Blog Begging or Donations?

It's probably a thorny question, so I thought I'd run a quick poll on the whole "donation" question, particularly since the rise of plugins like "Buy Me A Beer" and "Buy Me A Coffee". With certain high profile bloggers using the plugin and a lot of others following suit, what do you think? Is it tasteful, acceptable, horrible, does it put you off the blogger? Are these plugins better than a straight "donate" Paypal button? Are they just a bit of fun? 

Bumpzee Sphinn and Kontrib

I've had an interesting few days familiarizing myself with three new (to me) places on the web. Everyone is familiar with social news and networking sites and there are plenty of them out there. If you have never had any success with Digg for example, but can appreciate the concept, these sites might well be worth visiting. 

I've never been a fan of Digg, and in view of what I write about on this blog, it's not a suitable place for my scribblings. As a result I've never really attempted to make much use of it, and, when I did, the results were particularly unspectacular. Along with the rise of Digg have come the gamers and elitist attitudes and it strikes me that "social" aspect of Digg is certainly not part of its appeal. Of course, I'm far from the first to come to this realization and Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land recently launched a new site called Sphinn which I mentioned a couple of days ago.

Three Months Roundup At The Cayman Host

As another month draws to a close,and particularly as this domain has reached its three month birthday, I've decided to do a brief synopsis of the past month as it's been for this blogger. (Maybe a regular feature in future months, we'll see). If you've not visited before, please have a look around and subscribe to our feed. 

During July I dealt with a variety of issues on these pages, starting out with a rant about hopeless affiliates and ending with one about intrusive video and audio selling. (I blame the heat and humidity for my temporary loss of control). I looked at the causes and effect of blog comment and trackback spam and what you can do to fight off the spammers. We met a pair of Adsense big hitters who came to grief, and pondered the manner in which Google has become such an integral part of the internet. I looked at RSS, some of its benefits and drawbacks and how to get the best from it. There was another semi-rant about sponsored blogging in there somewhere too. We looked at various tools and programs from free to expensive, all of which I hope can contribute to your online productivity and success and also at various companies whose services I felt might contribute to your online experience in positive ways. We had a stampede of Google Cash Detective visitors - I hope that having given it a mention before its launch, that I have at least been able to provide some useful information for those visitors.  We also looked a little at some things that went on behind the scenes. If you missed anything check out the July Archives

Annoying Video And Audio Marketing

Today seems like as good a time as any for a mini rant, and I've been mulling over the subject of video on the web for some time. In short, I hate it. I hate it for a few reasons, some of which are rational and others completely irrational. So, where to begin? Perhaps a little scene setting would be beneficial. 

I'm very lucky to be able to say that I don't have a regular J.O.B. and this means that I sit at home and do my work online. I'm also very lucky to spend my days on a beautiful island in the Caribbean, and on a bright, sunny day, with a tropical breeze wafting through the window, I like to play selections from my huge catalog of digital music through the speakers on my PC as I work. What I really don't need is a sudden burst of sound from some thoughtless cretin who decides to embed an auto playing streaming video or audio file into a web page. I hate the intrusion so much and think it demonstrates a total lack of common courtesy on behalf of the idiot who put it out there. The sad fact is that a lot of the people responsible for this ill mannered and thoughtless approach are so called "marketers". It's dumb, it doesn't work, it puts people's noses out of joint and it will not work towards getting your message over.

Google Cash Detective Much Needed Update

Since the original official launch of GCD, the problems that followed and now the release of another 500 copies, I have been seeing a lot of visitors to these pages, many, I imagine, looking for help with hosting, installation of the script and/or other difficulties. I just wanted to put a quick post up to try and direct people to a couple of places where they are more likely to find help with Google Cash Detective. Once commentator has already left details of the Unofficial GCD Forum on another of my posts here and there have also been discussions at the Digital Point Forum. 

There is also some information and discussions that have been going on over at Work Boxers on a couple of posts. Google Adwords Keyword Tool and GCD versus AdspyPro plus another interesting post entitled Opposition Rising Against......

Alexa Is Seriously Flawed

But, things are set to change, and hopefully for the better. 

Alexa rankings are considered quite authoritative when it comes to judging a sites popularity, particularly by advertisers, which is interesting for a number of reasons. Until recently, the Alexa Toolbar was only available for Internet Explorer users, which meant that only visitors using Microsoft's browser in conjunction with the Alexa toolbar counted towards a site's traffic statistics. As we all know, Firefox has steadily gained ground on the IE army, to the point where it's use is as widespread as the previous king of the browser jungle, if not more amongst savvy web users. My own statistics certainly reflect far more Firefox users than IE and I am certainly not alone in this.

Roboform Increases Blogging Productivity

The old saying is that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so, I'm not working too hard today and thought I'd share a quick productivity tip. We all like time saving ideas and this one is a veritable boon for my online activities. I was prompted to post this after reading a blog comment from an obviously savvy blogger bemoaning the difficulty of remembering multiple passwords. Well, 18 million people overcame that with this excellent piece of software.

Life Before and After Google

I came across an interesting blog post today about one man's experiment to see if he could live without Google. I suppose I should clarify that because on the face of it makes the writer sound more than a little sad, but it is actually a quite thought provoking piece and not for once a Google bashing rant. You can read about Jimmy's Life Without Google here. 

I remember when I first went online with my 14.4K modem and a service provider who charged a monthly fee and call charges from my phone services at some ridiculous rate per minute. Ah, those were the days......

Website Translation, Feed Subscriptions, Blog Maintenance

I've spent the last day or so cleaning house in my corner of the blogosphere. If you are a blogger like me who employs no staff and have to roll up your sleeves and do everything for yourself, you will understand that periodic site maintenance is an unavoidable part of the whole publishing experience. 

I realized that in the short time this blog has been running, things were starting to look untidy, overcrowded and just too "busy". As a blogger it is often tempting to sign up for every fad, fashion or fancy that catches your eye on other pages. If you succumb, you will often find yourself with an unappealing mess and you don't need to be a design wizard to see it as such.

Niche Marketing Keyword Tools

Affiliate marketers all know about niche marketing and the need for good keyword research and there are several tools available to help find those all important keyphrases. As the use of Google Adwords has become more and more widespread we have been bombarded with e-books, software and scripts claiming to simplify the process of making large amounts of money with pay per click advertising. There is no doubt that the level of interest in these types of offering are at an all time high, but are they worth spending your hard earned money on........?

RSS Feeds And Content Scraping

The advent of RSS feeds has perhaps been both a boon and a curse for webmasters and internet users. The ability to distribute content quickly and easily has to be a great thing for site owners, and in turn has made it far more accessible and simple to organize for internet users. 

As with so many internet technologies however, RSS also has the ability to cause a lot of bad blood because it makes "stealing" other people's content so much easier. Indeed there have been, and will continue to be, many unscrupulous people quite prepared to use RSS not only to steal content but also to profit from it. There are plenty of  website owners up in arms about this, viewing it as outright theft.

Feedburner FeedFlares Wordpress Plugins Nucleus Madness!

It's been a frustrating day here in the Cayman Islands but the causes of the frustration have at least given me a little something to blog about! 

Since becoming part of the Google empire there have already been some changes over at Feedburner. One of the most positive is that they have made the previously pro only stats available to all users. I finally decided to pop over and update all my feeds and have a play around with the new stats, and this is where the frustrations began..........

Choosing A Broadband Provider

We sometimes come across an advertiser who we feel genuinely deserves a little extra by way of promotion and decided to share with you the services of BroadbandNational on these pages. 

If you’re looking for a new broadband service provider in the U.S. and really don’t know where to begin we think you will find BroadbandNational the most useful place on the web in helping you decide. 

We say this because they offer a true one stop shop for a  vast range of broadband services where consumers and businesses can make objective comparisons and and get the best deals on high speed internet, Cable, and Digital Phone service for their geographic area. Visitors can compare services by carrier, by product or by specific needs and requirements, making for an excellent help guide in choosing what suits them best. 

The site is easy to navigate and simple to use, and we believe provides an extremely useful service. Pay them a visit and see for yourself, whether you are a first time buyer of this kind of service or someone looking for a better provider, the reviews and comparisons are unbiased and can be trusted to provide you with the information you need before settling on a given service, and something we promote with complete confidence. 

Sponsored Blog Posts

There has been a debate raging over sponsored blogging since it first made an appearance and it doesn't look likely to go  away anytime soon. It has grown into a very high brow discussion of "ethics" and the waters have become so muddied it's very difficult to see who is right or wrong or even if those two standpoints have any validity. Many of the original critics who failed to sink companies offering sponsored posting opportunities to bloggers, rallied after their initial failure to announce that they now believed that anyone being paid to post on their blog should disclose the fact clearly and transparently on each and every such post, and so, our ethical guardians continue to draw attention to themselves and their often hypocritical standpoints. Many of the "anti-brigade", class themselves as "journalists" and pontificate loudly from their "holier than thou" pulpits about ethics, morality, transparency, disclosure, rules of journalism etc etc. and get so caught up in their ravings that they miss the point that the vast majority of bloggers are not professionals and as such are not bound by any "code of practice" either verbal or written. Why do they believe they have any more right to "control" the internet or blogosphere than anyone else?........

Blog Spam Update

Just a quick update on the recent blog comment and trackback spam posts. 

Since installing captcha on both Wordpress and Nucleus blogs, comment spam has been virtually eliminated - for now. Akismet is no longer having to deal with several hundred spam comments a week and I'm no longer having to manually delete them from either of my blogs. I know captchas are unpopular with many readers, but, if a blog owners wants commenting to remain they really are a necessary evil.

Trackback spam continues to arrive and get blocked and I dare say it will probably continue to rise!

Interestingly, since posting about this, I came across a very enlightening piece entitled Interview With A Link Spammer which gives you some idea of what you are up against with serious blog spammers, and just what their motivation is.

You may also like to read up on a new "service" called BuyBlogComments which on the face of it is just another service to help people spam blogs with dubious comments aimed solely at increasing Google Page rank. (potential buyers of such a service will doubtless be unaware of the developments at Google to tighten up on the effect paid / sponsored links have on page rank). Both Darren Rowse at ProBlogger and Josh Catone at Read/Write Web have already expressed their reservations. I won't add my opinions on the  service, there are plenty enough of them already so you can draw your own conclusions.

I think Google need to look seriously at abandoning the whole page rank system, perhaps removing it from the public eye altogether. Many bloggers are unhappy with the rel=nofollow attribute which is really a bodge job introduced by Google to try and combat a problem of their own making. We shall watch developments with interest.

 TCH

Remember - For Email Spam Report Them Via SpamCop.net

Google Adsense Stories

A short while ago on this blog I made mention of some of the advertising alternatives available to publishers. The thrust of that post was that whilst Google Adsense is a leading light for publishers, you should never put all your eggs in one basket. 

The wisdom of this has been harshly illustrated by a story from a publisher who has recently fallen foul of Google's rules at a cost to the publisher of around $200,000.  It is staggering to realize that there are indeed websites out there generating six figure monthly Adsense revenues - sure you hear a lot of claims but to see a publisher of such magnitude publicly publish their Google banning is unusual to say the least. Tales from people who have been kicked out of Adsense are commonplace, but rarely will you see one of this nature.

Blog Comment and Trackback Spam (Part 3)

Now for the third and final post dealing with blog comment and trackback spam, which looks at some of the best ways to deal with it, enabling you to get on with the task of running your blog. No matter how much or how little you are bothered by this kind of invasion of your blog's real estate, it should never be underestimated. If you are new to blogging, regardless of the platform you use, you will fall victim  - it usually takes a few weeks before the spammers start to find you and if you take no action, within a couple of months your blog will soon be overrun. 

Once upon a time, using a simple .htaccess file could suffice for blocking the IP's of spammers but realistically it now involves far too much time and work and is not a very effective measure to use now that there are so many better and easier options........

Blog Comment and Trackback Spam (Part 2)

Having looked at the problem of comment and trackback spam the other day I was bombarded both here and on another blog with a flood of spamming which seemed rather ironic, but I long ago ceased to be surprised by the influx of this rubbish. As a blogger or webmaster it's just a fact of life and there are many ways to deal with it. 

The thing that makes me laugh is that the people behind the spam are often hopelessly ignorant and don't realize just how much time they are wasting. Certainly the more savvy spammer is a tricky opponent but a vast number of those sending out this junk honestly think that they will  generate traffic and make sales through their efforts. If you have a list of email addresses it doesn't matter how big that list may be if 98% of them are undeliverable, and likewise, you can have thousands of blog URL's and maybe get your ridiculous comments posted on a tiny fraction of them. Many of those will soon be deleted once the owner catches on, leaving you with probably a handful of places where your link has been planted and an even lesser number of likely clicks on your blatant ad for pills or whatever it is you're peddling this week.......

It's Independence Day

We couldn't let the 4th of July go by without some sort of mention so happy holidays to everyone, enjoy it to the full! 

Traffic is usually down on public holidays, just like weekends, and it's only right that people should be spending their time elsewhere than on a computer. Of course, in our little corner of the world it's not a public hoilday, but the sun is shining and a balmy breeze is wafting in from the Caribbean, making it feel just like a holiday should - in fact, I'm going to give up on working for today and head to the beach! 

Just before I do though, I promised a mention to someone and today seemed the appropriate time to do so, particularly as they blogged about Independence Day too and it's a time to celebrate. I'm actually celebrating an unusual event - a forum owner for whom it is not unknown to reward contributors with virtual hugs - yes, it's no word of a lie, and if that's not enough, we're  talking about one of the best affiliate marketing forums on the web today. If you are in any way involved in affiliate marketing, or thinking about becoming involved, the 5Star Affiliate Marketing Forums are not to be missed. 

Happy Independence Day Linda! (The Forum Hugger) and owner of 5Star Affiliate Forums

TCH 

Blog Comment and Trackback Spam (Part 1)

Any blogger nowadays is faced with the irritation of comment and trackback spam. Fortunately there are more and more anti-spam measures available to us, but the fact remains that there are so many spammers out there, it will always be a thorn in the side of bloggers and despite the anti spam tools available, it still makes for extra work and time that could be far better spent on other things. So, where does it come from and what defences does a blogger have in the face of this relentless onslaught of spam? This is a huge subject with both the spammers and the defenders devising ever more sophisticated ways of defeating one another - a single blog post cannot cover all the ground, so we will try to look at subjects individually as time goes by...................

Affiliate Marketing Just Gets Tougher

This is a bit of a rant so I apologize in advance. Why are there so many trying to play the affiliate marketing game these days and why are they just flat out unprincipled? I know affiliates are trying to earn money, I know it's not as simple as a lot of people would have you believe, but is that really any reason to behave the way some of these people do? 

I was at a community site today, a place where users can post questions about almost any subject and fellow users can share their knowledge. It's a great idea and the abuse potential is of course huge. The biggest offenders - affiliates, so called.