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Webmaster Tips Weekly * ISSN: 1526-2235
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••••• Wednesday, March 8, 2000 ••••• ||_ _|

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Free premium product to give away on your website to
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IN THIS ISSUE
==========================================================

1. "The Honest Truth About Search Engines" -
Internet Marketing Chronicles
2. Webmaster Tips Weekly Award - cgi-resources.com
3. March Special(s) - Free Web Hosting Options
4. Tip - "Affiliate Success: Add Testimonials" Web Tip
5. Webmaster Selections - Recommendation Scripts
6. Featured Ezines - you'll have to see these
7. Subscriber Link - HerIdeas
8. Discreet Classifieds
9. Who We Are - Contact Information


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>From the Editor...
==========================================================

Hello Subscribers and welcome to another issue of
Webmaster Tips Weekly!

A couple of things to cover this week....

First, I want to offer an apology to Melody, of
itarget.com. We featured her site in the Subscriber
Link column last week and did not print her contact
information. For this reason, we have featured her
in the Sponsor Ad Position in this week's issue.
Please see her ad above.

Secondly...
We have received so many nice comments about our
ASCII art (above). However, this past week, we
received some advice to remove the ASCII art.

I would love to hear your opinion. Please let
us know if you think we should KEEP the ASCII
art by sending a blank email to
mailto:ascii-art-yes@...
or tell us to get rid of it by sending an email to
mailto:ascii-art-no@...

Thanks, in advance, for your input! :)

Til then - y'all take care now

Deborah mailto:webmaster@...


==========================================================
1. "The Honest Truth About Search Engines"
from Internet Marketing Chronicles
==========================================================

There's a pretty good chance that we can save you
literally hundreds or thousands of hours worth of
research, work, and frustration when it comes to
search engines - and using them to promote your site.
You see, in terms of marketing effectiveness search
engines are highly over rated. And most marketers pay
them too much attention.

The absolute truth of the matter is that for most
online businesses, search engines are definitely not
the most effective way to promote a web site. In fact,
depending primarily on the products and services you're
marketing they can be almost useless.

Don't take that the wrong way, many targeted prospects
discover our web sites at the major search engines. And
we'll show you how to profit from them too. But before
we do, you need to know the truth about search engines -
and how they should fit into your overall Internet
marketing strategy. It's quite possible that they won't
be a top priority, because search engines are just one
little part of a much larger picture.

No doubt you've heard search engine fanatics shouting
things like, "90% of your traffic will come from search
engines!" Well guess what? That's total BS. The only
way that 90% of your traffic will come from search
engines is if you listen to these people, and do nothing
to promote your site but submit to search engines all
day long.

It's a proven fact that most searchers rarely look past
the top ten or twenty listings, so to begin with you
need a really good ranking in order to generate a decent
number of visitors from search engines. This presents
the first big problem with relying on them for web site
traffic - the competition can be extremely fierce.

If you're targeting a small niche market competition may
not be a big problem. With a modest amount of effort you
may find that your web sites get listed in the top ten
or twenty positions at the major search engines,
generally because there aren't 50,000 other marketers to
compete with. But what if your market is a little bigger?

It's a classic Catch-22 really. As the number of web
surfers searching for a particular keyword or keyword
phrase increases, so does the competition for their
attention.

If your intention is to attract web surfers who are
searching for things like "software," "gifts," "games,"
"chat," "jobs," "music," "free stuff," or any other
popular topics, you need to realize that you'll be
competing with thousands of other Internet marketers
for just a few top rankings. After all, how many "Top 20"
listings can there be?

To make matters worse, search engines don't all rank web
pages the same way. In fact they are all quite different.
Here are a few examples:

Using good meta tags in your pages will normally give
your ranking a boost on HotBot and Infoseek, but not on
the other search engines.

AltaVista, Infoseek, and Lycos will index image "alt"
tags which can affect the way your page is ranked, but
other search engines don't.

AltaVista and Infoseek are case-sensitive, but Excite,
Lycos and Webcrawler are not. And HotBot is somewhere in
between.

Most search engines make use of "stop words," which are
common words that are ignored in searches -- but Infoseek
doesn't.

Infoseek and Lycos use "stemming" which means that a
search for "swim" might also turn up "swimmer". But not
on the others it won't.

Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, and Web Crawler will give your
ranking a boost if lots of other sites link to yours -
but AltaVista and HotBot will not.

Meta refresh tags and invisible text will result in a
penalty on AltaVista, but Excite doesn't seem to care.
The rest have mixed feelings.

Each search engine places a different priority on each
of the criteria used to rank web pages, and they change
their procedures often.

And that's just the beginning. After all of your hard
work trying to get everything right, a page that you
manage to get into the famed "Top 10" on Infoseek might
be listed #100 on AltaVista - and a listing in the 100th
spot is almost worthless.

The bottom line is that in order to achieve a high
ranking on each of the major search engines, you'll need
to create a separate web page that is optimized for each.
If there are five keywords or keyword phrases that you're
targeting, you're looking at creating and maintaining at
least thirty different versions of one web page.

Is it worth the time and effort? If you're promoting an
adult site it might be, because "sex" is the most popular
search term with millions of queries per day. But if
you're selling anything else there are more effective
ways to spend your time - especially if yours is a small
business with just a few employees who are already
overworked.

And that's only half of the story. An even bigger
problem with search engines is that unless you're
dealing with a really popular theme, you just won't get
that many visitors from them. Even with a favorable
"Top 10" listing at all of the major search engines,
most businesses will not receive enough traffic to
generate significant profits.

We're talking about daily visitor counts in the five-
figure or higher range - the kind of traffic that 99%
of sites can't get from the search engines.

Stick to basic web page optimization strategies that
everyone should take advantage of while designing a web
site. Then, as you go along you'll need to decide how
important search engine rankings are to you and your
business. Remember, you need to spend your time wisely.

--------------------------------------------------------
Originally published in IMC's Internet Marketing
Chronicles. Subscribe for FREE and we'll send
you Internet marketing tips, tricks, and strategies
every Wednesday. Just send a blank email to
mailto:subscribe@... or visit
http://www.marketingchallenge.com/ezine.shtml
Over 100,000 opt-in subscribers and counting!
--------------------------------------------------------


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2. Featured Webmaster Tips Weekly Award
==========================================================

This week's Webmaster Tips Weekly award goes to
CGI-Resources
http://www.cgi-resources.com

The criteria used to determine award winners is grouped
into two categories:
° Content (including relevance, usefulness, etc.)
° Design (including ease of navigation, user-friendly,
etc.)

This site has been invaluable to me, personally, as
a wonderful resource for almost all of our scripts in
our web design projects. Content? Self-Explanatory.

The design of the site allows for easy retrieval of
scripts and script resources. The search page is
easy to use, as well as the ability to browse through
the directory of cgi script resources.


§§*** §§*** Keep those submissions coming... §§*** §§***
http://Webmaster-Tips-Weekly.com/awards


==========================================================
3. Subscriber Special - Prices dropped for Subscribers!
==========================================================

=====> Free Hosting Options <=====
Hosting Information at
http://AndersonCreations.com/hosting

Register your new domain name at
http://AndersonCreations.com
then, email us and we will give you
1 month Free Hosting.

Sign up for hosting with Anderson
Creations and after three paid
months the next 2 MONTHS are Free!

Also - Pay for 4 months up front and
get an additional month Free!

What does this TOTAL?
If you register your domain name at
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If you are interested in any one of these
Free Hosting Options, email me at
mailto:webmaster@...

Note: These specials apply to the Standard Hosting
Package at http://AndersonCreations.com/hosting


==========================================================
4. Tip - Affiliate Success: Add Testimonials
==========================================================

The best way to add credibility to the affiliate
program that you are promoting is to add your
own testimonial for the product.

You really need to purchase / use the product or
service yourself and then tell the world how
wonderful the product or service is and the
benefits of the purchase.

In addition to your own testimonial, add the
testimonials of others. Many people are willing
to offer the use of their testimonials in exchange
for a link to their web site or newsletter.


Feel free to reprint this Web Tip with
the following resource box:
=============================================
Deborah Anderson, of AndersonCreations.com,
teaches web design and internet marketing in
addition to publishing Webmaster Tips Weekly.
Subscribe free by sending a blank email to
mailto:subscribe@...
http://webmaster-tips-weekly.com/webtips
=============================================
Copyright 2000 by Anderson Creations.
All Rights Reserved


==========================================================
5. Webmaster Selections - Recommendation Scripts
==========================================================

The following are some Recommendation (Tell-A-Friend)
Script Options for your web site.

CGI Scripts
-----------

Master Recommend
http://www.willmaster.com/master/recommend/
I haven't implemented this script (yet) but I know
that the Programmer only creates quality stuff!

Birdcast.cgi
http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml
I have used this script - easy to set up - great script.

CopThis
http://dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/cthssamp.htm
Haven't tried this one yet - looks like an excellent
script for the intermediate script-installing webmaster.


Remotely Hosted
----------------

Let 'em Know!
http://LetEmKnow.com/
I have used this one to recommend a site to friends -
easy to use.

Mailbits
http://aff.webowner.com/info/earn.asp??Code=13938
This option allows the webmaster to make money when
the process is utilized by his/her visitors.


==========================================================
6. Featured Ezines & Discussion Lists
==========================================================
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----------------------------3/5---------------------------
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subscribe at http://victoriaring.com/
A weekly ezine designed to teach beginners and intermediates
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enhance their web sites. Course developed by Victoria Ring,
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----------------------------6/9---------------------------
D O Y O U H A V E T A L E N T E D K I D S ? ? ?
Discuss them here --- Share Your Ideas to help them grow!
mailto:justmykids-subscribe@egroups.com
http://JustMyKids.com
----------------------------3/5---------------------------


===========================================================
7. Featured Subscriber Link(s) - HerIdeas
===========================================================

HerIdeas
http://www.herideas.com
HerIdeas is a friendly place where women come to learn
and to share ideas. Crafts and Hobbies. Free email for
women. Free classified ads. Free monthly newsletter.
Scheduled Chats. Gift Shop. Consignment Area.


===========================================================
8. Discreet Classifieds
===========================================================
Anderson Creations does not claim any responsibility for
any other companies, ads, or what is represented here.

====================> Sponsor Ad 2 of 2 <===================

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===========================================================
9. Who We Are
===========================================================

------------------
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ | Resource Links | @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
------------------

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Anderson Creations * Ezine Publishing
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Deborah Anderson, Editor
PO Box 1843 * Litchfield Park, AZ 85340-1843
mailto:webmaster@...

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ISSN: 1526-2235 - Library Of Congress, Washington D.C., USA
© Copyright 1999 by Anderson Creations * All Rights Reserved
http://www.andersoncreations.com