Michael at Techcrunch speculates on declining Del.icio.us user stats

Has del.icio.us tapped out its userbase of early adopters? Will social bookmarking fail to go mainstream?

I think mainstream users will want to use del.icio.us,...Some users call for a redesign…something flashier and bolder. I don’t think that’s the answer. Easier bookmarking and better tools for sharing seem like the right direction to me....

Better tools for sharing? How about a whole new layer of tag-o-spheric interactivity like the ability to pass tags between blogs, Freshtags style! Michael's right. The solution here isn't a flashier site, it is a continued migration of the features and functions off the site and into our links bars & sidebars. Most of the recent innovations (tagroll, linkroll, Firefox extension) have done that....

There have been a number of recent discussions about what it would take to de-geek Del.icio.us, and to see the recent bookmark list be as much about dog grooming as it is about programming. Let's also note, though, that Del.icio.us was the only game in town (or at least the stand-out choice) for social bookmarking as recently as 18 months ago when I started to tag my posts for categories. Now 3Spots lists more than 100 social bookmarking sites, with every imaginable topical and geographic focus. The middle and late-comers to social bookmarking have their pick of services, & will choose features that are important to them.

More generally... What is the next evolution in social bookmarking? My thought is that for this to catch on, online content has to become more important to more people, & that Aunty Sue has to choose to bookmark that cookie recipe at home & then visit the site again at grandma's, rather than writing it down or printing it & stuffing it in her purse... What do you think?
______

Related Update: Pete Cashmore at Mashable reports that Del.icio.us now has a sidebar widget like the "favorite me on Technorati" widget, that invites readers to add you to their network, and that they've also added the ability to see a list of "most active users" for individual tags, thereby allowing the casual user to see who is interested (& presumably authoritative) in a given area.

The sidebar widget is known as a Network Badge. It is customiseable in the same way as the tagroll, via a very clean interface that has a preview at the right. In addition to the default "add me to your network" link (which is the point,after all) the badge has custom options to show username, network count, fan count, & the option to choose no icon, or either a large or small icon. If your network or fan counts are 0, that element will not display. See what a network badge looks like in the preview column below:

Once again, Del.icio.us are getting people off the site, & getting the features & functions into your everyday browsing experience.... This tool also follows up the division of the inbox into inbox & network by amplifying the "social" components of the site.

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The Killer App™ Company

Google Backlinks: What? Why? How?

What are Google Backlinks?

The first big post-footer gotta-have, in the heady days before social bookmarking caught on, was the "who links to this post" inbound link checker. The Technorati Cosmos checker for your post footer was everywhere, & was pretty much the only game in town for finding inbound links to single posts. Then came a number of other blog search services, including Talkdigger, & the emergence of Google's Backlinks service as an extension of their blogsearch. Where backlinks has the edge is that "backlinks" to referring posts appear right in your post footer, & not on an offsite 3rd party search results page. The only potential downside is that Google Blogsearch may not see all of the inbound links to a post, & so the listed backlinks may not be all of the inbounds for a given post.

Why do I need Google Backlinks?

Backlinks displays inbound links to a post within that post, right in your template, without you or your readers having to go off & chase down the related posts. The other significant feature is that you don't need to bookmark your posts anywhere. Since Google is finding the links through their Blogsearch tool, no bookmarking is required. Very useful. It's also pretty darn easy to install, all things being equal, as long as your blog hasn't been hacked about too much.

How do I get Backlinks?

If you've got a newer blogger template and you haven't messed with it to any great degree, you should just be able to turn on the backlinks. To do this, log in to blogger, and head to settings > comments. Set the backlinks radio button to "show," & make sure that the "backlinks default for posts" is set to "new posts have backlinks."

For more on this see Digital Inspiration and Blogger's Backlinks help article.

Older Blogger template? Custom template? To get into the code of the backlinks, see Blogger Help's Backlink Tag walkthrough. It is a pretty straightforward layout of the 2 blocks of code that you'll need to get default backlinks to work for you, with clear instructions about what to wrap the blocks in etc. It has to be said, though, that if you're a candidate for cutting and pasting, there are some great "Backlinks-Plus" user authored versions of this functionality that you might want to consider.

User-Authored versions, you say?

Why yes! There are four excellent user-enhanced implementations of backlinks that I know about, each of which will do a little something above and beyond the default version, and a little something different from the others:

Jasper's Custom Backlinks hack will work if your template is not an off-the-peg Blogger template, & if you have difficulty with the default code provided by Blogger.

Stephen's Backlinks will pop-up / expand & appear on the main page in response to a click on the Backlinks link in the footer of any post.
Greg's Recursive Backlinks shows backlinks for multiple linked posts on the post that you're reading. Drill down following the ~> to track backlinks across multiple posts.
Aditya's Asynch Internal Backlinks will load a preview of any internally-linked posts in an Ajax window on the post that you're viewing. If you link to yourself a lot, this is worth investigating.

If you know of other custom versions of backlinks, please leave a comment or trackback from the write-up on this post, and for more information, check out backlinks on the wiki. Aditya's hack isn't in there yet, but it is on the way....

What else can I do with Backlinks?

You can turn them on & off on individual posts, for one, by using the Allow New Backlinks on this Post option under "post & comment options" in the footer of the create post window.

If you have a Blogger account, you can use the "Create a Link" link in the backlinks section of a post that you're reading to launch Blogger's BlogThis! window, and write about what you're reading as soon as you see it.

As they say in the Google help article, you can subscribe to the feed of Google Blogsearch results for a search that includes the link operator, as follows: link:http://yourbloghere.com/ to get notification of new links.

Backlinks are a great way to start to see the connections between your blog & the wider blogosphere, & to present those links to your readers. Try them out!

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The Killer App™ Company

"Search Engine Optimizers" on the Cutting Edge
Robert Half International, a well-respected staffing firm, posted an article in MSN Careers titled "Four Jobs on the Cutting Edge." Alongside Information Technology Auditor, Forensic Accountant, and Intellectual Property Litigator, you will also find Search Engine Optimizer. Their description of a Search Engine Optimizer is as follows...

Search engine optimizers (SEOs) increase a firm's Web site traffic by improving its search-engine page rankings. This is an especially important task in today's Internet-driven world, where many customers first learn of an organization and its products or services through the Web. Because of a shortage of experts in this relatively new area, many top SEOs receive multiple job offers.

SEOs typically supplement their knowledge of how various search engines operate and determine page rankings with strong marketing skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively and program using HTML. Most are self-taught, learning the trade by researching trends, attending conferences and seminars, participating in discussion forums, and experimenting with their own sites. Courses and certifications in this specialty are being offered by an increasing number of organizations; however, consensus on the value of these programs does not yet exist.

Although I appreciate the well-deserved credit, which has been increasing significantly as of late, I think the title “Search Engine Marketer” is the more appropriate designation. I was an "SEO" in 1998, now I am a sophisticated online marketer who specializes in search engine visibility, but you can call me an SEM for short.

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The Killer App™ Company

Google Sitemaps Becomes Google Webmaster Central; Preferred Domain Tool Launched

Google Sitemaps has gained a new name along with new features. Google Webmaster Central is the new name of the former Google Sitemaps service, which now has evolved into a central place for Google to provide help information, statistics, reports and tools to help webmasters.

Google Sitemaps launched last year primarily as a way for site owners to submit lists of URLs to be crawled. Since that time, it has steadily gained features that took it beyond being a submission tool. It has offered the ability to view stats on how people are finding your site, verify robots.txt files and much more.

I've actually just come from Google's office in Kirkland, Washington, which is home to the Google Sitemaps team. Here's a rundown on some of the new features offered within the Google Sitemaps / Webmaster Tools component of Google Webmaster Central.

Preferred domain: Is your site available with and without a www prefix? Until now, the recommendation was to do a 301 permanent redirect of one to the other. But some people can't easily do this. Now sitemaps has a preferred domain tool that lets you pick which you prefer. Make your choice, and Google will list the domain you choose. Behind the scenes, Google will understand the two domains are one and the same for purposes of things like link calculations. Keep in mind that Google says it will take some time before the changes are visible. Also keep in mind that you'll still need to do 301 redirection for other search engines. Still, I'm thrilled to see Google has move ahead with yet another suggestion I've wanted, as have many others.

Crawl Rate: A small percentage of webmasters will see a new alpha feature under the Tools menu called "crawl rate." This will allow site owners to tell Google to crawl them at a particular speed: Fastest, Faster, Normal, Slower, Slowest. Feel like Google is hammering your server and slowing it down? Choose Slower or Slowest. Got a super server and want to help Google? Tell it that it can crawl you faster or fastest. Then it will crawl you more quickly and move on to other sites. And, if you've got so many pages that Google doesn't seem to be getting them all in the usual time it crawls, using a higher setting gives you a chance of getting more pages in. Note that Google says that many sites are already getting comprehensively crawled at a normal setting. "Ninety nine percent of website owners don't need to change this," said Amanda Teal, a software engineer on the Google Webmaster Central team. "This is for the tiny percentage of site owners who contact us with issues."

Summary Page Changes: The summary page has new icons and colors to try and highlight good things and bad things are going on with your site.

Better Crawl Error Reporting: The crawl error reporting feature now shows a full rundown on all errors that have happened over the past two weeks, and you can filter them by date, making it easy to see what errors have happened since your last check.

Manage Site Verification: This is a new tab that shows you all methods that have been used to verify a site you control. Huh? Let's say you manage a site, but others have access to it as well. You verify the site using your own Google Sitemaps account, but two other people in your company who can also insert meta tags or place files on your server as verify the site in their own names. This new page helps you understand that these other people have also verified. There's also a way to reverify all accounts associated with a site, even if you didn't originally do the verification. This is handy to wipe out verifications others may have done, if they are no longer associated with your company or site. For example, say one of those other people has left your company. Do you still want them having access to your stats? Probably not. The reverify feature lets you see exactly how they verified your site in their account. You control the site, so wipe out the verification file or meta tag. Then do a reverify. This will their access to stats from your site immediately, since the file or meta tag originally used can't be found.

Improved Sitemap Error Reporting: If one of your sitemaps has a problem, such as a missing XML tag or formatting problem, these errors are now better explained and reported.

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Blogosphere 100 Times Bigger than in 2003

David Sifry has updated his State of the Blogosphere and reveals what's been happening in the past 3 months.

Some of the new details include:

* Technorati is now tracking over 50 Million Blogs.
* The Blogosphere is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago.
* Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months.

It's still quite amazing how fast blogging continues to grow. As a market grows, it becomes more and more difficult to show any percentage gain. While the blogosphere growth does appear to be slowing - doubling every 6.5 months as opposed to 5.5 months last year - it's still growing at a phenomenal rate.


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The Killer App™ Company

Advertisers, eBay to Test Ad Sales Idea

Aug 4, 6:03 PM (ET)

By SETH SUTEL

NEW YORK (AP) - Several major advertisers are teaming up with online auctioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY) (EBAY) to test an idea for selling television advertising in an electronic marketplace, the group announced Friday.

A group of marketers and advertising agencies wants to try what would be a vastly different way of selling TV ads, which are usually negotiated in closed-door deals between networks and advertisers.

The process has long been criticized as cumbersome and opaque, since the exact prices paid by different advertisers often isn't known, meaning that some will wind up paying more than others.

"As you look at the existing media buying and selling process, there is a level of perceived inefficiency in the system," says Bob Liodice, president of the Association of National Advertisers. "The marketers believe there may be a more transparent approach toward the buying and selling of advertising."


The test is still at an early stage, and Liodice emphasized that it was not intended to replace the "upfront" advertising marketplace, or the annual ritual every spring when the vast majority of TV advertising is sold in advance of the fall season.

The advertisers participating in the test include Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Co. and Home Depot Inc. (HD)

In addition to the ANA, the pilot program is also being supported by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. The group wants to try out the test in the second quarter of next year.

It's not yet clear how the marketplace experiment might work, but Liodice said the idea was to sell advertising much like stocks are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with transparent prices for each item that are visible to all participants.

In a similar way, an electronic marketplace for advertising would match up buyers and sellers of ad spots electronically. Today, ads are often sold in complex deals, with discounting and other considerations taken into account based on the timing and amount of advertising being bought. Marketers with long-standing relationships with certain networks may also get better pricing than a new entrant to the market buying only a one-time ad.

---

On the Net:

http://www.admarketpilot.com


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The Killer App™ Company

With all the click fraud going on it is only a matter of time until Google and Yahoo smell the rancid coffee and change their advertising model and move to flat rate pricing. In fact we have been reliably informed that Google is beta testing CPA right now.

Many webmaster friends who have observed falling conversion rates are throwing in the proverbial towel and simply switching off their adwords campaigns completely.

Everyone seems to be seeking out good value alternatives to adwords advertising.

Webmasters still have a two good cost effective alternatives.

1. http://www.killerappcompany.com (flat rate fees)
2. http://www.valueclick.com (CPA not CPC)

Hopefully Google will roll out CPA soon because i expect it will be a significant improvement over CPC.


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The Killer App™ Company

By Elizabeth McGee
Increasing website traffic is the name of the game on the internet. It's important to note, however that there is no one thing that can bring instant traffic or ongoing sales. It's a combination of strategies that promote contact and networking.

Not all strategies work for everyone, so it's important to know what the options are, utilize a few that look appealing and stick with what works for you.

Here's a few tips and strategies that have worked for me. Give them all a try or perhaps just one. Any or all can make a healthy difference:

1. Write A Press Release

A press release is not a sales pitch and sales hype is not allowed. It is, however, your chance to provide your business story which can be a powerful form of marketing. When writing your press release you'll want to provide the who, what, where, when, how and why of your business. Create interest by detailing who you are, what you are about, why you went into business, but more importantly, how your customers have benefited.

An effective press release can create a newsworthy story that is capable of creating buzz and interest all across the web for a long time to come.

2. Create A Blog

Whether you have a website or not, a blog is an ideal tool for giving you and/or your business a favorable presence.

Think of a blog as a diary. Create your blog by posting your products and information. Then on a daily or weekly basis add additional products, information or comments. Invite comments from others and before you know it you'll have a steady stream of visitors.

If you don't have a website, creating a blog is a great place to start and you can create one for free. If you do have a website, a blog will help generate visitors. The beauty of blogs is that you can also add Google adsense ads for additional revenue.

3. Create Special Offers

A limited time sales offer will encourage your visitors to act. If you have customers that are interested in your products, give them an occasional boost by holding a sale. Chances are they've been eyeing your products for some time, and with a special offer incentive, they just might take the leap.

4. Use Pay Per Click Advertising

Every internet business owner should consider pay per click advertising. It's fast, it's targeted and can be cheap if done correctly. Therein lies the key, you must research how to create a cost effective pay per click campaign.

It's not rocket science. You simply need to write a compelling ad, research relevant keywords and understand your return on investment. This means that if your product earns you $20 per sale then you must pay no more than 20 cents per keyword, preferably less. For example, on average, your ad will bring in one sale per 100 clicks on that ad. If 100 clicks brings one $20 sale then you've just paid $20 for that ad (100 x .20) and you broke even. Therefore, your goal should be to pay less than 20 cents per keyword but no more. Finding relevant, less popular keywords is goal.

Of course, the better the ad and the better your website's sales copy performs, the more sales you will receive.

5. Write An Article

Don't put this one off. The internet is designed to deliver information and what better way for you to get the word out about you, your business and your expertise than by providing relevant, useful information. If you're selling scrapbooks, write an article on how to scrapbook. A well written article can show someone how easy scrapbooking is, boost their interest and therefore encourage a sale.

If writing an article is not something you feel you can do, have it written for you, it's not expensive and it's one of the best ways to bring traffic to your site.

6. Carefully Optimize Your Site For The Search Engines

Don't build your site and forget it. Utilize the search engines to your benefit by taking the time to optimize your site. Optimization doesn't have to be complex. Simply create a title that clearly depicts what your site is about and write a description that accurately describes to your readers what information you have to offer. Research relevant keyword phrases as opposed to single words and repeat that phrase in your title, description and throughout your page.

7. Create A Newsletter

Your goal should be to keep your viewers coming back to your site over and over again. The best way to keep in touch with viewers is through publishing a newsletter or a periodical that offers beneficial, useful information.

Post a newsletter form on your site and specifically direct your viewers to sign-up. Don't just expect them to notice that you have a newsletter, direct them there and be specific about what your newsletter offers.

By publishing a weekly newsletter you are reminding your readers of your products, sales or upcoming events. Avoid pushy sales tactics and sales hype. Simply offer useful information, tips and advice. Make your newsletter a thing of value by keeping them interested and encouraged.

It's important to remember that it takes an average of 7 visits for a viewer to buy; they're not likely to visit seven times without a reminder.

8. Offer Something Free

We all love free and the internet is no exception.

- If you publish a newsletter, offer a free ebook or free e-course in exchange for an email address. In your newsletter also offer a free tips section that pertains to your site's topic.

- If someone makes a purchase, consider offering a free bonus, this often prompts sales.

- Offer free teleseminars. This is an excellent way to let your viewers hear your voice and experience who you really are. It builds trust and they won't soon forget who you are and what you are about.

9. Make A Donation

Create a promotion where you will be donating a percentage of your proceeds to your favorite charity. Donating money or services to your favorite charity builds trust and a positive image for your business. I'd much rather buy from someone that donates a few dollars to a worthy cause than someone who doesn't.

10. Participate In Discussion Forums

Take the time to find online forums that are relevant to your business. By responding to questions, offering advice or posting your articles, others will see you as an expert in your field as well as someone willing to help. Posting on a weekly basis will allow readers to become familiar with you and your business as well as regarding you as a respected authority.

When registering on a forum be sure to create a signature file that includes your website address. This will post your website address each time you make a forum entry.

Your business will do well to perform each and every strategy noted above, however, performing just one of these powerful marketing strategies will improve your chances of drawing visitors to your site, but more importantly, it will help keep them coming back.

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The Killer App™ Company

One of the biggest myths of the Internet is the good old line, “If you build it they will come …” So many people throw up a website and sit back rubbing their hands with glee convinced they are going to become supremely wealthy.

Months later they are wringing their hands with regret wondering why they’ve had five visitors, four of which were their friends!

A website does not just automatically appear high in the search engine rankings and get traffic, you have to do some work in order to get this traffic and start making sales. There are thousands, or even more of sites competing for the same traffic you want – depending on your niche and keywords, there could be millions of sites!

You need to promote your website and get it noticed – not only in the search engines, but in other places where you will get targeted traffic who are interested in your website.

Strategy 1 - Directories

There are a whole host of directories on the Internet. Just search for your keyword and “Directory” or “Link Exchange” or anything similar and you will find hundreds of places to put your links. Yeah, it is hard work to do this, but you will get links and traffic to your site. If it’s too much like hard work for you – hire someone to do it!

Strategy 2 - Articles

Articles are an excellent way to gain traffic and promote your site. Submitting your article to directories will get you backlinks and if they are quality articles, will get you known across the Internet as an expert. Newsletter and website owners will pick up your articles and use them as content. This will help to promote your site to a much wider audience.

Strategy 3 – Affiliate Program

Running an affiliate program for your product is an excellent way to promote your site. Instead of you working on promoting your site, you have all these affiliates doing the work for you. And the best thing is – you don’t pay them a penny unless they make a sale. Depending on how much you offer as a commission, you could have hundreds of hungry affiliates aggressively marketing your product all over the Internet.

Strategy 4 – Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a concept that has been around for some time. It’s a very powerful method of getting traffic to your site. You have all seen those cute or funny emails and videos that people send to all their friends? That is viral marketing. If you can tap into this through a book, a video, games or anything people will want to pass on to their friends, suddenly you have a whole lot of people promoting your site – for free!

Strategy 5 – Forums

Forums are an excellent way to market your website. As you participate in a forum so you can establish yourself as an authority and trusted expert on your chosen subject, which will make people come to visit your website to find out more information. Be aware though, that if you blatantly promote your business without adding value or spam the forums you will do more harm than good to your reputation and your business.

Promoting your website will get you targeted traffic. It will also allow you to organically move up the search engine rankings through backlinks and the use of keywords. If you are someone who is serious about making money online, then you need to start taking your website promotion seriously. Remember though – spam and other unethical practises will harm your business in the long term. Promote your site ethically and responsibly, and you can be reaping the rewards for years to come.

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The Killer App™ Company

By Jinger Jarrett
Although MSN is lagging behind both Yahoo and Google when it comes to the ways you can get your site indexed, it is still one of the top three search engines, and it should not be ignored.

MSN offers you two different ways to get your site indexed, and you should submit to both. However, before you do that, make sure that you have optimized your website first.

You can get more information on optimizing your site for MSN, as well as tips on search engine optimization, here:

http://www.submit-it.com/subopt.htm

The tips that you will find here basically apply to optimizing your site for any search engine, but they are definitely worth the read so that you focus your search engine optimization efforts in a way that will get your site indexed.

As I mentioned before, there are two ways to get indexed by MSN. The first involves submitting to the Intomi index. The Intomi index actually powers the MSN search.

Inktomi is now also part of Yahoo. However, you should still submit your site here. This will allow you to get indexed by hundreds of sites if your site is accepted.

http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm

You will need to use a valid email address for your site. Make sure that you use an email account that you actually use so that if there is a problem, you can promptly fix it. You may also need to confirm your submission.

Keep in mind that there are no guarantees on turnaround, and there are also no guarantees that your site will be accepted.

The second part of submitting to MSN is actually submitting to the MSN spider. Rob Benwell, of "Blogging to the Bank" fame, said that he used MSN for his searches when looking for niches, because MSN updates more quickly than either Yahoo or Google, and this was why he used MSN to test his results.

This may be good advice. However, I believe that you should submit manually to MSN for the following reason: this is the number two website on the internet. It gets an enormous amount of traffic, and the traffic that this site brings you can help you with both your rankings, as well as being found by searchers.

ComScore Networworks reports that 48 percent of MSN searchers are more likely to buy, whereas Google searchers are 42 percent likely to buy. Yahoo users are 41 percent more likely to buy. Although these statistics were released in 2005, you can get more information from this site on demographic buying habits of searchers: http://www.comscore.com/

Now, you can use the link below to submit directly to the MSN spider:

http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

A word of caution here: when submitting to MSN, make sure that you understand the characters in the verification image on this page. You must type them exactly as you see them, or your site won't get submitted.

If your submission is successful, you will see a message that tells you your submission is successful and will ask you if you want to submit another site.

Once you have MSN crawling your site, you shouldn't have to resubmit.

If you follow these steps carefully, you should have no trouble getting your site accepted. Create great content, build links back to your site, and target the correct keywords, and you can get very high rankings.

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The Killer App™ Company

By Oudam Em
Because of the anonymous nature of the internet people are generally more skeptical when it comes to doing business online. Owing partly to famous internet scams sensationalized by the media and to bad personal experiences online, people are less likely to trust a party whom they've never met in person.

As an online marketer, you face the challenge of building trust and loyalty without the benefit of a physical handshake, a face-to-face meeting, or even a smile. To this end online forums can provide an excellent way to build meaningful relationships with people and attract new customers.

By joining a forum in your area of expertise, you gain access to a community that shares your interests as well as a pool of potential customers. There are countless forums dealing with just about any topic imaginable. The vast majority of forums do not charge you a fee to register or post messages. Many allow you to include with your posts self-promotional "signatures" that you can use to promote your business and link to your website.

A good way to locate a forum relevant to your line of business is to do a keyword search using one of the major search engines. Why a major search engine? A Google search for "website marketing forum," for example, will not only return dozens of relevant forums on website marketing, but will also give you an indication of how highly they are regarded by the search engine giant, as gauged by how high they rank for that key phrase. Forums that rank higher on the search engine result pages (SERPs) are the ones of which you'll want to become a member.

Forums allow you to share knowledge and gain reputation as an expert in your field. Offering concrete advices that are immediately useful to other people is an especially effective marketing technique. Once you've gained credibility in your field, you will be sought after for your professional expertise without your having to promote yourself.

Participating in forums is also an excellent way to humanize yourself and your business. When people deal with you, they'll know that they're dealing with a real person, not a nameless, faceless business entity. By staking your reputation online, you demonstrate that you are willing to accept some degree of accountability for your actions.

If you're a generally honest and agreeable person in the real life, there is no reason to hide behind a company name when conducting business online. The personal qualities that make you likable in the real world will also make you likable in cyberspace. Indeed, establishing meaningful relationships online is a lot like making friends in the real world. After all, on the other side of the terminal is a real person with real emotions just like you.

Another key to meaningful online relationships is to create an atmosphere of openness and transparency. Although you normally use a nickname to start and respond to posts in public forums, you should use your real name in private correspondences. It is good practice to begin your messages with a salutation, addressing them by their real name whenever possible. A little courtesy can go a long way in building loyalty and trust.

Apart from selling your personal qualities, you must have something of value to offer to people-- and at prices that are fair to everyone! On a venue where your personal reputation is not at stake, you can price a widget for any amount you want and hope someone will come along and buy it. When you do business on forums, however, you must be extra value-conscious when pricing your product or service. If you overprice your widget, you risk receiving flames from other members that could harm your reputation. This is why it's so important to research what other members are charging for a similar widget and to price yours competitively. Often you'll end up charging lower prices to members of your forum than to other customers with whom you have not developed as close a relationship for the same widget.

Building positive relationships is about making people feel important. Just as you want to feel good for having sold your product or service, people want to feel good for having bought it. This is why it is so important to promptly answer their questions and attend to their concerns. Listen to their inputs and incorporate their ideas into your business practices. This is how you make your customers a part of your team. It's not a stretch to speak of your customer as a member of your team. When you really think about it, no business can exist without its customers. Teamwork is not limited to interacting with other members of your company. It also takes teamwork to build a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship between you and your customers.

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The Killer App™ Company

By Alfa Mercado
With the onslaught of marketing campaigns geared towards Internet users, viral marketing has paved the way and has become one of the top methods used in advertising.

The principle behind the success of viral marketing is the number of users reached through the campaign. There are several viral marketing techniques that can be applied for an advertising campaign to succeed. Take a look at the following:

1. Creating viral marketing awards.

Creating viral marketing awards help both the companies and users by creating even more users. Awards in viral marketing help innovate the industry more and bring out more effective marketing techniques.

2. Distributing free software.

Anything useful and free gets an instant “fan base” on the Internet. Provide online users with any software that they need for free – even for a limited time – and they will surely grab it.

When using a free software, you can run the program to suit any application, check the flow of the program to learn how it works, make improvisations and have the right to distribute the software for free.

3. Providing free email account.

This is what Microsoft did to initially launch Hotmail. They put in a “teaser” at the end of the free e-mail messages that they send out providing a link for users to sign-up for a free and private e-mail account.

The word “free” has sparked the interest of online users, as well as the fact that this is something that online users really need. Soon, almost all Microsoft users signed up for a free Hotmail account. This started the viral marketing fever.

4. Providing free web space.

Personal web logs have become all the buzz on the Internet.

There are companies now who are competing like crazy just to offer customers the lowest cost on directory listing and have the biggest space allotments.

This competition will benefit the users in such a way that they get their pick from a host of web space providers and have the greatest deal.

5. Creating top 100 site.

Online users often need a list of web sites relating to the topic that they need. Creating a top 100 list is one way to build your list and increase your customer base.

6. Offering free e-cards.

Egreetings.com is one company which provide teasers for online users to send electronic greetings cards. They are animated and personalized, so most users take advantage of the offer.

7. Offering free graphics, banners, templates.

Just like the marketing of regular consumer products, anything that is free and useful will catch the attention of a lot of people. Banners, graphics, templates and other items that online users can use is a welcome addition to their list of freebies and will infuse the viral marketing fever.

8. Offering free consultation.

Most online users do not know exactly where to go for consultations about web services or other services in various fields.

Free online consultation web sites require you to enter your name, e-mail address and other pertinent information and this would help add up to your subscribers and customer base.

9. Offering specialized link directory.

Specialized links directory help build a more specific clientele, as the users who need this service can be classified. This technique yields more accurate results.

10. Free newsletter with bonuses.

An online shopping company might use this viral marketing technique. Offering catalogs with free online gift certificates will generate a huge customer base.

11. Free redirect service.

Redirect services gives out the new contact information of a web site that changed hosts or servers, as well as re-directing users to a new or personalized domain name. This is an alternative to the much longer and complicated URL's offered by most web hosts.

12. Free screensavers.

You cannot browse through the Internet and not find popup advertisements about free screensavers. This is one way of getting the user’s e-mail address for a company to start building a solid customer base.

Getting online users to take advantage of free screensavers, as well as emoticons or other downloadables that they can use on their computers is one of the most effective techniques used in viral marketing.

13. Free autoresponder service.

Autoresponder services add up to your company's sales by using follow-up e-mail messages in marketing.

14. Free email course.

You cannot believe the wealth of information that you can gain from free e-mail courses. Most publishers of free e-books want to share their knowledge to other online users and this is a good way to entice users to your web site.

15. Writing articles and distributing them for reprint with resource box.

When writing articles for free download, make sure to have them reprinted with the resource box.

A resource box is a box on one side of the web page where you got the article, and it shows the complete contact information of the author of a particular article.

16. Using forums and discussion boards which uses signatures.

The users of discussion boards and forums have the same interests. By getting their signatures on message boards, you can have a very wide array of potential buyers from a specific target market.

17. Starting your own affiliate program.

This is one of the best methods to generate traffic and sales to your site. Here, a specialized link is provided for your affiliates so that users can be veered towards your web site.

18. Providing free guestbook.

A guestbook makes a list of all your online visitors. After a user visits your website, you would have their contact information for future marketing and mailing purposes.

19. Providing free forums.

Online forums have a lot of participants which can be a very useful viral marketing technique.

By applying these viral marketing techniques to promote your products and services, you will surely generate traffic to your web site, build a huge and solid customer base, add to your sales and contribute towards the success of your company.

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The Killer App™ Company

From The Official Google Blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout.
6/29/2006 02:58:00 AM

Posted by Benjamin Ling, Product Lead, and Louis Perrochon, Engineering Director

We've heard time and again from users: "I find great stores through Google search, but every time I try to buy from an online store, I have to re-enter the same billing, shipping, and credit card information. There are too many steps. Why can't it be as fast as a Google search?" This motivated us to improve the online purchase process, and so today we're announcing Google Checkout, a checkout option that makes buying across the web fast and easy.

One cool feature of Google Checkout is that you can buy from stores with a single Google login – no more entering the same info each time you buy, and no more having to remember different usernames and passwords for each store. To help you find places to shop, you'll see a little icon on the Google.com ads of stores offering Google Checkout. It's an easy way to identify fast, secure places to shop when you search. And after you've placed your order, Google Checkout provides a purchase history where you can track your orders and shipping information in one place.

Because we see big benefits for shoppers as the service grows, our immediate priority is to help more online stores join Jockey, Starbucks Store, Levi's, Dockers, Buy.com, Timberland, Zales, and others to offer Checkout on their sites. To keep website integration simple, we've built a range of integration alternatives such as cut and paste buy buttons, pre-integrated ecommerce partner offerings, and an API that supports more advanced integration.

Beyond flexible integration options, Google Checkout also works with Google's search advertising program, AdWords, so online stores can more easily attract new customers, increase sales and process them for free. We're especially excited about combining Google Checkout with AdWords because it gives our advertisers a more complete solution for attracting customers through Google and processing the sales that result. Just so you know, you don't have to be an AdWords advertiser to use Checkout on your website, so don't let that hold you back.

We hope this new service makes online shopping sprees faster, easier and much more fun. For our advertisers and online store partners, we hope this service also helps you serve your customers and grow your business. Learn more by watching these videos for shoppers (which you can also watch below) and merchants - and remember to visit http://checkout.google.com.

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From Seths Blog
How to get traffic for your blog

My friend Fred, a talented blogger, asked me for advice the other day. Here's a partial answer, with a few apologies to Swift:

Use lists.
Be topical... write posts that need to be read right now.
Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
Break news.
Be timeless... write posts that will be readable in a year.
Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
Announce news.
Write short, pithy posts.
Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
Don't write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
Write long, definitive posts.
Write about your kids.
Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.
Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
Coin a term or two.
Do email interviews with the well-known.
Answer your email.
Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
Be anonymous.
Encourage your readers to digg your posts. (and to use furl and reddit). Do it with every post.
Post your photos on flickr.
Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.
Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo lens.
Point to useful but little-known resources.
Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers--like gadgets and web 2.0.
Write about Google.
Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.
Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
Run no ads.
Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
Write about blogging.
Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.
Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don't bore your readers.
Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
Don't interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
Don't promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader's attention.
Be patient.
Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.
Write in English.
Better, write in Chinese.
Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.
Don't be boring.
Write stuff that people want to read and share.

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The Killer App™ Company

From Charlene Li

Google Checkout Supports Its Core Search Business
Google unveiled its long-awaited wallet service, codenamed “GBuy” and officially called “Google Checkout”. While frequently described as an “eBay killer”, I believe that it’s actually positioned to solve a perplexing and core problem at Google – how to drive more search ad revenues, especially in the retail sector where search spending is plateauing for top keywords.

Here are the basics of Google Checkout:

- Increase conversions with a better checkout process. The goal is to make it easier for buyers to checkout with retailers. Retailers today often see users abandon their shopping carts, so anything they can do to help potential buyers finish the transaction will increase their conversion rates. Google Checkout stores billing, shipping, and credit card information to enable speedier checkouts. Better conversion rates mean that retailers will be able to spend more money on advertising and marketing – for example, search ads – which is great for Google.

- Build trust for merchants. AdWords advertisers using Google Checkout will have a “badge” (which looks like a shopping cart) appear in their search ads. Over time, Google hopes that consumers will see this as a signal that the transaction will be safe and secure. Why does it matter? Think about the last time you bought something from a no-name retailer – did you hesitate when it came time to enter your credit card? For many consumers, concern about security and privacy are major reasons why they didn’t buy with a specific retailer. Smaller, less established retailers in particular will benefit from using Google Checkout.

- Provides a discount for AdWord advertisers. And AdWords advertisers will get some of their transactions processed for free. The standard flat rate for Google Checkout will be 2% of transaction value plus 20 cents per transaction. Compare that to PayPal’s lowest rate of 1.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for monthly payments over $100K and PayPal’s standard rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for up to $3k in monthly payments received. So not only will Google’s rate be lower for most retailers, but participating merchants also get 10 times the value of their AdWords spending for free transaction processing. So if you spent $100 last month on AdWords, you’d get $1000 worth of transaction processing (which translates into $20) for free. Do the math, and that’s a 20% effective discount on your AdWords buy. And yes, Google hopes that retailers will plow that savings back into more search spending.

So hopefully you’re beginning to see the virtuous circle that Google is building with Checkout and how it supports the core search business. It’s brilliant – by tying the wallet service to search, Google creates a huge incentive for its retail advertisers to participate. This is what differentiates Google Checkout from other wallet services like Yahoo’s now defunct PayDirect, AOL’s Quick Checkout, or Chase’s I4 Commerce's Bill Me Later.

While smaller merchants are the natural targets for Google Checkout, don’t count the larger retailers out. While some may be reluctant to “turn over” the customer relationship to Google, in the end, I think they will try and stick with anything that will result in better conversions.

What It Means For eBay

Poor eBay – its stock took a beating today on the anticipated news of Checkout's launch. The money on the street is that eBay/PayPal will be the losers in this, but I’m not so sure. PayPal is a payment method which fills a big needs in P2P transactions, especially for auctions. Will some eBay sellers defect and start using Google Checkout instead? Not if they want to remain fully integrated with eBay AND also offer non-credit card options (which Google Checkout currently does not offer). The battle will be with the merchants – PayPal will have to step up its efforts to get retailers to accept PayPal as a payment system along side traditional payments like credit cards – and hope that they can do this before Google launches its own payment system (more on that later). If eBay can convince enough merchants to accept PayPal, those merchants will eventually push Google Checkout to accept PayPal as well.

And I fully expect that the current eBay/Yahoo! partnership will launch a competing product to Google Checkout that mirrors the search advertising tie-in. So this battle is far from over – stay tuned.

One of the side “benefits” of Google Checkout is that consumers will be able to see their full transaction history. This isn’t a problem as long as you’re comfortable having all of that information reside with one player, which I anticipate will be the case. But now we have Google tracking our search history with personalized search, email with Gmail, and online spending with Checkout. At what point do consumers get that squishy feeling in their gut that Google knows too much? Our research shows that while consumers have a great concern about privacy, they aren’t willing to do very much and in many cases, willingly provide personal data as a fair exchange for a valued product or service.

All of this would be honky-dory for Google given its strong brand and trust it's built with consumers. But what happens when the inevitable phishing attacks begin, or payment problems ensue? In the pre-briefing of this announcement, Google did not discuss customer service issues, but clearly, it’s one thing to serve several hundred thousand advertisers paying for their search ads, and quite another to serve potentially millions of consumers.

I suspect that “all things Google” will soon start to wear at the edges, in much the same way that “all things Microsoft” came to be seen as a monopoly of the desktop. But instead of dominating operating systems and software, Google is instead dominating our information. So at what point does Google step over the line and extend its products and services too far?

I’m eager to get reactions to Google Checkout, if you would use it as a consumer and especially, if you take payments, if you’d use it as an alternative checkout solution.

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The Killer App™ Company

eBay Bans Google Checkouts
By Nathan Weinberg
The latest big hubbub not involving blond newsreaders is that eBay has added Google Checkout to its list of payment services not allowed in its marketplace. Google joins an illustrious list:

AlertPay.com, anypay.com, AuctionChex.com, AuctionPix.com, BillPay.ie, ecount.com, cardserviceinternational.com, CCAvenue, ecount, e-gold, eHotPay.com, ePassporte.com, EuroGiro, FastCash.com, Google Checkout, gcash, GearPay, Goldmoney.com, graphcard.com, greenzap.com, ikobo.com, Liberty Dollars, Moneygram.com, neteller.com, Netpay.com, Nochex.com, paychest.com, payingfast.com, paypay, Postepay, Qchex.com, rupay.com, scripophily.com, sendmoneyorder.com, stamps, Stormpay, wmtransfer.com, xcoin.com

All of these services have been banned due to being unsafe for eBay buyers, that they are in some way poorly designed or secured and thus aid fraud. Google Checkout, however, is too new and untested to fall into this category, so it is far more likely that this is being done for political reasons. Checkout is very similar to Paypal, just cheaper, so if a large number of eBay’s merchants switched over, a huge portion of their revenue model would just go away.

eBay, unlike many other internet companies, doesn’t really believe in transparency. Unlike Google or Microsoft or Yahoo, they don’t release many products, and have a consistent stream of earnings coming from owning a large marketplace, like Amazon, and don’t need community support to survive. Google could have went the eBay route, and been a far less stressful company for it, but they decided to jump right in and go toe-to-toe with the big boys.

Ars goes over the possible reasons for the decision (beyond the more obvious political/conspiracy ones):

Unlike PayPal, Google Checkout is not primarily a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) payments service. Google’s new service appears to be focused primarily at small businesses while aiming at larger sites down the line. As it is currently situated, it’s not going to turn into a C2C service anytime soon. There is no provision for sending payments to those without merchant accounts and no way to send money to an e-mail address, as is the case with PayPal.

So why the hate from eBay? In perusing eBay’s Accepted Payments Policy, Google Checkout would appear to meet criteria such as financial, privacy, and antifraud protection; not involving precious metals or other noncash services; and regulatory concerns. However, a couple of bullets point from eBay’s list of criteria for who makes the cut stand out: “the identity, background and other business interests of the payment service sponsor” along with “whether the payment service has a substantial historical track record of providing safe and reliable financial and/or banking related services.”

AuctionBytes has a quote from a Google spokesperson:

A spokesperson for Google said it has no restrictions regarding marketplace use. “We want to work with everybody,” she said on Wednesday.


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The Killer App™ Company

Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be this - they naturally attract search engine traffic.

Blogs already have optimized site architecture. Most are set up with a clear navigation, where every page is set up to link back to the other main pages.

They also have the inherent potential to be well-linked.

If you haven't already submitted to blog directories, you are missing out on some great one-way links. Many of the top directories can be found on Robin Good?s Top 55 list at MasterNewMedia.org.

But before you head over there and start submitting, you should know a little about how to optimize your blog. Then your new listings can help your site get the best keyword placement in the major search engines.

These are my top five tips for lucrative blog search engine optimization.

Lucrative Blog SEO Tip #1: Lucrative Keyword Choices

You have a choice. You can target a general high traffic keyword you have little chance of ranking well for and get barely any traffic.

Or you can shoot for a keyword that gets a moderate level of targeted traffic resulting in more subscribers and sales. I like to call this a "lucrative keyword".

Whatever you call them, here's the most important thing: They may not get you the most traffic, but they often bring the most profit.

You may be surprised to learn that there isn't always a correlation between high traffic and high sales. Many of the most profitable sites in the world get moderate traffic because their lucrative keywords result in a much higher ratio of visitors to buyers.

A recent article in Information Week stated that the highest conversion rates from search engine traffic comes from people who do four word queries.

The great thing about your blog is that it can get so well-indexed that you have the potential to show up for any number of four word phrases that are relevant to your industry.

It isn't just the four word phrases that get converting traffic - there are two and three word phrases that can bring you traffic and sales.

Targeting your blog discussion to a two or three word phrase that has a high yield of traffic, and yet has little competition, is not a dream of past Internet days. Another recent study revealed that surprisingly high percentages of search engine queries debuted as late as 2004.

As long as there are new developments, new products, services and trends, you'll never have a shortage of these terms if you learn how to discover them.

Lucrative Blog SEO Tip #2: Keyword Placement

Your blog can be set up to repeat the keywords that you want to target just enough times to establish a theme.

You can take full advantage of this in your post titles, your category names, the pages URL names, or even a combination of Technorati tags and the text of your permanent links that appear after each post.

Lucrative Blog SEO Tip #3: Timely Posting

Instead of pinging at 15 minute intervals when your site hasn't been updated, or even pinging after every single post, you can actually get better results if you update or ping just once during one of three sweet spots in the day. Here's one that you can use today.

Check your web site statistics. If you're getting spidered every two weeks or even monthly, you can increase your number of spider visits by blogging on the anniversary of the period that the spider comes to your site. It takes a bit of monitoring, but you can often predict when the date of your last spider visit was.

An even faster way is to ping at a time when the spider is reading a page that carries your update. (This is a little harder to explain, as I've mentioned, but I have a resource that explains this process in-depth at my site.)

Lucrative Blog SEO Tip #4: Get Linked

Turn on your site feed(s) and use them to promote your blog. Robin Good's guide can get you some great one way links.

If you sparingly include the lucrative keyword you selected in tip two in your title and description, all those link backs will contain the keyword term you most want attention for, which is often noted by the spiders as they follow the link through to your site.

Once there, if you use these and other tips to skew your blog a little more to the search-engine-friendly side, the synergistic effect is better, more profitable traffic.

Lucrative Blog SEO Tip #4: Frequent Updates

The more you post, the more food for the spider, which can cause the spider to react by splitting up its job into several visits, whereupon you have even more content, and so on, until the spider just adds you to a more frequent schedule of returns.

For example, my main site gets spidered several times daily by Google, and yet I can go a week without an update with no change in spider visits. This means my pages get indexed more often and my new pages show up faster.

Think of what that could do for the launch of your next product.

You'll be happy to know that you don't have to slave over long blog posts several times a day, all day long to get similar results from your blog. In fact, some blog software will let you set up your posts in advance, so that you can have posts show up daily even though you technically only blog once a month.

Bottom line: A few small changes to your blog can draw more search engine traffic without turning off your blog visitors. Done properly, this gives your audience more of what they were searching for in the first place.

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The Killer App™ Company

Build traffic with Usenet advertising
If you know how to use Usenet or other similar message forums, you might want to use your skills to build the traffic to your site. There are however some things you should take into consideration before you start sending messages about your newly created site. This page and the tips on it are mainly directed to those who want to perform some Usenet advertising, but most of the things discussed can be easily applied to other online discussion forums as well.

Before we continue, I must warn you that from now on I assume that you have a basic knowledge about how the Usenet and its newsgroups work. If you don't, you might encounter some odd words or have trouble understanding some of the information on this page. I've attempted to include links into different resources that explain some common Usenet concepts in more detail, but if you're completely new to Usenet I suggest that you visit the site linked above before you read this article. That being said, let's continue..

Usually the Usenet is seen as a some kind of a extremist anti-commercial place that has no value at all to those who are trying to build the traffic to their sites. There is a grain of truth in that view, but it is not the entire truth, far from it. Instead, usually the people who frequent Usenet forums will tolerate those who announce their personal site about their hobby, provided that it is relevant to the topic of the newsgroup.

On the other hand, if you post an advertisement about the latest MLM or affiliate program, in most newsgroups it means that you're begging to be crucified on the spot. The reaction to announcing commercial sites lies somewhere between these two. If you do it right, there's a good chance that it will provide the site with a nice amount of traffic for a while, but if you mess things up, your reputation can get badly hurt.

Why do I talk about "announcing" sites instead of Usenet advertising? It's because that is just what you should do, announce your site on the Usenet. Trying to use the Usenet newsgroups as an advertising tool and posting messages about your site every week will very quickly make you a lot of enemies. Take my word on this one and just send one message to each newsgroup, OK? If you want continued exposure to your site at Usenet, read my article about Usenet signatures and use them.

Newsgroup advertising - starting the game
The first thing you must do is to find newsgroups that are about the same topic as your site. All good programs that allow you to access the Usenet also offer the possibility to search for different newsgroups by using keywords. Make a note of the newsgroups that seem to closely match the topic of your site. You'll probably be tempted to include some less relevant groups as well, but don't. Although just about everybody watches TV, including the people at the history newsgroup, that does not make it OK to post an announcement about your online TV store there.

You now have a list of on-topic newsgroups ready. Depending on your site and on how thoroughly you searched, it might be very short, really long or somewhere between those two. If you feel that your list is too short, you might want to consider spending a few more moments searching. On the other hand, if your list is about the length of an 18-member family's grocery list, you will probably need to drop out some of the groups before you start posting. My personal opinion is that anything over five is way too much and risky. I believe that around three is usually the number you should shoot for. If there are more than five newsgroups in your list, it would be a good idea to reduce that number to five or less. But which groups you should toss away and which groups should you keep on your list?

The first criteria is of course relevance. If there are any newsgroups where your site doesn't fit in perfectly left on your list, exclude them. This should remove a few groups, but if it isn't enough, drop out some of the low-traffic groups. It is impossible to tell exactly just how much readers a newsgroup has, but you can make an educated guess by looking at the number of messages written there each day. If there are a lot of messages posted to the group, it is very likely that there are also plenty of people who read them. Drop out the groups that get a minimal amount of posts (one in a week or less) and check your list again. If it still seems to include too many newsgroups, sort them in the order of traffic they receive and take out the ones with least traffic until you're satisfied with the result.

So, after dropping some groups or perhaps adding them, you have a list in front of you that you feel isn't too long or too short. You have successfully selected the newsgroups that look promising and you can now move forward to the next step..

Preparing your advertisement and posting it
Now its time to move in and examine closer the groups you have selected. Before actually posting anything, it is wise to read the group for a while and see how the group reacts when people post announcements similar to the one you're going to make. If everyone who announces a site gets flamed and accused of being a spammer, it might be wise to forget posting to that group or at least plan well how to defend yourself against such accusations. You should also read the group FAQ if one is available and look whether it has any rules about making such announcements.

If the users of the group seem to react favorably to announcements of new sites and the FAQ doesn't say that such postings are forbidden, you can mark that group as "clear to post". After you've evaluated all the groups on your list, it's finally time to start writing your messages. Although aggressive ads and marketing hype have their place, Usenet is not that place. Don't create and send a blatant advertisement unless you want to attract unwanted attention from Usenet veterans. What you want to do is to create an image of someone who is somewhat new to Usenet and who happens to be so excited about his site that he just had to type a brief message about it. You do not want to appear as a professional advertiser or someone who just popped in to promote his site.

Indeed, the right way to advertise at Usenet is not to advertise. Instead, you should ask for feedback about your site. Let's look at an example of such a posting:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone!

After three months of hard work, my site about how to build traffic is finally up and running. I have tried to create a site that goes right to the point and cuts through all of the marketing and PR hype. Having read this group for quite a while, it looks like there are a lot of knowledgeable people here, so I'd love to get some feedback about my site if anyone can spare the time. The site is located at http://www.killerappcompany.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's what I consider to be a good way to announce your site on the Usenet. What you're doing is asking for feedback, but at the same time you are making sure that everyone notices the existence of your site and gets a good idea of what your site is about.

But why ask for feedback? Why not just say "hey, my site is out there, it has great information about topic X/sells product Y for a really great price, come and visit me"?

Yeah, you could do that, but then it would be clear to everyone that the only reason you wrote your message was to get more traffic to your site. If that happens, people are far more likely to react negatively to your posting and it is possible that you'll get some pretty hostile answers to your post. In the worst case scenario some very aggressive person might even complain to your host or ISP about your announcement. This is something you should try to avoid at all cost and by sending a message like the one above instead of a straightforward advertisement, you're less likely to receive negative comments about your post. It is also possible that you will get what you ask for and someone will provide a good suggestion or two that can help you in making your site even better.

If you are going to send your message into several newsgroups, you're going to have to face a difficult question: Are you going to crosspost or not? Normally when you are sending the same message into multiple groups it is considered polite to crosspost it. In this case that might not be such a smart move after all.

If you crosspost, everyone reading the message can see that you've sent your message into several places and they might start to think that your message is an advertisement after all. If you send the message into all of the groups on your list without crossposting it (ie. you multi-post), you have one advantage - people can't see that you have sent the message into other newsgroups, unless they actually read them. Both methods have their ups and downs, but for making announcements such as the one you're going to make, I'd recommend multi-posting.

After you have posted..
The most important thing to do after posting your announcement, advertisement or request for feedback is to stick around and see whether replies are made to your message. Should someone post a reply and give you positive feedback about your site or offer some helpful suggestions, answer to him, thank him for his time and implement the suggestions if you find them to be useful.

If you get accused of spamming the group or receive other negative feedback, don't let yourself be dragged into a flamewar. Instead, reply and politely tell that you thought your posting was OK and on-topic and if it wasn't, you're sorry. Say that you were just too excited about your new site not to post something about it and that you aren't going to post any more messages about your site to the group.

Some of you might wonder why they should be polite if someone insults them. In most situations, I'm for the "an eye for an eye" policy, but you should handle this one differently. If you are able to keep your cool and defend your position without resorting to name-calling, your reputation won't be tarnished. Think about it, would you buy something from a store owner who shouts rude words to another guy in the middle of the street? You wouldn't? Then you probably wouldn't buy anything from a E-merchant that gets involved in flamewars on the Usenet. Don't get angry and don't leave the group if you get attacked- be polite, but make it clear that you weren't doing anything wrong by posting.

If you've made it this far without skipping over some parts, let me congratulate you. You are now ready to build some traffic from the Usenet. Don't let yourself be scared by all of the warnings and instructions included here: I've done it, and it really isn't as hard as it might feel like after reading this article. Good luck with your Usenet advertising and remember, just one message per group!

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The Killer App™ Company

Dear Google,
I have been thinking about your potential for taking over every aspect of the internet and i would like to offer you a couple of suggestions.

I know you must get zillions of suggestions daily but i feel that my simple suggestions have far reaching implications.

My suggestion to you is that the personalised Google homepage link to all Google services seamlessly. At the moment the interface isnt seamless and i know you are working toward that.

THE KEY TO DOMINATING THE INTERNET IS TO PROVIDE OPTIMAL FUNCTIONALITY BUT MAINTAIN PAGE SIMPLICITY. PAGE SIMPLICITY IS VITAL IF YOU WANT 100% MARKET SATURATION.

Up until now you have already been very successful because you have kept your interface simple and straightforward. The other leading portals like Yahoo and MSN have more cluttered homepages and imho this will lead to their demise. Consumers do not wish to visit lots of pages to get to where they want to go.

I like the way you are constantly adding on services. I predict that one day all internet facilities will link from the google personal homepage.

I look forward to working more closely with you in the future.

Kind regards
The Killer App Company

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The Killer App™ Company

Weclome Gbuy !
I am very pleased to see Google enter the online payments market because as I have pointed out on several occasions, I am less than impressed with Ebay/Paypal. Ive read that Google are also entering the online auctions business. Google Buy combined with Google Base is only a few minor tweaks away from that already !

I have listed my own personal predictions.
1. Gbuy will become the number one online payments processor, leaving Paypal at number 2.
2. Gbuy auctions will become the number one auction site. It will take a couple of years to beat Ebay but it is doable.
3. Google will eventually merge all its useful free and paid services into a single seamless user interface. You will be able to do everything via your google homepage.

We wish Google every success !

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The Killer App™ Company

Tag and Ping, Google Analytics, Micro-Dissecting Logs, Visual PageRank...

What does all those topics have in common?

No, I haven't gotten into the happy-pill jar, just in case you're wondering! What does all those topics have in common? They are all marketing tactics or strategies I am presently using to promote and propel my sites into the ever increasing, all encompassing Internet stratosphere.

Let's face it, there are countless marketing methods, tricks, tips, strategies you can use to give your site an edge over the competition. And yes, there are many marketing secrets left to be told. More being born each day. Countless secrets most of us will never discover, let alone understand.

But what you have to understand, each webmaster or marketer employs a whole set of techniques to promote and propel their sites. Each marketing system is different, each one can develop into a complex creature slowly weaving its presence into the fabric of the world wide web. Might sound a bit fantastic, but it is nevertheless true.

Also know each website on the Internet has its own unique linking structure, connections, keywords, traffic... its own unique genetic link-code. Why should da Vinci have all the fun!

Each webmaster, whether they realize it or not, creates this unique linking structure for each site they build. From day one, when the first link is placed on their site -- this complex marketing structure is put into motion. What makes some sites succeed, what makes them become successful automatic profit generating machines... while others fail? That is the real question. That is the only real secret you need to know.

O