ADLANDS'
DIGEST
A
Free subscribed Discussion List
of
4096 subscribers
on
web marketing and promotion
Bogdan
Fiedur, Publisher
mailto:
Bogdan@softfornet.com
Vol.
1, #69, Feb 16, 1999
POST AND UNSUBSCRIBE INFO AT BOTTOM
You are subscribed as bogdan@softfornet.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Topics in this issue:
Sponsor Message
Word from Publisher
================
C o n t i n u i n g D i s c u s s i o n (0)
==================================
N e w P o s t s (7)
=======================
1.) George Baty <george@cresset.com>
~ New features a comment
2.) Chris Ukardi <cukardi@yahoo.com>
~your ezine..
3.) Rhonda Morris <rjmorris@rjmorris.reno.nv.us>
~Pay for ranking Search Engines - This may be the
future.
4.) Lewis Jackson <Papo@shentel.net>
~New Atomic Pages
5.) Reighard Fields <rhino1102@lisco.net>
~Dropped from Adlands list
6.) R.G. Ramsey <barters@mindspring.com>
~Opt In Or Opt-Out?
7.)John Gloeckner <NUTRA@aol.com>
~List software
========= S i t e R e v i e w R e q u e s t (1)======
Christina <visions-of-ny@usa.net>
S u c c e s s S t o r y
=================================
Fiona Heares <heares@es.co.nz>
~ The Birth of a Website ( A Success Story in the Making.)
G u e s t A r t i c l e
================================
10 Tips For Effective Self Promotion
By Rafael Aguilo <raguilo@concentric.net>
============S P O N S O R M E S S A G E====================
Join The Wizard Network Marketing FREE Partner program
and start earning $10.00 commissions within 5 minutes
from right now! AND you'll earn commissions from
every partner in your network.
http://www.wizardsoftheweb.com/partners/janet50/index.shtml
==============================================================
============ Word from publisher =============
Here is another News Letter you can join
Subscribe to the Fortune Network FREE Newsletter and get
tips from the experts on how to market and make money
on the Internet.
To subscribe, either visit
http://www.fortunenetwork.com or
mailto:webmaster@fortunenetwork.com the
word "subscribe" in the subject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you think, you have interesting success story to tell,
please send it to digest as usual and indicate as such.
At the end of 1999 I will create web page and will invite
everybody to vote for the "Success Story Of The Year"
Best voted story will receive one FREE year of advertising
in the form of small button at the bottom of each Adland page
http://www.adlandpro.com
Adland receives 240,000 page viewings and 36,000 unique
visitors and grows on average 20% each month.
To be eligible for the prize, this story has to be from your own
experience.
BF.
========================N e w P o s t (1) ======================
From: "George Baty" <george@cresset.com>
Subject: New features a comment
I welcome your changes.
I belong to a few newsgroups that I can't get off
because I've forgotten the e-mail address I used. To
get around this I just have the rules section of MIE's
Inbox Assistant delete them off the server.
Though I applaud your improvement (it is a real
improvement that will help your customers) many
newsgroups make address changes often. This is very
frustrating, since I have the rules send them to
special folders. Whenever the address changes the
rules must change in order for the wanted message to go
to the correct folder. Not only my rules on my home
computer change, but the rules on my secretary's
computer need to be manually changed also.
It is a "frustration price" to pay for hi-tech reading
of good material.
But please keep changes to a minimum.
And whatever you do please keep up the high quality of
your newsgroup.
Sincerely,
George Baty
george@cresset.com
For Concrete Results visit our web site at:
http://www.cresset.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Moderator
Thank you for applauding new changes.
B.F.
========================N e w P o s t (2) ======================
From: Chris Ukardi <cukardi@yahoo.com>
Subject: your ezine..
Hello Bogdan,
I am a subscriber to your ezine and I really enjoy reading it.
As you can see, I am subscribed to you via a yahoo account.
Sometimes (like adland #68), the ezine comes to my end messy. For
example:
------------
Pretend this is an article from your ezine. It would
read
on like this. This happened when you had a guest email
mailed
to you.
------------
As you can see, my email setting is set to allow less line width than
most. I can fix it no problem so it reads right, but how many others
know how to do it? This is the default setting for yahoo and most
people leave it the way it is. In AOL, it can also get a little messy.
Just thought I would let you know about it. Keep up the good job.
-
Chris
Amazing secrets revealed- http://www.PoweReports.com/
Free ezine- http://www.weeklymmr.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Moderator
Thank you Chris.
This problem is due to number of characters in one line.
I'm just wandering what would be preferred number of characters in line,
so everybody gets properly formatted mailings.
B.F.
========================N e w P o s t (3) ======================
From: "Rhonda Morris" <rjmorris@rjmorris.reno.nv.us>
Subject: Pay for ranking Search Engines - This may be the future.
I wanted to give some insight to a great promotion tool a search engine
called Goto.com. This is a great addition to you arsenal of website
marketing tools. Goto.com's has a fairly comprehensive base. It started
with the purchase of the original great-granddaddy web search engine, the
World Wide Web Worm. What make this search engine different is that you
pay
for ranking. You bid on terms and the highest bidder gets listed first,
second highest next and so on. Non-paying sites get listed after those that
have active bids on a given search term.
I have generated quite a bit of traffic from bidding on Goto.com search
terms. As a matter of fact, I get more traffic from Goto.com than from any
other search engine I am listed on. One benefit is that it is easy to
change
search terms. This is important on a dynamic site, with changing content.
You just make modifications on your account as to which terms you want
and/or the amount you are willing to pay for each term. For example, you
may
want to run Valentine's related search terms right now and be will in pay
extra for those hits. In December you might want Christmas related terms to
be you number one draw and you would chose those and pay accordingly.
Another advantage, is that when people are paying for hits, they want each
click to bring in interested surfers. You would not want to pay for a term
that is totally unrelated to your site because, the surfer would most
likely
just leave, and you would still pay for the click through. After awhile
that
could be expensive. So pay per click acts somewhat as a self monitoring
system.
For the webmaster that wants to add a little income potential to their site
Goto,com has an affiliate program. You add a search box to your site and
generate traffic for them. See mine at
http://www.greatbasinmall.com.misc.htm
and try it out. You earn 0.2 cents
per search from your site.
Again, I have been having very good results at getting interested people to
my site. I don't know what the future holds for this, or any other internet
advertising method, but for now this is one that shows promise.
Rhonda Morris
Great Basin Mall http://www.greatbasinmall.com
========================N e w P o s t (4) ======================
From: "Lewis Jackson" <Papo@shentel.net>
Subject: New Atomic Pages
Dear Adland Subscribers,
New Atomic Page software creates a "doorway" to your web site. These atomic
pages work like magnets by creating special coded web pages that create TOP
PLACEMENTS in just about any search engine. Click on it now:
http://atomic.bannermation.com/001426/
You'll thank me later
Sincerely,
Lewis Jackson
Papo@shentel.net/ http://www.clairesadv.com
========================N e w P o s t (5) ======================
From: Reighard Fields <rhino1102@lisco.net>
Subject: Dropped from Adlands list
Sir,
I received a notice that I have removed from the list for Adland Digest.
I can only assume that is because my autoresponder sent a Thankyou
message **after** I read the issue and the other mail in my mail box.
The autoresponder sends that message to everyone that sends me mail but
only after I have read, deleted or otherwise disposed of the mail that
has been sent to me. I have every issue of Adland Digest that has been
sent to me. I keep all e-zines that I receive because they are full of
information that can be used.
As a matter of fact, I believe the issue of autoresponders has been
addressed In Adland Digest as a way of establishing customer relations
and generating return visitors to a web site. I am sorry that you have
chosen to drop me from the subscription list but I will not do away with
the autoresponder to satisfy your apparent requirements. The
Autoresponder messages not only thank those who have taken the time to
send me information, they generate business.
By the way, this is not an autoresponder message. :-)
Best Regards,
Reighard Fields
Webmaster for rjcybermall2
mailto:rhino1102@lisco.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note form Moderator
I already exchanged correspondence with Reighard Fields and explained the
reasons and invited him to resubscribe.
I remove most subscribers who send autoresponse messages to the digest.
Recently I removed 150 subscribers who didn't turn off their aoutresponders
or didn't gave me different email address to resubscribe.
Now I'm getting to many of those autoreplies to even send personal message
with warning. If message looks like automatic replay or replay comes with
something like this "You posted your ad in our FFA links.. " or
"You are the member of the same safe list ..." I remove those subscribers
immediately. If I wouldn't do that, I would receive by now about 2000
autoreplies
to each digest issue. This might not be an issue for E-zines because they
don't directly interact with their subscribers (they can delete all incoming
messages) but this is discussion group and I have to scan each message
for information.
========================N e w P o s t (6) ======================
From: "R.G. Ramsey" <barters@mindspring.com>
Subject: Opt In Or Opt-Out?
There has been a lot of debate lately about
the tactics some lists/newsletters are using
to get their subscribers. Some use offers of
Free Services to lure unsuspecting visitors
onto their subscriber list. Then they tell them
in their issue that they were automatically
subscribed since they:
*Requested Free Report
*Posted to FFA Page *
*Requested Information etc. etc.
This requires Opt-Out rather than Opt-In.
It may work, but I think it's dirty pool and
in the end it's going to hurt publishers.
Those who practice it and those who don't.
If they warn people ahead of time instead
of when they send them their first issue
that's fine, but not after. [IMHO]
Regards,
R.G. Ramsey
----------------FREE Resources----------------
For the Novice and the Experienced Publisher!
The "How To" and "Where" of Publishing &
Promoting Newsletters/Lists Visit:
<http://www.ezine-publishing.com/npp/mini.htm>
----------------------------------------------------------
========================N e w P o s t (7) ======================
From: John Gloeckner <NUTRA@aol.com>
Subject: List software
Dear Bogdan,
I have currently set up a majordomo list with a digest version also which
has been a complete nightmare. I am trying to find a list server that is
alot
easier to use. A major problem I am having is that when some of my members
post their messages to the digest, it distorts the digest when AOL users
receive it. Do you have any recommendations?
Thank you,
John Gloeckner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Moderator.
I implemented myself my own solution which is not in any
shape to be used commercially, at least not yet.
I heard about unitymail software which seems to be quite
popular. Also Ipswitch mail server could be the answer.
>From my experience Ipswitch mail server is not giving
you to much defense against skilled spammers.
I believe other subscribers on this list can give
you some suggestions. I know that many are
running their own newsletters.
========= S i t e R e v i e w R e q u e s t (1)======
From: Christina <visions-of-ny@usa.net>
I am usually the one reviewing sites for members
of Adland. It feels strange to be on the other side
of the fence, but since I am promoting my site soon,
I thought that it would be a good idea to get your
collective input. Other web masters have informed
me of the wonderful ideas that you have given them
in the past and I am looking forward to your
suggestions.
I am seeking your opinion about what you like
and dislike about the site's overall 'feeling,' content,
programs, ideas, and graphics. Since I designed the
site myself, I may have overlooked items that are
obvious to you.
Please keep in mind that this site is 'live' BUT
it has not been promoted yet. Therefore, I would
like someone to review my meta-tags, descriptions,
and titles. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
The following is my promotional copy:
_____________________________
Title: Get Paid for Giving Away Risk Free Stuff
Description:
With your FREE membership
get a list of FREE promotional sites
to advertise our risk FREE offers
that can make you TONS of FREE money
and get paid a FREE $50.00 bill
for each qualified referral to this FREE program.
You can even win our FREE award!
For details, Click Here to take our tour.
URL:
http://welcome.to/makemoney.com
____________________
This copy would be used in my signature file
and in search engines. Does this accurately
describe my site? Do you have any ideas for a
different title or description that has more impact?
If you saw this, would you click on it?
If I sound nervous, I am!
Thank you in advance for taking the time to
review my new site. If you would like your site
reviewed, contact me directly and I'll get to it
ASAP.
Christina
Atwell Affiliates
visions-of-ny@usa.net
==================== S u c c e s s S t o r y ======================
From: Fiona Heares <heares@es.co.nz>
Subject: The Birth of a Website ( A Success Story in the Making.)
The Birth of a Website ( A Success Story in the Making.)
Dear Bogdan,
although I have been reading your discussion list for a few weeks, I am a
"newbie" to posting, and so a bit nervous (hope this isn't too long I can
sure "talk" sometimes:)
Although I feel we have a long way to go I am hoping that by the end of the
year this WILL be a success story for you:)
Myself and a friend started online with our site at the end of November
last year, and I can say it has been a VERY steep learning curve.
The idea for us to develop and promote a gift and craft site intitially
came about as Joan & myself have, up until recently been "stay at home
mums".
Both of us have been very heavily involved in our children's education and
through various activities at our kid's school, we developed a strong
sense of what I call "the little people".
In particular local artisans, with truck-loads of talent, that work so hard
to scrape a living from their talents. Actually Joan & I both believe
strongly in the "kiwi-can-do" attitude and abilities. We really believe
that these people deserve an opportunity to display their wares to an
international community, and we hope at the same time to be able to scrape
an income from it.
Anyway we found a mentor who recommended us a web designer and off we
started.
We gave our brief to our web designer that being we wanted a site that was
easy to navigate, fast loading, to have our own domain name,consistency of
pages and design throughout the site, secure credit card ordering, a simple
but attractive site. We started off with 4 suppliers. This took our
designer 3 months to develop and the end result was somewhat different than
what we had imagined, but our designer had talked us into various "add ons
" (like site maps, site search,some BIG graphics, and FRAMES, etc etc)
along the way.
We then started our marketing. Classified submissions, links, newsgroups,
search engine submissions,etc etc. Our daily stats started to grow over Dec
and we were quite pleased. We had our first sale after about 3/4 weeks, and
over the next month had a few more. We were really quite pleased with the
results for being "new online".
In Jan, we met to make updates and ask our web designer to reformat our
site to our original brief. We have had an unending number of problems with
what he has done to our site. Slow loading pages, things that don't work,
ugly page layout, inconsistency in layout and design. The upshot of it is
that we are now desperately looking for a new web designer.
Neither of us feel confident enough to market our site at the moment and we
haven't had a sale for 2 weeks now.
However on the positive side our "hits" are still growing and we are
averaging around 1000 a day (figures as provided by our host server). We
are also pleased with the number of people that have signed up for our
newsletter, although we lost a few, due to a faulty programme.
We are working hard to make a success of this and hopefully once we find a
new web designer we can get back into our marketing and look forward to
more sales coming in for us AND our suppliers.
Fiona & Joan
JoFi Entp
http://www.jofi.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS selection of gift ideas.
Bone Carved Pendants, Baby Hands, Guardian Angels, Wishing Stones,
Beautiful Teapots, Pet Paws, and Natural Skin Care.
http://www.jofi.co.nz
http://www.jofi.net
email to info@jofi.net
http://www.privatesites.com/warriors/JF8906
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note from Moderator
Way to go Fiona. I'm sure that your success story
is going to be main contender for the prize at the
end of this year looking where you were in
November and where you are now.
B.F.
==================G u e s t A r t i c l e ===================
From: Rafael Aguilo <raguilo@concentric.net>
Subject:10 Tips For Effective Self Promotion
10 Tips For Effective Self Promotion
(c)1999 R. Aguilo
Whether in business or on your personal life, you must promote
constantly
to get the results you are after.
This becomes critical when we want to sell a product, service, an
image,
you name it. Ever wonder why there are P.R. Firms?
When your budget is very limited, you have no other choice but to
become
you own "agent". There's nothing wrong with "Blowing Your Own
Horn", when you do it the right way.
1. Introduce Yourself.
When you see an interesting debate going on in a discussion
group, list or forum (You BELONG to at least ONE...Don't You?)
don't take sides. Offer
your INFORMED, well thought-of , and impartial opinion. Bring a
new perspective to the discussion. Do Not change the subject or
try to control the debate. If you present your case properly, you'll
be welcomed with open arms by BOTH sides. Your name will
remain as a valued contributor to the group.
2. Do Your Homework.
Take the time and visit those websites which you would like to
establish some kind of relationship with. Contact the WebMaster
with a PERSONAL message about the site. Follow the "Bambi"
rule: If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Then Don't." This should be a
signal for you not to waste your time
and keep looking.
3. Create Win-Win Situations.
People like to win. Period. They will seek situations that are to
their advantage. Give it to them without losing yourself.
An example: There are many debates about making money online.
Instead of jumping into the fray and just "talk" about it; I created a
FREE Internet Business WebMaster's Survey:
http://mail.infotrieve.com/isurvey/index.cfm?vendorid=5650&formid=
F0005650
(Single Line URL, No Breaks, No Spaces)
It's purpose is to help identify strategies being used by those
INVOLVED
in Internet Business. It can help guide those aspiring to launch an
Internet Based Business. It's FREE and results are delivered in
Real Time.
What about Me? It keeps my name out there, plus I can promote
my websites.
4.Teach By Example.
If you give a fish to a hungry person, you feed that person for a day.
If you teach that person HOW TO fish, you feed this person for life.
Give instructions in such a way that they are EASY to follow and
execute. Results should be predictable ("Cause and Effect").
5.Copy Nature.
Learn to use the "Virus Effect". Viruses find a host that will help in
their growth and further propagation. After the original infection; the
host will make contact with other potential hosts, the virus "jumps"
to a new host. This process is repeated over and over. Imagine
how many new hosts can be "found" by a single host.
This is the same mechanism at work behind "word of mouth",
"personal recommendations", "testimonials", celebrity
"endorsements", etc.
This is the "Formula" you have to follow:
Once you have "infected" a host(a satisfied customer), look for
another host to "infect"(ask for them to recommend your product,
service, website, etc.). Repeat.
Once this process reaches the critical stage, it becomes
automatic and unstoppable. The growth is geometric. The Best
example of this mechanism at work on the Web is: HotMail's
Free EMail. It's the largest Free EMail provider in the World!
Its growth can be directly attributed to this mechanism.
I use the same principle here:
Free Classifieds Sites, Autoresponders, Guestbooks, WebMaster's
Tools.
<http://websitings.com/classads/index3.cfm?random=raguilo>
6.Be The Big Fish In A Small Pond!
If you throw a pebble in the ocean, you'll hardly notice the ripple.
Throw the same pebble in a small pond and the ripple is more
noticeable. Find a small enough pond, and this pebble will make a
splash. You just found the perfect pond. What does this has to do
with you?
You ARE this pebble, and the pond is your niche market.
You have become the Big Fish. Now You are THE SOURCE!
"What if you don't find a pond?"...you may ask. Then MAKE ONE!
How? Here's a few examples:
a. <http://www.websitings.com/banner/raguilo.htm>
b. <http://www.privatesites.com/warriors.cgi?RA0850>
c. <http://www.tokensystems.com/exe/owners.cgi?6714844>
7.Keep Your Eyes & Ears Open! Your Mouth Shut!
Learn from other's experiences. See what they are doing within
your field of interest. Subscribe to E-Zines, Discussion Groups,
Trade Journals, Seminars, etc.
Study your own reactions to EMail Messages you receive; be they
Spam or not. You'll learn tons about what NOT TO DO!
Nature is wise. We have 3 main organs of communication. Only
Two of them come in pairs. NEITHER of them makes a sound!
Their purpose is to gather information. Use this wisely.
8.Integrate.
You must learn to see the Whole Picture. Try to visualize how
"unrelated" pieces of information, processes, ideas, etc. can be
combined to form completely new "entities"(products, services,
resources, etc.). You must try to see both the forest and the trees.
9.Read, Read, and then, Read some more.
There's plenty of information both online and offline that you can
use to help promote your business. Do not limit yourself to one
source. Many times you'll find "golden nuggets" where you least
expect it.
10.Share, Share, Share.
I can't stress this one enough. Don't be just a "Taker". When you
give of your knowledge to help others reach to where you are, you
win not only invaluable allies, but also other people's respect.
You'll be disappointed every now and then by a few bad apples.
But that's part of the deal.
11.Give Extra Value!
Yes, I KNOW the tittle says "10 Tips". But I'm practising what
I preach.
There's a latin custom called: "La Qapa" (pronounced: "la-nnea-
pa").
It's Latin America's version of the more familiar "Baker's Dozen.
The idea is to give your customers unexpected extra value. It
shows
YOUR appreciation for their business.
Customers are THE reason for your business. THEY keep you in
business.
Take this for granted and you'll be dropped like a bad habit.
Satisfy your customers and the money will follow.
=================================================
Article by Rafael Aguilo; publisher of
Aguilo's Net-Business Hot Tips & Tricks
"Strategies and Advice That Works"
http://www.concentric.net/~raguilo/newsletr.htm
To
Subscribe:<mailto:raguilo@concentric.net?subject=SUBSCRIBE>
This article may be re-published without any changes and on
condition that this resource box is included
=
=========================Joke of the Day================
Jokes provided by Tom Johnson.
To subsribe to his joke letter directly request it at
jokes@amoneymaker.com
put <jokes> in the subject line.
You know you are gettin old when..... Part 2 of 2
21. You get your exercise acting as a pallbearer for your friends who
exercise.
22. You know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions.
23. You're asleep, but others worry that you're dead.
24. You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into
the room.
25. You buy a compass for the dash of your car.
26. You are proud of your lawn mower.
27. Your best friend is dating someone half their age...and isn't
breaking any laws.
28. You call Olan Mills before they call you.
29. Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper.
30. You sing along with the elevator music.
31. You would rather go to work than stay home sick.
32. You constantly talk about the price of gasoline.
33. You enjoy hearing about other people's operations.
34. You consider coffee one of the most important things in life.
35. You make an appointment to see the dentist.
36. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
37. Neighbors borrow your tools.
38. People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
39. You have a dream about prunes.
40. You answer a question with, "because I said so."
41. You send money to PBS.
42. The end of your tie doesn't come anywhere near the top of your
pants.
43. You take a metal detector to the beach.
44. You wear black socks with sandals.
45. You know what the word "equity" means.
46. You can't remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch TV.
47. Your ears are hairier than your head.
48. You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
49. You got cable for the weather channel (sometimes referred to as "Old
Folks MTV").
50. You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.
======================================================
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