| LED Digest 1929: Judging Sites by Technology? |
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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 ............................................... February 7, 2005 Issue #1929 ............................................... .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== RSS Feeds ==-- ~ Tom Anson "I second Nancy's motion for a good RSS thread." ~ Michael Martinez "The RSS feeds generate a fair amount of traffic for me." --== Sacking SpamCop ==-- ~ Brad Waller "...the idea behind it is great, but the implementation is horrid." ~ John Brumage "...we use Postini..." --== Dream Affiliate Programs ==-- ~ Ken Evoy "There is just no business fit here." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Number 1 in MSN Rankings? ==-- ~ James Miller --== PHP Concerns ==-- ~ John Smart ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Tom Anson Subject: RSS Feeds > I don't know much about RSS feeds, but it seems this > is something we should get some information about... > What is RSS and how can we, as web designers, use > it to our advantage? - Nancy Cardinali, LED 1928 I agree with Nancy that more information on RSS Feeds and Blogs would be helpful. I've heard of these for quite a while, but haven't felt able to do anything with them. Most of what I've found on-line has been a little technical for me. I'm a little beyond the "This is a computer; and this is how you turn it on" stage, but in terms of RSS and blogs, it's not much beyond. I looked at Joe's website and I didn't see anything there that looked like an RSS template -- unless I'm too ignorant to know it when I see it (which is a very good possibility . . . ). Anyway, I second Nancy's motion for a good RSS / Blog thread. But please, start out slow for the learning-impaired. Even recommended books on the subject would be welcome. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com/ ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Michael Martinez Subject: RSS RSS feeds provide abbreviated content for distribution to other Web sites. A merchant can provide its affiliates with RSS feeds, although inserting the affiliate codes would be tricky, since the RSS feeds would have to be tailored for each affiliate. Most sites are using them to add dynamic content to their pages, and the most common use for RSS feeds is to provide news headlines. I supply a few RSS feeds from Xenite.Org to feature Web sites on that domain or elsewhere in my network which have been recently created or updated. The RSS feeds generate a fair amount of traffic for me. Michael Martinez http://www.michael-martinez.com/ ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Brad Waller Subject: SpamCop Chris Nielsen commented [issue 1928] that the world would be better if more people used SpamCop and that it really is not the problem, 'because the admins who use it are the problem' does not really make sense from a logic standpoint. Sure, the idea behind it is great, but the implementation is horrid. We have been blocked by them numerous times, all incorrectly. We are a classified ad service and when a user gets a reply to their classified ad we hide their email address from the person answering the ad for their security and privacy. But, if they get a reply that they don't like, they don't report the email address of the person answering, they report OUR address. We then get blocked for a week or so and NOBODY whose admin uses SpamCop will get their legitimate email. Of course, we can't email this user to ask questions or fix things because we are blocked! We have checked these complaints and called users to see what happened. We have been in business online for over ten years and have never sent a Spam mailing, yet we get blocked because one person sends in a complaint - no appeal, no unblocking - even if we get the user to write to SpamCop telling them that they made a mistake and we are OK. Just hope you don't get a disgruntled customer writing to them or you will be blocked too. As for the comment from Mark Collins that we should not believe Bill Davison, I can't comment on Bill, but I think the previous info (and you can likely find my posts on this subject in the archives) shows that the facts are out there. SpamCop is the judge, jury, and executioner. If you get blacklisted, you are done for until the blacklist expires. Brad Waller, VP Affiliate & Business Development Free Custom Classifieds www.epage.com waller, epage.com ------- new post - same topic -------- From: John Brumage Subject: SpamCop My only defense against vigilante anti-spam was to find out who was using Spamcop or other dumb solutions to stop my customer's emails, and try to sell them a real spam-protected email account (we use Postini). John Brumage ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Ken Evoy Subject: Dream affiliate Hi Michael, Just to clarify a couple of points... > ... Tom Aman and Ken Evoy took up the issue of backlinking > with me. While I could respond to their arguments.... - Michael Martinez, LED 1927 No "arguments" here. I just mentioned studies that convince us that back links hurt our sales. If back links helped our sales, we'd be glad to provide them because our job is to sell your referrals. But they don't. Getting a back link may be more important to you than increasing our sales, and if so, then we don't fit as partners-in-sales. That happens in business, no fit. > 3) Allowing me to link as I wish I don't remember what this issue was, but we let affiliates refer how they want, provide them with user-friendly URLs and even provide the more productive ones with their own, clean subdomain.sitesell.com referral RR URLs. > Your inflexibility means I don't do business with you. No > rationalization or personal research will change that fact. Michael, the net is all about test, test, test. "Research." It may not be important to you, but it's vital to us and affects everything we do. We are super-flexible and morph according to results and competitive pressures constantly. Again, I won't denigrate you, merely point out that it takes TWO not to tango. > Merchants, in my experience, do best when > they listen to their affiliates (and customers) > and take action upon what they are told. I think I've lost count of all the features that we have been "asked" (as opposed to "told") to do. We're about to crack inside the Top 200 Alexa, receiving close to 200K visitors per day and have done all that purely through a group of dedicated affiliates who are proud to represent our products. We're not as big as Amazon, of course, but I do hope that we remain as responsive and innovative then as we are today. Michael, we just don't agree on certain points. Those are important to you. So we won't do business together. But please don't draw sweeping generalizations. A lot of affiliate think we run the best program on the Web. There's an adversarial tone here... > ... why should you feel like you're in a position to > call the shots? I'll partner with you if there is an > opportunity for mutual benefit. I will NOT let you > tell me how to run my Web site. I don't want to tell you how to do that, Michael. If you don't accept our research and if you must frame our site, etc., then we don't see eye to eye, so we don't do business together. It hurts to see comments that are unnecessary... In MY book, merchants are a dime a dozen. I will only do business with the flexible merchants, not the guys who quote their research to me and tell me how they are right and I am wrong. Again, it's not a matter of inflexibility. I don't cast any such aspersions on you, despite your denigration of testing and research to determine how we run our business. We simply don't fit. > In fact, the best merchants are the newer, hungrier ones > who are not yet well known, who do offer unique, quality > merchandise, and who aren't concerned with how big > your site is. Michael, just to get the context right, I talk (both above and in earlier posts) about our size and growth, which is 100% affiliate-driven with many 4 and even 5 figure monthly checks, as a sign that we must be doing some things correctly. I do not mention this to to brag or to put you down, merely to point out that I can't think of another example online that has achieved what we have without Venture Cap, purely on the basis of affiliate proudly recommending our products because they bear results such as this updated study we just release... http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/traffic-alexa.html Michael, I wish you well. Your first post was magnificent. I just made a few counterpoints. We don't agree. We won't do business together. That's not being any more or less inflexible than you are being. It just "is." We constantly improve and give affiliates new tools to work with, and seek genuine, long-term, active WIN-WIN relationships. But, just as you have, we have certain principles that our fundamental, and ways of doing business that we've tested and are confident about. You can't accept those. No need for anger or denigration. There is just no business fit here. I still think we have a darn good program, certainly one off the best on the Net. It just doesn't meet your needs, so I guess we don't qualify as your "Dream affiliate program." Best of luck in all your ventures, Ken Evoy http://affiliates.sitesell.com/ ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: James Miller Subject: MSN Search I've just been looking up some of the web sites I've written under the new MSN Search. It seems that if you own the .com or the .co.uk here in the UK, you get the first position. Is this because it looks up the IP address of where you're searching from and uses that to boost your ego, or does it assume that as you've paid for the name, then you should be number one? James Miller Daisy Analysis: www.daisy.co.uk -------- new post - new topic -------- From: John Smart Subject: PHP SEO > I have been told I can use PHP... to 'hold' things that > go on every page in a web site, such as top & bottom > navigation, logos... whatever, making changes easier. - Nancy Cardinali, LED 1927 Hi Nancy, PHP builds the page for you (in this context), adding HTML code to the top and / or bottom of your page. The completed page is passed to the browser - the same page is sent to a human browser or a spider - they will see the links, and will not know that it 'isn't really there'. Using common headers and footers makes site management so much easier! One change updates every page on a site - you will never want to go back! There is talk of PHP being frowned upon by certain search engines. My experience shows that this is not the case (this is not conclusive evidence, just limited, unscientific observation), but if such things concern you, it is very easy to hide PHP as HTML, then only you will know the truth! As a side issue, talking to youngsters (people under 25 years of age, and how old do I feel right now???) I have heard many a report of them judging sites on technology. So if the pages are .php, or asp the site is 'better' than if they were '.html'. Do any of you have any figures on such information? It would be interesting to know if this is a fad or a major issue (some of our sites sell a lot of items to the under 25's) John Smart, InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. 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