Announcement 2 - Hotsheets Galore

[Ankesh]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Anyhow, what I got from that was... A MAILING address...

Thanks GJA for giving us an excellent reason. My experience: people will provide you with their address even when they are buying digital products.

I routinely ask people for their address when they buy from me. And I've never had a question asked about it. Don't know if some one has refused to buy from me because I ask for their address though... at least no one has let me know that that is the reason.

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

Ankesh,

Thanks for enjoying my writing.

Mailing Hotsheets: The Customer has the choice. They have the choice and the Power to exercise it. And fair enough too... because there are a Lot of people out there who prefer to get something tangible in the mail - even if it is available for Instant Download or via Return Email. But if they would rather not wait then they can get them via email.

If Barcharts is anything to go by, stuff by mail is a HUGE business and I'm not so willing to ignore that market. Let's just say, mailing gives More Options.

Content Management: There is nothing difficult about managing the site - to me. I Hand-Coded the site from scratch. It only takes a few minutes to Add new Hotsheet Descriptions and upload it. And if I used CM Software I'd still need to write the content and form the order links anyway. So the CM Software wouldn't really be doing that much for me.

Plus, it's not as if there are 20 new Hotsheets a day being added. By adding some here and some there - doing it bits at a time - it's actually quite easy and I can keep the site looking how I want it to.

I may or may not use CM Software at some point in the future. I may or may not change the Snail Mail option at some point in the future. But, by Just Doing It it is Out There. It Exists. It Has Been Done. And THAT is more important than spending time deciding whether or not to use CM Software or to ship by mail - those things aren't That important - and maybe not getting the project done because of indecision on such minor matters or time spent trying to learn software.

And that'd be a Hidden Lesson - concentrate on the Main Things to get it done and don't be concerned about the Minor Things. The Main Thing was getting a Page Created with some Content (any amount of content - an unspecified amount) and Uploading it.

Michael Ross
www.hotsheets.info (New Hotsheets Added)

Thanks Michael.

Advantage of content management system (CMS) is: say after a couple of months - you have 200 hotsheets.

Adding 200 hotsheets to a website is not hard. But by having a CMS - you can categorize the hotsheets. And allow people to search for them. And show "If you like this hotsheet, you may also like:" and "Ratings and Reviews" and things like that.

In the future - you could even allow people to add their own hotsheet description. You could become the ebay of hotsheets - where anyone can come and sell their hotsheets - giving you a cut.

In summary: a good CMS provides easy "scalability" to your website.

If you need help with WordPress - you can always contact me.

(Right now, WordPress and Joomla are the two most used open source CMS...)

Ankesh,

Thanks for explaining more about CMS.

you can categorize the hotsheets

I can do this now. I can Bunch them on the one page, or quickly create a special Category Page for them. It might take a Tad longer than clicking a "Create New Category" button. But the time difference is marginal.

allow people to search for them

They can do this now using the Find option of the Browser's Toolbar. And when the number of available hotsheets requires multiple pages I'll add a Search Box. A quick paste of a bit of code and it'll be done.

show "If you like this hotsheet, you may also like:"

I can do this now. When I write the description I can Mention the other Hotsheet. Even, as I already wrote, Bunch them together, if I want to.

"Ratings and Reviews"

I don't care for Ratings and Reviews - like Amazon has. So it's nothing I am interested in.

you could even allow people to add their own hotsheet description

I have no interest in allowing this. If they want to Provide a description with the Hotsheet they can and I'll either use it all, some of it, or write my own. I see no advantage over what's already possible.

You could become the ebay of hotsheets - where anyone can come and sell their hotsheets - giving you a cut

I have no interest in going down this road. I am the final judge of what is or isn't suitable. This is the only way to maintain some kind of standard. Otherwise, what will happen is, every MLM and self-proclaimed Internet Marketer (whatever "Internet Marketer" even means) will offer their lame "how to make money online", "how to grow your downline" and so on, hotsheets. By reviewing each submission for suitability first, I keep control and maintain a standard.

The standard might be different to one you might have, or someone else might have, but it is a Standard nonetheless.

And everything a CMS offers I can either do with ease without it, or have no desire for it. And so I see no reason to go there at this stage. Maybe I'll think differently in 12 months. Maybe I won't.

Michael Ross