JimWorld Gazette Issue #79 07/11/1999

JimWorld Gazette - Issue #79 - July 11, 1999

New On JimWorld
Add The Power Of Search To Your Site
Start Your Site With Page Design Templates
The Making Of An Ecommerce Site
Just For Newsletter Publishers
Break Up Those Long Pages
Are You Helping Your Advertisers?
How Much Does Your Free Web Space Cost?
Internet Growth Update
Get Linked
Snippets

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g79

NEW ON JimWorld

While browsing through some Gazeteer sites I just happened to stumble across a site that is making outstanding use of The Button Trick.

Remember The Button Trick? A simple way to cut whole minutes from your site's download time? If you are more interested in winning the hearts of your visitors than winning graphic design awards, you'll seriously consider The Button Trick. Take a look at how nice it can look at The Interprise Zone http://www.myfreeoffice.com/interprise/index.html

If you've used The Button Trick please stop in at the Webmaster Select Tools directory and submit your site to the Gazette Showroom category. That way others will be able to see how they can use the technique to improve their sites. As other techniques are explored in the Gazette, we will open a new subcategory for each and gather samples.

http://toolsforthe.net/

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I'll be telling you all about it in next week's Gazette (yes... next week) but run over to the new JimTools site. It is home to the improved Search Engine Submitter, the overhauled FFA Submitter and about two dozen other very helpful webmaster tools.

Somehow word leaked out and already the site is puffing along with a steady flow of repeat users, so I guess it will be a hit.

http://jimtools.com/

ADD THE POWER OF SEARCH TO YOUR SITE

As the major search engines and directories jockey for position and try to find better ways to grow their user base and increase traffic, there has been a constant, steady growth in search engines and directories that try to sift through the web in search of all of the good content for one subject.

Web users get frustrated going to a major search engine, entering something simple and getting back millions of results. And the first ones listed are almost never the ones with anything valuable to offer. Many times they don't even fit the search request.

We've talked extensively in the past about the advantages of maintaining a vertical directory for your user community. JimWorld contains several different "vertical directories" which simply means that it is a directory with information specifically developed to attract and assist an audience with some interest in common. For instance, most of the vertical directories on JimWorld offer information for webmasters. The idea is to create a place where you will visit frequently since the information is carefully selected and relevant to your needs.

However, there are other needs that can't be met by vertical directories. That is why the big directories and search engines haven't been run out of business by JimWorld.

Let's face it. When you go to one of the big portal sites and see lots of content and powerful search capabilities, it makes your mouth water. Wouldn't it be wonderful to offer that Big Look to your visitors? Yes, I see lots of heads nodding in agreement.

Got a few gazillion dollars to start a search engine? If so, my phone number....

Well, maybe a few of you don't have that much ink in your check writing pen, so I found and installed a couple of solutions for you.

Before reading any more, go visit http://jimworld.com/jwod/pod.cgi and see what this is all about. Then come back and let's talk about how and why you might want this on your site.

Welcome back. Impressed? Access to all of the major search engines just like Dogpile plus access to 700,000 reviewed web sites from the Open Directory.

Let's start with the Open Directory searches.

The Open Directory used to be called NewHoo before Netscape bought it. It is a directory of 700,000+ sites all reviewed by volunteers and it grows every day.

The directory data has always been available for use by anyone that wants to use it. It's legal and ethical and it's even in print.

While looking around for a way to access the Open Directory data to allow searching with VirtualPROMOTE's branding, I found something I didn't expect. A free program to make it all happen right on my site. Imagine that. Free. My favorite word.

The script is named Personal Open Directory (POD) and was written by John M. Grohol. You can download it for free at http://www.grohol.com/downloads/

The script was ridiculously easy to install and it ran correctly the first time. Another 20 minutes coding the header and footer files and the whole thing fit right into my site and I haven't had to touch it since.

Now my visitors have access to one of the Web's largest directories and it looks like I have been reviewing sites around the clock for about 200 years. Even I'm not that good.

Thanks John for a great script.

When you go to download the POD script, you'll notice a link to a download site where you can get inexpensive scripts to increase your Amazon affiliate commissions from 5% to 15%. That is another article, but if you want more $$ from Amazon, get the script. It really does work. It even integrates perfectly into the POD script to help you sell more books.

Now I had a great directory service for my visitors, but in my heart I still lusted after a Meta search engine. I've wanted one forever and invested untold hours scouring the Web for a script. I almost broke down at one point and wrote one. That's how desperate I was.

But life being what it is, finding the Open Directory script only added to my lust. I must have a Meta search engine. No choice. I have to bite the bullet and write it.

Before enduring that agony, I launch a massive attack on every script source in my bookmarks. Site after site offers no satisfaction.

Wait! A Meta search engine? Ready to go? It can't be. But it is. My quest might be over.

Off goes an email. Can I get it for JimWorld? Yes!

Within hours, the QuickSearch team had installed and tested the scripts and I was free to make my changes for graphics and format. That took several minutes and installation was done.

So now JimWorld has a first class Meta search engine and it is just as satisfying as I thought it would be. The engine returns results efficiently and without placing a lot of load on the JimWorld over-worked server.

You can have your very own Meta Search Engine for the too-low price of $74.99 or for only $124.95 you get the scripts installed and running on your server. Get yours before they figure out that it's worth a lot more.

QuickSearch http://www.quicomm2.com/QuickSearch/demo.htm

Given that my desire for toys is always running at a high pitch, I still want an easy-to-run spider driven search engine so I can tear around the Web gathering up sites of interest and burning bandwidth at the speed of light. I'm testing two spiders right now and things are looking good. Stay tuned.

START YOUR SITE WITH PAGE DESIGN TEMPLATES

Let's face it. We're not all created equal when it comes to visual design.

Well, maybe you are, but I can guarantee you that I'm not.

So, what are we "lesser beings" to do when we want to create a web site and don't have the budget to hire a professional designer? One of the things I do is browse through all of the free and low cost web site template sites.

These wonderful sites present you with complete page design sets. The page layout, all of the graphics needed, the HTML and Javascript for the page.... everything.

When you browse through these you will either find exactly what you wanted, or at least find one that is close enough that you can bend it to your will and turn it into a great looking site.

I set up a new subcategory under HTML Resources called Site Templates in the Webmaster Tools directory on VirtualPROMOTE and I am loading it with over 30 places to get free or low cost site templates. When you come across other sites offering templates, please submit them to the Webmaster Select Tools directory so that everyone can benefit from your "find."

http://toolsforthe/net

THE MAKING OF AN ECOMMERCE SITE

Stan has been a good friend of mine for many years. Recently we were having lunch (Yes. I do get out in public every now and then) and he told me about a new product he was working on. The product was a completely portable water filtration system that takes everything bad out of any water you throw at it. It's built into a normal looking sports water bottle and it really works.

Stan made his point by filling the bottle with tap water and several large scoops of dirt from the restaurant's used-to-be-grassy patch. He then squeezed crystal-clear water into my glass and coaxed me into drinking it. It tasted great. The people in the adjacent booths didn't seem to enjoy the muddy water, but I didn't know any of them so who cares?

Stan and his partner in this venture, Pat Boone (yes, that Pat Boone) were well on their way and had already built a web site for radio station operators to sign up to run the commercials. They could preview the spots on the site and even download the audio files ready to air.

Their next phase was ready to start. A retail product site with a good affiliate program.

You have to understand. I was sitting on several software packages I was dying to install on an ecommerce site where they would actually be put through their paces. And there sat Stan with a site that would put these systems through some serious paces. All I had to do was convince Stan and Pat to put their lives in my hands so I could play.

I won't bore you with the exact process of selling that story, since I may have need of it again. Let me just say that the site is fully operational and I had a marvelous time. Stan has just about stopped shaking every time I call him.

Today I want to tell you about a couple of the systems we used to make the site operational. Next issue I'll talk about the rest.

The Affiliate Program Software
http://www.theaffiliateprogram.com/cgi-bin/program/banner.cgi?440

The first thing to go in was the system to administer the affiliate program. Having heard nothing but good things about it, I had been in touch with the people at The Affiliate Program Software and wanted to test their system.

They were generous with both their time and their software. Their system comes installed on your server and integrated into the flow of your shopping system to track every visitor according to the affiliate that sent them, and keeps track of each affiliates sales and commissions.

Everything is included in the package at only $349 -- installation, two-tier support, affiliate member admin pages, limited sales reports, customized entry pages and more. The administration screens are well designed and easily understood. Affiliates can return as often as they want and see exactly where they stand.

The installation was painless and even after I caused something to stop working right (well, I had to try didn't I?) it took the support staff less than 30 minutes to make it right again. They didn't even holler at me.

The Affiliate Program Software site is so complete, I suggest you just go visit to get the full range of features. If you are considering the addition of an affiliate program to your site, do yourself a favor and include this software in your research.

Hyperseek
http://hyperseek.com/

The next thing to hit the site was a copy of Hyperseek. If you've been around JimWorld for very long, you've interacted many times with this excellent directory software. It drives the Helpware Directory, The500, the Webmaster Select Tools directory and several other areas of VP. I seem to be coming up with an endless number of ways to make my life easier with Hyperseek.

Even though I had extensive experience with Hyperseek, I wanted to integrate it into the traffic generation functions of an ecommerce site. Thus was born PureSeek. A vertical directory of web sites related to water and health.

Because of the email that Hyperseek sends to every webmaster who's site is listed in PureSeek, the directory is already generating a significant level of traffic and sales. Most of the webmasters who receive a notice that their site has been listed add links to the directory to help their visitors find information. That is just one of the powerful traffic generating features of maintaining a quality vertical directory.

Hyperseek has the most extensive administration system of any software I have worked with on the Web. Every possible need is anticipated and answered with an easy to use function. Link checking, opt-in email for visitors, dynamic allocation of categories and subcategories, user input of submissions... the list goes on to cover every function you can anticipate and dozens that you can't.

By the way, if you have a site that fits PureSeek's focus, do Stan a favor and submit it so he won't have to dig it out himself.

RealNetworks
http://www.real.com/

The final item for this week is the new G2 server from RealNetworks that streams the audio content of the Water39 site. The server is included in the Verio http://verio.com/ service where the site resides. Since Verio has totally automated the installation process, I can't really tell you how difficult it was to install. I had to push all of 2 buttons.

The new G2 technology is a dramatic step forward in sound quality and lower server load. It is reliable and seemingly bug free, both of which make it a hit in my book.

With the ease of installation of the software powering Water39.com, I doubt that I spent more than 12 hours getting all of the above running. In my book, that's a miracle.

We are now left with only the shopping cart system to discuss. To do this new product justice, I will save it for the next issue. It is idiot-proof (as evidenced by the fact that I was able to create a shopping system in less than an hour) and doesn't even require a cgi-bin. You'll love it.

Water39.com
http://www.water39.com/

Check out what 12 hours can create. It is far better than you expect. It's far better than I expected.

While you are there, order a bottle and absolutely sign up for the affiliate program. Stan intends to limit the number of affiliates to keep it rewarding for the affiliates. With the radio and print advertising starting to kick in, consumer recognition of the product should make generating sales much easier than with a Web-only promotion. Stan has promised to share that information with us as things go along. Should be pretty interesting.

Maybe if he gets a few affiliates from this article, he'll fall for my story again on his next site.

If your visitors drink water, they'll love this product.

JUST FOR NEWSLETTER PUBLISHERS

Next week we will be discussing this subject more completely, but right now, if you have a web site or newsletter that reaches webmasters and/or web site operators (especially e-commerce sites) there is a new program that you need to get in on right away.

I've been working closely with Jess O'Leary, previously of Link-O-Matic fame, while he developed his new web community. It's called Internet Marketing Challenge (IMC) and it offers members unique and useful information to help them build their online businesses. Jess and I even dreamed up a couple of features that have helped send IMC far beyond anything available to help web site operators make money from their sites.

I don't want to take the space this week to describe all of the powerful resources that members get, so let me just inform those with a webmaster community that you should sign up as an affiliate right now. The 2-tiered program means that not only do you earn money on your membership sales, but you also earn generous commissions forever on any new affiliates you recruit into the program. I know of one affiliate who earned $20,000 in his first month and he only advertised on his personal site. That many sales does speak well for the quality of the product.

Will everyone earn that much? Probably not. But if you wait to get in as an affiliate you will have missed sales that went to someone else.

I've followed the beta test of the IMC affiliate program and can testify that the affiliates who put forth the limited effort required to promote this program claim earnings beyond anything they have experienced in any other affiliate program.

It's free to become an affiliate so just give it a try. Run some banners. Run an announcement in a couple of your newsletter issues. I think you will be pleased with the results. Being able to offer your community a quality product while generating some money to help you fund your site is a good deal in my book.

Internet Marketing Challenge Affiliate Program
http://www.jimworld.com/imc/affiliates.html

If you just can't wait a week and want to enroll as a member, please use this link.
http://jimworld.com/imc/

Just don't stop coming to JimWorld.

A short thank you to Jess with more kudos to follow. Jess has been indispensable in bringing JimTools.com to its current operational status. His keyword research tool is a beauty and is causing my email box to fill up from visitors just wanting to tell me how cool that tool is. I agree. I'm using it to map out my GoTo.com keyword bids this week.

BREAK UP THOSE LONG PAGES

I am probably in the top 10 of all Webmasters in one category... pages that are waaaay too long.

So I bit the bullet and reworked one VirtualPROMOTE's most popular tutorials... All About Meta Tags. The old page just went on and on and on and on...

It also did not perform very well in the search engines. Yep. Too long.

So I broke the long page up into 3 much more manageable pages. Now it conforms to the Golden Rule of design: No page should be more than 4 clicks on the scroll bar.

Now it is far easier to read, has better navigation, performs infinitely better in the search engines, generates three times as many visits and is more easily maintained. Not bad for 15 minutes of work.

BTW: It now ranks well under several keywords that it never even appeared under in its long format.

The old page: http://jimworld.com/metatagold.html
The new page: http://jimworld.com/metatag.html

When you perform this type of surgery on your site, follow a couple of rigid rules:

ALWAYS give the first page of the series the exact same URL as the old, long page so that all existing links will continue working, both within your site and from outside.
Put navigation at the top of each page after the first page that allows your visitors to find the true beginning page. The search engines will be sending visitors to each of your new multi-page series and you want them to start at the beginning.
Submit all of the new pages, including the first, to the search engines so they will pick up your new information and hopefully raise your rankings on some keywords.

ARE YOU HELPING YOUR ADVERTISERS?

Are you really doing all you can to get your advertisers the results they need to justify the money they spend buying space on your site?

One technique is to give them as much time alone on the screen as possible. If the visitor has nothing to look at but a banner ad, they will look. And they will remember the message longer.

Take a look at the JimWorld home page. http://jimworld.com/

The page is built into one big table to control how it appears to every visitor regardless of their screen resolution, browser, computer brand, and hair color. But using this style of wrapping a page means that the page displays only after the full table is built.

Since I care what results GoTo.com gets from their banner, and I care that the visitors have something to look at while the table builds, I placed the banner outside of the table. It loads immediately and has several seconds of exclusive access to the visitor.

Seems like the right way to treat an advertiser.

HOW MUCH DOES YOUR FREE WEB SPACE COST?

If your site is hosted on GeoCities the price might now be a bit more than you want to pay.

True, you can still use their servers and bandwidth for zero dollars per month, but in return you give up all rights to the content you develop for your site.

Yes, I did say "all rights." That wasn't a typo.

Now that Yahoo! has finished swallowing GeoCities after the acquisition, they are now trying to swallow all of GeoCities' users as well.

In order to keep using their servers, you must agree to give Yahoo! the following:

"the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display such content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed."

Read that phrase again, slowly.

It means everything on their servers. Page code, design, content, graphics, programs and anything else you store on one of their servers.

What this means is that, while the content is still yours, it is also now theirs and they can do literally anything they want with that content. Sell it, use it elsewhere, give it away, change it... anything they want and you have no say so over what they do with your content. Nor do they owe you any compensation for using your content.

If you have already signed this agreement the damage is done. Maybe if you get the content off of the GeoCities servers quickly enough you can limit the damage.

Unless your page is nothing but a self-replicating MLM recruiting page, my advise to you is run, don't walk, and get your content onto another server where you still have the rights to the fruits of your labors. "We own everything" is just a bit more than I would be willing to pay for a few dollars per month worth of server space.

To be fair with Yahoo! webmasters can keep their sites on the GeoCities servers for as long as they want without signing the new agreement and giving away their ownership rights.... only they can't log onto their web site and make any changes. None. Ever.

Always looking for the Silver Lining, maybe this means that as tens of thousands of sites are taken off of the GeoCities servers, maybe the remaining sites will run faster. Could happen.

Yahoo!, shame on you. Where did you misplace your Web Spirit? Maybe you have hired a few too many lawyers.

On a slightly different note, don't plan on moving your site to XOOM or Tripod, as they require their users to grant them the same far-reaching rights for anything placed on their servers.

Let me see. What part of "FREE" didn't I understand?

INTERNET GROWTH UPDATE

The number of Internet users in North America has now reached 92 million, and the commercial growth of the Web is emerging as a dominant trend in the development of the Internet. According to an April 1999 study by CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research, the number of Internet users age 16 and older in the U.S. and Canada increased 16% in just nine months, yet the number of on-line consumers jumped 40% to 28 million during the same period.

The increase in the adoption of the Internet by consumers is, for the first time, being driven by women as the number of female consumers on-line jumped 80% in nine months, and passed the 10-million mark.

This trend in shopper growth is important to consider when designing a web site. If you have a site that appears to have an over-active testosterone supply, you might want to redesign it and bring it more into line with the current mix of buyers. With more women turning to the web for a shopping experience, you don't want to throw that market segment away.

Full story:
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/releases/1999/commercenet.html

Notice: All estimates of Internet population appearing in the Gazette are accurate within a margin of error of +/- 2500%.

GET LINKED

Visit The1000 at http://the1000.com/ for 15 new places to submit your site for a free listing.

SNIPPETS

Internet Self Regulation. Hah!

Does it surprise you to know that there are over 150 separate pieces of Internet regulation moving through the U.S. legislature?

Is it a shock to know that Congress is loudly proclaiming their 'hands off' treatment of the Net while grinding out every imaginable law that strays into their devious minds?

It shouldn't surprise you. It's same 'ol, same 'ol. And finally a cause that clearly transcends party boundaries. Democrats. Republicans. A race to see which party can kill the Net first.

Read the article. Then probably forget it since there is very little that mere citizens can do about lawmaking anymore. Well, maybe not nothing. There are elections coming. Hmmmm.

I guess we could pitch in $100 each and hire a good PR firm to take our message to the public. Seems to work for every other special interest group. Oops. But then the 'Net Special Interest Group' gets run through the Politically Correct Speak dictionary and comes out 'The Internet Lobby. Evil robber barons and shameless exploiters of the gullible American public' and we have to spend the money protecting ourselves from a press backlash and even more government regulation. Yep. Better to just forget it, I guess.

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Create Your Privacy Policy Page - FREE
http://www.truste.org/wizard/

Have you created your privacy policy and posted it to your web site? If not, shame on you. If we want to avoid government over-regulation, we must do our part.

The TRUSTe online privacy policy wizard will build your policy page in about 2 minutes and you can post it to your site and pat yourself on the back for having taken an important step toward being a responsible Net publisher. The only additional thing required of you is to actually abide by the policy you posted.

In the future I will be including a warning in Gazette articles about any site that doesn't have a privacy policy posted to their site. Something like:

"WARNING: THIS SITE APPEARS TO HAVE NO PRIVACY POLICY. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED TO THEM IS SUBJECT TO ABUSE, MISUSE AND REUSE."

Avoid this tiny bit of cyber humiliation. Post a link to your privacy policy right on your home page so I don't miss it.

Go.com announced that they will no longer accept advertising from sites that do not display a privacy policy. Microsoft and IBM have stopped placing their ads on sites without a privacy policy.

Sounds like a movement to me. Don't get left behind.

You've been warned.