EcomCity Electronic Commerce links and articles related to Internet commerce

CounterSpy detects, deletes and protects you against Spyware and Adware. Get rid of malicious crapware that invades your PC without your knowledge or permission. Why choose CounterSpy™? According to PC World, and all EcomCity's webmaster tests, it has the best spyware database in the industry. That means it removes the most Adware/Spyware ...period!

Should you buy these products? Based on our tests, our opinion is no. Following complaints from several PC World readers, we tested seven heavily advertised spyware-removal tools-- MyNetProtector, NoAdware, PAL Spyware Remover, SpyAssault, SpyBlocs, Spyware Stormer, and XoftSpy--and found that none were as effective as reputable free products such as Spybot Search & Destroy. A couple even installed new spyware and disabled viable competing programs..... read on and learn how the Adwhores and advertising industry condone hijacking your system for profits. ALERT: New free web surfing defensive tool is the slickest way to alert you to harmful web sites containing spyware -adware -spam bundled or drive-by programs. Install www.siteadvisor.com today and let it open your eyes before your system gets hijacked! This one works with the Google toolbar and others highlighting search engine listings that are designed to dupe you into the Adwhore clutches

What are those pesky computer parasites?

The Spyware Bug can bite you anywhere while online.

‘Parasite’ is a shorthand term for “unsolicited commercial software” — that is, an Adwarez program that gets installed on your computer which you never asked for, and which does something you probably don’t want it to, for someone else’s profit. Adware/Spyware or Malware is a huge problem not covered by anti-virus programs. The parasite problem has grown enormously recently, and many millions of computers are affected. I like the terms parasiteware or Scumware over Adware any day. Be sure to read this complete section and take the steps to download my recommended detection and removal software. Recommended ... http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html - LavaSoft Ad-Aware6.0 or download Spybot S&D at http://ejrs.com/spybot/ with these nasties out there in mass ...get and use all three EcomCity recommendations. Nifty Online spyware/Adware detector and removal too for placing a link to on your sites is.... http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_onlinescan.html ...try it for free and you will be amazed!

IMS webmaster seal of approval: With nearly three million domains, is one of the world's largest ICANN-accredited domain name registrars. Launched in 2000, Dotster was among the first to offer discounted pricing. Doster full service $14.95/yr domain registration fee is lower than many lesser known domain registrars. IMS hosts many client sites for years at Dotster and highly recommends them as a trusted domain seller and low cost hosting provider.

Dotster gives their customers something worth clicking for: Our domain registrations include free URL forwarding, free domain parking, free SpamShield, free TransferLock, and free ownership transfers. Customers can also add features like WHOIS privacy, e-mail services, web hosting, DNS certificates, and more. We are well known for our ability to deliver hard-to-find domain names and unique domain extensions such as .MD. They treat customers like family, and offer superior online account management tools and dedicated support from our customer care team in Washington state.

Periodicals & E-Zines Web Marketing
International Marketing
Miscellaneous Web Marketing Articles
Marketing Research
New Marketing Approaches (Not Banner Ads)
Privacy Issues
Trust Enhancement
Public Relations
Search Engine Techniques
Building Communities: Chat, Forums
Customer Service Online (Gen)
Business Website Design
Domain Names

Banner Ad Revenue

Janet Ryan and Nancy Whiteman, "Lesson One in the Online Ad Game: Size Matters," ClickZ, 9/18/2000. Although the future looks bright for online ad revenues, new sites considering banner ads as a revenue stream must face a cold hard fact: without sufficient critical mass, page views and inventory, they will not have a viable advertising play.

Banner Ads (General)

"Rich Media," Iconocast, 9/21/2000. By 2003, still 77% of the online populations will access the Web via dial-up, limiting rich media bandwidth. Projects by 2005 30% of online media spending will be devoted to rich media or streaming advertising, up from 7% this year.Sees advertisers' leading tools of choice as Flash 54%, Enliven 27%, RealAudio 27%, Unicast 12%, and RealVideo 12%.
Pamela Parker, "Media Shopping for the Holidays: The Pros Share their Strategies," ChannelSeven, 9/7/2000. If you plan to advertise your webstore's holiday offerings online or through email campaigns, you need to act fast to get the placement and pricing you want. Consider using rich media, and hot-button words like 'free', to cut through the clutter.

Branding On The Web

"BannerStake," Thomson Thomson & Thomson. Free program queries major directories and search engines for the keyword you insert to see if your company's brand (or desired keywords) are being purchased by competitors.
Lee Traupel, "Branding on the Web is like Mining for Fool's Gold," PromotionBase.com. Offers 10 tips for B2B branding on the Web, including: do a careful competitive analysis, identify your target audience, devise revenue-producing branding,incorporate your offline branding into your online branding when/where you can. Bottom line: build a revenue-producing online brand by developing a campaign that sells the value of their goods or services.
Heidi Anderson, "mySEASONS.com: Building Brand With Email," ClickZ, 9/28/2000. Instead of spending large sums of money on advertising, start-up gardening e-tailer mySEASONS.com chose to build its brand awareness by developing a database of loyal individuals first. Case study of the campaign, which included a combination of onlinebanners, buttons, and insertions into opt-in email newsletters.
Jennifer Praeger, "Creating Your Brand Without Breaking the Bank," AdResource, 9/8/2000. Advice on developing brand identity for small online business operators (summarized from Rob Frankel's book): define the personality of the company and then advertise, promote, and reinforce that personality at every opportunity. Tips for choosing adomain name, making a good (consistent) impression, being authentic, and appealing to a target market.
Pascal Burg, "Brands, Banking and Ebusiness," eCommerceBase.com. Describes the online development of brands to drive traffic and create trust in order to drive sales.

Banner Ad Design

Adam Jackson, "How to Design a More Effective Banner," ClickZ, 9/19/2000. 10 tips for designing good banner ads. (1) start with a great concept (2) be relevant (3) define your key metric (4) don't sacrifice brand integrity for a cheap click (5) keep it simple (6) focus on one unique attribute(7) create an effective marketing mix (8) be consistent (9) don't forget the button (10) test rich media banners for quality assurance.

Advertising In E-Mail Newsletters

Kim MacPherson, "Let Your Creative Juices Flow," ClickZ, 9/25/2000. How to get beyond run-of-the-mill email marketing messages and create attention-getting pieces that stand out from the clutter: (1) don't follow rules (2) think in pictures (3) be original (4) create a blueprint (5) take some risks.

Incentives And Contests

"Incentives," Iconocast, 9/7/2000. Cites an April 00 Jupiter Communications report to the effect that low prices (45%) lead in increasing online buying, followed by security 38%, finding items 38%, customer service 37%, easier returns 37%, and loyalty rewards 22%. While low prices don'tproduce profits, coupons do. Coupons are most used with online Groceries 59%, Books 32%, and Music 30%.
Geneva J. King, "Click, Print and Save: Online Couponing," ChannelSeven, 9/21/2000. Overview of online discount coupon schemes, including services from DailyeDeals.com, Coupons.com, CoolSavings.com and eCoupons.com. Discusses their different approaches, coupons for webstores vs brick-and-mortar retailers, security and fraud issues.
Gary Gately, "New E-tail Currency in the Air," E-Commerce Times, 8/30/2000. MilePoint.com is a new points-based incentive program that allows members of major frequent-flyer programs (Delta, Northwest, Continental and others) to redeem air miles for a percentage of the price of online merchandise (Amazon, Sharper Image).

BridgeTrak Help Desk Software from Kemma Software - Versatile tracking software for help desks, customer support centers, IT departments, or software development teams. Kemma Software provides the business community with an effective and affordable suite of Web and Window based issue tracking software and companion tools. Free Product Demos are available!
"BridgeTrak offers helpdesk service organizations a cost effective CRM solution.

Help desks can easily track and resolve issues. Customer call centers can provide fast effective support.
IT departments can trace trouble tickets and rely on a knowledgebase to solve issues.
Software development teams can effectively manage software bugs.
Managers can utilize over 40 standard reports and graphs in BridgeTrak
There is even more functionality .... PC inventory capability, customer access to your help desk via the web, robust search tool. The BridgeTrak Suite of Software products....Bridging Business Communications...Tracking Business Information.

Collecting Customer Information

Nick Usborne, "Tripping Over Permission," ClickZ, 9/11/2000. The more you do to get permission, the less likely you are to get it. In other words, make it really easy for the first-time visitor to have an initial good experience and grant basic permission for follow-ups. Don't put up barriers by asking for too muchright away.
Bruce Haring, "Datamining: Spam or Future of Music Business?" The Industry Standard, 9/25/2000. Some of the best consumer profile and psychographic databases belong to vendors of music - record labels, fan and record clubs. Although the data is valuable, the industry has been slow to 'mine' it. Overview of a growing trend to use fan data for directmarketing and up-selling. Examples: ;'N Sync, Pearl Jam, Grateful Dead, Hootie and the Blowfish.

Newsletter & Discussion List Marketing

"MarketingSherpa.com Hits 20,000 Readers in Just 4 Months (With Almost No Budget)," ContentBiz.com, 8/22/2000. Explains how MarketingSherpa.com expanded their newsletter list, first through e-mails to 1,000 people in the industry that they knew, with requests to pass on the info. Then by having staff attend industry events to spread the word. It alsohas partnerships with iSyndicate and others to distribute headlines.

Website Content

"Master Syndicator software," Net Designs. CGI program with JavaScript allows publishers to syndicate their content easily to other sites. Developed by programmer William Bontrager. $99.00.
"Moreover," . Billing themselves as "the world's largest collection of webfeeds," Moreover.com aggregates and sorts news into 315 categories. It allows you to put headlines of selected topics on your site. When a headline is clicked on,it opens a new browser and takes your visitor to the story on its original site. Free except their custom webfeeds which keeps visitors on a site with your logo.
"The Syndicator - Article Syndication Feeds," Web-Source.com. Provides updated article content for your sites webpages at no charge.
Bob Tedeschi, "The Middlemen of Content," New York Times, 9/25/2000. Syndicated content is becoming popular on e-commerce sites, as they seek ways to cut costs yet maintain a fresh source of information to draw in new visitors. Survey of syndication providers (iSyndicate, ScreamingMedia, NewsEdge, YellowBrix) and how theirmaterial is bought, sold and used.

Privacy Issues

Dylan Tweney, "The Rules for Writing a Privacy Policy," eCompany, 9/7/2000. Your online privacy policy must be simple, clear, and forthright. Make it an opt-in policy, post it clearly on the site, then stick to it without question. Also general background on recent privacy policy issues, such as Amazon.com's change of terms.
Esther Dyson, "I of the Beholder," Forbes ASAP, 10/2/2000. Discusses issues of disclosure and privacy on the Internet. Suggests individuals have responsibility for determining how much information they need from others, how much they are willing to reveal about themselves.
Laura Rohde, "Surfers Want Privacy," CIO WebBusiness, 9/1/2000. Reports on a recent survey showing 60% of Internet users polled were "very concerned" about protecting their privacy online. Few, however, indicate taking means to protect themselves, such as rejecting cookies, giving false personal information.
RayaTahan, "The Hot List," BOB Interactive, 9/1/2000. Explores privacy, other legal issues that may arise in purchasing a customer list from a failed startup. Federal Trade Commission reported to have filed suit against Toysmart.com, investigating Boo.com and others for sale of databases to retailers.

Customer Service Online (Gen)

Linda Berlin, "Giving Customers What They Want," The Industry Standard, 9/18/2000. Survey of online customer service outsourcing providers and technology, and why demand for the service will grow rapidly. For one thing, support calls cost $33 each by telephone, $10 by email, and $1.17 for a web-based search. Covers AskJeeves, Kana,eGain, and Servicesoft.

Knowledge is power and there is no easier way to get it piped to you than with the new Pointcast Networks' -EntryPoint - desktop & browser newsfeed portfolio service I've used since 1995.

Computer Closeouts and Refurbish Gear

About Tech for Less, Inc. As you might have already noticed, we are not like most computer and electronics stores. Tech for Less only stocks product that we can sell below the price other online merchants charge. You will see that our inventory never looks the same twice and that we stock all major brands of computer products ranging from high-end servers, CRT or LCS monitors, to little inkjet printers. And don't forget to look at our televisions, MP3 players and more great deals. Check out their New Arrivals ... Final Clearance Sales ... Web only specials

Tech for Less has been in business since early 2001 and we are one of the world's largest stocking vendors of new, new open-box, excess, refurbished and end-of-life name brand computer equipment, peripherals and electronics. All our products carry the manufacturer warranty unless specifically noted otherwise. In such a case, Tech for Less will warrant the item for the same period as the manufacturer to ensure your satisfaction. Laptop specials or printers, MP-3 players and the Closeout systems pages are popular with our Cybermall shoppers.

Our philosophy for doing business is simple. We want you to feel comfortable ordering all your computer and electronic needs from us. Not just today, but for years to come. That's why we guarantee your satisfaction with any excess computer gear we offer for liquidation prices. The PcStore recommends if you see a deal you like at Tech for Less you take action right away as they only carry limited stock, and with these great prices, items sell out quickly.

Our mission: Offer True value at the end of every click rather then wasting your efforts on general search engines. Checkout the new Mini-storefront e-catalogs above that save you time & money!

EDI/EFT & B2B Technology Companies

Electronic Commerce / Electronic Data Interchange Links

The EC Company - Focused on delivering an easy, affordable, business-to-business EC solution with products targeting largest segment of the economy, companies that range in size from $2 million to $500 million in sales.

EDI/EC Information Center - Site to provide information, trends, and newsletters, relative to EDI/EC.

Electronic Commerce World - Monthly publication addressing EC and EDI management and technology integration.

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) - View documents developed by the IETF which educates and develops standards/recommendations for EDI on the Internet.

PGP - Pretty Good Privacy Inc. providing encryption solutions for secure communications and data storage.

Uniform Code Council (UCC) - Site of entity charged with establishing and promoting multi-industry standards and services that support product identification and electronic communications.

Value Added Network Links

GE Information Services - Company news, VAN/EDI products and services, and company highlights.

EcomCity Showcase Merchant Displays allow our savvy shoppers to see all the name brand discounted offerings of these select merchants safely from one page. No need to click till you see a must have bargain.

Our mission: Offer True value at the end of every click rather then wasting your efforts on general search engines.


EC ASSOCIATIONS Links to electronic commerce industry and regional organizations.	EC COMPANIES Links to companies that provide electronic commerce services and products.

CommerceNet The premier industry association for Internet Commerce.	CommerceNet The premier industry association for Internet Commerce.

EDI/EC Information Center - Site to provide information, relative to EDI/EC.	Electronic Commerce DataBase - Database of information and links to EC companies

All Business Network - An in-depth source of information for anyone in business.	Small Business Supersite - Resource site for small business.

eCOMinfoCenter.com click here for their complete directory	The Keenan Reports on B2B and Ecommerce issues...Vernon Keenan provides e-commerce advice to leading Internet companies. He is pleased to share his market research with you.

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