Oh Happy Day

A few weeks ago, I was reading Darren Rowse's ProBlogger post - Increase AdSense Earnings with Competitive Ad Filter - and, as Fortuna (AKA Lady Luck) was on my side, followed a link from this post - New Google Ad Placements - to John Chow dot Com! John Chow was extolling the virtues of using the Competitive Ad Filter to increase AdSense earnings.

Prior to this, the name John Chow meant nothing to me! However, John has clearly masterminded the art of near-transparent monetisation and is prepared to share his considerable and, by extension, invaluable knowledge with others.

Since adopting the Competitive Ad Filter (using AdsBlackList.com), my earnings have increased from a few cents to dollars per day! I certainly have much to learn from John Chow and am now an avid reader of his blog.

You could do worse than read both John Chow and Darren Rowse's online money-making musings.

Monetize MySpace

Google will snatch away affluent eyeballs from Yahoo!

The ubiquitous search engine company has signed a lucrative search and contextual advertising deal with MySpace.

"Under the terms of the agreement, Google will be obligated to make guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to Fox Interactive Media of $900 million based on Fox achieving certain traffic and other commitments," the companies said.

As an avid AdSense publisher, I'm hoping that there will be opportunities to customize MySpace templates and add content banners (AdSense for RSS whilst you're at it). Plus MySpace referral links, which would garner payments for new sign-ups (see sidebar for current examples).

Perhaps, in light of the above announcement, Yahoo! Publisher Network will now open to international publishers. The company needs to, yesterday.

Nothing Compares 2 U

On May 11th this blog will be celebrating its second anniversary and the party will be held in Times Square (joking)! It only seems like yesterday that Tom, a friend, suggested that I start a blog. Ironically, to date he has yet to start his own!

Since the blog's inception, the organic nature of the web has evolved exponentially. Web 2.0 anyone?

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) have become, arguably, the de facto multimedia content distribution channel.

Google has launched a raft of enabling services; from AdSense and Analytics to Page Creator and Sitemaps. The latter should be on the top of every web authors to-do list since Bigdaddy sent 'shock waves' through the web community! Google's competitors, such as Yahoo! and MSN, are responding. Content authors and consumers can only reap the benefits of this dynamic competition.

Bloggers are increasingly becoming the source for new journalistic talent - their voices cannot be ignored and the audience is, literally, listening (subscribe to the text-to-speech podcast)! Mainstream media has taken note and is now making inroads into joining the 'conversation' and leveraging these valuable assets to mutual advantage.

Further to the above. Pluck has now launched BlogBurst (beta), which is an opt-in syndication service that provides editorially approved bloggers the opportunity to reach a large audience via top-tier publishers such as the Washington Post.

My blogs are now part of the BlogBurst network and I'll be monitoring this exciting development moving forward.

In summary. Not only has the blog afforded me the luxury of an extensible writing medium. The network of new friends and acquaintances has far transcended my very, very modest hopes. A big shout-out to Matt Shobe, FeedBurner co-founder, for all his incomparable help and advice with both FeedBurner and template chores. Imp for her most helpful hints. All the bloggers whom have shared link exchanges and their experiences. And, you dear reader, without whom, well you know...

Thanks for reading and please tell your friends, family, pets, neighbors...

Gift from the Gods

Yesterday Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs celebrated his birthday. Google, which is often taken to task by Mac Users for tardy support, released Google Macintosh Widgets and Group (membership required). There is an abundance of excellent third-party options available, but these new official Dashboard Widgets are worthy of note. The Gmail and Blogger Widgets show promise and AdSense is sure to follow. Putting Gmail Notifier in the trash...

Did you manage to sign-up for Google's newly launched Page Creator service? If so, congratulations, anyone who got caught in the surge will have to wait for an invitation. As of today Gmail users can start using Page Creator (no Safari support as yet). Therefore I had a very quick look (Firefox 1.5) and published a basic page. Watch this space.

Google is certainly prolific. However, isn't it time to consolidate the paradigm?

The Blogger sidebar has undergone yet another face lift! The RSS chicklet confusion has been curtailed in favor of Full and Summary Feed subscriptions only. And coComments, a new trend, has been introduced (albeit restricted to my comments on other blogs until coComments introduces secure moderation).

I'm experimenting with Google AdSense placement. Please be assured that this is not intended to be too intrusive. Incidentally, according to various sites (notably ProBlogger) Google is testing a new AdSense format - video.

Old Year's Night

Tonight's post is a 'review lite' of the year.

This week's 'flying visit' to East Anglia, home of my Father's family, has left me emotionally 'jet lagged'! Had a fantastic time (tinged with the bittersweet) indulging in retail therapy. Colchester's pace of life is exaggerated by its London commuter belt status. And now I can't wait for 2005 to arrive!

Most of my time has been centered around very serious personal matters. However, highlights of 2004 include (but are not limited to):

*Writing for Inside Mac Games
*Launching Nick Smith's site and blog
*Being featured in Bournemouth University's Alumni Association magazine The Talbot
*Alias magazine
*Classic arcade gaming
*Gmail
*Blogger
*Google AdSense
*Adding new affiliates to my site
*Saying farewell to Friends - could comedy BE funnier?

Looking towards 2005. Bloomberg beckons and Apple may finally launch the missing piece in its 'i' strategy, the 'headless pizza box' iMac, and secure the home Media Centre/Server crown once and for all. I'll be keeping a space underneath my Plasma in eager anticipation of MacWorld - San Francisco.

Miami Sound Machine

No this isn't a tenuous link to the band that became subservient to its lead singer Gloria Estefan (loved them in the 80's). Today HP's Miami bash sees the release of a range of digital lifestyle products and a branded iPod too (announced earlier this year). Apple's stock price has soared and there's the Paris Expo next week - new products galore.

Loving Gmail! The contextual AdSense banners are non-invasive. However, there might be a loading issue with Safari 1.2.3 (appears to be a cache problem and is solved by super refreshing). For instant gratification I'm using the Camino branch of Mozilla for maximum compatibility until Safari 1.3 (soon) or 2 (2005).