ADLANDS' DIGEST
                  A Free subscribed Discussion List
                   on web marketing and promotion
                       Bogdan Fiedur,  Publisher
                    mailto: Bogdan@softfornet.com   
                      David Bredeweg, Moderator
                    mailto: moderator@finsave.com
                          Vol 1, #19, August 15, 1998

      POST AND UNSUBSCRIBE INFO AT BOTTOM
_____________________________________________________________
Topics in this issue:
Sponsor Info:               AdPlan
Web Site Design          William Bontrager <william@willmaster.com>
Free Ads Work           "S.N." <fnorrad@nbnet.nb.ca>
I Need Help                  <VHworld@aol.com>
Good Customer Service MAURICIO ROSAS <usteeco@gte.net>
Mall advantages              "John Loseman Jr." <ozarkad@cei.net>
Moderators' Comments
_____________________________________________________________
Sponsor:
Make a visit and patronize our  sponsor. Let them know you came from
Adlands' Digest.

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_____________________________________________________________
POSTS:

Subject: Web Site Design    
From: William Bontrager <william@willmaster.com>

In Adland's Digest #18 Danielle Amory states:
>I want to know this: How do I
>know I'm getting offered a fair price for what I want to do? I've
>been quoted everything from $200 for design and $50 a month for
>hosting to $1500 for design and $35 a month for hosting. The middle
>ground is $500 design/$50 hosting. How does one find what is
>reasonable?

Cost of website designing, programming, and hosting vary so widely
because of three reasons: (1) Those who charge more are generally (but
not always) experienced and in heavy demand; already proved their
worth to customers who highly recommend them to their associates. (2)
The underlying functions, which some may bid for and others not, can
quickly add up; visitor tracking, customer feedback, order forms,
banner tracking, etc. (3) The size of the website and the amount of
maintenance required.

Before shopping, write down what you want your website to do and what
you want out of it. Write down the reason for its existence. What will
your visitors find. What can they do once they arrive. How will they
find you in the first place. When (not if) changes are required of
your website, who will make them.

Read our "... nine steps to an accolade-prone website" at
<http://www.willmaster.com/>. Then, use our "price calculator."
Calculate your site different ways, with different website features,
until you have a good idea of why the price varies so much.

Once you know exactly what you want your website to be, only then shop
for a host. Because then you'll know whether or not you need full CGI
access, server side includes, generic shopping carts, etc. and can
shop for only what you really need. (Our complete webmaster's virtual
server manual is available online at step 6 of our "... nine
steps...")
Good luck to you, Danielle Amory. The internet is a
wonderful and grand place to make a living. Come join us!

Sincerely,

William Bontrager

WillMaster -- The Bontrager Connection:
  Awesome web site and graphic design.
     Screaming hot CGI programming.
       http://www.willmaster.com/
All our unique sites are linked at
http://www.willmaster.com/connection/
    ***************************************
Subject:     Free Ads Work
From:    S. N." <fnorrad@nbnet.nb.ca>

Hello,

I've been subscribed to this list for awhile and I really enjoy it.
This is going to be great, especially for anyone new to online
marketing. It's nice to see so many people willing to help others.

I have to agree with Ruth Rathbun's post about free classifieds. I
have been really baffled why some people are saying that ads placed at
the free sites don't work. I receive a check every month from my
business built solely by placing ads at the these sites! I have yet to
purchase advertising, which I probably will sometime, but I am in no
hurry as I am getting great results for free. Makes you wonder why
this rumour is circulating?

When I first came online two years ago looking for a business that I
could work at home, where did I look? I searched for "Classifieds" in
Yahoo. Most of these sites were free. I liked reading the ads placed
at the free sites better as the paid sites didn't have many ads,
therefore, not much of a variety in opportunities to chose from.
Obviously most people were posting in the free sites.

Consistency is the key, plus choosing the best free ad sites to place
your ads along with writing good ad copy. I will share my list of the
best free ad sites with you, just go to my list online at my site (URL
below). Please don't ask, though, for me to email you this list.
There's over 400 and it's all in HTML.

There is also a free book at my site which is the best resource that I
have found yet for learning how to write good ad copy. Do yourself a
favor and read, study, re-read this book. The information is
invaluable and you can get it for free.
I hope this helps and I wish everyone much success.

Sue Norrad
fnorrad@nbnet.nb.ca
Everyday Business Online
http://everydaybiz.hypermart.net
   *****************************************************
Subject:          I need help!
From:             <VHworld@aol.com>

hello all,
My name is alan vanhook owner of a new mailorder
company that I run out of my room in atlanta, I do
have a web page, My question is this I need critisism
about my web site, what is wrong and what is right about
it, the address is www.quickpage.com/V/vh.
and if anybody has any ideas for a free or low cost way to
promote it let me know.
thanks
alan vanhook
owner
VH-WORLD
"WHERE OUR WORLD IS YOUR WORLD"
    *******************************************
Subject:          Good Customer Service
From:             MAURICIO ROSAS <usteeco@gte.net>

Good day to you all,

Over the course of the past year I have been listing in all the
classifieds and engines I could find.  I tried all techniques to get
reciprocal links as well as banner exchanges.  I have found that the
key has been good follow-up and excellent customer service.

As I have a spice and condiment site (http://www.usteeco.com) I have
learned that not only do I need to keep my orders timely but also to
ensure that both snail mail and email are sent to customers.  I
believe that it is important to ensure that there is also a paper
trail for your client base.  I suppose that if the internet were to
malfunction I still can conduct business.  Not only have I supplied my
customers with thank you cards and monthly newsletters but also with a
small catalog, which I mail out on a quarterly basis.  And yes I do
the same via email.

Well, that's my input for now.   I would be interested in knowing how
other web based stores follow-up with their customer base and increase
business.

Thank you,

Mauricio Rosas
Latino Spice Connection @ http://www.usteeco.com
    *************************************
Subject:          Free Offer To Adlands Digest Readers
From:             "John Loseman Jr." <ozarkad@cei.net>


Since the readers of the Adlands Digest are all concerned with ways to
promote their website, I think the following would be of interest to
all

I operate INDEPENDENCE MALL, which has recently moved to its own
domain, http://www.independence-mall.com . Up until now, it has
catered mainly to local area businesses, but the time has come to
expand.

I firmly believe in the promotional advantages of being part of an
internet mall. Just as in a "real-world" mall, people may go there for
one thing, but end up browsing and (hopefully!) buying from several
different stores. Also, as each individual member promotes his/her
website through the Mall, ALL members benefit! Internet Malls make
good use of the old adage "Strength in Numbers."

I am offering, for a limited time, a FREE 6 month listing in
INDEPENDENCE MALL to Adlands Digest Readers. Since we don't want to
turn the Adlands Digest into an "advertising medium", please email my
autoresponder at mailto:adlands_offer@independence-mall.com for
complete information if interested.

John Loseman Jr.
webmaster@ozarkad.com
http://www.independence-mall.com
http://www.ozarkad.com
_________________________________________________________
Moderators' Comments:

Not that many of you might notice but I changed the format a little
to make it easier to formulate the digest. Now I want to ask you to
make a change in how  you send your posts. Identify your subject
(keep it short - a few words) then next line identify yourself. Look
at the post above to see what it should look like. Then if you are
responding to a previous posts, so indicate, then begin your post.
Reason: at the top of each issue is a brief summary or table of
contents. The order of subject and name is the same. Thus I only need
to cut and paste without a lot of other detail work to get each post
the same.

Of more significant importance is the proper way to write a post.
Many of you are new to the web and are making a sincere effort to
adjust to different etiquettes of different mediums on the web. Also,
many of you are learning how to write and express yourself coherently
on subjects of knowledge and interests.
This is supposed to be a discussion lists that informs, educates and
trains. Thus the following diatribe.

Some of you are still sending ads that should be posted on the
Adlands Classified site. They will not be accepted here on this list.
Others are making a great effort in attempting to reply correctly by
get to much direct advertising in the message. I have sent some of
these back and asked to rewrite them as information on a topic.
All direct advertising should only be in your signature file.
I want to use an above post as an example and that is why I decided
to post it so you can see what I am speaking about. It is decided
different than the other posts above.
I want to assure you John that I am not picking on you. You just
happen to have provided a good example. Believe me, there have been
others.
John's post regarding the  benefits of using a mall  and his offer,
which is great, hope some of you do use it, is really an ad with no
valid information.  The offer should appear only in the signature
line and/or referred to in an autoresponder, which I recommended to
John on the rewrite.
One could write a good post on the benefits of using a mall location.
There are just as many disadvantages which could have come from
others reading his posts through replies.
So, keep on improving. Using a discussion lists is at present one of
the better ways, and happens to be the cheapest way to advertise.
__________________________________________________________
Let's hear from you......

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