| LED Digest 1955: Are Forums Worth It? |
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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 This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. April 12, 2005 Issue #1955 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== --== Are Site Forums Worthwhile? ==-- ~ Richard Graham "In 2005 is it worth it having a forum on your site?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Beware of Internet-centricity ==-- ~ Shari Thurow "In my area of business a human voice is imperative." ~ Martha Retallick "...there are still a lot of businesses that aren't on the Internet, and...they don't have to be." --== Should I Worry? ==-- ~ Graham Clarke "I think e-MailUs could be very useful." --== Blogging ==-- ~ Will Bontrager "I don't know whether or not IFRAME content is spidered." ~ Rich Dudley "A stale blog is a dead blog." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== 2005 WebAward Call for Entries ==-- ~ Bill Rice --== To Bounce or not To Bounce ==-- ~ Noah Price ======= NEW ===================================== From: Richard Graham Subject: Foums - worhwhile or not? Hello, A few years ago everyone was talking about building communities, so like many people I set up a forum on my site. It's proved popular with lots of posts, but this year has seen spam, trolls and accusations of censorship to name just a few. Today I find the board has been hacked, which means spending yet more time fixing things. My site does have a political side as I'm trying to improve education, not just sell products, but my question is: In 2005 is it worth it having a forum on your site? Be genki, Richard Graham http://www.genkienglish.com ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Shari Thurow Subject: Internet-centricity Hi all- This is in response to the the word-of-mouth thread that began in LED #1953. I have been following this thread with great interest. In his rather wordy follow-up, Rod Aries stated that "I really don't need word of mouth, I only need 'word of click'." IMHO, that is a sad and rather ignorant statement. In my area of business (the area Mr. Aries doesn't do any more), a human voice is imperative. People like to know that there is a human being at the other end of the email who is willing to pick up the phone and talk to them. Or even make a trip to see them, if it is necessary. In all businesses, you are going to get qualified and unqualified leads. Fact of life - just accept it. Even though I do not like my time to be wasted with unqualified leads, I still learn something every time I talk to a person on the phone or when I correspond via email. What service is a person looking for? Does that person have realistic or unrealistic expectations? Why might a person have unrealistic expectations, and can I improve my site, presentations, etc. to help dispel myths? (Which will ultimately result in more qualified leads.) Previously, I stated that Mr. Aries' point of view is rather ignorant. Here is why I made that statement. If his business model works for him and his end users, fine. But it does not work for every type of business. I am in an Internet-based business (as are many of us). I am a techie-person. But in no way would my business be successful if there were not a human touch involved. Because computers are not going to spend thousands or millions of dollars on my products and services. Humans will. So I design and write and market for humans. Personally? I would not hire Mr. Aries for one simple reason - if you and your staff are only available by a click, then I will click elsewhere. To a business that has people who will talk to me. Sincerely, Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing Director http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/tips.html sthurow, grantasticdesigns.com ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Martha Retallick Subject: Internet-centricity Well, since I fanned the flames of Internet-centricity, permit me to heat things up even more. Remember that oft-used pitch of Web designers and Web developers during the Internet-crazed 1990s? The one that said that if you don't get on the Internet, you and your business will go the way of the dinosaurs? Out there in the Real World, there are still a lot of businesses that aren't on the Internet, and, truth be told, they don't have to be. Case in point: When I moved in to my fixer-upper house last November, a guy named Greg walked up to the moving party, found the dazed new homeowner (me) and introduced himself. He told me that he took care of yards in the neighborhood, and indeed he does. Count me as one of his happy customers. He gets his clients by going up and down the streets and talking to people. And when he gets a yard cleanup job, he and his helper are quick to offer their services to anyone who admires their work. They do a good job, and hence, they have quite a fan club around here. Their high-tech marketing secret? Well, to tell you the truth, it's nothing fancier than the pen and paper that Greg uses to jot down is phone number for you. That's it. No computers. No Internet. And it works just fine. Martha Retallick "The Passionate Postcarder" http://www.postcardmarketingsecrets.com ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Graham Clarke Subject: Should I Worry > It's good to have more than one solution from which > to choose. The more we as a group can trip up > spammers, the better off our legitimate businesses will be. - Will Bontrager, LED 1954 Here's another great idea to thwart spammers. e-MailUs is offering an anonymous email forwarding system for webmasters (who don't code) and individuals which uses a form or link to a form which is secure (only time will tell if this is so). It has some good points such as sending the email to both recipient and sender. Often, when you use a form you've got no record of what you said. You can't imbed carriage returns either. There are a lot more features too many to list here. http://www.e-mailus.net I think e-MailUs could be very useful. Graham Clarke ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Will Bontrager Subject: Blogging > I see blogs as a simple way of getting people used to > uploading a daily news about their products, company, > sports club etc. ... I've been experimenting with an > editor that can edit a defined area of a web page. - James Miller, LED 1953 If the area on the page to be updated is a block of text, with or without HTML markup, SSI could be used to import a file with the content. The imported file is updated as necessary. Another alternative would be to use an IFRAME tag. The file displayed in the IFRAME is the frequently updated content. The SSI method can be indexed by search engines just as if the content is an integrated part of the web page, which it is by the time the spider sees it. I don't know whether or not IFRAME content is spidered. Will Bontrager http://bontragerconnection.com/ ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Richard Dudley Subject: Blogging I've installed the blog I mentioned in a previous issue at www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog, and am adding content. I wanted to add a blog because: 1) We have published an e-mail newsletter for a couple years, using Constant Contact. It takes several hours to produce the fancy HTML e-mails, and format the content and images properly. I still have some skinning to do on the blog, but I can add content quickly. Since it's such a pain, the little things I think of between newsletters get lost. Now, I can just put them on the blog. 2) It took additional work to turn the e-mails into HTML pages to include on our site so the search engines and non-subscribers can view the content. With the blog, I can eliminate this time completely. Organization is handled by categorizing the posts, so visitors can scan the the articles by content topic. 3) As spam has increased, it's been more and more difficult to get subscribers to the newsletter. Many people just don't trust e-mail anymore, and the ones that do are frequently overwhelmed by spam. Additionally, to ensure intent and compliance with laws, you may need to have a double opt-in step, which adds additional burden to prospective subscribers. Aggregating an RSS feed is anonymous, and can be performed with a single click. So can removing a feed. 4) Our subscriber base for the newsletter is in constant flux. Brides sign up as the get engaged, and unsubscribe after they marry. We never have a large list at any given time. Certain articles could be safely repeated every 8-12 months (the old standards about invitations and florists), but others can never be repeated (such as the ones for Fall 2005 fashions). I can easily segment these on the blog, and brides can subscribe to just the feed categories they want to read. 5) I can fix mistakes on the blog, and the next reader won't know about the oopsie. Once that e-mail's gone, that mistake is permanent. 6) I can direct visitors and search engine spiders to specific parts of the site very easily. 7) Someone mentioned ads in blogs. Heck, this entire blog will pretty much be an ad for us. A useful ad, but an ad nonetheless. Downsides include: 1) Not many people know what a blog is, or understand how to read one. 2) You need to keep content fresh. A stale blog is a dead blog. Fortunately we have older content that can be repeated, but that will only last so long. 3) You will need to police comments, if you allow them. You will probably get a lot of good feedback, but there are also professional comment spammers out there, with sophisticated software tools that can add hundreds of comments for things you don't want in a very short time. There are IP blacklists, CAPTCHA tests, and word blacklists, but the spammers can be persistent. As time goes on, I hope to repalce Constant Contact completely with the blog. For me, it will be a cost savings, as well as time savings. Rich Dudley www.bloomeryweddings.com ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Bill Rice Subject: 2005 WebAward Call for Entries The Web Marketing Association has begun its 9th annual WebAward competition for Website development and entries are being accepted at www.2005webaward.org in 90 industry categories. Entering the WebAwards is a great way to promote both yourself and your Website to the outside world. Winning a WebAward is a great resume builder and is an opportunity to generate publicity for your site and provides valuable links to support your SEM strategies. For more information including past winners and the entry form, go to www.2005webaward.org Bill Rice Web Marketing Association wrice, webaward.org ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Noah Price Subject: Bouncing > ... Be aware that, if you use an upstream filter... it is > guaranteed that you will miss the occasional good email. - Tom Aman, LED 1953 That's why I recommend services which let you review mail that has been tagged as spam. Even if you don't look regularly, you may want to look through the messages filtered as spam if you were expecting something that never made it to your inbox. There are many options, including our own Mail-Center service. > Maybe one of my fellow LEDers can figure out > why a spam filter would my email as spam. - Tom Aman, LED 1953 I don't see obvious triggers, but I can evaluate it better if you send me a copy. Be sure it is sent through the same system you normally use (the sending mail server is a critical part of the story). Feel free to send it to noah, prxy.com Thanks, Noah Price http://www.prxy.com/ noah, prxy.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2005 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him." - Booker T. Washington |
