2 Ping! - Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine

today [I] am a successful cancer survivor
with a great wife, two awe-inspiring
young sons, and two successful business
ventures. Life is good. The greatest things
I learned from this experience were the
importance of friends, family, and health;
and that a fighting spirit and perseverance
to endure (both good and bad times) are
a must to achieve your goals in life and
business.
I have two full-time executive roles:
I serve as the President of a hotel
reservations network called Hotel Hotline
as well as the CEO of Best of the Web.
It’s a pretty exhausting task, but I dig the
on-line industry, the great people that I get
to interact with daily, and the energy of
internet marketing so it keeps me driving
passionately forward.
This is a picture my oldest son and I
after his first ride on my Harley – notice
the stunned look of disbelief after just
experiencing sheer, raw, hair-raising
horsepower for the first time...
I was too busy looking at the bike.. really
So Vegas... Give us the down and
dirty – what was the craziest thing you
did there?
Hmmm – Vegas. Fortunately for my
ego, I have a pretty poor memory and
I typically don’t remember most of the
truly “stupid” things I do (in Vegas or
elsewhere). Nevertheless, during the
Affiliate Summit show in January, I woke
up one morning with no money left and
thought I was pick-pocketed or lost my
money outright walking around the night
before. I was quickly informed by my
friends that I had indeed “lost” all my
money – but not due to a pickpocket.
Rather, it seems that I was playing Texas
Hold ’em Poker at the Palms at 5am in
the morning with my eyes closed and my
head on the table. Not a good recipe for
gambling success, and justice was swift
and efficient. A fool and his money are
quickly parted, as they say...
How old were you when you first
ventured on-line? At this point, were
you immediately enamored with the
internet, or a bit “weirded-out” by it?
And, can you tell us a little about your
first website creation? Is it still on-line?
In 1994, I was working for AT&T as a
Director of Training for the Manhattan
business sales force, and I was tasked
with rolling out AT&T’s first business ISP
and web hosting product called Easy-
World-Wide-Web (EW3). It was anything
but easy, and proved to be a monumental
task to introduce, as the internet was
so new for commercial purposes that
businesses saw very little benefit in going
through all the trouble to create and
set-up a website that was nothing more
than a costly digital brochure or business
card. So, the first few sites I was involved
with were helping these early adopters
create and set-up these very exciting
static brochure pages that did pretty much
nothing. Good stuff. Fortunately, we’ve
come a long way from those days and I
would like to think that none of my early
creations are still on-line today - in a
perfect world they would have been taken
out back and beaten down long, long
ago...
Lunarpages was inspired by a Star
Trek episode. What other names did
you pick through before choosing Best
of the Web? What about The Very Best
Things You Could Ever Want to Search
For and then Find On the World Wide
Web? That one’s pretty snazzy.
Wow – talk about marketing prowess...
Where were you 15 years ago when we
needed you Amy?!?
I was only 6 years old ;)
Actually, we did not have the honor of
originally choosing the name Best of the
Web as the project was first founded by a
group of University of Buffalo professors
in 1994 who were trying to create a social
media site where the web community at
large voted on the best sites on the web
within a variety of categories. After 5 years
as a ‘web awards’ portal in this model, the
project was abandoned and we swooped
in and purchased the business.
I do have to commend the founders’
marketing foresight though – “Best of
the Web” has turned out to be a very
marketable and memorable brand for us
– and for that I thank them. I think we’ll
pass on your suggestion Amy (albeit a
great one!) and stick with what’s working
for us :)
Since you’re going to pass I’ll admit that
was Tiara’s suggestion
For many web hosting newcomers,
it’s a daunting task to design a website,
put it up on the internet, and then get
it to show up in the search engines
so people can find it. What do you
recommend for these fledgling web
entrepreneurs? How did BOTW begin
this process?
I agree that it is a daunting task just to
create and design a quality website, let
alone trying to get the site ranked and
visible in the major search engines. If I’ve
learned anything through the years, it’s
that there truly aren’t any “shortcuts” in life
that tend to work out. I’m a believer in the
long-haul – meaning that new site owners
and fledgling entrepreneurs can’t expect
instant gratification. It’s a long process
that takes time, attention to detail, and
patience.
In terms of driving traffic in today’s
on-line environment, a webmaster has 3
basic channels to consider: social media,
pay-per-click, or organic search engine
marketing. Each marketing initiative
has advantages, disadvantages, and
timelines, so my advice would be to
consider a blend of all three and vary your
expectations according to each particular
channel. PPC marketing can bring instant
site exposure, traffic and sales, but can
be costly and onerous to maintain. Social
media generation takes imagination and
a bit of luck, but can be very effective for
driving traffic and links, but typically not for
sales conversions. And my favorite of the
three, organic search engine marketing,
can take years to pay dividends, but once
your site starts showing in the organic
search engine results, there is no sweeter
tonic for low-cost customer acquisition.
So, new entrepreneurs need to take
the plunge, try different approaches, and
create quality content that appeals to their
target users. Without a good product,
all the marketing in the world won’t help
you in the long term, so make sure that
both your product and business model is
sound.
Who is your stylist?
Ha. If you only saw my “traditional” garb
you would realize that the word ‘stylist’ is
not really in my vocabulary. Outside of the
occasional TV interview or two, you will
rarely see me dressed in anything that
doesn’t strongly conform to my rule of the
“Three C’s” – Comfort, Convenience, and
Cleanliness. And the third “C” is optional
based upon circumstances ;-)
My rule is the three J’s - Jeans, Jammies
(PJs) and Jay my hubby
I’m sure you’ve answered your fair
share of support or trouble tickets.
We receive approximately 30k tickets
per month and we have our regulars
who send in their conspiracy theories.
My favorite is Tin Foil Man and his
perception that the FBI continually
40 Ping! Zine Magazine