JimWorld Gazette Issue #69 12/11/1998

JimWorld Gazette - Issue #69 - December 11, 1998

CONTENTS

At Last - CommunityBuilding.com
Search Engine Forums
The Top Seven Free E-zines
The Golden Rule For The CPM Model
How To Make Your Name "Stick"
Gazeteer Freebies - Part II
Get Linked
Snippets

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g69

AT LAST - COMMUNITYBUILDING.COM

After heading off in a few different directions, I finally stumbled across the right direction. Wish I could learn to find the right direction the first time, but I guess I'm too old now to learn that new trick.

CommunityBuilding.Com http://communitybuilding.com/ is ready to go. This area of JimWorld is home to all of the techniques and tools involved in building a user community based around your web site.

There are several tutorials already there, and we will continue to add new ones on a regular basis.

- Why Interactivity?
- All About Interactivity
- How To Publish A Newsletter
- Go For The Throat

There is a web directory there and it is already loaded with a lot of listings of community building resources. The first category I set up is about creating and promoting a newsletter. There are about 50 places listed that will list your ezine in their directory. You should submit to every one of them.

If you know of other resources that should be listed in the existing categories, please use the Add Resource link to submit them.

There is a complete classified ad system in place to let you place an ad or search them when you are looking for a consultant to help you develop or install interactive features on your site. I will add new categories based on your input.

I look forward to hearing from the many writers out there that would like to develop more tutorials concerning community building.

SEARCH ENGINE FORUMS.....

GoTo.com
http://www.goto.com/d/advertisers/p/generic2/?Promo=virtpromo.12

Now comes another new contributor to the JimWorld community - GoTo.com.

I can't imagine that any of you need to be told who GoTo.com is, because they are a significant player in the search engine game. They have a twist that I have written about before. Their system allows a site owner to 'buy' position in the results of a search. It is an open bidding process and you only pay for traffic that actually clicks and visits your site. So, if you buy the top spot in a keyword, you will only pay for actual visitors, and not for how many times you are placed in the top position.

GoTo.com has made a major commitment in time and effort to the JimWorld community. They are supplying a moderator to oversee the new GoTo.com forum in the JimWorld Search Engine Forums http://searchengineforums.com/ and the conversations are already lively and informative.

We will also be receiving an article each month from GoTo.com for publishing in the Gazette. The first article is scheduled to run in the next issue.

We are thrilled to have the first search engine step forward to interact publicly and directly with the thousands of webmasters active in our community. This is a unique opportunity for all of us to receive direct, unfiltered information right from 'the horse's mouth' so to speak.

Please take a moment to stop in at the GoTo.com Forum and let them know that we are glad to have them involved. Maybe success there will encourage other search engines to publicly involve themselves.

Welcome aboard, GoTo.com!

THE TOP SEVEN FREE E-ZINES
.... For Growing Your Business Online In 1999

--- Introduction from Jim ---
We've had extensive conversations about building community by banding together with other compatible web communities. Find other sites that serve the needs of the same people that your site serves. Find ways to help each other while helping yourself.

When I was first contacted about the following article, it struck me as not only a good idea for my own promotion efforts, but also a great way to illustrate the concept.

Each of the seven e-zines profiled in this article will be running the article in their e-zine. The only difference will be that each e-zine will have a different sequence of reviews to give each e-zine a chance to be listed first.

All of the e-zines serve the same broad community without much overlap in content and focus. Each is large and well established. And each is one that I would (and have) recommended to you.

There is a URL to a form where readers can subscribe to all seven e-zines by filling out just one form. All in all, a well planned and implemented campaign.

So, here's the article:

-----------

These days, e-zines are too easy to publish and distribute. With the introduction of egroups, onelist, and others, everyone and their hamster is getting into the game. The result is redundancy across topics (i.e. marketing) and a ton of fluff.

However, there are some genuine treats out there. They make up the 10% that I intend to continue reading religiously. I'd like to tell you about a few in the 10% that make the grade and why it's important that you subscribe...

Like many people who market their businesses on the internet, I find this medium to be one of the most competitive and challenging environments entrepreneurs face. It's also one of the most rewarding. I know you can relate.

So, in wishing you and your internet business a great new year, I'd like to point you in the direction of seven of my favorite email newsletters that will help you build your internet business faster, easier, and more securely through intelligent internet marketing...

You can subscribe to each of these ezines at once by visiting http://www.bizpromo.com/ezines.html or by following the instructions under each description:

"DEMC's E-Magazine"

DEMC focuses on small business and entrepreneurial issues. DEMC will keep you and your business on the cutting edge with insightful tips, reviews, and feature articles. With a circulation of over 300,000, it's one of the most popular ezines anywhere. You should definitely check this one out!

To subscribe: http://www.demc.com
Or email: Subscribe@demc2.com
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson's "Web Marketing Today"

It has always been my favorite and is sure to become one of yours, as well. Dr. Wilson archives this e-zine at his site. His writing style, candor, consistency, knowledge, and ability to explain things to the proverbial 4-year old is second to none. Check this one out right now.

To subscribe: http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt/
Or email: join-web-marketing@sparklist.com
Greg Schliesmann's "Breakthrough Internet Marketing Weekly"

Every issue of BMW is jam-packed with solid information. Greg doesn't write articles as much as complete guides. He will take you from point A to point B on a particular topic. Those who subscribe to this e-zine know exactly what I'm talking about. BMW is one of my favorites. (Thanks, Greg!)

To subscribe: http://www.jvmarketer.com
Or email: subscribe-internet-marketing@maillist.dundee.net
Kevin Needham's "Active Internet Marketing"

This is a very professional e-zine. Each week, it discusses marketing, service, e-commerce and a variety of other subjects. The articles are well-written, well-researched and always enlightening. They also have a gigantic subscriber base (over 50,000 subscribers served each week).

To subscribe: http://www.inetexchange.com/
Or email: subscribe-inet-mailer@send.memail.com
Jim Daniel's "The BizWeb Gazette"

I've always enjoyed Jim's e-zine. Despite its large subscriber base and Jim's reputation and fame, I get a real grassroots feeling from his writing. Jim has sold thousands of books, software copies, and other products over the internet - and you'll get a real "insiders" perspective from Jim.

To subscribe: http://www.bizweb2000.com/subscrib.htm
Or email: subscribe@jdd-publishing.com
Peter Kent's "Poor Richard's Website News"

Peter has been around the block several times. He has written dozens of books, many of which can be easily found at BookStar, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. His e-zine is always chock full of useful pieces of information. If he tries something new (software, marketing process, etc.), he will report back to his subscribers about his success/failure. His e-zine on "Website Creation" is archived at his site. Please check this one out.

To subscribe: http://www.poorrichard.com/
Or email: subscribe-prwebnews@lists.lyris.net
Jim Wilson's "JimWorld Gazette"

I've always enjoyed this e-zine for its content and dry wit. There's plenty of resources here. Another thing I like about Jim's e-zine is the familiarity that he promotes for those who write articles for it. To explain, Jim has a group of people that submit a continuing series of articles to his e-zine. One guy, "The Hitman," is on article #40-something in the series. As a result, you get to know, like and look forward to "The Hitman's" articles.

To subscribe: http://gazetteworld.com/subscribe.html

I hope you find these free email newsletters to be very valuable - I know I have. Again, you can subscribe to each of them at once by visiting http://www.bizpromo.com/ezines.html Enjoy!
__________

Article by Terry Dean http://www.bizpromo.com
For All the Secrets on Using Opt-In Email to Drive Traffic to Your Site, Generate Leads, and Make More Sales Online. Visit their site or email webmaster@bizpromo.com to subscribe to "Web Gold!"

THE GOLDEN RULE FOR THE CPM MODEL

After blasting CPM-based advertising in favor of revenue-sharing programs in last month's column, I expected a flurry of email criticizing my logic. Instead, I got nothing but smiley-faced support. To be honest, I was disappointed. You see, the truth is that there is nothing wrong with CPM as a payment metric -- the problem is with execution. It's only because most of us have done such a poor job of "advertising" that revenue-sharing has grown so attractive.

Frustrated by the lack of click-throughs, and tired of the branding argument, many advertisers have pointed an accusing finger at the CPM-based model, attempting to shift advertising risk to site owners through revenue-sharing arrangements. While I believe that revenue-sharing can contribute heartily to the bottom line of many online marketing strategies, I also feel strongly that CPM-based buys should continue to be a part of the advertising mix. The important thing is to do your homework to maximize your chances for success. So let's look at the Golden Rules for Good CPM Advertising...

Rule 1: Thoroughly research the site on which you plan to place your ads.

How many unique visitors does the site attract (per month)? This may seem like a pretty obvious point, but some people are still talking about hits. Feel free to ask if the traffic is self-reported or tracked by a third-party. In most cases, small sites will use server log tools such as Webtrends, which do an adequate job. Larger sites will have audited numbers. Note: Many in the industry believe that current measurement services are fundamentally flawed. Companies such as GreenCathedral are making great strides in this area by changing the paradigm from tracking the pages that users visit to tracking the users themselves.

How many ads will be displayed on the page at any one time? Again, this may seem obvious, but web site owners can and do sell that same unique visitor to multiple advertisers, hence lowering the chances that your banner will get the click. When was the last time you went to a site and saw only ONE ad? (I'm not just talking about banner ads, I'm talking all clickable advertising elements.)

Where will your banner ad or logo or link be placed? Will it be "above the fold" as they say, or somewhere toward the bottom? Research suggests that banners placed at the middle or bottom of a page actually get higher click-throughs, but it has to be viewed first in order to be clicked. Remember, impressions are meaningless if no one sees the ad.

How fast does the page load? We've all been to sites that are built for T3 connections. Even if the page is "served," your banner ad (except for the alt tag) may never appear. In addition to checking on the speed of the page (is it mostly text or a lot of large .jpegs?), you should also make sure that the hosting company the site uses is reliable.

Do the demographics of the site make sense? If you're selling subscriptions to the Financial Times, E*TRADE is probably a better bet than Music Boulevard. In addition, make sure you're on the right page(s). You might even experiment with some "run of site" ads, to figure out which sections will work best. Make sure that the site can report click-throughs by page.

Can you target your ads even further? For example, if you have a product that specifically caters to the educational market, tell the seller you only want your ads served to those with .edu domains (expect to pay more, natch.) In addition to IP addresses, sites that require visitors to log-in may have additional demographics available about their users such as age, sex, interests, and so forth. Rule 2: Create a great banner ad and checkout process.

How quickly does your banner ad load? It's a 28.8 world out there, with plenty of older browsers that may not work with JavaScript. Keeping it "light" may in fact be a requirement of the site you are doing your ad buy on.

How clickable is your banner? I spent several thousand dollars getting beautiful banners made. The only problem? Nobody clicked on them. The unfortunate truth is that those faux pull down menu/search engine entry boxes really do get higher click-throughs (although conversion rates are lower on the back end). Where's the sense in spending your time and money on placing banners if you don't have a winning ad? Note: Enliven Technologies has developed techniques/technology for creating next-generation interactive banners. Some of their clients are reporting 30 percent-plus click-throughs.

After a user clicks through, then what? Even if you have the greatest banner ad in the world, you're not going to convert a browser to a buyer with a poorly designed site. Make sure the product or service you're trying to sell jumps off the page and that the checkout process is clear, simple, and quick. Rule 3: Create a long-term advertising strategy.

What's the objective behind each of your ad buys? Are you trying to create branding/awareness or are you trying to get something sold right away? The answer will dictate how and where you buy.

What's the optimal frequency for any particular ad in any particular campaign? How will you know? Not easy questions for any firm to answer, never mind a new company operating in a new medium. One clue: Unless you're running a 60 second spot during the Super Bowl, your advertising message will need to be in front of your potential customer multiple times before he or she decides to buy. In fact, research shows that many visitors don't buy until the fourth or fifth time they've been to your site.

What measures have you put in place to track the effectiveness of your advertising campaign? Those who are the most successful with CPM advertising rotate out their poorest performing ads on a daily basis. Don't be afraid to test. A lot of stuff to consider? You bet. But if you're going to spend 20 percent or more of your anticipated revenues on advertising, it's imperative.

P.S. At a recent industry cocktail party, the marketing director of an online bookstore told me that he would never again do CPM advertising. More CPMs at lower rates for the rest of us, I thought. Now that's something to smile about!
__________

James L. Marciano is the CEO of Up-Set, a NYC new media company founded in August 1996. In addition to building online communities (or "intersets") such as TheSquare for Ivy League grads, and i-Site, for the blind, Up-Set has created Refer-it - the definitive guide to revenue-sharing programs on the Internet.

We're going to be hearing from James on a regular basis and I just wanted to take a moment and welcome him to the Gazette community.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR NAME "STICK"

Today, we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages that seem to be just one big blur of sameness. Limited by society's very short attention span, your marketing message has to be effective enough to communicate and create top-of-mind awareness within an extremely short amount of time. Thus, the name is the best tool -- and often the only one -- for accomplishing this efficiently.

When positioning a company or product, your name has to "stick" firmly in the mind of the marketplace and must do so almost instantly. While uniqueness is an important factor, there are other elements that will help you in the anchoring process; elements that cause a name to be easily remembered as well as chosen when a customer experiences a specific need or desire. So, here are some simple rules to follow when choosing a name for your company or product.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

To make a company or product name truly memorable, it should convey its main feature or benefit. If I give you the word "Die Hard," for instance, you will naturally think of a battery or motor that dies hard. If I tell you "Jiffy Lube," you will naturally assume that it's a garage offering oil changes in a jiffy. If I tell you "Band-Aid," you will think of an adhesive bandage that comes to your aid.

Names that do not convey at least the basic nature of a company will be easily forgotten. This includes acronyms, such as "MGF Holdings Limited" (that name makes you wonder "What in the heck are they holding?"). It also includes self-titled companies, such as "Michel Fortin International" (which was, believe it or not, the name of one of my original companies -- one that failed nonetheless).

Benefits are particularly effective because such a name would make a company or product appear as if it had some added value. As a result, being positioned above the competition in the minds of people, the name will thus be quickly remembered when people make their decision to buy.

RHYMES MOVE MINDS

Ever since the spread of books, memorization became less important and the process of rhyming, in the same way, has gradually fallen out of favor. We all remember in one way or another the nursery rhymes we were told as children. In today's memory management courses, for instance, they tell you to use rhymes and word association. Rhyming is pleasing to the ear and, beyond ease-of-recall, it also tends to adds credibility.

Dr. Matthew McGlone, a researcher at Lafayette College, has found that rhymes not only make a phrase more memorable, they also make it more believable. People surveyed prefer sayings like "Woes unite foes" to "woes unite enemies." He says, "Sometimes a singsong quality is a pleasing thing, and by virtue of the words being pleasing, they can confer a greater sense of truth."

While some names use multiple words such as "Blinds of All Kinds" or "Ronald McDonald," most names are made up of a single word. In these cases, therefore, the job would be conferred unto the tag line (that small sentence that follows and complements the name).

If I said "It takes a licking but keeps on ticking," you will probably know what product I'm talking about. And if the tag line rhymes with the name with which it is associated, the name will stick even more effectively as a result.

REPETITION RESONATES

What do "Saran-Wrap," "Coca-Cola," "Willy Wonka," "GI Joe/Barbie," "Wayne's World," "Hamburger Helper," "Crispy Crunch," and "Blockbuster" all have in common?

Similar to rhymes, the repetition of sounds, particularly consonants, have that pleasant and obviously effective singsong quality. They make the name more memorable by making the pronunciation more simple. In other words, it is definitely easier to remember a string of similar sounds than it is to remember a combination of totally different sounding words. Did you "See the softer side of Sear's" lately?

Remember, above all, that branding, while a powerful tool in your business, is even more powerful when names stick. From the simplest product to the most abstract or complex technical service, a memorable name helps to make the company or product memorable as well.
__________

Michel Fortin, Ph.D., The Success Doctor, is a business development consultant, speaker, author, and copywriter. Get a free copy of his book, "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning." While you’re there, subscribe to his free weekly e-zine - 'The Profit Pill'

GAZETEER FREEBIES - PART II
-- Windows Freeware

EyeBrowse - (470kb)
http://www.sparkmultimedia.freeserve.co.uk

EyeBrowse is a small, fast and extremely useful image browsing utility with lots of great features. It has been designed with the user in mind. Here are just a few of the features: scroll bars for non- stretched images, customizable favorite directories for instant access to frequently used images, maximized mode for near full-screen browsing, new image attributes: image dimensions, image type and size in kilobytes, and right-click context menus for common functions. Everyone can find a use for EyeBrowse, from webmasters to photographers.

WinKey - (1.1Mb)
http://www.agents-tech.com/winkey/

Just when you thought that Windows key on your keyboard was useless these folks come up with a great way to use it. Start your favorite applications, folders and Web pages instantly by using your own Windows key shortcuts with WinKey. This shell extension lets you define keyboard shortcuts with the Windows key. You can use almost any key combination and create shortcuts to system folders such as My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Dial-Up Networking, Control Panel and Recycle Bin, or your favorite applications. It also comes a 'WinNT style' task manager.

Net Vampire - (1.4Mb)
http://www.netvampire.com/

Net Vampire is a reliable file downloading utility with scheduling options, browser integration, and more. With Net Vampire you can schedule files for downloading at any time and it will make as many attempts as you wish to download. You can easily schedule file downloads by simply dragging and dropping HTTP or FTP URLs from your browser window into Net Vampire's main window or it's smaller drop basket. If the server you are downloading supports the "resume" function, then interrupted downloads can be automatically restarted where they left off. This newest release offers browser click and Clipboard monitoring, and improved scheduling and reporting.
__________

Article written by: Akshay Sikka, Site Producer, FreewareWeb
If you like freeware, visit Akshay's site - it's loaded with more freeware than you'll have hard disk space for.

GET LINKED

More Place To List Your Ezine:

The Newsletter Library
http://www.newsletter-library.com/index.htm

This is not a free service, but it is not clear from their web site what the costs are. There is a small setup fee, and I assume a charge for each subscriber they enlist for you. Make sure you understand all of the charges before signing up.

Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists
http://www.arl.org/scomm/edir/template.html

A periodic list of publications published by the Association of Research Libraries.

Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters
http://www.coalliance.org/

Database published by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries.

WWW Virtual Library Electronic Journals List
http://www.edoc.com/ejournal/

Database of journals. Part of the WWW Virtual Library.

NewJour
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/submit.html

NewJour is the place to announce your newly planned, newly issued, or revised ELECTRONIC NETWORKED journal or newsletter. It is specially dedicated for those who wish to share information in the planning, gleam-in-the-eye stage or at a more mature stage of publication development and availability.

Newsletter Access
http://www.newsletteraccess.com/

This index of 5,000 ezines will list your zine for free, but if you want to include an email address and/or URL, that will cost you $19.95 per year.
__________

World Search Center
http://www.worldsearchcenter.com/

Nice directory of sites and you can add your site to the appropriate category. Looks to me like this will be a good traffic generator for us all.
__________

The Tee Finder Search Engine
http://www.teefinder.com

A t-shirt specific search engine containing links to hundreds of t-shirt sites including online t-shirt retailers, wholesalers, screen printers, and suppliers. Our site also includes t-shirt listings in a variety of special themed categories
__________

CanadaOne
http://www.canada.com/

With 100 million pages indexed, this is a Must Submit engine. Takes 2 days to 2 weeks to spider your site and add it to the index.
__________

OneKey
http://www.onekey.com/

A general directory of sites. Server is fast and layout is good, so worth a look and submission.
__________

SearchLynx
http://www.shaned.com/

A brand new directory of websites. Categories for just about any kind of site. Add your free.

SNIPPETS

Telegraph
http://arsdigita.com/telegraph/

Free service for those without CGI access on their server, or just don't want to have to figure it all out. Telegraph will host your forms for you. You set up the input form on your server and then just link to the script on their server.

From the same people come lots of other free services for webmasters. http://arsdigita.com/services.html#free_services like free polls, click through accounting, watch your server to make sure it stays up.... just check it out. There's lots of good stuff there.
__________

Website Audio Productions
http://www.websiteaudio.com/holidays

Website Audio Productions is offering free audio holiday greetings which can be pasted into a web site free of charge. The free holiday programs are streaming audio files using Java which require no plug-ins or server software, and are fully compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator whether your visitors have low-bandwidth or Internet speed connections.

As businesses search for new ways to communicate online with their clients, many have found that audio greetings are personal and memorable. Especially during the holidays, audio greetings communicate the warmth of the season.
__________

Ulead WebUtilities
http://pitcher.flo-mail.com/scripts/flo.exe?x=dEgmBBwouX

The busy folk at Ulead WebUtilities have created over 100 animated holiday GIF animations that can be downloaded and used for free, without copyright restrictions.

And if a hundred animations are not enough, then there is also the XOOM Web Clip Empire Holiday Edition. This monster collection has over 50,000 holiday clips and animations. Normally the XOOM Web Clip Empire costs $59.95, but if you buy from the Ulead WebUtilities site, it’s only $19.95.
_________

whatUseek intraSearch
http://www.whatuseek.com/intraSearch/

Want a search engine to index all of the pages on your Web site? Want it for free, with no CGI scripts to install or programming to do? Then you want whatUseek intraSearch. This new service will let you establish a spidered index of up to 500 pages on your site and make it available for searching on your site through the whatUseek servers. You can set up some customization of the results page so that your visitors will know that they are still 'on your site' and all of the results of a search will only include pages from your site.

Here are the hot points:

whatUseek intraSearch will index your entire site automatically (up to 500 pages).
This works with web sites that are their own domain (ex: www.yourdomain.com) as well as personal web sites under community domains (ex: geocities.com/Silicon/Haven/2431/).
Concerned about the speed and accuracy of the search results? The whatUseek search engine will be building a completely index just for your web site, which means it should be fast. Also, they will re-walk your site on a weekly basis making the search results very up to date and accurate.
Concerned about the appearance of the search results page? They will give you the ability to change the background color, text color, and link/visited colors. Also, if you provide your site and URL, they will provide a text link back to your site on every result page.
It's free.

And then...

Have you ever wanted to know the next time whatUseek is building a new index? Want to know what it takes to get your site ranked higher, and not down at the bottom of search results pages? Get informed about whatUseek with the Insider Newsletter. Head over and check it out now.

http://www.whatUseek.com/insider.shtml

JimWorld Gazette Issue #69 12/11/1998

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