This is our ethos:
Explain everything simply.
We have found that if you can't explain something
simply, either you don't understand it or you are trying to hide something.
We at everythingexplained.com want to guide viewers through the pitfalls in life, which we ourselves may have stumbled into from time to time, so that they do not have to repeat our mistakes.
We, as site-writers ourselves, have many years of consuming, investing and generally experiencing life between us. You, our current or potential site-writing contributors, have specialist knowledge of certain areas and also have many years of experience. top
By using our sites, we hope viewers will be able to find answers to questions that they wouldn't dream of asking, because they would be afraid of looking stupid or might lay themselves open to being taken advantage of.
We also think that the subjects we cover and the questions we are trying to answer beforehand for viewers are those that it seems to be assumed people will 'pick up' as they go along. These things are not generally taught in schools or colleges and represent a steep learning curve when people finally find that they are caught up in them. They are the common features of everyday life that we all need to know about from time to time.
We will be covering many different subjects, but what you see here is just the beginnings of the many sites we hope to have up in the near future - and we hope you will help us. top
We will include places where viewers can either comment or ask questions - and those questions will be passed on to you if you become a site-writer for you to answer as best possible. We will post the question and your response on the site, if it has a general significance. But we cannot, as a site, give specific advice
What we hope you will help us build here are answers to questions that viewers will not see in books or encyclopedias - the everyday things in life that no-one seems to take the time to teach or explain in a simple way.
The sales pitch!
We are keen to expand our number of sites. We are offering a 40% share of the underlying company, everythingexplained.com Limited to the pool of site writers, immediately before going public, plus 50% of the net revenues from advertisers that you get to advertise on your site and 33% of the net revenues from advertisers that we get to advertise on your site. These percentages will halve after we have gone public - but you will then be shareholders receiving dividends instead! top
In exchange, all you have to do is write one or more sites for us to use. They must be simple explanations of things that would be of interest to the average person, but are not covered well, or independently elsewhere. You will receive acknowledgement as being the main contributor to the site, probably at the foot of your home page.
The current 'front page' everythingexplained.com is just our suggestion for general areas within which sites could be written. If your subject does not fit into the few buttons (eg Politics, Sport etc) we have up currently, then, providing we agree to post the site, we will include a new general button.
When submitting a site, please send a covering e-mail with your site attached in Word format, preferably Word 6. The e-mail should state what button you want to be attached to on the front page, and then what the title of your site should be (eg Marquetry for Bears, Golf for Fish, Stoat-worrying for adults etc ). top
The actual text should split into obvious sub-sections (see mortgagesexplained - explanations, mortgage choices etc) of between say 3 and 11 in number. These should be what you call the Word files that you send (eg Marquetry_colours.doc, Golf_clubs.doc, Golf_bags.doc Stoat-worrying_explanations.doc). So if you have 6 sub-sections, you should have six files attached to your e-mail. Send it to me at [email protected]. Also include a telephone or e-mail address where it is convenient to talk or leave a message.
Within your Word files, the layout should be exactly as you would like to see it, and it will be placed in the same way as the mortgagesexplained site. For an 'explanations' or 'exceptions' page, there is no need for you to underline or make any words italic unless you have a specific reason. We will do all the necessary manipulation and marking. top
For advertisers, we will be offering button and banner opportunities. There are three sorts - 100 x 60 pixels, 468 x 60 pixels and 550 x 30 pixels, all of which should be under 15k in size. We can put these at or near the top of the pages on your site. Although there are none currently in place, you can see from our banners where they would go. We can also design and produce banners if required.
As yet, we do not have a rate card which specifies how much advertisers pay to have a banner advertisement on your sites. Normally there is a service and fulfillment agreement in which charges are related to the number of hits. Since we are so new, we doubt whether we can reasonably expect to use this method. So, for the moment, we are open to discussion and negotiation. Either ring us (01473 652038, which is an answerphone except in the evening) or e-mail us at [email protected] .
We will be moving the site to its permanent home once we are happy that everything has bedded in. So there is time to get started writing your site/s before we go live full time and start counting hits. top
Once our counters are up and running we will start promoting the sites on referencing services, so that all the main search engines will know what is on our sites. For this, we need to have a list from you of what the most important words that define your site are (mortgagesexplained has: mortgages, UK, loans, loan etc). This information should be included as a list in your e-mail. Call it, for Golf, for example, 'Meta tags:golf, golf_courses, golf+clubs, golf_bags' etc.
We hope this is as simple to understand as our sites should be. If not, let us know.
The whole site is only partially working so far.
We look forward to receiving your site information.
Sites accepted will be published as soon as possible.
We have also posted a Site-writer's agreement, which is in draft form at the moment. If you are close to making a decision to join us, please read it so you can see what we expect and what you should expect from the relationship.
Chris and Mike top
Copyright 2000 everythingexplained.com
While every care has been taken to ensure accuracy of the content of this site, no responsibility can be taken for any errors or omissions. Viewers are advised to check information published here, and to take legal advice, where appropriate, before following advice here because different countries have different ways of doing things. We hope to make our advice more specific to different countries over time. top
