Poor Richard 40
#040/21-Jan-00
POOR RICHARD'S WEB SITE NEWS
Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site
Editor: Peter Kent
Top Floor Publishing
http://PoorRichard.com/
Over 42,000 Subscribers in More Than 100 Countries!
IN THIS ISSUE
- Poor Richard's Web Site, 2nd Edition
- Beginner's Column: Links--Why You Need Them and How to Get Them
- An Online Store Diary II -- Finding Newsletters
- Ten Rules of Good Writing
- A Real Web Success -- The $4m Web Site
- Poor Richard's Web Site and Other Top Floor Books
- Book Reviewers Wanted
- Reading Back Issues
**** IF YOU FIND THIS NEWSLETTER USEFUL ... FORWARD IT TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES ****
****************************************************sponsor****
IMPORTANT: YOU CAN NOW REGISTER DOMAIN NAMES UP TO 67 CHARACTERS in length at www.YourNameFree.com. You are no longer limited to the previous 26 characters! Very few companies can register long domain names so go to YourNameFree.com and register your names now! Act now and save an extra $10 off the Registrar fees -- and YourNameFree.com will kick in: FREE Domain Registration, FREE Under Construction Page, FREE Trademark Searching and more!
****sponsor****************************************************
Poor Richard's Web Site, 2nd Edition
Okay, so it's late. But "Poor Richard's Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site", 2nd Edition, is finally here. The first edition turned into perhaps the most widely reviewed and praised title in computer-book history (see http://www.poorrichard.com/review.htm for some examples). The 2nd edition is completely updated -- all the links have been checked and updated where necessary, but there's a lot of new information, too, thanks to the tremendous change that we've seen on the Web since the first edition.
Check it out -- and buy your own copy -- at http://PoorRichard.com/
Beginner's Column: Links--Why You Need Them and How to Get Them
By Jim Daniels
How many websites are linked to your site?
100, 1000, 10,000?
A recent check at linkpopularity.com showed that Yahoo has over one million links sprawled across the web. That's a lot of links.
And while reaching that milestone at your site may seem impossible, it is important to at least grow your links regularly. The number will have a direct affect on your website traffic in many ways. Here's an example...
Lately I've noticed a steady increase in visitors coming to my own site from search engines. But not just the ol' major "big 8" search engines. Many newer search engines are now directing fresh traffic to my site too.
New subscribers to my newsletter have reported finding my site through newer engines like google.com, iwon.com, and askjeeves.com.
But why? It's been a long time since I really put much effort into my search engine ranking.
Well after a little research, my findings pointed directly to one explanation... "Links."
At many search engines, new and old alike, the number of quality links you have into your site plays a key role in their relevancy algorithms. In a nutshell, the more sites you have linking to yours (preferably related sites) the higher your site will rank in their returns.
Thanks to my past and current linking efforts, my site now has thousands of other sites linked to it. And you should be striving for the same.
Why? Well actually it goes much deeper than the benefit you gain at the search engines...
- Your best quality visitors will always come from links at related sites. This is a fact of business online. And it is one that will stand the test of time. Consider quality links online, as the equivalent of "word of mouth referrals" in the real world. When customers come by referral, there is already a level of trust established, even before they get to your store. That goes a long way in making sales.
- And yes, as my own findings show, links help your search engine ranking more than you might imagine! It looks as though this will continue to grow as a measuring stick at most search engines. When link popularity plays a big role at a search engine, the quality of the sites returned tends to improve. Since that's a main goal of the search engines in the first place, more and more are increasingly relying on this as a measuring stick.
So what does all this mean for your website?
It means you need to learn how to get more links into your site! But the plain truth is, getting good links ain't easy.
Growing the number of links into your site takes time. I've been online since 1996 so time has been on my side. But even if you are new to this arena, there are ways to speed up the process. Here are three techniques you should consider implementing as soon as possible...
1. Just Ask.
You can always just ask webmasters of related sites for a link!
But before you do, be sure to visit the sites you plan to contact and get the owner or webmaster's first name. Also make sure they actually have a section of their site dedicated to links. Then, send them a personal message explaining why you feel a link swap would be _mutually_ beneficial.
If you see no links section at their site, investigate further and see if a joint venture may be in order. That's taking link swapping to the next level!
2. Use a Link Trading service.
I have never been a big fan of link swap services since the few I've joined in the past have had too many drawbacks including...
- unrelated and untargeted links in and out of my site
- banners that were too big, unsightly or slow-loading
- a swap credit system that rewarded the swap site first
- unproductive results
However, my outlook on link swap services improved this week with the introduction of a new service from an old friend of mine, Brian Welch of bizbot.net.
What I like best about his new, free link trading service is that I can control what sites I link to, what my link looks like and how many links I earn. The interface is slick and attractive. But whether it works remains to be seen.
I've posted my Link-Box at www.bizweb2000.com/wwwboard so take a peek at Link Box. If you like it, you can join for free.
If Link-Box isn't for you, check out the directory at http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=link+exchange and you're bound to find a link swap service to your liking.
3. Pre-license your proprietary content to related sites.
This is about the best way I've been able to grow links into my site. I recommend it highly for any webmaster who creates content of their own, such as articles, industry tips and the like.
Pre-licensing your content simply means allowing other webmasters to use it for free. Their only obligation is to include a link to your site. In the best case scenario, you determine what the link looks like.
I do this at http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm and at every single article I've posted at my site. Webmasters interested in solid content for their related site or ezine can simply copy and paste my articles at will. All I ask is that they keep my short footer with each article. In the footer is a link to my site.
Pre-licensing your content creates a win-win situation. The webmaster gets an informative article for their internet marketing site and you get a relevant link into your site.
I hope the tips here help you grow the number of links into your site. If you have proven methods that have been growing your links, come on by the CyberMarketing InfoBoard and share them!
Who knows, you may just pick up some new links in the process...
--
Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing.
An Online Store Diary II -- Finding Newsletters
After I ran my business partner's article in the last issue (see http://www.poorrichard.com/newsltr/039.htm#diary ) both he and I received a number of request for more information. Just how, people wanted to know, did he track down the newsletters that he used to promote his site so well?
Here's a little more help. The following is the exact same list I sent him, culled from my book "Poor Richard's Internet Marketing and Promotions" (see http://PoorRichard.com/promo/ ).
------------------------------
This is a list I published at my Web site some time ago:
http://poorrichard.com/freeinfo/ezine.htm
These are mailing list services:
CoolList
http://www.coollist.com/
EGroups
http://www.egroups.com/
ListBot
http://www.listbot.com/
OneList
http://www.onelist.com/
Topica
http://www.topica.com/
Web Site Post Office (WSPO)
http://www.websitepostoffice.com/
Yahoo!Mailing Lists
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Computers/Communications_and_Networking/Software/Electronic_Mail/Mailing_Lists/
These are directories of newsletters/mailing lists:
ETEXT Archives (A huge repository of zine and newsletter information; if you need a place to archive your newsletter, check this out.)
http://www.etext.org/Zines/
E-Zine Ad Source (If you plan to sell advertising make sure you're listed here. It's free, but they ask that you run a small ad for their service twice a year)
http://www.ezineadsource.com/
E-ZineZ (A search engine and searchable subject index just for e-zines)
http://www.e-zinez.com/
InfoBot.net (A zine subject index)
http://www.infobot.net/
John Labovitz's E-Zine List (This should be one of your first stops to register your newsletter. It's one of the best-known zine sites on the Web, with over 3,000 zines)
http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/
Liszt (Lists over 90,000 discussion groups and newsletters)
http://www.liszt.com/
Low Bandwidth
http://www.disobey.com/low/
NewJour (An e-mail publication carrying announcements about online publications.)
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/
NEW-LIST (Another publication dedicated to announcing new newsletters.)
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/new-list/
Newsletter Access (Paper and electronic newsletters. You can add a little information for free or a full listing for $19.95 a year)
http://www.newsletteraccess.com/
Newsletter Library (Currently lists over 11,000 newsletters. Free samples of any are available. Cost to be listed in this resource is $50.)
http://pub.savvy.com/
------------------------------
This sort of grass roots marketing really works. And probably the best description of this type of marketing you can find anywhere is that provided by Poor Richard's Internet Marketing and Promotions. The book costs $29.95 ($25.46 at the 15% discount we apply at our Web site -- http://www.topfloor.com/cgi-bin/hazel/hazel.cgi ). This single list of information from the book, along with the advice on how to use it, has generated literally thousands of dollars in income for SoftNeon.com ... and there's plenty more information in the book (see the Table of Contents here: http://poorrichard.com/promo/tableofcont.htm ).
Ten Rules of Writing Good Writing
I'm wary of running any humor pieces in this newsletter ... last time I did so I was accused of endorsing spam (see "How to Get Insanely Rich on the Internet," http://www.poorrichard.com/newsltr/034.htm#faq ). However, this piece was too funny to pass up ...
Ten Rules of Writing Good Writing
By Jed McKendrick
-----------------
In our hectic, word-based society, it's good to know how to use words good. For instance, as a marketer on the internet, it might be good if you could use words good.
Because you might want to write an article with words, so here are some rules about it:
1. Parts of Speech Add Zest!
Parts of speech include things like nouns, pronouns, verbs, and proverbs. They can really spice up your articles, so sprinkle them throughout your articles.
2. Don't Forget the Headline!
Without the headline, your article will just look like a big lump of words. Or like a bunch of smaller lumps if you use paragraphs. Try to choose a headline that tells the reader something about the article, like what it's about.
3. Know Something About Your Subject!
If you are not very smart about the subject of your article, ask someone to read it who is or else it could be really bad.
4. Sentence Length!
Readers get distracted by different sentence lengths. It's not important how long your sentences are as long as they are all the same. When you are done writing an article, go back and take some words out of the long sentences and put them in the short ones. This will make your readers more absorptive.
5. Include Some Knowledge!
For instance, if your subject is How To Make More Sales, you should actually include some information about that subject so your readers will benefit and buy something from you, hopefully something that doesn't suck.
6. Don't Use Words You Don't Know!
One of the most horipulating things you can do to a reader is use words semaphorically. If you're not sure what a word means, just ejaculate it for another one.
7. Use Action!
Don't write limply. Let your reader feel the wind in their hair with explosive, action-packed verbs, of which I can't think of any right now.
8. Exclamations Get Attention!
HEY!!!!
See?
9. Involve the Reader!
Don't just talk AT your reader, try to get them involved in a dialog even though you can't. Still, it's a really good thing to do. One way to achieve this is by asking questions.
Wouldn't you agree?
10. End On A High Note!
Try to say something really good right at the end so readers are left with a good feeling about you and want to buy something from you, hopefully something that doesn't suck.
And don't forget to wrap up by reminding the reader what everything you just said was, like that it's good to write good because it can benefit you!
=====
Jed McKendrick isn't a real idiot, he just plays one on the internet. Please visit and buy WebPosition Gold, which doesn't suck. http://www.Omni-Comm.com
A Real Web Success -- The $4m Web Site
The following article was written by Mark Joyner, who recently sold his Web site (SearchHound.com) for $4M. He says he built this site with $0 spent on advertising and marketing. How?, you ask. Unfortunately he really doesn't say, except in very general terms (he sells a $100 marketing program, so you can visit his site for more info). I'd like to have heard more details. I really couldn't make up my mind whether to run the article, in fact ... but finally decided that, thanks to the $4M sale, it's a special case! (By the way, the buyer, TVIShop.com, claims it's actually worth $32M.)
How I Made $4,000,000 on a $0 Ad Budget. Mostly...
by Mark Joyner, CEO, Aesop.Com
------------------------------
Part I - Dead Rule Of Internet Marketing #1 - Make Everything Sound Bigger Than It Really Is
I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I'm guilty of it in the very title of this article.
Here's the deal - we sold a high traffic website for $4,000,000. The advertising and marketing budget for the site was $0. That's the reality. I'll show you how I did this in a moment. In the meantime, let's take a sober look at the harsh reality of this deal.
Part II - "$0 Ad Budget"? Yes. "No Cost"? No Way!
While we paid $0 for advertising per se, what we had to pay in terms of time and effort was great. You, too, should be prepared to sacrifice. You *can* generate great business without an ad budget, but, let's get real - it takes effort.
Marketing on a $0 budget is like North Viet Nam fighting the United States: The U.S. had big guns - The Viet Cong had speed and ingenuity. When you're up against companies that have big budgets, you have to out-think them and use your smaller size and agility to your advantage. The problem is, this fast movement takes energy - *lots* of energy.
I could list the thousands of ways this endeavor tried to sap my energy day in and day out. Rather than bore you with the minutia, I'll pass on the wisdom that allowed me to succeed:
- a. If someone tells you that you are crazy or that you will never succeed, this is the big voice in the sky telling you that you're on to something big.
- b. Sometimes it will seem that you have suffered an irreparable setback. If you're alive enough to think about it, you haven't.
Part III - "$4,000,000?" Yes. "$4,000,000 in Mark Joyner's Pocket?" Ha. Ha. You Kill Me.
The sale of SearchHound was for $3,000,000 in cash and $1,000,000 in strike warrants. The warrants could end up being worth much more than the cash amount - or they could mean nothing at all. I'm focusing in on the cash. The company that purchased SearchHound is a fast mover for sure, and if I were an investor, I'd jump in on their IPO the moment it hits - but I don't play the market. I'm a marketer, pure and simple.
Now, after I pay off our broker, give 1/2 of the remaining proceeds to my founding partner (who designed the technical back-end), pay the tax man, and give a sizeable bonus to my staff (I go to sleep thankful every night that I have them), I'll end up with just over $1,000,000 in my pocket. And then there are those warrants.
So, having a cool million in my pocket after taxes and all is not bad. It's not $4M, though. If you think I should have received more, send me an email and I'll send a reply from my yacht. (I'm kidding about the yacht - most of the money will go into the expansion of my primary business. If you're a competitor, the answer is: "yes, you should be afraid - *very* afraid".)
Part IV - How I Did It on a $0 Ad Budget
The actual marketing plan itself was very simple. I did not create a standard marketing plan like they teach you in school. Some people swear by them, but I just don't find it necessary (if you think I'm crazy for not using a standard marketing plan, send me an email and I'll send a reply -*from my yacht*! - OK. OK. I'll stop with the yacht jokes).
What I did was create an Internet Marketing Battle Plan. If you've read my course then you already know what I'm talking about. The Internet Marketing Battle Plan is a system I created which can be applied to any website for any purpose, consisting of a series of "Killer Tactics" tailored to your particular situation.
An Internet Marketing Battle Plan consists of 5 tactics for:
- Getting People to a Website
- Keeping People at the Website
- Getting People Back to the Website Once They've Left
- Closing the Deal
- Working the "Back-End"
Then you just execute your plan. That's all there is to it. OK, I'm simplifying things greatly here. There is more to it than that, of course, but you get the general idea. You'll probably develop several Battle Plans and refine them before you find one that really sticks. Any good marketer will tell you that testing is the foundation of all this. A combination of testing with this clear methodical approach is your blueprint for success. I don't care if you're selling a product, selling advertising, generating leads - it doesn't matter.
People have offered me obscene amounts of money to teach them my methods. When I tell them that there is nothing I do that is not covered in my course (I just don't do consulting or lectures any more), they say: "come on, you're holding back on me". The truth is, there really *isn't* anything I do that I didn't reveal in my course.
I wish I could tell you otherwise. Really. I seem to regret publishing the course every day. That is, it always comes back to bite me. I now must face an army of competitors using my own tactics against me. Live and learn...
Well, the genie is out of the bottle, so to speak, so I may as well let you in on it as well. Here's where you can find it in case you don't already have a copy: http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/kt.cgi?sponsorID
Part V - Some Final Advice
As a final note of encouragement, here's a little story. When I was a young enlisted soldier in the Army, I decided that I would like to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS) and earn a commission. There were hundreds of annoying little hoops I had to jump through before I could even submit my *application*. Most of them consisted of going from one administrative office or another to get some paper work signed or some form approved.
I kept a running count of all the times I heard some "desk-jockey" tell me "you can't go to OCS". I stopped counting when I heard my 29th "no". I'll tell you what these "no's" amounted to in a minute.
A similar story can be told about the sale of SearchHound. I get really angry when I think about all of the negativity and "nay saying" I had to overcome to make this happen. A personal friend even sent me an email that said, "dream on" when I sent him a copy of the press release for the sale. Even after I showed him all of the independent news sources covering the story - he still couldn't believe it: http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/000111/4671.html
Some people are programmed for failure. Allow the following information to program *you* for *success*:
I went to OCS and graduated with one of the top ten academic averages of my class - that was the result of 29 "no's". And, as you know, I sold SearchHound for a tidy profit despite all the nay saying and disbelief.
From time to time during both of these endeavors I was inspired by the words of one of my heroes: Sir Captain Richard Francis Burton (the explorer and scholar - not the actor). On his quest for the source of the Nile, he became violently ill and could barely stand - though he continued on. One of his partners asked him "Richard, if you continue, you will surely die. Shall we turn back?" He replied:
"The devil drives!"
Mark Joyner
CEO, Aesop.com
Poor Richard's Web Site and Other Top Floor Books
Top Floor Publishing now has five books in print:
Poor Richard's Web Site
http://PoorRichard.com/
Poor Richard's E-mail Publishing
http://PoorRichard.com/email/
Poor Richard's Internet Marketing and Promotions
http://PoorRichard.com/promo/
The CDnow Story: Rags to Riches on the Internet
http://TopFloor.com/cdnow/
MP3 and the Digital Music Revolution: Turn Your PC into a CD-Quality Jukebox
http://TopFloor.com/mp3/
Order direct from the publisher, and you'll get a 100%, 1-Year Guarantee. If you feel the book wasn't worth the money, send it back for a refund!
And remember, these books are discounted at the Web site, and you pay just one shipping cost regardless of how many books you buy!
Book Reviewers Wanted
Do you review books for newspapers, magazines, newsletters (electronic or paper), Web sites, or other media spots? If so, perhaps you'd like to review Top Floor Publishing's latest book, "Poor Richard's Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site, 2nd Edition"? Or perhaps you'd like to review one of the other books I mentioned above?
Contact my Marketing Director, Missy Derkacz, at reviews@TopFloor.com. Include your full mailing address, the name of newspaper/magazine/whatever in which the review will appear and the probable date of publication, and the editor's contact information.
Reading Back Issues
If you need to refer to back issues of this newsletter -- and search the archives -- you can find them at the following location: http://PoorRichard.com/newsltr/
-------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright 1999, Top Floor Publishing
All Rights Reserved
-------------------------------------------------------------If you like this newsletter, PLEASE FORWARD IT to friends and colleagues!
Please retain this copyright and subscription information; you may want to remove your e-mail address from below.
It may be posted, in it's entirety or partially, to newsgroups or mailing lists, as long as the copyright and subscription information remains.
