The Ripple Effect E-zine for July 8, 1999
JULY 8, 1999 Welcome to "The Ripple Effect" Newsletter! Brought To You By Digital Ripple (Note: you are being sent this newsletter because you subscribed to it. For subscription info, see end of newsletter) Our subscription drive is going full steam ahead! If you have any one who you think should be added to this list let us know. To subscribe to the list, go to: http://www.digitalripple.com/joinlist.html xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx In Today's Issue: Quote: Brian Greasley, British Telecom News: Search Engines Miss Most of the Web! Tip: Fresh Content - part I Biz Sites: 1. E-Commerce loans from BDC 2. Internet News Bureau 3. Banner Advertising Resource Term: What is push technology? Facts: Email number 2 behind telephones! Ripple Rock: Huh??? What's a Ripple Rock?? Check out below.. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx QUOTE OF THE DAY: ** "By 2005, we expect there will be more mobile phones connected to the Net than personal computers." - Brian Greasley, General Mgr, British Telecom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LATE BREAKING NEWS: **Search Engines Missing most of the Web! THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1999 Talking about a failing average. Northern Light indexes only 16 percent of the searchable Web, according to tests reported Thursday by the scientific journal Nature. And that was the best score. Computer scientists at NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., scored runners-up Snap and AltaVista at 15.5 percent; HotBot, 11.3 percent; Microsoft, 8.5 percent; Infoseek, 8 percent; Google, 7.8 percent; Yahoo, 7.4 percent; Excite, 5.6 percent; and Lycos, a pitiful 2.5 percent. The percentages were based on researcher estimates of 800 million web pages in February, up from 320 million at the time of a December 1997 study. The report also calculated that it takes more than six months for a new web page to make it into a search engine's listings. Source: Time Digital Analysis/Comment from the CyberSisters: Take special note of this news item if you are relying on search engines as your primary method of people finding you, especially if you are a new site (note the 6 months time frame). Getting a top level listing in a search engine is such a time consuming (and expensive) game these days. There are better ways to market your web site. There are more sophisticated methods of getting the word out. If the engines are not even listing most of the web, how are you going to find what you're looking for? Digital Ripple offers a research course discussing researching on the net. There are better ways than just typing in a keyword and hoping for the best! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TIP: *Fresh Content on your site, part 1...* Whether you are digital information or physical products on the web, one of your goals is probably to keep people coming back. One of the most important ways to do that is to offer fresh content. In today's issue, we begin a series of tips to help you keep your content fresh. 1. Think about why you need fresh content. (Planning, planning, planning, the CyberSister's mantra... :) Some examples of types of content that needs to be kept fresh, just to get you thinking, include: news, events, listings (classifieds, employment, real estate), customer service/faqs, menus, specials. 2. Determine how you are going to deliver your content. You can use your Web site, email lists, discussion lists, "push" technology, or some combination. 3. Schedule your updates, make sure you come up with a regular schedule that visitors and customers can rely on, but, equally important, that you can also maintain. (for example, we'd love to get this newsletter out more often, but we are so busy that once a week is more realistic). 4. Think about the technical issues of how you will maintain your content, including getting rid of old content, keeping links valid and your site organized in general. See our "Spring Tune-Up" article in our "Resources" section at http://www.digitalripple.com/ for more tune-up tips. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BIZ SITES OF THE DAY: ** (Canadian only) Business Development Bank E-Commerce Loans The Business Development Bank of Canada has established "technonet", a loan program "to help small and medium-sized businesses take up the challenge of e-commerce and establish a lead position for themselves" This flexible financing option allows entrepreneurs to cover the costs related to implementing a Web presence without delay and without straining current operations. Sound interesting? See if you qualify! http://www.bdc.ca/ **Internet News Bureau Internet News Bureau is a subscription-based e-mail press release distribution service. They distribute news tips only to journalists who have subscribed to the Internet News Bureau service. Want to get your word out to the world? Try this out. They also have press release writing and media relations services. http://www.newsbureau.com/ ** Banner Advertising Great tools and resources for using banner advertising to promote your business. Links to resources that offer banner ad exchanges. http://www.wprc.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TERM OF THE DAY: Encyclopedia Of The New Economy **What is "push technology"? A technology application that sends data to a client without the client requesting it. The World Wide Web is based on a pull technology where the client browser must request a Web page before it is sent. Broadcast media, on the other hand, are push technologies because they send information out regardless of whether anyone is tuned in. Increasingly, companies are using the Internet to deliver information push-style. One of the most successful examples of this is PointCast, which delivers customized news to users' desktops. Probably the oldest and most widely used push technology is e-mail. This is a push technology because you receive mail whether you ask for it or not -- that is, the sender pushes the message to the receiver. Source: Webopedia, Internet.com web encyclopedia Comment from the CyberSisters: Push technology has some very useful and interesting applications. Like all other technologies, its succesful adaptation into the marketplace depends on how it is implemented and for what purpose. Check out http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/pubs/netnotes/notes41.htm if you are interested in understanding what this means, and how you might implement it in your web marketing plans. (for example, it can be very useful for delivering fresh content to your customers). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FACTOID OF THE DAY: ** You've Got Mail! If you think your inbox is full now, read on! E-mail is firmly in second place of communication tools. A remarkable achievement given the fact that the telephone, invented in 1876, preceded e-mail by 96 years (which first appeared circa 1972). A study by Institute of the Future found that e-mail trails total phone and voicemail use by some 42 messages per day: +--------------+----------------------------+ | | Average number of messages | | | sent/received daily | +--------------+----------------------------+ | Telephone | 52 | | E-mail | 30 | | Voicemail | 22 | | Postal mail | 18 | | Fax | 15 | | Pager | 4 | | Cell phone | 3 | +--------------+----------------------------+ Source: May 1998 Pitney Bowes "Workplace Communications in the 21st Century" Note from the CyberSisters: Remember the power of email. Use it, but use it wisely. Stay tuned for an upcoming article about the strategic use of email for selling. `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Ripple Effect "Rock": What's a Ripple Effect Rock? Well, think of a rock thrown in a lake, and how the water ripples outward. This new e-zine feature covers developments and technologies that we think might soon cause a "ripple effect" in business or society. Ripple Rock for July 8, 1999 A month ago, on June 8th, 1999 Star Bridge Systems based in Utah, announced the release of a "Hypercomputer", a super computer capable of operating at up to 60,000 times the speed of a 350-megahertz personal computer. It is about the size of a PC (less than 4 cubic feet), sits on a desktop, weighs less than 150 pounds and plugs into a 110-volt wall outlet. A recent article in PC World reports the astonishing prediction that within 18 months you may be able to put the equivalent of today's supercomputer on your desktop for about $1000.00. Wow. ********************************************** That's it for now! Have a great week! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vancouver, British Columbia 3rd Floor - 319 West Hastings Street Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6B 1H6 Telephone: (604) 608 1714 Facsimile: (604) 608 1719 E-Mail: dcurrie@digitalripple.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oshawa, Ontario Telephone: (905) 721 0285 Facsimile: (905) 721 1335 Toronto line: (416) 410 5726 (messages) E-Mail: alcurrie@digitalripple.com "Exploring the Ripple Effect of Digital Technology" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to ripple_effect-unsubscribe@listbot.com Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/
To learn more about how Digital Ripple can build profits, reduce
costs and answer your Internet questions, contact the Digital Ripple consultant nearest
you.