The email announcing the September EZ-NetAdvantage was sent to all resellers as normal. In addition, this month, the notice was also sent to all active member accounts. In the future, email notification of new EZ-NetAdvantages will be sent to all members unless resellers indicate otherwise in the Account Manager tool. The reseller version of EZ-Net Advange will continue to be password protected.
In the past we have only sent the notice to resellers. If you do not want to have your members receive these notices in the future, you need to indicate your wishes in the new option available Account Manager tool in you reseller tool set. The graphic to the right shows the new column. For those accounts you do not want to receive the notice, select the account and then click the “Unsubscribe” button.
The market for web develop software like EZ-NetTools is becoming increasingly competitive. We want to make sure users of EZ-NetTools have access to more development ideas and are aware of the many free resources that are available to them. Because the EZ-NetAdvantage discusses current issues and news worthy happenings, sending notices of new issues is particularly appropriate.
Why Three Different Online Training and Resource Web Sites?
EZ-NetTools includes a number of online training aids. There maybe some confusion of why there are three and how they relate to each other. An understanding purpose and differences of each will make it easier to know which one to use for each situation. The balance of this articles explains these three resources.
The EZ-NetTools Support or Help web site is comparable to help text associated with any software package. When you need help understanding a function, clicking on the help button or question mark will take you to page of explanatory text. The help text pages are designed load quickly, give brief explanations on all the options available. With online, realtime chat provided during normal business hours the Support Web site is works in conjunction with the Technical support phone support.
An analogy with the wood working industry would be instructions about a hammer. If we were describing a hammer on the EZ-NetTool Support web site, we would describe its features with a handle and a head. The head would have a blunt end for pounding things and a claw end for removing nails.
The EZ-NetAdvantage was born because of the need we had to communicate with our resellers after we dissolved our relationship with Dot Com solutions, a company who marketed EZ-NetTools to a large number of our resellers. The focus was to make announcements and to provide ideas about how to make your reseller business more successful. It was natural to include “how to” articles about how to build your web sites. We soon discovered that many of the articles would be very helpful for members as well. Some resellers asked us to make the “how to” articles available to their members. So, we split EZ-NetAdvantage into two online magazines, one targeted for resellers discussing how to build an online business and one targeted for members that discussed details of building web pages. The information provided in EZ-NetAdvantage articles was designed to be more like current events, announcements, and some quick ideas of how to do selected things.
If we continue our analogy of the hammer, we would say that EZ-NetAdvantage would be used announce a new version of a hammer or possibly a new way to use the hammer.
The EZ-NetUniversity was born out of the need to provide training by category rather than by issue, as in an archive of an online magazine. Also, more in depth training that could be provided than would be appropriate for an online news magazine. A course in EZ-NetUniversity will be more task oriented such as building your first web site. Courses will be focused on how to get something done with examples such as in the quick start guide. In this case a number of tools would be demonstrated, where as the support web site would focus on just one tool but cover it in depth. Being a “university” it would appropriate to have a course on preparing photos for the web, a very necessary skill but not actually part of the EZ-NetTools.
Continuing our hammer example, a course in EZ-Net University would explain how to build something, like a bird house, using a hammer and other tools.
You may have wondered where EZ-NetStore fits into our plans. EZ-NetStore, a fourth web site, was created to provide services and products rather than information. If you need to buy something for your web business, you could purchase it here.
Conclusion
Eventually, we plan to have two versions of all four of these resources, one targeted for resellers and one for members. We have maintained a consistent color scheme for each target audience, yellows for members and greys for resellers. The table below indicates our current status
Member (Red/Yellow)
Reseller(Blue/Grey)
Support/Help
Available
Future
EZ-NetAdvantage
Available
Available
EZ-Net U
Available
Future
EZ-NetStore
Future
Available
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At EZ-Nettools, we provide a number of training channels to help our customers become proficient in building successful web sites. EZ-NetAdvantage has proven to be a great source of ideas and information to achieve that end. We an anxious for as many customers as possible to receive it. For a number of good reasons some resellers may not want their members to receive this notification. For that purpose we have provided a method for the resellers to opt out of this service.
In the past we have only sent the notice to resellers. If you do not want to have your members receive these notices in the future, you need to indicate your wishes in the new option available Account Manager tool in you reseller tool set. The graphic to the right shows the new column. For those accounts you do not want to receive the notice, select the account and then click the “Unsubscribe” button.
The EZ-NetTools Support or Help web site is comparable to help text associated with any software package. When you need help understanding a function, clicking on the help button or question mark will take you to page of explanatory text. The help text pages are designed load quickly, give brief explanations on all the options available. With online, realtime chat provided during normal business hours the Support Web site is works in conjunction with the Technical support phone support.
The EZ-NetAdvantage was born because of the need we had to communicate with our resellers after we dissolved our relationship with Dot Com solutions, a company who marketed EZ-NetTools to a large number of our resellers. The focus was to make announcements and to provide ideas about how to make your reseller business more successful. It was natural to include “how to” articles about how to build your web sites. We soon discovered that many of the articles would be very helpful for members as well. Some resellers asked us to make the “how to” articles available to their members. So, we split EZ-NetAdvantage into two online magazines, one targeted for resellers discussing how to build an online business and one targeted for members that discussed details of building web pages. The information provided in EZ-NetAdvantage articles was designed to be more like current events, announcements, and some quick ideas of how to do selected things.
The EZ-NetUniversity was born out of the need to provide training by category rather than by issue, as in an archive of an online magazine. Also, more in depth training that could be provided than would be appropriate for an online news magazine. A course in EZ-NetUniversity will be more task oriented such as building your first web site. Courses will be focused on how to get something done with examples such as in the quick start guide. In this case a number of tools would be demonstrated, where as the support web site would focus on just one tool but cover it in depth. Being a “university” it would appropriate to have a course on preparing photos for the web, a very necessary skill but not actually part of the EZ-NetTools. 
You may have wondered where EZ-NetStore fits into our plans. EZ-NetStore, a fourth web site, was created to provide services and products rather than information. If you need to buy something for your web business, you could purchase it here.