| LED Digest 1785: Site, Product Measurement |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam,led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com ................................................ April 19, 2004 Issue #1785 ................................................ .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Keeping it in Perspective ==-- ~ David Yancey "...annual retail sales for Winnie the Pooh merchandise exceed US$5.9 *billion*." --== Site, Product Measurement ==-- ~ Richard Graham "Just been reading Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" (great book) and about the need for measurement." --== Why People aren't Buying Online ==-- ~ Ian Dickson "...don't worry too much about whether or not people are actually transacting business online." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== HTML Editors? ==-- ~ Kathy Wilson Anderson "...it's vital for anyone designing a website to know HTML..." ~ Mark Roberts "If it works in IE, it might not work in Mozilla." ~ Joe Taylor "...one does not have to be a 'professional' hand coder to create a web site..." --== Reciprocal Linking: Dead or Alive? ==-- ~ Michael Martinez "Everyone needs to stop wasting their time with reciprocal linking strategies." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Patent Attorney Needed ==-- ~ Mark Whitman ======= NEW ===================================== From: David Yancey Subject: New Topic: Keeping it all in perspective In a period when most people who are aware of the goings-on of the Internet are anxiously speculating about the presumably imminent Google IPO, perhaps we can gain a little perspective if we chill for a bit. On the one hand, it's true that the combined, global 2003 search-based revenues of Google, Yahoo/Overture, MSN, and all the rest were approximately US$2.5 billion, so, yes, "search" is truly a big deal. On the other hand, I just learned from the helpful folks at www.promomagazine.com that, umm, maybe you'd all better sit down first, annual retail sales for Winnie the Pooh merchandise exceed US$5.9 *billion*. Now, I don't know about you, but after the past six years of surviving the first dot-disaster and working my fanny off to carve out a useful role in this latest boomlet, I can 'bearly' handle this information... David Yancey http://www.vivante.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Richard Graham Subject: Measuring the final confirmation Just been reading Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" (great book) and about the need for measurement. So what I'm looking for is some software that will take my site logs, look at my order confirmation page and tell me what route the visitor took to get there. If it could also tell me how many previous visits the customer had made it would be great. Anyone got ideas? I'm sure lots of people would find this useful. Thanks as usual for the great list! Be genki, Richard Graham http://www.genkienglish.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Ian Dickson Subject: Why aren't people buying on the Net This is a sidebar to another post. First question - are you selling that people normally buy based on a description / photo alone? I never buy clothes without first feeling the material. I never bought from catalogues and I don't by online. Haptics have some way to go yet:-) I did recently go shopping for a piano. Much to my surprise, in the music shop I found that a high end electric Yamaha beat the acoustic ones. Acoustic pianos all have their own unique sound, but an electric one shouldn't. So I saved $1000+ buying online based on the product number. In practice the only things I buy online on a regular basis, (as a "stranger" are software, air tickets and hotel rooms. (I don't even use Amazon, I have big local bookshop and like browsing). I do buy a wider range of goods (wine) using the online facility of businesses that have already recruited me as a customer, so I know what I'm getting. The moral of this story? Look hard at what you are trying to do, and if, in reality, the best you can hope for is to inform a future buying decision (or generate follow up that might lead to one), don't worry too much about whether or not people are actually transacting business online. Cheers Ian Dickson http://www.commkit.com ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Kathy Wilson Anderson Subject: HTML editors > I have been using Frontpage since 1998, and while > I know how to go in and "tweak the code" these days, > why worry about that. - Joe Taylor, LED 1784 Well, one good reason to go in and "tweak the code" is to fix the things that the WYSIWYG website design programs, such as Frontpage, don't do right. Here's a great example. I viewed Joe's website first in IE 5.5, then in NS 4.7. I use NS 4.7 as my Murphy's Law - if something will go wrong on a page, it will do so in NS 4.7. What I discovered is that the form in the top right hand column to sign up for his newsletter and the form to tell a friend about his website showed up fine in IE, but did not appear on the page in NS 4.7. So I viewed the code, and, you guessed it... the code for these forms is a web bot, inserted by FrontPage and reliable only on IE. I'm not picking on Frontpage. NONE of the programs are perfect, including GoLive, FrontPage, and Dreamweaver (my all time favorite). In my humble opinion, it's vital for anyone designing a website to know HTML so that you can go in and clean up the automatically inserted code on your webpages that will affect the functionality and usability of them. Love, Kathy Wilson Anderson http://www.under-one-roof.net ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Mark Roberts Subject: HTML editors > ... I found that the Macromedia website didn't function > properly in Mozilla 1.6... When it came to ordering, I had > to switch to Internet Explorer. None of the order buttons > or links worked in Mozilla... - Tom Anson, LED 1784 Hence, one of the very valuable lessons that I learned a few months ago. If it works in IE, it might not work in Mozilla. If it works in Mozilla, it will work in IE (as a rule). This almost cost me dearly until I made a habit to code for Mozilla. I have since seen numerous other benefits for coding for Mozilla. I don't know if this is true or not, however, by experience it seems as though Dreamweaver codes or IE compatiablity. I generally hand code everything with Homesite now. A great compromise between notepad and Dreamweaver... IMHO the best of both sides. Mark Roberts Roberts Computing Systems http://www.robertscomputing.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Joseph Taylor Subject: HTML editors > Did you ever look at all the extra files Front Page creates > on your host server? Do you know how much extra superfluous > code that creates what that does...? That's why professionals > write code and don't use wizards... - Bill Davidson Bill, I too am a professional, but not a professional coder / programmer, but an electical engineer, BEE GA Tech '82. My speciality is in high field magnetics, electrostatics and super conductivity, plus a minor in mining engineering. I do understand the "art" of programming and that there is beauty is doing "tight" code. I do agree with you that Frontpage software will never be able to replicate what a human can do as far as precision goes. I think you missed my point. My point is that one does not have to be a "professional" hand coder to create a web site if you have a software tool like Frontpage. Also, my argument was not about costs, per se, but about getting the job done. Frontpage and other software packages allow a more people, with less programming / coding skills, to create web sites. As far as costs go, memory and bandwidth are essentially free (IE are becoming cheaper day-to-day). My counter argument to you on costs is, what is your time worth, $50 per hour? perhaps $100 per hour? For me using software to design and generate web pages uses less of my time and allows me ability to do more with the time I do have. My time costs over $100,000+ per year, which far out weigh the cost renting a dedicated server with no bandwidth restrictions at $1,200 per year. Very Truly Yours, Joe Taylor Powder and Bulk Dot Com jtaylor, powderandbulk.com -------- new post - new topic ------- From: Michael Martinez Subject: Reciprocal linking > ... the only people making such [linking] requests any > more are people who naively believe that links from > my domain will help them get good rankings in search > results. - Michael Martinez, LED 1781 > Driven traffic is highly dependent on content of a site, > it's that simple or that complex.... - Rick Gortatowsky, LED 1782 Perhaps I was not succinct enough. Reciprocal linking today is not what it started out as. To the vast majority of people, it is not about driving traffic to their site. It is about getting good search engine rankings. Google Adwords is NOT a reciprocal link. It is an ADVERTISING LINK and should not be confused with RECIPROCAL linkage whereby two Web site operators agree to link to each other without providing any other compensation for the effort. > Optimally all forms of qualified traffic are what any webmaster > should want, thats why a website exists, so as many people as > possible can come to it and do what they want do. > Reciprocal linkage is a great way of doing just that. The > problem with reciprocal linkage is there is no automation of > control, qualification, statistic and cost effectiveness.... This is just plain naivete. The problem with reciprocal linkage is that it has become a perverted spam-like nuissance which serves no useful purpose. People are using yesterday's Google-optimizing technique (boosting link popularity) under the misguided belief that the people at Google are too stupid or lazy to have caught on to the trick after four years. > SE's should also IMHO consider a pre-content filter. So, if > Joe/sephine web surfer goes to a search engine he/she can > instantly eliminate crud-loads or irrelevent results by a > single "click" in entering the engine... Search engines have been experimenting with this concept for years. However, the user is ultimately responsible for his or her search. The better people become at figuring out what to search for, the easier it is for the engines to search their databases. > The problem on the web are gazillions of frustrated surfers > who are trying to get to the qualified sites they want and > instead ending up... in Timbuktu. Recent studies have shown that most people who use the Internet for shopping ARE finding what they need. However, people in the online business community STILL need to come to grips with reality, which is that MOST people on the Internet (at any given time) are NOT looking to spend money. They are looking FOR INFORMATION. The more information your business sites provide to the casual surfers, the MORE LIKELY they will be to remember your sites and come back to them in the future when they DO want to make purchases. Everyone needs to stop wasting their time with reciprocal linking strategies. I agree with Martha. Why the heck should I agree to exchange links with people I don't know and don't have anything in common with? It's not going to help either me or them and it just clutters up my Web site with worthless links and eats up my time. I'm not going to do it. Period. Michael Martinez, Author Visualizing Middle-earth, Parma Endorion, and Understanding Middle-earth http://www.xenite.org/ ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Mark Whitman Subject: Need Patent Attorney Can anyone in this group recommend a top notch patent attorney who specializes in internet related intellectual property. I'm part of a small group of programmer / developers who seem to have almost inadvertently invented an anti-spam tool that blows filters (which we feel will *always* be a semi-solution at best) and white lists away. So, we want to patent it. We're also looking for a hot visual c++ programmer for windows programming who also has NT network admin skills. Any referrals would be appreciated. Mark Whitman mark, webstuf.net ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." - Alexander Hamilton |
