 Hello
Readers,
You may have heard of Overture's recent purchase - they paid CMGI $140 million
in cash and stock for AltaVista (for which CMGI traded Compaq $2.3 billion in
shares...), one of the web's oldest search engines. Like me, you're probably asking,
"why did Overture make the purchase, and what will it mean to my online business?"
Their official reasons for the purchase are:
1) license AltaVista search technology to other companies
2) sell paid inclusion services and side-bar ads on AltaVista
3) test new search services for advertisers
While all of these objectives are revenue boosters, Overture's best hope for
the deal - remember, they've got to get a return on their $140 million investment
- is in building AltaVista into a search engine that beats Google for speed, relevance,
and depth.
This, I think, will be the way that Overture's purchase will affect online
business - they're going to build a real competitor in the search engine market,
providing Google with some much-needed serious competition. Once they refurbish
their algorithms, watch for an enormous marketing campaign touting the new and
improved search capabilities of AltaVista (they'll probably change the name, too).
As for changes at Overture, you may have noticed their recent increase of minimum
bid from $.05 US to $.10. At that price they only need 2.8 billion clicks before
AltaVista's paid for.
Overture wasn't the only search company to make a major purchase recently -
Google just bought Blogger.com last week. If you're curious, here are my thoughts
on why Google made
the purchase.
Resources:
this DMNews
Article
conversation with Rich Ord, iEntry CEO
If you have thoughts on Overture's or Google's purchase, send them in. I'd
like to see what you think.
As for today's issue, we've got an excellent article from that most dynamic
of duos Leslie O'Flahavan and Marilynne Rudick, of e-write. If you provide customer
service by email, read their article. It might just change your business.
Charlene Rashkow, a WebProNews veteran, is back with her column "Better
Writing, Better Business." Today's topic is sales letters. She offers some
great advice, and she's always willing to review your websites or sales letters
for effective, profit-building writing.
Best Wishes,
Garrett + The WebProNews Team
 Answering
Customer Service E-mail: Five Errors to Avoid
By Leslie O'Flahavan and Marilynne Rudick
We're turning our focus this new year to customer service e-mail messages,
those "answers" we receive in our inboxes when we write to customer
service representatives (CSRs) for help. Our research method: Send hundreds of
customer service questions and requests via e-mail. We've e-mailed everyone --
from Fortune 500s to ma-and-pa companies, from public corporations to nonprofits
and government agencies. We've solicited customer service e-mail from clients
and colleagues. What we've learned so far: (1) Lots of customer service representatives
lack the basic writing skills they need to communicate with customers. (2) Lots
of companies are sending out embarrassing, inaccurate, business-damaging e-mail
disguised as "help."
Read more here
 Better
Writing, Better Business: Sales Letters
By Charlene Rashkow
Last week after sharing my views and reviews on web site content, several people
wrote requesting analysis of other types of written content particularly sales
letters. Those who had requested information were primarily interested in effectively
reaching their target audience and although each was introducing a dynamic product,
their situations required diverse responses.
Read more here
Send your site in for Charlene to Review.
(Your site will also be considered for a standard peer review.)
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Software
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 Dan
Thies Answers Your SEO Questions
By Dan Thies
Q: What is going to happen when Yahoo starts using Inktomi
results?
Dan's Answer
Q: I've had a lot of success with most of the search engines,
but my manual submissions to Alta Vista are not getting posted. I am not spamming
and have followed all the rules. Any ideas?
Dan's Answer
Q: Is link pop software any good or worth it? Like ARELIS
3 or OptiLink?
Dan's Answer
Q: I have a client who would like to design her home page
so that it looks like a postcard. The little bit of text that will be on the home
page will be in a handwriting font, which means, then, that the entire page will
be a graphic. I know text on the home page is important for SE placement. Is there
any way around this?
Dan's Answer
 A
Visit with FindWhat.com CEO,
Craig Pisaris-Henderson
By Robin Nobles
The Chairman and CEO of FindWhat.com, Craig Pisaris-Henderson, recently attended
a chat session and visited with Academy students regarding the FindWhat.com performance-based
advertising network. This enlightening chat shed light on one of the leading pay-for-
performance advertising providers (providing keyword-targeted text ads to search
engines and other large portals) and offered tips for achieving better results
when purchasing keywords.
Read more here
Meet the Readers
Name: Cooper Griggs
Name of your company: Quality Service Certification, Inc.
Why do you read WebProNews?
I read WebProNews for the excellent in-depth articles about how best to promote
our business using the internet. Everything from design tips to marketing and
search engine optimization. Some things I already knew about but many are valuable
news for me and my team.
What is our company's competitive edge?
QSC is a brand new concept in the service industry; Accountability. Plain
and simple, QSC is there for consumers. Right now someone can visit our site and
within seconds find a Quality Service Certified Sales Professional. QSC started
with the real estate industry and is quickly expanding into other related industries.
Eventually we will be involved with insurance, mortgage and many others.
URL: http://www.qualitycertified.org
Introduce Yourself
For information about advertising within an iEntry
email newsletter or via a targeted direct emailing contact Susan Coppersmith at
susan@ientry.com.
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