Category Archives: Internet

Affiliate Marketing, Google, Internet

StumbleUpon taffic and Adsense

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Last week I had one of my blog posts stumbled, resulting in an extra 10,000 page impressions in one day. The post in question was for a funny IT video, which as luck would have it was pay-per-watch. I didn’t stumble it, it never pays to stumble your own posts. It’s always better when that happens naturally.

What is interesting though is how an extra 10,000 page impressions in a single day affected my Adsense on this site. You’d think that more traffic means more impressions, means more clicks thus more revenue. In truth, it’s quite the opposite.

One week later, when I had 10,000 less ad impressions, my Adsense ads tracked more clicks and more earnings. So an extra 10,000 impressions through StumbleUpon had no impact whatsoever on my Adsense revenue, other than drastically reducing my eCPM.

Of course the Stumble traffic did have an affect on my pay-per-watch video earnings 😉

Internet, SEO

Tracy Evans from vectorplacement.net spams me up

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You may remember a while back had an email from Nick Slevin offering to SEO my website. It was an unsolicited spam email that lead to a website that was under construction, as you see from the original post here.

Well, I’ve had another one today. This time the made up name on the email is Tracy Evans, but the message is the same, the URL is different, but the website is the same, hosted in China. See vectorplacement.net for evidence. Similar eh?

I can get your site to the top of a search engines listings.
If you’re interested, reply with the web addresses you want to promote and the best way to contact you with some options.

Thanks in advance,

Tracy Evans

This is SPAM. Tracy Evans, like Nick Slevin, does not exist. The website isn’t real, the company is just a spam merchant looking to steal from you.

If you’ve had an email from Tracy Evans today, from a company called VectorPlacement.net, delete it.

Cheeky bastards.

Internet

1and1 Internet down again

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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!

Cardiff Devils, Google, Internet, Transformers

MrDaz.com now has Google site links

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You may have seen Google’s site links? They’re detailed page links that appear underneath the #1 listing for some websites when you make a search. For example, Just Search have had site links for about a year now, which you can see here. Google picks sites it thinks are worthy enough and generates these links, which you can have some control over using Google’s Webmaster Tools.

Now I’m pleased to say that MrDaz.com has attained some site links from Google.

Mr Daz Site Links

This means that Google considers this website important enough to have site links, which is nice. Shame they still have a PageRank penalty on me then eh?

It’s not my only site to have site links either, my Transformers website and the Cardiff Devils site have also attained the prestige of site links.

Thanks Google!

If you’re wondering how your site can get site links such as this, you’ll need to keep adding your content and building up those back links naturally. Google only rewards high quality sites that are updated regularly with site links.

Google, Internet, Just Search, Magazine Articles, SEO

Interview with Revolution Magazine

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Following on from the piece in Precision Marketing, I also did this quick interview with Revolution Magazine about the trends of search and the importance of content.

Though Google denies it, for instance, there is a widespread suspicion that investing in paid search will improve a company’s organic ranking. Easier to prove is the notion that frequent content updates represent one of the most powerful ways to promote a site.

Fresh and new
“It has become apparent lately that Google is favouring new sites a lot, and sites with new content,” says Darren Jamieson, content editor at Manchester-based Just Search. “If you have got a site that does car leasing, and someone is looking for something on the new Audi R8, a site that hasn’t been updated for three months won’t come up, even if it has a page on the R8.”

Google itself, while cagey about its methods, is happy to confirm this much. “We always say, build things for the people you want visiting your site, and that is what we try to reflect with our ranking,” says Google spokesman Anthony House. “It is not about trying to trick your way into the highest results.”

Indeed, Google’s advice for improving a company’s organic ranking all relates to the kind of housekeeping that makes a website visitable in the first place.

You can see the excerpt from the magazine here.

Internet, Magazine Articles, SEO

Usability should come before SEO and PPC

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A few weeks ago I did an interview for Precision Marketing where I talked about the importance of usability in your Online marketing. This is something I feel quite strongly about as all too often I feel people miss the point with their websites. They think that by getting large volumes of traffic the job is done, but their conversion rates will be low due to an unprofessional or in some cases unusable website.

‘If you build they will come’ may be possible with SEO and PPC, but you need to build it right in the first place, otherwise they’ll come, see it’s not very good and leave. So while as an SEO myself I can get traffic to your site, I’ll always advise your site is up to scratch first and if necessary recommend a full usability report.

Precision Marketing

You can download the full article here for Precision Marketing

Internet

Spam your site to thousands of blogs?

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I just received this awful spam from advertise-bz.com asking if I’d like my ad on 2 million websites. Obviously this is a garbage email selling a spam product, and having your ad on 2 million websites isn’t quite the way to go about Internet Marketing.

From: webmaster@promote-biz.net
Subject: RE: [SPAM?]: “How would you like to have your ad on 2 Million Websites ?”
How would you like 2 Million Sites linking to your ad ?

Weblog or blog population is exploding around the world, resembling the growth of e-mail users in the 1990s.

Post your ads where people read them!

– What if you could place your ad on all these sites ?
Right, that would mean you would have millions of sites linking to your ad.
For Full Details Please read the attached .html file

Opening the html attachment takes you this website which is another of those shite sales letter sites.

Blog Blaster

The part I really like is the testimonial, which is obviously fake, but it reads:

Within 2 days I had more that 1,000 pages linking to my website – my website’s traffic literally exploded. Your software is great! You have redefined the word “advertising”.

More than 1,000 links within 2 days? Sounds great eh? Sadly, if your site were to get more than 1,000 links in within 2 days you’d trip Google’s ever so clever and alert spam filter which could very likely end up with your site banned.

But by all means, use this blog blaster software and knock yourself out.

Internet

The best just got better, new BBC website

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The BBC have for some time had one of the best websites on the Internet. It has a great simple design, was packed with regularly updated content and was very SEO friendly. No wonder they rank for so many terms and a have a Google PR of 9.

Well today they launched a new look front page, one that is fully customisable using drag and drop technology.

I’m drooling, and it’s nothing to do with the photo of Eve Myles from Torchwood on the main picture either (though she is helping slightly).

I love this design. Absolutely love it.

BBC