NUTLEY, NJ -
August 31, 2000 / INB /
Build a Site Lets Anyone
Build a Free Website in Under Four Minutes
- Forget about hiring a website designer. Don't bother asking a
neighbor's kid. Even without a bit of knowledge about computers, users can now
build their own website for free in under four minutes at
NJave.com. NJ Avenue has taken the pain
out of designing a website by letting anyone build their own site quickly and
easily. Users simply answer a series of questions, choose their background and
graphics, and decide upon the amount of pages they wish to include - and their
site is complete. Best of all, it doesn't cost them anything. Free website
design and hosting is included.
"Unlike many free website programs, ours is entirely free,"
explains Gary Wien, executive vice president of Digital Creek Publishing. "Many
places let you design your site for free, but charge you for hosting. We not
only provide users with free website design and hosting, but we do not clutter
up their website with banner ads like most places do. With others, your website
is simply a billboard for someone else." Build A Site is the most
ambitious free website program on the Internet. Over 70 different categories are
currently represented and more will be added in the future. Categories range
from businesses like plumbers and carpenters to schools and organizations and
even laundromats and gas stations. Each category has its own graphics to help
create a site that looks as though it was designed by a professional website
designer.
"One of the biggest problems people told us they had with free
website programs was having everyone know it was a free website," said Mr.
Wien. "We decided that instead of having a login button on the user's
website, we would simply have users login through the Build A Site main page
when they wanted to update their site. This way you can get a great looking site
for free - but nobody has to know that it was free." Build A Site does not
require users to have any knowledge about HTML or programming languages. All you
need is access to the Internet and an email account. NJave.com also provides
free web based email accounts for users that do not already have an email
address.
Users may have up to twelve different pages for their website
including specialty pages like driving directions, a guestbook, and even their
own chat room. Each category includes a few pages specific to that category. For
example, restaurants will be able to include their menu and even include an
online coupon that people can print out and use.
"The large majority of businesses in the United States still do
not have websites," said Mr. Wien. "We're not saying that a business
shouldn't hire a professional website designer. We're saying that every business
should be on the web right now. And if they do not have the money to hire
someone, Build A Site is a good place to start."
Editor's note:- actually the sad fact is that even most computer
resellers don't have web sites, and this kind of free site is better than no
site. See my article -
Why are most Sun
resellers invisible on the web?
August
24, 2000 - / INB /
Cisco/AOL Successes Examined
in Two New Books
-- Why are AOL and Cisco Systems two of the most
successful Internet companies today? Capstone Publishing author David Stauffer
explores this question in his two titles published this summer:
'Nothing
But Net: Business the Cisco Way' (ISBN 1-84112-087-1) and
'It's a
Wired, Wired World: Business the AOL Way' (ISBN: 1-84112-090-1).
In
'It's a Wired, Wired World: Business the AOL Way,' Stauffer discloses the
secrets, deals, schemes and dreams of the world's #1 Webmaster and one of the
world's most innovative digital superstars. AOL is the world's single most
successful Internet-based company, whether measured by number of customers,
annual revenues, or profits. CEO Steve Case is a visionary, a charismatic leader
who has taken AOL from obscurity to become the pre-eminent new-media brand in
less than ten years. Case has increased the number of AOL subscribers by a
staggering 4,000% in the last seven years. David Stauffer reveals the secrets of
Steve Case's strategic moves and shows how they were perfectly on target for
dominating the .com world.
Marketing research studies show that AOL is the most recognized brand
among all new-media companies. AOL has repeatedly made headlines, both for its
gaffes and its triumphs. The result is that everyone - from the industry insider
on Wall Street to the teenaged geek on Main Street - has an opinion on AOL, its
services, and its performance.
Last week Cisco Systems reported a 61% increase in sales and a 69%
increase in profit from operations. How has Cisco Systems maintained this
impressive growth for 10 consecutive quarters? In 'Nothing But Net: Business the
Cisco Way,' Stauffer tells how. He examines the corporate values of Cisco
Systems and provides concrete examples that other managers can apply directly to
their own companies. According to Stauffer, Cisco appears to be the right
company, in the right business, at the right time. His new book unveils the ten
secrets of the company that makes the Internet.
David Stauffer's articles on business and personal management have
appeared in Harvard Management Update, Across the Board, The Wall Street Journal
and other business periodicals.
UNION
CITY, Calif. - Aug. 22, 2000 / BUSINESS WIRE /
New
Book Reveals '101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic'
Intesync announced today the publication of its new book,
101 Ways to Boost Your Web
Traffic. Designed for manage-it-yourself Web site owners, this book shows
them how to effectively develop, market and promote their sites. Clear,
easy-to-follow instructions start with the basics (such as providing high
quality site content and getting listed in search engines), and progress to more
advanced features, including opt-in mailings, viral marketing and affiliate
programs.
"Most Web sites do not get the amount of traffic
they deserve," the book proclaims. "Too many Web site owners work on
the if-you-build-it-they-will-come model for their sites. Unfortunately, those
eagerly anticipated users don't always come. A Web site remains a passive media
with limited visibility until you actively promote it to others." To stand
out in a crowded marketplace, Web promotion efforts must be integrated with site
usability and market demand. Intesync's book reveals 101 successful techniques
now drawing visitors to such popular sites as Amazon.com, AOL Network, eBay,
Lycos, Priceline.com and Yahoo!
101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic
will prove indispensable for site owners who want to attract the largest
possible audience. The book's 101 Ways Implementation Checklist makes it easy to
manage site development, marketing and promotional efforts. By scoring and
prioritizing site features with the criteria listed in the book, Web site owners
can make smart decisions on what techniques to use first.
Author
Thomas Wong is a leading Internet and technology training expert. He currently
manages engineering career development at Solectron Corporation (a two-time
winner of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award) and delivers
e-commerce application training to information technology companies in the
Silicon Valley of California, including Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Nortel
Networks, Qualcomm and Sun Microsystems.
Editor's note:- I haven't read the book, but my own experience
suggests that web
advertising is the #1 most important factor in getting readers to your web
site. Of course, that's only part of the web business process, but it's the
easiest part to control.
August
21, / ASP insights /
New web site focused on the
ASP Market
- ASP
insights is a new web site which you might be interested in, since many
products and services nowadays in the electronic services economy seem to be
acquiring an ASP dimension. Their media kit says:-
"ASP
insights is an editorially-focused Web site, covering news and trends related to
the application-hosting industry. While it represents a valuable resource for
anyone with a general market interest, ASP insights is edited specifically for
the ASP executive. ASP insights offers an analytical look at the latest
developments within the ASP space, from mergers and acquisitions to product
announcements and partnerships. Focused on providing the visitor with a rich
perspective of the marketplace, ASP insights is driven by the highest editorial
standards."
London,
August 17, 2000 / Forrester Research /
No Place
For Traditional Companies In UK Access Market, Says Forrester
- The majority of the UK's operating ISPs -- many of them Virtual
ISPs set up by traditional companies -- must shift from providing access to
distribution, handing dominance of the access market to fewer than 10 large
telco-backed ISPs and portals by 2005, according to
Forrester Research.
"Following the launch of Freeserve in 1998, subscription-free
access quickly became the prevailing pricing model," said Shobhit Kakkar,
associate analyst at Forrester Research Ltd. "Offering a VISP was a simple
way for traditional companies to tap into the growing online population, but
the time to profit from this strategy is over.
"Driven by customer churn and aggressive moves by telcos, the
market is changing rapidly and VISPs don't have the scale or the scope to
compete. A variety of access pricing models already exist -- including unmetered
options -- but unmetered narrowband will give way to broadband services which
will account for 4.5 million UK households by 2005. Also consumer online access
is no longer restricted to PCs -- around 5 million UK households already have
interactive TV and from 2001, all new mobile phones will be equipped to access
the mobile Internet," he added.
VISPs fall into one of two camps -- those with over 100,000 accounts
versus the smaller players. Forrester predicts the large VISPs will sell out to
surviving telco-backed ISPs as they continue to look for scale. The result of
the ISP shakeout will be clearer differentiation between online access and
online services. Traditional companies will no longer look to telcos to help
them strengthen their relationship with consumers. To retain visibility, they
will concentrate instead on arranging distribution with portals and ensuring
presence across multiple access channels.
"While telcos and large portals fight for the top ISP spot,
distribution will become key to traditional companies' online strategies,"
Kakkar continues. "Big brands will become important partners for budding
portals. Instead of attempting to compete with portals by offering VISPs,
traditional companies will form relationships with these sites in order to get
traffic, and portal and traditional companies alike must ensure that consumers
can reach them through whichever interactive channel they choose. Brands will
leverage relationships with portals by demanding links on interactive digital TV
and mobile portals, and enlisting portals' help in designing new services."
PHOENIX - Aug.
16, 2000 / Osage /
Osage iXi Delivers
Unprecedented Web Site Power
- Osage iXi, a division of
Osage Systems Group Inc. today introduced
the Osage iMart and the Osage iSight products. These innovative Business
Intelligence tools bring unprecedented operational and management power to web
site owners. Osage iMart is a proprietary data mart that seamlessly captures
and records detailed eBusiness activity. Osage iMart collects both click-stream
and CRM data. Osage iSight is then employed to analyze and ``mine'' iMart data.
iMart and iSight are part of the Osage i4 series of business-to-business
eCommerce solutions. Also in the fully integrated Osage i4 solution set is Osage
iCatalog and Osage iLink.
In making the national announcement, Osage Chief Executive Officer
Phil Carter stated, ``Osage iMart and iSight will literally multiply the
potential of any commercial web site and provide the intimate web-shopper
intelligence that is necessary to optimize the site and fully capture its profit
potential.''
Osage iMart enables businesses to capture, in line, all pertinent
eBusiness activity. This includes data about Web visitor entry and exit points,
duration of stay, and browsing and buying patterns. Osage iMart provides access
to behavioral, transactional, and historical data. The product is targeted at
mid-tier businesses that view eCommerce as a significant distribution channel
for their products and services and want to dramatically increase their ability
to make marketing and site management decisions based on actual site user
behavioral data. iMart is designed specifically for companies that want to
maximize eCatalog sales by understanding and influencing current and prospective
customer web site patterns and behavior.
Osage iSight contains over thirty predefined analytics that provide
the intelligence necessary to attract, retain, and grow a valuable base of
eCustomers. In addition to the predefined analytics, iSight provides extensions
and application interfaces that incorporate iSight into existing analytical
tools.
``The value of these tools is immeasurable for those businesses
looking to effectively and profitably engage in eCommerce,'' noted Mike
Ehrensberger, head of development for Osage iXi. ``
One of the unique
and underutilized benefits of eCommerce transactions is the ability to easily
collect extensive information about the Web activity and habits of the casual
browser and the paying consumer.
LAKE
ORION, MI - August 15, 2000 / INB /
TravelinJack.com
Portable Computing Outfitter Helps Pros Survive Cyber Wilderness
-
TravelinJack.com the portable
computing systems and gear outfitter for the cyber wilderness, recently opened
an e-commerce mercantile for traveling and wireless computer nomads. At the
secure website, modern professionals and computer users on the go can pack a
secure shopping "trunk" with notebook and handheld computing devices,
portable printers, scanners, MP3 and DVD players, digital cameras, carrying
cases, power adapters and hard to find accessories like the Microsoft IntelliEye
Mouse.
"TravelinJack.com is for wired road warriors, jetting around the
world, in a different hotel every night, making presentations, posting
expedition field reports on websites, and generally working on location,
wherever that may be," explains Michael Shackelford, TravelinJack.com
founder and president. "After two years in incubation and six months in
testing, TravelinJack.com is bringing wired wanderers the very best in
road-tested computer systems and gear, low prices and world-class service."
All Travelin Jack products are shipped for free within the continental
US. And for a limited time, TravelinJack.com is offering visitors to its website
a free t-shirt just for stopping by and saying hello. Organized with
easy-to-browse categories (Laptops, Palm/PDAs, Cases, Cameras and Accessories),
as well as a Quick Search feature, TravelinJack.com makes it easy to compare
product prices, features and system requirements at glance. The site also offers
tips for traveling with computers, and help is always just an email message
away.
Editor's note:- the only thing I couldn't find here which some you
may need, is info about
SPARC Portables
:-)
Baughurst, UK, August 15, 2000 -
/ STORAGEsearch /
The 10 most popular products
that STORAGEsearchers seek
-
ACSL, publisher of
STORAGEsearch.com, disclosed
today the 10 most popular product areas visited by viewers of its enterprise
computer storage web directory. The results measure the recent viewing patterns
of over 90,000 readers. The 10 most popular subjects are, in order:-
- Fibre channel switches & hubs
- RAID systems
- Backup software
- SAN
- SCSI adapter cards
- Hard drives
- RAID controller cards
- Solid state disks
- Data recovery services
- SCSI converters, extenders, repeaters
Publisher Zsolt Kerekes said "The biggest change since we
published a similar table in
March, is that Fibre channel switches have shot up from not even being in
the top 10, to the #1 slot."
15 August,
2000 - / The Source /
Dell selects SAS(r)
e-Intelligence to analyse its website
-
SAS Institute, the leader in data warehousing
and decision support, has announced that Dell, a world leader in Internet
commerce and infrastructure, has selected SAS(r) e-Intelligence to enhance
customer interactions on the Web. The e-Intelligence application includes a
range of SAS software and services that pull together and analyse data from Web
clickstreams, legacy systems, and third-party providers of demographic data. SAS
e-Intelligence showcases the strong SAS Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
capabilities. By providing insight into customer behaviour, the new application
will help Dell make content and navigation improvements to serve online
customers better.
"Dell's Web site averages $40 million a day in online sales
worldwide, and that generates a huge volume of customer data," said Abhay
Mehta, director of Dell Online. "We needed an e-intelligence solution that
scales to terabyte-sized data, with rich analytic capabilities, and flexibility
to grow with Dell's business. SAS offers all of that and more. SAS
e-Intelligence will help Dell to optimise the content and navigation of our Web
site to better meet the needs of many different types of customers."
"Executives at Dell chose SAS e-Intelligence because they
understand the value of the Web in maximising customer satisfaction," said
Jim Davis, SAS' vice president of worldwide marketing. "By incorporating
SAS e-Intelligence into Dell's direct-relationship business model, the company's
decision makers will be able to better understand and target online customers."
Editor's note:- Dell's web marketing is already world class, but
they could do with some help in more traditional areas too. When we ordered our
last Dell at the DSM office, it took over one month longer than the originally
quoted delivery time to get a complete system. Incidental factors which
contributed are that Dell UK has multiple chaotic databases. The one they used
for delivery excluded the street name, while the telephone number they used was
still 01734 area code which changed in the UK to 0118 about 3 years earlier. Oh
yes, and then they kept shipping the wrong stuff because the stuff in the boxes
wasn't the same as what we ordered, or what was on their paperwork. Dell make
good systems, but their customer service, in the UK at least, lags considerably
behind their potential due to lack of fundamental data management.
New
York, NY - August 14, 2000 - / internet.com /
internet.com
Announces Worldwide Plans for Internet Breakfast Forums in Over 35 Cities
- internet.com Corporation, the Internet Industry Portal, today announced that
it will be launching Internet
Breakfast Forums dealing with Internet industry and venture capital topics
in each of the cities in which it has news bureaus in the United States, as well
as in international locations where internet.com has regional editions. Each of
these Internet Breakfast Forums will be held at least monthly. All internet.com
Internet Breakfast Forums are free to Internet industry professionals and the
press.
"As the Internet Industry Portal, internet.com has become the
center of Internet industry information online," stated Alan M. Meckler,
Chairman and CEO. "Now we will be the leaders in the offline seminar area
for the Internet industry as well and we will do this by using the power of our
network of worldwide Web sites to promote these events in an efficient manner.
Revenue generation will come from sponsorships and table top exhibitions,"
added Meckler.
It is expected that internet.com Internet Breakfast Forums will be run
in over 35 cities worldwide on a monthly basis by the end of 2001.
internet.com also produces "traditional" one-day paid seminars based
on Internet topics related to a number of its Web sites such as "Search
Engine Strategies", "Affiliate Solutions" and "allNetDevices."
These one-day seminars will
continue to be held and even expand along with the free Internet Breakfast Forum
seminar series.
Baughurst,
UK - August 14, 2000 - / DSM /
What I did on my
holidays
- Regular readers may have noticed the break in these
updates, while our offices were closed for a 2 week vacation. Suurprisingly you
can learn useful things even where you are away in the remoter parts of Tuscany
with a laptop. If you are about to do something similar, let me share these
things I learned which could help you spend more time by the pool.
- if you're trying to ftp new files to your web site through your mobile
phone and it hangs up on long files, make sure your credit card is healthy, and
connect instead to the phone socket in your hotel or villa. Most mobile phone
connections are too slow to handle the hard wired time delays expected by ftp.
Thanks to the tech support people at Verio UK
for suggesting this. You can waste hours debugging this. OK it may have worked
on your mobile a year ago, but the same thing won't work now.
- there are some private exchanges which still use pulse dial-up, and are
very slow to respond. So you may have to go to your telephony option on your PC
control panel set up and change the settings to pulse. Adding commas ",,,"
in the phone number, adds useful delays and disabling waiting for a dial tone
stopes your PC timing out. Strangely enough, when I did get a connection on this
type of exchange, the data rate on an analog modem was faster than I get on my
BT ISDN (digital) line back in the office. Maybe the local ISP had a bank of
modems in the field at the end of the road...
- If you're using the Uunet
Pipex International Roaming Scheme and have remembered to look up the local
dial up numbers in the country you're visiting, then congratulations. You will
be able to look at the web and receive email for the price of a local phone
call. However if you want to send email, you still have to connect to the UK,
unless you have made the technical changes suggested on their web site first.
This peculiar arrangement means that you should actually take a lot of phone
numbers with you, just to be on the safe side.
As you'll
gather, I rarely leave the office so problems which the hardened road warriors
among you sorted out years ago, leave me completely baffled. Luckily I'm now
back in the office with multiple internet access services, redundant lines and
the backup generator ready to get back to work...
today's news etc from
MarketingViews |
Other news on this page
Build
a Site Lets Anyone Build a Free Website in Under Four Minutes
Cisco/AOL Successes Examined in Two New Books
New Book
Reveals '101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic'
New web site focused on the ASP Market
No Place For
Traditional Companies In UK Access Market, Says Forrester
Osage iXi Delivers Unprecedented Web Site Power
TravelinJack.com
Portable Computing Outfitter Helps Pros Survive Cyber Wilderness
The 10
most popular products that STORAGEsearchers seek
Dell selects SAS(r)
e-Intelligence to analyse its website
internet.com Announces Worldwide
Plans for Internet Breakfast Forums in Over 35 Cities
What I did on my
holidays |
 |
STORAGEsearch.com
Interface
IC's |
Megabyte had
read the market size
forecasts and wanted to get into the STORAGE interface IC business.
Instead of benchmarking his new
fab in the traditional way,
making RAM, he was saving his venture funds by piloting the new
sticky electron process making 12" pizza with a 4 cheese topping.
Andy Grove would have been proud
of him - he wrongly thought. | |
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