http://www.searchengineforums.com , one of the quality websites run by Jim Wilson of Virtualpromote (a true guru in the world of website marketing), has opened a new forum, called "Running Your Own Search Engine or Directory".

The focus of this forum is not to talk search engine software/or tech issues, but rather to provide "Directory masters" like yourselves a place to discuss marketing strategies, philosopies, and anything you like pertaining to making your directory SUCCESSFUL.

I hope you'll join us there, and put your 2 cents in. As you know, running a niche directory takes a lot of work. Perhaps with a little bit of open discussion on "making it work", everyone can benefit a bit.

John Cokos

[This message has been edited by jcokos (edited March 26, 2000).]

Looks interesting...thanks for sharing.

Regards,

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Eliot Lee....
Former Handle: Eliot
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Yes, it'll be nice to have a place not to "talk tech" ... and really explore the meat and potatoes of being successful.

Well, the Gossamer Forums are "technical" support forums.



Regards,

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Eliot Lee....
Former Handle: Eliot
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My point exactly....

Do your support/tech talk/mods, etc here (and our hyperseek guys will do their thing at our site)

This new forum is for NON-Tech stuff, like how to market yourself, how to drive traffic, turn a profit from your hard work, keeping content fresh, etc.....all things that dont belong in your (or my) support forums, but are as important (more, even) than technical forums.

John

In the interest of full disclosure, you should probably know that jcokos is the author of Hyperseek, a product which is competitive with (and if I may say so, inferior to) Links... nonetheless, his forums may still provide information you can use.

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The Immuatable Order of Modding
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1. Read the FAQ, 2. Search the board, 2a. Search the board again, 3. ask the question, 4. back-up, 5. experiment, 6. rephrase question (or better yet, post solution to original question)

I've nothing to hide ... in fact, I think people here in this forum know me well enough by now to know that I never come here to promote hyperseek at all (which is why I try omit any references to it that I can when I post here).

You'll also note on the forum that I'm moderating, that I go out of my way to not promote my program(s) (insisting, instead that we steer away from the programs, and more on the course of "theory" and "practicality"), in the interest of keeping the forum not only impartial, but more generic (and thus, more useful)


I dont come here bashing Links, nor do I promote my software here. I expect the same respect from you, in keeping your opinions to yourself, and in not making assumptions of my character or intentions, and not offering such a blanket statement about a program which you do not use or own.

I have a very professional relationship with Alex, and a lot of respect for both he, his staff, and his users (you). I'd like to make sure that you understand that any time I spend posting to these forums are for the "greater good" and not my own. Do a search on my postings here, and you'll find that every post I make here (save this particular one) is designed to offer assitance, guidance, or programming to assist everyone.

John

John,

I agree with many of your statements. One suggestion I have though is that you spend more time with your current customers and potential customers. And provide a more immediate level of support.

I agree with oldmoney in regards to the superior level of support that LINKS offers. I don't know if you remember, but I attempted emailing you numerous times in 1998, which I only received one auto-response message. At that time, I was interested in Hyperseek, but now that I have been using LINKS, I have no regrets.



Regards,

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Eliot Lee....
Former Handle: Eliot
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Elliot,

That was quite a while ago. We've grown quite a bit as a company (and I as an individual) over the last couple of years. As most beginning companies probaly work, I was doing it all: sales, support, installations, taking phone calls at 2am, etc. Not a lot of time for personal attention....

Now, we've got a real good quality staff, that really stays on top of the support and pre-sales, allowing me to get "out there" a bit more, do some marketing, participate in interesting forums, and more importantly, spend quality time with the code itself. Our support, over the last 6-8 months has really grown from being a 'free for all' to quite "top notch", IMO.

>> now that I have been using LINKS, I have no regrets.

And you shouldn't !! Links is a great program, I've never said otherwise. I think Alex and I, while competing in the general sense, really appeal to 2 completely different markets/consumers... As I've said before, a friendly competition like we have benifets everyone. I think the forward development of both programs has really changed the market as a whole. As we continue to push each other, both programs have made excellent strides over the last year, and sparked enough interest to welcome 20+ other cgi authors into the fray. All good stuff, IMO.

John