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Internet Marketing Strategy For Home Business Promotion
Fri 8th Sept '00
In this issue:
1. INTRODUCTION
==>Dot com shakeout, Affinia no more
2. PLACES TO VISIT
==>Web sites for you to visit.
3. TIDBITS
==>Business news and other interesting snippets.
4. TOOLS AT NOW SELL!
==>Useful tools to make your life easier.
5. VIEWPOINT
==>What's your opinion?
6. MARKETPLACE
==>Check out special offers and deals here.
7. FEATURE ARTICLE
==>"How To Design Your Web Site Right"
by Azam Corry.
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X INTRODUCTION X
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Hi,
The online climate sure has changed a lot since this time last
year. These days, dot coms seem to be folding almost as fast as
they are launching. And if they're not closing down, many seem to
be cutting staff or relocating to reduce expenses.
The reasons are many. One is that the Internet itself has
changed. Concepts that worked in the past have become outdated,
leaving those unable or unwilling to change in trouble. In
addition, competition has increased greatly.
The factor most blamed however is the drying-up of funding, or
"Nervous VC's." But the reluctance of investors to continue
pumping cash into ventures lacking a sound business strategy, is
a good thing. And one that will eventually lead to a more stable,
healthier marketplace; weeding-out the garden so that real
businesses can thrive, and protecting the small business owner
from competitors that don't need to make money.
BB
Last week Affinia.com closed. As an Affinia affiliate, you could
create your own free storefront to sell a wide range of products
on a commission basis.
There was no warning. No notification was sent to affiliates.
They just pulled the plug. Visit the site and all you'll find is
the contact address: affinia@yahoo.com.
So what went wrong? Apparently sales volume wasn't as high as
expected, and as a 'middleman' earning a relatively small amount
on each sale, it seems that Affinia simply weren't making money.
In addition, several changes of direction would seem to indicate
an uncertainty that probably did little to help matters.
Ironic really. Less than a year ago they were boasting how much
better their business model was than Vstore's, which operates a
similar program (one Affinia later copied to a degree, when it
moved from its pay-per-click commission structure, to a regular
percentage-per-sale).
If you're one of the 70,000 plus affiliates left in the lurch,
get your store down pronto. Endless 404 'page not found' errors
won't do much for your credibility. I suggest you pop over to
http://www.Vstore.com . You can setup a replacement store in
minutes.
BB
Tell me what YOU think! Send your feedback, comments, what you
like, what you hate, etc., to me at: mailto:azam-nowsell.com
TTFN
Azam
PS - Did you remember to get your 21 FREE Net Profits audio files
and course notes?
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X PLACES TO VISIT X
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http://www.Phone-Enable.com/
By adding one line of HTML to a web page, site owners can enable
visitors to place calls from their PC's to regular telephones.
http://websearch.about.com/library/blses00.htm
Comprehensive coverage of the Search Engine Strategies 2000
conference. Ranking tips and other useful information.
http://www.FreeTelephone.com/
Information on free International long distance. PC to telephone,
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International business trade site. Newly redesigned to make the
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X TIDBITS X
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US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Man Arrested In Hoax That Used Bogus Press Release And An
Internet Service To Drive Down Price Of Emulex Corp.; SEC Moves
To Freeze Assests Made During Scheme. Less than one week after a
fabricated press release led to a publicly traded company
temporarily losing more than $2 billion in market value and
investors to suffer millions of dollars in trading losses,
federal authorities have arrested an El Segundo man on fraud
charges for allegedly causing an Internet news service to publish
a false news report and then using the subsequent market
instability to make a quarter million dollar profit.
http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/iwpr
$2 BILLION SPENT IN Q1 ON ONLINE ADS
According to the latest edition of the Internet Ad Revenue Report
published quarterly by the Internet Advertising Bureau , online
advertising spending reached $1.953 billion during for the first
quarter of this year. The report, compiled by
PricewaterhouseCoopers, also stated that Q1 2000 revenues were up
9.9% over Q4 1999 and 182% up over Q1 1999. Consumer-related
spending was again the top category, accounting for 31% of
spending. http://www.emarketer.com/estats/20000808_iab.html
eCOMMERCE MATURES
According to ActivMedia's report, Real Numbers Behind 'Net
Profits 2000, e-commerce activity for year 2000 will reach $132
billion worldwide, double the $58 billion reported in 1999. This
figures includes revenues from B2C, B2B and internet services.
ActivMedia points to changes occuring as e-commerce continues to
mature globally. The report notes that although most new sites
are based in the US, proportionally its share of new sites has
shrunk in the past relative to Europe and Asia.
http://www.emarketer.com/estats/20000808_activ.html
ePUBLISHING HAS COMPANIES RUSHING TO ALLY
Electronic books are getting a lot of hype lately, but many
aren't quite sure what to do about that -- and how. Inside.com
summarizes recent moves -- Barnes & Noble + Microsoft, Adobe's
acquisition of Glassbooks, etc. http://www.inside.com/story/
Story_Cached/0,2770,8842_8_11_1,00.html
DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE NET GETTING OLDER
The number of seniors online will more than triple from 11.1
million in 1999 to 34.1 million in 2004, and they will account
for 20 percent of all new users, according to IDC.
http://cyberatlas.com/big_picture/
demographics/article/0,,5901_448131,00.html
ALTAVISTA'S HEAD ROLLS
The chaos surrounding AltaVista's failure to launch an unmetered
Internet access service in Britain claimed the head of Andy
Mitchell, the company's U.K. CEO. It was a hard fall for
Mitchell, who was applauded by the press and members of the
British government when he announced plans for AltaVista's
unmetered service in March. However, after admitting the group
had never fully costed its plans for the service, he resigned
with immediate effect on Wednesday.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,18084,00.html
HOW NOT TO MAKE MONEY
If World Online's experience is any indication, Internet service
providers in the U.K. are going to have a hard time staying in
business. Heavy users of that ISP's service are costing it more
than 1,000 euros a month in some cases, while paying it just 10
euros each month for the favour. Both World Online and AltaVista
say the privatised former state monopoly, British Telecom, is
continuing to charge high rates on the section of the dial-up
connection it controls, making their services uneconomic. A World
Online spokesman said it's prepared to take a loss at present
before moving customers up into its broadband services.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,18129,00.html
WRECKING EUROPE
The European Commission is threatening to block or dramatically
scale back Time Warner's plans to link up with EMI Group, over
fears the combined business would quash competition in the global
music industry. The Commission's worries are compounded by Time
Warner's plans to merge with AOL. European officials and senior
executives of the companies are due to meet next week.
http://www.financialmail.co.uk/20000901/nm19878.html
POWER TO THE MOBILE
According to research house IDC, WAP-based applications are
coming of age in Europe, which could result in a shifting of the
Internet power-base in favour of the mobile operators, such as
Vodafone, Orange and Telecom Italia Mobile. IDC believes the
mobile operators have the potential to be the Yahoos and AOLs of
the future in terms of content and access. In Japan, for example,
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode wireless Internet service has over 10 million
subscribers, making it the second biggest ISP in the world. In a
few years it could be the biggest ISP in the world in terms of
subscriber numbers, possibly followed by Vodafone and France
Telecom's Orange. http://www.idc.com
EUROPE
Far from being a technological backwater, Spain will rank fifth
in Europe with 15 million Internet users by 2004, according to
Merrill Lynch's quarterly report on the Net. Germany , the UK
will be the top four. However, by Internet penetration, Spain
will rank third by 2003 with 44 percent of the population
connected to the Internet. Greece and Portugal, with 33 percent
and 30 percent respectively, will rank bottom. The Nordic
countries will be the nations with the highest Internet usage
rates. At the start of the year only 9 percent of Spanish
Internet users had made purchases on the Web, placing Spain in
last position in Western Europe. But Spain will rank eighth in
Europe within four years in pure business to business e-commerce.
http://es.internet.com/es/
YAHOO SINKS, MARKET RISES
Yahoo tumbled 10 percent in one session last week after Lehman
Brothers analyst Holly Becker questioned its revenue model.
Becker said the Net advertising that accounts for 80 percent of
Yahoo's revenue could dry up as more dot-coms go bust. Yahoo's
stock couldn't shake her doubt, ending the week down 15 percent.
The Nasdaq went the other direction, however, on a strong showing
by semiconductor and fiber-optic stocks. The Nasdaq is in
positive territory for the year. http://www.thestandard.com/
ACCESS FOR ALL
The U.S. Internet population will more than double by 2004,
reaching 210 million, according to IDC. Older adults will be the
fastest growing group of surfers. By 2004, there will be 34
million people online over the age of 55, up from 11 million in
1999. http://www.thestandard.com/
JOY TO E-RETAILERS
Worldwide online holiday sales are expected to reach $19.5
billion in 2000, an 85 percent increase over 1999 according to
Gartner Group. North America will represent more than half of
worldwide holiday revenue, bringing in an estimated $10.7
billion, up from $6.3 billion in 1999.
http://www.thestandard.com/
ASIA RACES ONLINE
Forty-six percent of adults in Singapore went online last month,
making Singapore the most active of five markets studied in Asia,
according to French-based Internet measurement company NetValue.
Runners-up were Korea with 42 percent online, Taiwan with 36
percent online and Hong Kong with 29 percent online.
http://www.thestandard.com/
ALLADVANTAGE STILL DISADVANTAGED
AllAdvantage.com, a company that pays people to look at ads while
they surf the Net, announced plans on Friday to lay off 100
workers, about 18 percent of its staff. The Hayward, Calif.-based
company cut 60 jobs in July.
http://www.thestandard.net/article/display/0,1151,18194,00.html
STICK WITH LOTTO
A new promotion sponsored by E-Trade and AT&T has raised legal
concerns. At issue The entry form for the $20,000 Dream Account
Sweepstakes includes a prechecked box that gives AT&T permission
to send marketing messages to entrants. Removing the check from
the opt-in box disqualifies an entry.
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article/0,,12_451371,00.html
GLOBAL GROWTH FOR NET AD SPENDING
Online ad spending in Western Europe will grow 1,600 percent
during the next five years, compared with a growth rate of 600
percent in the U.S.
2000 2005
North America 5,921* 39,117
Caribbean, Central and South America 76 1,925
Western Europe 1,293 20,700
Central and Eastern Europe 15 445
Central Asia 123 2,668
Asia-Pacific 804 17,067
Middle East and Africa 116 1,318
* in millions of dollars
Source: "Interactive Advertising New Revenue Streams for Fixed
and Mobile Operators," Ovum, 2000. http://www.thestandard.com/
ONLINE PRICES NOT CREATED EQUAL
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,38622,00.html Variable
pricing has hit the Web. Amazon charges different prices for the
same products depending on who visits, and that's hacking off
some loyal customers. By Craig Bicknell.
SEGA SEEKS NET PROFITS
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,38326,00.html It's No. 3
with dark-horse Microsoft fast approaching, so Sega turns to ISP
services to put them back in the black. SegaNet adds head-to-
head play to games such as Quake. By Dennis McCauley.
AOL DEAL UNDER FTC SCRUTINY
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,38596,00.html FTC
staffers worry that a combined AOL-Time Warner would wield too
much clout in major cities. Also WorldCom acquiring
Intermedia.... Losses mount for Lycos Europe.
AMAZON'S PRIVACY POLICY ALTERED
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38572,00.html In an
update to its privacy policy, Amazon.com tells customers their
personal information could be shared with other companies.
WIRELESS PHONE HACK ATTACK
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,38557,00.html Nokia
handsets are frozen for up to 60 seconds by what appears to be a
malicious short messaging service code. By Elisa Batista.
MICROSOFT LOADS UP FOR PIRATE RAIDS
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2610696,00.html
Microsoft's other search engine isn't for web surfers. Instead,
it helps the company track down pirated software.
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This week:
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What do you think about the problems many online companies are
facing? Does it worry you?
Send your comments to: mailto:viewpoint-nowsell.com
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Last week:
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Do free classified ad postings work?
Reader Comments:
Will you place a hundred ads and get a thousand orders? NO. If
you're GIVING something away--like, say a free subscription to a
free ezine that links you to 25 free biz resources in every
issue--a hundred ads will bring you a handful of subscribers.
I've found that classified "blasting" is virtually worthless--if
people don't have to visit the site to post, they won't read any
ads. While posting to classified sites one at a time gets SOME
response--personally, I feel that the best use for free
classified sites is testing headlines--if a headline gets a
response there, it will REALLY get response elsewhere.
Judy Wogoman, Publisher
NetNuggetz Newsletter--25 FREE Biz resources in every issue!
mailto:bizansrfindr@netscape.net?subject=subscribe
Fast, free content at http://sites.netscape.net/bizansrfindr
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-----------------------------------
"How To Design Your Web Site Right"
-----------------------------------
by Azam Corry
Your first step is to answer a fundamental question: What is the
purpose of the web site? It could be to directly sell a product,
or perhaps to get people to join your mailing list, take part in
a game or competition, or even call a sales representative.
Whatever it is, you must identify it clearly. Every part of the
site should be designed to reach this goal.
Identify your customer. Who are they? Picture them. What's their
job? Income? How old are they? What are their interests? Their
personality types? Write this information down and refer to it
often. Build your site for THEM. Not you.
Now you know the site's purpose and it's intended audience, you
can think about various sections you will need, and the topics to
be covered in each. Aim for a maximum of five or six main
sections. More than that and visitors will have trouble
remembering them.
Draw a plan of your site on paper, with arrows to show how the
sections will link together. Links should fan out from the home
page like branches on a tree. Visitors should be able to reach
any page within three clicks (and return home in one).
Sketch the different page layouts you will need. Keep these to a
minimum for continuity within the site. You might have one layout
for your homepage, a generic layout for each of the section
indexes, and another standard design for sub-pages. Try several
alternative styles and select the best.
If using a tables-based layout, put navigation links and
drop-down menus, etc., to the right of the page. If you put them
on the left, the code will appear at the top of your HTML file.
Search engines place a lot of emphasis on the information there.
You want it to be keyword-rich content, not links.
Identify components of your layout that will be repeated across
many pages. Things like navigation menus, page headers and
footers, etc. Mark these to be added to your pages through the
use of SSI (Server Side Includes).
With SSI, a simple CGI command is used to tell the browser to
reference another file, and write it into that location on page
load. This way, if and when you need to modify, say, the
navigation menu on every page, you only have to change the
contents of a single file. To learn more about SSI visit:
http://www.ora.com/www/info/cgi/ch05.html
Open your HTML editor. Using your sketches, create a template
file for each of your chosen layouts. Include everything that
will be the same on each page.
<--- Side Note --->
SSI's can only be viewed when pages are online, so unless you
have an advanced editor, I suggest you make two templates for
each page type.
First create an entire page as you intend it to appear in a
browser. When you've finished, add an identifying comment tag at
the beginning and end of each SSI section. Save the file. Use it
for reference and testing modifications to these included
sections.
Now select the area between the first pair of comment tags. Cut
and paste the HTML into a new file of its own. This will be the
include file the browser will reference. Replace the cut section
with the appropriate SSI link to this file. Repeat for each SSI
section and then use the 'Save As' command to save what you are
left with as a new template. Use this template to create pages.
<--- Side Note --->
Don't use FONT tags in your HTML. Instead use CSS (Cascading
Style Sheets) to specify font face, weight and color, etc. The
vast majority of surfers are using browsers that understand the
basic implementation of CSS that covers font information.
The file size of the page will be much smaller if it isn't full
of FONT tags, making it download faster. Plus, if you ever want
to make adjustments, you need only modify a single line in your
style sheet file to effect the font styles on every page.
To learn more about CSS visit: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
Keep the number of graphics on each page to a minimum. Compress
them as much as you can, until the image begins to distort.
Specify their exact sizes in your HTML code. When the browser
knows the size of an image, it can continue drawing the rest of
the page while it downloads. Otherwise it must wait.
Avoid large pictures. If their usage is central to your site's
theme, compress and save them in interlaced format. This will
cause them to gradually 'fade' into the page, so your visitor
isn't left staring at a blank space.
Research keywords your target audience will type into the search
engines to find you. Spend some time on this. Create a list of
words and their synonyms. Divide them into topics. Highlight the
most important words and phrases in each.
Write the copy for each of your topics. Initially, just let the
words flow. Write down anything that comes into your head.
Go back over your copy and refine it. Again and again. Work your
keywords into the text and identify possible headlines. Use short
sentences and make it as crisp as you can. Write in a language
and style that will appeal to your target audience.
Now you're ready to start creating pages. Paste your copy into
the appropriate template. If it's a sales letter, allow the copy
to run its entire length on a single page. Otherwise, look for a
suitable break point at around one-and-a-half screen lengths.
Short pages can be annoying to visitors. If they have a slow
connection, they will spend a lot of time waiting for pages to
load. However, with very long pages its harder to get good search
engine rankings.
Use a level one heading (H1) containing your most important
keywords at the top of each page. Search engines consider these
important in determining relevancy. Have plenty of keywords in
the first paragraph or so of text. Keywords in file and directory
names may also help your ranking a little in some search engines.
© 1999-2000 Azam Corry "Do it Better, Do it Faster, Do it Right!"
Azam Corry owns Now Sell! A mine of helpful information, tools
and resources for budding Netrepreneurs. Rated 3-star by Go.com.
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==> If you are doing business online, you'll enjoy his Biz Bits
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