Monthly Archives: March 2008

Affiliate Marketing

Amazon contextual advertising goes wrong

Leave a comment

Amazon may be the daddies of affiliates and have some of the best affiliate tools on the web, but sometimes they just get it wrong, wrong, wrong. The beauty of having a blog that allows comments is that whenever someone adds a comment it adds content to your website. With affiliate programs like Adsense and Amazon you can use this content to generate affiliate links, which in turn generates money for you (or in this instance, me).

However, sometimes the words on your website left by commentators aren’t always the sort of words that lend themselves to affiliate links… that is of course, until Amazon’s contextual advertising kicks in and picks out some utterly random and bizarre phrases.

For some reason Amazon has automatically picked out the phrase ‘bunch of complete twats’ from one of the comments left on my blog, and has linked it to the product of the Brady Bunch on DVD.

Amazon

Why would Amazon have done this? Is the word ‘bunch’ sufficient for Amazon to pick out the product? Has someone at Amazon inserted the keywords ‘bunch’ and ‘twats’ together in the product entry for the Brady Bunch?

Whatever the reason, I don’t think I’m going to get any conversions from this particular link from Amazon.

Movies

St Patrick’s Day

Leave a comment

I may not be Irish, but for some reason I always find time to celebrate St Patrick’s Day with a fervent passion. I guess I just feel for my Irish cousins that their day should be respected and enjoyed by all.

Either that, or I just like getting absolutely wasted.

Anyhow, it’s just around the corner and in its honour here’s a piss take on the classic Guinness ‘dominoes’ advert.

Internet

1and1 Internet down again

9 Comments

Inconsistent hosting provider 1and1 Internet are once again down. I have several hosting packages with them, including a dedicated server, and one of the servers seems to be down giving the following message on every website:

Error establishing a database connection

The FTP works fine so it looks like the MySQL database is down. This is always bad because 1and1 have notoriously poor customer service. Sure enough any effort to contact them on 0871 641 21 21 results in an engaged tone, whether I press 1 for products and services, 2 for Hosting, 3 for dedicated server… whatever.

Another reason not to use 1and1. They’re technology is fine so long as you never need their support.

/Update

I just got through to 1and1 Internet only to hear a recorded message… on their sales line no less!!

The message said:

All of our operators are busy, please call back later. Goodbye.

I don’t believe the shitness of that. Well done 1and1 Internet, you guys are awesome!

Google, Torfaen Council

Deb Smith of Torfaen Council sorts out my Council Tax

Leave a comment

If you remember the problems I had with my council tax a while back, and that Torfaen Council actually contacted me after finding this blog on page 1 of Google for a search on Torfaen Council you’ll be interested in the updates.

The news is good. Deb Smith has accepted that as I couldn’t enter my own house due to my ex-wife changing the locks and the fact that the judge had placed a court order barring anything from being removed from the house Torfaen Council have accepted that I’m not liable for the council tax during that period.

This is good to know, and I’d like to thank Deb for sorting this out. Once again the power of the Internet comes good.

Incidentally, this site now occupies positions 3 and 4 for ‘Torfaen Council’ in Google, beaten only by Torfaen Council’s own website.

Not bad eh?

General

Happy Birthday Casey Jamieson

1 Comment

My youngest son, Casey, is 4 today. As I’m unable to see him and haven’t seen him since June last year I wanted to put this message up for him.

Happy birthday Casey, I wish I could be there for you and I hope you have a great day.

Hopefully Casey will see this one day and will know that I am thinking about him and I do want to see him.

Affiliate Marketing, Rants

Paying foreign cheques into Sterling accounts

3 Comments

I went into Lloyds TSB on Saturday morning to pay in my latest Affiliate cheque from Amazon.com. Unlike Amazon.co.uk, the US version won’t make any direct deposit to a non US account, so cheques are my only means of payment.

When you pay a foreign currency cheque into Lloyds TSB you have to fill in an A4 form which has 5 pages! Yes, 5 sodding pages!

It always takes the staff ages and usually involves at least two cashiers as few people know how to do it. Then when it finally does get filled in, I have to wait several days for the money to appear in the account AND I get charged a huge commission on the amount.

Why can’t Amazon.com combine the account with Amazon.co.uk and pay one amount via direct deposit each month? It would make it so much easier and I wouldn’t have to spend my Saturdays in Lloyds queuing up with people who only seem to be asking for a balance.

A balance!?!

I HAVE to go into the branch to pay this US Dollar cheque into my account. Why do these morons need to be there if they’re only after a balance? Use the cash machine, it will tell you. Use online banking, use anything. I don’t care. Just don’t queue up in front of me, wasting my time, just to get a sodding balance to your account.

And they were queuing up outside waiting for the bank to open for this.

Imbeciles.

General

My car is very poorly, poor little thing

Leave a comment

I took my car into BMW Bluebell today for a service, and to look at the damage caused when I ploughed through the roundabout last Friday. I wasn’t expecting good news, but when they call you to come through to the garage to see the car up on the ramp; you know that’s gonna be bad.

Seems my wishbone is bent and the shocks are busted. There could be more, they haven’t taken it apart yet.

I’m now driving around in a Mitsubishi Colt with the body shop branding on the side which tells everyone that the person driving has already knackered one car, stay well away!

That car is cursed I tell you, cursed.

CSA, Movies

Michael Cox against the Child Support Agency

12 Comments

My problems with the child support agency are legendary and well documented here on mrdaz.com. How they’ve overcharged me, lost my correspondence, sent my mail to the wrong address and to complete strangers, lied to me, refused to speak to me and generally been unbelievably incompetent.

Obviously I’m not the only one who’s been mistreated by these British Nazis, Michael Cox is a famed victim of the CSA’s callous and incompetent nature. This interview is from GMTV.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

And the second part of the interview:

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video