 |
I-BIZ TIPS - Monthly E-Mail Newsletter
*Providing Tips on Making the Internet Work for your Business*
A Free Service of Tech Direct, Inc. – Ruth Rainey, Editor
http://www.techdirect.com - mailto:IBIZ@techdirect.com
Number 11
You are receiving this online publication as a result of your
subscription request completed at http://www.techdirect.com/IBIZ
or e-mail message sent to mailto:sub-IBIZ@techdirect.com
If you find this issue of I-BIZ Tips helpful,
forward it to a friend!
TOPICS
Topic 1: Become an Internet Statistic: GVU's 9th Survey
Ever wonder how the demographics and psychographics of the
Internet are determined? One way is through surveying Internet
users. The GVU Survey is one of the best surveys conducted on the
Internet as well as a great source of information. Participate
Now now through May 10, 1998 in the GVU's Ninth WWW User Survey
http://www-survey.cc.gatech.edu/
Stand up and let your opinions be known in this time honored Web
tradition! GVU's WWW User Survey, the oldest and largest Web-
based survey, is administered as a public service to the Web
community by the Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center -- an
academic research center affiliated with Georgia Tech's College of
Computing. As always, all survey results, preserving anonymity and
privacy, are published online free of charge around July 15, 1998.
Your time and participation are greatly appreciated!
But wait there's more -- Cash Prizes! Numerous $100 (US) cash
prizes will be awarded to randomly selected respondents. After
answering 4 questionnaires, you will be prompted to enter your
email address.
GVU's Ninth WWW User Survey focuses on:
Web and Internet usage habits
Cultural issues in web design
Consumer preferences and behaviors
Consumer online privacy
Content rating and filtering
Attitudes and opinions on social issues,
electronic commerce, plus others!
Webmastering
... and much more!
The survey runs until May 10, 1998 so participate now and help us
spread the word! As always, all results will be available around
July 15, 1998 from http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/
For more information, see http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/
or contact www-survey@cc.gatech.edu.
Topic 2: 2 Effectively Managing Email Messages -- Filters
How do you effectively manage the mounting avalanche of e-mail
that is sent to your web site. How do you store information that
you want to keep for further reference? The answer may be the
Filters Option in Eudoro Pro.
Eudoro permits the use of multiple mailboxes. By default, you
have three mailboxes: in, out and trash. Create additional
mailboxes by choosing Mailbox, New. For our example we will
create a mailbox called sales.
Now that the mailbox is created, use the Filters feature to
automatically sort messages into the sales mailbox. A filter
allows you to take up to five actions on an e-mail message: Sort
messages into mailboxes, forward e-mail to other locations or
persons, send automated replies and alert messages or receive
messages when important emails arrive in your mailbox.
The forms on my Web site send an email message to
sales@techdirect.com. I want to filter any messages that are
addressed to sales into the sales mailbox. Also, if the subject
of the email is Tech Direct Sales I also want it to be filtered
into the Sales mailbox.
Choose Tools / Filters from the menu bar. Click the New button to
make a new filter. A filter can be applied to an incoming,
outgoing or a manually sent message.
The header field allows you to select what part of the message the
filter should apply to. Since we are only concerned with mail
addressed to sales@techdirect.com, select To: in the header box.
Then select: Contains and type in the exact entry:
sales@techdirect.com The second set of boxes allows you to apply
another filtering method. I've used the subject Tech Direct Sales
in other -email subjects so let's set it up that if the subject is
"Tech Direct Sales" it also gets sent to the Sales mailbox.
Choose the OR statement (meaning only one of the two conditions
need to be met.) Choose Subject, Contains and then type in the
title: Tech Direct Sales.
Now let's set up what actions should be taken once the message is
received. I would like the message to be transferred to the sales
mailbox and then I want the message to be printed to my printer
for offline reference.
Move to the bottom portion of the dialog box that is labeled
action. Select Transfer To: in the first box. Then select the
Sales mailbox from the list that pops up. Now move to the next
line and select Print. Save your Filter changes by choosing File
/ Save or close the dialog box by clicking the X in the right hand
corner. You will be prompted to save the information before the
dialog box closes.
That's all there is to using the Filters Option. Note: I am
using Eudora Pro 3.03. There is now a version 4.0 available which
should include similar functionality.
Next month we'll look at the stationary feature in Eudora Pro and
how you can set it up to automate your -email responses.
Topic 3: Consumer Privacy on the Internet
Earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a
press release that they were examining privacy statements found on
web sites to determine how Web site owners collect and use
personal information online. In addition the FTC is analyzing the
effectiveness of self-regulatory approaches to protecting
consumers' privacy online. The press release can be found at
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/9802/webcom2.htm
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has been the biggest
proponent of this measure as they stand to loose the most if
collection of information online is curtailed or regulated by
legislation.
In an effort to help companies create a Privacy Policy, DMA has
developed the Privacy Policy Generator, a free tool for companies
to create and post their own customized privacy policy. Already,
more than 700 companies have used the Privacy Policy Generator,
located at http://www.the-dma.org/policy.html, to develop and post
their own customized privacy statements.
In addition to developing the Privacy Policy Generator, The DMA
has been actively engaged in searching the Web for companies
without privacy statements and alerting them to the importance of
posting privacy statements. This proactive effort is ongoing and
is critical to staving off legislative threats to electronic
commerce.
If you are collecting information about your web site visitors,
then you should incorporate a Privacy Policy into your Web site.
Other DMA information on privacy and direct marketing:
DMA's Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices
http://www.the-dma.org/policy.html
"Know what the right thing is: Ethical Guidelines for direct
marketers.
http://www.the-dma.org/policy.html
Some basic considerations concerning online privacy can be found
at http://www.aftab.com/privpolicy.htm
Another resource is Arent Fox's Advertising Law Internet Site at
http://www.advertisinglaw.com/
The Advertising Law Internet Site focuses more on theory and
provides quite an education in the area of advertising law, FTC
(Federal Trade Commission) regulations, decisions issued by the
National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business
Bureaus, and the European Commission Advertising and Consumer Law.
Topic 4: Will the Year 2000 Problem Affect Your Personal PC?
PCs using 486 processors or lower can be expected to have century-
date problems. In addition, some Pentiums are not Year 2000
compatible. Read up on this problem and a testing program that
you can implement so you are not caught unaware.
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/y2k/pctesting.htm
Microsoft says that two dozen of its products have problems with
the year 2000 software glitch, including Windows 95 and Windows NT
operating systems.
Microsoft's centerpiece product, the Windows operating system that
runs on about 90 percent of all personal computers, is generally
Ok, or year 2000 compliant. Windows 98, the upgrade due out June
25, fully meets year 2000 requirements, while Windows 95 and
Windows NT have minor problems. Microsoft is in the process of
testing its older Windows 3.1 version.
The most serious problems with Microsoft products will occur with
Word 5.0 for DOS. If it creates a file dated after Jan. 1, 2000,
the computer can freeze up. Access 2.0, Microsoft's database
program reads two-digit year dates as 20th century. Write dates as
four digits to avoid the problem. Office Professional Edition
versions 4.0-4.3, a suite of business software which included
Access 2.0, has the same two-digit year problem.
The resource center also provides information about how 3rd party
services and partners can best help customers with their overall
Year 2000 solutions.
Visit Microsoft's year 2000 Resource Center for more information.
http://www.microsoft.com/ithome/topics/year2k/product/product.htm
Microsoft states that the best way to avoid problems is to upgrade
your software and/or computer.
Topic 5: Misc. Tips
Tip 1: Mailing List Clean-Up over the Internet
MAILnet Services
http://listcleanup.com
MAILnet offers one of the most useful web-based tools for
traditional direct mail marketing. Via the web site, users can
access a wide range of list processing services. Just upload ASCII
text delimited database files. MAILnet will merge/purge, update
addresses, and have files CASS certified to take advantage of
postal discounts through bar-coding. Your files are returned to
you in as little as three hours. Minimum cost for the service is
US$95
Tip 2: Search Engine Info
Reverse Lookup - InfoSpace
http://in-119.infospace.com/_1_110196541__info/reverse.htm
Like an online "caller id," Reverse Lookup allows you to type in a
phone number and find out who it belongs to before calling. You
can also conduct reverse lookups on e-mail addresses, physical
addresses and area codes.
Note: Information must be contained in the InfoSpace database to
be found.
Tip 3: Finding Your Target Market (continued)
Visit our Archives for February and March for additional sources:
http://www.techdirect.com/IBIZ/archives.html
Forum One: World's Search Engine for Online Forums
Forum One lists online discussion groups in numerous topics that
you can join to connect to your target market.
http://www.forumone.com/
---------------------
Web Demographics: GVU Past Survey Results
Here is an updated list of resources for finding places on the
Internet where your target market hangs out. Over 180,000
resources.
http://www.synapse.net/~radio/finding.htm
---------------------
Web Demographics changing.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/msnb/0430/311653.html
The population of web users is now nearly identical to the
statistical makeup of the United States.
Tip 4: E-Commerce Resources
Defining Business Objectives & Budgets
http://www.webreference.com/ecommerce/real/
This article discusses:
* What can I sell and to whom?
* How do I do it?
* How much will it cost?
* How much will it really cost?
E Magazine: E-Commerce
The Rise and Fall of the Internet Tax-Freedom Act
The status on paying taxes for products purchased over the net.
http://www.hp.com/Ebusiness/index_commerce.html
The Electroinic Commerce Guide: How to Do E-Commerce on the
Internet.
http://e-comm.internet.com/
Study: 50 Web Merchants, $1.78 Billion in 1Q Sales
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/1998/04/2001-sales.html
GVU 8th WWW Survey Shows the Following Reasons for Not Purchasing
Online:
43% Do Not trust that credit card information will be handled
securely is the main reason for not purchasing online
38% Stated that not being able to judge the quality of the product
30% Did not trust that personal information will be kept private
2% Only 2% of respondents say that they have had a bad experience
with online purchasing.
E 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. 770-509-7020
HOUSE KEEPING
To 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.html
Copyright 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)
I-BIZ TIPS Archive
|
