Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #025
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Sales from the EDGE Issue #025
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Sales from the EDGE
Breaking Through the "White Noise" Of Selling on the Net
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>From time to time, the EDGE publishes important updates that
you need to SELL on the Net. Most "latest and greatest" Net
marketing & sales developments simply waste our time. Today's
"hot new technology" is tomorrow's "whatever happened to?"
Occasionally, though, something comes along that STICKS. It
might NOT even be NEW... but we need to be reminded. When
that happens, the EDGE cuts through all the "white noise" of
Web marketing. It explains the issue and outlines clearly
how YOU can best take advantage of it.
SALES FROM THE EDGE is sent ONLY to SiteSell product owners.
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March 21, 2002
Issue #025
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
o SITESELL NEWS
1) Affiliate Masters Course...
Updated, and E-book
2) Important Heads Up!...
E-Goods/E-commerce/Affiliate/E-zines Coming to SBI!
o Featured Article
1) Going Head To Head With The Pay-Per-Inclusion Programs
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>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SITESELL NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>-News-
---1---
>-News-
Affiliate Masters Course...
Updated, and E-book
As Monty Python used to say...
"Now for something completely different."
We have updated, and will soon be releasing, the Affiliate
Masters Course... as a PDF e-book.
YAWN, what's new about that? Well, two things...
The Affiliate Masters Course has long been a powerful
PREseller for Site Build It!. Feedback from "students" of
the course confirms that it really does show affiliates how
to build a traffic-generating theme-based content site.
Nothing is held back.
>From brainstorming and researching profitable keywords, to
building "SE-sexy" keyword-focused Web pages, to mounting
huge and profitable pay-per-click campaigns, the course
provides all the information needed for anyone to build a
successful affiliate business.
Until recently, though, this course has been available only
via e-mail. Admittedly, it's not the best way to transmit
information of this quality and quantity (over 100 pages of
"the best info... at any price... and it's free!"). Although
students do recognize quality when they see it, they
frequently ask... "Can I get this in PDF?"
Now, the answer is YES!...
***BUT HERE'S THE REALLY COOL PART***
We have managed to penetrate the arcane world of PDF code.
So 5 Pillar Affiliates, SiteSell's partners-in-sales, will
be able to click a Free Book Builder button to create their
own customized version of this e-book, complete with their
own special tracking URLs. All they have to do is upload
it and offer this powerful PREseller from their sites.
Yet ANOTHER unique and powerful, viral PREselling tool that
keeps the 5P Program ahead of all other programs.
If you would like to PREsell Site Build It! from your site
(or on your neighborhood offline bulletin board!), it's
about to get as easy as falling off an e-log.
So, if you have not yet registered for the 5 Pillar Program,
please visit...
http://affiliates.sitesell.com/
We'll be launching this right after Easter (in final beta at
the 5 Pillar Club, mid next week).
Or... watch for it at an affiliate near you! :-)
>-News-
---2---
>-News-
Important Heads Up!...
E-Goods/E-commerce/Affiliate/E-zines Coming to Site Build It!
We're getting closer and closer to launching something that
no one else on the Net is doing. This is, I am sure, the
future of SOHO/small business e-commerce Web hosting.
Soon...
SBI! owners will be able to use a MailOut module to take
subscriptions and mail to that opt-in list. AND they'll be
able to design their own graphic logos and left-margin
graphic navbars, using what we call "server-side PhotoShop-
like tools."
Beyond the LogoCreator and NavBar Maker and MailOut, though,
here's my *FAVORITE* part...
SBI E-commerce -- owners of this new value bundle will...
o get their own merchant accounts to take credit cards
o sell and fulfill/ship e-goods exactly the way we here
at SiteSell do
o have the same kind of reporting and back-end tools
that we do
o even run their own affiliate programs!
o MailOut to customer and affiliate lists (HECK, we can
finally abandon OUR OWN, old, now-antiquated code and
replace it with this slick, state-of-the-art MailOut!)
You know, some companies focus their ENTIRE business on
selling just ONE of these new functions. Other companies
focus on selling one, or another, of Site Build It!'s many
other functions already in place, such as...
o brainstorming and researching keywords
o regular Web hosting, with all its html, ftp, cgi, etc.
o submit and track all the engines, re-submit based on
their behavior and activity, NOT simply automatically
o rank-reporting at the engines
o Pay-Per-Click research and mass-bidding
o sheesh, you don't even have to worry about renewing
your domain name! SBI! does it automatically.
--
> ***AND NOW FOR THAT ALL-IMPORTANT HEADS-UP***
Current SBI! owners will get the full e-commerce bundle
free, until renewal time (or for at least two months,
whichever lasts longer). The e-commerce module will be sold
separately, far cheaper than competitors like digibuy.com
(who only provide an order form for a greater price). But if
you buy SBI! right now, and start getting your e-book ready
now... you'll be in great shape to get the entire
e-goods/e-commerce/affiliate/mailout bundle for free for
the rest of the year (not including the per-sale transaction
fee, which will also be less than all competitors).
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
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>> THIS ISSUE'S FEATURED ARTICLE
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Going Head To Head With The Pay-Per-Inclusion Programs
Both FAST and AskJeeves recently announced the introduction
of pay-per-inclusion programs. This means that almost every
major search service (with the exception of Google) now
offers a paid option for entry into their respective
indices. We figured it was time to evaluate the various
programs and determine which ones (if any), delivered real
value for your dollar.
Let's face it. The SEs still do a pretty good job of
driving hordes of extremely targeted traffic to your Web
site. And as we all know (all other things being equal, of
course)...
TARGETED TRAFFIC = MORE SALES.
So it *can* make good business sense to invest a few dollars
in some of the better pay-per-inclusion programs out there.
Let's see how.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Just a brief reminder before we begin...
Paying to be included in any of the following
indices does NOT guarantee you a favorable
ranking -- it just means that your site will
be included and refreshed often. Most search
services insist that there is no difference
in treatment between paid URLs and those that
make it into their respective indices for free.
So unless you've taken the time to properly
research your keywords and build optimized
pages (according to the 80-20 rule), none of
the following services will likely be of much
help to you.
Need help to optimize your pages and target
your keywords? Look no further than Site
Build It!. Its awesome, simple-to-use system
makes it a breeze ...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
Since paid inclusion will be more and more
important, and since we expect SBI!
E-commerce owners to use it more and more
once we launch that new value bundle, we're
constantly upgrading our spider-tracking,
index-checking and rank-reporting tools, so
you can be sure that you get your money's
worth from the engines... and that they
actually do send the spiders and index your
site, as promised...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
Oh, and one more thing...
Most of the services I'm about to discuss
offer a high-end "pro" service for those
people who wish to submit several 100's or
even 1,000's of URLs.
Since that's a very select market, I'll focus
only on the BASIC services.
-----SIDEBAR-----
We'll begin by lining up the competitors...
1) AltaVista's Express Inclusion
Submit at...
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl
Overview: Allows entry of up to 500 URLs into the AltaVista
index quickly and efficiently. Pages are refreshed on a
weekly basis for the duration of the subscription period (6
months). An Account Management Center is provided where one
can check the status of URLs entered in service -- most
recent spidering date, refresh rates and so on.
Unfortunately real, helpful data -- clicks per subscribed
URL -- is not reported.
Cost for inclusion: (This is the only service that prices
on a 6-month basis).
First URL: $39
URLs #2-10: $29 each
URLs #11-500: $19.00 each
Cost for 10 URLs/year: $600
AltaVista also offers various listing "enhancements" (custom
taglines, small logo). All are available at an additional
cost, of course.
Significant Search Partners: None
Market Reach: According to a recent study by Jupiter Media
Metrix (our primary resource reference for the duration of
this article)...
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/mediametrix.html
AltaVista is at the very bottom of the SE pile with 5.7%
market reach.
Maintains FREE Add URL Service: Yes, available at...
http://addurl.altavista.com/sites/addurl/newurl
--
2) Inktomi's Search Submit
Submit at PositionTech...
http://www.positiontech.com/
Overview: Allows fast (usually within 48-72 hours)
inclusion of up to 1,000 URLs into the Inktomi database, and
regularly refreshes every 48 hours thereafter. Subscribers
can exchange the pages to be included in the service at any
time (as long as the pages all come from the SAME domain).
Although Inktomi has several reseller partners,
PositionTech is by FAR and away the best one I've seen.
It's head and shoulders above the NetworkSolutions/Verisign
service. The account interface is friendly, intuitive and
very, very helpful. Not only will the PositionTech service
show you how many click-throughs each of your URLs has
received, it also shows you which keyword searches generated
those visits, PLUS the average search position for those
keywords.
A nice change for a search service -- focusing on delivering
real value for the money.
Cost for inclusion:
First URL: $39
URLs #2-1000: $25 each
Cost for 10 URLs/year: $264
Significant Search Partners: MSN Search, AOL Search, iWon,
Overture, LookSmart, plus many others.
Market Reach: Extensive. According to Jupiter Media
Metrix, Inktomi's main partner (MSN Search) has #1 market
reach with 36.3%. AOL Search ranks #4 with 22.2%. Throw in
all the other large and small Inktomi search partners, and
you've got a pretty impressive service.
Maintains FREE Add URL Service: Yes, available at HotBot
UK...
http://www.hotbot.lycos.co.uk/submit.html
Or MSN...
http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm
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3) FAST/AllTheWeb InSite Select
Subscribe at...
http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/
Overview: Fast, 48-hour guaranteed inclusion into the FAST
database and 48-hour refreshes for the duration of the
subscription. Those with over 250 pages to submit will need
to invesigate the "InSite Select Pro" service. It offers a
lower monthly pricing option and a customizable
remotely-hosted site search option for your site (in
addition to the features offered by the "InSite Select"
service).
You can login at anytime and view your account summary,
which consists of little more than the date of the last
successful spidering. Unfortunately, this service doesn't
report clicks per URL -- although you may substitute URLs
slated for inclusion at any time.
Cost for inclusion:
Annual Membership Fee: $18
Cost per URL: $12
Cost for 10 URLs/year: $138
Significant Search Partners: Lycos, plus many major European
and Asian portals.
Market Reach: Moderate. FAST's major partner Lycos is not
reported on in the latest Media Metrix report, but Danny
Sullivan estimates its marketshare to be around 19%. That
makes it the 5th most popular North American search service,
directly behind AOL search. FAST also powers AllTheWeb, a
search service that receives a very small amount of search
traffic.
Maintains FREE Add URL Service: Yes, available at...
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
--
4) AskJeeves(Ask)/Teoma
Submit at...
http://ask.ineedhits.com/
Overview: Guaranteed entry into both the AskJeeves and
Teoma indices within 7 days. Weekly refreshes after that.
The program is currently in beta mode (although it is fully
functional), and subscribing early in the program will see
your subscription period extended to 15 months instead of the
usual 12.
You may login to your account at any time to view URL
status, substitute URLs slated for inclusion into the
database, or (surprise, surprise) add more URLs to be
included. Alas, clicks per URL aren't reported with this
service either.
Cost for inclusion:
First URL: $30
URLs #2-1000: $18 each
Cost for 10 URLs/year: $192
Significant Search Partners: Results currently appearing
only on AskJeeves (Ask) and Teoma. No other partners as
of yet.
Market Reach: Moderate. Our trusty Media Metrix report
shows AskJeeves maintains an audience reach of 15.9%, behind
Lycos and AOL Search. Teoma is a fledgling engine that
receives minimal traffic (although the future is bright).
Maintains FREE Add URL Service: No. There's really no easy
way into the AskJeeves/Teoma index in a timely manner.
Either you pay for it, or you build your site's link
popularity so Teoma (a crawler-based service) can find it on
its own... someday.
OR you can send an e-mail to AskJeeves' 10 remaining editors
and tell them what questions your site answers. (But don't
hold your breath.)
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Summary
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OK, now we can get down to brass tacks, and identify the
winners, losers, and those in between.
Let's start with the BIG winner...
o Inktomi's Search Submit, through PositionTech...
http://www.positiontech.com
The combination of decent price and huge market reach makes
Inktomi's service the hands-down favorite from the "get go".
However, it's really the fantastic *account administration*
features offered by the PositionTech service that makes it
very difficult to go wrong.
No other pay-per-inclusion program (or Inktomi partner, for
that matter) gives you such control over your listings. As
mentioned earlier, not only are click-throughs per URL
reported, but the keyword searches that led to the click
throughs. PLUS, as an added bonus, you'll get to see the
average ranking for those terms.
Perfect for tweaking pages!
And for the low-performing pages? If tweaking doesn't help,
simply exchange them for any other URLs from the same
domain at any time.
In a world where there is little interest in ensuring the
customer receives real value for his or her money,
PositionTech's Inktomi Search Submit service stands tall.
Kudos for OVERdelivery and dedication to a customer-oriented
service.
Subscribe at...
http://www.positiontech.com
Inktomi does maintain a "FREE Add URL" service (now at
HotBot UK), but they are on record stating that they add
very few of these submissions as the vast majority of them
are spam or low quality pages.
I guess what I'm saying is...
If you NEED to get into Inktomi, you have to pay!
--
Next, let's move on to the BIG loser...
o AltaVista's Express Inclusion
Submit at...
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl
If the PositionTech-provided Inktomi Search Submit service
gets kudos for OVERdelivery, then AltaVista's Express
Inclusion has to get the nod for UNDERdelivery.
With twice the price and only a minute fraction of the
market reach of the Inktomi service, it really makes you
wonder what the folks at AltaVista are thinking. And if
that weren't enough, AltaVista goes out of the way to gouge
the customer further -- offering "listing enhancements",
custom-taglines, and regional-specific domain submission --
all for additional costs (per subscribed URL, of
course).
Paul Crane, Product Manager for Site Build It! (and writer
of our "Test Tube" series of articles that we publish here
and in the 5P Report), tells me a hilarious story about AV...
---------------------------------------------
"Ken, I recently filled out a survey sent out
by InfoSpider, AltaVista's Express Inclusion
Service. In it, AltaVista is asking us if
we'd would be interested in paying EXTRA
dollars (per URL, again) for features already
included in the Inktomi service -- features
like click-through and impression reporting.
Yeah, right."
---------------------------------------------
-----SIDEBAR-----
I had asked Paul (back in September) to
experiment with both Inktomi's and
AltaVistas's paid services on his sites...
http://www.ultimatefatburner.com/
And...
http://www.diet-supplement-review.com/
His comments are as follows...
In my experience, AltaVista's paid service is
nothing short of abysmal. It doesn't deliver
results, or offer the flexibility of their
competitor's services. I have nearly 50 pages
(a combination from both domains, most free,
and a few paid) listed in the AV database,
yet I receive nearly no traffic from them.
These are the same pages that literally bring
hordes of visitors from the Inktomi service.
I guess it boils down to this...
Unless your situation is a whole lot
different than mine (you receive tons of
visitors from AV), I suggest you investigate
Inktomi's Search Submit (besides, you can
still make it into AltaVista for free). For
me, it has proved to be one of the most
efficient and low cost methods of getting
visitors to my Web site. I like the
flexibility the service offers, and I LOVE
the targeted traffic it generates.
Of course, your pages must be SE-optimized,
and you need to be effectively targeting your
keywords. If you're doing all that, you just
can't lose!
The perfect solution? Look no further than
Site Build It!. Its awesome system makes it
all easy, fast and extremely affordable...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
And, with the E-commerce value bundle coming
soon, SBI! is about to become the ultimate
E-commerce Web hosting solution... all you
have to do is focus on your business. SBI!
takes care of the rest.
-----SIDEBAR-----
I guess that just about sums it up. Take-home lesson?
Submit to AltaVista to the free service of course, but
forget about paying to be listed. (SBI! even makes their
free, horrible-graphic-submission process a snap!)
--
OK. Next on our evaluation list?
A couple of "wait and see" services. First at bat...
o FAST/AllTheWeb InSite Select
Subscribe at...
http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/
Kudos go out to FAST for pricing their service to reflect
the reality of their market reach. This service is the
cheapest one here -- $12 per URL in addition to an annual
$18 membership fee. FAST has plenty of partners alright,
but outside of Lycos, most are small, regional portals in
Europe and Asia.
Unfortunately, there's really not much point in beginning
a discussion as to the merits of FAST's service, and whether
or not it will bring visitors to your site.
Why?
It's simply much too easy to make it into the FAST database
for free. FAST does a pretty good job of crawling and
listing pages on a regular basis. So until FAST downgrades
its free service, or unless you have a *specific* reason to
submit through the paid service...
Stay the "free" course of action...
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
--
Remember, if you're tired of worrying about submitting and
tracking all the engines yourself, SBI! does all this for
you.
--
o AskJeeves/Teoma
Submit at...
http://ask.ineedhits.com/
There are a few reasons why you should hold off submitting
to this new service.
1) On a "best bang for the buck" basis, AskJeeves falls far
short of our winner. A few extra dollars per URL gets you
into the Inktomi database -- which sports a much more
extensive market reach, in addition to superior URL
management tools.
2) Although AskJeeves sports decent popularity and market
reach, search results are skewed towards "paid advertising."
In other words, even if a paid submission results in a top
10 position for your selected keywords, visitors may never
see it.
3) The AskJeeves-owned crawler service Teoma will likely
spider your site for free if you have some decent link
popularity built up.
My advice is that you should keep an eye on this service.
Why?
Teoma, although receiving very little traffic itself, is a
pretty good service. (Check it out for yourself. It has a
very clean "Google-ish" design, and results are clean,
accurate and free of advertising)...
http://www.teoma.com/
As such, it may be a perfect low cost partner (and
alternative to Inktomi) for search portals looking to
provide relevant, crawler-based listings to its visitors.
If Teoma can pick up a couple of decent-sized partners, the
importance of being listed in this database will increase
substantially. But we'll visit the issue again if it
happens!
Here's the bottom line...
Since there's no quick and easy way to make into the
AskJeeves/Teoma database, you may wish to submit a couple of
URLs as an experiment. However, I only recommend this if
you already have all your most-important pages in the
Inktomi database.
Otherwise, hold off, and stay tuned!
--
Paul keeps his finger on the pulse of the SE world. We'll
be providing these reports periodically for the "EDGE" so
that YOU can stop on top of YOUR game -- the winning side,
of course.
If you are a SBI! owner, you get near-weekly updates on SE
developments and traffic-building strategies in the
SBI!XPRESS newsletter. The SBI! system really is the BEST
and EASIEST way to generate TARGETED TRAFFIC and convert
visitors into CUSTOMERS which as we all know equals
SALES/COMMISSIONS.
And at the end of the day, your online business survival and
income level depends on you getting it right, the FIRST
time...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SiteSell Discount Directory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
Please bookmark this page -- it's the only page that you
will EVER need to buy SiteSell products at an owners-only
discount. For owners of SiteSell products ONLY, it provides
discounts on all products, except for MYSS! 2002 -- if I
reduced the price on it, I'd have to pay *you* to buy it!
;-)
SiteSell Discount Directory
http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
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Back issues available at...
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Contact info: E-mail us at support@sitesell.com
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Written by Ken Evoy, M.D.,
President, SiteSell.com
(c) copyright 2002 SiteSell.com
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