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Warning: Unlike my last article, this one will help you with useful information, this one is totally and deadly serious. For those of you with Attention Deficit Disorder you may want to run out of the room screaming and turn on the television test pattern now.
> hello. i just finished reading ur article...and i wanted
> u to know i really enjoyed it. I am in the
> exact same position right now and am having the same
> difficulties. But knowing someone else had the same
> frustrations is a little relief.....i thought it was
> just me. I am wondering if you ever found the best method to
> get this huge job accomplished? I would appreciate any
> advice u may be able to give me........before i choke this
> friggin computer!!! lol anyways i look forward to reading
> ur next article.....
You just had to send me that email, didn't you, buddy. Well, there went my plans out the broken window. I had it all set to take it easy this week and play a new demo game I downloaded--but the above email (thank's for nothing, pal) and the 'keys' to a couple of pro versions of demo programs I've been using have just arrived and the old nose to the grindstone/work ethic comes to the front and center. (As well, I'll admit, to curiosity as to all their new handy-dandy features/gadgets/toys/bells and whistles.) And guilt.
Unfortunately, folks, if you click on over to my website you'll see that I really don't have many links up yet. Why? Because I find it a real pain in the ass. (See my previous article on the subject.) However, I have three programs that I've used and that I'm going to tell you about here-and-now. Take note--especially for the program/script illiterate and the newbies (is that a redundancy?)--these programs take that horrible pain out of your and my ass--and stick it up in your and my head where it belongs. Now, that's progress. Seriously. I'm not kidding. No matter what anyone tells you there just isn't any fast and easy way to do this when you're starting out--but you can lighten your load and hopefully enjoy the cruci-fiction with me as we go. Shall we go?
First off, let me say that I'm not here to speak nasty about these programs because they only come in red stripes and I like blue polka-dots. (Know what I mean?) This is what I'm here for: I'm here for the facts. Do they do what they say/do they do more or less/are they easy or hard to use or understand/and--the big one--what happens when 'I' need to contact their website about a problem!
And, now, on with the black and white and grey minstrel show...
These products are all of the utmost professionalism--looking and working. Each one offers something unique or different or more than just plain old helpful to the webmaster or webmistress. They are certainly not three clones, one of the other.
With the first one you can 'set it and forget it', you can go to town, go to bed, go to--your choice--as it gathers 1000s of links for you to contact. And it's absolutely 100% free. Nice price.
With the second you can make offers (I especially like this program's letter writing/emailing abilities), create a link page with topics!, and check that your link is still up on the other webmaster's page--and even that their link is still up on yours! That last part sounds like a rather strange addition but when you take a second to think about it--it makes perfect sense. I think it should do a very nice job in helping to attract other (and sometimes bloody reluctant) webmasters to link with me, you or the gatepost.
And with the third? What can I tell you about the third? As the Third Man once said (more or less something like this): Under the Victor Borgias you had years upon years of war and bloodshed, brother against brother, son against father, total insanity--and what did that produce: Art, music, Michaelangelo, Leonard DaVinci. While at the same time in Switzerland you had five hundred years of still, quiet, tranquil peace--and what did that produce? The coo-coo clock.
The third program ain't no coo-coo clock. It's a slicer and dicer.
Let's get down to it.
There are a few webmasters that think being on somebody else's Front Page is the way to go, that a link page is a waste of time, that it's a garbage page, a death sentence--I couldn't disagree more. I for one always head for the link page both as a webmaster and as a plain old panting (sometimes pantless) surfer--that's how I find most of my 'good' stuff. When I hit your front page if you have a link page button I click on that first--zip! I'm gone off your front page so fast that you didn't even have time to count and record me. If I have a choice (as a webmaster) of my link being on your front page or your link page--I'll take the link page every time. Of course, now we have to qualify that, it has to be a nice link page, tasteful, planned out. Not a case of 'I'll just throw them all in here--nobody looks in there anyway'. Think of it this way: If a link page is so 'not important' then why are there so many 'nothing but links' sites? I'm going to 'lift' a quote straight out of one of the programs (LinktoLink) which I couldn't agree with more: "Treat your link page as important real estate which should be attractive to web visitors and to fellow webmasters as well". Absolutely! Positively! Indeedy-do!
Now hear this--I had gone through several lifetimes/reincarnations of linking pages and had finally decided to go with a two-way system: A text link page and a separate banner page. (Two separate link pages.) Then, again, I liked the idea of some banners amongst the text to break up the look of the page, so..? Stuck between a rock and a hard place again. Arrrrggghhh!
But--maybe not. There's always a solution if you just know where to look.
Program Number One
1. LinkCrafter:
Price: Free
Simple to download, simple to set up. I'm not talking about 'just push one button' on any of these programs, now--but for those of you out there with more than a couple of brain cells missing-- you can figure this program out okay, too. It comes with it's own tutorial and I believe it does the job of s'plaining what's it's s'posed to do, Lucy.
You have to let it set up a Link Page in order for it to work--but you don't have to use it's link page. (I don't. Mainly because I have my own website building program and these link pages that other programs build don't match up the way I want. I'm fussy.)
It has two main parts: The link finder and the link setter-upper. Basically all you have to do is tell it what you want it to look for (adult xxx pictures) and it goes out and downloads thousands of sites that you might want to link to. Of course you have to sort through the stuff it finds--but you have to do that with any of these heat-seeking missiles. It can send out emails of introduction for you telling fellow webmasters (it's claim to fame) "Hi. I've just put you on my link page without asking you, would you like to link back?" (Something like that, anyway.)
Once again, the above feature I don't use. (I think it's a great/clever idea--but not my personal choice of what I want to do. Kind of reminds me of relieving somebody at gun point of their wallet and then asking: "Mind if I borrow this?") Although I have done it. What did you just ask me? Which one? Sorry--we've got to move right along.
Have you ever gone up to a website and gone through ten pages of ads looking for an email addy? I have. I hate it. Take a tip, people--I'd rather get spam from a robot than lose a customer. I have an email address on EVERY page of my site. (I hope!) Here's why I especially like and use this program: It searches for an email address for every link it finds. No email address--then no link listing pops up for you to look at. What a time saver. When you click on each link it's found for you (to see if you want to contact that website) you also know there will be an email addy to send your 'intro' to ready and waiting. Always.
Afraid of spaming a website? Don't worry--be happy, Pappy. This program keeps track for you of each contact. Let's say that its gone out and found 100 links, let's say you're not paying attention and they're all the same website, let's say you tell it to send out 100 'info' letters. Instant SPAMola! No--not with this program. It sends out the first letter, checks the other 99 email addresses--and no-go-ho.
The Good: Does letters, checks for spam, set it to 'search' and forget it while you sleep, easy to use. When you're ready to check it all out you just click on a link and you are instantly at that website to see if it's suitable for join-up. And no email hunting!!!
The Bad: On my computer it's given me an annoying little glitch called 'Periodic' which is part of its (LinkCrafter's) programming. When I want to turn my computer off--it stops me and I have to click the 'error' off to continue. Sometimes because of 'Periodic' I have to turn off the program and restart it--it stops working, in other words. (Took me a while to figure that one out, I'll tell you.) Dangerous? Don't think so--but some annoying. And it just might be my computer--I've got one of those 'uppity-actor' kind of computers. Yeah, you know what I mean, don't you.)
The Ugly: I tried to contact them several times about that problem but my emails kept bouncing back to me.
P.S. They also have a BannerCrafter to download free. If I ever understand or perhaps I should say take the time to understand how to work it I know it'll be great.
Program Number Two
2. LinkToLink
Price: Demo/Free
Pro/30 day trial
Pro/$34.95 US
(Note: As you might expect some of these things are in the Pro version, only.)
I hate 30 day trials. I hate 20 turn trials, also. I hate trials period--give me an old-fashioned lynching any day of the week. Get it over with, I say. I know they're guilty. Hang 'um high, I say. Draw and quarter them while you're at it.
Huh? Oh, yes. Trials. I hate trials mostly because of my computer. (May be the fault of the programs, too.) Not for the first time have I downloaded one of these trials and on my second day or turn it pops up and spits in my face: "Your time is up, loser!" Might just be my 'actor-upper' giving it to me again--but it just might be the program. I can never tell. But some people give you a 30 day trial or a 20 turn version of the full pro program--personally, I hate that way of doing it!(Believe it or not I also think it encourages people to steal it--when it stops running you feel like you're being ripped off/cheated even though it was free as a full demo. If you use it long enough you come to believe you actually own it--really. Trust me on this oh-great-creators.)
I first programmed computers professionally in 1968 (yes, they had computers way back then, little Billy) but I didn't keep up with it and so time passed me by--like a Jules Verne rocket ship to the moon. I won't pretend to be perfect at everything I do (except writing) so I'll admit that there's lots of things in these programs that I simply don't understand how to do--plus I'm a little impatient, now, at my time of life and don't want to try and figure it all out. (Did you ever try to put out the fire from 102 candles all at once? Exhausting, isn't it. Let me tell you--you need two additional birthdays to get your wind back.)
Anyway, let's get on with number two. So what can I tell you about this program. Well, it has a basic screen to work from that covers everything else (it has other screens, of course), a fantastic email program, it keeps great visual records of everything you do, a full tutorial that's a little overwhelming at first because of it's size but easy to understand, plus as I stated earlier--it checks that your link is still up on their page--and even that their link is still up on yours! I liked the link page it made for me but unfortunately (and it tells you this up front) you can only make that link page the first time--if you try to do it a second time, then it will overwrite the first one. So that means you have to cut and paste html after that--but that's no big deal. (Who said 'Yeah, sure, right'.)?
I liked that link page so much that I 'copied' the idea for my link page (with my own variations)--it shoots it out in categories instead of just one long boring list of links.
You can click on and download (Pro version) pages and pages of somebody else's links to contact for yourself. Great feature--if you can't find them, steal them. Just a click and you're on that new site, to take a closer look at it. Unlike number one, above, it doesn't check for email addresses but it does stop duplicate urls and, I also found with a little experimenting that you can arrange the order of the addresses etc. so that you can see at a glance duplicate urls that don't end the same: Blah.html/Blah.shtml would be classified as two different urls by the program--but we know better. Aren't we humans great?
The Good: Looks great, easy to use, fantastic email set up, checks out the other guy's links as well as your own. Downloads (steals) a page of links from somebody else's website to assist you in making your own contacts. Checks for duplicates. Checks for duplicates. (Did I say that twice? Twice?) Has a nice series of letters you can send out--however I feel if the other webmaster doesn't bite at your first 'link me' letter then just trash him or her and go find yourself someone with more intelligence. In regards to that: Great record keeper--can you say 'blacklist'? Just kidding--people don't have to trade with you. But it really is a great record keeper.
The Bad: Take this as you may: I wanted it to run up to the internet and look for any/all of my banners (6) on 'your' website but it would only check for one (1) image file gif by name--and told me so, thankfully. (So, in a way, that's also a good point for it--I probably should only use one banner, anyway. Plus it also checks for text links--and that works beyond expectations.) However, when you download that page of link contacts it doesn't check for email addresses--so be prepared to go searching for the addies.
The Ugly: I contacted them twice in eight days and never heard from them--ever. I had someone else contact them after that and it took them another nine days before they replied. They did say they were 'sorry' for the delay. It's ugly, sloppy human relations--sorry right back at 'cha, fellows, but I'm not going to cover for you.
Program Number Three
3.IntelliLink
Price: Demo/Free
Pro (one time)$ 35 US
Pro (unlimited updates)/$ 59 US
(Note: As you might expect some of these things are in the Pro version, only.)
Full disclosure right up front like a whore's drawers, this website offers an 'affiliate program' and--just based on how much I liked the free/demo version--I was an affiliate for this script. I have now taken down that link so as to avoid any conflict of interest and it will not be going back up. (In other words--I am making no money from talking about this product.) Having said that it should be bald-faced obvious that I like this program--very much. So you can read along with me in that frame of mind. Okay?
So now that I have the Pro version of IntelliLink instead of the demo to review? Well! When you use this program you start smiling, laughing, feeling warm and fuzzy all over. You start getting excited beyond belief. (Well, I do. I can't speak for the rest of you.)
This program doesn't do what the other two do: It doesn't go out and get you any links at all. It's different. You could say it makes the links come to you. Sort of. To simplify what it does: When a webmaster comes to your site/link page they can personally add their own link. Yes! You don't have to be involved with it at all. It all runs off of your own site, it's self-contained cgi-bin stuff. Now don't get upset with the cgi-stuff--it's very easy to set up. Almost idiot proof. I say 'almost' because I got it wrong--but I'm sure it was in the ftp-ing department. Once I wiped it and re-ftped it--it worked perfectly. But, see, it wasn't my fault--it was the program's. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
Now, if that's all it did it would still be a very good program, but this thing doesn't stop there. Here, in the creator's own words, are just some of the things it can do:
"Display your top referrers (eg. #1 to #10) in your BEST spot (probably at top of main page or in a frame that is always shown to visitors), this is important to keep the sites who send you the most visitors satisfied.
Display the second best referrers (eg. #11 to #30) in your second best spot (that makes sense, right?).
If you are not sending everyone at least the same amount of hits that they are sending your site, you should display the random site (execute random.cgi) in a very good spot. Maybe even in several spots, you will have to find out what's best for your site. The random site will be displayed as long as there are sites not receiving enough hits from you.
You can display all your links on a links page (#1 to #1000 should cover it). This way any links not displayed on your other pages will always be somewhere on your site (good for getting small sites to link to you too)."
-Jimmy
Creator of IntelliLink
Okay. Here's some quick notes I made as I tested out the Pro version of IntelliLink:
- Just did 1 to 100, 101 to 200 just amazing, fantastic!
- Just entered my own url as a webmaster would do to link up with me for a test: It went onto the internet and found all my info/like my title name, my description. Unbelievable, fantastic. I've never seen anything like it! Somebody has finally make an intelligent program--no wonder it's called IntelliLink. (Corny but that's what I wrote in the heat of the moment.)
- This is just like Christmas! (Anyone got any chestnuts?)
-
I just was testing out the pro and asked for 1 to 1000 but my computer was
clicking away and nothing 'seemed' to be happening. So, I click over from my
'paste-up' version to the real thing and suddenly saw 1000 'Your Site?' things coming at me--what a shocker! I was impressed, actually. (Note: This program allows you different choices--here it asked me if I wanted blank space and I said no give me 'your site here' tags. And it certainly did. Warning: Be careful what you ask for! Don't ask for 1000--that was a wee bonny drop too much. That's links we're talking about--not Scotch.)
The Good: Anyone wanting to link up with you will have a ball with this. It's simple, it's easy for them to do. It's actually fun for them to put up their link on your link page--that's no exaggeration! And they can even go back and edit it themselves if they make a change to their link-up at a later date. Fun and easy. When I re-did (ftp'd) the Pro version I was able to add the variables, upload and run it within three minutes. (But I'd already used the demo, don't forget. But it really is still that easy.)
What about service? Well, when the creator of the program didn't know who I was (I hid my identity--sneaky little devil that I am) he still answered my emails within hours. Even the dumb ones. Even before this review! Great personal service.
The Bad: This program only does text links right now but banner links are supposed to be in the future works. I don't know if I'll actually like it when it comes out with banner links--just have to test it again, I guess. (Wink, wink.)
The Ugly: The creator says it's 'very, very easy to set up'. Yes--if you know what you're doing--and when I started with his free version I most certainly did not. This is not a click-one-button program. You need some experience in cgi-bin and html etc. But you're a webmaster, aren't you? (Trust me--using this program you have to learn quickly! And you want to--it's a great incentive program.) And you need to know where some things just naturally go. For example: The documentation tends to say things like 'add this to change the numbers' then presents you with 'min=X'. That's it. That's the docs. First you curse, then you swear, and then you start to learn in spite of yourself, you start to get smarter, to catch on that that big X stands for the number you're supposed to substitute. Now all you've got to do is figure out what that damned big 'Y' stands for. Simple. Easy. (%$#2*!) There, that's better--that helped a lot. I'm okay. Really. I feel okay now--even if the creator of this program did cost me my marriage with all my ill-humoured cursing and swearing and hitting the walls with my forehead in exasperation at trying to get it set up. (Actually that was really an unexpected bonus on second thought--I was getting tired of her, anyway. Plus: It cured my headache.)
Perhaps you might be interested in some of my correspondence with the mad doctor--I mean--the creator of the program. This is actual, unretouched, straight from the source and uncensored. (Well..maybe censored just a teeny-tiny weenie little itsy bit.)
To Jimmy:
I would normally work this problem out for myself (hopefully) but time is of the essence--I've spent awhile on it, anyway.
Problem: I added a link successfully, then (Blah, blah.)
So, what am I missing, why only one link showing?
--Thaddeus
And then I sent this: Am I in the wrong part of the script--? (Blah, blah.)
And then I won an award for this: Just tried adding &min=0 to this but that didn't work either: (etc.)java=1&start=1&end=10&desc=1&min=0">
And then this: Tell me if you think I should just wipe out and start the whole Intellilink
ftp cgi-bin thing over. It might be easier in the long run. (On you.)
And who could ever forget this gem: I take it I'm the first to come up with this problem. Lucky me. Shall we call it the Mass Mess?
I shall wipe and start over tomorrow. If necessary. Never on Sunday--maybe
that's the problem. ;-) (It's too late in the night for me, now.)
--Thaddeus
And of course you know this had to happen: Re-installed. I changed nothing--and now it works! I think what might have happened is that I made a few changes after I had first ftp'd the whole thing to the cgi-bin--maybe you have to set it and forget it. No 'tweaking' afterwards? (I used to 'tweak' my computer to three crashes per weekend when I first got it. Seriously. Four hour reloads, per crash. Seriously.)
Anyway, now it works. That's what counts.
--Thaddeus
From Jimmy: Yeah, and don't count your installation stupidity against me in your article
:)haha
Of course I couldn't let him insult me like that so I came back with a clever and snappy reply: I'll have you know that wasn't stupidity--that was just normal for me.
--Thaddeus
P.S. He has lots of other programs on his website--and more patience than most people. (Certainly more than I have.) If I understood him correctly--he's self-taught. I consider IntelliLink on such a high scale that I'd call it a work of art and an obvious labour of love. You can feel it in the program. You can feel it in the man. Really. Seriously. (Would I lie to you?)
I could write a book on these things (you mean I didn't?) but I have to stop somewhere--every one of these programs does much more than I can tell you about here, I've simply told you the highlights that I like and use--all little me can do is try to give you the feeling of the programs. You have to make the final decision for yourself.
Well, fellow folk, if you haven't guessed by now, I don't do anything the so-called 'normal' boring way, so here's the shocking ending to this elongated monkey's tattletale... My advice to you: Download all three free versions and try them out for yourself--you may like things I hated, you may hate things I liked.
'Oh, come on,' I hear you saying, 'which one do you really, really recommend I use?' That's easy as all-get-out to answer--all three. What? Yes! If you didn't get the point as I talked to you about them: I use all three--at the same time. Hey, works for me! And it can work for you, too. Expand your mind, don't get stuck in that 'too bad this one program doesn't do this and this also'. Well, it doesn't. So get over it. Get on with it. And get them all! Use them all. Here's how I do it:
Program Number One
1. LinkCrafter:
Price: Free
http://linkcrafter.bannermation.com/
Feeling lazy? Run it at night and get thousands of links with email addresses to try out the next morning. (Not as overwhelming as it sounds. You can go through that list amazingly fast. Because everything is there waiting for you.)
Program Number Two
2. LinkToLink
Price: Demo/Free
Pro/30 day trial
Pro/$34.95 US
http://www.linktolink.com/
Put the links you find from the first program into this one and keep perfect records. (Or if you're feeling frisky go to a links page and download immediately with this program.) Then send out 'killer' emails from it's scripts. It's the email feature that I like.
Program Number Three
3.IntelliLink
Price: Demo/Free
Pro (one time)$ 35 US
Pro (unlimited updates)/$ 59 US
http://www.smartcgis.com/
Use this one to let the webmasters/webmistresses who answer you from the second program's emails personally put themselves on your link page--like Mikey, they'll like it. (And you can then pop them up anywhere else you please using random hits etc.) Or, as I do, I can also paste them up with html because I can design great looking link pages with this program (works of art, remember) and/or I can put random singles and sets of links all over my website like the flower-powered lilly-link-lover I really are.
You say you can't wait? You say you just got to see them? Chomping at the bit so bad you can taste them, boobie? Get that feeling right away of #'s 2 and 3 by going to my website and looking at my practically bare-naked links page. You can give yourself a giggle by placing a text link personally (you can remove it afterwards if you want to--I won't be insulted. Hurt, you bet. Devastated, absolutely. Crushed, positively. But not insulted.) Banner links I have to place for you.
http://www.thaddeusmass.com/members/lynxroom.html
Hey! Get going, will ya? And please don't hurt, devastate or crush me. Please, please, please.
Thaddeus Mass began writing professionally so far back in time that he refuses to admit to an actual starting date. Hint: Can
anyone name the Vice-President of the US of A thirty plus years ago?
Besides having most recently opened up his own website (My Private Library) he has also just launched a new project featuring a
unique concept: 'rentable' original story content for other webmasters/webmistresses thru 'Sexy Story of the Week'.
http://www.thaddeusmass.com/members/vipsignup.htm
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