JimWorld Gazette Issue #33 12/19/1997

Gazette - Issue #33 - December 19, 1997

-- Stuff
-- How To Start A Newsletter - Part II
-- Is The Tower Of Babel About To Fall?
-- Tips From The Hitman - Part XVIII
-- Snippets
-- How Many People Will See Your Site?
-- Where Do I Start?
-- Infoseek & Altavista Ban Free Hosts
-- It Just Won't Die

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g33

STUFF

It's a little overwhelming. Tucows has selected the new release of WebSuite v1.1 as the Tucows Spotlight product for the entire month. http://tucows.abac.com/tucows/spot/websuite_spot.html

The downloads are literally flying off the server! WebSuite has exceeded even our optimistic projections. It is being put into service hosting web sites all over the world. From a 200 page automotive site to school in house servers, it is popping up everywhere. With v1.1 comes a free copy of WebDesk, which allows you to control your entire Windows computer from your browser. And best of all, it's still only us$99.95! Guest book and Chat Rooms are still included. With the 15 day free trial, the downloaders are having a ball.

----------

To everyone at VirtualPROMOTE,

I look forward each week to reading the Gazette. During the day I'm a full time high school biology teacher, during the day I'm a part-time business woman, and during the day I'm slowly learning to build a website with the help of my high school webmaster and the gazette. Does that mean I've found more hours in the day? I love developing them all. I read the gazette during a 25 minute silent reading period in school once a week. Almost caught up with the most recent issue.

During this holiday season it truly is a wonderful time to give thanks and say thanks. Sooooo...thank you from the bottom of my warm heart for the enlightening and entertaining issues of the gazette and also for providing the comprehensive Virtualpromote web site. My resolutions for 1999 include following more of your suggestions in developing two dynamic new web sites for the public to view.

Linda S. Davis Entrepreneur/Educator
http://www.truwealth.com my quick and easy site
http://www.trustarr.com an up and coming production!!!

----------

I've gotten caught up on posting awards to our awards page. This week I posted 6 new awards that are all open to you for submission also. To submit to them, visit our awards page (sneaky, huh?) and click on the awards. http://www.jimworld.com/ourawards.html This brings us up to 67 awards for VirtualPROMOTE and the Gazette. Thanks to everyone who saw enough merit in these efforts to recognize our efforts with these awards.

----------

The typos in this week's Gazette are entirely the fault of Jim. Cathy, my intrepid proofreader and self-appointed critic-at-large (also filling in the Wife role in this comedy) is in Las Vegas trying out a new system. She will be mortified when she gets back to see what was mailed.

HOW TO START A NEWSLETTER -- PART II

This week we discuss the process of starting the newsletter. From the mail I received this week, I expect that many of you are expecting to read a recipe for baking the perfect newsletter. 3/4 cup of this, two freshly beaten thats and a dash of whatever. Bake for 33 minutes at 400 degrees and serve it. Wouldn't that be nice. Newsletter in a box. Just add water. (Hmmm. A new JimTool? Newsletter-In-A-Box? Microwave Newsletter? Low-fat Instant Newsletter?)

I wish I had such a magic elixir for you. I can't give you a Money Back Guarantee that everything I tell you will work for your audience. All I can do is tell you how I suckered you into subscribing to the Gazette and suggest a few things that hindsight (as opposed to hind-site, which is another story altogether) has allowed me to observe. The first 3,500 Gazette subscribers were acquired by grabbing people by the throat as they came through the VirtualPROMOTE site and forcing them to subscribe. The next 10,000 came much easier. Oddly enough, over 90% of those first 3,500 subscribers are still hanging in there with us. Maybe they just don't know how to unsubscribe without having me grab them by the throat again.

Naming Your Newsletter

You will notice that the Gazette is not called 'Jim's Promotion Newsletter' or 'My Update Email Notices' nor any of the other insipid names that permeate the Internet. The Gazette is the Gazette except on PointCast where it is the Amazing VirtualPROMOTE Gazette because A comes before V and the list is alphabetical. If people put half as much effort into naming their newsletters as they do into naming their kids or dogs, I wouldn't keep getting things in my email box that I have no idea what they are or why I am getting them.

Unless your name is a household name throughout the world, don't name it after yourself. 'Arnold's -- I said I'd Be Back Journal' would work. 'Andy's WebSite Update News' just doesn't grab me. Looks like spam. Smells like spam. Must be spam.

Unless your site name has a lot of public awareness, don't name it after your site. Think bigger. Think sizzle. Just don't think Gazette. It's taken.

A big part of making a newsletter work is learning to be a bit less humble. I seem to have adapted to this feature of webdom fairly well. I still need to learn to say what I really feel, but I'll get there. If you can't sell yourself, a newsletter will not help you. You need to step to the forefront and stand up and show some attitude. Think big and name your newsletter big. Something that people will recognize when it shows up in their email box.

Set Your Goals

Before you undertake something as all consuming as a newsletter, make certain that you understand what your goal is. This sounds a lot simpler than it is. There are several goals that I can think of. I'm sure that you can add a few more to this list.

To build an audience for your views. This is a common goal. Many people feel strongly, even passionately about the things that are important to them. It is only natural to want to share your passion with others. If this is your situation, you must further refine your goal. Do you want to build a community of like minded individuals who will enjoy the fellowship of belonging to a community that shares common views? Or do you want to tackle the opposition and convert them to your way of thinking? Both are valid goals, but the way to the goal is vastly different.
To build a forum for the promotion of yourself as a web personality? This is especially valuable for consultants, lecturers and such. To achieve this goal, you are going to have to develop a way of delivering good content that establishes you as an expert in your chosen field.
To build a community that will consume your products or services. This is the most common reason for starting the community building process. However, you will not succeed if your newsletter is nothing but a rehash of your product every week. You are going to have to attract community members that by their nature will be interested in buying your products or services. You are going to have to give information away that keeps them coming back until that magical day they show up with their checkbook. They will buy from you over your competitors because you have established a bond of trust with them. Don't betray that trust by pushing the products so hard they shy away from contact with you. Don't be a pushy salesman. Let them seek you out. Just keep putting yourself in front of them with good information. They'll want to buy from you to repay you for the help you have given to the community.
To build an event destination site. The purpose is to generate high levels of traffic for the purpose of delivering advertising impressions while the traffic navigates your site. This is a difficult task as there is so much competition for that same traffic. Your newsletter must entice them to click to your site so that they can be counted in the day's traffic totals. That will determine the format of your newsletter.
To support your sales of content to your paid subscribers. In this case you will want to have some level of information available Free to all visitors and the in-depth stuff behind a password wall. The purpose of the newsletter is to announce the new content that is available to be read. Normally the newsletter goes out to anyone that wants it. The unpaid subscribers will see what new articles they could access if they would just cough up a few bucks. Eventually they will find enough good information that they will feel compelled to subscribe to the paid service. This is the format that Danny took with SearchEngine Watch and it apparently worked out well. His company was bought out by MecklerMedia.

What Type Of Newsletter To Do?

There are several formats for newsletters to take and each achieves different results.

First there is the 'Look What's New. Click Here For The Full Story' This format involves posting the actual newsletter content to your web site in HTML format and sending out a newsletter that has a teaser for each new article you want them to visit. This format fits the needs of the editor who wants paid subscribers as well as the destination site that wants traffic for their advertising sales.

The teasers must offer enough content to keep the unpaid subscribers interested without giving away so much information that there is no need to pay for a subscription. Web-Vantage is an excellent example of this format. The teaser gives you the headline and enough info that you become at least aware of developments in the web world. For the paid subscriber it is a method of browsing through the articles looking for interesting items before going to the site. Here is a sample from the newsletter (unfortunately I didn't get permission to run this but I don't think they'll mind)

----------

SITESWEEPER SIMPLIFIES WEB MANAGEMENT
Software Review by BK DeLong, reviews editor
http://www.web-vantage.com/wv/971128v3.cfm
Remember all of those tedious little website errors that readers would constantly point out to you? Site Technologies' SiteSweeper 2.0 lets you know before they do. It's the ideal product for the webmaster to monitor web site integrity. A good portion of time spent on site maintenance is making sure everything is functional. With many large sites or sites that contain lots of links, it is difficult to make sure every link is operable. SiteSweeper will take care of all this and allow you more time to re-design or add to your site.

----------

When you click on that URL you will be asked to enter your password. If you are not a subscriber to the content on the site, but rather just a subscriber to the free newsletter, this is almost the end of the road for you. At least you are aware of a new product that could be tracked down by you with a little effort. So even for free you've gotten good value for your time. When you go to the site to try to see the article you will be given an opportunity to try the full service Free for 30 days.

I suggest each of you takes advantage of that offer. I get lots of good info from my subscription. While I may only visit the site for one or two articles each time, I at least get an overview of many things that are happening. http://www.web-vantage.com/

The other format is the Gazette format. Put it all in the newsletter and email it to all of the subscribers. This does not build immediate traffic to the web site, so it is not good for generating banner impressions. It is not good for a paid subscription service either. But it is the easiest way to get a lot of information to the entire subscriber community all at the same time. The goal is to communicate and build a community, so this format works well for me. The only complaints I get are from Greenpeace who accuses me of trying to wipe out the rain forests single handed. Guess you guys are printing this thing out and filing it away every week. Hey, trees grow back don't they?

This format lends itself well to advertising insertions. Long form newsletters are usually studied carefully, so anyone who is smart enough to advertise in one has the full attention of a large portion of the readers. If the content is educational in nature, like the Gazette, most people will print the issue out and file it for later reference, so the advertiser gets a long term return for his/her investment. This has proven itself repeatedly in the Gazette where advertisers write to rave about the response they get.

While these are the two main techniques in use today, there are many variations that meet the needs of the various editors who publish newsletter. If you know of a format that I missed (not just a variation on these themes) let me know. I'll pass it along.

Next week we'll continue working our way through the rest of the list below.

Where to get news.
How to get subscribers. First, concentrate on content. Subs will come.
How many subscribers do you need or want?
Where to list and promote your newsletter.
How to write it.
How to prep it for mailing.
How to mail it.
How to get advertisers.
Do you need Push?

IS THE TOWER OF BABEL ABOUT TO FALL?

AltaVista has taken a step towards a barrier free web that could make life easier for every webmaster. Real time translation of web content. Digital Equipment Corporation today announced it has broken the Internet language barrier, with the first European language translation service for Web content. For the first time, non-English speaking Web surfers can translate information on the predominantly English speaking Web in real time. The new free service, provided on Digital's AltaVista Search service, also gives English-only Web surfers the ability to understand information in five of the world's most popular languages.

The service currently handles the following translations:
-- Spanish to English, English to Spanish
-- French to English, English to French
-- German to English, English to German
-- Portuguese to English, English to Portuguese
-- Italian to English, English to Italian

Now, I doubt if the quality of the translations are going to win any literary awards. That is not the important thing here. The important thing is that now there will be no parts of the web that are 'hidden' from us. I'm positive that there is an amazing amount of information that I have never even suspected, and now I have access to it. I may have to figure out some of the content that is lost in the translation process. That's better than not being able to read it at all. And the service will get better. That is the way of technology. Henry Ford didn't start by building a Formula One race car. But eventually, one got built.

I am very curious to see how well VirtualPROMOTE stands up under this technology. If a few of you bi-lingual Gazeteers could stop in and try it out, I would appreciate knowing if the content, humor and attitude make the transition.

We might as well all get geared up for a totally integrated, world-wide web world. It's coming and I for one couldn't be more excited.

Press Release:
http://altavista.digital.com/av/content/pr120997.htm
Try It: http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/

TIPS FROM THE HITMAN - PART XVIII

This week I am going to take a little detour from the current series where I was finishing up on meta tags and talk about the newest search engine on the scene. With all the talk about Northern Light Search, Jim asked me to give our readers a more in depth look at this newcomer to maybe see what all the talk is about and list some of the specific details on the way Northern Light operates.

This was quite a job on short notice, I wrote to Northern Light to try to get some specific answers on several topics but have not heard back from them. Never the less, I have managed to acquire a decent amount of information. Please keep in mind that the information I am presenting is based on sources other that Northern Light themselves and some personal observations. This being the case, please realize that I may not be 100% accurate on the details but have done the best I can under the circumstances. I will make corrections to the article at a future date if and when I find I've reported any pertinent data incorrectly. That said, on with the show.

Northern Light Search is a hot newcomer to what I would consider a very tough niche to break into. We all know the 6 most popular search engines and Yahoo are in a unique position that they get the lions share of advertising revenue on the net. We have not seen anyone attempt to break in to this club since Alta Vista did it successfully not all that long ago.

NL came on the scene on August 12th 1997. It has already gotten great press, and is making headway to become a major player in the search engine hierarchy. How have they managed to break into such a tough market so successfully? By doing what any business needs to do to make a mark on the Internet. They are doing the job better than the competition. I have become an avid fan of this engine in the short time I have been using it. Why? The results of a given search are more accurate that those of any other search engine, in my opinion. We will not even go into the paid services they offer that are unavailable anywhere else on the Internet.

What do I mean by better search results? The first page of results for any search keyword or phrase, just tends to be much more accurate than what we have come to expect when using a search engine. NL claims to be using proprietary technology to attain the level of accuracy that they seem to exhibit. Not only do you often get what you need on the first page of results, NL builds a list of folders for every search that appears in the left hand margin and breaks the search down into organized groups of data that may be by Subject, Type, Source and even Language. This feature is extremely helpful for more in-depth research.

So, what does NL do differently and what do they actually index from your page? What is important? What is ignored if anything? As you will discover in future articles in this series (or might already know) some search engines ignore some parts of an HTML page all together. Although they do not come right out and say it, I suspect NL is the first search engine to be using an artificial intelligence program or neural net to refine the search. I think this is the case because despite the fact that NL does not have any of the clear penalty structures for trying to attain high positions. They still seem to successfully screen out pages that are loading title, or meta tags with words that do not pertain to the page content from making top positions. This is the problem that the other search engines seem to be battling unsuccessfully. But this is speculation on my part and I have been unable to verify it other than from observed results.

NL claims that unlike other search engines they index every word on a page. Despite this claim, they do not use the meta description in the listing. Northern Light says that they make note of meta tags, but don't use them for descriptions or for relevancy of the page. Meta keyword tags also do not seem to have a great affect on the listings. They do use the title tag in the listing. I was unable to get enough data to determine if image tags or comments are indexed, but the overall impression of results tends to support the claim that the entire page is indexed. Enough of what I did not pin down, here are some of the things that I have been able to put together.

Titles are used in the listing.
All text appears to be indexed including invisible text (text same color as the background)
Meta tags supported but not essential to good listing.
Searches are case sensitive.
Plurals job=jobs, no.
Word stemming Texas=Texan, no.
Supports meta robot tags.
There does not appear to be a limit on the number of pages you can submit.
Follows links and indexes additional pages, yes. Active Spidering, yes, I had pages listed before I knew they even existed, some pages indexed several pages deep.
Claims 50 million pages indexed.
No noticeable penalty structure in place for repeating keywords etc. including in the meta tags.
The time for a listing to show up was about 2 weeks but it appears to be growing longer as the site becomes popular.
Re indexing monthly, (again appears to be growing longer with time)

I was unable to determine if there is specific support for frames pages.

To sum it all up, Northern Light Search seems to have found the that the other search engines have been struggling for. They are producing the most accurate listing for a search, and manage to do this without a set of penalties that serve only to hurt well structured pages as is painfully clear these days on Alta Vista. I sincerely hope that whatever they are doing to control those who love to play the bait and switch game with titles and keywords to capture listings that are invalid will continue to work without the need for the structured penalty method being used by all the other search engines. It is refreshing to have a search engine that actually works well without inflexible rules.

If you readers like this type of breakdown on individual search engines, let me know and I will work in an article for each of them one at a time.

Hayden Mitchell mailto:hayden@webthemes.com
Web Themes http://www.webthemes.com

SNIPPETS

Going through my email, I discovered a gem. Thought I'd share it with you.

"Hello,
I've been a reader for a while now. I pick through the gazette every time I see a new one. There's a reason I read it, because you inspire, you teach, and you share. And seemingly do it for free (at least I haven't paid a dime, and I feel like I should).

The particular piece that urged me to write follows. In the last part of it you perfectly explain the key elements it takes to make it on the Web. You tell people that the Internet isn't about Pipe Dreams and money rolling in from the heavens. It's about work. Good old fashioned hard work. But rewarding if done right and with enough heart. Keep up the fine job, I look forward to the next Gazette."

The writer was referring to the article 2 weeks back where I explained the process I go through to build traffic and community for a web site. You remember. I said I probably thought search engines were less important than you do.

This note captured my attention (as so often happens when I get email that is so dead-on in its compliments) so I surfed over to the site listed in the very good sig at the end of the message.

Guess what I found? A moderate bandwidth site with a lot of eye-appeal. A newsletter. Free digital postcards. Virtual wedding photo albums. Handyman tips. Homemaker tips. Tutorial for writers. Web hosting. Software, quilts and other stuff for sale. And more that I didn't have time to look at this visit.

META tags in place (need to be beefed up a bit) and the copy is good. The site gives you a nice feeling and makes you feel welcome. Lots of personal little touches. Lots of free content. Free services. Easy to follow purchasing instructions. All in all, the creators of this site have either studied the Gazette very carefully, or they should be writing articles for it, cause they have made an excellent start.

Visit them and see if you don't feel comfortable while you are there. http://www.familycreations.com

----------
Jay Chuck Mailen mailto:webmaster@familycreations.com
Home of "The Family" http://www.familycreations.com
---Home Base for Special members of "The Family".
The Laughing Shaman brings you into their reaches,
To see the world as only he does.---

----------

Foundry for Intelligent Bookmarks
http://www.flash.net/~spilth/foundry.html run by Joy McManus is an area of her Contemplating the Vair site at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7919 Joy has developed a very informative area in the Foundry to help webmastes of personal pages learn to promote their sites. Her insights into the nature of the beast are excellent and well expressed. The whole site makes you want to curl up with your feet under you in the chair and stay a while. While you are there, roam throughout her entire site. Everywhere she takes you is comfortable and thought provoking. After you have visited, drop Joy a note of thanks and encouragement. That is the way 'Help' site operators get their motivation to keep checking the links, researching new stories and just generally pouring a lot of effort and love into their web homes.

Since we're talking about it already, let me digress even more. Not a day goes by that I don't get at least a handful of messages, ranging from a short 'Thank God I found VirtualPROMOTE.' to long, heartfelt explanations of how our efforts have helped the visitor to get a little closer to their dream. Most of these start with 'I don't want to bother you because I can imagine how busy you must be, but I just wanted to tell you what your efforts have meant to me....'

You are never imposing on a webmaster who has developed a site dedicated to helping people learn or grow. Your notes of thanks are the payoff to those people who come home from their day-job, take care of their family obligations, get the kids bedded down for the night, lie to the spouse with 'Just a half hour and I'll call it a night', and then go to work on their labor of love web site far into the night.

It only takes a minute or two to say something that means a lot. When someone's long, tiring efforts have helped you or entertained you, it is in your best interest to give that person a stroke of thanks. The next time you come back to their site, there will be even more there to experience.

I know that these comments are not falling on deaf ears. I get your emails. I know that most of you are reading this Gazette at 2 in the morning. After you've put some more effort into your site. Wishing the dog could just learn to walk himself. I know you are not shy about saying thanks to web publishers like myself.

But let me kick it up a notch or two. How about when you visit the Microsoft site and find just the answer you needed to solve the problem you were having with your scanner running under Windows. The people that work for Microsoft get paid to put that stuff together. But do you really think they don't like to hear that their efforts are worthwhile? Do you think they aren't sitting there at 2 in the morning trying to stay ahead of the work load? Do you think they'll be irritated to be 'bothered' with a pat on the back?

Sometimes when I find a big site that makes my life a little easier or a little more fun, I write a note to the president of the company and compliment his staff. Any idea how well received that is? Sometimes I get a message back from a web site worker at the company thanking me for getting him/her a pat on the back from the President of the company.

Just remember that it is never inappropriate to compliment someone's hard work. Try to set a goal for yourself to say Thanks in writing at least once a day. It is the web coin of the realm.

----------

Banner World http://www.fxmm.co.uk/banners/index.html will keep you busy for a long time. They have LOTS of sample banners and blank banners just waiting for your words. If you need a new banner, start here to get the pieces you'll need. Browse through the tutorials as well. You'll learn a lot about creating and running banner ads.

Visit the other areas of their site as well. Submit your site for their review. If yours is selected, you'll get lots of traffic.

Get graphics at their Clipart Warehouse. This site has a ton of stuff and you should bookmark it as a real part of your web toolkit. http://www.fxmm.co.uk

----------

If your site is about physics, you can submit it at PhysLink at http://www.physlink.com/. Even if your site isn't in the rarified atmosphere of academia, you should visit this site and look around. It was not what I expected. I had to make sure that I was at the right URL. What a nice surprise. A highly technical, focused site that doesn't look like it was designed by someone that was thinking about something else the whole time. This site sings. Makes you want to hang around and see what's up.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've tried to talk a technical person into developing their site with an eye towards design and excitement. The typical 'techie' answer is that 'My audience is not like the general public. They want their information in a straight forward, professional way. All that sizzle will make them doubt the value of the information.' Bo-ring. It does no good to point out that you can stop by any movie theater for the opening of a new Star Trek movie and see 2 hour lines of pocket-protector-wearers queued up to get in. Of course they don't want things exciting and interesting. They only watch PBS documentaries on TV, too. Yep. Right.

The web has taken off because it gives opportunity to so many to finally present their information with the style and caring they have always longed for. They love their subject matter and consider it exciting. It is what makes their world go 'round. They want to convey that feeling of excitement to the visitor.

With so much more information in the world than anyone can learn, if you want to educate, you'd better learn to sell it. Every web site is a sales site. Not just to sell products and services, but to sell information, knowledge and skills.

When I see a site like PhysLink it stops me in my tracks. If there is information here that the site developers place such high value on that they would put in the extreme effort of designing a state-of-the-art visually beautiful and professionally structured site, than I just have to look a bit deeper and see what is happening here. Maybe my college classes would have taught me more if the instructors and professors had cared as much about physics as the creators of PhysLink.

PhysLink is our newest Way Cool Hot Site. Congratulations. I hope you're still doing your thing when Nick starts studying physics. ----------

A visit to the Morgan Stanley site http://www.ms.com/ will reward you with some very good information about The Business Of The Web. This report includes updated information and graphic highlights from Morgan Stanley's Internet Report (December 1995), Internet Advertising Report (December 1996), Internet Retailing Report (May 1997), and Technology IPO Yearbook - Third Edition (Spring 1997). It is intended to be a reference piece that helps us all get our bearings in the dynamic and volatile markets related to the Internet. This is information that everyone should keep abreast of. It's not just for the more obsessive types. There's information here that can be put to good use for any type of web site. Personal or business. Big or small.

----------

BotSpot http://www.botspot.com/, the spot for all bots on the Net, announced two new columns that provide exclusive coverage of the most outstanding and cutting-edge developments in intelligent agent and bot technologies. Each week, the "Best of the Bots" column at http://www.botspot.com/best_of_the_bots/ takes an in-depth look at the "Bot of the Week" awardees, with insightful analyses and interesting demonstrations. The "Secret Agent Man" column, at http://www.botspot.com/pcai/ which also appears in PC AI Magazine, goes behind the scenes to give you a peek at the latest products, trends, and people in the world of intelligent agents.

Best of the Bots uses a real world example to clearly illustrate the function and operation of each award-winning bot. The column begins with a simple and concise description of the prizewinner, then takes you on a first-class tour of the bot in action, with an enlightening peek behind the curtain to see how the program actually pulls off its act. Finally, a thoughtful look at the future plans for the bot give you a glimpse at where this technology is headed and its likely implications.

As a webmaster, constantly more of your online efforts will grind up against bots. You either learn to manipulate them to do your bidding, or you spend a lot of time screaming in frustration. Once you grow accustomed to their eccentricities, bots can be a lot of fun to hang out with. Certainly better company than the people who sell email address extractor bots.

----------

As a result of the increase in the number of buyers on the Web and the average transaction size, the amount of commerce conducted over the Web is expected to grow dramatically from $2.6 billion last year to more than $220 billion during 2001.

IDC forecasts untrammeled growth in Internet and World Wide Web use around the world. This growth will be accompanied by an increase in the number of users that will buy and sell goods and services over the World Wide Web, which will drive commerce on the Internet over the $200 billion mark in 2001.

A few of their projections help to support this rosy future outlook:

The number of devices accessing the Web will grow from 32 million worldwide at the end of last year to more than 300 million by year end 2001.
The number of users associated with those devices will grow from 28 million at year end 1996 to 175 million at year end 2001. The ratio of devices to users changes through time as more Internet-enabling devices enter the home (extra PCs, video games, NetTVs, etc.) and business (NCs).
Growth of users and devices in non-U.S. regions will be even more dramatic than growth within the United States as the U.S. percentage of total Web users drops from 65 percent one year ago to 54 percent in December 2001.

Maybe at $220 billion a year in sales, we can finally hear the last techno-dinosaur intone the ever popular 'But nobody is making any money on the Internet.' Has a nice lyric, but it's hard to dance to. Don't think it will be a hit.

Check out the full report, and lots of other compelling information, at http://www.idcresearch.com/

----------

If you have been doing business with, or planning to do business with, AdBot, the advertising auction service, you'll probably want to know that they have declared bankruptcy. Seems several million dollars got diverted for purposes other than intended by the investors and everything is now confused. Read the whole story at http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/9214.html

----------

Britannica Internet Guide http://www.ebig.com is a new venture launched in October by the encyclopedia publisher. The focus of the site is to provide a high end search resource for people that don't want to search at a regular search engine and sift through zillions of dubious web pages. The goal of Britannica is to sift through the web and maintain a directory of good information rated for quality. Members will pay to have access to the directory.

You can expand any search to include results from AltaVista.

You can submit your site to have it reviewed at http://www.ebig.com/Feedback2.html

----------

Ezines http://www.DOMINIS.com/Zines/ is a well developed directory of electronic magazines (ezines) that allows visitors to vote on the quality of the ezines listed in the directory. The higher the ezine's score, the closer to the top of the list it appears in its category. Great concept, well implemented. If you are publishing an ezine, newsletter, whatever, go list it at Ezines. While you are the, visit http://www.dominis.com/cgi-bin/GoOut?id=2040&url=http://www.virt ualpromote.com/&cat=Internet-WWW&rating=5.00&frame=yes&tmpl=ratin g-template and vote for the Gazette. Helps us get a bit more traffic and subscriptions.

----------

The latest demographic survey conducted by Nielsen Media Research for trade group CommerceNet showed strong growth in the number of people in the United States and Canada who have made purchases on the Web. According to the survey, which was released at Internet World last week, almost 10 million people have bought something on the Web, a 50 percent increase over the last time the survey was conducted, in March. Read the whole story at http://www.webweek.com/current/news/19971215-nielsen.html

----------

SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) technology is poised to get a grip on the problems online merchants face when trying to accept payments over the web without getting ripped off. The surfing public is terrified of getting ripped off, but I got news for them. It's not the public that is being had. It is the credit card companies and the merchants. There is an excellent overview at http://www.mastercard.com/set/conclusion.html put together by MasterCard. Now if one of you loyal Gazeteers would only send me your Gold Card number I could get that 21 inch monitor I want for Christmas.

----------

Thanks to Jeremy Lockhorn of i-frontier for letting me know about a new banner ad they created for one of their clients, Thunder Lizard Productions. The banner is in fact an input form to gather statistics for a real-time survey. You will find the information generated to be interesting, but the real subject for Gazeteers is the growing trend of interactive banner advertising.

This particular example asks the question "How much do you spend to get a visitor to your web site?" The answers are tabulated real-time and displayed for the visitor. Of course, while you are at the results page, you might just want to get some information about the next upcoming conference about web advertising. That is, of course, the reason for the existence of the banner.

The trend to engage the viewer in a dialog prior to jumping them to your web site is a powerful way to attract motivated traffic. Instead of tricking them with gimmick banners, why not make a friend before moving them to the site?

A large part of the growth in the Gazette subscriber base has been the interactive banner that allows people to subscribe to the Gazette and return immediately to the site that hosted the banner.

Visit the demo of the i-frontier banner and start thinking of ways that interactive advertising can benefit your web efforts. http://www.i-frontier.com/tlp2/

----------

Time to head over to ABI Search http://www.adacon.com/abi/ and list your site in this directory that is just getting off the ground. They are doing a nice job of promotion, so getting listed should generate some traffic for you.

----------

If your site has information for webmasters and e-marketers, head over to Internet Marketing Indexed http://search.rhineco.com/ and get listed. This excellent site has a rapidly growing list of information sources for anyone doing business or promotion on the web. They also have excellent tastes in web sites. They gave VirtualPROMOTE a (!) rating with a very nice note.

If your site would benefit from more good information and advice on webdom, go use their directory to surf good knowledge sites. Just remember to come back home to VirtualPROMOTE when you're done.

HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL SEE YOUR WEB SITE

Are there 50, 60 or 70 million people on the Internet? That depends on how you define "on the Internet," when you count and how you count. But, for business people spending money on a web site, the real issue is how many people will actually see your web site.

We can determine, rather quickly and credibly, how many people are using the World Wide Web (the web) - your potential audience.

A recent report, compiled from various sources by a recognized Internet consultant http://www.nua.ie, made an "educated guess" that 74.5 million people are "on" the Internet, worldwide. Their estimate for the U.S is 40 to 51 million people. That's a huge range, statistically or otherwise. How can a credible estimate have such a range?

First, it's necessary to define "on the Internet". A recent FIND/SVP study http://etrg.findsvp.com estimated 40 to 45 million people in the U.S. "using" the Internet. Ten to 15 million of these "users" use e-mail only, leaving 30 to 35 million using the web. Only 25 million people used the web on a weekly basis. So, a single survey of "people using the Internet" could be interpreted as anywhere from 25 to 45 million.

Another consideration is who gets counted. Some surveys count everyone, regardless of age. Certain surveys (typically the Nielsen and Louis Harris type telephone polls) might only count people over 16 or 18 years of age. Counts and demographics can swing dramatically with changes in the age cut-off, because so many young people use the Internet.

Yet another consideration is defining "Internet access". A household with Internet access could be counted as everyone in the house, just the people who use it, or just the people over 16, or 18 years old. Likewise, an organization having 10,000 computers with Internet access could be counted as 10,000 Internet users, or more, or less.

Lastly, the worldwide Internet population grew by a million or more people per month during 1996 and '97, so six months can change a good count by 6 million.

Different counts, at different times use different definitions and methodologies. They require evaluations to be properly applied. Evaluating an exciting new contest on a web site advertised during the Super Bowl might make "people with immediate Internet access" most relevant. For a business web site to sell or advertise products and services, the relevant Internet "population" is normally people: (1) in your trade area (2) who might buy or recommend your product, and (3) actively use the web.

What is your relevant number? Here are some estimates based on sources that are generally recognized, quoted and considered "credible" in the Internet industry. (All sources for this article are listed below.)

Forty five to 50 million people in the U.S. have access to the Internet, with 30 to 35 million actively using the web. In the last 24 hours, about 15 million people in the U.S. used the Internet, around 10 to 12 million used the web.

Going international? Worldwide, an estimated 60 to 70 million English-speaking people have Internet access, with 40 to 45 million actively using the web. The U.S. dominates the Internet, with about 60% of total world users.

If your trade area is local, the local Internet population can be estimated based on population counts and demographics. Estimated Internet users for the Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas and DFW trades are available on our web site at http://www.CommerceStreet.com.

Paul Fuhrmeister is Vice President of CommerceStreet.com http://www.CommerceStreet.com an Arlington Texas based Internet Presence Provider specializing in Internet Commerce.

Sources: Georgia Institute of Technology at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys Nua Ltd. at http://www.nua.ie FIND/SVP at http://etrg.findsvp.com IntelliQuest Information Group at http://www.intelliquest.com Nielsen Media Research at http://www.nielsenmedia.com Dell Computer Corporation at http://www.dell.com U.S. Census Bureau at http://www.bls.census.gov ----------

I want to welcome Paul as a new 'steady' contributor to the Gazette. His focus will be on web commerce and I look forward to reading what he digs up for us to help us all stay ahead of the curve.

Paul, don't let this listing of sources become a habit. Next they'll be wanting me to remember where I steal all of my stuff.

When you visit Paul's site http://www.CommerceStreet.com, be sure to sign up for their new newsletter. Just getting it off the ground, but like all good Gazeteers, ithey are working hard and smart to make it a must-read.

I know of at least 100 new newsletter launched by Gazeteers over the past 2 months. Way to go!

WHERE DO I START?

>I finally discovered your site and was very pleased with
>the information, services , advice, humor, etc. that I found
>there. I perused several pages and learned a lot that I
>needed to know. I put my business on line about 2 months ago
>and haven't sold anything! I thought I had tried everything,
>but I see now that I haven't really gotten started!
>
>Your site offered so much information and so many
>suggestions that I feel overwhelmed. "When will I ever have
>time to do this?" was my recurrent thought! And, at every
>turn, I kept wondering "How much is this going to cost me?"
>At this point, FREE is all I can afford!
>
>Well, I subscribed to the newsletter, but I have no idea
>what I should do first to better promote my site, (Is this
>what's called 'info-overload?) Where do look in your
>mountain of great information to find out what to do first,
>second, etc.?
>
>I'm glad I found you (I think!)!
>
>Doug

Doug, it's not a job. It's an adventure!

First things first - create a signature file for your email. I would have grabbed a quick look at your site, but without a sig file, I don't know where to go, in spite of the fact that daily, someone tells me where to go.
If you don't have your own domain name, get one immediately. Don't even bother registering with search engines until you get this done. Don't muddy the water and waste time without it.
Start by preparing your site for the search engines and getting it submitted. Then start building content to attract links from other sites. This is the best kind of traffic.
Declare your site a '404 Free Zone' Accept no broken links. Don't think of this rule when visiting VirtualPROMOTE. It's exempt.
Join a couple or more discussion groups centered around your industry. Contribute good information to the group. Establish yourself as a reliable source of good info. Be a good Net citizen. Don't get into personality attacks on others in the group. Harmony and information is what makes the web turn. The thing that will keep you humble is the certain knowledge that at some point you are going to make a really bonehead post to a group. It happens. When it happens to you, you will appreciate each and every person who was nice when pointing out the error of your ways.
Use the search engines to find all of the sites that link to your competitors. Visit each of them and ask them to consider a link to your site, as it also has something to offer.
Make sure your site has a way on every page for someone to send you a message. Not a link to another page where they can submit a form. Put an email link on every page!
Submit for awards, assuming your site is ready. If it's not ready for this level of scrutiny, why aren't you working on that instead of promotion? Even beautifully promoted garbage is still pungent.
Subscribe to several good newsletters about your industry. Learn something new every day. Write to the editors and ask them if there is a story they would like to have researched and written. Trust me, they will be thrilled. Write good stories, even if you have to have them ghost written.
Make sure that your site offers visitors a way to register to receive notices from you when something new is added to your site. This is the first step towards starting a newsletter.
If you don't already have them, get server log reports running for your site. Study them every day. Learn from them. They are your best friend (after me, of course).
Read ALL of the back issues of the Gazette. Print them out. Check things off as you get them done.
Read the Gazette every week and try to find something in each issue that will make your site grow.
Spend time every week watching what your competitors are doing on their sites. Stay ahead of them. Make it a firm rule to only steal from the best.
No matter how little you think you know, there are millions on the Net with less knowledge. Help them out. Not all of them, of course. Just one at a time. Do some research to make sure you are advising them correctly. You'll be surprised how much you learn while trying to help others. Pay your Gazette Helpware dues every week. It's the law. We will be doing random audits of subscriber's Helpware logs next year. Don't get caught owing big back Helpware payments and penalties.
Have fun.

INFOSEEK AND ALTAVISTA STILL BAN FREE HOSTS

While it is true that it is becoming next to impossible to get the search engines to index a Tripod, GeoCities or other 'free hosting' web site, there is an answer to this problem in the wind. By all appearances it will work 100%, but I want to test it thoroughly before pointing all of you at a solution that doesn't work all the time. I'll have it by next week, so it can hopefully be my Christmas present to all of you.

Same Jim Time. Same Jim Channel.

IT JUST WON'T DIE

This week there was a posting to the LinkExchange Digest #235 newsgroup that warned people to beware of the penalties to their site by InfoSeek if they repeated a keyword more than 3 times in their meta tag. Of course the posting went on to pass some other questionable advice and suggest that people visit http://www.searchpoint.com/ses.html and by the writer's Secrets Of The Search Engines Report for $19.95.

This falls into the category of not doing your homework before posting.

I posted the following and thought I'd throw it in here just in case any of you saw the original post and didn't see the response.

_ _ _ _ _

I wanted to comment on Ken Smith's posting yesterday. Ken mentioned that Infoseek penalizes web sites that use keywords more than 3 times in their meta tags and that AltaVista penalizes sites that use keywords that are the same color as the background.

The Infoseek item is not true and I get so much email every time it (continues) to appear in newsgroups and newsletters that I have taken the position of trying to post the accurate information before it has time to do any damage.

Infoseek was going through some redesign of their spam filters a couple of months ago and there was confusion within the customer service department of Infoseek. The customer service reps were in fact telling people that this was the new rule -- for 2 days only. Now the rumor won't die. The reality is that according to some very highly placed executives at Infoseek, they in fact have NO rule regarding the number of times keywords are repeated in the meta tags or titles of a page. They instead evaluate on a case-by-case basis and will penalize when they find abuse. Which leaves it to you to find where the abuse line is drawn in the sand and avoid crossing it. They do confirm that the generally accepted rule of 7 repeats should not get anyone into trouble with them. The other search engines also do not penalize for pages containing 7 repeats of keywords.

As to the invisible text issue (where you load up a bunch of keywords in the body of the page using a text color that is the same as the background color) it is not just AltaVista that tries to catch this method of spamming. They all try and when you are caught you can be banished completely from the search engine. Not a pretty sight.

At VirtualPROMOTE we try to teach ways to get good ratings without employing the many ways of spamming that have been developed for the 'Secrets of Search Engine' reports that are still being sold to new webmasters. But we also teach that you should take advantage of whatever the search engines consider fair play.
_ _ _ _ _

Just remember that the only 'secret' to the search engines is Hard Work and steady work. Don't buy these reports. They don't contain anything except rehashes of stuff they've found at places like VirtualPROMOTE and most of the information is just plain wrong or out of date.