By Jim Daniels, of BizWeb2000
[November 15th, 2000]

See Also   Email Marketing Primer   How to Increase Your Online Sales   Take Advantage of Google's AdWords   Using Foreign Search Engines to Boost Your Sales   Getting Sure Profits Through Google, Goto.com and DirectHit   Ten Places You Must Submit Your Site   Clever Profit Growth Software   The Power Of Personalized Email   How To Go Long With Your Web Marketing   How NOT to Promote Your E-business   Winning the Search Engine Wars   Latest Tips on Search Engine Marketing   Are You Wasting Your Money Online?   Should I Hire Another Salesperson or Invest in an Affiliate Program?   The Death of Positioning?   Links: Why You Need Them and How to Get Them   Your #1 Overlooked Business Asset

Are you truly using technology in your web business? Before you answer yes, stop a moment and consider how many promotion or marketing tasks take place at your website without you lifting a finger.

Perhaps your site signs up new opt-in subscribers for you while you sleep. If so, that's ONE automated task. Maybe orders are accepted securely without your intervention. That's TWO. But can you keep counting?

If you have a little trouble going beyond that, what follows will help you.

As you probably already know, perhaps the most powerful of all applications on the Internet is the CGI script. CGI stands for the "Common Gateway Interface". It is a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers, such as HTTP or Web servers. If you have a website, more than likely you already have cgi based software running at your site. But your profits could probably benefit greatly from a few more.

Now don't worry, I'm not going to go into a long, boring explanation of how to install cgi scripts. I'll save that for the techhies. Instead, I'll simply share a wide variety of scripts that are ideal for small business owners looking to grow website traffic and sales.

(Note: If you're not at all familiar with CGI, CGI101.com is a great place to learn about how it works. Remember, if it all seems too confusing, fear not. Using CGI can be as simple as picking out a script and having someone else set it up!)

Anyway, on with the scripts...

Automark
Automark is a cgi script that will automatically pop up a "bookmark" suggestion box for first-time visitors to your website. While this can be accomplished using straight javacode, this script will not annoy regular visitors by popping up the window every time they return. The first time a new visitor hits your "target page" the bookmark window pops up, but never again. This is a great way to get your site bookmarked by more visitors.

MailNow
MailNow allows you to provide web-based email to your users. Its web-based email product provides unlimited addresses for multiple domains. A free email account is a great giveaway that ensures constant repeat visitors to your site.

Master Subscriber Pro
This program automates joint ventures with other ezine publishers. Using this script your visitors can subscribe to an unlimited number of ezines without leaving your website to do so. Locate a few ezine publishers with traffic comparable to yours and you'll all increase your new subscriber signups!

Protect It
This script offers a simple way to setup .htaccess or .nsconfig type user authentication to your web directories using username / password. It is a solid solution for managing private site signups. This script features auto- creation and expiration of accounts, account edit features, a customizable email template, and many other configurable settings.

Master Reciprocal Links
Most search engines favor sites with links from other similar sites. But growing and maintaining a list of links can be a lot of work. Here's a free script that will automate these tasks for you. Not only does the program make it easy to maintain a links page, it also finds out who the cheats are!

Your Own Associate Program
Leverage the efforts of hundreds or even thousands of other webmasters by opening up an affiliate program at your site. This script by Paul Galloway runs my program automatically and is used by many high-profile marketers.

Master Syndicator
Do you offer articles, images or other content to webmasters, to use on their own sites? Here's a way to automate the process -- for you AND them! This script lets webmasters add two lines of JavaScript code on their page at the location where your content is to appear. Then, all you do is paste your column into your own Syndicator form and with one click you can automatically update every syndication websites' pages, all at once. Pretty slick eh?

CDomain Pro
This script contains a domain lookup which helps your visitors find existing domains and it also includes a powerful domain name wizard. The wizard combines descriptive words that your visitors enter and presents them with a list of related domain names that are available. If you are a domain name reseller, this lightning-fast, user friendly script is ideal, as it can take your visitors right to your domain name registration service. I liked this one so much I had it installed at my site! You can demo it at: http://www.bizweb2000.com/wizard.htm

If you feel that any of these scripts would enhance your website, visit the URL and learn more. Or, if you have an idea for your site and would like to automate the process, you can search for a script at The CGI Resource Index.

And remember, don't pass up a script because of limited knowledge of cgi. While you can install cgi scripts on your server yourself, you can also hire someone else to do it. The key is to never stop transforming your site into a powerful lead and sale generator - and these scripts do just that!

Editor's note:

Jim has provided a great list of truly useful scripts. I'm often asked for details of the scripts I use on the Sell It! site and this looks like a good place to include some details. Although many of the scripts I use are custom scripts, a couple are available “off-the-shelf” for you to use on your own Web site:

Printer Friendly Copy
This uses a very simple script called Master PFP. It's easy to install and you can specify which part(s) of your pages you want to appear in the printed copy and whether or not you want images to be included.

Email This Page to A Friend
I'm currently using the Constant Contact: Free service but unfortunately this is going to be shut down early next year. I'm looking out for a suitable replacement and so far the most likely candidate is Master Web Page Mailer.

Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing company. Jim's free lessons will increase your website traffic. Visit Jim at www.bizWeb2000.com or opt-in to his famous BizWeb eGazette. It's free forever... optin@bizweb2000.com.