ADLANDS' DIGEST
A Free subscribed Discussion List
of 22,094 subscribers
on web marketing and promotion
supported by AdlandPro World's Classifieds
at http://www.adlandpro.com
Bogdan Fiedur, Publisher
mailto: Bogdan@softfornet.com
Vol. 1, #201 Oct 24, 2000
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Topics in this issue:
Sponsor Message
Word from Publisher
Featured Post
=====================
C o n t i n u i n g D i s c u s s i o n s (0)
===========================================
N e w P o s t s (5)
=========================
1.) Tom Falco
~ Does Goto.com really work?
2.) Don Wetmore
~ Planning
3.) Jeff Irwin
~ Getting into long term e-commerce contract
4.) Daniel Rauser
~ The problem with finding knowledge
5.) Bob DRAGOJEVIC
~ HELLO BOGDAN! QUESTIONS ABOUT STARTING A LIST
A l e r t S e c t i o n (0)
=======================
Site Review Responses (0)
==========================
Site Review Requests (2)
===========================
1.) http://www.newbizopps.com/
2.) http://justgoteasy.com
G u e s t A r t i c l e (1)
================================
Building Confidence Through Customer Service
by Tony Murtagh
Joke of the Day (1)
===============
================== Word from publisher ====================
Greetings All
Welcome 208 new subscribers who joined list since last
mailing.
----===(*)===-----
New 5 day Free Website Success Course offered by AdlandPro.
You will learn many techniques , starting from your web site
(including html tutorial or non-html web site builder )
through promotion and getting into e-commerce.
Get it by sending blank email to 1234@followup.adlandpro.com
You can modify this course and offer it on your site to promote it.
Also to promote your site you can use these two free e-books.
Download them and offer them on your site for free.
- How to Increase Your Website Sales
by up to 1700% or More in Only
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-How to Make up to
Seven Hundred Dollars
or More on the Internet in Only
7 Days or Less!
http://www.freebonanza.com/downloads/1HourWealth.exe
You can download them and offer on your
site.
----===(*)===-----
I'm waiting for more success stories.
Don't be shy and let us all see, how you were able
to get where you are. Remember that success has different
dimensions for different people and amount of money is not necessarily
proper measure. What counts is your satisfaction, solution to the
problems and uniqueness of your solution. You might just need a little
bit help, to get your success even bigger and free publication here
to over 22,000 subscribers will only help you.
See below for info about Adland Digest success story of the year.
----===(*)===-----
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Visit link below to see winners of Adland Digest success story 1999
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See this link for previous success stories.
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==================Featured Post(1)====================
From: Rafael Aguilo <raguilo@concentric.net>
Hello Bogdan and all Adlanders:
This note is to let you know of a free tool I'm using
in my website and that has been responsible for more
daily FREE membership sign-ups than ANY other tool I've
used so far.
It's called a "Viewlet". It was originally designed to be used
as a software "how-to" training tool.
I have a whole FREE training section in my website that uses
training "Viewlets" extensively.
You can take a look at the training program I made for
E-ditor Pro; the EBook compiling program I use:
<http://www.learninternetmarketing.com/viewlets/editor2_viewlet.html>
I then decided to give it a workout as a presentation tool, and
made a self-playing quick tour of the FREE member's only
section of my website.
The darned thing has exceeded all my expectations!
To see how I implemented a "One-Two" step approach with
this tool, go to my webpage:
<http://www.learninternetmarketing.com>
Half way down the page there's a table with the
"Quick Tour" heading. It invites visitors to take preview.
The link is:
<http://www.learninternetmarketing.com/sitetour_viewlet.html>
This is a resource that, if used correctly, has incredible potential
for webmasters.
Best Regards;
Rafael Aguilo
--------------------------------------------
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--------------------------------------------
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
======================N e w P o s t i n g (1)========================
From: Tom Falco mailto:SignaturePress@aol.com
Subject: Does Goto.com really work?
I have tried GoTo.com many times. And surprisingly, I have received many
more hits due to them.
I have received many more hits, yet I have received no new business. This is
odd because out of 1000 hits or so, i am sure that someone would buy our
products (custom printed Post-It Notes, or custom printed pens). People go
to the search engines with an item in mind, they are practically pre-sold
when they go to a search engine.
Curiously, I have used up my full amount bid in a day or two. That's
correct. I have placed money into the GoTo.com account, only to be
hounded by GoTo.com within a day or two to place more money into the
account because I have reached my limit.
Pouring more good money after bad.
Now I have three theories on this.
Number one: GoTo.com is screwed up, and the money just disappears without
giving me any business.
Number two: GoTo.com is rigged in order to make your site get hits
automatically, decreasing your account and making you put more money into
this rat hole.
Number three: My competitors are deliberately clicking on my links in order
to deplete my account and remove me from the top position. I honestly feel
this is the reason that my account is depleted in a day or two, without me
receiving one bit of business.
Ironically, we are at the top of all major search engines, and ironically,
we are very near the top of GoTo.com in our specific categories and we
are not paying a dime.
We actually are placed in great positions on GoTo.com for free.
The moral of the story: don't pay for placement -- have exactly what you say
you have on your site. Promote each page and have the information that you
are promoting, don't use the words "naked" or "Pam Anderson"
in your meta
tags if this is a ploy. Be honest and the search engines will be honest with
you.
You must have in your title, meta tags, etc. exactly what you are promoting
on the page. Don't try to be all things to all searches. If you are selling
pens, like we do, then we just place all kinds of meta tags pertaining to
our pens, i.e.: bic pens, custom printed pens, personalized pens, etc. etc.
When the spiders see the pages, they can relate the meta tags to the items
and written copy on the page. When all matches up, the search engines love
this.
Tom Falco
----------------------------------------
http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com
Custom printed Post-It Notes, Labels,
Pens, Biz cards, rubber stamps.
Order on-line and save!!!
-------------------------------------------
======================N e w P o s t i n g (2)========================
From: "Don Wetmore" <ctsem@email.msn.com>
Subject: Planning
"People don't plan to fail but many fail to plan." I put
together five tips for effective planning to get more done
in less time, in a short article entitled, "Planning
Principles". I am happy to share it with members of the
List. To get your free copy now, email your request for
"planning" to: ctsem@msn.com
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker
---------------------------------------------------
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
======================N e w P o s t i n g (3)========================
From: Jeff Irwin <jalmigroup@yahoo.com>
Subject: Getting into long term e-commerce contract
Hi, I have a problem and would appreciate any help. I joined an
ecommerce
business earlier this year after seeing a TV ad. The TV ad stted that
"your
site will be listed with 5 of the top search engines including Yahoo".
After building my site and submitting through the company, my site is still
not listed with any search engines. I have contacted the company and the
Better Business Bureau about getting out of the contract (a 48 month
contract) to no avail. I feel like the company used false advertising and
should let me out of the contract and give me a refund. I can not afford a
lawyer at this time and hoped maybe someone at Adland or some of their
readers might be able to help.
Thanks, Jeff Irwin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from moderator.
Looking into the offers you were given, it seems to me that
the company which you signed contract with, will
disappear from
the scene before your contract is over. I just can't see anybody
giving any guaranties in regards to search engines ratings.
If anybody is doing this, they are either counting on the fact
that customer won't be smart enough to realize that name of
their business found as the top hit on the top search engines
is not enough to be positioned well or they have no clue
what they are doing. Of course you can work on tuning your
site and get good ratings, but offering anybody who wants
to enter into contract this kind of service, seems to me
ridiculous.
I can't give you advice if you should stick to the contract or
not, but contract usually regulates the issues when one of the
parties wants to terminate it. If the company which you
signed contract with, didn't fulfil their obligations and if
this was clearly stated in your contract, one visit to the lawyer
should be enough to either bring their attention to complete
their obligations or give you a free hand and cancel your
contract. Nobody likes letters from the lawyers, and they
won't know how bad you want to end this contract.
I'm sure that one visit to the lawyer will cost you less than
any 48 moths contract and in addition you can demand return
of all the money.
I'm promoting recently e-commerce provider which will
give you e-commerce site without any long term agreements.
You pay as you go and get as far as I'm concerned anything to run
your store. You don't need any html knowledge and you get this.
-merchant account ,
-unlimited product space,
-no programming necessary,
-real time secure credit card processing,
-automated email confirmations to customers,
-your own search engine.
-You can even run this store if you already have your own
merchant account.
In addition if you sign up before end of this week, you
will get second month free.
The site is here
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If you just need merchant account, get one here.
Not only you don't need any long term agreement but this account is
free.
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You only pay for usage.
B.F.
======================N e w P o s t i n g (4)========================
From: "Daniel Rauser" <danstabl@sunwave.net>
Subject: The problem with finding knowledge
Greetings
I have been having a hard time finding the simplest things,i.e.how
to
link pages,
how to set up card services etc.
While months of perseverance have got me some ways on the
journey ,it
seems that some focus should be given to people who are computer
illiterate,yet who are good in traditional business practices .How to offer
a primer type introductory course concerning internet marketing and
advertising practices,would seem to
promise increases for all concerned.
This could only inspire more to attempt the internet
strategies,
and thus increase the rate of growth
fore all concerned.
The Japanese educational model comes to mind,with its emphasis on teaching
others,as well as promoting business.
Feed back is most welcomed at danstabl@sunwave.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note From Moderator.
Daniel,
It seems to me that you made already first step in acquiring knowledge
by joining this discussion group and raising your concerns.
There are hundreds or maybe even more marketing courses on
the internet, and it is just a matter of time to get the right one.
I have listed some of the free ones at our Freebonanza directory.
http://www.freebonanza.com/Business/Promotion/Marketing_Courses/
With the help of Richard Igoe of http://www.thewebseye.com,
I'm providing now 5 day free Website Success Course, which should give
your very good start and give you an edge in marketing on the internet in
very short time.
Information found in this course will take you step by step and after you
finish it, you will know how to promote your product and even if you
don't have your own product, you will have one when course is
finished. Make sure that you review all the references in the course.
To request the course send blank message to this address
mailto:adlandpro@quicktell.com
B.F.
======================N e w P o s t i n g (5)========================
From: "Bob DRAGOJEVIC" <networx@tpg.com.au>
Subject: HELLO BOGDAN! QUESTIONS ABOUT STARTING A LIST
Hello Bogdan
How are you. I enjoy looking through your digest.
I was just wondering how do I go about setting up like yours?
I want to offer a forum where people can talk/discuss with each.
Any suggestions on what I need to do to get started and what other
considerations I need to make???
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
BOB DRAGOJEVIC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Moderator.
There are many aspects of running a successful discussion list.
1. Software.
-Request my new Website Success course which talks
about
it mailto:adlandpro@quicktell.com
-Check out FreeBonanza directory for free group communication
solutions
http://www.freebonanza.com/Business/Services/Group_Communication/
2. Members.
Promote your discussion list in resources appropriate for
this type
of publication.
- FreeBonanza directory
http://www.freebonanza.com/Business/Promotion/E-Zines/
- previous issues of Adland Digest
http://www.adlandpro.com/archives/2000.htm
- don't foregut to register your newsletter here
Top E-zines directory.
http://www.adlandpro.com/redir/topezine.asp
3. Topic
- Pick topic which relates to your expertise.
Subscribers will stay on your list and contribute
great content if they are interested in topics
you initiate.
4. Purpose
- Do you want publicity or you want to profit from it
directly?
If you want publicity, avoid advertising or be
very selective.
If you want to profit from it, make sure
that you provide a way
to order advertising and be clear about your
offer.
Don't undersell. Rather use your own
affiliate links than
allow for indiscriminate cheap ads.
5. Frequency.
This will be determined by quality and amount of
contributions
of your members.
Initially you won't have too many contribution and you will
need to stimulate participation by posting provoking thoughts
and trade related questions.
Don't send your letters too often, unless they contain
quality
information. Mailings shouldn't be more often than every
three
days and not less than once a week to maintain proper
balance.
6. Offer incentive to be subscribed to your list.
These here are two resources which will help you
in getting people attention.
- How to Increase Your Website Sales
by up to 1700% or More in Only
17 Days or Less!
http://www.freebonanza.com/downloads/$7007days.exe
-How to Make up to
Seven Hundred Dollars
or More on the Internet in Only
7 Days or Less!
http://www.freebonanza.com/downloads/1HourWealth.exe
You can download them and offer on your site.
B.F.
========================Site Review Request(1)=========================
From: Stew Drage Stewdrage@aol.com
Hi Bogdan,
Great newsletter,
keep up the good work. I would like a review of our site please at
www.NewBizOpps.com. In particular,we
would like to know if we have made a
sensible choice of software to give away. Should it have been something more
related to Bizopps, rather than a fun piece of 'drinks' software.Many
thanks,
Stew Drage.
========================Site Review Request(2)=========================
From: "Joe Shadwick" <healthy@wf.quik.com>
Hi Everyone, First of all thank you Bogdan for the absolute best newsletter
I have ever read. People discussing issues and communicating to resolve
issues! Now I am using a new free server from netfirms.com and so far cgi is
available but SSI is not, but planned for the future! I just moved my site
from webjump due to banner issues discussed in issue 200. I would like a
site review for http://justgoteasy.com I am
kind of bored and would like to
help others with html and any other issues that they might need! Thanks
Bogdan! Joe Shadwick
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===================G u e s t A r t i c l e =====================
Building Confidence Through Customer Service
by Tony Murtagh
Building a customer's confidence in you and your product is probably more
difficult and more important in a web based business than in a bricks and
mortar one.
All you have in which to gain that confidence are your site and your
service. Let's take the site first. Obviously it needs to be smart,
attractive, eye-catching, well laid out and easy to navigate - everything
you will have considered under Web Site Design - but what else will it need
in order to build your visitors' confidence?
First, it should have an "About Us" page. The absolute minimum this
should
have is your address and contact details. Next, some personal details about
you and your staff - ideally with a photo of you - it reminds visitors that
they are dealing with a real person not just an abstract being from
cyberspace!
The biographical information you give must relate to the theme of your site.
A resume of your career is not relevant if you are running a site about
dressmaking - unless of course you had a degree in fashion design and were a
senior clothing buyer for a major chain of dress shops! Conversely, details
of your family pets are not relevant on a site about marketing.
This page could also include any testimonials you have received about your
site or brief details of articles you have published. Many large companies
include an archive of press cuttings and a history of the company. It all
goes to build a visitors confidence in you.
Whatever you put though, make it genuine. If you are a one man/woman
business, operating out of your spare bedroom, you don't necessarily have to
disclose that, but DON'T state that you are a large company operating out of
plush offices - you WILL be found out and when you are, all confidence and
credibility will disappear overnight.
One other pet hate of mine, is the practise of owners of small, one man
companies calling themselves C.E.O.'s (Chief Executive Officers). There is
nothing wrong with being an owner or partner or proprietor of a business.
What would you think if the owner of your local hardware store called
herself a C.E.O.? At best you would probably think that she was being
somewhat foolish. Don't give others the opportunity to think that you are
foolish.
If you take credit cards on site (and you really should if you are selling
off the site) you should explain to your visitors, before you ask them to
enter their credit card details, that you are operating a secure site and
that they should only give their card details when they see the locked
padlock at the bottom of their screen and the "https" in their browser
bar.
Next, you should make it easy for visitors to contact you. As well as simply
putting your e-mail address on your "About Us" page, invite visitors
to
contact you with their comments or queries from your home page. Not only
will this help with your future marketing, by gathering e-mail addresses, it
will again build confidence in your site by letting visitors know that you
welcome their comments.
Likewise, producing a newsletter gives you an opportunity to develop a
long-term relationship with your visitors and give you a greater chance of
converting those visitors into customers.
Once your site is up and running, and you are obtaining customers, you need
to ensure that your customer service is up top class. When a visitor emails
you, answer as soon as possible. I have an autoresponder on my site e-mail
address, which states that I will contact the sender as soon as possible.
This shows that I have received their message. I then endeavour to reply
personally, within 24 hours at the most. If they have raised a query which
can not be answered immediately, tell them that you are investigating the
problem and give them some idea as to when you will get back to them again -
and ensure that you DO, even if it is only to update them on the situation.
If you are selling goods on your site, make it clear when and how they will
be delivered and what your returns policy is. Implement a good order tracking
process so that if customers contact you wanting to know when they may
expect delivery, you will be in a position to tell them.
It is good practise to e-mail your customers to confirm that the goods have
been dispatched. You can include a message about how to use them or how best
to look after them, or who to contact if they do not receive them. You can
also take the opportunity to include a short message advertising another
product, perhaps with a special offer for new or existing customers.
If, after receiving the goods, the customer complains for any reason, do not
get into an argument with them - there can only be one loser, YOU! Ideally
deal with the complaint and help them resolve their problem. (It may be as
simple as getting them to read the instructions properly. The old adage "if
all else fails read the manual" can be very true).
Remember, if you help them solve their problem you have gained a friend who
may buy off you again or even recommend you to their friends. If you are
totally offhand and unhelpful, they will certainly NOT buy off you again,
and more importantly, will probably tell all their friends not to buy off
you. It can take years to build a good reputation, but only five minutes to
destroy one.
As a last resort, it is usually better to accept return of faulty or
unwanted goods
gracefully, than to argue. If it ever gets as far as litigation the courts
usually find in favour of the customer and the lost goodwill, never mind the
legal fees, will rarely be worth it. Just remember, "the customer is always
right - even when he is wrong!"
==========================================
Tony Murtagh has spent all his career involved in sales, sales
management, marketing and PR. He was a UK National Sales Manger
(Major Accounts) for a mobile communications company, had his own publishing
company producing a monthly Business to Business magazine and has acted as a
PR consultant for a number of small businesses. He is now sharing his wide
experience of sales, marketing and promotion in his new web site: -
www.DevelopYourWebSiteAndYourself.com
and in a weekly e-ezine Aardvark Marketing, which you can subscribe to from
the site, or
mailto:AardvarkMarketing-subscribe@listbot.com
======================Joke of the Day=====================
After a two-week criminal trial in a very high profile bank
robbery case, the judge turns to the jury foreman and asks,
"Has the jury reached a verdict in this case?"
"Yes, we have, your honor," The foreman responded.
"Would you please pass it to me," The judge declared, as he
motioned for the bailiff to retrieve the verdict slip from the
foreman and deliver it to him.
After the judge reads the verdict himself, he delivers the
verdict slip back to his bailiff to be returned to the foreman
and instructs the foreman, "Please read your verdict to the
court."
"We find the defendant Not Guilty of all four counts of bank
robbery." stated the foreman. The family and friends of the
defendant jump for joy at the verdict and hug each other as
they shout expressions of divine gratitude.
The man's attorney turns to his client and asks, "So, what do
you think about that?"
The defendant, with a bewildered look on his face and then
turns to his attorney and says, "I'm real confused here. Does
this mean that I have to give all the money back?"
========================================================
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=========================================================