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BOC ONLINE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
(Issue: 4, October 19, 1998)
What's in this issue?
Section-
1) WHAT'S NEW? - New items and a new look have been added to our website.
2) ARTICLE A: "Search Engine Confessions" - by Jim Daniels.
ARTICLE B: "What To Look For In An Affiliate Program" - by Audri G. Ladford.
3) HELPFUL SITES FOR - Office Supplies.
4) FYI - Stop Debt Collection Harrassment!
5) NEWS - Dell To Offer Credit Card Protection
6) FEATURED BUSINESS SOFTWARE
7) CLASSIFIED ADS
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SECTION 1: WHAT'S NEW? - Whew! Piece by piece we finally put together our websites new look
and feel. We have added a variety of new things, including...
A business start-up ideas section, complete with several unique start-up programs split into home business,
muli-level marketing and franchising categories. Directly to the right of these you will find our new section
devoted to current small and home business news and press releases. Scroll down a bit and you will
find a hyperlink to small and home business trade shows and events. These are shows that will be taking place
across the country throughout the rest of this year. To finish things off we added a few articles covering
business opportunities scams and work-at-home schemes and how to avoid them. But, that's not all! You'll
have to visit our new site to see what other great additions we have made!
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SECTION 2: ARTICLE A "Search Engine Confessions" - by Jim Daniels.
Search engine ranking. How important is it really?
Well, if you can never seem to find your web site
through search engines, you probably think it is
keeping you from success.
Not true.
Confession #1:
There was a time when I felt that ranking high in
search engines was very important. I even spent hours
every week trying to get those top spots. I mean I
tried everything. And lots of the stuff I tried
worked. I enjoyed #1 rankings at Infoseek, AltaVista,
WebCrawler and more. I was in the top 10 of nearly all
the major engines.
Then a funny thing happened. I wised up.
You see, I finally realized that there were literally
thousands of other folks promoting related products
and services. I knew that keeping those high search
engine positions would become quite a chore
eventually. Hey, I'm just one guy, sitting at my
computer. If the few hours a week I was spending on
search engine ranking grew into ten, 12 or 15 hours,
something else would have to suffer.
Which leads me to confession #2...
I dropped out of the game altogether. That's right, I
gave up the battle. And it was the best decision I
ever made. Not only did this decision free up time for
more important online marketing strategies, it helped
me see the bigger picture.
That big picture is this:
You need more than search engine traffic to make it
online. You need relationships. You form these
valuable business relationships by promoting your
business in other ways. Regular email contact,
newsletter publishing, discussion group participation,
offering an associate program - these are the methods
that have brought me full-time income on the internet.
They are also the methods that will take me further.
I can honestly say that if the search engines all
closed up shop tomorrow (or started to rank pages by
who pays them the most - which is more likely) my
cyberbusiness wouldn't miss a beat. Why? I chose not
to rely on search engines for web site traffic.
That's not to say I don't get traffic from search
engines. I just don't rely on search engines for *ALL*
my traffic. Like any wise internet marketer, I take
what I can get -especially when it's free.
Which leads me to Confession #3...
I now enjoy some of my best search engine ranking
ever!
"What's that Jim? You gave up the battle and you're
winning?..."
Actually, yes. Just this morning I went out on the web
in search of places to spend some ad dollars. As
usual, I used my favorite multi-engine search tool
called the Dogpile at
http://bizweb2000.com/engines.htm. I searched on
"ezine advertising" and "direct email marketing" in
hopes of finding a few good targeted advertising
opportunities.
What did I find? Well, uh, my own site.
Here's where I showed up...
"ezine advertising"
#1 on WebCrawler
#5 on Lycos
#1 on Magellan
#1 on Excite
#2 on AltaVista
"direct email marketing"
#1 on WebCrawler
#2 on WebCrawler
#1 on Magellan
#2 on Magellan
#3 on Excite
"How's that?", you ask. "How does a guy drop out of
the search engine battles and come up with top
ranking?"
Simple. I said I dropped out of the battles, not the
war. You see, I still make sure that every web page I
create is optimized for good ranking. I do this by
inserting meta tags, using a good title and adding
keyword rich content.
I recommend this as a minimum. It's simple. All you
have to do is create one good meta-tagged page, then
use it as a template. Every time you create a new
page, paste in your template and adjust the keywords
for the content on that page. A quick tutorial on meta
tags can be found at my free help area:
http://www.bizweb2000.com/freehelp.htm
With this "casual" method, you can't help but get some
good search engine raking. Plus, all the time you save
battling for those top spots can be better spent on
REAL internet marketing!
So there you have it. Confessions from a once-hooked
search engine junkie. Are you caught up in the search
engine ranking battles?
Perhaps it's time to surrender some of the battles.
Who knows, you may just win the war!
----- Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing.
SECTION 2: ARTICLE B "What To Look For In An Affiliate Program" - by Audri G. Ladford.
Recently, there was a lively discussion on the
Internet Sales Discussion List about affiliate
programs. Many list members were less than
happy with Amazon.com's affiliate program.
One member wrote that he was disappointed
in the list's kvetching and argued that despite
the many complaints, Amazon wouldn't
change their program.
He wouldn't change it, either, if he were in the
same competitive position as Amazon's Jeff
Bezos; nor, he felt, would any other I-Sales
reader.
Although I disagree (and I'll explain why in a
moment), this raises some interesting
questions about affiliate programs. First, let's
briefly examine the background.
The Basics
If you have a web site that gets more than
1,000 visitors a month, you might want to
consider joining an "affiliate" (or "associate")
program to generate some extra income.
Affiliate programs work like this: Company A,
the vendor, sells something you think might
benefit people who visit your site, but that you
don't offer now. You put up a banner or other
sales information on your site -- the host site --
which links to Company A's site. If a person
referred to Company A by your host site
makes a purchase, Company A pays you a
commission.
Amazon.com started one of the first and most
famous affiliate programs where virtually
anyone can become an affiliate and "sell"
books. You do this by featuring books on your
site as related to what you do, then give your
visitors a reason to buy them by writing
positive reviews and providing convenient
links to Amazon.
The concept is great. But the program has
some severe limitations. For example, host
sites are only paid a commission on books
that are actually linked from the host site (not
on any other books purchased by the referred
customer). Nor are affiliates paid for repeat
orders by the referred customer.
And, the commission rate is low (5 to 15
percent). Many Amazon affiliates I know earn
between $5 and $25 a month, which makes
the program unattractive, given the time and
energy involved.
Evaluating An Affiliate Program
There are a number of issues to be examined
and investigated when considering an affiliate
program. The points below can help you
assess the value of a referral program for your
site.
Is an affiliate program consistent with the goals of your web site?
Most people develop web sites to promote
their primary business. The most successful
sites are tightly focused on a niche market,
while the sites that try to be all things to all
people are usually not very profitable.
Therefore, ask yourself first how the affiliated
product or service will benefit your target
market. Then ask yourself how the program
will benefit you.
How much money can you make from an affiliate program?
Using the Amazon example, if a visitor buys
one of your featured books, Amazon will pay
you a 5 to 15 percent commission on the
purchase of that book. Let's say that 25 of your
site visitors per month buy one of your
featured books at Amazon after linking from
your site. Let's say the books average $20
each, and your commission rate is 10 percent.
You'll be paid 25 x $20 x 10 percent, or $50,
for that month's transactions. If this happens
every month, you'd make an extra $600 a year
for a few hours of work. You could make more
if you have more traffic and more products to
offer.
Make sure the vendor's commission arrangement is equitable.
As I mentioned, some vendors -- like Amazon
-- only pay you for the first sale generated by
your referral. Further, Amazon only pays for
books listed on your site.
If your visitor goes to Amazon and buys 50
books, but doesn't buy one of the books listed
on your site, Amazon will make a big sale, but
you won't earn any commission. Your goal is
to find an affiliate program where you get paid
on the total sale, not on a small part of it.
The hard part is attracting qualified visitors to
your site and getting them interested enough
to buy. Processing the order is the easy part.
So look for affiliate programs that pay you
based on ALL purchases made by your
referrals for some period of time.
Cash is king!
Some vendors pay you with "house credits."
That is, they give you credit toward buying
something from them as commission.
This may or may not benefit you. If you get
cash, you can buy something from them if you
want. With credits, you're forced to buy. So
look for vendors who pay in cold, hard cash.
Ask for -- and check -- vendor references.
Some vendors are slow to pay, while others
don't pay at all. So before you spend your time
and resources on a vendor, get names and
email addresses of their satisfied affiliates.
Contact them and ask questions.
Visit the web sites of other affiliates to see
what kind of products and services they sell.
Make sure the host sites are legitimate
companies.
Make sure the vendor provides an
easy way back to your site.
Some vendor sites make it difficult to return to
the host site. This can be potentially damaging
to you because many people might lose track
of their travel paths and forget about whence
they came.
So try out the program from an existing
affiliate's site. Check how easy -- or difficult --
it is to return to the host site.
Investigate several vendors before signing up.
Try the ones that seem to be the best fit. If it
doesn't work out, you can always change. If it
does work out, you'll have one or more
sources of ongoing revenue.
Did Amazon Get It Right?
That brings us back to the original question:
Given Amazon's competitive position, should
they continue with the current structure of their
program, or are they making a mistake by
continuing to have such a lopsided program?
I believe Amazon is making a major mistake
by maintaining their affiliate program as
currently structured. In almost every other way,
I'm a real fan of Amazon's (I buy tons of books
from them and refer them lots of business).
But, I (and I believe many others) haven't
joined their affiliate program because it just
doesn't make good business sense.
With all of the fierce competition Amazon is
just starting to experience, it simply isn't worth
alienating partners and potential partners for
the amount of revenue involved. I believe with
a better Affiliate program, they could have
"raving fans" as affiliates who would generate
so much more activity and business that it
would more than make up for the margin difference.
This is old thinking vs. the kind of thinking that works on the ‘net.
For a company that does as many things right
as Amazon, I'm surprised they haven't figured
this out yet.
----- Article by Audri G. Ladford.
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SECTION 3: HELPFUL SITES FOR - Office Supplies.
IKON Office Solutions - http://www.ikon.com/
Kinko's - http://www.kinkos.com/
Mead - http://www.mead.com/
Office Depot - http://www.officedepot.com/
Office Max - http://www.officemax.com/
Staples - http://www.staples.com/
U.S. Office Products - http://www.usop.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 4: FYI - Stop Debt Collection Harrassment!
Did you know that you never have to deal with a
collection agency if you don't want to? All you have
to do is write a letter to the collection agency
stating something like this:
"Pursuant to Federal law, do not contact me at any
time for any reason."
That's it. Once the collection agency receives your
letter, they may legally send you only one (1) more
correspondence regarding the collection. If you mail
your letter immediately after you receive that first
correspondence from the collection agency, you will
probably not receive any phone calls from the
collection agency at all, since upon receiving your
letter, the collection agency will simply refer
the matter back to the company that hired their
services.
This does not mean that you no longer owe any money or
should not pay whatever debt you rightfully owe. It
simply takes the collection agency out of the picture
by legally stopping them from contacting you,
harassing you, or otherwise upsetting you while you
get your finances in order and take steps directly
with the company owed to repay your debt.
Source: Dollar Stretcher http://www.stretcher.com
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SECTION 5: NEWS - Dell To Offer Credit Card Protection
Dell Computer Corp. said Thursday it is offering a
secure online shopping guarantee in the United States.
Customers will be protected against online credit card
theft and fraud, Dell said. Dell's online secure
shopping guarantee is available on sales made through
its online store. With this announcement, Dell became
the first major personal computer maker to have an
established policy against online piracy of credit
card information, it said. Dell makes $6 million
online sales per day.
Source: The Bull Market News.
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SECTION 6: FEATURED SOFTWARE
MBI Business Software -
Software solutions for small business
management, medical offices, and human resources.
http://www.mbisoftware.com/
MyMailList -
Software designed to help small businesses manage
customer lists and bulk mailings.
http://www.mymaillist.com/
Palo Alto Software -
Software and related information for business plans, business
planning, entrepreneuring, business start-ups, marketing plans,
marketing, decision analysis, and business management.
http://www.palo-alto.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 7: CLASSIFIED ADS
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