Posts Tagged "Internet"

I posted before about my experience with the iPad when my macbook was out of commission. Now that the full cycle has occurred – had macbook, was without macbook, have macbook back – I can say again that the iPad is 90% there but for efficiency in more power user projects, I definitely gravitate to the macbook. In some cases, I really have no choice, in others, its just easier as a whole to do them on the macbook. Example, blogs, I’m writing this blog on my macbook. Initially I grabbed my ipad and bluetooth keyboard, ready for a session with Blogsy (my chosen – and paid for – blog writing IOS app). Then I thought, Oh, my macbook is good to go, how about I use that. Why? couple of reasons: bigger screen, larger ‘desktop’...

So I said i would follow up on the quest for website monetization. Though as you’ll notice there are currently no ads on my site. I made 59 cents (finalized) last month (December). I didn’t have the ads up that whole time, nor were they optimized in the slightest for visibility. I’m guessing I might be able to tweak it to get up to $1 per month but since I only run a personal blog, its not the sort of thing where I’ll make thousands of dollars. For that you really need thousands of visitors and better and more well placed ads. For me, especially for the size of readership I’m at (which is just friends and family mainly) the clutter and bother of adsense outweighs the $12 annually that it brings in. I have other things that help me pay...

I browse used sites a lot, usedpei.com, kijiji.ca, ebay etc.  So many times I see details missing, or just a really bad ad.  Here are some basic rules if you want to sell something online:   pictures, always have at LEAST 1 image. Preferably 3 from different angles and more depending on what it is. And have a decent resolution image, not a phone cam image or some other grainy image. People need to see what their potentially buying clearly.  Make sure you accept email correspondence. If the ad is online, you should be able to electronically contact the seller. Often people just put phone numbers. While phone is faster if you REALLY want it, its nice to have an email for record, corresponance, e mailing of more pics / info. Which brings me to...

An intriguing option came up on youtube recently, a beta program to monetize regular posted content. I really don’t like sites with lots of ads… having said that, I don’t really notice them anymore, when i see anything that looks like an ad, I skip over it, quickly scrolling and scanning for the content that I was looking for. The allure of what seems like free money is tantalizing though, can i make enough money to pay for my site? Is it worth the stigma of having ad supported sites? Wouldn’t it be great if the website supported itself, paid for its own hosting? As I read up on it, you basically need a LOT of content and a LOT of hits, page views of the allusive click through of the ads to make any money. And for hits / views you need them...

I am SO old that:- I remember having to walk up to the television to change the channel- I remember when we had one single rotary dial phone in the kitchen with no answering machine and we would all need to take turns to use it and ask specifically for someone on the other end (and it took forever to dial a 10 digit number that had lots of digits above 5)- I remember when we had to wash dishes by hand, ALL of them and it was our chore after each meal to wash them- I remember when windows in cars were rolled down by hand and to lock a car, you had to open each door and push the knob down manually- I remember when the internet was a 14.4 modem connected to the Beaverton BBS and talking to the SYSOP was the highlight of the ‘online’ adventure!- I...