Off Topic
One of the most tragic things going on in the Internet world is spam, viruses and spyware.
One of the most comprehensive and free testing services that I've ever used is Steve Gibson's Shield's Up site.
I won't bore you with the tremendous admiration for Steve and his body of programming work over nearly 2 decades. I loved his column when he wrote for InfoWorld.
Steve is an assembler programming language expert. Probably tops in the world. He writes software that is compact, small, lightweight and potent.
Since the dawn of the Internet, Steve has remade himself into an Internet security guru. His free tools and tests will probe your computer for holes, flaws and openings that make you vulnerable to bad folks.
Try and test every tool at that site. Bookmark that site.
Then take the time to read every word after each test is run. You'll learn a lot and find some awesome tools and methods to plug your holes so you won't be a victim nor a unwilling accomplice to evil Internet programmers.
Beware Downloads
I used to have an ezine for Knowledge Download entitled Author Tips.
In October 2003 I had my partner install this blog software to test it out. I became tired of spam complaints, readers emailing me asking where the latest issue of Author Tips was, when I had just recently sent it out.
Spam filters.
Spam rules in email reader systems
Federal CAN-SPAM law (enacted since starting this blog)
More and more issues
Now readers can determine for themselves if they want to bookmark and return to my writing, tips and advice. But....
Now we all face growth of email spam, viruses, worms, spyware and adware.
I used to be a big fan of shareware, which permits you to download good software - a try before you buy sales method.
I rarely do that any more. I also don't buy ebooks in .exe format.
I simply can't trust the vendors, merchants or their partners. My time is too valuable to have my security compromised, my identity stolen or my computer hard disk blown up.
It's a shame because all the hucksters and bad guys are ruining it for us.
I'm not trying to spread fear or the chicken little syndrome. I still use the Internet extensively.
My message to you this Saturday is simply: beware of what you download.
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Switch From AOL
This article is directly related to ebook authors and self-publishers.
It's been nice reading this week that AOL lost 800,000 subscribers last week. That's about average since their peak in 2002.
I've never been a fan of AOL, their service or proprietary systems and software. There are lots of reasons for my opinions, but mainly because I have always perferred open standards, not proprietary tools.
And with the implementation of AOL Version 9.0, I can reconfirm my status as one who has no good wishes for AOL.
AOL has now implemented software and systems that permit a user to hit one button and label a piece of email as spam. Not a bad idea in concept, however, the impact on legitimate emailers, including myself, is waaaay too harsh.
Once an emailer has been labeled as spam, AOL's backend systems then go to work to eliminate that email sender from reaching other AOL subscribers.
If you are an AOL user / subscriber, you are losing out. Your email subscriptions that you requested are NOT getting through to you because in all liklihood some other unknown user labeled your favorite ezine, newsletter or email marketer as a spammer.
Not good. Switch from AOL and save yourself! 800,000 others did it last month.
While this article on an AOL subscriber study conducted by Aweber is mainly focused on the value of double opt-in subscription process for ezine publishers, it carries a much larger meaning.
And that meaning is for the end user subscribers. Due to the simple fact that you use AOL, you very well may never receive the confirmation or the second confirmation of YOUR choice to receive a particular ezine or newsletter publisher's subscription via email.
You could miss valuable info that teaches you very helpful and insightful information relative to your main or side business.
Why am I so passionate about this?
Because I publish two ezines and AOL users are not getting them. We give valuable info, advice and tips for free. And our AOL users are not getting them.
So if you are using ezines or newsletters to promote your expertise, ebook and web site AND you are an AOL user, you are really experiencing AND contributing to the problems!
;-)
The only solution to this problem is for the existing massive migration of AOL users to leave that company and their internet service. It's a shame that AOL continues to play big brother with their users by trying to control what you can and cannot see with their proprietary software and systems.
There are thousands of Internet Service Providers, anti-spam software vendors and others who all use industry standard tools, systems and methods that give you complete choice of your options.
Send AOL the only message they will understand: cancel your AOL service and switch to a better, open vendor.
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Announcement
I've been using a friend's online forum tracking service for 2 years now. What a major help it has been.
He has invited me to partner with him in a joint venture, which I've agreed to.
The Forum Tracker online forum tracking and monitoring service is a custom built system complete with email alerts and secure private reporting.
The site and service have been entirely revamped to provide the fee based services to businesses and individuals who need to keep up with online message boards, forums and chat board posts, issues and keywords.
There is a free trial which in and of itself is a highly valuable, free service to learn how the email alerts work. The free trial tracks some of the more popular experts in affiliate marketing and search engine optimization.
If you are overwhelmed trying to keep up with tracking people, issues and topics in online message boards, be sure to give it a try. And please pass it along to your friends, especially those friends or colleagues happen to be public relations, private investigators or political professionals.
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Beware of Lost Revenue
Many eBook authors also participate in the selling of other authors' ebooks. In addition, as Knowledge Download does, many also participate in the Google AdSense advertising system to help generate additional revenue.
If you promote other author or company products or services via affiliate programs or participate in Google Adsense program, you may very well be losing revenue - perhaps considerable revenue - due to your visitors using Norton Internet Security 2004.
Suffice it to say, the blocking of AdSense ads and affiliate links and banner ads may be desireable to the casual user. On the contrary, the case can be made that ads and links have value and benefit to a casual user.
If you use the Norton product, you may want to turn off the feature.
If you are promoting ads and affiliate programs to offset your costs of running an online website or ebook website, you may want to consider switching to another product.
Both Google and Yahoo offer toolbars that, among many other features, offer pop up blockers. These toolbars work exceptionally well for that purpose.
I've been successfully using Zone Alarm for my personal firewall since it debuted and am very happy with the free version.
If you run an ezine, website, blog or newsletter, you may want to alert your visitors of this situation just to help educate them. Obviously people need to make their own choices, but at this stage of the game, AdSense pays the bills for Knowledge Download. Due to that, I must cast a "no" vote to the Norton software product as it is costing me money, and prohibiting my visitors (who have that feature turned on) from seeing very relevant ads of interest to them.
Symantec, the developer of Norton products, has drawn a firm line in the sand by having it's install program default the popup and ad blocker in the 'on' position.
Until they default that to 'off' and allow casual users to decide for themselves, I'm going to continue recomending users to get the Yahoo or Google toolbar and the Zone Alarm firewall.
And you might want to suggest to your readers and visitors to do the same. Perhaps if we all cast our collective voice, Symantec may change.
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Search issues
The world has come crashing down.
Goolge has dramatically changed their algorithm it appears.
You can view online forums related to it:
I Help You Services
There is a lot of upheaval in the SEO world over the changes. Most of that upheaval is from webmasters and search engine optimization consultants.
However, now regular users are starting to throw fits. In chatting with many of my friends and colleagues the last three days, they have stopped using Google and instead, turned to All The Web, Alta Vista or MSN to find what they are looking for.
The reason? Lack of relevant results. I've had mixed results in my research. However I'm using All The Web, AV and MSN more today than ever in the last two years.
In fact, the results are so much more relevant on these other three search engines that it may be time to finally switch back. After all, when using a search engine, we are trying to find the most pertinent websites back to us.
We'll see whether Google fixes their problems or not. Meanwhile, if you don't like the results you see in Google (assuming you use it), don't forget there are other very good and viable search engines who do serve up relevant results.
Story unfolding.....