Internet Babel - Babel on the Internet

Market Leverage Goodies

Nick Sullivan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:26:25 +0000

Had a nice surprise of free stuff from Marketleverage.com the other day. Here’s a little thank you vid:

So, in total I got

- One hat

- Two t-shirts

- A Flip Video Camera with Tripod and case

- A 2gb USB Pen

So… Class.

Anyway, as I said in the video - I’ve sold this blog now so this is officially my last post here. Thought I’d end on a good note. I will be handing the blog over to the new owner right after this post so please welcome him

I will however be making 15 more posts before I finally leave you… But it will be under a new owner from now.

Thanks to all my readers who have stuck with the blog from the start or anyone who likes the content here.

Nick Sullivan.

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PublisherSpot.com Review

Nick Sullivan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:46:39 +0000

With increasing numbers of affiliate networks and ad networks skyrockiting at an alarming rate, it’s becoming much harder to figure which one to use.

Overview

What is needed is a resource for new Internet marketers to give them and us a slightly more clear cut view of which ones are your best bet and which ones are not worth the time. PublisherSpot is now that resource.

PublisherSpot gives you detailed descriptions and experience notes on a variety of ad / affiliate networks. As well a rating for each one.

Here are some reviews of some of the most well known networks:
Google AdSense
Azoogle Ads
PayPerPost
Shopping Ads

Design and Layout

I really like the design of PublisherSpot; It’s clear and professional and the reviews are layed out in a simple, easy on the eye, readable mannor. I also like the fact the site has no ads; I think if it did, it would just clash with the entire nature of the site itself… Would just seem a bit out of place.

Instead, I can see each link to each network on each review page is a referral link. Which is the best approach possible for making revenue out of thie site in my opinion. People are visiting the site to see which networks are best, so if they fancy signing up to one via a link on the site… Why not get payed for it.

I do think the CTR could be increased if the logo images of the network were linked too though as people have a higher tendancy to click images I think. Depends on what the site content is but in this instance I think people would be more inclined to try and click the network’s logo.

Other than that and some minor layout mishaps that are easily fixable, the site is easy to use and looks well done.

Search Features

The search features are especially nice, being able to define exactly what you’re looking for. For example, you can search by payment method; So if you only want to deal with networks that only pay you via PayPal or PayPal included, you can search for them.

You can also search by ad creative, which is a nice feature I think as it allows you to really specify a big importance in the type of network you’re looking for. If you absolutely must have a 728 x 90 leaderboard then you can define that.

As you can see there are a lot of search options and definitives for you to specify exactly what you want. A very good thing, too much options is always better than not enough options.

Final Thoughts

I think PublisherSpot is a great, needed resource. For once a site that’s actually useful. I think it has room for improvement as most things do but it’s mostly a very well thought out site with great search features.

Thumbs up!

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My Blog Value - Worst Blog Evaluator Ever!

Nick Sullivan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:09:38 +0000

I found this site via a link from John Chow, well a post about the site. MyBlogValue will give you a ‘fun’ estimation of your blog, it asks you 19 questions about your blog and then gives you a price.

I know this is just for fun and not meant to be taken major serious but what’s the point of it when it’s this inaccurate lol. It asks decent questions but then blabs out a figure from the sky, way over the top.

There are some pretty ludicrous evaluation sites / scripts out there but that’s just silly!

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Digital Point Forums Down

Nick Sullivan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:25:38 +0000

Ooops!

Get well soon DP.

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Video Interview with Tyler Cruz

Nick Sullivan — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:44:51 +0000

My interviewee list is starting to build up nicely now.

For those who don’t know who Tyler Cruz is, he’s a prolific A-list blogger in this niche (MMO niche).

Tyler answered these questions via video, which was nice!

Thanks again to Tyler for your time. Was the best interview for this blog so far.

Tyler didn’t answer my last question though

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Top 5 Distractions on the Web

Nick Sullivan — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:36:42 +0000

Always is the case that whenever I’m trying to be productive online / on my computer by doing stuff like trying to; Finish up an old website, add new content, write a post, design a banner… whatever; That I can’t help but immediately get distracted. A lot!

This is a bit frustrating because I tend to start something, complete an iota of it, minimize it for a second then find myself in the same place 4 hours later. It’s a cycle habit that I really need to break.

I’ve got about 8 posts in draft at the moment. Most half finished or just started, this is because I start writing then someone will start a conversation on MSN or I’ll just veer off into a world of disaullisioned, pointless inactivity.

Below I’ve listed the source of 90% of my main distractions when trying to work. Or more presicely, the top 5 distraction sources that result in inactivity on my part. I’ve given each one a distraction rating out of 10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.

MSN Messenger

Everybody knows MSN and any type of instant messenger / AIM is very distracting. Unless you’re a complete sociopath.

I don’t chat on MSN that much but if I’m doing work, somebody who starts a conversation almost, provides me with an excuse to not do what I’m focusing on. And for some weird reason even though I rarely talk about anything worth talking about on MSN, I can’t seem to bring myself to sign out!

But, MSN does just get tedious after a little while, I can quite happily just ignore someone whilst doing something very important. I might just stop MSN from starting up when my computer boots up though so that I don’t even think about it and get on with things.

Distraction rating - 4/10.

Google News

Pretty much the only real resource for news you need. Google nicely condense any news worth mentioning into categories and usually only publish interesting news. Unless of course you want real industry specific news, whereby there are better resources for certain topics.

I find Google News a strange distraction though; Even after I’ve read all the news I want to read, I can’t seem to be bothered to avert my eyes from the page, contiously scrolling up and down, reading the same articles, jumping different categories. It’s quite distracting.

Again though, like MSN, there is a limit to it’s distractiveness, after a while you will bore yourself stupid and should be able to stay off the news pages for a while.

Distraction rating - 6/10.

Wikipedia

Now, I’m not being funny, but I can literally waste hours reading various Wikipedia articles. I’m not an avid reader, I like to read interesting articles now and then but I don’t lose my time in blogs or books. But my God, Wikipeida is like a fisherman with a rod, I’m the fish!

I can start reading an article about someone interesting just for the sake of it. Such as… Richard Dawkins for example and then just get sucked in for ages jumping from article to article via links in that 1 article.

I have to commend the creator of Wikipedia, it’s a brilliant idea. Purely brilliant. And when you actually think of the idea itself, like; If somebody told me they were going to make an online encyclopedia which anyone could edit and that it would end up as a serious reputable source of information… I’d think they were an idiot.

On the outset, it just doesn’t sound like it can work since you’d naturally assume that given the amount of ill-informed people, bigots and just plain stupid people in the world, anyone could just sneak in irrelvent, mythical or otherwise silly nonsense into credible articles.

This isn’t the case however. I’m always amazed at how accurate Wikipedia is, it’s truly one of the most useful sites on the Internet. Upon mentioning Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist), Even he said he was shocked at how accurate the articles on evolutionary biology are.

I think the Wikipedia owner(s) have done incredibly well and resisted temptation of advertising yet still managed to make some well deserved cash from donations.

Distraction rating - 8/10.

YouTube

One of the most popular, if not THE most popular (after Google) sites on the Internet. And for good reason.

YouTube was the first real pioneer in online video distribution. It wasn’t the first to actually do it, as many think, but it was the first to fully socially embrace video upload on a mass scale and produce; Essentially, one big gigantic TV.

You now of course have plenty of social video sites such as; DailyMotion, Revver and of course the massively popular BBC iPlayer to name a few. But YouTube is still king.

Like Wikipedia and all good sites intended to keep your attention for longer than 10 minutes, YouTube is very well layed out. Constantly improving and keeping visitors for longer with that one absolutely essential method of ’spider webbing’ content.

This isn’t an official term as far as I’m aware although I’m sure likeminded people have used this metaphor; Basically I just mean linking site content to site content, creating a spider web like effect.

I can be watching a video on YouTube and a certain keyword in the title, description or tags will trigger a different set of videos further down in the related videos, to which I’ll click one of and then a keyword there will trigger another set and so on. It can be quite hard to pull yourself away sometimes.

By the way, I’m not talking about regular YouTuber’s videos. I really couldn’t care less what a person who I don’t know or have any interest in happen to do with their day or what they fed their dog.

Essentially, I’m talking about… copyright videos to be honest. TV Shows, interviews with interesting people… It can all get quite addictive. I think I watched 3 1 hour interviews in a row with Quentin Tarantino before.

YouTube can be obsessively distrative if you’re trying to work but don’t quite know what to do next.

Distraction rating - 9/10.

Google Video

I’ve listed Google Video higher than YouTube on the distraction scale not because it’s more popular, as it isn’t, or that it does a better job at ’spider webbing’ content: It doesn’t. But more to the point of the length of the videos.

YouTube still has a limit, you can only upload videos up to 10 minutes in length. Google Video doesn’t limit this, there’s plenty of videos on there well over an hour long.

Because of this I find it even harder to pull myself away because there’s more interesting videos. And of course because YouTube is owned by Google now, Google Video also incoperates YouTube listed videos as part of results as well as the ones actually hosted on Google Video.

Distraction rating of 10 out of 10!

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How to Run a Good Competition - Part 3: The Aftermath

Nick Sullivan — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:33:33 +0000

Part 1 here, Part 2 here.

This is the third and final part of my How to Run a Good Competition post series.

So far I’ve covered the planning and excution of a good competition. Now let’s discuss the aftermath so to speak.

What is a competition aftermath?

To me, the aftermath of a competition is the most crucial part other than the execution. If you don’t handle the aftermath correctly then you stand to lose basically everyone who subscribed just for the competition.

There are a lot of people who will subscribe purely for the chance to win a prize, some who will because they like your blog / content as well and some who do it based on a bit of both factors.

Problem is, a lot of the time, the people who just subscribe purely for the chance to win a prize often only glance your blog to check for competition updates and pay no attention to content.

This is where good execution comes in too. Because these people will be checking all the time to see if they’ve won, this is your chance to win them over, so make sure your content is on top form during the competition as well.

How to handle a competition aftermath

I’ve only held a few competitions on this blog, I think… 3. All 3 have yeilded some nice results and subscriber increases and I’ve managed to keep… I’d say… 80ish % of all subscribers from competitions. Which I don’t think is too bad as a lot of bloggers tend to lose about 60% of all who subscribe for competition purposes.

Anyway, it’s not rocket science to know what to do to keep those subscibers. Just post, a lot. But you need to be on the top of your game, think out unique posts then differenciate you from the norm to keep the not yet loyal subscibers; Loyal.

Other than this, link to the winner’s sites if they have one. They will appreciate the backlink and are much more likely to stick around as I’m sure that Incoming link in their WP-Admin Dashboard will remind them of you.

That’s pretty much it. Not much else to say on this final side subject.

So, that concludes this post series. How to Run a Good Competition.

As I start to make more posts into series as this blog goes on, I’ll put links up to the individual series to make for nice, accessable, easy read content.

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Has John Cow Secretly Departed?

Nick Sullivan — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:27:50 +0000

A lot of people who obsessively read mock impersonator John Cow (for which I am not one to be honest) Are aware that Mr Cow recently put the blog up for sale. If I remember rightly he was asking in the region of $50k.

I think ‘Bob’ (blog owner’s real name… I think) Needed the money as he mentioned he’s moving to Australia so needed some quick funding. The site was listed on Sitepoint and put up on DP. Bob gave us the impression that it didn’t sell in a short follow up post about the sale; Saying numerous buyers had not followed through.

A little while after and I’m strangely suspicious given the sort of ‘new nature’ of the posts. Everything sort of seems normal and there has been no official announcement saying the blog has been sold (as far as I’m aware) But posts seem to be a little different.

I do glance through Cow’s posts on occasion as they can often be interesting / witty but lately I’m left with a strange feeling of unfamiliarity. Is it just me or does the recognizable writing style for which Cow was affiliated with seem to be… slightly missing.

As well as an odd feeling concerning a lack of the usual literary magic, there also seems to be more posts about advertising, more reviews, a few 125 ads available (unusual for Cow) and the blog seems to have lost a bit of the usual ‘fun’.

There are also slightly new structures to posts, with similar picture insertion cuttings, and the writing seems to be much more formal. I’m slightly inclined to the possibility that a new owner may be present, attempting to keep up the norm with rigorous cow puns every now n’ then.

Some times new owners of blogs with a definitive owner can be victims of odd, vigorous comment / blogesphere abuse. Can’t think of any off hand but I think there has been a few cases.

Anyone else conform to the notion that maybe Mr Cow has sneakily left our presence, allowing the new owner to take place discreetly?

John / Bob / New owner, if you read this, let us know!

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PayPal Seller Demolition

Nick Sullivan — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:48:29 +0000

I’m writing this post due to a recent incident on PayPal which I feel was unfair towards me; The seller.

I recently sold a laptop for £500 ($1,000) to someone online, that person sent me the payment via PayPal and then came and picked up the laptop by hand (locally).

Oblivious to thinking this guy might be a scammer, I didn’t think anything of that as he had already sent me the payment so what did it matter.

Anyway, a few days later I saw a dispute on my PayPal account. This wasn’t raised by the ‘buyer’ supposedly but by PayPal themselves. They obviously have some automated systems to detect fraud etc. Now, the dispute was that they thought the payment itself aka the money may have been stolen; Sent from a stolen credit card on a hacked account to be exact.

Understandably PayPal want proof from the seller to prove the item was sent / handed over. Given that I didn’t sell this via eBay or postage this was impossible for me. What proof could I provide that I handed somebody over a laptop… I think this is a little bias from PayPal. To only accept postage tracking as proof is a bit unfair as there are some things that you cannot provide tracking for. For example; Digital items, I have sold digital items in the past and obviously because this is done online, you cannot provide tracking because you haven’t posted anything. Also pickups as in this case.

I can obviously see it from PayPal’s perspective in that they only cover people who sell with recorded delivery of items and do not cover sellers who do pickups or digital items… so they say although I don’t remember reading that. Anyway, even if that is right, I think their system is flawed. Anybody could just buy something off eBay - go pick it up locally and then raise a claim saying they didn’t get the item. And PayPal saying they will investigate is pointless as the ‘buyer’ will always win in that case because it’s impossible for the seller who sold by hand to provide tracking information.

I think they should really take everything into account. For a start, I have been a PayPal member for well over 2 years so surely hundreds of successful transactions back and forth with no complaints should count for something? That itself proves I am legitimate. So if they believe whoever sent me this payment stole that money; Why not go after him? If they can’t find him, that’s their problem, how was I to know this guy stole the money he sent me via their service.

Despite everything, I lost the case (inevitably) and the unfortunate thing is I had already spent the £500 by the time I saw the dispute. So as a resolution PayPal have reversed the payment and given that I have already handed over the laptop to a buyer which is long gone and spent the £500, I’m £500 in debt thanks to someone elses crime and PayPal’s incompetency.

Why should I be punished because somebody else stole money. A scammer with no track record gets a free laptop and no action against him and I get £500 into debt… that’s justice (NOT). That’s like somebody getting mugged on the street; The mugger getting rewarded and the victim getting charged.

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SEO is Easy

Nick Sullivan — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:04:32 +0000

I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about SEO; What it is and how hard it is.

Personally I just see it as following rules and never like to admit people as experts on it as it’s always changing and I don’t think it’s hard enough a field to have experts in.

I’ve always done fine in search engines and have never needed to get an ‘expert’ to use their special powers to do it for me. It’s literally as simple as following instructions. As long as you keep up with what’s good and what’s not, it’s all good.

Some basic SEO pointers from a non-SEO-expert:

Write clear, descriptive, keyword friendly page titles. Never compromise viral ability or site integrity for search results though.
Write short, effectively distinguishable, relevant META tags.
Write quality content. If you can, fit keywords naturally into your rhythm but again, don’t force it. If it happens or, you can make it happen naturally, do it. But great content will result in great backlinks, which in the long run are much better practice for your SEO.
Use no-follow on links you do not trust or links you do not feel are relevant. But in my opinion, if you have to use no-follow, why are you linking that link anyway? I only ever link to relevant sites or sites that I deem trustworthy quality.
Use image tags on all your images. I have found images to be pretty effective SEO wise. On one of my first posts I was the very first Google Image result for ‘YouTube Logo’ in a post about YouTube. Just because I used that as the image title tag. I foolishly changed this image and I never got that position back but on some of my other sites, I cover a lot of the first few pages of Google Images with image results for decent, relevant keywords.
Use a redirect on your URL to have it point to one only; It should only ever point to http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com so that if someone types one of them, it will go to the other. If you don’t do this then search engines will treat your 1 domain as 2 domains; Defining http://www.yoursite.com and http://yoursite.comas separate sites. This isn’t good, you will get different pageranks and it will weaken the overall SEO effect of your site.
Do NOT make any paid posts or sell links, Google will punish you. If you don’t care about PR, as I don’t, don’t worry. But if you do and you do either of these, expect a bitchslap from Google.

Moral of the story is, don’t pay anyone to do your SEO. It’s not worth it. A lot of so called ‘experts’ charge ridiculous amounts per hour to do easy work, stuff you could do yourself with minimal effort.

There are some legitimately good SEO people out there such as Aaron Wall - creator of the SEO Book. He genuinely knows a lot about SEO and I believe he genuinely likes to promote the development of it and help the knowledge of it grow amongst webmasters. I own his SEO Book and it’s definitely the best stuff I’ve read on the subject. That being said, there wasn’t too much in there that I didn’t know or wouldn’t deem easily findable for free. But, it’s still a very nice SEO guide and collection of links and helpful tips. I recommend reading it just for the knowledge expansion.

I know this title is a little provoking as there are a lot of people who base their careers on this subject and me saying ‘It’s easy’ does sound a little disrespectful. I don’t mean it to be perceived quite like that though, I just mean; It’s really not as hard as you may think and with a little research and effort, you can be a self-proclaimed expert on it much easier than you could be…. an affiliate expert.

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Internet Babel - Babel on the Internet

Market Leverage Goodies

Popular Posts

PublisherSpot.com Review

Popular Posts

My Blog Value - Worst Blog Evaluator Ever!

Popular Posts

Digital Point Forums Down

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Video Interview with Tyler Cruz

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Top 5 Distractions on the Web

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How to Run a Good Competition - Part 3: The Aftermath

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Has John Cow Secretly Departed?

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PayPal Seller Demolition

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SEO is Easy

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