| LED Digest 1794: The Demise of Email? |
|
|
|
================================================== 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 30, 2004 Issue #1794 ................................................ .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== The Demise of Email? ==-- ~ Dave Ushkow "Traffic is immaterial if you can't communicate with your customers." --== Anti-Virus Servers Creating Spam ==-- ~ Eddie Teo "Will the anti-virus software companies wise up...?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== SEO - What to Pay? ==-- ~ Richard Stubbings "A point to consider is your target market." --== Reciprocal Linking: Dead or Alive? ==-- ~ Rick Gortatowsky "What webmasters need is a reciprocal linkage engine where webmasters can 'team up'..." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Coding Stymie ==-- ~ Helen Estlin --== Site Stats for Non-techies? ==-- ~ Lanell Grant ~ Joanne Cannell --== Emails in Flash Files ==-- ~ Mekhong Kurt ======= NEW ===================================== From: Dave Ushkow Subject: The Sudden and Rapid Demise of E-mail Hello all, I've been a long time subscriber, and had Web presence for 8 years. As a dealer of very high end investment quality products, which I market to a High Net Worth clientele, I am greatly troubled by the turn our infrastructure has taken. Over the last 7 years, I have found direct (requested) e-mail marketing to be extremely effective. The last year, I have become increasingly aware of my customer base avoiding, if not running from e-mail. This seems to be a disturbing trend amongst busy professionals and entrepreneurs. Obviously this is due to the unbelievable amount of spam out there. I would hate to resort to direct mail, as it is costly and time consuming. Does anyone see a solution to this insanity? Traffic is immaterial if you can't communicate with your customers. Regards, Dave Ushkow www.pen-site.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Eddie Teo Subject: Spam vs Anti-Virus Servers - Which is Worse? On our servers, there have been a huge jump recently in spam mails, and correspondingly, there is an even bigger jump in anti-virus servers returning mails telling us our domains have been sending them virus-infected emails. The trouble is, those mails did not originate from us! Most of them originated from virus-infected machines, which the virus in concerned uses just about anyone's email address to send out those infected mails. When this "feature" started a few years ago, I thought "Hey, that's pretty cool, now I know if my machines are sending out virus-infected emails". But recently, it has grown to take at least one or two hours of my time daily just to clear these notices. This is on top of clearing spam / junk mails, which are bad enough by itself. Will the anti-virus software companies wise up and take this into account? If you are administering the servers, will you turn off this "notice emails" feature? Anyone else out there facing the same issues? What did you do about it? Any innovative suggestions? eddie teo www.online.com.sg ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Richard Stubbings Subject: Paying for SEO > What I'm after is some guidelines as to what I can expect > to pay for this kind of [SEO/SEM] service and maybe some > chest puffing from those of you who really know this business. - Gomez, LED 1791 There is no easy answer regarding what you can expect to pay for SEO. Over the years I have had various quotes ranging from a few hundred pounds to many thousands. All to do the 'same' work. I would like to be able to say it depends upon what you are promoting; how many key words you should be targeting; the level of competition for your key words; and the content and design of your current site. I would like to say that, but it does not seem to work that way. I would suggest you avoid any automated service. Avoid any service that implies or says that they can guarantee positions as if they have an inside deal. I would avoid people who say that they can get you on thousands of search engines. The best thing to do is to get a short list by asking people here who they would recommend and ask the short list for prices. A point to consider is your target market. If for instance you are a UK company and most of your business is UK then get a SEO who understands the UK market and any relevant specialist UK search engines. Richard Stubbings Kulture Shock http://www.kultureshock.co.uk ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Rick Gortatowsky Subject: Reciprocal linking > ... link farms in the guise of directories are the > most prominently featured sites for many commercial > search queries at Google. - Jill Whalen, LED 1785 Dear Jill, I reviewed your site and read some content and am most impressed. The issues presented in LED #1785 are right on the money. The problem with developing qualified traffic to a web venue these days stem nearly completely from what I cant say amount to abuses, since there is not Court Of The Web (lol) but really webmasters trying to "get all they can get". As I noted in a prior LED a short time back I know many a webmaster who obtains significant hits and they use this as a gauge of site success. When I ask them however if they are actually getting goals fulfilled its almost always "Well not yet but I have alot of traffic so its just a matter of time". No it is not. If a site has 200,000 hits a day and is selling custom pens, yet sells 10 pens in a day I'd much rather be the site that sells 500 pens a dat and gets 1000 hits. Hits are a statistic and dont buy a cup of coffee. Abuse for lack of a better word is what is consistently sending qualified traffic off into completely irrelevent content often to the point of frustration. We must all remember the Internet is still a young technology and its been slated (at least in the USA) to grow up. While for a time the web was an economic boom and day trading and such the word of the days now many a decent economist considers it more boon than blessing. I think we will see regulation occur and it will begin via flat rate sales tax and in years to follow more restriction as globally nations realize that freedom of communication can be as bad as it can be good. Reciprocal linkage when context of sites are like is in fact the best mechinism to develop new qualified traffic. Affiliate programs w/ Amazon and others prove that people will click through on context sensitive linkages. After all, thats what an SE is supposed to do as well! What webmasters need is a reciprocal linkage engine where webmasters can "team up" and move traffic to and fro from sites that can benefit from other sites with like forms of content. Perhaps I should write it up in more specific detail and submit it into MSN or Google. This form of RLE engine could readily give any SE an INSTANT step up on competitors and put alot more power in webmasters control to the benefit of other webmasters and especially the surfer and RLE service. Rick Gortatowsky, President The Software Society ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Helen Estlin Subject: Coding Problems I am stymied by the fact that the top of page arrow will not work on this website... the site is not finished and can only be found if you have the URL which is below http://www.cardblanks.com/new_cardblanks/cardmaking.php if anyone would like to take a look at it and see if you can tell what I have done wrong I would really appreciate it. Helen Estlin Yellow Web Design www.yellowdawg.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Lanell Grant Subject: Website Stats > ... I am ready to purchase a service or a program that > will allow me to gather and view each of my site stats > in a separate, neat, graphical format. The major programs > or services available are too sophisticated and/or too expensive. - Terry Riley, LED 1791 Terry, In early 1999 I set up my first web site with V----, who included several stats packages. Over time I began to appreciate the differences in stats software. As my understanding of what was being reported increased I started to realize that unless the AOL "jumping IPs" problem, among others, was handled the data I was viewing was in significant error. Look at your logs... Space does not permit discussion of stats errors, but suffice to say that no matter how handsome the graphic or tabular output, if the basics are not correctly resolved, the results which flow from that are highly inaccurate. When session tracking with a cookie coupled to a stats software package became available the first really accurate statistical data about our web site visitors became available. The information which that produced is truly remarkable, and accurate for the most part. As I first learned of this approach to statistics I discovered that this capability was strictly for the big boys that had budgets to match. I could not afford the thousands of dollars per year this capability first cost. At some later point in time to increase sales, software like this was made available to hosting companies to offer to their customers. This was and is, in my opinion, a major breakthrough for the little guy ! Today on several web sites, at a cost of US$1.95 per month each, I have Urchin 5 with tracking operating successfully. The information available to me has caused a number of positive revisions and cleared the cobwebs away from what is really happening on a web site. I don't wish to shill for one set of software or the other. I have no personal interest. I do believe most site operators do not realize what is available out there and settle for significantly inferior feedback about their visitors. It was not easy for me to locate both a suitable hosting company and at the same time one which offered what I have described. It took me about a year using typical searching techniques. In process I learned that hosting companies do not generally offer this because, " ... the web masters never even ask about what we do include, let alone request sophisticated stats...". This response to my questioning was almost universal ! I close with the thought that this is a little understood topic. Perhaps it is worthwhile to consider that this is a primary yardstick with which we can measure the results of our efforts. I believe you will benefit greatly from a look into what is outlined here. And, it is affordable! Lanell Grant www.rv-realestate.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Joanne Cannell Subject: Website Statistics My hosting company (Vianetworks) provided me with a freeware program for statistics called Webalizer that I don't find very helpful. It doesn't seem to give me the keywords used, search engines or browser. Another program was recommended to me called Power Phlogger by CIIC, Inc., which I think costs US$5.00 a month. I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with Webalizer & can tell me if I just have it configured wrong. Or if there is a better option than Power Phlogger? Thanks, Joanne Cannell CKD, CBD http://kitchendesignbyjoanne.com ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Mekhong Kurt Subject: Flash email > Awhile back I picked up the great tip, from the LED, > of putting my email addresses in a Flash file... > but unlike a picture it's actually clickable. - Richard Graham, LED 1792 I'm curious, as I have been making graphics active links for years, either to go to a web destination, or as a "mail to" link. Both are simple to do, and neither require Flash to achieve. I'm far from being a technically oriented person, but that's one thing I do know. Hope that saves you a bit of time, trouble, and unneeded Flash. Mekhong Kurt, Web Master Bangkok's Voice On The Web http://bangkokatoz.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
