3:32:00 PM
Posted by
WoWeb
When you sign up for an email address with your local ISP (internet
service provider) you usually also get access to newsgroups. Many of
you may have access to newsgroups and not even know it. Some of you may
know you have newsgroups but not know how to use them. Set up your
newsgroups with Outlook Express
and find some that interest you. Then you can join in discussions about
your favorite topics and even give advice or ask questions of your own.
Set Up Newsgroups With Outlook Express
- Open Outlook Express.
- In the menu at the top of Outlook Express click on "Tools". Then scroll down to "Accounts" and click on that also.
- A
box will pop up. On the right side of the box you will see a button
that says "Add", click on it. A short menu will pop up when you click
on it. From this menu click on "News".
- Another box will
pop up. In this box you will see that it wants you to enter your name.
You don't have to use your real name if you don't want to. Enter the
name you want people to know you by in the newsgroups. Then click
"Next".
- The next window will want you to enter your
email address. If you want people to be able to reply to you by email
from the newsgroups then enter your email address here. If you don't
want people in the newsgroups to know your email address then enter
something else here. Then click "Next".
- In the next
window enter the newsgroup address that your internet service provider
gave to you so that you can access the newsgroups. It will probably look
something like news.isp.com. If you don't know what this is then
look through the paperwork your ISP gave you when you signed up. It's
probably listed next to or with the information you needed to use to set
up your email. If you still can't find it you will need to call your
ISP and ask them for it.
- Click the button that says "My news server requires me to log on". After you enter your news server information click "Next".
- Now
you will need your username and password. You should have also received
these from your ISP. They are most likely the same username and
password you use to get your email. Enter your username and password in
their respective places. If you want your computer to always remember
your username and password click the button that says "Remember
Password". Then click on "Next".
- At the next window click "Finished".
- When that pop up window goes away you will be brought back to the original pop up window. Click "Close" on this window.
Add Newsgroups To Your Account
- After you have
finished setting up your Outlook Express newsgroup account you will be
asked if you want to add newsgroups. Click "Yes". If you don't see this
box pop up then click on the name of your newsgroups in the left hand
column. If the box still doesn't pop up then click on the button at the
top of the screen that says "Newsgroups".
- You may be asked to verify your username and password or it may just log in for you. Log in if you need to.
- All the newsgroups available will start to download. This may take awhile depending on your connection speed.
- When
the newsgroups are finished downloading you can start searching for
newsgroups that you want to join. Lets say you are a cat lover and want
to join a newsgroup about cats. Type in the word cats. Look through the
newsgroups about cats and see if there are any you want to join, you can
always unsubscribe from newsgroups later if you don't like them.
- When
you find a newsgroup you want to join click on the name of the
newsgroup and then click on the button that says "Subscribe".
- Search for and subscribe to more newsgroups.
- When you are finished subscribing to newsgroups click the "OK" button at the bottom of the window.
- All your newsgroups will now be showing in the left hand column.
Add News To Your Newsgroups
- Click on the newsgroup you want to read first.
- News for that newsgroup will now download.
- When all the news is finished downloading just click on the title you want to read and you can read it in the right hand column.
Unsubscribe From Newsgroups
- Click on the button at the top of the screen that says "Newsgroups".
- There
are three tabs in this window. Click on the one that says "Subscribed".
This will show you all the newsgroups you are subscribed to.
- Click on the title of the newsgroup you want to unsubscribe from.
- Click on the "Unsubscribe" button.
- When you are finished unsubscribing you can click on the "OK" button.
- The newsgroups you unsubscribed from will be gone from your left column now.
12:01:00 PM
Posted by
WoWeb
Newsgroups are a great way to communicate with dozens or thousands or even millions of other people at a time. They are very popular (as evidenced by over 80,000 newsgroups and more being created all of the time) and are exceptionally easy to use.
The really cool thing about newsgroups is that you can communicate with just about anyone about any subject. Some newsgroups are completely useless because of spam, and others are made useless by hostile users. It's quite common for a very active newsgroup to suddenly become dormant, then start up again.
The key to having a successful newsgroup is having one or more people interested in posting to the newsgroup on a regular basis. Other newsgroups just contain junk and are avoided like the plague.
The thing that can destroy a newsgroup fast is spam. Man, I've watched many newsgroups go straight into the toilets due to some idiots without a clue posting vile spam to newsgroup after newsgroup. It may be cool to post an ad or two when it's on-topic (check the charter and FAQ first, though), but going beyond that is not acceptable.
So how does one begin using newsgroups? Well, each newsgroup has a culture all to its own, and the rules for each newsgroup are different and unique. Sometimes a newsgroup is rancorous and irritable about certain subjects. Others are happy and lighthearted.
The first thing you want to do it just read posts for a few days or weeks (depending upon the size of the newsgroup) to get a feel for it. See if you can find the FAQ or Tips or something like that. Generally, if a newsgroup has an FAQ it will be posted occasionally. If you don't see it after a few weeks you can ask the newsgroup where to find it.
Probably the most important rule is to stay on topic. If the newsgroup is about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, don't post about the World Wrestling Federation, unless, of course, you are trying to set up a match between Buffy and Austin (grin). Don't post in HTML format. This annoys just about everyone. And please don't create HTML signatures either.
Oh yes, and if you post binary files, please, please, please run your virus checking program before you post. Nothing will annoy people faster than someone who posts (accidentally or otherwise) viruses to a newsgroup.
When you post a follow up message, you should quote enough of the original message to orient your readers. You generally do not need to include the entire original message - it's perfectly okay to delete large parts of it.
Some people prefer putting your follow up remarks at the bottom of the message. I prefer putting them at the top - it's really up to you.
Don't flame. I know it's incredibly tempting to call that guy a moron and a few other choice words, but please refrain. You will only start some useless posts which benefit no one. And, again, don't spam. Believe me, everyone who frequents newsgroups has seen more pornographic spam then they want, and your pay-to-surf program, while exciting to you, is definitely old, unwelcome news. Remember, people who spam to the wrong places tend to get their internet accounts canceled, their pay-to-surf dollars confiscated and their web pages deleted.
12:46:00 PM
Posted by
WoWeb
Think about New Years Eve, midnight. Think about billions of bits of confetti falling from the sky. Now, write an ad on a few dozen or hundred or thousand pieces of paper and throw them into the air with the rest. That's what it's like to advertise on the internet.
Trying to make your product, service or web site known to the rest of the internet community can be very, very frustrating. Not only making it known, but getting visitors to actually visit the site can be downright annoying.
When advertising on the internet, I have several quick rules of thumb. These are not cast in concrete, but they seem to serve me very well.
Rule number one is "people use search engines, and to get them to your site you MUST show up in the top 50 or so listings for your keywords in a search engine". Period. Nothing else will build traffic faster than getting listed in a search engine.
Rule number two is "concentrate a lot of steady effort on getting other sites to exchange links with you". This is an excellent, although very time consuming, way to build steady, permanent increases in traffic.
My third rule of thumb is "start free and stay free unless you've got a very good reason to pay for advertising". There are many, many ways to get free advertising on the web. I've found very little reason to pay for submission services, email lists, banner exchanges or anything else to advertise my site.
There are many ways to get traffic to your site, and it's more-or-less worthwhile to pursue all of them. You can explore some of the following.
* FFAs - generally not very worthwhile as your links fall off the lists too quickly. Use an automated submission program or service - don't waste a second with manual submissions. It's also critical to remember to never, ever use your primary email account to submit to these. Your email box will be flooded with so many messages you will want to scream.
* Creating FFA pages - This allows you to send confirmation emails to people who add links. A very poor way to build traffic as anyone with a brain sends these messages to an email account which is just ignored.
* exchanging links - very good way to build traffic but takes a lot of time and effort. If you can get a lot of links all over the net you can build as much traffic as the major search engines.
* banner programs - I've found these to be virtually worthless. Sometimes a very well designed or targeted banner can cause some traffic, but be careful spending any money here.
* Webrings - you should join many of these to build decent traffic. They do not create huge amounts of traffic, but once set up they continue to drive visitors to your site day after day. Put the web code on pages all over your site - generally do not put them on your home page or on a webring page.
* Major Search Engines - excellent way to build traffic fast but tend to be fickle. I've had sites appear overnight only to disappear a week later. You must continually monitor your listings in these engines.
* Directories - Get you site listed in as many as possible. Some are difficult to get listed (like Yahoo) and some are easy, but all require little maintenance once your listing appears.
* Minor search engines - Get listed in them all if you can. Use an automated submission technique but DO NOT submit multiple times to the major engines as this may get you removed for spamming. Traffic is minor but steady.
* Email lists - very good for building traffic. You should always have a list for your site so visitors get a constant reminder to come back. Also if you can add articles to other email newsletters in exchange for your link appearing than do so as this can create traffic quickly.
* Newsgroups - Don't explicitly advertise as this is spamming. There are newsgroups for advertising but the return tends to be low. What you can do is make a signature (4 lines or so) and post useful messages and replies. I've found this does create some traffic, although it's not huge and it's limited in duration.
* Email - Careful here as spam is on everyone's mind. Can build some traffic. Your own newsletter is a great way to go, as are email lists.
* Awards - Apply for as many as you can for your site. You will win some. The bigger ones will generate lots of traffic. The smaller ones will cause an occasional hit but are a good ego boost at least.
* All of the "mulit-million hits" and similar pages - generally worthless. Set one up just for the heck of it since it's easy, but don't count on any real traffic. By the way, don't ever pay for one of these things.
My basic operating procedure is (a) examine statistics, (b) try something and then (c) reexamine statistics. For example, let's say you want to add your site to a webring. Record your statistics for a couple of days. Add the site. Then compare. In this case, you'll also want to look at the statistics for referring sites to see if the webring shows up. If it worked, great. If not, that's okay also. You just want to get a feel for what's working and what's not so you know where to put your time, effort and possibly money.
Also remember that your site is more than just a homepage. In actuality, you have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of pages, each of which is a potential entry point. Make sure each one of them advertises your site, links back to the home page and is complete within themselves. You can also run multiple advertising experiments with your site by using the different pages.
One of the really great things about the internet is how automatic it all can be. Many of these advertising techniques are of the "set it up and forget it" variety. Add a site to a webring, then forget about it. Visitors will be drawn to your site from now on. Maybe not many, but you do not need to put in any more effort to get those visitors after your site is added.
Some things, however, require constant vigilance. Search engines top this list. You can easily fall off a search engine, so you must constantly (weekly perhaps) check your ranking in each of the major engines.
In a nutshell, use statistics. Monitor your progress. Set up as much automated advertising as you can. Initially concentrate at least half of your efforts on search engines, then once you are listed concentrate on setting up link exchanges with other similar sites. Don't forget the other avenues for advertising, though, as all of them have some kind of payoff.
10:30:00 PM
Posted by
WoWeb
In this article I'm going to give you a special secret - a secret and tip so powerful, so life-changing that you will never be the same. Read on and learn. The internet (which includes the world wide web, email, newsgroups, discussion lists and many other things) will change the world. I'll go even further - the internet is the biggest change to human society since the wheel was invented.
But wait a minute? The internet is just about surfing around, looking at stuff, chatting with people, and maybe buying something now and then. Isn't it? What's so special about that? I mean, couldn't we always talk to people, buy something and go to the mall and window shop? The internet doesn't change anything, right?
Wrong. Think about it for a minute. You are now connected to literally everyone (potentially at least) on the entire planet. Currently (and this statistic changes daily) you can directly communicate with over 300,000,000 people! In a few years this may top a billion, all available almost instantly!
Never before in human history have so many people had the opportunity to talk to one another.
It gets even better. The other day I surfed to a web site which was in another language. It was in Italian. Normally, say if this was a book, I would have moved on and read something else, but the site looked interesting. So I pulled up a dandy translation tool and within a few minutes I had a decent translation of the page! I could now communicate with someone with whom I didn't even share a common language. That's fantasic!
I needed to write an article on relationships and marriage and I wanted some data. Years ago this would have required going to a library, searching through magazines and books for articles that I wanted. Not these days. I put in my request to a search engine and, after a few tries to get the proper search, I had exactly the references that I needed to complete my article. What would have required perhaps days took less than ten minutes!
You need another example? I needed to buy a CD for my wife. The CD was not easy to find, and I dreaded the search. Using the proper search engines I was able to find what I wanted within minutes, and in less time than it takes me to heat a TV dinner I had the CD ordered and on it's way to my house.
In my field I often need expert consultants very quickly. A machine is down or our email system stops working and I need an answer NOW. Just a quick jump onto the internet, post to the right newsgroups and discussion lists, and in a short time I have exactly what I need.
Wow. I could go on and on. The internet gives you (and everyone) incredible power and control over your environment. And that's the incredible secret and the tip of a lifetime.
You can use the internet in any way that you see fit. You have at your fingertips such an incredible tool that there is, for the first time in history, almost nothing to stand in your way. You've got a product to sell, using the internet you can let people know (without spamming of course) and sell it for little or no cost. You've got an opinion which needs to be told, you can post it to a newsgroup.
You want to tell the entire world about what a great person you are, you can just create a web site and submit it to the search engines. You can even add pictures, sound and movies if you want!
Maybe you want to start a company! You can do it for very little cost without even renting an office on the internet. Maybe you've even got a closet full of old paperback books that you are never going to read - go to an auction site, post their descriptions, and most likely you will find someone who wants to buy them.
You like to talk? Find a chat room and have at it. You like to write poetry? You can easily find a hundred places that will publish it - and if you can't, you can publish it yourself.
For the first time in history, you can do anything that you want from your apartment or your house. Take advantage of this opportunity and the world is yours to enjoy.
