"Yahoo ads"

Interesting to note yahoo will be doing ads much like google do at the moment.
I hadn't kept up to date with all this as I have had so much to get on with, but with the fact that yahoo may use ads without the little "ads by yahoo" as google do, it could be an interesting alternative to google.

While google state in the TOS that they are not happy to have their ads on pages with competing ads, such as yahoo would be, I feel it is a bit rich for them to make a statement like that!
Who are they to tell website owners what ads to have on their sites?
A bit of competition would be good for them.

The fact is, while adsense can be great for some, it depends on the traffic you get, and for those with less than several thousand hits a day it is hard work getting a good return on adsense.

What other company would you work for, and promote where you couldn't even know what you really earn?
I mean the stats and such IS vague at best.
You can't really know hat the % is earn for each ad or word, well I can't anyway. :(

If yahoo provide a good alternative to this, they could grab a huge slice of the share here.
I for one will consider it, if only just to find out how it compares, and if it does better, well obviously I'll keep it!

Google have improved lots in the service they provide with adsense, like real time stats etc, but I feel there is still more that could be improved on, they need to help the little guys who are getting going, as it is its the high traffic sites that benefit most, the ones that are probably already earning lots, and would continue to earn even without the adsense.
And traffic takes time to build.

So, if yahoo provide a better system where it actually helps the little guys more, so they see a quicker return for it, they will no doubt end up being kept on those sites.
A system where they can generate traffic for the little guys would be a good start.

What do you think?

"Portland bill"

"There is no where quite like it"

I hope to share some nuggets we have here on Portland.
Most of you will have at least heard of Portland, or Portland bill.
Famous more for the stone than anything else.

But hey, I realised that most people, even when they come here miss most of the REAL gems here. So hows that to help my marketing?
What am I doing?

Most of my domains centre around Portland, so I feel having a "Portland blog" will help with the overall plans and sites I will have.
Creating a small web of sites around one centre peice will I hope increase the popularity of it to those that are here.

The forum for instance I hope that the locals (once word gets about) will make this the online version of the offline world we know.
Somewhere locals can interact.
If the other sites funnel the visitors towards my forum, I'll be happy. :)

What do you think of the site?

Its UNIQUE!

Opinions would be welcome.

"Blog+traffic"

A harsh but timely lesson for me, and one I feel will also be of interest to you.
Blogs as you know I think are great, they can be started free, by anyone, and used for almost any topic.
They have a great advantage over static sites, and that is they are updated far more often, so get spidered by the search engines far better and faster.

They also give you a great start on the writing curve, lets face it you NEED to know how to write to really maximize things, ok you can get blogs done for you, or post other peoples articles.. but to really benefit online, it's best to at LEAST try to write.
That way you have far more options, and can always get something on there.

But hey it is NOT all plain sailing... I have learnt that the traffic can drop alot if the blog is not kept up to date, and the harsh reality is, if you only have a blogs, you need to always keep posting.

But thats not the dream people sell!!

Automation is the dream they sell.....

So are blogs hard work?.... They can be.
But if you do keep up to date, and stick to it, the rewards can be great.
A regular stream of readers, and a growing pr with the search engines.

But the lesson for me was to NOT have all eggs in one basket.
Thats part of the reason I started new blogs, and am building sites.

Relying on just one blog, can be very risky, having several blogs, in different targetted niches means you have a much better chance of keeping at least some of the traffic, and commissions, sales coming in.

Blogs are great, I mean, it is a free website for you to "get your feet wet", what more can you ask for?

A lesson I am glad to realise.

Take care.
Rob