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Tip 1: Electronic Commerce Resources Tip 2: Check Your Website's Visibility Tip 3: Internet Sleuth Tip 4: 1997 Census Bureau Online Tip 5: Meta TagsE N H A N C E D F A X S E R V I C E S. . .Your Competitive Advantage While your budget and manpower may be small your impact can be HUGE! Cost Effective - Labor Saving - Accessible 24 Hours a Day The high-tech way to communicate with low-tech clients. Fax Broadcast sends one fax document to tens, hundreds or thousands of customers, prospects or other key contacts almost simultaneously. Totally customize each fax with FaxMerge or Fax Form services. Save from 20-60% on faxes to International destinations. http://www.techdirect.com/fax - - - - - - - faxinfo@techdirect.com Tech Direct, Inc. 770-509-7020Topic 1: Domain Name PointersEver wonder if you can have more than one domain name point to your current web site? The answer is yes. This service is called a Domain Name Pointer. Basically, you purchase a second domain name and ask your ISP to have it point to your current Web site. Most domain name pointers only point to the index or main page of your site, not a sub-page. Why would you want to do this? It provides another listing in the search engines for your site and thus another way for prospects and clients to find you. Secondly, it is cheaper to get a pointer than to pay design and hosting fees for a second site. Before moving forward, be sure that your current Web site hosting provider will allow you to set-up a domain name pointer. Expect to pay your Web hosing provider a set-up fee and a monthly fee for maintaining DNS service for your new domain name. The cost of a domain name is $100 for the first two years and $50 for each year thereafter and is typically billed directly to you by the InterNIC.Topic 2: New Top Level DomainsSeven new top level domain names have been approved for use but cannot be registered as yet. They are: .firm For businesses or firms .shop For businesses offering goods to purchase .web For entities emphasizing activities related to the WWW .arts For entities emphasizing cultural and entertainment activities .rec For entities emphasizing recreation/entertainment activities .info For entities providing information services .nom For those wishing individual or personal nomenclature, i.e., a personal nom de plume Many companies have signed up to take registrations for these new domains and are actively seeking reservations. IMHO, it will be like gold rush fever as everyone scrambles to get the best domain names. These companies cannot guarantee that you will get the name you wish to register since domain names are given on a "first-come first-serve" basis. Part of their service, however, is to ensure that your request is submitted the first day that registration for these new domain names is taken. For the latest information on the status of these seven new top level domain names visit http://www.gtld-mou.org/Topic 3: Web Site Visibility ReportI have received many unsolicited email messages lately entitled "Your Web Site's Visibility Report." These are not only for my site but my design customers forwarding the report about their sites to me. First of all, this email SPAM is a sales tactic. They provide you with an unsolicited report on your Web site's visibility on a keyword phrase that they choose and indicate how your site ranks in 11 search engines. Then they include a page that includes their solution-buy their promotion service. This has gotten a lot of web site owner's attention since the reports are ominous. First, look at the keywords they used to search for your site. Is this keyword phrase one of the phrases that you specified as being important for your site? In most cases it won't be. Additionally, they show the keyword phrase in all caps and using plurals. Since search engine searches are case sensitive and plural sensitive, the chances that your Web site won't be found in the search are greatly enhanced. Web site visibility is important but don't be frightened into action. The first thing I recommend is to evaluate how much effort you have put into promoting your Web page? If you aren't proactively promoting your site on a monthly basis, don't expect for it to be at the top of the search engines. Plan to fine-tune your keywords, titles and text on an on-going basis. If you haven't done so recently, take a look at it with your Web designer. Establish a systematic plan for promoting your site. Make one change at a time and observe what effect it has on your visibility. By making one change at a time it is easy to determine what you did that hindered your efforts. Lastly, remember that not all of your traffic comes from Search Engines. Quality off-line marketing in conjunction with a well- planned strategic linking program to appropriate vertical directories and resource sites can provide equal or better results.Topic 4: Strategic LinksGeogia Tech's 7th WWW Survey showed that 86% of their respondents find Web sites via search engines; 85% find pages from links on other Web sites. Have you included strategic links in your Web site promotion strategy? Always keep in mind that the Web is about information. When you surf the Web, you are typically looking for a solution to a problem. The majority of the time that solution is provided through information, sometimes it requires the purchase of a product or service to provide a solution. A strategic link is a link from a Web site to your Web site. It is strategic as the linking Web site should be a key site that attracts your target market. While it is tempting to put a link to your site anywhere, spend your time on those sites whose visitors have already expressed an interest in the types of products and services that you offer. In most cases, your success with strategic links depends on the quality of information that your site provides. First, objectively evaluate your site for the quality of information you provide about your field of expertise. Find a magnet site for your industry and visit some of the sites that are currently linked to it. How does your quality of information compare to what they offer? If your site is lacking in information, build Web pages that address the needs of the audience before submitting your link request. What Types of Pages Provide Links? 1. Search Engines and Directories. While most of us worry about our placement in the top 10 directories, there are hundreds of search engines and directories that provide links. One good customer gained through one of these links pays for the entire initiative. Getting listed in the top 10 to 20 search engines and directories should be your first priority. Listing in several hundred other engines and directories should be a lower priority. 2. Vertical Market Directories. Large organizations that service a vertical market typically have an Internet site that provides free links for its members. You may be asked to pay a small amount for your listing to cover Web site development and hosting costs. 3. Corporate Partners. Many companies are affiliated with different product lines. Request links from the Web sites of your corporate partners. Many corporate partners will provide you with a logo to place on your page. The logo gives you credibility and provides them with a chance to build name recognition. 4. Information Sites. Many authorities in a field maintain a Web site that supports their field of authority. Links from these types of pages are virtual gold mines as your position is elevated in the minds of the readers due to your association with an authority. These links are hard to come by but really boost traffic. The more your site is deemed a "great resource" for your vertical market, the greater your chances of getting linked. 5. Regional Directories. Don't forget your own local community. Obtaining and maintaining customers is easier when you can meet with them face-to-face. The regional versions of Yahoo and other large search engines can point you to these directories. A strategic linking strategy is a valuable marketing tool if you meet the criteria. Your ability to establish strategic linking relationships is directly related to your search skills and your participation in discussion groups and newsgroups that attract your target market.Topic 5: Misc. TipsTip 1: Electronic Commerce Ernst & Young's Internet Shopping Survey - a special report about the hot Internet industry and its profound effect on commerce. http://www.ey.com/consumer/shopping/default.htm Internet-based Ecommerce News, Resources and Business Strategy. If you are interested in becoming a "cyber merchant" who offers secure electronic credit card processing, start your search at this site. There are over 200 electronic commerce vendors, consultants, interest groups, etc. mentioned on this site. http://www.allEC.comTip 2: Check your Web Sites Ranking in 8 Search Engines with RankThis.com Quickly see if your Web site is found in the top 200 entries of 8 search engines. Type in your domain name, the keyword combination you want to search on and then select a search engine. The result is a rating of the position of your Web site if it is in the top 200 slots. The key here is to choose appropriate keywords for your page. Each search engine returns a results page. If your page appears in the top 200 entries the number ranking displays. A listing of the top 10 pages for the keywords you indicated are also displayed so you can visit their pages and determine why they are higher on the list. If your site doesn't make the top 200 list, it will state that your site was not found. I cannot stress enough that you must use the keywords for which you optimized your page. Using random keywords that pop into your head will not provide an accurate assessment of your site's visibility. Tip 3: Internet Sleuth Search over 2,000 searchable databases from one site: Search Engines and Directories, Reviewed Web sites, News, Business and Finance and Usenet. http://www.isleuth.com/ Tip 4: 1997 Census Bureau Info Online The 1997 Edition of the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States is now available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. There are 97 new tables covering topics such as population, vital statistics, business enterprises and industrial outlook. http://www.census.gov/stat_abstract/ Tip 5: Meta Tags Not all search engines use Meta Tags but it is still important to include them for the search engines that use them. The following reference is a good overview of Meta tags and how to use them. http://WWW.stars.com/Authoring/HTML/Head/meta.html - - - A-B-O-U-T O-U-R S-P-O-N-S-O-R - - - Tech Direct provides professional Web Site Design & Hosting, Web Site Marketing & Consulting, and Marketing Communications services at an affordable price. Visit: http://www.techdirect.com HOUSE KEEPINGTo UN-Subscribe, remove-IBIZ@techdirect.com In the BODY of your message, type: remove firstname lastname email address To Subscribe, sub-IBIZ@techdirect.com In the BODY of your message, type: subscribe firstname lastname email address Web Site: http://www.techdirect.com/IBIZ Email comments: owner-IBIZ@techdirect.com Archives: http://www.techdirect.com/IBIZ/archives.htmlCopyright 1997-99 Tech Direct Inc. All Rights Reserved. This publication may be freely redistributed by e-mail in its entirety. The reprinting of portions of this publication or any other type of reprinting beyond forwarding issues to a friend is strictly prohibited without permission from Tech Direct, Inc. and shall be construed as a violation of applicable Copyright Laws. http://www.techdirect.com Marietta, GA (USA)
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