|
|
BOOMER eZINE
The Online Entrepreneur Magazine |
 |
|
|
|
BOOMER eZINE
The Online Entrepreneur Magazine |
|
|
|
For
those who would like to read this in HTML format, this
issue of Boomer eZine is posted on the Boomer eZine website at http://www.boomer-zine.com/V1I27_101306.htm
and on the Boomer eZine Blog at http://boomer-ezine.blogspot.com. Please pass Boomer eZine on to a friend. They will thank you for it. Table
of Contents for this issue..... 1.
Authors
Comments 2.
Q’s,
A’s, Suggestions and
Comments 3.
Apache
on the Internet is not an
Indian Tribe (video) 4.
Listing
a Video on eBay Author's
Comments
We
have started a new section in this issue to include questions &
answers,
comments, and suggestions. Send
us
an email with any of these to john@boomer-ezine.com,
and we will use your input in the eZine. John
is working a hard pace this week trying to finish all that is necessary
to list
our first video on eBay. On
the
surface, it appears that all you have to do is list it on eBay, but
that is the
tip of the iceberg. See
the article
below for more details. We
had our first taste of fall this week with what we Texans call a
“norther”.
The wind shifted out of the north, and we felt a
little cool wind for a
while. The high for
Friday was 80F.
That is almost like winter! Q’s , A’s, Comments, and
Suggestions From
Volume 1 Issue 25: Thanks
to Ana for asking about a space being represented by “%20”.
The “20” is actually the computer code for a space.
The percent sign in front of the number tells the
browser that the two
digit number that follows is the computer code for a character.
In this case the “20” indicates a space. The
reason we have to do this is because the specification for permissible
characters in a URL is narrower than the specification for characters
allowed in
HTML code. A space
is not a
permissible character in a URL. If
your bookmark has spaces in it, and it is used in a URL, the browser
replaces
the spaces with the “%20” which means a space to the browser. There
is a very good explanation about this at http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/html/topics/urlencoding.htm. Suggestion: Thanks
to Sue for the suggestion to write an article about copyrighting.
We will have one for you soon. Apache on the Internet is not
an
Indian Tribe Statistics
show that as of October 2006, the percentage of websites hosted on
Apache server
is 61.64% of all websites. Another
interesting statistic is that in the October 2006 survey, the total
number of
websites reported was almost 98 million sites.
This number grew from September to October by 1.08
million.
See the statistics at http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html. Apache
server is the leading server for hosting websites on the Net.
Second place is Microsoft IIS (Internet Information
Services) at 31.26%.
Apache is open source software which means it is
free.
If you want to download Apache and use it you can do
so. Read
the Wikipedia definition of Apache server.
The
derivation of the name is amusing.
The
logo for the server is an Indian feather which seems fitting for the
name.
However, the amusing part is that the development
team that built Apache
came from another server project.
It
seems that they collaborated on building Apache, and they did a lot of
software
patches to the server in the process.
You
guessed it! They called it “a patchy server”.
Hence, the name Apache. Both
of the web hosts where we host domains use Apache server.
The interface between you, the user, and the server
is called the control
panel. I
developed a video to take you on a tour ( The
control panel gives you the ability to control your domains, set up
email
accounts, delete files from your web, add folders, set up password
security on
folders, etc. I
will not try to list
all the options that are available on the control panel nor will I try
to
explain all of the options on the tour.
This
is just an overview. When
the video ends, you will be taken to the Hostexcellence site where you
can check
it out. This site
has done a very
good job for us and we highly recommend it for hosting your website. Click
the link to take the video tour of the control panel for
Hostexcellence.com. http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Videos/V1I27Video/Click-to-Play.html Listing a Video on eBay Listing
a video on eBay? No
problem, right?
Think again! I
know that all of you know Murphy’s Law – if anything can go wrong, it
will
at the most inopportune time. There
are many additional corollaries to Murphy’s Law.
The one that I am referencing is “Everything takes
longer than you
expect”. Such has
been the case
with this project. Much
of the extra work is because this is the initial video and the
foundation must
be built for all future video listings.
Many
of the activities will not be necessary on future listings. Here
is a list of the items that must be done or must be considered: 1.
The
video must be recorded,
edited, and produced. (This
is
really the easy part). 2.
The
fulfillment page for
distributing the video must be written and debugged.
This is the page on which the buyer will land after
the purchase to
either view or download the video.
Since
you are readers of Boomer Video eZine, I am giving you this URL free so
you can
see how it works. LINK
REMOVED 10-20-06.
Please do not pass it around since it is for sale on
eBay for $9.97.
Thanks. 3.
In
order to minimize support
calls, develop an instructional video to show buyers how to view or
download the
videos. You can
view it from the
download page in item 2 above. 4.
Update
the Boomer Guru home page
to include the video in the video list. 5.
Update
the Boomer Guru eBay
About Me page to include updated information about video production and
add a
link to a form to ask for suggestions for topics for new videos.
See the About Me page at http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=boomer-guru. 6.
Write
the sales copy for the
eBay sales page. 7.
If
you are not already a seller
on PayPal, open a seller’s account. 8.
If
you are not already a seller
on eBay, open a seller’s account. 9.
Develop
a loading video.
This is the short video that plays as the main video
is loading.
The standard Camtasia video does not tell the viewer
anything (shows the
Camtasia logo) so I created a video to tell the viewer that the buffers
on the
computer are loading so please wait.
This
will automatically precede any Boomer Guru video and will reduce
support calls. 10.
Set
up an ASK database question
set at the end of the video to capture any suggestions the viewer has
for
updating or improving the video and any suggestions for a topic for a
new video.
(ASK database will be the topic of a future article). 11.
List
the video on eBay.
This is a challenge with my firewall, since the eBay
form has some active
components in it. I
have to shut
down Zone Alarm (the firewall software) in order to not have problems
with
interaction with the eBay set up pages. 12.
Once
the listing is live, log
onto another eBay account (yes, you should have more than one eBay
account) and
purchase the item to make certain that all the functions of the eBay
setup work
correctly. Leave
your self good
feedback. (See below for more discussion on this). 13.
The
listing is on eBay, but
since the URL is time sensitive and will expire in five day, this link
will only
be good until Let
me pass on some additional items I discovered during this listing. The eBay input form
allows you to enter detailed delivery instructions.
I composed a paragraph explaining the buyer would be
shown an
instructional video on how to view or download the video, etc.
When the live page was generated, eBay has standard
information for a
digital item, and my delivery instructions were not shown.
However, when I purchased a video to test the
system, this message does
appear in the page that the buyer sees after purchase.
If you want this as part of the sales information,
put it in the section
titled “File type, system specifications,
or other requirements for this digital
item”.
Wow!
That is a long title. One
of the powerful features of an eBay listing is the Featured Listing for
an
additional $19.95. If
you choose
this option, your listing is usually shown on the first Google search
results
page for your keywords. This
is a
great traffic generator. I
discovered that Boomer Guru must have a feedback rating of 10 or more
to use
this option. How
do we solve this problem? Post
the
item and buy it myself using some of my other eBay accounts, call my
children
and ask them to buy it and leave great feedback.
I will send them $10.00 for their efforts to pay
them back for the charge
to their card. I
will be out the
eBay listing fees on these transactions, but the 10 plus feedback
threshold is
important. Another
way to build feedback is go to eBay and buy inexpensive items.
This is a way to get the 10 plus transactions
quickly for not too much
money. Perform an
advanced search on
eBay and enter $.99 in the upper and lower price boxes.
This will give you only items selling for $.99.
You will find a lot of them.
Pick
ones that you can use (and on which the seller has not put a high
shipping fee)
and buy them. Leave
the seller good
feedback and you should get the same in return. Authors
Note: When Linda
proofed this, she
asked me if buying my own product and creating my own feedback was
ethical.
That is a good question.
It
is a common practice to “prime the pump” and get the momentum stated on
selling products on the Internet.
It
is similar to the question that if you are running for an office, do
you vote
for yourself when you go into the voting booth.
My answer is “yes”.
If
your conscience tells you that you are selling a quality item, you jump
start
your sale by buying the item and leaving good feedback. Another
reason for buying your own item is to debug your eBay sale.
When you buy it, you can take the transaction
completely through PayPal
and make certain that the buyer will be given the correct instructions
and will
get the correct link to go to your download page to view or download
the video.
You certainly do not want a buyer to have a bad
experience when he/she
has purchased your product. Feedback
is for both buying and selling. On
eBay, when you look at the sales page for an item you are considering
buying,
you only see a number for the feedback.
To
determine if it is buying or selling feedback, you have to go to the
seller’s
detailed feedback page. Most
people
do not do the detailed research and accept the number on the main sales
page
without question. Feedback
on eBay is a life and death deal.
You
need some good feedback to show that you really are OK.
Bad feedback will kill your business. That
wraps up our issue for this week.
Until
next week, stay tuned. John and Linda Howe
If you are changing email addresses in the future, put a note on your calendar to send us a blank email after you have changed your address. Send the blank email to: boomerezine001@aweber.com. We want you to remain a subscriber to our newsletter! It
is OK to go ahead and join our
subscriber list with more than one email address. You never
know when an
email will be blocked these days. The SPAM filters are
getting tighter and
tighter and are blocking many legitimate emails. Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc. |
Copyright 2009 John Howe, Inc.
Please visit the other Boomer sites
| www.frugal-senior.com | www.retirement-jobs-online.com |
| www.best-retirement-calculators.com | www.the-best-GPS.com |
| www.the-best-web-host.com | www.the-best-HDTV.com |
