Last month, California enacted a new law that aims to tackle the growing epidemic of unsolicited bulk email, or spam. It is estimated that 50% of all emails sent or received are spam. Essentially, this new law outlaws sending most commercial email to or from the state that the recipient did not explicitly request, with specific exceptions.

The new law requires those who send unsolicited bulk email to put the label "ADV:" in the subject line of messages selling goods and services. Adult-only Spam meant for those over 18 would have to be labeled "ADV:ADLT." This labeling is important because it makes it easy for people who are not technologically savvy to delete the spam without opening or downloading the message.

The law also requires that spammers create a toll-free telephone number or accurate return email address so that recipients can easily opt-out of the spam list. This new law does not apply to marketers who have an existing relationship with the recipient. For those who do not, however, prosecutors would be able to seek up to $1000 per email message and up to $1 million for each campaign or six months in jail for violations.

California also enacted a law that allows any email provider to sue spammers that trespass on their computer networks. This allows them to be compensated for losses caused by clogged mail servers or network crashes. Under the law, providers can sue for $50 per unauthorized message, up to $25,000 per day or they can sue for actual damages, whichever amount is greater.

The new law also criminalizes “spoofing.” This is defined as "knowingly and without permission using the Internet domain name of another individual, corporation, or entity" to send spam. Spammers often spoof return addresses using the domain names of large web sites. This not only damages the reputation of the larger companies but it also can clog their networks with returned spam emails.

California's spam laws follow laws passed in Nevada, which require spammers to remove people from mailing lists upon request, and in Washington, which outlaws the practice of forging headers or hijacking other email systems. Delaware, also, banned sending unsolicited e-mail in 1999. That law can be enforced only by the Delaware state attorney general, who has not yet taken any action under the statute.

The California law is wider reaching than any of the 35 other state laws meant to regulate spam or any of the proposed bills in Congress. Under it, actions can be brought by the state, by e-mail providers that have to handle spam and by the recipient. Empowering the individual gives this law teeth, unlike most of its predecessors.

Such new laws, however, are not without their critics. Enforcement will be a logistical mess since tracking down and prosecuting spammers will often times be impossible, especially with limited resources available to states attorney generals. Civil liberties groups have also cried afoul saying that the states are attempting to curtail first amendment freedoms of speech. They claim that requiring advertisers to separate their speech from other communications in emails would infringe on their rights. And, this also affects e-commerce merchants and legitimate marketers who claim it will only restrict actions by legitimate marketers not the more unscrupulous here-today-gone-tomorrow spammers. Several critics have vowed to fight this new law in court, putting its future in jeopardy.

A similar proposal was considered in Congress, but has now been scrapped. The Federal Trade Commission already has the authority to go after spammers and spoofers with false or misleading advertisements and has already begun to do so.

For the e-commerce merchant who legitimately wants to market his or her products, this has far reaching effects. First, the law puts the burden on the sender to determine if the recipient resides in California. Since California represents up to 20 percent of the e-mail that is sent or received, it would be advisable that the merchant separate California recipients from others, or, more simply, act as though the California rule is the lowest common denominator and apply its rules across the board. This law goes into effect on January 1, 2004.

Yahoo! recently announced some exciting changes to their Yahoo! Shopping portal http://shopping.yahoo.com. Under the old program, participants were charged a revenue share on all orders that originated from Yahoo! Shopping and it was only available to large retail merchants or Yahoo! Store merchants. The new Yahoo! Product Submit is now open to all merchants to advertise. This means, any and all e-commerce merchants can be included in Yahoo! Shopping, one of the most visited shopping portals on the web.

Many merchants participating in the program will find it to be a good source of targeted leads. Participating merchants will be included in the new Yahoo! Product Search, a search tool designed to help users find products and merchants online. Yahoo! Product Search is featured prominently in Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Search. Products will also be listed in the Yahoo! Buyer's Guides (also known as Comparison Grids), web pages featuring product descriptions, specifications, pricing and store information.

The cost-per-click price is based on the category of the product listed. Prices range from $.19 cents to $1.25 cents per click as displayed here: https://productsubmit.adcentral.yahoo.com/sspi/us/pricing.

Merchants interested in the program simply need to upload a product feed file to Yahoo!. Directions can be found here: https://productsubmit.adcentral.yahoo.com/sspi/us. Some e-commerce systems, such as the one offered by Nexternal Solutions, can create a product feed for you. As with all pay per click campaigns, keeping track of the return on investment is paramount to success.

Garry Grant, CEO and President
Search Engine Optimization Inc.

E-commerce sales are booming. The economy is turning around. E-tailers are expected to see sales triple by the end of this year.

So how can you capitalize on the e-commerce turnaround?

Making sure that your Web site is optimized for search engines is one of the most powerful and cost effective ways to increase sales. In fact, improving your search engine ranking and directory placement is the single most important thing you can do to increase Web site traffic.

Here’s the proof: According to a recent study by Jupiter Media Matrix, more than 55 percent of all Internet purchases begin with a search engine. But 93 percent of these consumers do not look past the first two pages of search engine results.

If your Web site isn’t indexed and optimized for search engines, then your online initiatives will likely flounder. But if your Web site is properly indexed, then your online initiatives can flourish.

Here are five tactics you can use to boost your rankings:

1.) Title Tag – The title tag describes the contents of your Web page in one sentence. The title is most likely to appear in search engines’ results and in bookmarks. It is also the first thing that a spider looks for (spiders are robots that follow links from Web sites and index all pages that they find).

To make your title tag more appealing to search engines and people:

· Add keywords to your title
· Never use only a company name
· Limit the length of your title tag to about 75 characters

2.) Meta Tag – To give a search engine an accurate description of your site’s contents, use multiple meta tags. Some engines use meta tags, some do not.

Use meta tags on all pages Limit your meta description tag to 150 characters Be sure it contains keywords and that the keywords do not repeat more than seven times.

3.) ALT Tags – While some search engines use ALT tags to index images, some don’t. To improve your ranking on those that do, use ALT tags to:

· Describe images
· Add more keywords for each image
· Make the site accessible to the visually impaired

4.) Comment Tags – Comment tags provide a way for the webmaster to make notes directly on the page. Although the reader doesn’t see these tags, some search engines, such as Inktomi, can index them. Therefore, comment tags are another effective way to add keywords to your page, thus increasing keyword frequency – an important factor in many ranking algorithms.

5.) Keywords in the URL Name – The URL name (the name of the site; e.g., http://www.seoinc.com) is used by some search engines as part of their ranking formula. Google is one search engine that employs this methodology.

Every search engine uses its own algorithm – a formula for indexing and scoring Web sites. Because these algorithms are unique to each engine, search engine optimization is a complicated undertaking. Making matters more difficult, the formulas search engines use are constantly improved in order to give visitors the most relevant results.

When an online initiative is vital to the success of your company, you might want to consider working with a search optimization firm. With e-commerce sales hitting $80 billion last year, there’s too much at stake for you to risk sub-optimal search engine results.

Garry Grant is president and chief executive officer of Search Engine Optimization Inc. He can be reached at 1-877-736-0006.

Visit http://www.seoinc.com to learn more about his company.

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