| LED Digest 2318: Sketchy Forms |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration 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 .............................................. January 4, 2007 Issue no. 2318 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== --== Even More Form Spam ==-- ~ John Smart "If you have...any script that mails open confirmation to the sender, you are at risk." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Alt Attributes within Heading Tags ==-- ~ Shaun Johnston "...I tip towards not calling attention to graphics at all." --== Digg Hates SEO ==-- ~ Joel Lesser "Let them Digg their own grave." ~ Chris Nielsen "I just forwarded a...personal note to all four email contacts I found on Digg.com..." --== An SEO Guide - is it Possible? ==-- ~ Adam Audette "Check out the excellent guide at SEOmoz." --== The Email Crisis ==-- ~ Will Bontrager "A decoy is a great idea..." --== Simplicity is Overrated ==-- ~ Tom Anson "I think the question should be 'full-function, but made to look simple and work simply'." --== Linking to the LED [was: New Years...] ==-- <Moderator Comment> "Thanks for the amazing show of support!" ~ Nancy Cardinali "Sounds like a plan!" ~ Ron Coble "I'm in." ~ Tom Aman "[We] should let Adam know so he can give us feedback on how well this works out." ~ John Smart "...how about a nice snazzy banner?" ~ Lorelle Smith "I'd be willing to volunteer my time & research skills to find tons of suitable keyword phrases..." ========== NEW =================================== From: John Smart Subject: Spammers - hate them! I got a mail from a client today -- someone was refusing his mail because my domain had open ports leading to spam. Well, I got rid off all those Matt's Archive cgi mailing nightmare scripts, wrote my own form manager that is completely secure, so I was flummoxed. The nice people blocking my mail kindly sent me a copy of one of the mails that led to my blacklisting. I should have seen this coming, but am amazed none the less. I wrote a guest book script for a client 18 months ago. If you sign his guestbook, he gets a mail showing him the content of your posting with the ability to approve or deny it. But another copy was sent to the poster (what was I thinking?) So the spammers fill in the form (presumably with a script -- more on that later) and the mail goes out -- over 27,000 of them in 18 months. Now, I am not a complete idiot with security issues -- the script will only allow form inputs that come from the referrer of the form page, which means all 27,000+ spams were manually entered, or a script integrated with a browser filled them in and sent them on. This seems like a lot of work to me. Not that I am going to send spam, but if I were, I would park my wireless enabled notebook near an open network (one can be found in any neighborhood) and mail to my hearts content -- many broadband providers require passwords for receiving -- not for sending. Why go to so much work? Plus it appears that they do not test their spam attacks -- they tried to modify the headers for the addresses, but that failed with the coding I did think to include. The moral? If you have, written by you or others, any script that mails open confirmation to the sender, you are at risk. Closing this door is fairly easy, but you need to know it is open to be able to close it. With all my server monitoring, I am amazed that so many were able to sneak under my noes! John Smart InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Shaun Johnston Subject: Alt attribute On a topic related to putting attributes around graphics, I tip towards not calling attention to graphics at all. Visitors from the search engines to my sites looking for images view a single page only. They have no interest, and develop no interest, in my site, and count as noise. Including an alt, I believe, brings only such visitors, I doubt it counts with the search engines otherwise, it's too open to abuse. Shaun Johnston -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Joel Lesser Subject: Digg > Lately the social media giant [Digg] has come under > attack because their primitive anti-spam system has > banned many unspammy and highly ethical domains. - Moderator Comment Don't worry about this.. Webmasters will vote with their mouse. Let them Digg their own grave. Best Regards, Joel Lesser Creative NetVentures, Inc. http://cnvi.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Chris Nielsen Subject: Digg I just forwarded a copy of the current issue of LED and a personal note to all four email contacts I found on Digg.com to let them know their system for controlling abuse is being abused. I was going to call them, but was disappointed to not find a phone number on the site or the domain registration (private, no address either). Chris Nielsen -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Adam Audette Subject: SEO Guide I just wanted to offer a little encouragement / feedback to the SEO guide idea. I like it, and I agree very much with the comments so far. I'm willing to help in any capacity, including setting up an editor-based section of the site where LEDers can make changes, update content, etc. It will take a few days to set up, but once the initial effort is done we can chip away at it over the next few months. Also, if you're not familiar with the excellent guide at SEOmoz, check it out. Rand Fishkin and the gang over there do a tremendous job. We can learn a lot from their guide and hopefully offer something just as useful. Here it is: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners.php In fact, I'd love to hear what you think of the SEO guide idea after checking out this link. Has it already been done? The factor that could set our guide apart and make it quite useful is the idea of "graded" or "voted" elements, such as the ideas Chris Nielsen and Tom Anson offered yesterday. Just kicking around a few more ideas. Best wishes, Adam -------- new post - new topic -------- From: William Bontrager Subject: Email > How about including a bogus e-mail as part > of the cgi-link that is only there to satisfy the > 'bots thirst for 'at's and 'dot's,... - Dan McAvinchey, LED Digest 2311 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1410/55/ A decoy is a great idea, Mr. McAvinchey. I like :) The decoy should be an address that blackholes emails rather than bouncing them. Otherwise, the bounces would be delivered to whomever is unfortunate enough to have their email address spoofed in the From or Return-Path header lines. > I use MasterFormV4, MasterFeedback, and even Master > Spambot Buster on my own sites as well as client sites. > [And] all scripts work as described, and are easy to > install and implement. - D. Perry, LED Digest 2311 Wow. Thank you for the kudos, D. Perry. Unsolicited testimonials are the most valued of all. (I hope you don't mind if I use your post as an example.) LEDers, the above is a window into the "secret" of our success -- to deliver such good products and provide such good service that people can't help but talk about us. Willmaster.com serves approximately half a million page views per month (Awstats), which I think is pretty good for a husband and wife team. We do very little SEO, other than publishing lots of quality content, and rarely advertise anywhere except within our own sites and publications. The traffic is primarily the result of word of mouth (including unsolicited and voluntary back links). > Way to go Bontragers! (I'll put down the pom poms now) - Moderator Comment, LED Digest 2311 Adam, your comment means a lot to us. Thank you very much. Let me mention a recently published "word of mouth marketing" book that LEDers who focus on quality can certainly benefit from. I had exchanged some emails with the author, Andy Sernovitz, some months before the book was published, and he sent me a copy for review. The book is so good, and mentions so many _practical_ things one can do, I ended up devoting an ezine issue to it. You can find the book at http://wordofmouthbook.com/book.php Everyone, I hope you have accomplished the important goals you had in mind for 2006. May 2007 bring you all the good you are able to imagine might really happen. Will Bontrager -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Anson Subject: Simplicity I found Nathan Holley's post (LED Digest 2312) to be interesting. He raises some good points to consider. However, I think we need to be careful not to lump too many different things together into a one-size-fits-all model. I have no doubt that a gaming website would draw a lot of traffic. Such is the nature of the beast. And, just as a casino with a very plain design -- one that offers ONLY the games, no frills -- would not do as well as one with lots of flashing lights and hyped excitement, people who visit gaming websites are most likely trying to replicate that experience. Gaming is a total-package deal. But, not all webbies are gamers. Some approach the website of their choice with a whole different attitude. They are not looking for glitz; they want a site that is approachable. If I'm looking for essential oils online (or a natural way to deal with a specific health issue), I want a site that gives me the information I'm looking for and a straight-forward way to purchase those oils. If my search (around a website) is distracted by bells and whistles, I'm more likely to leave than buy. If there is so much "clutter" on the site that I can't tell one thing from another (see http://essential.stemtechhealth.com as an example), I'm gone. If I have to try three times to make a link because of the javaScript navigation (which is very common for me, klutz that I am), I'll just navigate myself somewhere else. On the other hand, text resizing is NOT non-simplistic. It is very basic. It not only doesn't distract from the viewing experience, it enhances it (unless it just randomly resizes on its own -- but I doubt that this is what Nathan was referring to). A flexible layout is not -- in my opinion -- a fancy feature. The same with tableless designs. They may not be simple to create, but they simplify and enhance the visitor's experience. And a newsletter is simple. At least, it should be. And, depending on how they are handled, graphics, photos and icons ARE simplistic -- for the user. They can simplify the visitor's way around the page, break up blocks of text, giving visual clues to what is there. RSS feeds are becoming more customary, and certainly don't take away from the simplicity of design. Switching colors, however, ... On the other hand (and I don't know if this fits with the toaster example or not), a website that is SO simple that it looks like it wasn't designed at all -- just stuck up there -- probably won't get much of my business, either. Such an "undesigned" site may be the ultimate in simplicy, but it lacks usability as much as the site with too much clutter. As least for me, sites like that -- while undeniably simple -- look cluttered. I think, however, that there is some question about what the subject of this discussion really is. Nathan presents the matter more like the question is "simple to design and build". I think the question should be "full-function, but made to look simple and work simply". From what I've seen of toasters, all things being equal, I'd probably choose the one with a few "extras" over one that offered a one-way-fits-all approach to toasting. However, if the fancy toaster was covered in blinking lights, layers of labels that moved when I tried to punch a button or a secret slot that the toast came out of when done, I'd probably go back to my grandmother's toaster. (Actually, I've never seen one that works any better . . . ) Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com -------- new post - new topic -------- <Moderator Comment> Yesterday, Dan the-man-with-the-plan Rosenfield had this great idea: > Why not give us (your subscribers) snippets of code so > we can put text links on our sites to help you reach your > goal? > I suggest that you create 12 text links (assigned > to us in accordance with our birth month). The response to Dan's idea has been very positive and I now give you 12 variations of keyphrases for the LED site. Link to your hearts content - they are organized by month - so pick your b-day (or favorite month) and go wild. Thanks for the amazing show of support! This is indeed LED power. Here are the links. January: ---------------------- Thanks LEDer! ---------------------- From: Nancy Cardinali Subject: Birth month links Sounds like a plan! I have several sites I could post a link. Nancy Cardinali -------- next post --------- From: Ron Coble Subject: New Years Adam, I'm in. Get your links together and send them to me, I will be glad to post one on our web site and blog. Your newsletter is one of the 'very' few I have not unsubscribed from over the past 5, 6 or 7 years. Keep up the great work. Happy New Year! Ron Coble Coble International Marketing Services http://www.importexporthelp.com -------- next post --------- From: Tom Aman Subject: New Years Fantastic idea, Dan! Only added suggestion is that any of us who put up a link should let Adam know so he can give us feedback on how well this works out. Tom Aman -------- next post --------- From: John Smart Subject: New Years Sometimes a text link is not enough -- how about a nice snazzy banner? I would offer to design a banner -- but with my art skills, it would probably drive subscribers away! John Smart InternetDesign.com <Moderator Comment> Wish I had some banners! Here's a page with logos though: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/87/79/ -------- next post --------- From: Lorelle Smith Subject: New Years Hi Adam, I meant to write to you about your not-so-great keyword choice for optimizing the LED site but Jill Whalen beat me to it. Side note: Jill is the one who introduced me to Wordtracker -- and the value of keyword research in general -- back in 2002. I've learned everything I know about SEO from her, her High Rankings forum, and the posters in LED. I'd be willing to volunteer my time & research skills to find tons of suitable keyword phrases to target for the LED site. I use both Wordtracker and KeywordDiscovery; their search data comes from different sources and neither one can be entirely relied upon. (I figured out a way to merge WT & KD data, plus Overture bids, into one spreadsheet to see all the numbers at a glance.) The best keyword data is found by utilizing a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. So while waiting for the search engines to start ranking the LED site for the target phrases, your best bet would be starting PPC campaigns to attract new subscribers (which I assume is the end goal), and I would be happy to help with setting those up as well. Lorelle Smith, The Keywordsmith Professional Keyword Research & Analysis Consultant http://www.keywordsmith.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "You may delay, but time will not." - Benjamin Franklin |
