Don’t miss A-List blogger Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking, when she discusses how to market to women online.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET - FREE
Guest Expert: Yvonne DiVita of Smart Marketing to Women Online, featured in the Build a Better Blog System

Yvonne DiVita will show you the power women have onlinevia their willingness to shop online and why they are so willing to do so. Women go online not only to buy shoes and dresses, but also to purchase technology and do business research and check out their finances. In addition, women are more likely than men to look for business solutions online, and, today, more women research car-buying online before visiting their dealership to buy a car.

We hear the word relationship bantered about when people talk about marketing to women, but few marketers are able to show online merchants how to build a relationship with their female shoppers. Finally, Yvonne will tell you about some fantastic, ground-breaking business women: Martha Matilda Harper, Myra Hart, and Kitty Van Bortel.

Yvonne DiVita is the president and founder of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC, which includes WME Books, an author services company to help writers produce, print and sell their work; Smart Marketing to Women Online, which helps online merchants reach the largest, most wealthy demographic in the world women; and the Business Blogging Boot Camp, where Yvonne and her team teach small business owners why they should be blogging, and then teaches them how to blog.

Register here.

This is part of the “Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line” teleseminar series hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff and sponsored by Build a Better Blog System.

The forums are buzzing with the sound of PageRank Panic.

24 hours ago, I noticed that Google had PR zeroed my sites, but I thought it was just a glitch in my toolbar. Now it seems PageRank has been greyed out for the entire web! Search engine rankings haven’t been affected though.

Is this the end of PageRank? Or at least the end of Google’s willingness to display it in the toolbar? I think Google displaying PR publicly was a mistake to start with - sort of like an invitation for webmasters and opportunists to game them.

The current view is that PageRank is going to be done away with and replaced by Trustrank, which was recently submitted as a patent by Google.

TrustRank is an algorithm which attenuates trust scores from well trusted sources through to other sites throughout the web. It uses human reviewers to compile a seed set of a few hundred or so sites. From these sites and pages trust passes through to other sites.

The PR addicts and PR brokers will certainly be heartbroken if PageRank is proclaimed dead. I for one, will not mourn the death of PageRank Mania and will be glad to see some degree of sanity return to the PR-obsessed SEO world.

SEO Roundtable has a list of forums where you can go to check out how the chips are falling all over the net.

Oooh what fun SEO is! Never an end to the drama. Just when things were a little quiet, trust Goog to go and shake up the web.

Update: The Green Is Back! That rather short sabbatical for PageRank had (the less enlightened) webmasters screaming blue murder. And the gremlins will go back to work, selling links. Life goes on…

Jim Hedger, Editor of StepForth News, one of the blogs I subscribe to, writes in an article on the trouble brewing at the Open Directory Project (ODP) - also known as DMOZ -because of corrupt DMOZ editors who accept payments to list sites.

The ODP is the largest human volunteer-built directory on the web, and one of the most coveted sites for webmasters to get a listing in. Getting listed here almost ensured a good ranking in Google at one point of time.

A blog mentioned in the article is written by a self-professed corrupt DMOZ editor called Ana Thema, who wrote a very interesting post on How To Bribe A DMOZ Editor.

Ana Thema suggests that as a submitter to DMOZ you must get wise to what’s going on or you will not get in and goes on to list three tips for a successful DMOZ submission. She also lists these details on how to make the actual payment.

Never ever correspond with a DMOZ editor and offer a bribe in writing. A decent DMOZ editor would never accept it. JUST GIVE US THE CASH. The first step in a successful DMOZ submission is sending cash through Paypal to the DMOZ editor. Then do the actual submission. For a successful submission be sure to submit using the same email address you used in your PayPal payment or the DMOZ editor will never know which website paid for entry.

In her first post on the blog she notes the reasons why she turned over to the dark side and vows to confess all her sins on the blog.

I was forced into this position by the liars and hypocrites above me who were corrupt. Now I am corrupt and find that I fit into the DMOZ culture better now than when I was honest.

I’m going to tell you everything I have done. I’m going to give you a blow by blow of every DMOZ inclusion I am paid to make. I will tell you how I shake people down, and punish those who refuse to pay me.

And how I must pay someone above me a cut of everything I take.

A comment on her blog led me to the NMOZ - seemingly a clone (one of many) of the DMOZ, except for the invitation to become an editor which asks you to “help build the most dishonest directory on the web” and has “no editors to speak of ” yet.

It seems to have been created by a former DMOZ editor, and the contact page has information on where and how to contact the executives of AOL-Time Warner.

Is there hope for DMOZ?

It was already common knowledge that many SEOs become directory editors so they can get their own sites, and those of their clients listed with ease.

A post on the Search Engine Watch forums also notes the arrogance with which some ODP editors deal with webmasters who submit their sites for listing.

It seems that at least some ODP volunteers have decided that they are Lords of their editor areas and in the Resource Zone forums. As Lords they are judge, jury, executioner and responsible to no one. They can speak to you in any manner they wish and if you raise your eyes towards them to disagree, no matter what your tone or what facts you try to bring to their attention, you are censored or perhaps even banned.

But, as Jim’s article notes,

The Open Directory Project is staffed by volunteers, all of whom are humans with real lives, real jobs and other responsibilities. While many DMOZ editors put up with a lot of abuse, almost all of them (with the possible exception of Ana Thema) take great pride in the size and scope of the Open Directory Project.

Danny Sullivan suggests some ways by which the ODP could dig themselves out of this unholy mess, but concludes that they could lead to more spam.

Now that the shit has hit the fan, it looks like an ODP listing will soon become as worthless as one from the many ODP clones on the web.

At least Yahoo charges openly for a listing in the Yahoo Directory, whether it lists your site or not. Although $299 is highway robbery, it may ultimately give a Yahoo listing an edge over one from DMOZ.

I just published some excellent articles on Podcasting on my Blog Brandz blog.

Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. Podcasting is distinct from other types of audio content delivery because it uses the RSS 2.0 protocol.

Jim Edwards explains in his article “Podcasting: Internet Radio On Demand… and MORE!” how podcasting allows the author to share his or her thoughts in audio form (MP3). Subscribers then download and listen to the audio either on their computers, burn the files to CD, or transfer the files to one of the increasingly popular portable MP3 players.

Another article by Sharon Housely notes that podcasting is extremely useful to the subscriber because the user can easily receive information he/she would like, and listen to it when they want. She says:

Many people believe that podcasting is solely for the distribution of music files, but really, nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communication opportunities to businesses.

The article goes on to suggest possibilities for the many ways that podcasting can be used including

• Topic-specific radio talk shows with commentaries, interviews and debates that can now be heard at a time and place of the listener’s choosing
• Educational tutorials and foreign language instruction lessons that could be listened to during a work commute
• Supplementary class lectures, step by step tutorials or walking guides are all possible using podcasting
• An unlimited collection of books read aloud for elderly or visually-impaired listeners

The ways you use it are only restricted by your imagination. But, as a post on Audiographics notes, Anyone Can Podcast - Few Do It Well.

Podcasts are not simply opening a microphone and talking, as so many articles lead you to believe (although that is the way the vast majority of podcasts are done today). To do a podcast and develop an audience, the content needs to be presented in an organized, entertaining or informative way. It’s in that “organized” part that literally all podcasters fall down.

If you want to jump on the podcasting bandwagon, Earl J Lear is offering a step-by-step, video course on creating your own podcast, and promises to get you started in as little as 4 hours. Worth a look.

This time when I went off to holiday in Goa, the thought of blogging my photos via my MMS phone did cross my mind. But my phone wasn’t web-enabled so I decided to postpone my tryst with moblogging - or blogging from one’s mobile phone.

But Moblogging is taking off big-time, with a whole bunch of services cropping up. According to Wikipedia, a mobile weblog, or moblog, consists of content posted to the Internet from a mobile or portable device, such as a cellular phone or PDA. Moblogs generally involve technology which allows publishing from a mobile device.

Google started the mania with Blogger Mobile. Now when you send text or photos from your mobile device to go@blogger.com they’re automatically posted to your new blog page. Blogger Mobile is free, but right now it only works if you are a US customer of Verizon, AT&T, Cingular, Sprint, or T-Mobile.

3 has gotten the blogging bug, announcing what it claims is the first ever global mobile blogging service.

The network’s customers are granted a free website to which they can upload pictures and video clips, taken with their fancy new third-generation phones.

The service, called ˜My Gallery’, integrates 3G technology and Web blogging, with pictures or videos sent from a video mobile instantly published to a customer’s unique Web site, hosted by Yospace’s Media Community Platform.

A video clip costs 50p and a picture costs 25p to upload to the My Gallery service. Users can also manage their blogs from a PC.

Hutchinson 3G UK has announced UK’s first mobile blogging service. The mobile operator’s customers can share pictures or video clips captured on their video mobile via the web.

Steve Rubel has taken to photoblogging from his Treo camera phone via SplashBlog, which lets you instantly publish photos from your to an online photo blog to share with others - for a price, of course.

Download Nokia’s Guide To Moblogging here.

How can you use moblogging in marketing? One thing I can think of right away is how cool it would be to blog photos from conferences or seminars you attend.

If you send out HTML emails to your list, you should know that most ISPs - and even email providers - now block your images, or even your entire message altogether. Although HTML improves readibility of email, ISP’s show a clear preference for text.

Major ISPs’ preference for text instead of html email is harming marketers, said Jay Schwedelson, corporate VP of list brokerage firm Worldata, at the Annual Catalog Conference in Florida yesterday, DM News reports. “We’re entering a text world, which is terrible for us as marketers,” he is quoted as saying.

Users increasingly cannot view part or all of their messages because images will not automatically display. In the case of Google’s Gmail, only relevant text ads from advertisers in its AdSense program do so. Graphics and information within emails - even if the recipient has opted in for the message - may not display.

While Gmail and MSN’s Hotmail are the biggest “culprits,” Yahoo is moving to a similar system, according to Schwedelson. Marketers should tell subscribers to choose “display images” in their Gmail accounts, he said, to allow viewing of email images from domains they designate.

However, there is one way to get around the GMail problem. Marketers should tell their subscribers to choose “display images” in their GMail accounts, allowing them to receive images in e-mails from certain domains they choose.

Schwedelson also reminded marketers to include a link with a message at the top of every e-mail along the lines of, “If you can’t see this message, please click here.” But do not just include the link. Track the number of clicks it receives.

The DM article also provides tips to avoid being blacklisted by ISPs by reducing their bouncbacks.

If an e-mail has bounced back after four times or more, the marketer should not send it again. The ISPs may view this as spam and put the company on their black lists.

Via Marketing VOX

More reasons to send Text email instead of HTML

The Marketplace Snapshot blog quotes Aweber, noting that

HTML emails got returned by ISPs on average of 2.3% while text based emails were returned 1.15%.

Ezine Tips quotes a report by eMarketer that found consumers not only prefer text, but also respond to text email better with high click-throughs.

A group of surveys shows that consumers might prefer text, while advertisers want to send in HTML. You might have thought that was a slam-dunk, but now there’s actual data to back up those comments.

A September 2001 survey by IMT Strategies shows text messages got higher click and conversion rates, while HTML email bounced more often and produced more unsubscribes. Stats at a glance:

18.5 percent clicked through on text messages, while HTML collected 15.6 percent CTR.

Text email got a 9 percent conversion rate, with 5.3 percent for HTML.

7.7 percent of HTML email bounced, compared with 7.4 percent for text.

3.2 percent of HTML email generated unsubscribes, compared with 1.2 percent.

More information on Text versus HTML email

Mediapost reports on a new survey conducted by America Online, that shows the average e-mail user checks e-mail nearly five times a day.

Is that excessive? I don’t think so. But then I run a business online and I have to check my mail much more than five times a day. Honest!

Not sure if you’re addicted? See the survey results and take the email addiction quiz here.

The survey found that e-mail users rely on e-mail as much as the phone for communication, spend nearly an hour a day on e-mail, and that 77 percent of e-mail users have more than one mail account.

Some figures they quote (with my own observations, of course):

41% of users check their email before they brush their teeth. I guess we should be thankful you can’t smell morning breath online.

Another 40% (or possibly the same lot) check their email at midnight - just in case Cinderella decides to drop in, I guess.

56% have 2 to 3 email accounts - probably one for all those p*rn sites, and the rest for the spam.

Email users are not picky about where they check their mail. Preferred locations include the bathroom, church, and even while driving (!)

Guess hygeine and safety don’t figure high on their list of priorities.

About one in ten of those who check personal email at work (9%) have been busted for the boss for doing so. Hmm.. that means 90% actually get away with it.

AOL now plans to offer mobile e-mail access via Blackberry, mobile phones, and other handheld devices by the fall, according to the report.

Now if only they would handle their bounces!!

I came across this neat tool called FeedMap, created by Chandu Thota.

It helps you map your blog to your geo-location (using your address or geo-coordinates) and shows you how many bloggers live in your city or area near you.

The site says

Using FeedMap you can geo-code your blog, browse already geo-coded blogs and search for blogs. Once geo-coded, you can get your own BlogMap location using a simple url that allows you to network with your local bloggers and much more!

For instance, here’s the feedmap I created for this blog.

It doesn’t seem very accurate cause it mapped me somewhere in the interiors of Maharastra state instead of Mumbai - where I’m sure there are many, many more than 2 bloggers

But it does seem to be a fun tool to help bloggers in the same neighbourhood connect with each other. I hope you have better luck with it.

Kevin Maney opines in an article in USA Today that once blogs ‘change everything,’ fascination with them will chill.

Are blogs overhyped? He puts it in perspective by noting that

A new technology makes it easier for individuals to create and share information, which gives people an intoxicating sense of power they’d never before experienced.

Next thing you know, this new technology is a “revolution” that “changes everything” and “makes dogs and cats love each other”and other such claims.

Certainly each new technology is significant and alters the dynamics of society and business. Blogs are doing just that.

Unfortunately the hype about blogs has been detrimental to other marketing activities. But, as I’ve said in a previous article, blogs are not a panacea for your marketing and search engine woes.

Neither are they a replacement for email or any other marketing method.

Don’t get so hung up on the technology that you end up ignoring more appropriate ways of communicating your message.

Some things may be easier to communicate face to face, in a conference room, or even through the good old telephone.

As the USA Today article notes,

blogs (are) just another turn of the wheel in communications technology.

And that’s just how they should be used.

Last year, the proportion of web site visitors rejecting third-party cookies increased threefold, from around 4 percent in January to 12 percent by December, according to new research by analytics company WebTrends.

How does this affect us as marketers? Well for starters, here’s an introduction to cookies and what they do.

According to CookieCentral,

Cookies are pieces of information generated by a Web server and stored in the user’s computer, ready for future access. Essentially, cookies make use of user-specific information transmitted by the Web server onto the user’s computer so that the information might be available for later access by itself or other servers.

In most cases, not only does the storage of personal information into a cookie go unnoticed, so does access to it. Web servers automatically gain access to relevant cookies whenever the user establishes a connection to them, usually in the form of Web requests.

Cookies are used to personalize Web search engines, to allow users to participate in WWW-wide contests (but only once!), and to store shopping lists of items a user has selected while browsing through a virtual shopping mall.

When visitors reject cookies that makes it harder to keep track of your website visitors, repeat visits, secure order information. For affiliate marketers, it means a loss of commissions from referred sales.

On the whole it means a whole lot more chaos for online merchants, which is why they’re getting all hot under the collar about cookies.

More Cookie FAQ