Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly Newsletter

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #93 Aug. 29, 2003
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter. Back-issues are
available online at: http://www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Technology Update, August 2003
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Change Is Threatening Your Business
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Update, August 2003
by Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz

------------------------------------------------------------

A lot has happened in the technology arena over the last
month. Some cool new techs and some interesting news.
Let's get started.

New Technology
Some cool stuff is emerging. One of these cool things is
for the info-junkies out there (like me). A new Web
standard called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) provides
news feeds on-demand from disparate sources. This isn't
actually that new, it was first introduced in 2000, but
recently started to catch on due to websites like the BBC
News and Variety adding RSS feeds. You can find a number of
good newsreaders (free or fee) for RSS (your system may have
one built in if it's Linux or Mac) at any shareware vendor.
A good list of feeds can be found here:
http://www.syndic8.com

A company called Cornice out of Colorado has introduced a
new, tiny storage medium CSE (Cornice Storage Element).
It's about the size of your thumb from top knuckle to tip
(1-1/4" x ½") and can hold 1.5 gigabytes of stuff! It's
much cheaper than IBM's competing Microdrive and should be
seen in MP3 players and other gadgets starting as early as
this Christmas.

New watches featuring Microsoft's new Smart Personal
Objects Technology (SPOT) will debut from Fossil and Suunto.
The coolest of the bunch is Fossil's "Dick Tracy" design
which will debut sometime next year.

Hitachi and NEC have joined forces to combat growing
competition from Idaho and Korea. They will be debuting
very low-power DRAM for efficient use in cell phones. In
addition, a new standard in faster-access DDR ram (now
standard in most PCs) labeled DDR-3 will be introduced soon.

PrintDreams of Sweden will soon introduce a portable
printing application called RMPT (Random Movement Printing
Technology). It will allow hand-held devices about the size
of a cigarette pack to print onto any surface. Using
optical navigation sensors (sort of like what's in your
optical mouse), the device will sense how far it's been
moved and print accordingly. Since it has few moving parts
(unlike a standard printer), it will have a longer life span
too.

Bantam Interactive Technologies (www.bantamusa.com) has
rolled out a new music/MP3 player that can also display
photos in color on its LCD screen. It has a huge memory
reserve and lots of cool features - if you can afford it.

Disney will soon start renting "self destructing" DVD
movies. All obvious Mission Impossible quotes aside, this
is pretty interesting. Apparently the DVDs will be playable
a set number of times (probably 2-3) and then "destruct"
(becoming unplayable). This means no return postage on
those online rentals!

Haven't bought a DVD writer because they're too slow? Well,
not any more! BenQ of California has introduced a new 8x
DVD recorder! Soon these things will oust CD burning.
Maybe I should get one…

Interesting News
The NPD Group (a retail tracking firm) has announced that,
as of May this year, notebook computers are outselling desk-
top PCs (in total dollars). Interesting! In addition,
flat-panel displays are now outselling CRT displays.

In the online world, finding a cure for SPAM is tantamount
to the medical world's quest for the cure for cancer. A new
group is doing it differently than others, however. It's
the Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG). Read more about it in
InternetWeek: http://www.internetweek.com

Remember the movie Predator? Well, apparently that
"invisibility" technology the alien used may be available to
us sooner than you think. Wired Magazine reports that the
technology is gaining momentum at universities. Read about
it here:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.08/pwr invisible.html

Are you into search engine marketing? More than three
hundred SE marketing firms have joined forces to become the
Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Rumor has it that the next Windows operating system (dubbed
"Longhorn") will be introduced in 2006. This rumor comes
from Jupiter Research of New York. They specialize in
market trends and say that the trend shows that the next
WinOS will be due in 2006 to peak the market for it.

Are you into concealed carry for your electronics? If so,
you might be interested in the e-Zio Case System for
personal electronics. Built sort of like a shoulder holster
rig for carrying guns under a jacket, this system is made
for electronics (CD players, cameras, etc.) and can be
configured for "quick draw" deployment. www.eholster.com

Looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot? Try the new WiFi411 Directory!
www.wifi411.com is a free searchable database of hot spots
around the world.

Well, that's it for this months' tech update. Lots of cool
stuff going on! I'll bring you up to speed again next
month.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Fun week this week! We've got a lot going on around here,
so I'll get right into it and start spreading the fun
around!

First, Joe Bingham - one of the most popular article writers
for this newsletter - has asked me to sponsor his new ebook.
It's full of GREAT stuff, as you'd expect from Joe, and I'm
giving it away FREE to all of you! Check it out! You can
download it from this link:
http://www.aaronzwebworkz.com/ebooks/AWWCynicsGuide.EXE

If you like the book, feel free to spread it around to
others too. You might also want to check out Joe's new
humor 'zine. Check it out here:
http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/humor.html

The fun stuff continues! I've decided to do a quiz-style
contest and give away a couple of books. You can find out
more about it and enter (FREE) to win here:
http://www.aaronzwebworkz.com/quizcontest.html

Two big changes/updates to the Aaronz WebWorkz website:
1) I updated the "Recommended Products" page to include a
lot of new stuff I've read/used. Go here:
http://aww.aaronzwebworkz.com/resources/index.shtml?affil
2) The newsletter area is about to completely change. Keep
your eye on it. The new system will be much better than the
one in place now. Plus all of this year's missing issues
will magically reappear. :)

Finally, a few additions to this month's technology update.
Some late-breaking news involving several things rolled in
today, too late to make the article above. One of these
involves the often-mentioned "X-Rated Domain" for adult
websites. The new domain (".xxx") is being discussed as
an alternative way for adult websites to police themselves
away from the rampant crackdown on scam and falsely-
advertised adult sites by law enforcement.

Another piece of news is very interesting. Reportedly,
Microsoft has moved much of their DNS handling to a third-
party called Akamai. What's interesting about this is that
Akamai uses Linux-based servers exclusively. Apparently
Microsoft is reeling after being hit hard by three different
worms in the past couple of weeks. Hmmm... Makes you
think...

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Interesting article about shoes last week."
--Larry K.

"Thanks for that smart marketing article. It really hit the
spot."
--Karen

"good article from Bob Ludeaux this week. ive subscribed to
your newsletter for about a year and find the marketing and
down to earth articles you run great!"
--Gary L.

"That was a fun perspective in that article about shoes and
winging it."
--Linda M.

Editor: Thanks, Larry, Karen, Gary, and Linda.
I do my best. :)

"Hi, change the state name to the name of your state and
save to favorites to track Gas prices and find the lower
cost stations.
http://www.minnesotagasprices.com/index.asp "
--Bryan E.

Editor: Thanks, Bryan! Cool tool. Go down about 1/3 of the
way and change the metro area or state to your own area and
walla! Gas prices organized by price (cheapest to most
expensive). Neat!

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject=TalkBack!.
All are welcome to give their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Change Is Threatening Your Business
Copyright 2003 Bob Leduc
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information:
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards"
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Editor's Comments: Since so many were happy with Bob's
article last week, here's another one! :)
------------------------------------------------------------

You cannot grow a business today by simply repeating what
you did successfully in the past ...or even recently.

Clever competitors and new technology are producing changes
that will reduce the effectiveness of your current
marketing efforts. These 3 strategies enable you to
overcome this threat - and continue to grow your business.

1. Keep Testing New Advertising Methods

The first impact of change is often a shrinking return on
your response from proven advertising methods ...followed
by a decline in the sales they produce. Don't wait for this
to happen before taking action.

Continually test and evaluate the effectiveness of
everything you use or do to promote your business. Test new
marketing methods - and old ones you never tried before.
Replace less effective marketing methods with the more
effective ones you discover with your testing.

Tip: Invest 80 percent of your advertising budget and
effort in proven promotions and 20 percent in testing new
variations. Most businesses using this system continue
growing - even in highly competitive markets.

2. Keep Opening New Markets

Never stop looking for new markets you can serve. Every new
market you open increases your sales ...and helps insulate
you from the impact of change.

Changing market conditions or an aggressive competitor may
cause your sales to drop in one market. But the impact will
not be devastating if you have a variety of other markets
producing results for you.

Tip: One quick and easy way to find profitable new markets
is to sub-divide your current market into several narrowly
defined niche markets. Then customize your advertising so
it offers specific solutions to the unique needs of
prospects in each niche market.

For example, the owner of a company selling sales leads to
small businesses noticed that many of her clients were
network marketers or real estate agents. She created a
customized web site for each of these 2 niche markets.

The two sites looked similar. But their content was
different. A visitor to either site could assume the lead
service applied exclusively to their industry. She claims
her sales increased by almost 20 percent when she targeted
these 2 niche markets.

3. Keep Adding New Products And Services

A decline in the sales of one product can devastate your
business if you only offer one or two products. But it will
not have much impact on you if you are still getting sales
for a selection of other products.

Keep increasing the number of products and services you
offer to customers. These additional products and services
should be closely related to those you already sell.

For example, if you sell health products, find additional
health products or services you can offer. If you offer
residential lawn care, look for a way to offer additional
services that help homeowners maintain their property.

Clever competitors and new technology cause constantly
changing marketing conditions that will reduce the
effectiveness of your current marketing efforts. Use these
3 strategies to overcome this threat - and continue growing
your business.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2002 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[{UNSUBSCRIBE_LINK}]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor
(mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #92 Aug. 22, 2003
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter. Back-issues are
available online at: http://www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Shoes Gone Astray
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Smart Marketing
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Shoes Gone Astray
By David Leonhardt
The author is David Leonhardt, The Happy Guy, author of
Climb Your Stairway to Heave: the 9 habits of maximum
happiness at
http://TheHappyGuy.com/happiness-self-help-book.html
and publisher of Your Daily Dose of Happiness at
http://TheHappyGuy.com/daily-happiness-free-ezine.html .
Visit his web site at http://TheHappyGuy.com .

Editor's Comments: This is a great little article that
should serve to educate and inspire.
------------------------------------------------------------

Dorothy lost hers. I forgot mine. My wife broke hers. I
speak of shoes, of course.

So why are we all smiling?

Dorothy is that sweet little girl who broke in that bustin'
bronco of a tornado, landing in Oz and inheriting magic ruby
slippers from a dead wicked witch.

For most people, the story ends when Dorothy loses her
precious slippers somewhere over the scorching desert that
surrounds Oz ... much like a Congressman loses his power
when he flies out of Washington and crosses over the grid-
lock on the scorching mid-summer Beltway.

Just as a Congressman is bound to return to Washington
sooner or later, Dorothy actually does return to Oz many
times. In fact, there are dozens more books in the Oz
series featuring hundreds of almost unknown characters.

With or without the power of her ruby slippers, Dorothy
makes her way back to enjoy a multitude of unbelievable
adventures with her favorite misfits.

Shoe lesson number one. When you lose your shoes, improvise.

I discovered my shoes were missing also while flying high in
the sky.

Back in my days as a consumer advocate, I was on my way to
deliver a speech in Newfoundland, sharing the lectern with
the Newfoundland Minister of Transportation.

Sitting comfortably in the airplane seat, my mind was
bobbing aimlessly on an ocean of emptiness. Suddenly I
broke out in a cold sweat as I realized I had forgotten my
dress shoes at home. In fact, they were waiting faithfully
by the front door, ready to greet me upon my return.

In a matter of seconds I torpedoed through one thought after
the other:

Yikes! I'm wearing running shoes for an important speech.

I know, I can buy a new pair when I land.

Too late; the stores are already closed.

What about in the morning?

No, tomorrow is Sunday and my speech is scheduled for 9:00
a.m.

90 seconds later, the cold sweat had miraculously been
replaced with a single affirmation: "I will improvise"

The next morning, I began my speech: "You might be wondering
why I am wearing running shoes today. Well, it's about this
petition here. When I'm done speaking, I'll be running door
to door and I want every one of you to come running with me,
too."

It was not the speech I had come to deliver, but it worked
just as well. Better, in fact. My little "goof-up" became
a clever demonstration of action speaking louder than words.

Shoe lesson number two. When you forget your shoes,
improvise.

My brother was getting married. We had just witnessed the
signing of the papers at their house, and they were rushing
over to another place for the ceremony. Don't ask!

As we locked up their house, my wife's sandal broke. She
tried walking in it, but to no avail. So off to the nearest
shoe store we flew - figuratively, that is. This is not
another story about losing shoes hundreds or thousands of
feet above a desert or a traffic jam.

We knew they would wait for us before starting the ceremony.
What we did not know is how long they would wait.

That day, my wife performed a miracle that no other woman
has done before or since. She went into the store and came
out just five minutes later with the perfect pair of sandals
- smashing to smithereens the old woman-shopping-for-shoes
Olympic record!

Shoe lesson number three. If you break your shoes,
improvise.

Perhaps the most important lesson here is that, contrary to
popular belief, the shoe does not make the man (or woman).
But the lack of shoes sure can build character.

And it gives us a great opportunity to improvise.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

What a great week this has been! Despite the fact that it
was "meeting week from hell," I actually got a lot accomp-
lished this week. The biggest being that we got the carpets
cleaned, making my wife extremely happy (thus making my life
much easier :).

Lots of new stuff going on in the world of technology
lately. I know I should have had a technology update for
this issue, but that's one of the things I didn't get done
this week. Soon, I swear!

Another virus has been spreading itself around the 'Net this
week. This one's called the "Sobig" virus. Luckily, only
the "spread" part of it works, the malicious bits have a bug
in them that keeps them from crashing networks. You can
read about that virus here:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.
sobig.f@mm.html
[cut-and-paste]

It's currently raining and thundering and lightning outside
and the power has been going in and out. Not that I mind
(except for the lights, of course). We need the rain. It's
making the cats nervous, though.

By the way, if any of you are interested, I have put up a
working version of the gubenatorial site I mentioned last
week. You can view that here:
http://www.Mack4gov.com

See you all next week!

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Power outage? What power outage??? I need a nap! Been
working full and part time, getting kids ready for first
week of school...sinus infection...headache...where's the
dog peed now!!! ARGH! Hope your life isn't so busy!"
--Kelley L.

Editor: Hi, Kelley. I guess the east-coast power outage
didn't go as far south as North Carolina? :) My life i
busy as well, but not in the same way.

"Good stuff, Aaron. Keep it up!"
--John C.

"Great issue! I loved both articles this week and they were
right on the money."
--Lonnie K.

"How come stuff is so slow online right now? sheesh"
--Richard N.

Editor: Hi, Richard. Everyone note that Richard's email was
sent Thursday this week. The answer is that the viruses and
worms proliferating currently (esp. Sobig and Slammer) are
really wreaking havoc as they proliferate and rob bandwidth.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject=TalkBack!.
All are welcome to give their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Smart Marketing
Copyright 2003 Bob Leduc
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information:
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards"
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Editor's Comments: More great stuff from Bob Leduc!
------------------------------------------------------------

Are you attracting a large number of prospective customers
at the lowest possible cost ...and converting the maximum
number of them into paying customers? It's not very
difficult if you follow these 3 simple steps.

Step 1: Control Your Advertising Expense

Look for ways to keep your sales volume growing without
increasing your advertising expense. For example:

* Negotiate Price With Advertisers

Many advertisers are willing to negotiate a special
discount to keep your business - or to get it away from
their competitors. Take the initiative when you're placing
an ad. Ask for a discount ...or a bigger discount than the
one already offered.

* Trim Your Ads

Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads without
increasing your total cost. Don't be surprised if some of
your short ads generate a bigger response than your long
ads. The most effective ad I ever used had only 11 words.

Step 2: Generate Some Unpaid Publicity

Publicity is what you get when someone else promotes (or
you get them to promote) your business. It establishes more
credibility with prospective customers than advertising
...and it generates sales at a much lower cost.

Start a publicity program for your business - or expand the
one you already have. Here are 3 simple ways you can use
publicity to generate business:

(1) Find something newsworthy about your business. Write
about it in a news release and distribute it to publishers.

(2) Contact non-competing businesses serving customers in
your market. Offer to publicize their products or services
to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your
services to their customers.

(3) Write a short "how to" article to help customers in
your targeted market. Promote a product or service related
to the topic of the article in a short byline at the end.
Distribute your article to ezine publishers, web sites and
trade magazines serving your targeted market. Give them
permission to publish it at no cost.

Caution: Don't expect unpaid publicity to replace the
results you get with advertising. Use it to supplement your
advertising. You control where and when your advertising
appears. You cannot control where or when you get publicity
...or if you get any at all.

Step 3: Improve Your Selling Propositions

Most prospects who take the time to consider your product
or service would like to buy from you. But they decided
that other things they want are either more important or
more urgent.

You can capture many of these sales by dramatically
improving your offer. Create a "good deal" that's so
enticing it becomes their first choice.

You don't have to reduce your price to improve your offer.
Instead, simply load your offer with bonuses. Make sure
your bonuses have a high perceived value to your customers
...even if they cost you little or nothing.

Always include an expiration date for your offer. Give
prospects the choice to either accept your proposition
within a short time or forfeit it. This will motivate many
prospects to delay some other purchase so they can buy your
product or service now.

Tip: To create an absolutely irresistible offer - include a
special discount price AND a set of valuable bonuses in
your offer.

Controlling your advertising expense and getting unpaid
publicity will attract potential customers at the lowest
cost. Improving your selling propositions will convert the
maximum number of those prospects into paying customers.
Together, these 3 steps are what I call "smart marketing".

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2002 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[{UNSUBSCRIBE_LINK}]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor
(mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #91 Aug. 15, 2003
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter. Back-issues are
available online at: http://www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
E-Commerce, E-Contracts, and the Law: What you
should know
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Get More Clients using Pull then Push Marketing
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
E-Commerce, E-Contracts, and the Law: What you should know
2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

Lisa Gilliam is the Publisher of "The Office Arena: The
Office Magazine for the Rest of Us" An office e-zine from
the middle-management point of view, with a Roman Colloseum
theme. www.officearena.com
Contact: lgilliam@officearena.com

Editor's Comments: Good stuff, right here!
------------------------------------------------------------

The Internet was first introduced to the public in the early
1990s. Since then, the world has witnessed a phenomenon with
a rate of growth unsurpassed by any other form of media in
history. The speed at which the Internet has grown made it
difficult for lawmakers to keep pace with the issues that
have arisen. Until the mid-1990s, no specific laws had been
in place to regulate things like electronic contracts and
signatures, and security and privacy of personal infor-
mation, just to name a few. In recent years, however,
several new laws have been enacted specifically to regulate
electronic commerce (e-commerce), and many longstanding
statutes have been interpreted to apply to e-commerce.

What about my privacy?

When it comes to privacy, much of the responsibility for
protecting personal information on the Internet lies with
the visitor. Most retail and service companies, excluding
financial institutions, are not required by law to refrain
from distributing your personal information.

When visiting any website, take precautionary measures, such
as checking for and reading privacy policies and terms of
use. Many times, visitors are not given the choice to opt-
out of such agreements; your use of the website alone can
establish agreement to its terms. If a choice is offered, it
may be placed in an inconspicuous location, such as at the
bottom of a contact form, purchase agreement or payment
confirmation screen.

Notices to opt-out can come in several forms. You may have
to click on a "radio" button or a "checkbox" before
submitting personal information. In addition, the website
may include a paragraph or a link in the vicinity of a
"submit" button, where it explains that by clicking on the
button, you've agreed to its terms of use.

Many websites are configured to track "non-personal" infor-
mation about its visitors. This information is generally of
no consequence to you, since it does not track personal
information, such as your name, address, or email address.
Another method of tracking information is through a
"cookie". Cookies are stored on your hard drive, and are
generally used with the intent of creating a more friendly
and personal relationship with you. They may be used to
'remember' your buying habits in order to offer products or
services of specific interest to you, or they may be used to
simply say "Hello" using your name. It is important to read
notices regarding the use of cookies by a website because
they, too, may distribute personal information to third
parties unless measures are taken to opt-out.

Financial institutions, such as banks, mortgage companies,
and credit card issuers, are required by law to abide by the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) of 1999, which is enforced by
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to the FTC,
financial institutions are required to send an annual notice
to every consumer with which it has an ongoing relationship,
giving him or her the choice to opt-out of some sharing with
companies affiliated with the institution and all sharing
with non-affiliated companies. The GLB Act also provides
that the consumer should respond within a reasonable time
period - usually 30 days after the notice is mailed out - or
the company is free to share personal and financial infor-
mation.

Are they for real?

Once you are satisfied with the privacy policies of a
company, you may decide to do business with them by making
an online purchase. The technology and anonymity of the
Internet makes it very simple for con-artists to carry out
scams and frauds, or establish "ghost" companies. Don't be
fooled by professionally constructed websites.

The first thing to do is verify the actual existence of an
online company. Try finding the physical address of the
company on the website, and make contact with them offline.
Then verify the legal existence of a company by searching
governmental or business-reporting agencies' websites, in
the state where the company is located, for a record of the
company. Examples include: Departments of Consumer and
Industry Services, Attorneys General, Better Business
Bureaus, or Dun & Bradstreet.

The verification of a business's legal existence, however,
does not necessarily ensure ethical business practices.
Always verify a company's return policies, shipping terms,
and warranties prior to engaging in an online transaction.

What about security?

Internet communications are generally made through insecure
methods, meaning that computer-savvy persons - often termed
"crackers", and more often incorrectly termed "hackers" -
may be able to intercept information sent between a browser
and a website server. An ethical company should take
precautionary measures to protect their customers against
these attacks, but are not required by law to do so. When
you buy something on the Internet, it is important to
ensure that the transaction is being conducted utilizing
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. SSL technology
encrypts, or "scrambles", information sent across the
Internet, and un-encrypts the information when it reaches
its destination.

Utilization of this security measure can be verified in
several ways. Insecure websites begin with "http://", which
can be viewed in the address bar of the Internet browser. In
contrast, secure websites will begin with "https://". Note
the addition of the "s", indicating "secure". Most Internet
browsers also provide graphic, or picture, of a lock or a
key that is usually located in the lower portion of the
browser window. When the website is not utilizing SSL, the
lock will be open or the key will be broken. If SSL is in
use, the lock will be closed or the key will be intact. In
addition to these indications, many website owners will
choose to enroll in a third-party certification program,
such as VeriSign® or Thawte®. These companies verify the
identity of the business owner and the website's use of SSL
encryption technology, and a "Digital ID" is issued to the
business. The company then places an "authentication seal"
on their website for visitors to click on to verify the
security of the transaction.

But what laws govern the Internet?

When making an online purchase for the first time with an
unfamiliar company, the chosen method of payment may offer
some protection. Many sites may offer payment via debit
cards or e-checks. These methods offer little or no third-
party intervention if you fall victim to a fraudulent or
unethical company. Credit card transactions, on the other
hand, are protected under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA)
of 1975. Under the FCBA, a credit card issuer may not hold a
consumer responsible for more than $50 of an unauthorized
charge or a charge where the goods were not delivered as
agreed.

Commercial sales and transfer of monetary instruments,
whether conducted online or offline, are regulated by the
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). The UCC has been adopted in
some form in every state, except that Article 2 (Sales) has
not been adopted by the State of Louisiana. This indicates
that an online company is required to engage in business
transactions according to the law as adopted by the state in
which they are located.

The UCC, however, lacks definitive rules regarding computer
information transactions - such as software licensing. In an
April 7, 1999, press release issued by the National
Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (NCCUSL)
and the American Law Institute (ALI), it was announced that
it "will promulgate the legal rules for computer information
transactions for adoption by states as the Uniform Computer
Information Transactions Act." (UCITA) Under the UCITA,
computer information vendors will be required to abide by
the substantive rules set forth in the statute.

When parties agree to engage in the transaction of goods
and/or services, they are essentially entering into a
contract. Traditionally, a contract required a paper
document outlining its terms and conditions. Since main-
taining this requirement would seriously hinder the
progress of e-commerce, the NCCUSL promulgated the Uniform
Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) in 1999. The NCCUSL
states:

The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act is designed to
support the use of electronic commerce. The primary
objective of this act is to establish the legal equivalence
of electronic records and signatures with paper writings
and manually-signed signatures, removing barriers to
electronic commerce. The effect of this act is that when
doing business online, "clicking" to indicate agreement of
the terms and conditions of a contract will hold the same
force in the legal system as signing a paper document.
Under the UETA, a company cannot, however, force anyone to
do business electronically; agreement to those terms is
necessary for the contract to be legally binding.

The UETA and the Electronic Signatures in Global and
National Commerce Act (E-Sign) are similar in that they both
establish the legal validity of electronic signatures.
E-Sign defines an electronic signature as "an electronic
sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated
with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a
person with the intent to sign the record." This means that
clicking on a website's radio button, submit button, or any
other reasonable form of intended agreement, constitutes a
legal signature.

What State's laws apply? Mine or theirs?

Take great care in reading all terms and conditions of any
contract you enter into, and with the global nature of the
Internet, it is imperative to be aware of a "choice of law"
clause in an Internet contract. A choice of law clause
determines what state laws will be applied to the trans-
action, and the location of the trial if one of the parties
brings suit against the other.

Is an email transaction legally binding?

The UETA and the UCITA confirm the validity of electronic
mail (e-mail) as a legal equivalent of paper writings, but
there are also privacy and security issues associated it. As
with the Internet, the general nature of e-mail communi-
cation is that it is conducted through insecure means. The
technology industry has developed methods of encrypting
e-mail messages, but the methods are not widely used at this
time.

Since most e-mail travels through insecure methods, the
content of these messages cannot be kept private. An e-mail
message may travel through many computer networks before
reaching its destination, and each of these networks leaves
a vulnerable opening for hackers or crackers to intercept it
and copy the information before passing it on. Sensitive
information should never be sent in an e-mail message unless
the sender is utilizing a proven encryption method.

Is my office email private?

Speed of delivery has made e-mail a popular choice of
communication for business purposes. This has created issues
concerning employee/employer related privacy while using
e-mail at work. Many employees assume that the messages they
send and receive are private and confidential, but employers
do not agree. Many businesses employ policies that indicate
any and all electronic information residing on equipment
owned or leased by the company, belongs to the company.
These policies may give the employer the right to inspect,
with or without notice, the contents of electronic equipment
used by their employees.

Employers do not necessarily require that policies be in
place in order to exercise their right of inspection. In the
case of Smyth v Pillsbury Co., the company employed a policy
stating that they did not read employee e-mail. Smyth's
manager did read his e-mail, and Smyth filed suit against
Pillsbury Co. claiming that his manager invaded his privacy.
The judgment was held in favor of the defendant, citing that
"there is no reasonable expectation of privacy, even when
the employer had made a promise not to read employee
e-mails."

What now?

With the laws that have been passed in recent years and
precedents that have been set, lawmakers have signifi-
cantly narrowed the gap between new technology and the
laws that govern it. However, technology continues to
advance at a rapid pace. The lawmakers of today must not
only specialize in legal issues, but also possess a strong
understanding of current technology as well as the foresight
to contemplate where technology may be headed in the future.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, what a week online this has been! First, we had the
W32.Blaster worm wreak havoc on the availability of the
'Net to some servers. It especially got IT people nervous
as it gained momentum. Here's more info on that one:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.
worm.html
[Cut-and-paste]

Then the LovSan infection began. It travelled through
Europe first, hitting Windows computers and causing them
to go into "shutdown" and reboot repeatedly. This one was
contained fairly quickly. Read about it here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94479,00.html

Now there is a massive power outage on the east coast of the
United States. Hit hardest are much of the backbone for
Michigan and eastward. Earthlink is reporting massive
outages of service in the east. In fact, as of this
writing, I don't have access to my own website because of
DNS errors from Earthlink. Many people are also complaining
of spotty coverage in their Internet service. This is
expected to change soon.

This week's issue is late because of that. All sites and
services appear to be up and functioning without difficulty
as of 4:00pm today. I ran a full services test and there
are no reported errors or problems.

In other news, the re-vamp of the newsletter back-issues
section continues. It's very tedious work and there are
(now) 91 issues to wade through! Oi! I'm going backwards
from latest to oldest and will be putting this year's
issues online in the new format very soon.

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Wow, AdSense is awesome!"
--George L.

Editor: Isn't it, though? I've turned a non-profit site
(mentioned before) into a nearly self-paying venture now.

"Thanks for the tax info. Helpful stuff."
Charles B.

Editor: Thanks, Charles.

"Great issue."
--Lyle

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject=TalkBack!.
All are welcome to give their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Get More Clients using Pull then Push Marketing
By Charlie Cook
2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent
professionals and small business owners who are struggling
to pull in more clients.

Get a copy of the marketing guide, 7 Steps to Get More
Clients and Grow Your Business. Get the FREE marketing guide
now: CLICK HERE ==> http://www.charliecook.net
mailto:ccook@charliecook.net

Editor's Comments: More great marketing info!
------------------------------------------------------------

Marketing is like rowing. You pull hard on the oars to go
forward, then lift them out of the water and push them back
to finish the stroke and get ready for the next pull. Once
you've got the sequence of the stroke right, you and your
boat slip forward through the water and build speed and
momentum. If you push when you should be pulling, the boat
goes backwards, or, even worse, you lose your balance and
fall into the bottom of the boat.

One of the biggest mistakes people make in marketing their
services is to simply PUSH information about their services
and themselves out to prospects and hope that this will
result in attracting prospects. Unless you are already a
household name and in such demand that your phone is ringing
off the hook, this approach rarely attracts the numbers of
new clients you want. The result is that most marketing
falls into the bottom of the boat instead of propelling your
business forward.

An alternative to the typical push and hope approach to
marketing is to PULL prospects in and then in the context of
a growing relationship, PUSH useful information out to them.
If you want prospects to remember your firm when they have a
need for your services, start by attracting their interest.

Generate interest by focusing on what your potential clients
want and the problems they need solved. Use this client
centered marketing strategy to pull prospects in so you can
push your expertise out to them. Give them ideas they can
apply instead of information about credentials, or past
clients. Like rowing your boat, you won't move very far
unless you repeat the sequence again and again.

Are you pulling prospects in or just pushing your infor-
mation out? Review your marketing materials to see if you
have the sequence right. Take a look at your web site,
brochures, newsletters, correspondence and proposals.

PULL TACTICS – `Client' Centered
Do your marketing materials
1. Begin with a clear identification of the niche
market(s) you work with?
2. Lead with client problems and concerns?
3. Use the two elements above to create a picture that your
target market can identify with?
4. Provide useful ideas that your target market can use and
that demonstrates your expertise?

PUSH TACTICS – `You' centered
Do your marketing materials
1. Focus on you, your services and staff?
2. Focus on glowing testimonials and your client list?

Which works best? Both. The challenge is getting the
emphasis and order right. The pull then push marketing
sequence that works to move your business forward involves
the following:

1. Create resources that pull prospects to you and your firm
2. Get prospects to give you their contact information (Most
firms let over 99% of the people who see their information
go away and never follow up)
3. Push useful information out to self-selected prospects on
a regular basis. (Remember the majority of buyers won't make
a purchase until they've had a minimum of 5-6 contacts with
your firm.)

When your prospects have a compelling need, they will turn
to the firm that they've had regular communication with,
know and trust. At some point prospects will want more
details about your services, credentials and testimonials.
But this is often the last information you need to provide.

Use the pull then push strategy to get your marketing
moving. You'll be amazed as you watch both your prospect and
client lists grow and your business gains momentum.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2002 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[{UNSUBSCRIBE_LINK}]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor
(mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #90 August 8, 2003
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter. Back-issues are
available online at: http://www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
How To Avoid Paying Too Much Estimated Tax
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Google AdSense - A Content Publisher's Dream
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
How To Avoid Paying Too Much Estimated Tax
Wayne M. Davies is author of the new eBook, "The Tax
Reduction Toolkit: 29 Little-Known Legal Loopholes That Will
Reduce Your Taxes By Thousands (For Small Business Owners
and Self-Employed People Only!) Don't file another tax
return until you visit:
http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/toolkit.html

Editor's Comments: More great tax info from Wayne Davies!
------------------------------------------------------------

Many self-employed people and small business owners make
quarterly estimated tax payments at both the federal and
state level. (Sigh!)

Now that we're past the year's half-way point, this is a
good time to take a look at how much you've paid in so
far, and whether you need to make any adjustments to this
year's remaining two quarterly estimated tax payments.

NOTE: If you're newly self-employed, and perhaps
unfamiliar with the government's estimated tax
payment schedule, here are the due dates for the Year
2003 quarterly estimated tax payments:

QTR 1: April 15, 2003
QTR 2: June 15, 2003
QTR 3: September 15, 2003
QTR 4: January 15, 2004

The form used to accompany the payments is Form 1040-ES.
You can download the form and its instructions here:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040e03.pdf

By the way, please don't ask me how they came up with these
"quarters" -- the first quarter coincides with the calendar
quarter, but the other three don't. Two of the "quarters"
aren't even three months. Go figure.

Still with me? Good. Let's get down to business.

If your business income fluctuates from year to year, as is
often the case for the small business owner, it can be
difficult (if not impossible) to know exactly what your tax
liability is going to be for the whole year until the year
is over.

So many self-employed people end up being too conservative.
They fear having a balance due on their tax return and pay
way too much estimated tax during the year. They end up just
like the W-2 employee who has too much income tax withheld
from his/her paycheck. The end result -- the self-employed
person also gets a large refund, and has given the IRS an
interest-free loan of his hard-earned money. Not good!

The self-employed person has two options to avoid
overpayment of estimated tax.


OPTION 1:

Do your best to track your income and expense during the
year. If you are running a successful small business, you
should be recording your income and expense activity each
month, and you should be able to produce reports that tell
you exactly how your business is doing each month. Either
you are doing this yourself with the help of a software
program like Quicken or Quickbooks, or your are paying a
bookkeeper or accountant to do this. My point: if you don't
know how your business is doing every month, you are making
a big mistake!

If you want to be successful, you've got to know where you
stand every month profit-wise. If you are waiting until the
end of the year to see what the numbers look like, you are
mismanaging your business.

You've got to know the "bottom line" each and every month,
both from a business management/cash flow standpoint, and
also from a tax standpoint. From a tax standpoint, once you
know your profit for a given quarter, you can then calculate
the resulting tax liability on that quarter's profit, and
you can make a reasonably accurate quarterly estimated tax
payment instead of just "winging it" and paying too much (or
too little).


OPTION 2:

Here's another great way to take care of your quarterly
estimated tax payments. Option 2 is what the Tax Code calls
"The Safe Harbor Method," defined as follows:

The Tax Code says that most taxpayers can calculate the
minimum amount of estimated tax by paying the previous
year's tax liability in the current year. Let's say you are
trying to figure out how much estimated tax to pay for Year
2003. Let's also assume your Year 2002 federal income tax
liability was $10,000. For Year 2003, you take the $10,000
and divide it by 4, and you would pay $2,500 per quarter.
That wasn't too hard!

As you can see, this is a much easier method to use than
Option 1, because it takes less time to calculate.

There is another advantage to The Safe Harbor Method: if
your income (and resulting tax liability) increases in 2003
compared to 2002, you can still pay the Year 2002 tax
liability amount in Year 2003 and not incur any penalty or
interest for having a balance due on the Year 2003 return.

As long as you pay that Year 2003 balance due by April 15,
2004, then it doesn't matter how much you owe on the 2003
return. You have complied with the "safe harbor" rule for
quarterly estimated tax payments.

So Option 2 lets you calculate your estimated tax payment
amount in literally seconds, and it also lets you "get away"
with paying a minimum amount of tax during the year without
any fear of penalty for waiting until April 15 to pay the
rest.

Practically speaking, Option 2 is often best for self-
employed people whose income remains relatively constant
from year to year. If your income dramatically increases
one year, keep in mind that you can still pay the previous
year's tax liability and hang on to your money for a few
extra months, but eventually you will have to come up with
that large balance due. If you like waiting until the last
possible day to pay your balance due, then Option 2 is for
you. Just make sure you "put something aside" to take care
of that large balance due.

Also, please notice that I said that "most" taxpayers can
pay last year's tax liability to qualify for the Safe Harbor
method. If your income is over $150,000, then the amount of
estimated tax you are required to pay is 110% of the
previous year's tax liability, not 100%.

Just another example of an exception to the rule.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

This has been a seriously busy week. I'm working on a new
project, http://www.Planet-Pets.com (a huge website) and am
also doing a campaign website for a candidate for Governor
of Utah in 2004.

I promised a review of SpamPal and you'll have it. In fact,
I'll just do it right now. :)

SpamPal is a pretty good piece of software for email filter-
ing. It is simple to use: install the software, set it up
in your email program (step-by-step instructions are
included) and then set filtering preferences. While it's
generally easy to use, it's not very effective.

I had several people complain because their emails to me
mysteriously began bouncing back to them as "undeliverable."
The software only filters suspect email to a new folder, it
is not supposed to bounce it back to the sender. I found
this disconcerting.

I further found that, when the settings were high enough to
be filtering out most of the "Viagra" and "big schlong" ads
I've been getting, SpamPal was also filtering many legit
emails as well - especially those from hotmail or yahoo
domains.

Overall I'd say it's an OK piece of software - especially
considering the price (free), but it's not as reliable as
I'd hoped. You can get a copy for Windows here:
http://www.SpamPal.com

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL VIRUS ALERT!

If you get an email claiming to be from the "Administrator"
regarding your account...it reads:

"I would like to inform you about important information
regarding your email address. This email address will be
expiring. Please read attachment for details."

With a ZIP file attachment, this is a trojan horse which
will cause you no end of grief if you open it.

"Hey, I found this cool site and thought you'd want to check
it out: http://harmonica.faithweb.com"
--John C.

Editor: Thanks, John! You're right! Extra-cool!

CONGRATULATIONS TO RICH AND TERRY OF TERRICK ENTERPRISES WHO
WILL BE GETTING MARRIED ON THE 22nd!!

"Learn more about managing your small business by visiting
the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 50th Anniversary
website. For more information about events that will take
place from August 2003 - May 2004, to go the SBA Website at
http://www.sba.gov/50/."

"*Squint* Was I unsubscribed, hon?"
--Spidey

Editor: Nope. Everyone got one of those emails saying
"Thanks for your subscription to the Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine"
after I switched to the new software and imported the email
list.

" '> To date, Microsoft's investments in anti-spam tech-
nologies have already paid off for businesses and consumers
through innovations available in new versions of our
products, such as MSN, Hotmail, Exchange and Outlook.'

"I didn't know Bill was a comedian?

"I'm on Outlook 2003 and check out this gem I've gotten four
times in the last two days..."
--Rob K.

Editor: The attached email, to spare everyone a total re-
iteration of it, was a standard "getting young girls naked"
website. Indeed, MicroShaft seems to be getting better...
Not.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject=TalkBack!.
All are welcome to give their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Google AdSense - A Content Publisher's Dream
Dan Grossman runs Website Goodies, a resource site for web-
masters with information and free tools to help you improve
and promote your website including a free banner management
service with full statistics and advertiser logins.
http://www.websitegoodies.com

Editor's Comments: For anyone who doesn't know, I've been
using AdSense for a couple of weeks now. You can see it
in action on my non-profit site:
http://www.CivilDisobedience.us
Go ahead...click one of the links. I dare you! :)
------------------------------------------------------------

Last week [Editor: two months ago] Google launched their new
advertising service called Google AdSense. AdSense ads are
rapidly spreading across the Net thanks to their uniquely
relevant nature and high CPC-based payout.

AdSense has actually existed for several months, but only on
large sites that could serve millions of impressions per
month and advertising networks. With AdSense, you are
displaying Google AdWords advertisements, text-based ads
that Google normally displays to the right of its search
results.

What makes AdSense different from other ad networks is that
Google is using its spidering technology to deliver ads
targeted to each page's contents. Google already has a huge
database of websites and the algorithms to determine what a
page's topic is, and uses this technology to custom tailor
the ads on each page of the publisher's site to related
AdWords advertisements. For example, an AdSense ad on a page
about the latest clothing fashions will likely display ads
for online clothes shops.

Advertising networks have long allowed you to define the
category of your site so advertisers show relevant ads. What
makes AdSense unique is that it categorizes each and every
page separately and automatically. And if a page is not
already indexed by Google, it often sends a special crawler
to the page to determine its content so future ads shown on
the page will be relevant.

For publishers having little success with current ads or not
having enough traffic for CPM deals to be worthwhile,
AdSense may be the perfect solution. The high relevancy
ensures higher than average click-through rates and all
AdSense ads are paid on a per-click basis. The AdSense
program is open to sites of all sizes. All you need to do is
apply:

https://www.google.com/adsense/

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2002 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[{UNSUBSCRIBE_LINK}]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor
(mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #89 August 1, 2003
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter. Back-issues are
available online at: http://www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
How Can I Stop Getting Spam? A Tutorial for
Webmasters
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Search Engine Expert Spills the Beans
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
How Can I Stop Getting Spam?
A Tutorial for Webmasters
© 2003 by Sean Proske
Sean Proske is the CEO and founding partner of
thewebhostcompany.com which has provided reliable and
affordable hosting since 1996.
http://www.thewebhostcompany.com
mailto:info@thewebhostcompany.com

Editor's Comments: Here is some good, sound advice for those
of us who are inundated with SPAM daily. Next week I will
be reviewing a piece of filtering software.
------------------------------------------------------------

Are you getting too much spam? We all are, but if you're a
webmaster the word spam takes on a whole new meaning.

It's not uncommon for the luckiest of email users to receive
a dozen or so spam messages each day, while those of us who
aren't so fortunate receive hundreds.

The casual home user tends to be more fortunate, so this
article is devoted to those of us with one or more website
because webmasters are getting hit by spam ... and hit
hard.

The reason ... a website doesn't do you much good if you
don't give potential customers a way to contact you, and
that normally means posting an email address on your
website, where it is vulnerable to email address harvesting
tools used by spammers. Domain registration records are
also a common source used by spammers.

In order to conduct business online you now need to sift
through the endless barrage of offers for herbal viagra,
pornography, pyramid schemes, and so on.

With such a large volume of spam to contend with, it's
likely you've lost sales due to missing important emails
that simply floated away in this sea of spam. And there's
no way to really calculate the cost of that lost business.
If you've missed email then how can you ever know how much
business you've lost?

If you want to solve the problem, you need to be proactive
because the sad reality is that if you do nothing, it will
only get worse until finally it reaches the point where your
email account has become totally and completely
unmanageable. Fortunately there are a few options available
to you.

Securing Your Domain Registration Against Spammers
First let's address the whois database, which is a publicly
accessible database in which your domain registration record
is listed ... and that includes your email address. It's
not uncommon now for people to be spammed at a brand new
email address within hours of registering a new domain.

Go Daddy http://www.godaddy.com is a domain registrar that
now offers private domain registrations. At the time of
writing this article, they are the only registrar who
currently offers this service. Hopefully in time, other
registrars will pick up on this idea and offer the service
too.

With a private domain registration, which costs only a few
dollars more than a regular registration, your contact
information including your email address will not be
publicly accessible in the whois database.

That's guaranteed to cut down on spam quite significantly as
this very important source of addresses that spammers use,
will no longer provide your address to them.

If you don't wish to obtain a private domain registration,
then there is another option that will be equally effective.
Set up a new email address that you use only for the purpose
of providing registration information for your domain name.
You can easily scan email sent to that address for messages
from your registrar, and delete the rest without having to
read it.

Securing Your Website Against Spammers
The other major source, and by far the biggest source of
email addresses for spammers is of course the mailto links
on your own website. Email address harvesting or extraction
software as it's known is cheap, easy to use, and readily
available ... and it's very effective. That means there
are a lot of spammers out there with easy access to your
email address.

Chances are hundreds or even thousands of spammers using
such software have already harvested your address. And what
can you do about this? You need to provide a way for your
customers to reach you by email, or you'll lose business.
There are steps you can take to prevent your email address
from being harvested and used by spammers though, while
still providing legitimate visitors to your site with a way
to email you.

One solution is to make all the mailto links on your site
point to a form instead, which will still provide a means
for people to send you email. Provided you use a CGI script
that doesn't require the address to be embedded within the
form itself, you can shield your address from email address
extractors.

If you don't want to require people to fill out a form to
email you from your website, then you can get a little more
creative. It is possible to put a mailto link on your site
that when clicked will still launch the sender's email
program, and start a new message with your address in the To
field ... but without having to embed your email address in
the mailto link where spam software can snatch it. Click
below to see an example of how it works.

http://thewebhostcompany.com/cgi-local/email.cgi

It looks like a normal URL, and there's clearly no email
address anywhere in the link, but when clicked, instead of
loading a web page in your browser as you may have expected,
your email program opens up.

How's that possible you might ask? Simple. A little magic
with CGI using Perl or PHP will do the trick. A free copy
of a script that does this is bundled with Postmaster Pro,
available at http://www.postmasterpro.com which is discussed
below.

What About Spammers Who Already Have My Address?
So far we've discussed a few fairly simple techniques
designed to prevent spammers from obtaining your email
address in the first place. But, how do you deal with the
spam you're already getting? Your address is already out
there. The solution is to either block or filter.

For either, you'll need software. For blocking, I recommend
Postmaster Pro. If you prefer to filter then Spam Assassin
is highly recommended. Both run on the server, so there is
no need to download spam before filtering it out. That's a
huge time saver if you're not yet on a high-speed
connection. It also makes it a bit less likely you'll end
up downloading a virus since email from untrusted senders,
i.e. spammers will be significantly reduced.

Spam Blocking Software
Postmaster Pro which is available at
http://www.postmasterpro.com takes a novel approach to
blocking spam. It only allows email to be delivered after
people who've sent you email have been placed on an approved
sender list. But the interesting thing is that people who
send you email can put themselves on your approved list.
This is done simply by clicking a link in an email that
automatically gets sent to them the first time they send
email to you, which is perfect for those of us who don't
know in advance whom we should put on the approved list,
i.e. if you're running a business online. It also makes
building and maintaining such a list very simple.

Given the fact that spammers normally use invalid return
addresses, and those who do use valid return addresses
seldom read email that's sent there, let alone respond to it
(they receive thousands of failed delivery notifications,
complaints, remove requests, and autoresponder messages
every time they do a mailing) ... it's a very effective
technique with no chance of blocking legitimate email, as is
the case with filtering.

Spam Filtering Software
For those who would prefer to filter ... Spam Assassin is
perhaps the best option. It is available at
http://www.spamassassin.org. Once you have Spam Assassin
installed, it will provide you with very powerful and
flexible filtering tools. Spam Assassin is a mature
product, having been around for quite some time. If you're
going to filter, Spam Assassin is about as good as it gets.

As with any filter though, you do run the risk of missing
legitimate email from time to time. There really isn't a
good way to tell how often this is happening unless you want
to read all the email that gets filtered out, which negates
the whole point of filtering. If you set your filters
permissively enough though, you should be reasonably safe.
For the first month or so after installing any filter, you
should continue to read every single email in order to make
sure it isn't set too restrictively to allow legitimate
email through.

By using the techniques mentioned in this article, you can
take back your mailbox, and dramatically reduce, if not
eliminate spam.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Another fun week goes by and we appear to have survived
intact!

I've been testing some SPAM-filtering software called
"SpamPal" during the week on one of my email addresses. It
seems to be doing well and I will have a full accounting of
it next week. I am also testing Google AdSense and will
have an accounting of how that's going soon too.

If you hadn't noticed, the newsletter came to you via a
different mass-mailing software than has been previously
used. The links on the website have changed to automatic-
ally sign people up in this new system and this email should
include a link at the bottom to self-remove anyone who wants
to leave.

This new system is on a piece of server-side software I've
used many times in the past and that I use to serve the
other newsletter I produce weekly. That software is called
AutoResponse Plus. You'll find a link to it at the bottom
of this email.

The back-issues on the website will soon undergo a massive
change and reorganization. Who knew we'd get up to 89
issues (nearly two years now)?!

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
"This might be of interest to you or some of your clients

SWEPA membership requirements are merely the subscription fee.
Details at http://www.swepa.com/public/10.cfm."
--Jim D.

Editor: Thanks, Jim!

"MSNBC News
September 11: Chronology of terror"
and
"CNN.com /U.S.
September 11: Chronology of terror"

Editor: Emails with these titles have been floating around
the 'Net and contain a virus which Norton identifies as:
"Norton AntiVirus removed the attachment: CNNChronology.zl9.
The attachment was infected with the W32.Gruel@mm virus."

"TO AARON WEBWORKZ:

MY NAME IS ROY TROXEL. I AM FROM THE VILLAGE OF WASHINGTON
DC. I NEED TO RAISE 24 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE NEXT THREE
DAYS.

MY TALE IS A SAD ONE. WHILE VISITING THE VILLAGE OF LAS
VEGAS LAST YEAR, I LOST MANY MONIES TO A GANG OF ONE-ARMED
BANDITS, HOWEVER IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEND ME SEVERAL THOUSANDS
DOLLARS, I CAN REGAIN MY FORTUNE PLUS RETURN TO YOU YOUR
MONIES PLUS SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS EXTRA.

THE WOMEN OF LAS VEGAS ARE NOW IN NEED OF CLOTHING, FOOD
STUFFS, DRINKING SUPPLIES AND TRADITIONAL JEWELRY. PLEASE
CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY TO LEARN HOW
YOU CAN HELP."
--Roy Troxel (http://www.webservertimes.com)

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject=TalkBack!.
All are welcome to give their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Search Engine Expert Spills the Beans
by Aaron Turpen for Sumantra Roy
http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1778&ppc.htm

Editor's Comments: My favorite search engine expert is back
with more information for everyone!
------------------------------------------------------------

If you'd like to see your site highly ranked on the top search
engines, then it's critical you follow some important guidelines.
As you know, the way the top search engines rank you is based on
a set of constantly changing rules.

Here's some great advice -- and it's completely free!

Search engine expert, Sumantra Roy of 1stSearchRanking.com, has
'spilled the beans' and now you can use his critical advice to
move YOUR SITE to the TOP of the search listings. Just look at
the secrets he's revealed:

Secret #1 - Discover precisely how to choose the optimal keywords
for your site - the ones that will bring you the qualified
traffic you want! You get step-by-step instructions on how to use
Sumantra's proprietary formula: The Keyword Effectiveness Index
(KEI). Discover all this and more here:
http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1778&ppc.htm

Secret #2 - Learn why link popularity is such a critical ranking
factor and how you can easily expand your link popularity by
following a few simple strategies. These simple, yet highly
effective strategies are revealed here:
http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1778&link-popularity.htm

Secret #3 - Discover the 10 most common search engine
optimization mistakes (most of which can penalize your site and
drop you from the top rankings). You may be doing something right
now that is seriously hurting your rankings - and you may not
even know it! This report is must reading:
http://www.1stsearchranking.com/t.cgi?1778&top10mistakes.htm

You're also welcome to sign up for Sumantra's complimentary email
course on becoming a Search Engine Master -- check it out:
http://www.1stsearchranking.com/t.cgi?1778&freecourse.htm

Best of Luck!

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2002 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com?subject:unsubscribe]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor
(mailto:newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).