| LED Digest 1537: Protecting Your Users' Email? |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest ................................................. March 13, 2003 Issue #1537 ................................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== <Moderator Comment> --== Protecting Emails of Site Users ==-- ~ Johan Alfredeen "I need to protect my website users' email addresses..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Email & Member Management Software ==-- ~ Mike Beriault ~ Jim Girardeau --== Outsourcing and Globalization ==-- ~ Eddie Teo ~ George Forder ~ Andrey Chashkov --== In-House Web Design ==-- ~ Heather Lloyd-Martin ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Sender Warranted Email & Habeas ==-- ~ Steven Mathew Wade ====== NEW ======================================= <Moderator Comment> Greetings LEDer, Another week has flown by, and I'm a little bit closer to getting the new LED website up. We now have a finished logo (you can see it right here: donnelldesign.com/clients/led/images/led_logo_e4.gif), which is pretty sweet looking if I do say so myself! ;-) Thanks to Scott Donnell for the fantastic design work. You can check out Scott's offerings at his web and graphic design consulting site. We'll be taking a day off from publishing on Friday this week. I'll be leaving town this afternoon, and since Friday's are traditionally very light anyway for the LED, I thought it would be best to take it off. We'll be back on Monday to resume our usual schedule. Which brings me to a question I'd like to ask you: how do you feel about the LED's current publishing schedule of Monday thru Friday? I don't have any plans to change anything -- so don't panic! Just want your honest opinion. Thanks :-) One last item of business: a BIG thank you goes out to Marketleap for continuing to sponsor the LED through the month of May! They are a top-quality firm with a great service package, and they're doing all of us a service by helping to underwrite this list. Give them a moment of your time by checking out their offerings -- they probably have something your site can use: Check out Marketleap: http://www.marketleap.com Have a great weekend! See you on Monday. Your moderator, publisher, and coffee addict, Adam ------------------ From: Johan Alfredeen Subject: New Topic - Protecting Email Addresses Hi all, I need your advice regarding a design decision. I need to protect my website users' email addresses. I have received a complaint from one user whose email may have been stolen and used for unwanted email marketing, and that is one too many. (My website has a community where visitors can contact each other). I am pondering the following 3 solutions: 1) Register users with usernames and passwords and only allowing registered users to see emails, 2) Hiding emails and using internal formmail for users to contact each other, 3) Using a code in an image before a visitor can access an email address. I am considering options 2 and 3 because I want to avoid usernames and passwords at all cost. Option 2 is the only way to hide emails but it could also be used for SPAM. At this time I am leaning toward option 3 because it is not a big inconvenience to visitors. It would prevent robots from getting emails, but not persons of course. Are there other alternatives? Any advice? Does anyone know what web users prefer? Thanks for your help, Johan Alfredeen ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Mike Beriault Subject: Email Management Software & E-Commerce > I am looking for recommendations on software to > manage email lists AND... how to enable my site > for e-commerce and what additional software to > have for file transfers. - Tony Court, LED 1536 Tony, For your email management needs I have used both Topica (www.topica.com) and MailerMailer (www.mailermailer.com). Personally I prefer the latter. One of the reasons is they don't require a credit card for the free trial as Topica do. The MailerMailer system is easy to use for beginners and the free trial allows you to get a real feel for how it works before you invest. Another interesting company I have discovered recently is www.bizactions.com. They actually provide content as well as email list management. They target the accounting, law, marketing and HR markets. Anyone who publishes their own list knows quality content can be hard to come up with. I have yet to try them but will be setting up an account for a customer. For your e-commerce needs Tony I'd need to know what type of products you are selling (i.e. digital only or tangible to be shipped) to be able to properly suggest a solution. Also what country are you in? I have a free guide on my site which addresses both these issues (and several others) if you are interested, surf22.com/startups.htm. I hope that helps! Mike Beriault Protect Your Privacy Online! scananddelete.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Jim Girardeau Subject: Email management Tony, You should definitely check out: http://www.siteinteractive.com/software/professional/ I have not used their software, as it wasn't what I was looking for, but it seems to match your description of what you need. Jim Girardeau SocialService.Com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Eddie Teo Subject: Global Outsourcing > As someone who is in the business of outsourced web > design and development, I feel compelled to relate my story... - N Rajesh, LED 1536 With all due respect, I felt your contribution is more like a sales talk and are quite amazed how it got through the moderators of LED. The fact remains, out-sourcing to someone you have not seen (or cannot see) takes a lot of courage (and resources). You may be one of the rare gems Rajesh, but there are probably hundreds if not thousands of fly-by-night India so-call "developers" or all-in-one "solution providers" out there. Just note the number of spam mails we get on a daily basis from these people. There are also too many simply so-call developers out there who claims to have done jobs for huge corporations (it could have just been a design of one web page, it is still a job no?) and have turnover how many millions per annum (who's to know and who's to find out?). If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. If you take the risk to give out jobs to off-shore companies, you should be prepared to lose your investment, in money and in time. If you give it to the guy next door, if he does not deliver, you can go knock on his doors, but I definitely would not want to fly all the way to some countries just to find out if my job has been completed. Like in US, the same applies here in Singapore (where development costs are expensive). While I am not saying the local companies here are better (they are far from it actually) than off-shore companies, at least I know my legal rights and how to pursue any companies trying to cheat us. In another country, it is a totally different ball game, which I am not prepared to go through all the hassles of trying to understand. It does not matter how much you stand to save (using off-shore developers), it is how much you stand to lose, many simply do not understand this point. I would say, never pay until the guy delivers, whether they are local based or foreign based. On the flip side of the coin, being a consultant myself, I would hate to see my time wasted if I am not being paid for my work. Standard of living differs from each country, we cannot equate the prices of one country to another. Technological standards, demands of each company (in each country) differs too. By using a local guy, I bypass many of the question marks, so much for price differences. If you work that out (taking in all pro's and con's), it is more or less the same. eddie teo, managing consultant Online Technology online.com.sg ------- new post - same topic ------- From: George Forder Subject: Global Outsourcing > I have been witness to a thread here... on > outsourcing to India... I feel compelled to > relate my story. - N Rajesh, LED 1536 Wow! That is a great post. Precise, succint, lovely to read and... such good English! ;-) George Forder Spindrift International www.spindrift.co.za ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Andrey Chashkov Subject: In-house design / Outsourcing and Globalization In-house vs. outsourcing and on-shore vs. off-shore themes look like one of the most important issues for LED readers. I would be happy if my 2 cents help in making decisions on which way to route. Apparently the main concern of every business is their ROI. And that's the factor of primary importance when you're thinking of any IT innovation in your company (from logo and brochure style site to CRM systems and m-commerce etc). Just like when you're looking for an office space or buying office furniture you always think of ROI - "do not I spend more than I really need to get what I expect?". In any case the company owner wants to optimize cost vs. effectiveness relation and minimize all the risks. So if you have 2 options with the same "effectiveness" you don't choose more expensive one, right? Well, unless you have any political or ego-feeding reasons... On the other hand any entrepreneur is a creative person that usually has a lot if business ideas and sometimes would love to give them a try if he / she has some free money. In the internet, most of us would not mind risking some small amount and test the idea in a live mode. Less money means low risk and higher chances that you win. That's it. Everyone can get the same level of web development quality for only 1/3 or 1/4 of usual American budget. To a small business that immediately means extremely high ROI, low market entrance cost, and zero-like risk of IT implementation. Finally it's a very good additional budget for other important business issues - business idea, organization, branding and marketing. Web development of any type is just production and has to occupy a fitting place, in a view of money and risks. As for frequently stated problems with offshores I have to say that's just because of poor management, bad offshore team and lack of knowledge of key business elements. Good offshore development center works 16-18 hours a day. In the morning and noon you see the results of their work and you communicate with them via phone or chat or email. In the evening you track their work and assign new tasks and your offshore team works while you're sleeping. And indeed, you should not rely on developers in spelling and standards. Even if they are native Americans they use their own language. All text-related issues and standards have to be in professional branding / content writing hands. That's one of the key business elements. Now I think you understand why for 4 years we've been partnering with ONE company that has perfect off-shore development center. There is no AN offshore company we can talk about. There are THE companies that deserve our attention. We work with TechnoArt.Net - these guys just rock. What can american IT companies and / or independent contractors do with it, when web development goes to an offshore production center? Totally agree with Marty and Mark - specialization and skill upgrading are great strategies to pursue. Concentrate on customer relationships - there is a great need of smart sales, marketers, branding experts, content editors. Stay focused on the main business idea and its key parts and get the rest manufactured by offshore team and a good profit to you. Best whishes, Andrey Chashkov loconotion.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Heather Lloyd-Martin Subject: In-house design > Likewise, if prospective clients think you > are overpriced, then you are. - Joann Chokrach, LED 1536 I tend to partially disagree with this statement. Yes, pricing is crucial - and it's possible to price yourself out of the market. However, as business owners and consultants, it's our responsibility to show why our higher prices equal higher value and ROI. For instance, I know that I charge more money than other SEO copywriters and consultants. But, I still gain great business from clients who are motivated to work with me. The reason why is because I know my market intimately, I know what my unique sales proposition is, and I communicate that very clearly. I can demonstrate my expertise, past results and value to any prospect that calls. And that makes all the difference. Yes, you do need to know what the market will bear. However, competing on price alone is not your best option (unless being the least expensive is your USP). Determine what you offer that your competitors don't, figure out that value to your customer, and charge accordingly. You'll make more money with less hassle - and have a faithful group of clients who would never leave you for a less expensive option just to save a buck. Cheers, Heather Lloyd-Martin SuccessWorks Search Marketing Solutions, Inc. http://www.searchenginewriting.com ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Steven Wade Subject: Habeas I'd like to thank Paul Harman (issue 1536) for making me take a closer look at the usefulness of Habeas. He brings up a very good point, "We all have delete keys." After a short time fiddling with our spam filters most of us are able to filter out almost all of the stuff we don't want and delete / block the little that gets through. Don't WE know what WE want? By providing a "mark" that ISPs let through because the content is "legit" aren't we in essence being told what we want? To me this sounds like a loop hole that legit businesses can use to guarantee a spot in our inbox. Maybe we will find a suitable solution to spam in what's happening to the telemarketing industry right now. For more info check out, http://www.cnn.com/2003...bush.donotcall.ap/index.html. Best regards, Steven Mathew Wade ------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995-2003 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - William Gibson, Neuromancer |
