to work on both. And if something doesn't work on both, I would talk about a work-around that solves the problem.

Then I would talk about the difficulty in learning Javascript when there are hundreds of things for a webmaster to learn and only 24 hours in a day. If only there were an easy way for a webmaster to gain access to these powerful features for her or his web site, wouldn't life be wonderful?

Then mention your tool and how easy it is to use. Let them know why it is useful without sounding like a walking billboard. This pitch should not exceed one paragraph. And try to avoid sounding like the poster child for the Bad Ad Copywriter's Association. Try to make it sound like information. The worst thing you can do is put all of this effort into creating a valuable article and find that the editors have completely removed all mention of your product which was, after all, the whole purpose of writing the article in the first place.

Now send the article out to the media and see what happens. If you've done your job right, you'll find your article popping up in the darndest places. With a little luck you wind up in some really visible places.

Now, some realities.

When I mentioned that the publisher might actually make changes to your story, you thought to yourself "Not Mine! I'll put a requirement that it has to be run As-Is.' to which I respond by sending you the advertising rate card. If I can't do my job as an editor and must run something as submitted, I send a polite rejection letter and sometimes try to explain reality to the author. Usually to no avail.

If I can't tell how widely an article has been submitted, I will actually read a bit of it and if I'm interested I send a message asking where this has been submitted or already run. I explain that the Gazette only carries article appearing nowhere else and that we control the reprint requests for the articles. Seem a little restrictive? In return we offer a serious writer access to the largest and most responsive audience of Internet marketers and webmasters to be found anywhere.

I get a few articles every week that have a two to three paragraph biography and sales pitch for the author attached to the end of the article. Again, see advertising rate card. If you don't like the way a publication gives credit to its writers, don't submit. But don't try to tell an editor how to do his or her job. Like the old joke, 'I wouldn't want to be seen in a publication that would have me as a writer.' The only editors that will take these restrictions are the beginners that are desperate for material. In return they can offer you access to a few hundred subscribers, most of whom probably don't even read the publication cause it's always full of sales pitches.

My final point is the actual writing of the article. It takes time and it takes some talent or at least some experience. If it isn't well written you are just wasting your time.

Who should write it? How about the PR firm that wrote the press release? Probably not. Usually PR firms are staffed to write and distribute press releases which is an entirely different thing than writing articles. Their articles will turn out very stiff and crisp and totally lacking in warmth and communication. You want someone that can write an article that editors will want to run.

Take a look around the Internet at some of the copywriters that offer their services on the Internet. Look at their work. Talk to a client or two. Work out a long term relationship and have them write a steady stream of articles to support your products or services. After a few articles, if they aren't getting any press for you, get another one. Someone will find an angle that makes your offerings interesting to editors.

PARTNERING FOR PROFIT

by Rick Beneteau

I've mostly been a solo flyer during the course of my business life. Bought a dry cleaning company when I was very young, started a song writing enterprise and eventually a music publishing company, ultimately selling the first business to establish a production company.

I've come to the conclusion however, that most of my best work and most successful projects came as a result of working with other talented people. Collaboration, or "Partnering" if you will.

A couple of examples: one of my most successful songs (charted worldwide) was written with a well-known songwriter from New York. The biggest grand-opening I ever had for a dry cleaning outlet was done in tandem with my late father. In both cases, the outcomes would have been drastically different had I not asked these "partners" to come on board with me. The song would never have been written and I'm quite sure that although the new store would have opened at the same time, the clothes would not have been piled up to the ceiling had my father's expertise been ignored. "Partnering" was totally responsible for those positive outcomes.

Most successful entrepreneurs subscribe to the "two heads are better than one theory." And it works with not only major projects, but in routine everyday tasks. The jobs that we would all love to think we can do better than anybody and because of that very fact, the same thinking that is most often difference between success and failure. Let me explain the concept in terms of Internet marketing.

Everyday we stumble on some marketer promoting a great product with weak materials - lame email subjects, even lamer letters (especially the hyper-too -intensive genre), unappealing web sites and run-of-the-mill classified ads. Most often, I don't look beyond an ineffective heading. Now all that guy needs is to "partner", be it a more marketing in-tune friend and a for-hire copywriter to experience what he is probably lacking most - sales!

If you've got even basic advertising "chops", partnering can be as simple as bouncing your marketing copy off your loved ones (NOT the ones who love you TOO much cause they ALWAYS love what you do?) and the sharpest consumer types you know. If they wouldn't look past your opening "hook", show them a bunch of other ads and have them tell you which ones grabbed them. Now compare those ads with those you know were written by pro marketers and you will notice similarities in approach and style. The exact qualities your ads are missing.

Point here is this: some of us, but not many, are capable of writing magnetic marketing material (but still it's a good idea to partner). It's a true craft and one you may never master. Deal with it! Either practice, practice, practice and perfect, or, stop wasting your time and resources and pay the piper. Go to someone who can do it for you - a professional copywriter, web designer or what have you.

One of my mentors, Lee Iacocca, did not dream, design, engineer, assemble, market, sell, repair and meet the junk man at the salvage yard when his Mustang ended it's life on the road. Lee did what Lee did best and dreamt of the car, got others to share in his vision, devised a plan and delegated the responsibilities to deliver his trend-setting automobile. He "partnered" with specialists in areas he didn't specialize in, thousands of them to achieve all that he is credited for. (Now I ask, why couldn't HE be President??)

You can have some of the hottest marketing materials on the Internet (or anywhere else for that matter) and increase your sales dramatically if you choose to utilize the concept of partnering. No one person can wear all the hats all the time.

Let go of what you don't do best so you can do what you do do best.

How's that for a closing line, partner?

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Rick is an internationally recorded and released songwriter and is a partner in the Internet Marketing firm NetProfit 2020 Inc. He also provides copy writing and complete advertising services including corporate music production via his TrademarkeT company at: http://www.thehallway.com/ECOMMTR.htm and he is a for-hire freelance writer. Visit The Hallway at http://www.thehallway.com
Rick will be appearing here in the future, so let's make him feel welcome.

GET LINKED

Aware Enterprises Business Exchange
http://aware-ness.com/busiex/

If your company provides a product or service, stop in here and submit a free listing. Seems to be just getting started so you won't get buried deep into the directory.

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The Hotel Guide
http://www.hotelguide.com/

If you have a travel-related site, you should set up a reciprocal link with The Hotel Guide. They list detailed information for 60,000 hotels around the world and are getting very good traffic counts (no, I won't tell you how many) and you could get excellent traffic from a link. Plus, there is a contest for all of their link partners. $1,500 first prize and several $300 second place prizes. And every entry gets a free hotel discount card. Now, that's a link exchange effort. If I had a travel site I'd link to them and try to win. Of course, I wouldn't put it in the Gazette and create all of the new links this will get them. Who needs the competition?

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The Web Site Directory
http://lost12.hypermart.net/

List your site for free under 40+ categories. Then browse around the site and check out all the free resources Chris has developed. Like free banner advertising.

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The Essential Music Directory
http://www.stjames.ml.org/~extreme/emd/

If you've got a music related site then you can get a free listing in this beautifully done directory. Even if your site doesn't qualify, stop by and just look around.

SNIPPETS

webresource.net
http://www.webresource.net/

Looking for a place that has a ton of information about the nuts and bolts of Webmastery skills? Try webresource.net. CGI, Perl, Java, Javascript, ActiveX, HTML, DHTML, VRML, graphics, forums, chat or just find a job. You can ask one of their experts to give you a hand figuring something out if you are stuck. Webresource has it all. And nicely laid out with an intuitive navigation system that makes it easy to drop in for a quick answer and get back to work. If you have an excellent resource for webmasters, submit it for a free listing.

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The Industry Standard
http://www.thestandard.net/articles/article_display/0,1449,1055,00.html

If you went to a movie this weekend you probably saw the first nationally released trailer for a web site. Imagine that. Web sites on the Big Screen. Times Mirror's Hollywood Online and Disney's Miramax Films teamed up to jointly promote the movie Web site in 14,000 theaters across the country. It will be running for several weeks. Assuming that it works, and there is no reason to think it won't, we could wind up sitting through 5 minutes of movie trailers followed by 5 minutes of web site trailers before the movie actually starts.

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Scambusters
http://www.scambusters.org/reports/walker.html

Stop first and see one of TJ Walker's Gazette articles reprinted (with permission BTW) and then browse around the remainder of this well done site. Their focus is on sniffing out the Scumbags and trying to shine the light on them. You should stop by on a regular basis just to make sure you aren't being 'had' without knowing it.

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Top Hosts
http://www.tophosts.com

Top Hosts gives Web users quick access to a searchable database of over 500 Web providers. The site is now enhanced by the following new services:

Test the speed of any provider in the Top Hosts database. Click a button, and Top Hosts performs an automated Traceroute-based performance test and delivers a rating.
Top 15 Hosts ranking system identifies the top-rated providers in both UNIX and Windows operating systems, based on speed and performance, as well as on the quality of their service and support. The Top 15 listing also includes a detailed performance "report card" on each provider.
One of the greatest problems with comparison-shopping on the Web is remembering the details and pricing of all the different offers you've examined. Top Hosts has added shopping cart functionality to make that process easier. As you identify promising providers in Top Hosts' database, you can add them to a personal "shopping cart." Using your shopping cart, you can compile a running list of providers and easily compare pricing and capabilities on one customized page.

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CoolMail
http://www.PlanetaryMotion.com

Now comes the next generation of the blending of Cyber Space with the 'Real World.'

CoolMail is a free service that lets you hear your email as it is read to you by the computer. From any phone including pay phones and cellular. You get a free email account plus you can fetch mail from any of your other accounts. You can even have it filtered to determine what kind of mail you want to listen to. You can access the service from a growing list of free local phone numbers or just call long distance for ten cents per minute.

When you want to respond to an incoming message, you speak and send one of four messages that you have stored as text files in the computer. Or reply by sending a .wav file with your voice response. Or, for two cents per word, use their speech-to-text translator and send back a text message of your reply.

You get lots of other free stuff like calendars, To-do lists, contact manager and more. All accessible by phone or computer.

This one I have to try. Just once I want to be sitting in a meeting, check my email via speaker phone and have everyone listen as my mail is read to me. Be just my luck that the first message would start with 'Mister Wilson, we would like to schedule an audit of your books for next Wednesday.'

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Hello Jim.

I don't know if you're gonna get enough time to read this, but I sure hope you do. Because it is a warm thank you from the cold Norway (You've probably heard the name before.... It's in Scandinavia, in case you haven't)

I have read the Gazette every week for almost 20 weeks now, and I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I run a personal site about my favourite band, Green Day on http://home.sol.no/~hoskarse and I am very good with HTML, and I have helped out a lot of people.

I decided to help more people, so I started a page called "The HTML Cave - a free resource for webmasters". <http://thehtmlcave.home.ml.org> It's not completely done yet - I have very little spare time.

But mostly thanks to YOU, Jim - the page about Green Day gets 30-40 hits a day - and The HTML Cave gets 150+ visits a day!

I think I'm going to register my site as a Helpware-site - if you do accept sites not yet finished. I hope you keep making the Gazette and that it stays Helpware. (I mean, no money involved).

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Jim,

Thank you thank you thank you!

I have really missed having access to your site with my trusty mac. My company does not charge for web site design, we charge for web services because I essentially don't think that anyone needs a WebSuite if they are not going to use it properly which means working it, changing it, promoting it etc. Since I have not been able to participate in the forums, the only avenue that I had was your newsletter. Don't get me wrong, I am one of the original subscribers and I read every word every time it comes in, but I missed the site. Thanks for staying with it and getting it fixed!

Sincerely,
Brooke, Hands On Web Strategies, Inc.
FREE webmaster resources http://www.HOWS.com

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Cyberonline
http://www.resoluteinc.com/cyberonline/600awards.htm

How about a list of 600+ site awards you can submit for? It's a pretty long list, so you better get started now.