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ISSUE #2
Date: Jan 06 1999 05:44:18 GMT
From: WebWord.com distribution list <john@WebWord.com>
Subject: WebWord.com Newsletter #2
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WebWord.com Newsletter
"Usability & the Internet"
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List Owner:
John S. Rhodes
John@WebWord.com
Supported by:
WEB CARDS
http://www.printing.com/affiliate.asp?site=WebWord
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January 6, 1999 Newsletter #2
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Table of contents
1. A new interview is online
2. Jakob Nielsen's Web Site URL, ack!
3. Visit this sponsor...and all that jazz ;-)
4. InterNIC has some usability problems
5. Wow! An Easy to Set Up Associate Program
6. Internet $$$ Statistics
7. A New Friend!
8. FREE stuff on WebWord.com
9. Tell A Friend, It Is Easier Than Ever
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ITEM #1
A new interview is now online:
http://www.WebWord.com/interviews/bray.html
I recently interviewed George Bray,
CEO of LinkAlarm. LinkAlarm is a service
that checks your site for broken links
and other problems. Needless to say, George
has a lot to say about how broken links
impact your site. There is also a link to
the LinkAlarm FREE test drive. If you
want to get right to the free 2 month test
drive, I can't blame you...here's URL:
http://www.linkalarm.com/testdrive/?967516844
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ITEM #2
Jakob Nielsen's Web Site URL, ack!
I recently came across something that you
might find very interesting. Jakob Nielsen
is a Web usability guru, and he has a great
Web site called "useit.com". Interestingly,
if you try "useit.com", you won't reach the
site! You *must* use "www.useit.com". Now
here's my interest in this. You can use either
"webword.com" or "www.webword.com" to reach my
site. Hmmm. And there are other sites like mine
too, such as UsableWeb.com. This is obviously
an important usability issue. More and more
people are getting used to leaving off the
"www".
Does anyone have an answer for why this happens?
I'll post the answer(s) in the next newsletter.
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ITEM #3
Visit this sponsor...and all that jazz ;-)
Here's a message from an important sponsor!
There is an excellent marketing program
available from Corey Rudl. It costs under
$200 yet you get over 10 lbs. of material,
including a videotape, two binders full of
marketing tips and secrets, and a subscription
to his private newsletter. If Web site promotion
is important to you, visit the site today.
http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/11535/
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ITEM #4
"InterNIC has some usability problems"
I recently visited InterNIC -- these are the
folks that let you buy ".com" domain names.
They obviously get mega-traffic, given that
over 10,000 domain names are registered *every*
day! Here's the message I saw on their homepage:
"The InterNIC Call Center will be closed on
Friday, January 1, 1999, so our employees
may enjoy New Year's Day with their families.
The Call Center will re-open on Monday,
January 4, 1999 at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time."
YIKES! Do you see the problem? They are thinking
"locally". They serve the global community. This
shows that they aren't thinking about their users.
Does your Web site serve the global community? Do
you have your site set up to really serve your
users *all* of the time? How about the language
you use? Did you wish the world "Merry Christmas"?
What about Kwanza? Or Passover? Perhaps a simple
"Happy Holidays" is more appropriate.
Remember, a Web site is up 24/7 (24 hours, 7 days
per week). You are *always* open.
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ITEM #5
"Wow! An Easy to Set Up Associate Program"
As many of you know, I have become very interested
in affiliate (or associate) programs. I interviewed
Allan Gardyne and I wrote an article about them too.
I recently came by a program that was VERY easy to
set up. It is a site that is selling a (great) book
on preventing auto repair rip-offs. You join the
program by visiting the site of another affiliate,
such as mine. You simply sign up and you get your
"own" Web site! You don't do anything else. You
simply hand out "your" URL and sit back. I can't
stress how easy this is to set up. Also, you get
$5 per book sale (the book only costs about $19).
Here's another cool thing, any time a person that
signs up under you sells something, you get $1.25.
This is a nice two-tier program. If you want to
take a look a well designed affiliate program
(or if you are looking to make a couple of bucks),
visit the site:
http://www.kbs-direct.com/auto/book/164/index.html
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ITEM #6
"Internet $$$ Statistics"
I came by some very interesting financial
statistics on the Internet. You might be very
surprised by what you see. Here's the URL.
Unfortunately, I had to chop it into 2 parts, ugh!
PART 1 -- http://www.zdii.com/industry_list.asp?
PART 2 -- mode=news&doc_id=ZE303506&pic=Y
If you cut and paste make sure that "mode=news..."
comes directly after "...asp?"
Long URLs usually result in poor usability, as
you can see.
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ITEM #7
"A New Friend!"
Kathleen Kotwica added me to CIO.COM's
"Human Behavior and the Web" listing of
usability resources.
http://www.cio.com/forums/behavior/hci.html
In return, this (excellent) resource was added
to my "hotsites" page and my WebWord.com
Friends page.
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ITEM #8
I added a new and exciting "FREE Stuff" page to
WebWord.com! Here's the URL:
http://www.WebWord.com/FREEstuff.html
These are things that I found through my searching
for cool associate programs. The page is an
experiment in many ways. I can't say too much or
I'll ruin the results. In any event, there is a lot
of great FREE stuff...magazine trial subscriptions,
Web Cards, link checking test drive (by LinkAlarm!),
car pricing information, and so forth. (As you can
tell, not all of it is usability related.)
If anyone finds cool usability and human factors
"free stuff", let me know and I'll add it.
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ITEM #9
"Tell A Friend, It Is Easier Than Ever"
I made it quite easy for you to recommend
WebWord.com to a friend. I acquired a CGI script
from BigNoseBird.com (a great site). PLEASE
recommend WebWord.com to a friend. Here's the URL
http://www.WebWord.com/cgi-bin/birdcast.cgi
OR, simply pass on this newsletter...! Finally,
remember the WebWord.com Friends program. If
you promote WebWord.com I will promote YOU.
Read the details.
http://webword.com/friends.html
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