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Read WebRing's May Newsletter

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August 8, 2005

WE HIT THE MILLION MARK IN ACTIVE SITES!!

All of us at here at the WebRing home office are celebrating and we hope you are, too! We like to think of WebRing as a family; a very large and quickly growing one. We are excited about changes that are taking place and want to keep all of you informed and up to date as more and more exciting things happen. So, voila! - the birth of our newsletter!

We are writing it for YOU - so please watch for it each month and read it. There will be news about changes in the system, featured sites, new links for getting to know people better, promotions and contests, FAQ's and much more. It will be a work in progress and we appreciate your support in reading it and responding to the information.

Changes...

Navigation Code Customization - Due to the large number of managers using the customization feature we allow for SSNB navigation code to run ads, we are going to have to place some restrictions on navbar customization. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY we will no longer be able to allow links to any sites other than WebRing.com. If you currently have a direct link to a "Ring homepage" or a personal "profile" page, you will need to replace those with the appropriate "tag" entries that are available for that purpose. We'll be updating the customization page and help page to list all available tags for use in customizing navbars before we begin the process of correcting navbars with invalid links.

STARTING SEPTEMBER 1ST - the rate for running banner ads and suppressing sidebar/skyscraper ads will be going up due to rising costs. The current rate is 10 cents/thousand impressions for banners and 20 cents/thousand for sidebar suppression. New rates will be 25 cents/thousand for the banner location and 50 cents/thousand for sidebar suppression.

ABOUT THOSE ADS ON HUB PAGES... We want to remind managers that you can suppress ads or show your own, but they must be limited to approximately 728x90 maximum size and NO ads that open new/additional windows (i.e., popups and popunders). WebRing reserves the right to review and remove any ads that don't meet these guidelines.

HINTS FOR MANAGERS... Here a a few suggestions for utilizing the Featured sites option:

Let members know that you want to feature good sites

Let them know the fee you will be charging

Think twice before adding a site to your ring that lists all the other rings you manage. This is not good for your ring, nor is it a good site to feature. It adds no content to the ring, so featuring it actually discourages surfers from looking at the sites in your ring. In fact, in an effort to discourage this practice, it will no longer be possible for managers to feature their own sites for free. Use the manager's site feature if you feel you need to have a page like that in the rings you manage.

We keep working to improve the system

The "My rings" section has been made easier to use by adding clickable links to suspendeds, on-hold pendings, featured sites, etc.
The ability to choose whether you want emails in HTML or plain text format (found in WRMail settings). Please update your preference the next time you visit WebRing!
We're rewriting all system emails to bring them up to date with the system as well as develop both HTML and text versions of easch email.
We've Renamed the member/RM functions for ease of use (Rings You Manage, Your Membership rings, etc.)
We're redesigning and updating all the system help pages and help system.

WebRing is a Community supported system

WebRing is best supported by you, the community. Many that have pitched in have found that the promotional credit they receive can be put to very good use by either featuring the ring in the directory and/or requesting to have their site(s) featured on ring Hub pages. The results are almost always noticeable right away in increased traffic to the ring or site. It's a win-win for us all: Increased visibility for your ring or site and support for WebRing.

If you value WebRing and feel you can benefit from an even better system, then we seek your support. Thanks to the more than 8000+ contributing members WebRing is growing stronger every day! We still offer the best service and support whether you contribute or not. Interested in supporting WebRing? Use

Visa/MasterCard/American Express/Discover

or use the link below to contribute using PayPal.

OR, if you prefer you can send a check or money order to:
WebRing Inc.
1257 Siskiyou Blvd, #1153
Ashland, OR 97520

The WebRing Team

SimpleNet partnership

The partnership is working out very well, and we continue to work with them to offer members better service than they can get elsewhere. For our part we suggest any member using a free webpage service to consider switching to a "pay" host, even just the minimum is enough to avoid many of the pitfalls of "free" hosts. A great reason to switch is for the surfing experience of your visitors. It is almost painful visiting any Tripod, Lycos, Angelfire, and even Geocities sites because of the numerous and SLOW LOADING popups. Tripod and Lycos can take as much as 90 seconds to spawn a popup. MSN is just plain horrid.

SimpleNet has this offer to make to those willing to consider a switch:

Yes, boys and girls, it's time.
Time for you to finally move on from your free web site service.

Time to get phone and email support, all day and every day.
Time to get faster loading pages and a more reliable hosting platform.
Time to get rid of all that annoying advertising that your site pops up on your visitors.
Time to finally get your site indexed by the search engines...

**Perhaps you didn't know? Most engines won't index free sites**

Time to make the same move that the WebRing site made...
Time to transfer your site to SimpleNet.

Time to let your young site grow up and be an adult!

All accounts include 24/7 Support, a free domain name, FrontPage, site building tools, email, and more! Transfer your site to a fully redundant, reliable, and responsive platform.

Multiple packages to meet your needs, starting at $4.99/month.

To learn more, please visit:
http://af1.simplenet.com/rd.php?cbid=8147&url=http://simplenet.com/jump/webring

Sign up with SimpleNet today and you will also be given permanent ad suppression on WebRing!
How do I get ad suppression on Webring?

1. Sign up for a SimpleNet Account
2. Once you've paid, send an email to marketing@simplenet.com.
a. Title, "SimpleNet/WebRing Transfer"
b. Note your WebRing User ID Only (do not send your password)

We hope to see your account on SimpleNet soon!

Sincerely,
SimpleNet Marketing

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