Having re-discovered just how valuable Google Reader is, the application has once again become an essential part of my Internet weaponry. If you are a recovering bookmark addict like me, you will undoubtedly appreciate this post.
The Problem
Before time began I bookmarked everything I found somewhat interesting. This habit over time became so unmanageable, that I often found myself scrolling endlessly to find the site that sold the toy with the Kung Fu grip.
Enter Google Toolbar
I needed a solution fast so I researched bookmarking applications and settled upon Google Toolbar. What a lifesaver, now I could simply search my bookmarks and synchronize them across all my computers, voilà.
Google Toolbar is great, those little search boxes you can download are awesome too. I would say 50% of the sites I visit are searched for using this application.
Enter RSS & Google Reader
As time progressed my browsing habits had changed, I started moving away from bookmarking to RSS. You see I didn’t want to jump around from site to site anymore, I wanted one place to go where I could view everything all at once. I dabbled around with iGoogle but found it annoyingly slow, my Fiancee loves it though.
Finally I settled on Google Reader, I must sound like a Google fan-boy. But seriously now I subscribe to almost everything, previously I would only bookmark sites I found interesting or worthy of my attention.
With RSS, it doesn’t really matter; I have literally tons of content to browse through in the morning. If a headline captures my attention I visit that site, if it doesn’t, I move on to the next one.
Barrett Lyon Co-Founder and CTO of BitGravity talks about some of the technology behind their Video Distribution System and his time spent working as a security researcher. It’s always awe inspiring to listen to someone who talks about technology in such a profound and engaging way.
Scoble does a good job interviewing Barrett, only interrupting him when he goes off on a tangent using all sorts of security and networking acronyms. Barrett is truly passionate about his work and sadly constantly downplays his evil genius throughout the interview.
This 30 minute video would mainly appeal to the networking bods of this world, but as a techie I found the interview to be very interesting. Especially when he talks about being employed by companies to protect their infrastructure from denial of service attacks by Russian heavies.
Another likeable part of the interview is when he explains what inspired him as a kid to get involved in technology. Referencing the War Games movie poster hung up in his office.
I have to get me one of those vintage posters to hang up on my wall, only my movie would probably be Lawnmower Man or Hackers, mind you Sneakers was pretty good too.
Anyway if you’re interested in Technology and Networking in general, I suggest you go watch it.
One of my common Internet pastimes is reading up new and successful business ideas. Check out the “Free Idea Bank” there you will find #178 business ideas, most wacky but it’s an entertaining read non the less.
Secondly take a look at “Unusual Business Ideas That Work” for fully comprehensive case studies of unusual business ideas that worked.
It took someone like Tim O’Reilly to finally make TechCrunch stand up and take notice of how frustrating the constant linking to CrunchBase was and still is for their readers. If you are a long time reader of TechCrunch, you would know that traditionally the logo always linked to the company covered in its stories.
Then the all singing all dancing CrunchBase came along and totally changed that policy. Somewhat alienating a large majority of its readers by redirecting them to CrunchBase instead of the companies’ independent website.
After a few noticeable complaints TechCrunch apparently discontinued that policy and instead started distributing a lightweight widget beneath each cover story that enabled users to make an informed decision as to whether or not they visited CrunchBase.
Problem solved? Well not quite. In addition to the widget now embedded in each post, TechCrunch started randomly linking between CrunchBase and the companies’ external website. After awhile it became a lottery as to where you would actually end up after clicking on a company link.
Let’s be honest, we all know why TechCrunch are doing this, where not stupid. But don’t get me wrong either, CrunchBase is a great resource and I fully commend them for making it available to us free of charge. But your readers are your bread and butter, and this embarrassment could have been avoided if you just stuck to your original promise.
Browsing through the comments it looks like the majority are with Tim on this one. Maybe now TechCrunch will add some consistency when linking to CrunchBase, if they do we all have Tim to thank for saving our sanity.
Affspy is an excellent affiliate intelligence tool for those using affiliate marketing on their blogs or website. Using AffSpy you can search for affiliates from a variety of categories ranging from automotive all the way over to technology.
The results page of a search presents you with a break down of the amount of income you can earn with each sale or referral and the ad network that offer belongs to. In addition you can join the network with the offer all from the same interface.
I’m finding AffSpy very useful when searching for suitable affiliates and recommend heading over to the site and giving it a whirl if you are using affiliate marketing on your blog or website.
Scribefire is a Firefox plug-in that enables you to post to your blog without having to log into Wordpress or leave your current browser window.
I have just started using the application today and I already love it. What I truly like about Scribefire is the ability to split your Firefox screen into two sections.
If you’re like me and you like to read articles that you are referencing and blogging about at the same time, you might find that switching between your post and the article a real pain.
With the split feature, you can scroll and navigate websites while you write your post, making referencing a breeze. Other cool features include HTML and Rich text editing, selecting your categories, writing notes, and previewing your post.
I highly recommend trying Scribefire out if you haven’t already.
Ashley Norris, former co-founder of early UK blog network Shiny Media wrote a guess post on TechCrunchUK entitled “Why blog publishing ‘failed’ in the UK”. Trashing oh sorry discussing why blog publishing houses are failing in the UK.
He noted six reasons why it’s difficult for UK blogging networks to succeed.
Limited number of UK online eyeballs
Lack of imagination in the ad industry
Lack of UK media entrepreneurs
Lack of VC support
Too much competition
The omnipotent BBC
Wait a minute, the omnipotent BBC? Why is he blaming the BBC? Well as an example he claims if the BBC didn’t have a huge online football offering then one of its more notable blogs in terms of traffic whoateallthepies.tv would have more visitors.
Somebody queue the violins. Ashley take note, if you don’t provide the content your not going to have the eyeballs. As an Arsenal supporter myself I consume my content in two places, Sky sports and the small but independent Arsenal Mania because they both provide great content.
When I go to whoateallthepies the content is terrible, the design hurts my eyes, and the news is out of date. How they claim this to be one of the most read football blogs in the world I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it or heard people talk about it.
You know Shiny Media reminds me of a supermarket. Instead of focusing on their core product they try to be everything all at once. Of course this works for Tescos but you’re not Tescos you’re a blog. Stop trying to be everything for everyone, people like variety but not too much variety.
Perhaps Shiny Media should spend less time monetising their network and more time developing great content. You know like breaking news before anyone else does that sort of thing.
Maybe if they did that everything else would fall into place but one thing is for certain the BBC have nothing to do with it so quit your whining.
Let’s face it; building an audience is not an easy task. So I would like to share with you some of my experiences with building an audience, and generating some traffic.
If You Build It, They Will Come
While you certainly need to build it, they almost certainly will not come. At least not in the beginning without some grinding on your part. But if you’re willing to put in the extra work, you will undoubtedly benefit in the medium to short term.
I have only ever launched one web project, which unfortunately had some minor trademark issues and subsequently had to be close down. But during those 2 months, I was #1 on Google, #2 on Yahoo with $100 in Ad Sense revenue and 4,355 monthly visitors, “Not bad for a rookie.” I thought.
The Leg Work
Everyday after work, I would put in around 1 hour of promotional activities. These included commenting on blogs, courting potential clients, and answering questions on Yahoo Answers related to my niche.
Yahoo Answers and Google search where my most reliable sources of traffic, undoubtedly it also helped that my keyword was also my domain name.
For a majority of you the statistics and revenue above is small fry, but it proves that with a little good old fashioned elbow grease, building an audience, while somewhat difficult, was not impossible either.
From my new office, but I want a view of my own. Even if it where overlooking a run down estate I wouldn’t mind.
You see I promised myself a long time ago to escape the comfort of the 9-5 and go it alone. So I figured a good baby step was to gather an audience, hence me starting this weblog.
I came to the conclusion that one of the problems with blogging, is that everyone wants to be heard, but nobody wants to listen. So if you truly want to enjoy blogging or writing, then first and foremost do it for you.
Secondly it’s wonderful that I have already drawn some criticism from my post “Twitter Is Overrated”. I understand that the piece was short, but it was over 160 characters I assure you.
Seriously though, your opinions good or bad will always be appreciated.
