Successful Blog

Link Leak Virus Attack and a New Record Is Set!

by

Tueday Comment Night Hits 464 Comments

Yeah, there we were. It was open comment night. Lots of new friends had come to see what the whole thing was about. We were chatting our hearts out about everything we could think of when . . . The deadly link Leak virus hit again. The Link Leak Virus is a special strain of the indie virus with blogtipping mutations that occur in threes.

Cool links were shared.

Then there were the weird things that we talked about. [Read more…]

Content or Copy: Ignore the Difference at Your Own Risk

by

The Pigeons and the Preacher?

Power Writing Series Logo

When we were first married, my husband I were walking through a city park. The lawn was filled with pigeons. He voiced the most unusual thought. “Why are pigeons always the same size?” he said. “What if they are all baby pigeons and a great mother pigeon lives up on the roof of one of those buildings?”

Shortly thereafter we passed a young man in scruffy clothes who told us that the world was ending. He asked us to change the way we were living. He offered us the reasons and joys of how living his way would make our lives wonderful and give us peace forever. I wondered whether he’d heard the conversation about the pigeons.

If the two messages had been written as text–one would be content; the other would be copy.

Do know see the difference? I don’t mean to hold you hostage. But ignore the difference at your own risk. [Read more…]

Net Neutrality 8-9-2006

by

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Reader Comment on Net Neutrality (and My Rebuttal)

Reader Richard Bennett, whose own blog often articulates the telco point of view on Internet Neutrality more coherently than most telcos, posted a challenging comment to my post announcing that I’m speaking at the Berkman Center tomorrow. . . .

“* Do you believe that all applications have the same requirements from the network?”

. . . The reason we need an Internet which is network agnostic is because only an application-unaware network allows the kind of incredible innovation which has occurred on the Internet. David Isenberg (who Richard [Bennett] mislabels on his blog as a marketing person – David’s background is Bell Labs) explains why this is so brilliantly in The Rise of The Stupid Network).

My simplistic explanation is that a network which is built to be aware of specific applications may work well for those applications that the network designers had in mind but will inhibit if not absolutely prevent applications the network designers didn’t think of as well as the evolution of existing applications. The traditional phone network is a great example of that. Handsets on that network don’t even have the capability of cell phones because the network is optimized for voice and voice alone. I posted more on this here. . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

The Mic Is on at the Neighborhood Hangout

by

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

Here’s how it works.

open mike night

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Tonight we’re hanging out!

Saloon Opening Day

We might also talk about

  • The people we meet
  • The places we where we used to hang out
  • The weirdest hangouts
  • The crazy people in them

AND THE EVER POPULAR,

Basil the code-writing donkey.

–Me “Liz” Strauss

Related article
The Mic is on and We’re in OZ!

Open Mic 7pm Chicago Time — at the Neighborhood Hangout

by

Every Neighborhood Worth Its Salt Has One

Personal Branding logo

YES, the mic will be open again tonight. So start collecting your thoughts. Remember, you get to bring what you want to talk about.

The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about.

Tonight we’re hanging out!

We might also talk about

  • The people we meet
  • The places we used to hang out
  • The weirdest hangouts
  • The crazy people in them

AND THE EVER POPULAR,

Basil the code-writing donkey.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.

And we’ll be in your favorite neighborhood hangout — drinks are optional.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
The Mic is on and We’re in OZ!

A 30-Second Tactical Guide to Adsense

by

by James Martin

New Blogger Logo

So you’ve started a nice new blog, you have a funky domain, some content and you’re all up and running. A few weeks later you magically come across a blog by the name of ProBlogger run by Darren Rowse. You find out that he works from home and earns a very respectable income from blogging.

Your mind goes into overdrive, maybe I can earn money from my blog – but how does he do it?

For you Successful-Blog readers, I’m going to briefly delve into the wonderful world of Adsense.

WARNING – this covers a very basic guide, however I will reveal a few tactics that you may be unaware of…

Introduction to Adsense

Adsense is a publisher’s god send. Google Adsense is a contextual advertising system that allows publishers (people who own/run websites, blogs) to place advertisements on their site. When people click an advert, the publisher will be paid for that click.

Signing up is easy; however you must have an already established website with real content. Click here to signup for Google Adsense.

Once your site has been approved you will be able to select an advert type, color and shape. Below I will list some tips that you should try and stick to when choosing these options.

What works:

    1) Blend the ad into your content as much as you can. If your blog background color is white, make your advert background color and border white as well.

    2) When considering a “link color”, try making it the same link color as the links found on your blog. If your blog has links in the content, what color are they? Apply the same color to your Adsense adverts.

    3) If you’re unsure about what color to use for links, stick with blue. It’s a standard across the web and when people see text that’s blue, it screams “click me”.

    4) Location is important as a well placed advert can be the key to success. 468×60 adverts work well above your blog content; horizontal link units work well too.

    5) Another 468×60 advert works well under the first post, click here to learn how to place an advert under your first blog post. (WordPress only!)

What doesn’t work:

    1) Skyscraper adverts don’t work too well on a blogs sidebar; they just scream “I’m an ad!” and generally don’t attract much attention.

    2) Ads with borders. Though some people have success with them, the majority don’t. You could always test it, on one week, off the other.

    3) Bright, ugly colors. Don’t go there.

Big No-no’s

    1) NEVER click your own adverts. This is a big no-no and Google have devices in place to detect fraudulent clicks.

    2) Never ask your readers to “click on your adverts”, or have headings that state “please click my ads to support this site”. This is strictly forbidden as per Google’s terms of service.

How much will I earn?

The question that gets asked the most is how much will I earn or how much should I be earning. The trick to this question is that different content will receive a different CPM. (Cost per thousand impressions). There are keywords that will attract a higher CPM, while others won’t.

There are people who write content specifically designed to include high paying keywords as to attract higher earnings. But that is a whole new story and generally isn’t considered true blogging as the user is publishing content made for Adsense, and not the readers.

The general consensus is to create content that is valuable and useful to REAL surfers. MFA (made for Adsense) content won’t make you rich overnight and with so much competition, you’re better off creating real content that you love writing about.

I’m sure Liz will agree 🙂

James “Jamsi” Martin

__________
Check out James’ blog, Workboxers. His approach to business blogging is refreshing, inquisitive, and intelligent. Workboxers a great read, packed with information in the right size nuggets. I always catch myself remembering his posts long after I’ve read them.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Want to Be a Guest Writer?