JimWorld Gazette Issue #35 01/02/1998

Gazette - Issue #35 - January 2, 1998

-- Dis And Dat
-- Commercialization In Discussion Groups
-- More About Content Blocking
-- Standing Out In This Crowd - Part I
-- Newsletter & List Production Tips
-- Please Don't Visit My Web Site
-- Snippets
-- Virtual World Moves Faster Daily
-- Gazeteer Sites I Enjoyed This Week

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g35

DIS AND DAT

I have received some really excellent entries for the Helpware design contest. The only person that hasn't held up his end is -- ME. I have tried a couple of different cuts at the page copy to explain Helpware and haven't come up with the right answer. I'll have it in a few days, so in the mean time, just paste some 'whatever' copy into your design to show what the page will look like.

After seeing some of the entries, I am more excited about this little venture than I can describe.

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I'm sharing with you some success stories from your fellow Gazeteers to help start the year off in the right direction. When you read these stories, don't give in to the temptation to say 'That's great for them, but my problems are different and nothing will make me succeed like them.'

It just ain't so. These aren't people who just got lucky, or were in the right place at the right time and stepped in a steaming pile of success. They worked hard. Thought hard. Failed sometimes but didn't give up. They're just folks who have made it work for them.

Remember: the only secret to the Internet is hard work. And reading the Gazette, but that goes without saying. (Actually, I try not to let it 'go without saying' any more often than I have to.)
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"Newsletters are great. We started a newsletter 2 months ago. So far, it's going like gang busters. It's an opt-in newsletter only. We currently have 1,150 people signed up. This number is growing by 100 per week.

To get this going, we just submitted the info at a couple locations, linked up with a couple key sites and voila:

Title: 0utstanding Free Weekly Wine Ezine - Sponsored by Passport Wine Club http://www.topwine.com/ezine.htm "

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I got a very nice note from Dr. Ralph Wilson of Wilson Web http://www.wilsonweb.com letting me know that they are adding links and reviews of three more tutorials on JimWorld. It reminded me that I haven't told you recently how important it is for each of you to bookmark that site and spend some time there on a regular basis. If it is a quality piece of information about marketing on the web, it is probably in the Wilson Web database. Do yourself a favor and start the year off right with a visit.

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"Dear Jim:

Thank you for your web site and the excellent "Gazette" newsletter. I started a site called www.eyesite.com. Its a source for obtaining designer eyewear at very discounted prices. Using the techniques you discuss eyesite.com is listing "numero uno" under Yahoo for "discount eyewear". The site is also on the first pages of Alta Vista, InfoSeek and Lycos for the same category. I have seen geometric growth in the number of "hits" since opening the site about 10 weeks ago. Your techniques and your software work. Count me in as a believer."

Gary Edwards, M.D.
mailto:dr.edwards@eyesite.com

http://www.eyesite.com

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Dear Jim,

Please accept a heartfelt thank you for bringing us the Gazette. I have gleaned
so much useful info from it, please accept this small payment.

I use the helpware concept on my site, and would like to invite the Gazetteers to our client tool area. There they'll find lots of free resources to help them with their web site design and maintenance. Go to http://www.webmastersites.com and use the following info to log in.
User ID: Gazetteers
Password: members

Thanks again for the Gazette!

COMMERCIALIZATION IN DISCUSSION GROUPS

I responded to a post in the I-Advertising Discussion Group that was a complaint about seeing a commercial post in a discussion group. I got so much positive email about my post, I figured I'd best share it with you as well. If you are posting to groups or moderating one or publishing a newsletter, this is especially important for you. For everybody, this is a pretty good road map for finding good groups and lists to join.

Here is the original post that was the trigger for the complaint (BTW - go check out this product. It is a great way to distribute your web site in the non -virtual world.)

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From: Peter Hallett mailto:peter.hallett@marketscape.com
Subject: Media kits on CD Rom

In response to Erin's Blackwell post about delivering their Web site on diskette, I suggest that you look at http://www.webcd.com/

You will see how Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, HP, AMD and hundreds of other companies are distributing their sites using our software, which is called WebCD. This is not an easy thing to do if you have a large Web site with "active" content. For a primer on the technical issues, Check Here.

Happy New Year,
Peter Hallett
mailto:peter.hallett@marketscape.com
Director of Marketing, MarketScape

Winner Editor's Choice EMedia Professional

Winner Editor's Choice BYTE: http://www.byte.com/art/9701/sec11/art2.htm

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Here is my response to the complaint which I am not including because I don't want to put the writer on the spot. That is not the purpose of this article. His feelings are shared by lots of people on the web and I just want to present another way to look at the situation.

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Actually, I was sitting here writing a response to the thread about Corporate Site Sponsorship when the post from Adam came through. It caused me to scrap the other post and jump in here.

It is not my intent to start a thread on this issue, but I do want to respond and leave it to Adam to decide about posting it. Nor is it my intent to take issue with the source of the original complaint. I understand what that person was saying. It's just that I disagree and assume that the person would disagree with himself if he really thought about why he subscribes to a discussion list.

Because of the marketing power of moderating a discussion list or publishing an e-newsletter, I think this subject is actually on-target for this list. But I could be wrong.

I subscribe to 14 discussion lists, ALL of which are moderated and about 40 e -newsletters. I have a very specific reason for avoiding the unmoderated groups: I simply don't have time to wade through all of the trivial and off-subject posts to get to the meat that may, or may not, be there.

In a moderated list I continue to subscribe only when the moderator is doing his/her job (BTW women - not enough of you are moderating discussion lists) I look to the moderator to do the job of creating enough good content to keep their list on my list of communications that I am willing to squeeze into my schedule. I am not alone in having to make these types of choices. All of you on this list have more things to do than you can ever get around to. You make these same decisions about value every day.

The value I look for in each digest can be broken down as follows:

Narrow focus on one subject
Relevant content
Concise and information rich
Information at a level that services my needs. High or low depending on how much I already know about a subject.

The only way a digest can meet all of these objectives is to have a moderator that has a sharp knife to cut away the fat, and a sense of what I will find of value. This is a big task. The moderator has to instinctively know what is of value and what is at a level below or above the needs of the members. He or she must then cause that kind of communication to occur. Members must be nudged in the right direction, answers found outside the membership and the moderator must stay current in his/her knowledge of the subject. That is why most moderators can only do one high level list. That's a pretty big job all by itself. All without much or any pay. I would venture to guess that most moderators could make more by using the time they put into their lists for income earning projects, than they make from the creation and maintenance of the list.

The members of the I-ADV list range from people starting out in the Internet world to some of the most knowledgable people in the industry. To be frank about it, the ones that I want to hear most from is that latter category. They've been there - done that. They are the ones that come up with the big answers to the hard questions. The reality is that these people are making their living on the Net by offering services and products. To ask them to ignore the right answer to a question and post only an answer that doesn't refer to their product is counter-productive. The commercial product is often the best answer for my clients and newsletter subscribers.

I would much rather hear of a quality commercial product that I can use to distribute a web site on CD than to hear an extensive discussion of vaporware, shareware and hacks that would not work well enough to solve a real world need. I want tools that I can use for my business and my client's businesses that make me look like a hero. If there is a lesser technique that meets that objective, I know that the moderator will let it come through to the list.

Yet I don't want to lose the flow of information and questions from the less experienced members. There frequently present entirely new answers to tough questions. That is also of high value. Even the questions themselves are of value to challenge me to think of solutions or to challenge the answers I already hold dear.

I would venture to guess that had the CD product in question been submitted by a member of the list that had no affiliation with the company offering the product, everyone on the list would have responded with praise for the contributor for finding such a great answer for the thread. Wouldn't you rather hear from someone really knowledgable about the product even if they do have a financial interest in the company?

The features that make up a great discussion list also apply to well done newsletters. Content is king. If I can't deliver answers that help my subscribers reach their goals my list won't grow. I like growth. So I try to cram enough value into every issue to overwhelm my subscribers and keep their attention. Just like a good list moderator.

If you are subscribed to any lists or e-pubs that do not meet these goals, unsubscribe and find another that does. There are thousands of frogs to kiss so don't waste time hoping that it will eventually turn into a prince. (The Gazette being exempt from this suggestion, of course)

Keep in mind that the digest must fit the subject. It is just about impossible to have a meaningful discussion about Internet Advertising if you eliminate everything commercial. I think that particular list would be called I-Promotion. Or I-PR. Advertising involves money, and money is spent on commercial products and services.

I hope everyone had a safe New Year holiday. Remember, there are all kinds of scary people out there in the real world. And they are heavily armed with car keys.

STANDING OUT IN THIS CROWD - PART I

The GVU released preliminary data from its eighth survey, taken in October and November of 1997. This survey, commonly known as the GVU, is conducted every 6 months by the Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta Georgia.

Different surveys use different methodologies that must be evaluated before data can be properly applied, and this is especially true of the GVU.

This is a web-based survey. Survey respondents normally become aware of the survey by using the web. They must go to a survey web site and spend 10 to 30 minutes completing on-line survey forms. And they do it for free (though a few of the 10,000 respondents win $250). This survey is, by its very methodology, self-selecting. This is obvious when you look at the survey respondent's demographics.

A random telephone survey by Neilsen Media Research recently estimated that 24% of Internet users access the web on a daily basis. Eighty five percent of the GVU respondents use the Internet on a daily basis, 24% of GVU respondents access the Internet 10 or more times per day. These are the people who work on the Internet, as service providers and users. If you think of the GVU respondents as the Internet's citizens, or Netizens, then the GVU survey is like the Netizens going to the polls and voting on the state of the Internet.

This highly biased survey of a small Internet community is, from my Internet commerce perspective, very important for two reasons.

First of all, understanding this core group of Netizens can help us target all Internet users. These are the "early adopters", the people leading the way.

Secondly, this is the core Internet user group, the people who live and work on the web. If you had a brick and mortar shop on Main Street USA, then these would be the people who walk past your front door every day.

Again, my perspective is Internet commerce. You may have a specialty web site that doesn't apply to the average pedestrian (Netizen). You may have other means of generating traffic to your web site.

But these Netizens represent a larger group of about 16 million English-speaking people who are on the web everyday, "walking by our web sites". If we want to understand that crowd, and how to get (or lose) their attention, then the GVU is the place to look.

The US and the English language dominate the survey, with 84% of respondents from the US and 93% speaking English as a primary language. The other major geographic regions are Canada, with 4.6% of respondents and Europe with 6.7%. The GVU survey exaggerates the US domination of the Internet population, but not (so much) the domination of the English language. This accurately reflects it's origin - the US Defense Department founded and funded the Internet (then the ARPANet), and allowed access by NATO allies.

The "years experience on the Internet" statistics also reflect the origins of the Internet, and the GVU's bias. Almost 25% of respondents claim 4 or more years experience on the Internet. For the most part, commercial development on the Internet has occurred over the last four years, meaning these respondents come from universities and research institutes (then and / or now).

This slant in the GVU survey also shows up in occupations, where 20% of respondents have computer related occupations, and another 23% have educational occupations. Statistically valid surveys of the total Internet population put these percentages closer to 10% each.

We've covered what the GVU is, how they survey, and who they survey. In part 2, we'll look at some specific demographics and draw some conclusions. See you in two weeks.

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Paul Fuhrmeister is Vice President of CommerceStreet.com http://www.CommerceStreet.com

NEWSLETTER & LIST PRODUCTION TIPS

Thanks to Adam for sending this article along that all of you will find useful when you start grinding out those newsletters and discussion groups.

Written by: Brian M. Platz mailto:platz.brian@infoband.com

Jim, this is useful information for the layout and prep of your newsletter. If you find it useful, please credit the author and give his list a short plug to your readers. It saves me a lot of time.

Adam Boettiger http://eyescream.com/

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(snip)

The following method has allowed me to cut the time required to prepare The WebDevelopment Discussion Digest e-pub by probably 50% and at the same time has IMPROVED the format of the digest.

Some of the features this will give you include:

Split the document window so you can see and work with the Table of Contents and the body of the digest at the same time.
A bit easier and faster to format the digest to whatever column WIDTH= you desire.
Set up a clickable 'clip library' for your digest that contains all of the pieces that make your digest such as 'header', 'footer', 'current ad', 'TOC', etc.

This is how I do it:

First and foremost, download and install TextPad from http://www.textpad.com. TextPad is an incredible text editor that is the backbone of this process. Not only do I format the digests with TextPad, I do about 80% of my programming with it. HTML and otherwise. Once installed, follow the following processes:

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Set up TextPad Preferences

In the top menu bar, select Configure-Preferences
Click on the 'View' tab and check the 'Line Numbers' box. This will automatically turn on line numbering, allowing you to easily see how long your digest is and where lengthy lines are located.
Click the 'Document' tab and check the bottom box, 'Break at Column Position'. In the box to the right, set the column WIDTH= to whatever you like. I set mine to 65 characters. This is how 'wide' you want your digest.
You may also want to set up the tabs to automatically convert to spaces.
I do this, but it is certainly optional. To do so, click the 'Tabs' tab and
check the box 'Convert new tabs to spaces'.

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Make your own clip library:

Make sure the clip library is showing (View-Clip Library).
Right-Click on the list box at the top of the Clip Library frame that appears.
Select 'New book..
Type a file name when prompted.
Type a title when prompted.

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To save Macros:

I would open a new document and paste in a recent version of your digest for cutting and pasting.

Select the clip library you would like to make/modify the macros for. If the clip library frame is not showing select View-Clip Library from the menu.
Select the text in your digest that you want to make a macro for.
Control-C to copy the text to the clipboard
Right-click on the 'body' portion of the clip library frame.
Select 'Paste New Entry..' from the menu that appears
Give the macro a name when prompted
Repeat as necessary.

NOTE: All operations such as delete and rename can be done by selecting a macro in the clip library frame and right-clicking.

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To create your digests:

Create a new document (File-New or press the 'New Document' icon)
Make the clip library visible if not already (View-Clip Library)
Turn word wrapping ON, it is OFF by default. (Configure-Word Wrap)
Paste in your document structure. For my macros, I typically click Header, CURRENT AD, Footer. I put the ad in right away else I forget. :\
Split your document window. You can do this one of two ways: (a) Select Window-Split Window in the top menu bar and click on the document where you want the window split OR (b) Click, hold and slide the small bar just above the right scroll bar. The split window will give you two views of the same document. I position the top window at the table of contents and the bottom window at my working position in the digest. This way I can paste in new posts and enter the Subject and From lines in the TOC and BODY without scrolling. This is one of my big time-savers.
Cut and paste your posts! This is where the WIDTH= of your digest come into play and the most time-consuming portion. The time required to re-format posts is still significant, however it is significantly reduced with this process. So long as Word Wrapping is turned on (see #3 above) when you paste a post to the digest that exceeds your maximum character WIDTH= the line will wrap. The line numbers will not increment when a line wraps unless there is a return. This allows you to easily see what lines need reformatting. You need to go to the end of these lines and hit the delete key. This will bring the following line up and delete the line break. Continue doing this till your paragraphs are correct. You must then put hard line breaks after all of your lines. I do this by hitting the following combination of keys: End, Enter, Down Arrow. I repeat till I get a line break after every line.. you will see your line numbers appear where there is a hard line break.

NOTE: A possibly easier alternative is to select the option 'Save with hard breaks' located at Configure-Preferences-Document. With this option on, you can leave your lines 'wrapped' without manually entering a return after every line you reformat. When you save the file it will automagically put them in. The disadvantage is that you must save the file and re-open it for the line breaks to appear. I would use this option, but as I said above I use TextPad for most of my programming also. This option will insert line-breaks for every document saved I only desire this option when I do digests. If you only use TextPad for your digests, then this would not be a factor.

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That is everything I can think of. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mailto:platz.brian@infoband.com. If you have any suggestions or other methods that you use and feel are easier, PLEASE email me. You may also want to set up macros that will make archiving your digest to HTML much easier. TextPad has great Search/Replace features and you can convert special characters to HTML escape characters fairly easily. It also has a recordable macro feature that can help you further automate some things to the click of a button.

As with anything new, this may take a short time to get used to. I have my keystrokes down so that the process is nearly automatic and very quick.

If you would like to subscribe to the WebDevelopment Discussion Digest mailto:wd@gs2.revnet.com and in the BODY of the message put JOIN. I am also starting an advanced web development digest in Jan '98 which will be co-moderated with Jeffery Zeldman http://www.zeldman.com. If you wish to join, send an email to mailto:adv@infoband.com . For this I am building a web-based moderation program that will allow the list to be co-moderated easily (all the same data and emails are shared and digests automagically created via an easy web interface). Interested? :) http://infoband.com/

PLEASE DON'T VISIT MY WEB SITE!

Jim,

First off, let me ask you a favor. Do NOT use this message as a testimonial in the Gazette. There is no way I could fill the demands on my web site brought on by an onslaught of of Gazeteers. In fact, it is all I can do to keep up with the demand caused by using the tips and suggestions of JimWorld and the Gazette.

My name is Mark Haynes. I joined the Fuller Brush Company as an Independent Distributor several months ago. I was looking for a Fuller Brush catalog on the internet, and found several on the search engines. I contacted one of them, and ordered a catalog and information about how to start my own business. The next thing I knew, I was producing my own web site.

Naturally, it was slow going at first. But when I found JimWorld, and subscribed to the Gazette, and began using the tips and leads that you offer, my site began to get more hits than I could keep up with. As a mail order marketer, my postage expenses always precede any return in sales revenue. And I'm happy to report, that as a result of finding your service, and making use of your suggestions, my postage expense has sky-rocketed. Now, I'm beginning to see some nice commission checks.

But even more important than my own sales, is my goal to sign up new distributors and earn a profit from their sales. By creating a separate site for promotion of business opportunities, and using what I learned from the Gazette, I'm signing up new distributors at a faster pace than I thought possible.

Mind you, I'm not rich.... yet. And I may never be. But there is no doubt that within two or three years time, I will be able to quit punching a time clock at my regular job, and make a living off of my web site. I never imagined that someone like me, with only average computer skills, could hope to make a living off the web. But you showed me how to do it. And for that, I am most grateful.

I owe you. A pizza and pitcher of beer are most definitely in your future, courtesy of me.

I was serious about what I said at the outset of this message. Do NOT use this message in your newsletter to link to my site. I can't afford the postage it would cost me to mail catalogs to all the Gazeteers that would flock my way. Use the text of this message if you like, but leave off the signature that you taught me to write. I just can't handle any more traffic than I've already got!

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---Jim--- I wish I had his problem! Imagine - too much traffic. The next time someone tells you that 'nobody is making any money on the Net' send them a copy of this letter.

SNIPPETS

A Woman's Nia On The Net http://robynma.simplenet.com/nianet/index.htm is a comprehensive, cultural, computing and christian resource for the African-American Woman. This site is used by many as a primary resource for navigating the vast number of sites that serve the African-American Woman. As the Internet, most especially the World Wide Web begins to be used my more and more people, this site will be used more and more as a reference tool for those looking to take advantage of the vast resources that the Internet has to offer. A site such as this offers a focal point for locating information on interests unique to African-American Women. The site categorizes resource links making it easy to find exactly what the surfer may be searching for.

You can email your submission or information directly to Robyn at mailto:RobynMA@aol.com

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Women in Technology International http://www.witi.org/ founded in 1989, is a rapidly growing association of more than 6,000 members, 95% of whom are professional women working in technology organizations. A site rich in content for all manner of issues. The primary focus is on education for women. You can submit your site via email at mailto:suggestions@witi.org

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Let's face it. The web is not going to be dominated forever by the English language. It's not that there will be less English activity on the Web, but rather always more of everything else. The web is finding its way into every nook-and-cranny of the world and exchange of ideas is happening in every language of the world. If you expect to compete in this global community, you are going to have to learn to communicate in lots of different languages.

The first step is to find resources that will help you that don't require going back to high school and sitting through Beginning French all over again. I can't do that because I can't sleep in the middle of the day any more like I could in high school. But I drift again.

travlang has gathered together an amazing array of translation dictionaries at
http://dictionaries.travlang.com/ and they are all free for you to use. Bookmark this one. It's good.

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I've been seeing JimWorld show up in several of the newsgroups. They are all coming from Gazeteers and I appreciate the reference. Posts that reference some information on JimWorld or in the Gazette generate lots of traffic for several days and many subscriptions.

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ECS Internet Center http://ecsic.simplenet.com/ is bringing a new site directory online and has invited the Gazeteers to be the first to submit their sites. Check it out, submit your site, and let the webmaster know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions. In return, we'll all be the first ones to lock down those hard to dominate categories. Cool.

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Greetings all and a successful 1998 from Germany!

I want to point you to a new resource that might be of some value to you. LISde http://www.lisde.de is the German directory of mailing lists and newsletters. Yesterday they launched an English language version which is open to international lists and newsletters to get registered as well.

On their homepage you find a link to the English version.

Best regards

Klaus Arnhold http://www.sitebysite.de

site by site - The NetMarketers' and Freelancers' Network
The Recommender - A free service from site by site Take a look at http://www.sitebysite.de/recommender.shtml

---Jim-- Klaus, thanks for the Heads-Up on this. Great resource to find out about. BTW - nice sig file! ---

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BigNoseBird
http://www.bignosebird.com/ Weird name - great webmaster skills site.
From our friends down under. Good information and well presented.

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Elissa's Ultimate Award Page http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/9998/awards.html New award site. Elissa is offering several different awards, so get over there and apply before she gets too busy. Just went on line a couple of days ago.
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New award site located by Alan E. Hersh - Editor - The Hersh Web Site Observer
http://CyberJournalist.com/

The Alsirat Web-Book Award http://www.alsirat.com/webbook/index.html

Here's what they look for:
-- Sites which offer a good read. Fancy graphics, Java, lots of links, and other features are nice, but our main interest is in sites which are filled with thoughtful and interesting words.

Reliable information. The site should be well-researched and the text useful beyond the day which it was first uploaded.
Craft. The site should display the creator's love for the subject matter.
Character. We want sites which go beyond cliches and simple-minded reasoning.
Good taste. No hatred or pornography. We have broad minds, but....
The English language. We both need to be able to read the site information.

Submit early. They will get very busy very soon. It's the kind of award we need more of: Content!

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The Banner Exchange Networks Guide http://users.netconnect.com.au/~jboy/banner/ gives you a nicely presented rundown on a growing list of banner exchange operations. Good way to compare before joining. Nice link to JimWorld as well. As it should be!

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Personally folks, the first few times I saw it, it was cute. Now it is getting a bit boring. I speak, of course, of the growing fad of replacing 'Click Here' with 'Make It So'. Thank you for listening. It is just my opinion. But how many people do you suppose leave a web site that uses this trick, just because they have no idea what it means. Hard as it is to believe, I suppose there are people in the world who are not Trekkies.

THE VIRTUAL WORLD IS MOVING FASTER DAILY

First of all, please note that sucking up works on me! Great opening sentence.

Every day I see more evidence that the rest of the world is finding ways to reach out to establish market share. Travel has always been big on the web, but not always content rich when it came to destination information. Romania sounds like it is going to put that destination in web-prime-time.

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Dear Jim,

Congratulations to the Gazette! It is a great source of information for any webmaster.

We are developing a web site for tourists that want to come to Romania. Its name is "Romanian Travel Guide" and you can find it at http://www.rotravel.com

On the 26th - 27th of January 1998, we'll organize in Brasov - Romania a symposium. Its theme is "The Romanian Travel on the Internet" and there will be over 700 travel agencies and hotels from Romania, companies involved in Internet marketing and, of course, the Romanian Ministry of Tourism, represented by the Direction of Strategy and Reformation. It is the first Romanian symposium on this subject.

If anyone is interested in participating at this symposium, he/she should complete the online form for a free invitation. The form can be found at http://www.rotravel.com/site/symposium/

If you could publish this announcement in the next issue of your Gazette, we would be grateful.

Best regards,
Liviu Mihaileanu
ROMANIAN TRAVEL GUIDE
mailto:livium@rotravel.com
http://www.rotravel.com

GAZETEER SITES I ENJOYED THIS WEEK

These sites were harvested from my email inbox this week and thought you might enjoy them also.

Explore our beautiful caribbean island "Grenada" and plan you next dream vacation here ! http://www.grenadaexplorer.com

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I visited The Treasure Trove at http://commercial.visi.net/b&msales and got stuck there for way longer than I expected. There are some prices on merchandise there that made me drool on my keyboard. Be careful about going there until your credit cards heal from the holidays!

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TravelSpots is awarding 1,998 minutes of long distance calls in their New Year's Contest. You can call from your home, your office, a hotel, even your cellphone! What a great way to 'ring' in the New Year! Plus, everyone can receive a $10 calling card... free.

The contest ends this Monday, at midnight. To be eligible to win, all you have to do is sign up at TravelSpots http://www.travelspots.com - It's free.