Issue 58, July 1, 1999
Building Communities
Issue 58, July 1, 1999
Building Communities
Welcome to Web Marketing Today, Issue 58, e-mailed to 68,217 subscribers around the world. Web Marketing Today is published twice a month, an article issue early in the month, and a links issue late in the month. Have you considered advertising in WMT?
God bless you,
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Editor
Building Communities that Promote Your BusinessHere we describe the functions of communities on the web. You'll see different types of communities including newsletters, discussion lists, bulletin boards, and chat rooms. Once you recoginze the essentials for a successful community, and how it affects a business's bottom line, perhaps your business will start a community, too. Read the Article.Review of Free Mailing Lists Programs: eGroups, OneList, Topica, and ListBotThe technology is maturing, the services are broad, and for price-conscious small businesses the "free" price tag is attractive. We examined four online mailing list programs, set up a practice list, and put them through their paces, explaining the main features and pointing out the differences and advantages of each. Read the Article.Free Mailing List Feature ComparisonOneList, eGroups, Topica, and ListBot are put side-by-side in this comparison table supplement to our review. Read the ArticleE-Mail to the EditorMeasuring BookmarkersWe especially like the "favicon.ico" idea and implemented it immediately after reading your last newsletter. We also noted an ancillary benefit to using the favicon.ico: we can track the number of visitors who have bookmarked our pages based on favicon.ico downloads. While this is not a perfect measurement, we feel it is a good proxy. And, you're right about asking visitors to bookmark the site; when you ask, they do it. -- Ryan Valentine, http://www.valentine-blackheart.com/ Editor comment: The MS Internet Explorer 5.0 seems to be buggy in that sometimes it retains the icons for bookmarked sites, and sometimes they disappear from the favorites list. Newsletter FormatI can't say I like the new format of the e-mails from your site lately. The newsletters used to be full of useful info and articles, now they are all just link and advertisement and it is increasingly difficult to distinguish the two. I understand this is a commercial venture, but these link newsletters aren't nearly as useful as your previous format was. Kind regards, Mike Prince Editor Comment: Mike, Thanks for your feedback. We publish two editions of Web Marketing Today each month, an articles edition the first week of the month, and a links edition the last week of the month. So the "old format" isn't lost for good. We're still spending many hours to provide top-notch content for you, and to keep you up in the field. :-) Advertising in Web Marketing TodayIf you have a product or service needed by companies seeking to promote their business on the Web, there's no better place to advertise than Web Marketing Today e-mail newsletter. We offer two sponsorships per issue, one before and one after the first article. You can find full specs and demographic information on our readers online. We have a few spots still open in the next few months, though spaces are filling up fast.We also offer banner advertising on our heavily travelled Web marketing and e-commerce areas of our site. Some of our recent banner advertisers have included MSN LinkExchange, Network Solutions, CyberCash, and iCat. Take a look at our rate card. http://wilsonweb.com/ads/ 
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 Review: Ultimate Bulletin BoardA positive review of Ultimate Bulletin Board, a BBS that allows mulitple sections, multiple moderators, and superior user and administrative interfaces. The cost is $152, though a free version is available. Read the Review. Or Download the Ultimate Bulletin Board.What's New at WilsonWeb.comWe're sure you've already seen some changes on our site. But here's some of the ones you might not have noticed yet--and we think you're really going to like them. Read about the New Features at WilsonWeb.comLinks to Resources:Links to Resources: Business Use of Chat and Online Communities Join Our Affiliate ProgramI've recommended doing so for months. Now I've done it myself -- started an Referral Affiliate Program for Wilson Internet Services. I invite our friends around the world to sign up for our referral affiliate program and put a link on your website to our subscription-based newsletter WEB COMMERCE TODAY or to our E-COMMERCE RESEARCH ROOM. Full instructions are on the site. When your visitor clicks the link on your link it takes them to our site -- and they get a cookie on their browser. Then, if they subscribe to Web Commerce Today anytime in the next 90 days, you get a $6 referral fee.We're using Commission Junction because they do all the administrative work of running the program. But if you want to save some money and do it all yourself, then check out AffiliateZone's software especially designed to make administration easy. Our sister publication WEB COMMERCE TODAY focuses squarely on e- commerce selling products directly over the Internet. Coming up on June 15 is an issue theme on shopping cart software. We'll be examining (1) how to select the right software for your needs, (2) how to display products, (3) maintaining an online store, and (4) how to assess a developer. In addition, you get to view all the back issues online, with detailed information about how to obtain a merchant credit card, site security, designing a site to increase the conversion rate, drop-shipping, and many other key issues we've discussed over the past 22 months of publication. On top of that a subscription gives you access to our E-Commerce Research Room, with 2,000+ links to articles on every aspect of e- commerce, carefully selected to avoid news release hype and maximize how-to-do it. One large section is devoted to everything we can lay our hands on concerning business models and approaches in a number of sectors. If you're serious about e-commerce, you need WEB COMMERCE TODAY. Think of all the expensive mistakes this knowledge will save you. Subscribe today for only $49.95. Telephone ConsultingWhen you're stuck, it's sometimes helpful to talk it through with someone who has had some experience. One of the services I provide is telephone consulting. Before I start the "clock" for my one hour minimum fee, I spend a few minutes with you to make sure I'll be able to help with your particular need. Perhaps I could help critique an online business plan or walk through a website with you making constructive suggestions.
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