Archive for December, 2008

What To Do With a Dead Blog, Dead Blog Ideas

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

Your blog is dead for whatever reason and you need ideas to revive it.  Dead blogs are actually a common occurrence on the internet for a number of reasons.  Some characteristics of a dead blog are as follows:
1. Rarely updated.
2. Minimal Google traffic
3. Plenty of broken pictures and links

Some of the main reasons that dead blog occurs are as follows:
1. Lack of interest by the author.
2. Google has taken the blog out of their index
3. Blog topic too hard to create new information.

Take a blog like Nintendo Gamecube Game  blog.  For a topic like this, it is doomed from the start to become defunct at least at some point. Any blog that has a topic with an ending time line is going to have a problem sooner or later.

What To Do With a Dead Blog
Dead blogs might be dead, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use the information for another newer blog.  Some blogs which have been deindexed by Google I’ve often had to just build an entirely new blog, use the same information, as well as add more.

Find Police Speed Traps in Your Area, Find Police Traps

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

Social networking meets police speed traps with Trapster’s online database of user reported police traps throughout the world. Police traps can be combined with the GPS on your phone to be alerted when you approach a speed trap.  This could be the perfect reminder to SLOW DOWN.

The speed trap map allows you to inform yourself of those traps, as well as report your own speed traps to alert others about potential speed traps.

Of course the problem with this site is that it will encourage law enforcement to change their speed trap locations more often as soon as they realize that their current spot is on this site. However, the amount of people that actually use this site is probably not going to significantly affect the amount of traffic stops produced.

So want to find police speed traps in your area and be alerted when they are nearby? Just visit http://www.trapster.com

Last Minute Christmas Shopping, Shopping Last Minute

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Anyone shopping for Christmas presents today at the last minute knows that it’s a pain.  Last minute shopping means long lines, headaches, and picking your Christmas gifts from whatever is left.

Yes I faced the crowds for some last minute Christmas shopping today, getting some late gift ideas like a gift card, some tequila, and of course some martini glasses.  But, are the best presents for a last minute Christmas, really something you buy?

Avoiding the Last Minute Christmas Fiasco
One of the best ways to take care of your gifts, is to make them yourself.  This year for Christmas I manage to create some of my own gifts.  A Christmas should come from the heart right?  Using a site like instructables.com, you can easily find something manageable to create rather than buy.

I created the Bamboo Lamp as seen below:

If you wanted to create a similar lamp you can find the instructions via this link.

Adsense ECPM, Getting the Best Google Adsense ECPM

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

I’ve written plenty of guides about getting a better Google ECPM (earnings per 1000 page impressions).  There are a variety of factors which can influence your Google ECPM including 1) CTR (click through rate) 2)  Cost per Click 3) Number of pages per person.

The reason why number 3 is a big factor is because if one person views 1000 pages, you can’t expect to earn $5 from them.  The less page views per person, the higher the possible ECPM.  (Though your goal is to ultimately get a person to view more pages).  Just keep in mind that your Google Adsense ECPM can be decieving.

What is my Google Adsense ECPM?
Through Adsense I get about a $6 ECPM on this site.  However, but running additional ad programs, I actually get about a $12 ECPM in total.  The key I’ve found to maximizing the revenue potential on this site is by maximizing my ad positioning without giving the reader a sense of too many ads.

Isn’t Too Many Ads Good for ECPM, But Bad For User Experience?
It’s true that too many ads can be a bad thing.  It’s all about how you place your ads that really counts.  Writers do need to get paid for their work, so in any case, I’m sure readers can understand this on at least some level.  Nothing really is “free” there always some sort of limitation that comes with any service.  In the case of blogs, any well written blog is usually ad supported.

How Low is Your Google Adsense ECPM?
Is your ECPM lower than $5?  If so, it might be time to rethink your ad placement or even your topic.  If you aren’t getting a high Google Adsense ECPM it is probably an indication of a few things 1) poor ad placement 2) Bad topic (topic that generally recieves a low cost per click 3) Not enough ads (don’t be afraid to experiment by putting a few more ads).