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List Moderator:                     Published by:
Adam Audette                          LED Digest
adam, led-digest.com     http://www.led-digest.com
..............................................
May 12, 2006                        Issue no. 2159
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            .....IN THIS DIGEST.....


====== NEW =====================

        --== Yahoo Site Explorer ==--

                ~ Viggie Bala
"I'm not sure how this new service will be helpful."


==== CONTINUING =================

        --== Repeat Emails to a Customer List? ==--

                ~ Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian
"...I discovered almost accidentally that repeated
emails worked better."

                ~ Michael Linehan
"I'd recommend you immediately set up a
regular newsletter..."

                ~ Robert Bass
"...we send the same message...about once
every four days."

        --== Penalized for Site Re-designs? ==--

                ~ Will Bontrager
"...it may be prudent to view some of the pages
as search engine spiders would 'see' them."


==== BILLBOARD ===================

        --== Project Google Update ==--
                ~ John Smart


========== NEW ===================================

From: Viggie Bala
Subject: Yahoo Site Explorer

Hi all,

Just stumbled upon the Yahoo Site Explorer (beta).

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

Yahoo says, it will display the site's structure instead of focusing
on content. And that it will also help in knowing the 'inlinks'.

An 'official' list of incoming links report from a major search
engine is welcome. But we already have various means to know the
incoming links. I'm not sure how this new service will be helpful.

Even though it is in beta stage, I think our fellow LEDers can clear
the fog in this service, for the rest of us :)

Thanks in advance.

Viggie Bala

Helping Websites to Work
http://www.viggie.com


======== CONTINUING ===============================

From: Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian
Subject: Repeat emails

> I fear that sending the same email so soon will
> possibly anger some customers.. Will potential
> sales outweight the potential loss of some
> customers from our list?
        - Andy Johnson, LED 2157

I wish someone had asked this question in my early online marketing
days - and forced me to think about it, and test it out myself!

Why?

Because when I started testing it years later, I discovered almost
accidentally that repeated emails worked BETTER.

John [Audette, issue 2158] hit the nail on the head - it works as
long as you're adding value to people's lives.  And Jay Abraham
takes it further, arguing that if you have something of value to
give your clients, subscribers or list members, and do NOT exert
yourself to the maximum to ensure everyone has had at least a fair
chance at experiencing it, you're doing them a disfavor!

In other words, you are OBLIGATED to tell people under your care
about things important to them, sell them stuff that will make them
more effective or benefited, ensure they consider what you're trying
to tell or sell to them.

It's a mindset - and one where you first decide if what you're doing
is likely to add value, and then keep doing it as many times as
necessary to make sure the value reaches its target audience.

The short answer to your question:  "Test it"

Hope this helps

All success

Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian

Optimize Your Home Based Business
http://www.opti-biz.com


-------- new post - same topic --------

From: Michael Linehan
Subject: Repeat emails

Hi Andy,

I agree with you, especially considering the nature of your products
and services.  Hardly the kind of company you expect to start
getting spammed by - which is, I think, what my reaction would be.
And if someone didn't open it this week, I don't think they are
going to open it next week.

I'd recommend you immediately set up a regular newsletter - if you
have suitable, helpful information you could send.  (Even just once
a month is very powerful.)  Then I'd ask your current clients if
they WANT to be on it.  Then basic newsletter principles -- make it
truly useful to your readers -- you "ad" is simply your name on this
quality info.  Within that context, you can occasionally send out a
company info email.

On a pre-publication sale of our first book to clients, our
electronically connected group out-bought our much-less-frequently-
contacted paper newsletter group by a factor of twenty to one!

Michael Linehan

Marketing Alchemy
www.marketing-alchemy.com


-------- new post - same topic --------

From: Robert Bass
Subject: Repeat emails

> If I received the exact same email I would think... this is the
> exact same email so I would only read the first line...
        - Rob Bishop, LED 2158

I have to disagree with you on the basic idea that repeat emails are
annoying.

First off you are making the assumption that everyone who gets your
email actually reads it the first time they get it.  We know from
our mailings that that is simply not the case. Many people are on
vacation and don't see it initially, especially around holidays.
Others are overwhelmed with tons of spam and simply delete
everything.

Spam filters, no matter what you do, always seem to trap (and
therefore not deliver) a large percentage also.  Change a few words
though, and those miraculously get through on round two or round
three.

Yes, repeat mailings may be annoying to some customers but our
research has found that only about 1/4 or less actually read it the
first time around.   We do get letters from some to the effect that
"you don't have to tell me more than once" but when we explain that
many people do not see it the first time around they apologize to us
for taking the attitude that they are at the center of the universe.

Generally we send the same message, albeit worded slightly
differently each time to get past the filters, about once every four
days.  We get return receipts on both openers and deleters, and
those who deleted without opening (as opposed to those who deleted
after opening).

There seems to be a die hard group out there that just joins mailing
lists but never reads the emails even if you offer them $10 bills
for $5 each.  We use the return receipts data to weed those out.  We
use both a commercial mailer, whom we pay per address, and a program
we bought outright that costs us nothing but bandwidth to mail.

Results over the long run seem to be about the same, after four
mailings of the same message we end up with a rate of about 46%
eventually reading it and about 8% actually buying.  Which as you
know, in the mail order business is a very high rate of return. Just
some data for you to mull over.

Robert Bass, Webmaster
www.jewelex.com


-------- new post - new topic --------

From: Will Bontrager
Subject: Re-designs

> I suppose that Google can read pages with
> text and obviously can not read graphics.
        - Fernando Bergamaschi, LED 2155

For those who will be doing a redesign, changing text and images, it
may be prudent to view some of the pages as search engine spiders
would "see" them.

Our http://bontragercgi.com/What_Search_Engine_Spiders_See.html lets
you do that. It can be an eye-opener.

Will Bontrager


==== BILLBOARD ===================================

From: John Smart
Subject: Project Google

Lots of news in this edition,

First of all I would like to thank all of you who have contributed -
either directly on the message board, (seo.internetdesign.com) or
indirectly through e-Mail to me and through the Digest, All input
has been read, and considered. I don't like to have to take charge
of this (I am a big wuss!) but I could see that we were sinking and
needed direction. With that in mind, after considering all the
factors and all the views presented to me this is the direction that
the project is taking:

Many thought that it would be good to use this to aid charities. I
do see worth in that, but I also see potentially huge legal
ramifications combined with devastating guilt should we attain #1
ranking then blow it! Now I am American, I believe I have a
reasonable understanding of the American legal system - the side
with the most expensive lawyer wins (before you flame me, look at
Enron, Michael Jackson and O.J) and the last thing I want to do is
go to court!

Why do any of us want to do well on Google? For most of us it is
some form of e-Commerce. With that in mind, we are opening a store.
It will sell high-end vacuum cleaners and steam cleaners at inflated
prices. I know that pricing *may* have an affect, but in a recent
shopping spree I realized that #1 ranking does NOT mean #1 price!
Should someone want to pay this inflated price for a vacuum - I can
handle the sale, my business license will allow me to sell it and
take the credit card payment with no problem. Should this happen, I
will put the money on one side, and we will take a vote on the
charity to support with the money. We will not say that anywhere on
the site for the aforementioned legal ramifications.

Now that we know where we are going, we need to work out how we are
going to get there!

I am going to acquire a couple of domain names (one with
underscores, one without) What I want to do is have a site design -
then build two versions - one with just layers and CSS the other
with font tags and HTML. So today I am recruiting. The 'vacancies'
we have are:

Designer - create the look
HTML'er - make the look work in HTML
CSS'er - make the look work in DIV and CSS
META Work - decide what meta tags to use, and how to use them etc

If you want to get involved and get your hands dirty, please do - we
have some wonderful people helping already (thank you again, one and
all) but need more!

As for the message board. Frankly, it is a mess, and it goes way
above my head - so we have our 1st moderator (watch out Adam!!) Ian
who has already helped a lot got cornered into being a moderator -
and great guy that he is, he took the job!

I hope that within a week or two the 1st site will be up and live.
But this is more than I can do alone, so again, please, jump in!

Of course, there is always the question of 'what is in this for me'
- which is a fair and valid question. As we progress with this, we
will document every step of the way. When done, those documents will
be shared with all who helped - and can be branded however it is
wanted. I also plan to get a domain to share these results through,
and list all those who helped (showing your clients how active you
are in research and development).

Next installation will be next week.

John Smart, Technical Director
InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World


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