September 24, 1999

Page 1

What Do You Have To Say?

We would like to get some testimonials from you online marketing execs. We are interested in hearing about your achievements in marketing in the online world. If you would like to share your story with us, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a note with your story. True stories only. NO HYPE! Testimonials will be reviewed and may appear in a future issue. ezine@prodigy.net

A Change Of Pace

From this week's issue on we will be cutting back our publication to every two weeks. We are having a hard time keeping up with all the demands of writing this zine and promoting our own online ventures. So to keep from neglecting one or the other we will send out the next issue in two weeks, October 8,1999. in our next issue we will have more expanded articles and reviews as well as more downloads and free reports available. We hope that you will stick with us as the next issue promises to be a improvement.

On To Page 2

Page 2

So You Want To Be A Online Marketer
written by Rick Barr

But do you have what it takes? The undeniable truth is that you probably do not have what it takes. Most people who decide to get involved in online marketing do not have the time or the money that is usually required to make a profit.

Almost every program out there tells you that it runs itself. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the program really did run itself then why would they be actively recruiting people to do it for them?

Most attempts at making money online, by normal average joes, end in failure. Why? The truth be told:

1. The product/service that is being marketed is one of several thousand available online.

2. The product/service is one that can found for free elsewhere without having to do too much searching.

3. The product/service is targeted towards a very narrow audience.

4. The product/service offered "for free" quickly turns into an investment of more than $100.00.

So how do you succeed in an area that is full of flaws?

1. Thouroughly research the program that you are interested in incorpating into your marketing strategy.

This goes far beyond checking the fine print, although that's a good place to start. Check into how the program works and whether or not they have a 'testimonial' section. Don't be fooled by testimonials that do not give full names and/or contact email addresses. If the testimonials include email addresses then use them to your advantage. Contact the people who submitted the testimonial to see how they rate the program, and how it worked for them.

2. Ask yourself this question before getting involved: "Would I try to sell this program to a family member?"

If the answer is "no" then that should be a strong hint that the program in question may not be all that it's cracked up to be. If you wouldn't feel comfortable selling it a close friend or family member, why sell it at all? 3. Expect to spend a large amount of your time online devoted to promoting the program.

Even the programs that claim to "run themselves" need attention. This means countless hours submitting to earch engines, posting classifieds, posting messages to lists, etc. Keep this factor in mind at all times. No program "runs itself" Every program that you promote needs to be run or it WILL fail. If you don't get your message out there, then how can you succeed??

4. Try to stick to a theme.

This should be done by promoting programs that are related in the what they offer and how they are run. If you are involved in AllAdvantage, then get in on the many other such programs, such as Spedia, GotoWorld or one of the many others available. If affiliate programs are more your speed then provide related content on your website. Let's say you get involved with Outpost.com's affiliate program, then get involved in other such programs such as Barnes and Noble, CD Now, and the like. This way you only have to promote one idea: Online Shopping.

5. Don't be fooled into thinking that you will automatically succeed in any given program no matter what it claims.

No commentary needed here!!

Most of all keep focused on just a few key programs. Getting involved in too many programs will only result in confusion and neglect. Use additional programs to promote the main program not as a stand-alone. Good Luck!

On To Page 3

Page 3

Beginning HTML - Tables & Page Layouts
written by Nicole Bibee

Creating A Page Layout

In the last issue we discussed creating tables and how to modify certain properties for a graphical look. This week I would like to discuss how to create a newspaper like effect for your web pages. How we create this effect is to nest tables inside another table. Make sure you have a good understanding of the basics because here is when tables get complicated.

Ok, when creating this design, its best to start with the outer table and work your way inwards. Also you should keep in mind that viewers will only use 640x480 resolution, which is why I suggest an outer table width of 610 pixels. Another great tip is using an invisible table, setting all the table properties to: width=610 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0. This will ensure all the contents of the table will not move when a user resizes the browser window. Moreover, this example shows 4 different sections and as you can see these sections are not in a specific amount of columns or rows. Ok let me explain, we have two main columns (A,B) with 3 columns (C,D,E) nested inside the second (B) column. Actually column D is a gutter, blank space to create seperation between the other columns.

I am going to try to give you an example of what I mean:

Column A	Column B
Logos or images here!
Good place for hyper- links to other places	Column C maybe a letter from the editor here ColD gu tt er Column E notes or up- coming events here

I know this is not the greatest example but if you would like to view the sample please cut the following html code and paste to notepad. Next save the file, giving it a name that is specific like tables.html (must have htm or html extension) and when saving, the file type must be set to all *.* not text file. Now you can view the page in your browser.

Here is the code for a similar looking page:

<.html><.title>Table Example<./title>
<.h2 align=center>Table Example For Marketing Tips Ezine<./h2>
<.body>
<.center><.!--remember this tag centers table on screen-->
<.table width=610 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0>
<.tr>
<.!--column A-->
<.td width=150 valign=top align=center bgcolor=#"8fbc8f">
<.h4>Column A<./h4><.br>
<.a href="home.html">Home<./a><.br>
<.a href="products.html">Products<./a><.br>
<.a href="survey.html">Survey<./a><.br>
<.a href="orderform.html">Order Form<./a><.br>
<.a href="mailto:you@yourmail.com">Email Support<./a><.br>
<./td>
<.!--second column-->
<.td width=460>
<.!--nested table goes here & we are still inside the second column of the first table-->
<.table cellpadding=3>
<.tr>
<.!--text or images for column b-->
<.td colspan=3 bgcolor="#eaadea" valign=top align=center>
<.h3 align=center>Column B<./h3><.br><.br>
You can use all the html tags we have learned inside<.br>
the table tags. Go ahead and try it for yourself.<.br><.br>
<./td>
<./tr>
<.tr>
<.!--column c-->
<.td width=220 align=center valign=top><.i>Column C<.br><.br>
You can add all contents for this column here.<./i><.br>
You can add as much text as you need or you
can add images or letters from the editor. <.br><.br><./td>
<.!--column d is gutter - white space-->
<.td rowspan=2 width=5 valign=top bgcolor="white" valign=top>
<./td>
<.!--column e-->
<.td width=220 bgcolor="#e6e8fa" align=center valign=top>
Column E<.br><.br>
You can add all contents for this column here.<.br><.br><./td>
<./tr><.!--end row tag for this nested table-->
<./table><.!--end table tag for this nested table-->
<./td><.!--end column tag for the second B column-->
<./tr><.!--end row tag for first and second A-B main column>
<./table>
<./center>
<./body>
<./html>


When creating this type of layout in the future, you should keep in mind:
1. Draw a simple diagram of your page layout.
2. Create the text for each section in seperate files, which can be pasted into each column tag at a later time.
3. Create the outer table and work inwards.
4. Insert good comment tags for later reference.
5. Indent the different levels of tables to follow more easily.
6. Test your page often to catch errors in the early stages.

As you can see this little table has grown in size as far as code goes. So try not to have no more than 3 columns of text because the width of the columns may be to narrow and make the text hard to read. Try to create gutters and use cellpadding to keep columns from crowding. Also use valign=top to make the text flow from the top to bottom. Next week we will discuss what frames are and how to use them.

Notice: We had to insert a period after the less than sign to make the tags viewable by your browser. When writting your own code please do not add the period to the tags.

On To Page 4

Page 4

This Week's Download
written by Rick Barr

I found out about this week's download from Lockergnome. (If you are not getting Lockergnome in your inbox everyday, then you are missing out on a great resource. Check it out today. www.lockergnome.com

Star Office 5.1 from Sun Microsystems is a free office suite that includes all of the bells and whistles in Office 97 and more. The best part is that it is a free product. It even imports Office created documents and templates and allows you to save in the same format. This is a must have!!! www.sun.com

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E-publishing giants Ray Owens (circ 300,000+), Chris Pirillo (circ 170,000+), Rick Beneteau, Jim Daniels & more have joined forces in a fantastic new publication called TimelinePub. Includes a web-wide treasure hunt for over $500 in FREE products & services. FREE listings offer you perpetual promotion! FREE sample download now available! www.timelinepub.com/free.html

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