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Click OK to receive our occasional Newsletter GadflyDavid Siegel is a self-styled "HTML terrorist" who excites veneration and loathing in about equal measure. He is the author of the best-selling "Creating Killer Websites", in which espouses the use of tables as layout devices, and the use of the "single-pixel gif" as a spacer amongst other prohibitions. Siegel may be obnoxious and self-promoting (his site lists his lunch and dinner dates since early last year), but his views are provocative and influential. His latest screed is The Web is Ruined - And I Ruined It. In the first part, he details the fight between the "terrorists" and the "purists". In the second part, he makes a convincing argument for the adoption and eventual supremacy of style sheets as instruments of layout and design. We find his argument that the Web is primarily a visual medium - and that any "hacks" one uses are justified in order to enhance the viewing experience - difficult to disagree with. Anyone with an interest in web design and architecture deserves to read this article. --John Blower
MicroscopeMicroscope is a weekly 'zine which showcases the "most creative and compelling ads the web has to offer." According to whom? we asked ourselves. Well, Microscope is Steve St. Clair and Rich Paschall. Steve has worked on a wide variety of high profile campaigns for such notables as Nissan, Calvin Klein, Fila, Labatt Beer and Radio Shack. He also sports an impressive roster of awards. Rich serves as an advertising/new media consultant to a number of clients throughout the Southeast. Some of the awards he's won include CA, British Design & Art Direction, Clios, etc. So they probably know what they're talking about. The current Top Ten features banners from Honda, AT&T and a notable Public Service ad with an anti-drug message. Each ad is accompanied by a detailed analysis as to why it works. If you are in the business of designing banners - or even commissioning banner ads - this is a good resource from a couple of experts in the visual field. There's also a page where you can submit your own ad for consideration. --John Blower Marketing Your SiteListings in Search Engines and Directories are the backbone of a marketing campaign - of any marketing campaign. It is just something that you have to do as a business, like being listed in the Yellow Pages, etc. If you don't do it, then those who look there will find your competitors and not you. However - ask any experienced online marketer and they'll tell you that Search Engines should only be about 20 percent of your online marketing campaign. The other 80 percent is pure trench warfare: Online promotion in discussion lists, sponsorship of newsletters, banner advertising, establishment of strategic links on other sites, establishment of relationships with other online businesses and advertising trades. There is no one formula that works for everyone. For each business it will be different, because each business has a different target market that must be reached in the online community. If you are frustrated with low traffic to your site, the first thing you should do is examine your site: Is it useful to the online community, or are you just selling something? No one purposely looks at advertisements or sales pitches, especially on the Internet. You're dealing with extremely intelligent, educated people. They see through a sales pitch in about 2 seconds and click on the back button even faster. After you have established content on your site, and a REASON for people to visit it and return to it, then you can begin to plan your online marketing campaign based on what budget you have to work with. If you have no budget or a small budget, then you had better be reading all the books on Internet marketing and plan on spending about ten hours a day on the Net... --John Blower
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