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Ecommerce / Web Marketing
Ezine
March 31 2002
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View the TTB Ezine Archive
Taming the Beast Ezine - March 31 2002
Contents:
1. Site and Internet News
*New resource for site owners and Internet marketers
*TTB Wins!
*TTB Community needs your input!
*ALERT - Domain name registration scam
2. Article Summary - A guide to choosing domain names
3. Full Article - The revenge of Netscape?
Many articles are available from our site, free for reproduction on your web site or ezine. Subjects covered include Web Design, Ecommerce, Internet Promotion and Marketing, Security and of a general cyberspace related theme. The article index can be viewed at:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
articles/articlemain.htm
Don't forget to check out the other great resources on TTB! We're adding new tools and tutorials on a weekly basis! Have you tried out the online Flash and DHTML generator as yet? Find it here:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
generators/codegenerators.htm
Please forward this newsletter on to those who you feel may be interested in the subjects discussed. Unsubscribe details at the end of the newsletter.
**TAMING THE BEAST CONSULTANCY SERVICES**
-Need a web site developed?
-Want to boost your search engine rankings?
-Need a banner? - 4 of ours recently became high click-through prize winners!
-Don't have the time to promote your site yourself?
Review the many consultancy services offered by Taming the Beast:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
admin/about.htm
Site and Internet News
Welcome to all the new subscribers of our ezine! The ranks have definitely grown over recent months! I hope you find this publication to be useful and I look forward to your feedback so we can continue improving it.
NEW RESOURCE for marketers and site owners!
A couple of months ago, I was asked to supply articles for a new comprehensive Internet marketing resource. This new concept has been under wraps up until now, but now the secret is out! For anyone who wants to improve online sales and especially those who sell information products online, this service is a must! Some of the biggest names in Internet Marketing have thrown their support behind this new concept. For more information, view: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
misc/marketing-information.htm
Take a look before your competition does!
TTB wins!!
Last week, Taming the Beast.net received the SiteProNews "Site of the Day" award and was featured in their ezine, which currently has a circulation of 6 million! We'd like to thank all our visitors who make this kind of achievement possible through your continued feedback and support!
TTB Community
In January, I created a new feature-packed discussion board for Taming the Beast.net. But, something's wrong - it's being viewed a great deal but no-one is posting questions or contributing to the board.
If you have a moment, please take a look at the discussion board and share your thoughts with me as to how I can improve it to make it a useful feature of TTB. The board was created for your use and to alleviate the volumes of email we receive from people wanting advice on web development and marketing. I'm always happy to respond to your questions, but if you post your questions on the board then not only will you receive responses from me, but other experienced developers/marketers. Other people can then also benefit from the sharing of knowledge. The TTB community can be viewed here: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi
ALERT - Domain name registration scam
It's been widely reported among Domain Name Registrars that many of their customers have been receiving deceptive and predatory expiration notices from a major American registrar. The notices encourage people to transfer and renew registrations to the company (at a higher price). The sting is that it is not obvious in these notices who they are from - many will be tricked into thinking that they are from their current registrars.
If you do recieve an expiration notice via snail mail, read it carefully to ascertain its origin. If these allegations are true, it is a great shame that such high profile companies are stooping to gutter-level customer acquisition strategies. Perhaps if they didn't spend so much money on high-price marketing "gurus" (usually graduates with no real-world experience but a whole heap of attitude), they could drop their prices and gain customers ethically.
Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware!
2. Article Summary - A guide to choosing domain names (revised)
Choosing a domain name is a big decision. When I originally started trading under "Taming the Beast" years ago, a search on that phrase didn't bring back too many results. A search on AltaVista recently brought back 1627 results.....how times change.....
Save yourself dollars and heartache by reading this updated guide:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
articles/whatsinaname1.htm
3. Full Article - The Revenge of Netscape?
Over the past couple of years I've been involved with training many new web masters, developers and site owners. In the process I've had the privilege of in turn being trained by many of them! Working in a training room environment with a group of Netrepreneurs is never dull - web development and marketing can get pretty passionate at times!
If there was ever a subject that stirred up heated debate, it was the issue of cross-browser compatibility. It was very difficult telling someone that the web page that they were working on and so proud of would either crash Netscape browsers or display terribly and they should really rethink the design and functions. The typical response would be "everyone should use IE then!", or "I don't care!" and the inevitable "not many people use Netscape!". I remember some of these debates becoming so heated that they basically became yelling matches - ah, the memories!
It's true, creating a site that is compatible with a wide range of platforms can be a pain in the butt - but the benefits translate into more visitors and if you are an ecommerce based site, this will translate into increased sales.
"Not many people use Netscape!"
This may be about to change. AOL, which up until now has bundled a flavour of Internet Explorer with its services, has recently announced that it is testing a replacement browser. AOL's bundling agreement with Microsoft officially ended in January of 2001, amid great controversy. AOL has engaged other providers since then to develop a product, but all have failed.
Considering that AOL now owns Netscape, it doesn't take too much imagination to guess which browser they are currently testing. AOL's online service currently boasts a membership of over 35 million which is approximately 5% of the total browser market. A move to Netscape will dramatically increase the number of visitors to your site using the software.
"5 percent isn't much of an increase"
When viewed in this way, the figures may not give you much incentive to start designing sites for Netscape - but here's a working example using Taming the Beast.net visitor figures.
For the week leading up to the publishing of this article, our site had around 15800 visitors who viewed nearly 50 000 pages. Currently, the number of Netscape visits to our site stands at around 6.6%.
Rough Breakdown:
Number of Netscape visits - 1042 over 7 days
Number of Netscape page views - 3300 over 7 days
If AOL goes ahead with the change to Netscape, these figures will only increase.
If you're the owner of an ecommerce based site, imagine losing 3300 chances every week to sell your products because you felt that "everybody should use IE!". If you are a developer and design only for Internet Explorer, you may have lost your clients a good deal of business this week!
This raises a good point for those of you who are considering having a site built by someone else. It will definitely pay to ask the prospective design/development company whether they can create you a site that is cross browser compatible. At the very least, all critical elements on your new site should display properly in IE4.0+ and NS4.0+. It may cost a little extra, but a few dollars spent will be returned to you many times over.
As developers/site owners, it may be time to quit browser brand loyalty mindsets, squabbles about W3C compliancy* and being software company 'fanboys' .... let the market dictate.
Further notes:
Cross Browser Compatibility
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles
/crossbrowercompatibility.htm
The other great debate: Internet Advertising
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/
articles/webadvertising.htm
(The W3C develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. You can visit the W3C at http://www.w3c.org)
Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
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Copyright information.... This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in its entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit http://www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles, tutorials and tools for site owners and Internet marketers! Subscribe to our popular free ecommerce/web design ezine!
That's all for this Taming the Beast update! We are very open to feedback, so please don't hesitate in contacting us.
Regards from Australia
Michael Bloch & Katherine Tyndale
Taming the Beast - Established 1995
michael@tamingthebeast.net
kathy@tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community
Marketing, eCommerce and Web Development Services
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