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' WEBSITE101: READING LIST
Reaching Great Minds Online
May 21, 2001 Issue #90
Mike Valentine, Editor, learn@website101.com
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By subscription only Welcome to the May 21, 2001 issue
WEBSITE101: READING LIST
You are receiving this issue because you subscribed or
because you requested our Free WebSite101 Short Course.
Unsubscribe by using the address at the bottom of page.
This issue online at http://website101.com/arch/current/
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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==> Membership Reminder: WebSite101 Iron Clad Privacy Policy
==> Feature Article: How to Create a Linking Strategy
==> Second Article: Ezine Article Format . . . Looking Good!
==> Classifieds
==> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information
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New Iron Clad Privacy Policy For WebSite101
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With apologies to those who have read and responded to the
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This is the time to come one, come all to exercise that right.
Visit the following URL to sign up as a free member and maintain
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To those of you concerned about privacy, we've updated our privacy
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How to Create a Linking Strategy that Works - Easily!
By Merle
http://www.MCPromotions.com/
Reciprocal linking is the art of getting other websites
to link to yours. Done properly, it's a powerful mar-
keting tool that can improve your search engine rankings
and bring you highly qualified traffic. If you can get
enough websites to link to yours it can help you greatly
with what's known as "link popularity," which is one of
the criteria used by most of the major search engines
when ranking websites. Theoretically, the better your
popularity,the higher you rank.
Your first step should be to set up a page on your site
that will hold the link swaps you're going to arrange.
Some people call these pages "links" or "fav links"
or sometimes "related links."
What I hear from many site owners is "if I link out won't
I be sending my traffic away?" The answer is yes... and
no. When choosing sites to link to, choose related sites
that complement what you do but don't directly compete
with you -- instead of linking to your competitors.
A smart tip to keep in mind when adding these sites
to your webpage is to set them up so they'll open in a new
window. This way, your site will remain open in the
background, making it easy for your visitors to return.
Now I'm not going to kid you about this: The hardest
part in swapping links is finding the sites you wish
to link to, contacting the webmaster, then adding
the link. Even after all of this is said and done
you'll still need to monitor the sites who've agreed
to swap with you to make sure they're living up to
their end of the bargain.
The good news is there are online programs and
software that make all of this
work a whole lot easier.
1) LinksManager: http://www.LinksManager.com
If you'd like to completely outsource the job, Links-
Manager is for you. No software to install on your
end at all. Even though your actual links page will
reside on their server they do allow you to customize
the look to blend with your existing website. It
constantly monitors all links on your link page to
verify that none of the reciprocal links you've arranged
have been dropped. The cost is $19.95 a month, but if
you refer one sign up a month your service will be
free.
2) Link-Spy: http://www.Link-Spy.com
With Link Spy you use their site to keep track of
all of your links. To set up your own free account
just visit the site and fill in the short form. Then
log in and begin adding the url's of all of the sites
that are suppose to be linking back to yours. Make sure
you enter the exact page not just a root url. For
example, 'www.mcpromotions.com' would not be good if the
links page was located at 'www.mcpromotions.com/links.htm'
They do all of the monitoring and notify you by email
when someone has dropped your link.
3) Linkagexpress: http://www.linkagexpress.com
This service hand tailors a linkage campaign
specifically for your website. They find the
links in your niche market and guarantee to increase
your traffic in only 30 days or less. Take advantage
of the free link popularity consultation offered to
see if it's right for you. A minimum of 50 link requests
is required, with Campaigns starting as low as $500.
That breaks down to a per link request cost of $10.00
a link.
4) Zeus: http://www.Cyber-Robotics.com
Easy to use, this Internet robot builds a link directory
and creates reciprocal links for your website all on
its own. Well, ok, you have to help a little bit. The
software sends personalized reciprocal link requests under
your supervision, after you visit the sites and approve
the ones you want to include in your directory. There
are two versions available: Pro for $199.00 or a
free sponsored version that is limited.
5) LinkTrader: http://www.freeclassifiedlinks.com/linktrader.html
This handy piece of free software allows you to enter in
the url's of all the sites that are suppose to be linking
to you and run a live report. After LinkTrader scans the
sites in your list it generates a report of the sites
that do and don't have your link. An optional email can
be sent to each site asking why they have removed your
link if you like.
6) LinkCrafter: http://linkcrafter.bannermation.com/
This free piece of Windows software will automatically find
pages related to yours, creates link to them, and notify
their owners that you have done so. This software was given
ZD Net's 5 star rating.
Gathering reciprocal links for your website is a powerful
promotional tool that you should be utilizing in order to
increase your traffic and improve your link popularity.
By adding only relevant links that relate to your site's
topic you'll also be adding an additional value for your
visitors as well. Popularity was important in High School
and on the Internet it's no different. If you use it
to your advantage you'll be one of the most popular sites
on the web in no time at all.....and that you can count on.
**********************************************
Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com
"Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made"
Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting!
Pubishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers
pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.
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GUEST ARTICLE
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. . . Lookin' Good!
by Todd N. Thompson
An often overlooked aspect of online marketing is the
importance of how your sales message is delivered. To say
this in a more direct way would be to say, "does your email
message arrive to the reader in a format that is easy to
read, easy to understand, and does is let the reader know
you are serious about your business?"
Formatting your email for success is critical. Here is the
golden rule to follow. Never format your emails to be
greater than 60 characters per line. If you go greater than
60 characters, some of your readers will have trouble
reading your email due to how their email software renders
the message.
Let me illustrate my point with two sample emails.
Email Message # 1 Hello Jim,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah, blah blah blah blah
.... Thanks, John Doe
(Line width in this example is greater than 60 characters)
Email Message # 2 Hello Jim,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah
blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah
blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah, blah blah blah blah.
Thanks,
John Doe
(Line width in this example is set at 60 characters to
guarantee a nice presentation in your customer's email
programs.)
I know you will agree that example # 2 is a much better
looking email message than message #1. In fact, I bet you
have deleted email that looked like #1, because of the way
it looked. Right?
Don't let your email messages suffer this tragic fate
because you did not take the time to make them look Good.
Steps to Writing Good Looking Emails
Limit Character width to 60. Use a hard return (that means
hit the 'enter' key when you get to 60 characters, or
before 60 if the next word is long). I create my messages
using Textpad. TextPad ¨ is a powerful, general purpose
editor for plain text files. Easy to use, with all the
features a power user requires. ( Go to: TextPad.Com and
download the trial copy. )
Avoid using ALL CAPITAL letters. This is viewed as
'screaming' in the cyber world.
If writing your messages in HTML, use font color 'black'
for the text of your messages and use color fonts to
'accent' specific words.
Always use blank lines between paragraphs and between your
signature file and the cordial exit (Thanks, Sincerely..
etc).
A good looking email is a short message with impact . . .
not a 'book'!
******************************************************
About the Author
Todd N. Thompson is an Internet marketing consultant,
speaker and marketing expert. You can view his latest
project, the "Royal Responder", the best follow-up
autoresponse service available on the internet today, at
http://www.royal-responder.com/good
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************
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of
Healing Arts. Offering Residential training intensives at our school
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<a href=" http://hypnotherapy-training.net ">Go
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************
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Copyright © 2000 Mike Valentine
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-------------------WebSite101: Reading List-------------------
ISSN: 1527-5094
Mike Valentine
WebSite 101
learn@website101.com
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June 10, 2001
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