Yahoo buys Inktomi Yahoo has recently bought the Inktomi database, which is the main provider of results to many major search engines such as MSN and HotBot. This effectively ends the Yahoo/Google relationship where Google results were provided when someone conducted a search in Yahoo. From now on, Inktomi results will be shown on Yahoo, so if you wish to improve your rankings in Yahoo, you should concentrate on improving your rankings in the Inktomi database.
Do You Have A Flash Site? Remember that not all Internet users have Flash installed on their computer. If your web site uses Flash, it is very important that you set up a Flash "sniffer" that detects whether people have Flash installed or not. If they don't, the sniffer can redirect them to a normal HTML page, instead of them getting a blank screen. |
10 February 2003
Until recently though, we were prepared to tolerate it for a few reasons. One was that we only got a "small" amount, maybe a couple of dozen a day, which was tolerable. If we didn't have time to consider it we just hit the delete button without looking at it. Another was that it was just advertising so it didn't really offend us. The third was that every so often the spam contained a good offer, so we were able to sift through the majority of the rubbish and see either a good offer or some well structured advertising that may be inspirational to something we could offer a client. The last one was that we couldn't see a way to stop it that didn't cause us grief by stopping legitimate email traffic. Three of these four things have changed. Somehow the rate of spam has stepped up a couple of gears and the volume of it is now becoming quite a lot to bear. If you have a web site it is likely that this will happen to you soon as we guess that a lot of it comes from crawler programs which search sites for email addresses. That's not the only place it comes from though, at least one of the addresses which is getting inundated doesn't appear on a web site, so some ratbag has picked it up from somewhere and is selling it I guess. Most disturbingly, the spam we're getting now includes material that we just don't want on our computers. Especially if you have an email address which your children may have access to, some of this stuff could be quite unwelcome to get. The real change is that we've come across a system that seems workable in keeping a lot of spam out and letting in the stuff you might want. One of our clients uses it, and we saw how well it worked for them, so we gave it a go too. SpamArrest is an American service which works on the basis that most of this spam is generated through electronic lists and the process becomes completely automated. If someone has purchased a million addresses, and say 1000 of them just don't pick up, they're unlikely to go through the 1000 and figure out what the problems are. If a business associate or friend is sending you information on a one off basis and they're required to go through a one minute registration process, once, it's no great hardship. If a spammer is targeting you and does get through the net, you can just block their address explicitly. They'll get the message. You also have complete control over who you let in to your Inbox. Unlike other spam filters, SpamArrest allows you to add any email address to your acceptable list so that they will never be blocked. There is a cost for the service but if you're getting a lot of this stuff it's going to work out as a very cost effective process. There are more details to figure, and the SpamArrest web site has a concise FAQ section to help you with them. If spam is starting to bother you, check this out and maybe give their 30 day free trial a go. We'll be keeping the link on the site so you can always find them from here. You can visit their web site at http://spamarrest.com. (Are any of you wondering whether we make anything out of this recommendation? The answer is probably not a real lot, but yes we expect to get a bonus through SpamArrest's affiliate program. If you're not clear on affiliates, and why it's a good deal for the affiliate and the seller, check out our earlier articles on affiliate marketing by clicking here).
Disclaimer: This newsletter is designed to provide information only and is not a substitute for advice that is specific to your business. Before acting on any of the information above it is important you seek further advice from a professional who has taken into consideration the nature and circumstances of your business.
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