JimWorld Gazette Issue #83 11/23/1999

JimWorld Gazette - Issue #83 - November 23, 1999

Farewell Revnet - Hello Sparklist And Lyris
A Must Have JimTOOL - Gator
Tools To Build One-To-One Relationships
Book Review: Permission Marketing
Adding Power To Your Site
Software Review - Keytext 2000
Build A Community - Painlessly
Get Linked
Snippets

Link to this issue of the Gazette as http://gazetteworld.com/go/to.cgi?l=g83

FAREWELL REVNET - HELLO SPARKLIST AND LYRIS

After about two years of pain-free list hosting for the Gazette, we must say a
sad farewell to our RevNet list server.

RevNet was sold and the new owners canceled the GroupMaster hosting part of the business. This left the Gazette in a bit of a lurch, which is one of the reasons it was a while between issues.

In pure panic mode I picked up the phone and contacted Lyris, which was a list management system I've been trying to get around to reviewing for a long time.

While waiting for my own NT server to appear, I needed a way to send the Gazette with the preference to be sending it on the same software I intend to use long term.

To cut to the chase, SparkList which hosts tons of lists using the Lyris system, stepped up and offered to host the Gazette until we moved to the in-house server.

To make things even better, they even handled the loading of the 250,000 names that make up this list. That made the whole move a lot easier.

I've been extremely impressed with all aspects of the SparkList company. Sales, support, operations all are responsive to their client's needs and they take care of business.

While I am sad to leave RevNet which has had such a major stake in the success of the Gazette, I am thrilled to have found such a great new home for the Gazette.

Goodbye and thanks, RevNet.

Hello and thanks, SparkList.

http://www.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/af/b.cgi/120

A MUST HAVE JIMTOOL - GATOR

Gator
http://www.gator.com/

Once in a while I stumble across a tool that is just right. Gator is such a tool. Does just what I need and nothing more.

The idea behind Gator is pretty simple. It sits on your desktop and watches every page you go to on the Web. When it spots a page that asks for a log in ID and password, it looks for that page in its data base. If you have never been to the current page before, Gator watches you log in and stores that information in its files.

When you visit that site again in the future, Gator pops up and offers to log you in.

Then it goes away.

Perfect. And free.

Gator also helps you fill in submission scripts and on-line order forms, but several programs do a better job of those operations. Gator's strength is in access control.

Sorry Mac fans. Windows only.

TOOLS TO BUILD ONE-TO-ONE RELATIONSHIPS

Accelerating 1to1, a spin-off of the Peppers & Rogers Group, released a 41-page report on Oct. 12, 1999 of how to build 1-to-1 relationships effectively.

Here is a summary of the five companies featured in the report.

Net Perceptions: http://www.netperceptions.com
With clients such as CdNow and Egghead.com, this newly public company produces software that "leverages your entire customer base to serve the needs of individual customers" by creating adaptive communities of consumers. Their Real Time Recommendation Platform provides a range of services from e- commerce to ad targeting recommendations. The end result? Consumers get highly personalized and tailored services and products.

WeBridge: http://www.webridge.com
Specializing in partner and customer relationship management, WeBridge's software application allows clients like Xerox to build 1-to-1 relationships by setting up extranets that allow "every document, price list, promotion, incentive, and update" to be available online. This makes it easy to provide individual treatment to partners and customers.

E.piphany.com: http://www.epiphany.com
This venture-backed company offers web-based analysis software. With clients such as Charles Schwab and HP, E.piphany.com provides a web interface to access a database of customer information. Lane Michel, Director of Relationship Marketing and Marketing Development of HP states, "It allows firms to put real solutions and real processes in place that create different behaviors in marketers-- behavior that's more in tune with customer expectations."

net.Genesis: http://www.netgenesis.com/
net.Genesis helps companies, monitor, measure and assess Web, email and offline interactions. Their software also allows clients such as SmarterKids.com to analyze ROI (return on investment) of 1-to-1 marketing efforts.

Inference: http://www.inference.com/
This NASDAQ-listed firm produces k-Commerce Sales and k- Commerce Support applications for clients such as AOL and Sun Microsystems. The sales application allows analysis of three types of data (explicit, implicit, and environmental). The support application "integrates Web, email, telephony, and call center solutions to provide seamless conversational support."

For a free copy of the Accelerating1to1 report, visit:
http://www.1to1.com/

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K. Ingram
E-zine web designer/consultant
Insyncweb.com http://www.insyncweb.com

BOOK REVIEW: PERMISSION MARKETING

by Seth Godin

This book states that because the old intrusive approach of interrupt marketing is not working, we need a new more gently approach, which he calls "permission Marketing.L" He considers this an extension of 1to1 marketing.

On TV you see interrupt marketing in a big way. Message after message is thrown at the viewer. But because of the clutter of so many messages, the viewer turns off. So corporations spend more for more intrusive messages, thereby increasing the clutter, making the situation worse.

The basic idea of permission marketing is you interrupt once, mildly, "to get them to raise their hand" - to get permission to send messages. Once you have the prospect's permission, you can embark on a program "to teach the consumer until a stranger becomes a friend and then a friend becomes a customer."

Godin talks of 5 levels of permission:

Intravenous - Doctors are among the very few that have this high level of
permission. They may make buying decisions on behalf of the customer
Points - He refers to the old Green Stamps. But most coupon or other incentives fall into this category
Personal Relationships - Godin ranks this level below the points level because relationships don't scale. For Small Business, though, personal relationships ought to rank higher than points
Brand Trust - The author claims "brand trust is dramatically overrated." I agree.
Situation - When a customer contacts you for any reason, you have an opportunity to sell.

The author divides a permissive marketing campaign into 5 steps:

Offer an incentive for volunteering
Offer a curriculum over time, teaching the consumer about the product or service
Enforce the incentives by guaranteeing that the prospect maintains the permission
Offer additional incentives to gain more permission
Over time, leverage permission to change consumer behavior and turn it into profits

Seth Godin, in this book, takes a big step forward from in-your-face mass advertising of old to a softer 1to1 dialog with individuals. It's a good book to buy.

You may buy it by jumping to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0684856340/learningfountain/

However, the approach is still manipulative. Every step along the way, he suggests "bribes" in order "to change consumer behavior."

It struck me that the author wants you to "teach the consumer. If you are really trying to make a friend, help him "learn." You do this best by building a community. A spirit of helpfulness is what you need.

Helpfulness should be the theme of the next book on marketing, making the progression as follows:

Interrupt Marketing
---Permission Marketing
------Helpfulness Marketing

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Paul -the soarING- Siegel mailto:paul@learningfountain.com
Join LearningFOUNT: mailto:subscribe@learningfountain.com
People Helping Each Other Grow Internet Business Expertise

ADDING POWER TO YOUR SITE

Want to add some traffic-building features to your site? Tired of doing all the work yourself to find, modify (mmmm... hack?) the code to get it to run, install it on your server, test and debug, fix the look-and-feel.... and on-and-on-and-on?

A new service is out there to make all of that go away. It's called Free Site Stuff.

Take a look around. Free Guestbooks, Surveys, Site Directory, Matchmaker Personals, Forums and more coming every week.

These are high-quality applications, not just some "Well, what did you expect for free?" offerings I've seen on most remotely hosted sites.

Take a close look at the Site Directory application. It's a full featured search engine and database. Replace your links page with your own search engine that contains only sites you add or you approve from the submitted sites. Features include: Category Creation, add/edit/remove sites, top 10 links in each category or the entire search engine, links checked daily for invalid links, ratings, & What's New.

There are some pretty advanced features in that list. Links checked daily? No more 404's? I should be so lucky on my directories! Notice that you can draw from their database of listings in addition to the links you add yourself to your directory. That gives you a great jump on building enough content to actually attract visitors to your site.

Did I mention that this free service is banner supported? Well, it is. But there is a nice surprise for you. You get half of the banner inventory for your own use. That's a little more like it should be.

If you want more stickiness on your site, or want to upgrade from the run of the mill free stuff for your site offerings, cruise on over to Free Site Stuff at http://www.freesitestuff.com/

Tell 'em Jim sent you for some relief from site doldrums.

SOFTWARE REVIEW - KEYTEXT 2000

Its not often I get really excited about a software product that is not our own.

However, once in a while, I come across a product (or a new version) that is so exceptional in usefulness and value, that I feel compelled to spread the word.

Such is the case with a great little Window's utility program named KeyText. Actually, my company has been using KeyText since its initial release a couple of years ago. I thought it was great back then, but the release of the latest version really impressed me. I should note that, in this case, I am not only impressed with the actual product, but also with the support and the professionalism of the small company that produced it.

In essence, KeyText allows you to create an almost unlimited number of text files that can be instantly inserted into any other Windows program with a click or two of the mouse or a specified set of hot keys. Additionally, special commands and system macros can easily be created to perform multiple system functions with a single click or hot key.

It usefulness can best be explained by how we use the program. Along with doing custom software programming, SoftwareSolutions.Net offers about a dozen Internet related end-user software products. Each product has a rather lengthy set of instructions we Email to customers upon purchase that include the products serial number or unlock code.

Prior to finding KeyText, we kept each set of instructions in a separate text file. When filling orders, we had to open the appropriate text file, copy the entire text, switch windows and paste into the message. Then we would have to go to another file that contained all the serial numbers for that product and cut and paste a number into the message. If we were filling numerous orders, the result would be a lot of open windows and a lot of switching back and forth between windows, highlighting the proper text, copy, switch back to message, paste, etc.

However, with KeyText, we keep all the software instructions in a single KeyText file. Each set of instructions is assigned a hot key combination such as Shift+1, Shift+2 and so on. Once launched, KeyText resides in your task tray and using the hot keys will instantly insert the entire contents of the related file where ever your cursor is located.

So now when filling orders, we simply start a new message, place the cursor in the body of the message and use the proper hot key to insert the instructions. The addition of a single line of code at the beginning of the KeyText item also inserts the full day, date, and time as the first line of the instructions. Then, since KeyText allows multiple instances using different KeyText files, we switch to the serial numbers file to quickly grab a serial number. A quick switch back to the message and Ctrl+v places the serial number right where we need it.

I use another KeyText file for HTML commands. Since each file can hold up to 234 different items, I have plenty of room to store complicated Java scripts, page templates and the like - all available to instantly insert into a web page with a hot key.

At $25 for a registered version, Keytext has been one of the best shareware investments I have ever made. There is a complete, professionally written user's manual available in .pdf format and the support has been superb. Additionally, as I write this, I am playing with the Beta of a soon to be released new version that has an unbelievably time saving feature for filling out forms on web sites. This new feature is so handy it puts other such programs to shame.

I could go on and on about the additional features of this program but the best way to find out is to download the trial version from http://www.mjmsoft.com/home.htm

By T.J. Walker - President - SoftwareSolutions.Net
http://www.softwaresolutions.net

BUILD A COMMUNITY - PAINLESSLY

Recently I've had the pleasure of working with Eric Pickup at BuildACommunity. http://BuildACommunity.com/products/

Eric has some of the best CGI applications I've yet come across. Everything from Community Weaver, which lets you build your own Free Web Site community. Just like GeoCities. You can offer your "members" full-featured page editors, guest books, discussion forums, polls and many more great interactive features. Members even get their own server logs and search engine (a light version of Hyperseek.)

He also offers several other high-quality systems, but the one I'm excited about right now is the Auto-HomePage system which lets you offer your visitors their own, customized Start Page. Lots of features and flexibility there to keep people coming back several times each day.

To really show how powerful this system is, I'm launching it on JimTools.com in time for the next edition of the Gazette. You'll be able to sign up for your own Start Page that will become your best friend while working on your sites. Reach all of your favorite on-line tools, daily Web news.... Wait. If I tell you all about it today, what will I find to write about next week?

Just pay Eric a visit at http://BuildACommunity.com/ and add some power to your sites.

GET LINKED

Visit The1000 at http://the1000.com/ for 23 new places to submit your site for a free listing.

SNIPPETS

SITES THAT SELL PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS

According to a new study by Creative Good, 39% of shoppers in user tests failed in their buying attempts because sites were too difficult. This rate of failure could result in a loss of more than $6 billion for online retailers this holiday season.

The smart merchant is spending lots of time testing and revising their selling process to make it intuitive and obvious. Shoppers simply have so many choices for places where they can buy that a site that doesn't make the buying process will lose valuable orders and might never know about it.

The study information can be found at

http://www.goodreports.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.100.exe/rholi.html?E+scstore

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MEDIA KITS REQUIRE REGULAR UPDATES TO BE EFFECTIVE

Web sites that offer advertising space must pay constant attention to their online media kit if they are to be effective in selling their advertising space inventory.

An out of date or poorly maintained media kit is perceived by potential advertisers as an indication of problems in the future.

A site that is lax in media kit maintenance probably doesn't place much importance on working diligently to satisfy the needs of their advertisers.

NOTE: Jim is, as always, exempt from these dictates. If Congress can do it, so can I.

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TIE YOUR BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS CUSTOMERS TO YOU

In the Business-To-Business arena, leverage can make all of the difference.

Look for services you can provide to your clients that have a high perceived value to them, but in reality cost you little to deploy.

Imagine the impact on client retention when your client has all of their web site content and automation installed on your complimentary web server.

In order for a competitor to capture that client's business they must overcome not only the benefit you offer in free web server and bandwidth, but also justify to the client the need to undergo the effort of moving their web site.

The cost to you is minimal, but the impact can be a serious roadblock in the path of your competitors.

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InternetNews.com
http://www.internetnews.com/rumblings/0,1145,81,00.html

A current story at InternetNews.com on the recent re-launch of the AltaVista search engine featured the Search Engine Forums as a source of information. It created a flurry of traffic to the forums, and we want to invite all of those new visitors to stick around and join in. http://searchengineforums.com/

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Unmade Community
http://www.unmade.com/submissions/

Calling all creative writers. The Unmade Community is looking for submissions to their ezine.

"Articles are always welcome! We accept almost any kind and shape of article. If it fits into one of our categories, great. We would like art, music, poetry, and literature related material."

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eGroups
http://www.eGroups.com/

According to the press release I received today, eGroups and OneList have agreed to merge. Both are free mailing list management services. The combined company will operate as eGroups.

If your list is hosted on either company, keep an eye on it and make sure you have a recent download of your membership list. When companies merge, things always go wrong here and there (or everywhere.)

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The zGates Project
http://www.zgates.com/

For a slightly different, and fun look at the most recent episode of the 'Road To World Domination - The Microsoft Story' drop in on the zGates Project. This one is all the fun you need for this issue of the Gazette.