Friday, March 30, 2007
Reggae Reggae Sauce Reviewed
Many UK entrepreneurs enjoy watching Dragons' Den, and will have seen in the most recent series the investment made in Levi Roots and his Reggae Reggae Sauce.
Well, it's out now in the shops and I decided to give it a try. I wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I threw some in a Chilli Con Carne and also had it as a dip.
I'm not really a food critic so can't offer a particularly detailed appraisal of it's effects on the palate but upon a first sniff, it seems oddly familar of other flavours. The taste is tomatoey with quite a kick of heat at the end.
Now, If for any reason you can't get to Sainsburys to buy your own, then you may consider my own recipe (Rob Rob Sauce? Monetise This Sauce?) which will give you a very similar effect:
Get some tomato ketchup. Get some brown sauce. Add some chilli powder. Mix.
Of course, Reggae Reggae Sauce is based on a family secret recipe and I wouldn't want to imply that's what it is, but err... I think it might be!
The interesting thing about Reggae Reggae Sauce is that it success in getting investment on Dragons' Den wasn't really anything to do with a sound business model, it was to do with an engaging character, a catchy tune and the fact it was showcased on TV and now we can all get involved by spending less than £2. It's a souvenir for the viewers. In a way, I find I object to the fact that Dragons' Den is no longer our window into the process of business, it IS the process - and being on there can make a business just though exposure.
Well, it's out now in the shops and I decided to give it a try. I wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I threw some in a Chilli Con Carne and also had it as a dip.
I'm not really a food critic so can't offer a particularly detailed appraisal of it's effects on the palate but upon a first sniff, it seems oddly familar of other flavours. The taste is tomatoey with quite a kick of heat at the end.
Now, If for any reason you can't get to Sainsburys to buy your own, then you may consider my own recipe (Rob Rob Sauce? Monetise This Sauce?) which will give you a very similar effect:
Get some tomato ketchup. Get some brown sauce. Add some chilli powder. Mix.
Of course, Reggae Reggae Sauce is based on a family secret recipe and I wouldn't want to imply that's what it is, but err... I think it might be!
The interesting thing about Reggae Reggae Sauce is that it success in getting investment on Dragons' Den wasn't really anything to do with a sound business model, it was to do with an engaging character, a catchy tune and the fact it was showcased on TV and now we can all get involved by spending less than £2. It's a souvenir for the viewers. In a way, I find I object to the fact that Dragons' Den is no longer our window into the process of business, it IS the process - and being on there can make a business just though exposure.
Labels: dragons' den, reggae reggae sauce, tv
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Apprentice Series 3 Episode 1 (UK)
The Apprentice has returned and it was great to see some familiar faces back on our screens: Sir Alan. Nick Hewer. Margaret Mountford. The lingering shots of Docklands that imply Sir Alan is based there. And also, an old favourite, the Amstrad E-Mailer, which rears its head whenever a phone is needed.
As is usual, the 16 candidates were split into two teams, boys and girls, but with a twist that the team leaders were switched at the last minute. Andy led the girls and Jadine was in charge of the boys. The boys had to quickly think of a new name for their team after it was revealed by Sir Alan that Tre's suggestion - Certus - was actually the name of a company that Tres had worked for. Oh dear. No No, Tre. Just because Sir Alan likes to get plenty of free plugs for his Amstrad E-mailer, doesn't mean you can go advertising your other business interests too.
Their first task was to sell coffee in the borough of Islington. Both teams had a fixed stand and a mobile unit from which to sell coffee. Adam made the suggestion early on that they keep it simple and stick to white coffee and black coffee. Islington's a trendy kind of place and I think the punters demand something a bit more sophisticated than that.
Jadine was clearly intent on letting the boys know who was boss and was standing for no nonsense. Having already told us in a vox pop that "life's not always biscuits and sandwiches", we knew she meant business. It seemed that she was perhaps trying too hard and being needlessly bossy, ordering Tre and Simon away from a good pitch where they were successfully selling so that she could keep an eye on them. She reprimanded Tre and Simon for not shaking the chocolate powder topping through a shaped card, which would have created an eclipse to compliment the company name - Eclipse Coffee - and to help "sell the experience". It seemed like a good idea if you're building brand recognition, but crikey, this task was about selling as much coffee as you could in one day not creating the next Starbucks. Customer's returning the next day for more Eclipse coffee with that fancy topping would have been sorely disappointed.
After barking orders at the boys, Jadine showed her lighter side with a song and dance routine for some office workers - ably assisted by Lohit and a somewhat embarrassed Adam - which generated some sales. Presumably the workers were frightened that if they didn't buy the coffees they'd have to endure an encore. Well, if she doesn't get the job there's always Cirque De Celeb.
In the boardroom, the girls led by Andy came up as losers. Their decisions on location and stock - Sophie wanted to buy 65 litres of milk - cost them dear. Sir Alan pinned the defeat on a poor manager who couldn't manage the team, and Andy was fired.
With 16 contestants, it's difficult this early on to find out much about them all - I didn't see Ghazal utter a word, for instance - but I look forward to finding out more about Britain's hottest business prospects as the weeks progress.
As is usual, the 16 candidates were split into two teams, boys and girls, but with a twist that the team leaders were switched at the last minute. Andy led the girls and Jadine was in charge of the boys. The boys had to quickly think of a new name for their team after it was revealed by Sir Alan that Tre's suggestion - Certus - was actually the name of a company that Tres had worked for. Oh dear. No No, Tre. Just because Sir Alan likes to get plenty of free plugs for his Amstrad E-mailer, doesn't mean you can go advertising your other business interests too.
Their first task was to sell coffee in the borough of Islington. Both teams had a fixed stand and a mobile unit from which to sell coffee. Adam made the suggestion early on that they keep it simple and stick to white coffee and black coffee. Islington's a trendy kind of place and I think the punters demand something a bit more sophisticated than that.
Jadine was clearly intent on letting the boys know who was boss and was standing for no nonsense. Having already told us in a vox pop that "life's not always biscuits and sandwiches", we knew she meant business. It seemed that she was perhaps trying too hard and being needlessly bossy, ordering Tre and Simon away from a good pitch where they were successfully selling so that she could keep an eye on them. She reprimanded Tre and Simon for not shaking the chocolate powder topping through a shaped card, which would have created an eclipse to compliment the company name - Eclipse Coffee - and to help "sell the experience". It seemed like a good idea if you're building brand recognition, but crikey, this task was about selling as much coffee as you could in one day not creating the next Starbucks. Customer's returning the next day for more Eclipse coffee with that fancy topping would have been sorely disappointed.
After barking orders at the boys, Jadine showed her lighter side with a song and dance routine for some office workers - ably assisted by Lohit and a somewhat embarrassed Adam - which generated some sales. Presumably the workers were frightened that if they didn't buy the coffees they'd have to endure an encore. Well, if she doesn't get the job there's always Cirque De Celeb.
In the boardroom, the girls led by Andy came up as losers. Their decisions on location and stock - Sophie wanted to buy 65 litres of milk - cost them dear. Sir Alan pinned the defeat on a poor manager who couldn't manage the team, and Andy was fired.
With 16 contestants, it's difficult this early on to find out much about them all - I didn't see Ghazal utter a word, for instance - but I look forward to finding out more about Britain's hottest business prospects as the weeks progress.
Labels: apprentice, tv
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Keep Raising The Bar
I get the very occasional email from people who have seen my blog or some of my sites who want to give up their day job and work full time on internet based programs, asking if I can offer any advice. I certainly don't put myself up as expert on these things - I'm learning all the time from others - so am not that comfortable offering advice but there's one thing I think I learned along the way which I may as well share, for what it's worth."Keep raising the bar"
I remember way back when I started out and had a couple of sites, mostly just running Adsense. It seemed like a miracle to me that I could earn actual money from companies like Google. Before I knew it, I was earning $20 on a good day from a few sites. And this is where I made a mistake. I spent a long time - many months in fact - having that target figure of $20 in my mind and all I was interested in was hitting that $20 again. If I kept reaching $20 or thereabouts I was happy.
Looking back, I wish I had said to myself after just a few days - "$20 is great but now lets aim for $40". In short, I should have continued to raise the bar and increase my expectations and not settle on what was a very modest figure.
I've found that having the mindset and expectation for greater things has helped me make them happen. By all means acknowledge and congratulate yourself on benchmark figures on your journey, but don't rest on your laurels and keep pushing for more.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Act On Wasted Public Money and Then Act on CO2
I had a little rant a while ago about the FSA's advertising campaign that directed listeners to search for some keywords and find their PPC ad rather than issue a URL at the end of the ad. As it happens, I've since heard the same ad but with different ending using the URL instead. Now, the FSA isn't funded by the tax payer so if they want to urinate their budget up the wall, than good luck to them.
This week I heard another advert on the radio, which had the same ridiculous advice. This time it was to do with CO2 emissions from cars, and is part of a campaign from the Department For Transport. Instead of giving the website address for more information, it ended with "search online for 'act on CO2'".
I've checked, and the PPC adverts are in place which take you to the relevant government website.
This is a pointless and unjustifiable waste of public money, thrown away in a misguided advertising campaign that could have been saved by simply stating the website address and not the direction to 'search online'.
This week I heard another advert on the radio, which had the same ridiculous advice. This time it was to do with CO2 emissions from cars, and is part of a campaign from the Department For Transport. Instead of giving the website address for more information, it ended with "search online for 'act on CO2'".
I've checked, and the PPC adverts are in place which take you to the relevant government website.
This is a pointless and unjustifiable waste of public money, thrown away in a misguided advertising campaign that could have been saved by simply stating the website address and not the direction to 'search online'.
Labels: advertising
Apprentice 3 Contestants' Websites
I thought I'd compile a list of the websites belonging to the new Apprentice contestants. At the time of writing, I could only find one for Lohit Kalburgi.
Most of the obvious URLs for the contestants just goto parking pages, or Sedo "for sale" pages which implies most of these wannabe apprentices have made no provision for a web presence despite the exposure they are about to get and have instead let names goto others looking to cash in.
In the US, I'd expect every contestant to have one.
I will add more to this as and when I find out what they are, if there are anymore to add!
Apprentice 3 Contestant Websites
<--no_bumpzee-->
Most of the obvious URLs for the contestants just goto parking pages, or Sedo "for sale" pages which implies most of these wannabe apprentices have made no provision for a web presence despite the exposure they are about to get and have instead let names goto others looking to cash in.
In the US, I'd expect every contestant to have one.
I will add more to this as and when I find out what they are, if there are anymore to add!
Apprentice 3 Contestant Websites
<--no_bumpzee-->
Labels: apprentice, tv
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Dragons' Den - 21/03/07
Dragons' Den reached its conclusion last night with the latest batch of entrepreneurs seeking an investment from the Dragons.
Isis Adventure Series (available to buy from Firebox) was some kind of Rubiks-cum-geo-caching thing. Crack the puzzle to get the key inside which would reveal from the website the location of a prize somewhere in the UK. Though if theres a cash prize, why bother cracking the puzzle – just saw it open and get the key. They got an offer, despite some complication about the drawings for the puzzle being in the hands of the manufacturer, but turned it down to the obvious annoyance of Peter Jones.
Ecotech UK had a great invention that would be a battery supported intermediary device between TVs and the power supply to ensure that when it was set to standby, the power was actually cut off. Richard went for his usual suggestion – don’t make it, just licence it to manufacturers, but for once it seemed perfect strategy. All of the Dragons saw the potential, and all five Dragons wanted to invest – assuming a patent was granted – in what resembled some kind of entrepreneurial gang-bang as they all dived in. It was a great way to end the series on what seems like a brilliant invention.
The series finished with a recap on the success stories from the last series.
My series highlight was Foldio from Christian Lane. A great little product from a very impressive young entrepreneur and I look forward to seeing it in the shops.
My series lowlight was the investment made by Richard and Deborah in a ridiculous innovation which covers rotating washing lines, and required rainfall to come in an exact vertical line for it to keep the clothes dry. That they missed such an obvious flaw really made me question their judgement.
Dragons’ Den will return later in the year!
[Edit]
A contributor to this post pointed out that another standby power saver device exists, and actually seems to be nearer to being available in the market place than the one seen on Dragons' Den. It's called Savasocket and been endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust. They've issues a press release in response to what was shown on Dragons' Den:
Isis Adventure Series (available to buy from Firebox) was some kind of Rubiks-cum-geo-caching thing. Crack the puzzle to get the key inside which would reveal from the website the location of a prize somewhere in the UK. Though if theres a cash prize, why bother cracking the puzzle – just saw it open and get the key. They got an offer, despite some complication about the drawings for the puzzle being in the hands of the manufacturer, but turned it down to the obvious annoyance of Peter Jones.
Ecotech UK had a great invention that would be a battery supported intermediary device between TVs and the power supply to ensure that when it was set to standby, the power was actually cut off. Richard went for his usual suggestion – don’t make it, just licence it to manufacturers, but for once it seemed perfect strategy. All of the Dragons saw the potential, and all five Dragons wanted to invest – assuming a patent was granted – in what resembled some kind of entrepreneurial gang-bang as they all dived in. It was a great way to end the series on what seems like a brilliant invention.
The series finished with a recap on the success stories from the last series.
My series highlight was Foldio from Christian Lane. A great little product from a very impressive young entrepreneur and I look forward to seeing it in the shops.
My series lowlight was the investment made by Richard and Deborah in a ridiculous innovation which covers rotating washing lines, and required rainfall to come in an exact vertical line for it to keep the clothes dry. That they missed such an obvious flaw really made me question their judgement.
Dragons’ Den will return later in the year!
[Edit]
A contributor to this post pointed out that another standby power saver device exists, and actually seems to be nearer to being available in the market place than the one seen on Dragons' Den. It's called Savasocket and been endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust. They've issues a press release in response to what was shown on Dragons' Den:
PRESS RELEASE - 22nd March 2007
SAVASOCKET TO BENEFIT FROM DRAGON’S DEN
Any avid viewer of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den will have seen how – in an unprecedented move – all five dragons invested £20,000 each for a 50% share in Standby Saver – a remote controlled plug socket that saves energy.
One person who was paying particular attention to the proceedings was Yorkshire business owner James Dunne (right) who’s company has its own remote controlled, energy saving socket – the SAVASOCKET – in production and is actually further down the line in terms of it being available to the public.
“I was thrilled and intrigued when I saw the Standby Saver on Dragon’s Den for a number of reasons,” says James, director of Electratech Ltd. “It is great encouragement to know that five well known business investors can see the potential both to consumers and the environment of this type of product.“
Labels: dragons' den, tv
Video Post: How My Mobile Phone Helps My Business
I bought a new digital camera recently and it has an OK video camera function on it, so I thought I'd get in on the video blogging thing today. In the video, I just describe how my Sony Ericsson K800i helps me to manage my online marketing wherever I am.
Obviously, you can perform all of the stuff I talk about in a PDA, but this phone really packs a lot of functionality in a design, but it still looks like a phone and not like I'm carrying around some mini computer.
Obviously, you can perform all of the stuff I talk about in a PDA, but this phone really packs a lot of functionality in a design, but it still looks like a phone and not like I'm carrying around some mini computer.
Labels: k800i, mobile phone, sony, vlogging
Mobile Phone Data Feeds Reviewed
I've recently been working on a new mobile phone website, which has got off to a very nice start thank you very much, and had to research data feeds to find the right one that would make my life easier in giving me the information I wanted.
I found varying levels of quality and usefulness in the feeds provided by merchants and thought I'd share with you, dear reader, the results of my findings. The site I was making was just going to be using the CSV as a data source and I was looking for good product data and details of tariffs I could simply pull out and display on the page. I was also only looking at merchants who provide phones from a selection of networks (so didn't look at the feeds provided directly by network operator programs)
Carphone Warehouse (Buy.at)
Decent description field giving all required information but lacking column names telling me individually the tariff name, the inclusive minutes, the inclusive texts which would make it easier to show in a tabulated form. Availability column is useful.
e2Save (Affiliate Window)
Not many products in this one - only a shade over 400 - and doesn't include separate columns for inclusive minutes or texts. Decent description field. It's not been updated since Dec, but the feed is marked "Contact merchant for update", so maybe there's a better one available directly.
Rainbow Mobiles (Affiliate Future)
Easy to download from merchant site direct, has separate columns for minutes, texts and contract length. Unhelpful header row with field names that contain spaces and special characters. No individual handset columns but the info is contained in a product name field (which contains tariff name too).
Dial A Phone (Buy.at)
Great feed, separate columns for contract length, inclusive minutes, inclusive texts, handset, free gift. This data feed has it all and is a joy to work with, and with payouts of £40 for validated signup, quite a healthy commission too.
So Dial A Phone would be my favourite, except Dial A Phone has been DISQUALIFIED because their feed is hardly ever available on Buy.at due to ongoing and recurring technical issues that have yet to be resolved because of lack of resource at the merchant end, and last time I looked, the buy.at short links in the feed weren't working properly.
This is really frustrating because the feed was so useful but if all I have is a data file that is weeks out of date and no sign of a new one, then it's no good to me.
So my preferred Mobile Phone Product Feed award goes to Rainbow Mobiles on Affiliate Future.
What I'm Playing Right Now: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Nintendo Wii
I found varying levels of quality and usefulness in the feeds provided by merchants and thought I'd share with you, dear reader, the results of my findings. The site I was making was just going to be using the CSV as a data source and I was looking for good product data and details of tariffs I could simply pull out and display on the page. I was also only looking at merchants who provide phones from a selection of networks (so didn't look at the feeds provided directly by network operator programs)
Carphone Warehouse (Buy.at)
Decent description field giving all required information but lacking column names telling me individually the tariff name, the inclusive minutes, the inclusive texts which would make it easier to show in a tabulated form. Availability column is useful.
e2Save (Affiliate Window)
Not many products in this one - only a shade over 400 - and doesn't include separate columns for inclusive minutes or texts. Decent description field. It's not been updated since Dec, but the feed is marked "Contact merchant for update", so maybe there's a better one available directly.
Rainbow Mobiles (Affiliate Future)
Easy to download from merchant site direct, has separate columns for minutes, texts and contract length. Unhelpful header row with field names that contain spaces and special characters. No individual handset columns but the info is contained in a product name field (which contains tariff name too).
Dial A Phone (Buy.at)
Great feed, separate columns for contract length, inclusive minutes, inclusive texts, handset, free gift. This data feed has it all and is a joy to work with, and with payouts of £40 for validated signup, quite a healthy commission too.
So Dial A Phone would be my favourite, except Dial A Phone has been DISQUALIFIED because their feed is hardly ever available on Buy.at due to ongoing and recurring technical issues that have yet to be resolved because of lack of resource at the merchant end, and last time I looked, the buy.at short links in the feed weren't working properly.
This is really frustrating because the feed was so useful but if all I have is a data file that is weeks out of date and no sign of a new one, then it's no good to me.
So my preferred Mobile Phone Product Feed award goes to Rainbow Mobiles on Affiliate Future.
What I'm Playing Right Now: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Nintendo Wii
Labels: affiliate network, affiliate tools, mobile phone, product feeds
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
How Linkshare and CJ can Survive
Some people have predicted the death of Linkshare, CJ and others thanks to Google's recent announcement.
Well, I have a plan for their survival.
Promote new affiliate and merchant sign-ups using Google's CPA platform.
It was obvious really.
Well, I have a plan for their survival.
Promote new affiliate and merchant sign-ups using Google's CPA platform.
It was obvious really.
Labels: affiliate marketing, ideas
Reflections on Google's CPA Plans
The affiliate blogosphere is still buzzing with the news that Google is going to open its beta cost-per-action platform to content publishers and Adwords advertisers.
It seems to me that that Adsense has an awfully big reach and there's a lot of small time website owners out there who will be happy to add these CPA ads to their websites and will effectively be entering the affiliate marketing tent - albeit at the blunt end of how we understand affiliate marketing at the moment, and lacking the nuanced, relationship based approach that many are used to.
Publishers will be able to select relevant products and services from a base of Adwords advertisers and put related adverts on their site. We don't know yet which form the adverts will take, but looking at Adsense Referrals, they started with banners and moved onto text ads (albeit still Javascript generated) to meet publisher demands.
Assuming it's a success - and I'll assume for now it will be - and more people will be taking notice of the pay per performance model, what will follow?
Sure, I don't see this in anyway killing off (all of) the current affiliate networks - although maybe it will cause some consolidation. It will lack the human networking factor that allows new partnerships to develop and flourish. It will be lacking, to begin with I'm sure, the more advanced tools like data feeds (unless they go the whole hog and bring out web services and an API). Super affiliates, and those aiming to be so, and technically advanced affiliates will surely demand more than Google is likely to be offering and I imagine that's where the affiliate networks should position themselves.
But if enough publishers and advertisers take up with Google's offering, maybe the centre of gravity in the CPA space will shift in that direction and the alternative networks should be looking at sharpening their technical lead to make sure they have a sufficiently advanced offering to keep the interest of publishers. This might be the kick up the backside they need to offer better tools to publishers and the clever ones may even benefit from gaining new publishers who have had their appetite whetted by what Google has offered, and now want to take it to the next level.
Whatever happens, it's sure to be an interesting. As I alluded to yesterday, my best success online has been with Adsense Referrals and I'll certainly be excited to see the platform expand to include more products and services.
It seems to me that that Adsense has an awfully big reach and there's a lot of small time website owners out there who will be happy to add these CPA ads to their websites and will effectively be entering the affiliate marketing tent - albeit at the blunt end of how we understand affiliate marketing at the moment, and lacking the nuanced, relationship based approach that many are used to.
Publishers will be able to select relevant products and services from a base of Adwords advertisers and put related adverts on their site. We don't know yet which form the adverts will take, but looking at Adsense Referrals, they started with banners and moved onto text ads (albeit still Javascript generated) to meet publisher demands.
Assuming it's a success - and I'll assume for now it will be - and more people will be taking notice of the pay per performance model, what will follow?
Sure, I don't see this in anyway killing off (all of) the current affiliate networks - although maybe it will cause some consolidation. It will lack the human networking factor that allows new partnerships to develop and flourish. It will be lacking, to begin with I'm sure, the more advanced tools like data feeds (unless they go the whole hog and bring out web services and an API). Super affiliates, and those aiming to be so, and technically advanced affiliates will surely demand more than Google is likely to be offering and I imagine that's where the affiliate networks should position themselves.
But if enough publishers and advertisers take up with Google's offering, maybe the centre of gravity in the CPA space will shift in that direction and the alternative networks should be looking at sharpening their technical lead to make sure they have a sufficiently advanced offering to keep the interest of publishers. This might be the kick up the backside they need to offer better tools to publishers and the clever ones may even benefit from gaining new publishers who have had their appetite whetted by what Google has offered, and now want to take it to the next level.
Whatever happens, it's sure to be an interesting. As I alluded to yesterday, my best success online has been with Adsense Referrals and I'll certainly be excited to see the platform expand to include more products and services.
Labels: affiliate marketing, affiliate network, google
Changes to M&S Affiliate Scheme
Marks and Spencer - one of the UK's top retailers - has today sent emails to its affiliates through CJ and Buy.at informing them that they are closing their affiliate programs as of 23rd March. Well, to be more precise, they won't be working with CJ anymore after "taking on board your [affiliates] feedback", and Buy.at are billing it as a "temporary suspension", to be resumed later. Whether that's wishful thinking on Buy.at's part or not, I dont know.
The reason behind the move is that M&S are launching a new website which they've been working on with Amazon.
Leaving aside the obvious disrespect for affiliates by announcing with 2 days notice a change that has obviously been planned for quite a while, it will be interesting to see the new site and what form the new affiliate program will take. Will it be a conventional affiliate scheme, available again through Buy.at as their email suggests, or will it be more like the Amazon Associate scheme?
The reason behind the move is that M&S are launching a new website which they've been working on with Amazon.
Leaving aside the obvious disrespect for affiliates by announcing with 2 days notice a change that has obviously been planned for quite a while, it will be interesting to see the new site and what form the new affiliate program will take. Will it be a conventional affiliate scheme, available again through Buy.at as their email suggests, or will it be more like the Amazon Associate scheme?
Labels: affiliate marketing, Marks and Spencer
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Apprentice 3 Starts Next Week (UK)
Dragons' Den and the Apprentice are my two favourite shows, and just as Dragons' Den is coming to an end, along comes the next series of The Apprentice. The BBC announced details of the 3rd series today, as Sir Alan Sugar returns to find his next apprentice. This new series - airing March 28th at 9pm on BBC One - will see 16 contestants competing for a dream job with Amstrad (or is that a non sequitur?) in a 12 week job interview. Hmm 16 contestants. 12 weeks. I wonder if we're in for any double firings as Donald Trump became fond of in the US.
The BBC today released details of the contestants:
Tre Azam
Age: 27
Qualifications: 2 A-Levels
Career: Marketing and Design Consultant
Home town: Loughton, Essex
Rory Laing
Age: 27
Qualifications: BA Hons Product Design
Career: Bankrupt Entrepreneur
Home town: Bristol
Andy Jackson
Age: 36
Qualifications: Diploma Retail Management
Career: Car Sales manager
Home town: Kirriemuir, Scotland
Simon Ambrose
Qualifications: MA Economics, Cambridge
Career: Internet Entrepreneur
Home town: Clapham, London
Paul Callaghan
Age: 27
Qualifications: BSc Engineering Physics
Career: Ex-Army Lieutenant
Home town: Southampton
Ifti Chaudhri
Age: 33
Qualifications: BSc Product Design
Career: Company Director
Home town: Egham, Surrey
Adam Hosker
Age: 27
Qualifications: BA Hons, Sport Managment
Career: Car Sales Manager
Home town: Blackburn, Lancs
Lohit Kalburgi
Age: 25
Qualifications: Bachelor Of Commerce
Career: Telecoms Manager
Home town: London
Jadine Johnson
Age: 27
Qualifications: Banking Exams
Career: Financial Advisor
Home town: Harrow, Middlesex
Dr Sophie Kain
Age: 32
Qualifications: PHD, Theoretical Physics
Career: Quantum Physicist
Home town: Llanellen, Wales
Natalie Wood
Age: 29
Qualifications: MBA, Open University
Career: Housewife with a Business Degree
Home town: Upminster, Essex
Katie Hopkins
Age: 31
Qualifications: BA Economics, MBA
Career: Global Brand Consultant
Home Town: Exeter
Ghazal Asif
Age: 23
Qualifications: Highers
Career: Business Development Manager
Home town: Glasgow
Kristina Grimes
Age: 36
Qualifications: BSc Hons Mathematics
Career: Pharmaceutical Sales Manager
Home town: Harrogate
Naomi Lay
Age: 26
Qualifications: BA European Studies
Career: Advertising Sales Manager
Home town: Vauxhall, London
Gerri Blackwood
Age: 33
Qualifications: BA Hons, Tourism
Career: Transport Development Manager
Home town: Woking, Surrey
I'm actually doubly excited because I happen to know one of the contestants - Lohit Kalburgi - and he's a great guy and I'll be rooting for him all the way.
The BBC today released details of the contestants:Tre Azam
Age: 27
Qualifications: 2 A-Levels
Career: Marketing and Design Consultant
Home town: Loughton, Essex
Rory Laing
Age: 27
Qualifications: BA Hons Product Design
Career: Bankrupt Entrepreneur
Home town: Bristol
Andy Jackson
Age: 36
Qualifications: Diploma Retail Management
Career: Car Sales manager
Home town: Kirriemuir, Scotland
Simon Ambrose
Qualifications: MA Economics, Cambridge
Career: Internet Entrepreneur
Home town: Clapham, London
Paul Callaghan
Age: 27
Qualifications: BSc Engineering Physics
Career: Ex-Army Lieutenant
Home town: Southampton
Ifti Chaudhri
Age: 33
Qualifications: BSc Product Design
Career: Company Director
Home town: Egham, Surrey
Adam Hosker
Age: 27
Qualifications: BA Hons, Sport Managment
Career: Car Sales Manager
Home town: Blackburn, Lancs
Lohit Kalburgi
Age: 25
Qualifications: Bachelor Of Commerce
Career: Telecoms Manager
Home town: London
Jadine Johnson
Age: 27
Qualifications: Banking Exams
Career: Financial Advisor
Home town: Harrow, Middlesex
Dr Sophie Kain
Age: 32
Qualifications: PHD, Theoretical Physics
Career: Quantum Physicist
Home town: Llanellen, Wales
Natalie Wood
Age: 29
Qualifications: MBA, Open University
Career: Housewife with a Business Degree
Home town: Upminster, Essex
Katie Hopkins
Age: 31
Qualifications: BA Economics, MBA
Career: Global Brand Consultant
Home Town: Exeter
Ghazal Asif
Age: 23
Qualifications: Highers
Career: Business Development Manager
Home town: Glasgow
Kristina Grimes
Age: 36
Qualifications: BSc Hons Mathematics
Career: Pharmaceutical Sales Manager
Home town: Harrogate
Naomi Lay
Age: 26
Qualifications: BA European Studies
Career: Advertising Sales Manager
Home town: Vauxhall, London
Gerri Blackwood
Age: 33
Qualifications: BA Hons, Tourism
Career: Transport Development Manager
Home town: Woking, Surrey
I'm actually doubly excited because I happen to know one of the contestants - Lohit Kalburgi - and he's a great guy and I'll be rooting for him all the way.
Labels: apprentice, tv
New Google Adsense Referrals Beta
Google Adsense Referrals has been a massive hit for me and probably the single most successful piece of online marketing I've done in terms of revenue.
So I'm very excited by this announcement from Google on the Inside Adsense blog that they are now accepting applications for a new referrals beta which will have a much bigger pool of products and services available to refer, drawing on their base of Adwords advertisers.
More from the annoucement:
I've just applied to join the beta and hope to get in on it, although it's open to a limited few at the moment with everyone being able to join later so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm in the "everyone-later" group.
One observation about the beta sign up - it looks like it was thrown up in a hurry. There's a typo on the page and it's not even integrated into Adsense - you have to manually go and retrieve a publisher ID in order to complete the sign-up.
[Edit]
I think in this post I think I probably thought too much about this as simply an extension of Adsense Referrals and not enough about how Google's move into further into the CPA space might have a wider effect on affiliate marketing. Check out these posts from other blogs for more useful perpectives on this:
http://www.here.org.uk/2007/03/google-launch-pay-per-action-today.html
http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/google-affiliate-program-20/
http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2007/03/20/google-cpa-launches/
So I'm very excited by this announcement from Google on the Inside Adsense blog that they are now accepting applications for a new referrals beta which will have a much bigger pool of products and services available to refer, drawing on their base of Adwords advertisers.
More from the annoucement:
This is good news for those of you who have wanted to use referrals in the past, but couldn't find a product to match your site's content. With the referrals beta, you can search for products that match up directly with your site's content. And you can customize your referral units to match the look and feel of your site, making it easier than ever to find a referral ad that fits in seamlessly with your site's design and content.At the moment you can refer Firefox, Google Pack, Picasa, Adwords and Adsense through Google referrals. The chance to open this up to a wider and even more interesting selection is great. The brilliant thing about referrals is you can actively promote and advocate the products to your users and encourage them to click and download, which is obviously well suited to affiliate marketers for whom writing compelling presell and copy which leads visitors in a certain direction has always been part of the job.
I've just applied to join the beta and hope to get in on it, although it's open to a limited few at the moment with everyone being able to join later so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm in the "everyone-later" group.
One observation about the beta sign up - it looks like it was thrown up in a hurry. There's a typo on the page and it's not even integrated into Adsense - you have to manually go and retrieve a publisher ID in order to complete the sign-up.
[Edit]
I think in this post I think I probably thought too much about this as simply an extension of Adsense Referrals and not enough about how Google's move into further into the CPA space might have a wider effect on affiliate marketing. Check out these posts from other blogs for more useful perpectives on this:
http://www.here.org.uk/2007/03/google-launch-pay-per-action-today.html
http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/google-affiliate-program-20/
http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2007/03/20/google-cpa-launches/
Labels: adsense, google, referrals
Dfinitive List Of Best Affiliate Marketing Websites
I saw a link the other day on the A4U forum to a list of affiliate marketing blogs. I'd not heard of the site before so checked it out, and was pleasantly surprised to find a gorgeous looking new site called "Dfinitive" which is a human edited site aiming to draw together in a single page the very best sites in certain categories.
From the about page:
So if you haven't already seen it, check out Dfinitive's list of the best affiliate marketing websites.
From the about page:
Here at Dfinitive.com we aim to offer you a unique experience, taking in the best elements of a directory site, a search engine and a book-marking site, but with a twist. It’s the first site to use a mix of editors, a expert from each category, and social editing to produce a list of the very best, definitive sites for each category.I was also very pleased and touched to see my own, humble little blog get a positive review in the affiliate marketing section. Awww, thanks.
So if you haven't already seen it, check out Dfinitive's list of the best affiliate marketing websites.
Labels: affiliate marketing, websites
New Look For My Blog
I decided last night that I wanted a new look for my blog. The old blogger template had served me well, and I'll probably regret it in a few days, but the narrowness of its fixed width design was no longer appealing to me.
So this new layout takes up the whole screen and gives me much more space. Seeing my blog now with all this extra space is like the relief of stepping out of a packed elevator. I can now swing a cat on here, although my cat is looking at me nervously as I write this.
I'm sure I'll be continuing to make tweaks to it, but any feedback on the new design will be more than welcome.
So this new layout takes up the whole screen and gives me much more space. Seeing my blog now with all this extra space is like the relief of stepping out of a packed elevator. I can now swing a cat on here, although my cat is looking at me nervously as I write this.
I'm sure I'll be continuing to make tweaks to it, but any feedback on the new design will be more than welcome.
Labels: blogger
Monday, March 19, 2007
My new domain is an old domain
I mentioned the other day about some new .info domains I bought
Most of them were pretty obscure so I was not surprised they were available. Another one though seemed really rather decent (well, as decent as a hyphanated .info can be) - make-money-online.info. I really didn't expect to find that available when I did a domain search, because "make money online" is a reasonably popular phrase.
So anyway I got to work yesterday on a quick blog for the domain, just detailing a few basic ways to make money online with the intention of throwing up some pages, letting them get indexed and see where it falls in the rankings.
Checked the server logs today and noticed it was receiving traffic already! So, I get out my deerstalker and pipe to start investigating. Started by searching for the domain in various search engines and found a few mentions of it on some link pages - not of all them looking entirely reputable it has to be said.
Then I used a domain age tool to find out that the domain had an age of almost 3 years. Interesting.
I examined the server logs further and noticed that a particular page was being called in several instances, which was related to clickbank - either a sales page or maybe a "thankyou" page. So I've knocked together a page with the same name to showcase other "make money online" style ebooks which may be of interest to this trafficc.
So there's the good side - I have a domain which is a couple of years old, getting the odd bit of related traffic and has a few links in place.
The downside? Well the links are not from great sources and look a bit spammy. And why did the previous owner let it go? Could this domain have been penalised before by a search engine?
They're the pros and cons of buying a pre-owned domain I guess - but it added a bit of intrigue to my day. I wonder if in years to come, instead of tracing family trees, people will trace domain name ownerships. Granddads will fondly reminisce to the grandkids about that domain name they once owned, before the developers came in and turned it into just another price comparison site.
Most of them were pretty obscure so I was not surprised they were available. Another one though seemed really rather decent (well, as decent as a hyphanated .info can be) - make-money-online.info. I really didn't expect to find that available when I did a domain search, because "make money online" is a reasonably popular phrase.
So anyway I got to work yesterday on a quick blog for the domain, just detailing a few basic ways to make money online with the intention of throwing up some pages, letting them get indexed and see where it falls in the rankings.
Checked the server logs today and noticed it was receiving traffic already! So, I get out my deerstalker and pipe to start investigating. Started by searching for the domain in various search engines and found a few mentions of it on some link pages - not of all them looking entirely reputable it has to be said.
Then I used a domain age tool to find out that the domain had an age of almost 3 years. Interesting.
I examined the server logs further and noticed that a particular page was being called in several instances, which was related to clickbank - either a sales page or maybe a "thankyou" page. So I've knocked together a page with the same name to showcase other "make money online" style ebooks which may be of interest to this trafficc.
So there's the good side - I have a domain which is a couple of years old, getting the odd bit of related traffic and has a few links in place.
The downside? Well the links are not from great sources and look a bit spammy. And why did the previous owner let it go? Could this domain have been penalised before by a search engine?
They're the pros and cons of buying a pre-owned domain I guess - but it added a bit of intrigue to my day. I wonder if in years to come, instead of tracing family trees, people will trace domain name ownerships. Granddads will fondly reminisce to the grandkids about that domain name they once owned, before the developers came in and turned it into just another price comparison site.
Labels: domain names
Sunday, March 18, 2007
50p for .info domains at GoDaddy
GoDaddy has been running a special deal on .info domains for a couple of weeks, offering registrations at 99 cents (or 50p in the UK).
Not sure when the deal expires but I think it's definitely worth picking up a few. They might not be pretty but I've had pretty good success at getting #1 listing on MSN with keyword rich .info domains I bought.
I read an example on a forum of some guy picking up thousands of .infos as investments. I didn't go that far but I did some brainstorming other night with the help of the Overture keyword tool - yes, rumours of its demise were greatly exagerated - and came up with a nice varied collection of domains which I registered.
Not sure when the deal expires but I think it's definitely worth picking up a few. They might not be pretty but I've had pretty good success at getting #1 listing on MSN with keyword rich .info domains I bought.
I read an example on a forum of some guy picking up thousands of .infos as investments. I didn't go that far but I did some brainstorming other night with the help of the Overture keyword tool - yes, rumours of its demise were greatly exagerated - and came up with a nice varied collection of domains which I registered.
- SALE-OF-GOODS-ACT.INFO
- VIDEOGAME-AUCTIONS.INFO
- TV-LISTINGS.INFO
- CLONE-DVD.INFO
- CRIMINAL-JUSTICE-ACT.INFO
- CARBON-EMISSIONS.INFO
- PARKING-TICKETS.INFO
- MSOFFICE-CLTREQ-ASP.INFO
- NET-TUTORIAL.INFO
- MAKE-MONEY-ONLINE.INFO
- DEBT-FACTORING.INFO
- SCHOOL-LEAGUE-TABLE.INFO
Labels: domain names
Thursday, March 15, 2007
How not to be an account manager
A few weeks ago, I received this email from an account manager at a major network:
I promptly emailed these findings back to the account manager, expecting the same breathless enthusiasm as I found in his first email as he promptly dealt with the problem and we could then get on and maybe make some sales. But no, what did I get back? Nothing. Not a sausage. If it was a programme I was more attached to, I'd have followed it with up him but I decided to leave it and move on.
I'm sure they're all mostly great people doing their best, but from an affiliate point of view, I've never been left short of disappointments with all the major UK affiliate networks for really the most basic kind of things. Is it really that hard to get right?
I hope you are well – I’ve been looking into your account and due to the success you’ve previously experienced with the XXX programme I thought you may be interested in an excellent new programme which has recently launched on XXX.Now, this struck me as flannel immediately because my "success" on the X'd out programme was limited to one sale. But putting that aside, I thought I'd sign up with this new programme anyway and give them a go across of a few related websites. I even got to work on a content page based around their product feed. I soon realised two problems with the feed: none of the deep links worked and there was a duplicate header row which was a nuisance.
I promptly emailed these findings back to the account manager, expecting the same breathless enthusiasm as I found in his first email as he promptly dealt with the problem and we could then get on and maybe make some sales. But no, what did I get back? Nothing. Not a sausage. If it was a programme I was more attached to, I'd have followed it with up him but I decided to leave it and move on.
I'm sure they're all mostly great people doing their best, but from an affiliate point of view, I've never been left short of disappointments with all the major UK affiliate networks for really the most basic kind of things. Is it really that hard to get right?
Labels: affiliate marketing, affiliate network
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Adsense Eclipse
I am now very fond of the Adsense Notifer add on for Firefox, which was recommended to my by Keith Bond.
The latest Adsense earnings figure sits in the bottom right hand corner of my Firefox window, almost directly above my system clock.
I was treated to a rare sighting of what I call the Adsense Eclipse today when chronology and monetisation formed a perfect union, with the system time and Adsense earnings falling directly into line with each other.
I've had this a couple of times now, but usually it's near misses. My optimal viewing time for the Adsense Eclipse is between 11:00 and 12:00. Any later than that and I don't want to see it occur at all.
The latest Adsense earnings figure sits in the bottom right hand corner of my Firefox window, almost directly above my system clock.
I was treated to a rare sighting of what I call the Adsense Eclipse today when chronology and monetisation formed a perfect union, with the system time and Adsense earnings falling directly into line with each other.
I've had this a couple of times now, but usually it's near misses. My optimal viewing time for the Adsense Eclipse is between 11:00 and 12:00. Any later than that and I don't want to see it occur at all.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Money Made Clear, Web Strategy Left Confused
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is running a campaign called Money Made Clear where they hope to explain basic information on common financial products like bank accounts, credit cards and mortgages. It's backed up by a radio advetrising campaign which ends not with a website address given out for more info, but the instruction to search online for "money made clear" for more information.
OK, I checked Google, MSN and Yahoo! for the phrase "money made clear" and they are top ranked in all 3 and also have paid listings on each page so the instruction is sound. But it's also very precarious because someone with a related site, some finance comparison site most likely, may very well decide that "money made clear" is a great term to bid on now and get top paid listing. Also, someone with the SEO skills may decide that it wouldn't be impossible to get the top organic listing for that phrase.
So my point is, the FSA could have given a URL for their site which users could have gone to or they could have done what they did and promote a search engine listing which they can't be sure they'll be able to maintain. The route they chose doesn't seem very clever.
OK, I checked Google, MSN and Yahoo! for the phrase "money made clear" and they are top ranked in all 3 and also have paid listings on each page so the instruction is sound. But it's also very precarious because someone with a related site, some finance comparison site most likely, may very well decide that "money made clear" is a great term to bid on now and get top paid listing. Also, someone with the SEO skills may decide that it wouldn't be impossible to get the top organic listing for that phrase.
So my point is, the FSA could have given a URL for their site which users could have gone to or they could have done what they did and promote a search engine listing which they can't be sure they'll be able to maintain. The route they chose doesn't seem very clever.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Brand Bidding Competition
DGM are running an interesting promotion on behalf of their client, Easyspace. The four affiliates who drive the most validated sales to the client in March will win the right to be in a closed group of PPC brand name bidders from April 1st onwards. Winners will also be allowed to use the Easyspace domain names in their PPC ads.
Personally it's of no direct interest to me, but sounds like an intriguing promotion for those interested in taking part.
I know that closed groups aren't popular in some quarters and Fraser did that interesting post questioning the opacity of these things and whether corruption might exist in determining who gets exclusivity, so throwing the rights open to all in a competition sounds kind of cool.
I suppose this does assume that the affiliates who get the most sales will be PPCers anyway, because if you topped the table of validated sales through your web content/seo channels, I guess you might not be interested in PPC brand bidding exclusivity.
Personally it's of no direct interest to me, but sounds like an intriguing promotion for those interested in taking part.
I know that closed groups aren't popular in some quarters and Fraser did that interesting post questioning the opacity of these things and whether corruption might exist in determining who gets exclusivity, so throwing the rights open to all in a competition sounds kind of cool.
I suppose this does assume that the affiliates who get the most sales will be PPCers anyway, because if you topped the table of validated sales through your web content/seo channels, I guess you might not be interested in PPC brand bidding exclusivity.
Labels: affiliate marketing, dgm, ppc
Dragons' Den - 7/03/06
Two deals were done in the Den this week.
Chris Haines had come up with an invention that seemed pretty clever to me. A nightlight called Safe-T-Light that plugs into a wall socket and comes on when the lights fail, and the light is detachable so it acts a torch. Keeping a conventional torch for when the lights fail is a problem because you need to find the torch and hope its batteries have power. The Dragon's were split - Pete Jones thought it was pointless, Richard Farleigh thought Chris's plans to sell overseas before achieving success here was flawed and Duncan just wasn't interested. But Deborah was interested in it and the prospect of more safety products to come, and Theo was also keen, pointing out powercuts were more common in Europe, and they both decided to invest, getting 30% of equity between them for £95,000.
David Pybus - described as the Indiana Jones of Perfumery - wanted to take a range of historically accurate fragrances to market and carve out a niche in a hurge market. He was offering 20% of his business, Scents of Time, for £80,000. His product range included fragrances from the Titanic and from Pompeii - So if you want to smell like a ship that sunk or a city that was destroyed,you could well be in luck. He didn't say whether he will be expanding his product range to include more recent tragedies - but I suppose "Tsnumai for Men" and the scent of Chernobyl are two ideas that shouldn't be sniffed at. I can't imagine these selling particularly well on the beauty counters of the nation's dept stores, but maybe in the back of Sunday supplements or on the shopping channels? As he pointed out, it's a huge market and getting a tiny fraction would still do incredibly well.
Both deals this week were split between more than one investor, despite not being for large sums of money. I think I remarked on it before, but it seems increasingly common for the Dragons not to do deals alone in the Den. I can only imagine what it's like when they goto the canteen at lunch: "'Theo, I'm prepared to pay half the money for 50% of this cod and chips. What do you think?"
I can't do a Dragons' Den post and not remark on the success achieved by Levi Roots from episode one of this series who has just done a deal which will see his Reggae Reggae Sauce in 600 Sainsburys stores. Product review coming soon!
Chris Haines had come up with an invention that seemed pretty clever to me. A nightlight called Safe-T-Light that plugs into a wall socket and comes on when the lights fail, and the light is detachable so it acts a torch. Keeping a conventional torch for when the lights fail is a problem because you need to find the torch and hope its batteries have power. The Dragon's were split - Pete Jones thought it was pointless, Richard Farleigh thought Chris's plans to sell overseas before achieving success here was flawed and Duncan just wasn't interested. But Deborah was interested in it and the prospect of more safety products to come, and Theo was also keen, pointing out powercuts were more common in Europe, and they both decided to invest, getting 30% of equity between them for £95,000.
David Pybus - described as the Indiana Jones of Perfumery - wanted to take a range of historically accurate fragrances to market and carve out a niche in a hurge market. He was offering 20% of his business, Scents of Time, for £80,000. His product range included fragrances from the Titanic and from Pompeii - So if you want to smell like a ship that sunk or a city that was destroyed,you could well be in luck. He didn't say whether he will be expanding his product range to include more recent tragedies - but I suppose "Tsnumai for Men" and the scent of Chernobyl are two ideas that shouldn't be sniffed at. I can't imagine these selling particularly well on the beauty counters of the nation's dept stores, but maybe in the back of Sunday supplements or on the shopping channels? As he pointed out, it's a huge market and getting a tiny fraction would still do incredibly well.
Both deals this week were split between more than one investor, despite not being for large sums of money. I think I remarked on it before, but it seems increasingly common for the Dragons not to do deals alone in the Den. I can only imagine what it's like when they goto the canteen at lunch: "'Theo, I'm prepared to pay half the money for 50% of this cod and chips. What do you think?"
I can't do a Dragons' Den post and not remark on the success achieved by Levi Roots from episode one of this series who has just done a deal which will see his Reggae Reggae Sauce in 600 Sainsburys stores. Product review coming soon!
Labels: dragons' den, review, tv
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
My Office At Home
I've mentioned before on the blog - probably to the point of being tedious - about the office I recently left in Greenwich. Before that, I had an office in Dartford, which is a particularly charming part of North Kent.
Now I'm working from home because my new house allows me the extra room to have a dedicated workspace at home.
I just took this photo of my current work space - which looks a lot messier on screen than I had realised:
You can see my white board on the wall. I really do love a good white board and always like to make sure I have it pretty full of things to do. And if I have nothing to do, I'll just draw some faces.
Dual screen output on my desktop PC is also essential. Ideally I'd have one or two more, but I just stuck my other LCD and a PC in my lodger's bedroom to encourage her to stay in there (hope she doesn't read this!).
On my shelves, I am overlooked by Pino - the world's most annoying robot.
And usually somewhere in the office will usually be my cat, Alfie, who turns his nose up at his bed in favour an A4 box file.
Now I'm working from home because my new house allows me the extra room to have a dedicated workspace at home.
I just took this photo of my current work space - which looks a lot messier on screen than I had realised:
You can see my white board on the wall. I really do love a good white board and always like to make sure I have it pretty full of things to do. And if I have nothing to do, I'll just draw some faces.
Dual screen output on my desktop PC is also essential. Ideally I'd have one or two more, but I just stuck my other LCD and a PC in my lodger's bedroom to encourage her to stay in there (hope she doesn't read this!).
On my shelves, I am overlooked by Pino - the world's most annoying robot.
And usually somewhere in the office will usually be my cat, Alfie, who turns his nose up at his bed in favour an A4 box file.
Labels: office, working from home
Monday, March 05, 2007
Are Flash Banners More Trouble Than They're Worth?
I blogged a little while ago about some Flash PC World banners I had on my site which I wasn't able to click on.
I've just noticed that I have exactly the same problem with some Expedia Flash banners - also from TradeDoubler - which I put on a travel site of mine. They look nice on the page, but they're not simple not clickable.
I'm running Flash 9,0,28,0 on a Windows XP machine and have tried from FF and IE. I've also tried from a Win2k machine with Flash 8,0,22,0 and still no joy.
So what's going on? Do the banners simply not work at all. Is it some Flash version problem. I'll email TD to see if they have any suggestions but at the moment, following the same problem from two merchants, I'm left wondering - is it safe to use Flash banners? Or is it ad space down the drain?
[edit]
TD have got back to me and said this was a "bad link" and they have given me a replacement link code that works fine. As this is second time I've had this problem from a merchant on TD, I think I will be double checking any more flash banners from them in future, but preferably using a simple linked image where possible.
I've just noticed that I have exactly the same problem with some Expedia Flash banners - also from TradeDoubler - which I put on a travel site of mine. They look nice on the page, but they're not simple not clickable.
I'm running Flash 9,0,28,0 on a Windows XP machine and have tried from FF and IE. I've also tried from a Win2k machine with Flash 8,0,22,0 and still no joy.
So what's going on? Do the banners simply not work at all. Is it some Flash version problem. I'll email TD to see if they have any suggestions but at the moment, following the same problem from two merchants, I'm left wondering - is it safe to use Flash banners? Or is it ad space down the drain?
[edit]
TD have got back to me and said this was a "bad link" and they have given me a replacement link code that works fine. As this is second time I've had this problem from a merchant on TD, I think I will be double checking any more flash banners from them in future, but preferably using a simple linked image where possible.
Labels: affiliate marketing, flash
Friday, March 02, 2007
I'm All Wii-ed Up
Finally, after the disaster of Play.com's Wii Pre-Order, I got myself a Wii today thanks to GAME. I had to buy some 4 game bundle I didn't want, but the 4 games are being promptly returned so it ended up great.
I got one Mii friend so far, and I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to do yet. I have my Mii friend and me walking around Mii plaza and I been trying to drag and drop myself onto her and see if there's any attack options but it all seems a bit docile.
This is my code if anyone wants to add me on: 1715 8021 3577 0159
Wii Sports is cool, and the Golf game has wetted my appetite for Tiger Woods Golf from EA which is out in a few weeks.
Affiliate Angle
Actually finally got my Wii thanks to a very cool site, which I presume is an affiliate site at http://www.wii-consoles.co.uk/ which pops up an alert when shops have them in stock. Not sure how it works and if it really taps into the stock databases of those stores selling them, although I can see a way in which you could probably replicate that system without accessing any databases. But it's really a useful site and is a great example of an affiliate creating a site which adds value and they surely deserve any commission that get through it.
My own Wii preorder site was nothing like as good or as clever, but it did well from its US audience. I wish now I had collected a mailing list from it so I could have mailed out when it came into stock like it did with Dixons yesterday.
So with PS3 coming soon to UK was it worth making a preorder site. Probably money to be made but I was so disillusioned with pre-orders after Play.com messed it all up, I just decided not to get involved.
I got one Mii friend so far, and I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to do yet. I have my Mii friend and me walking around Mii plaza and I been trying to drag and drop myself onto her and see if there's any attack options but it all seems a bit docile.
This is my code if anyone wants to add me on: 1715 8021 3577 0159
Wii Sports is cool, and the Golf game has wetted my appetite for Tiger Woods Golf from EA which is out in a few weeks.
Affiliate Angle
Actually finally got my Wii thanks to a very cool site, which I presume is an affiliate site at http://www.wii-consoles.co.uk/ which pops up an alert when shops have them in stock. Not sure how it works and if it really taps into the stock databases of those stores selling them, although I can see a way in which you could probably replicate that system without accessing any databases. But it's really a useful site and is a great example of an affiliate creating a site which adds value and they surely deserve any commission that get through it.
My own Wii preorder site was nothing like as good or as clever, but it did well from its US audience. I wish now I had collected a mailing list from it so I could have mailed out when it came into stock like it did with Dixons yesterday.
So with PS3 coming soon to UK was it worth making a preorder site. Probably money to be made but I was so disillusioned with pre-orders after Play.com messed it all up, I just decided not to get involved.
Labels: nintendo wii
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Dragons' Den - 28/02/07
Christian Lane was an amazing young guy from Surrey who come into the den with his carrying case idea for graphic designers which lets them carry large paper sizes in a folded case without creasing the paper. It was called Foldio and looked like a reasonable idea, and the Dragons were obviously impressed with it, but more so with him for having achieved quite a lot by the age of 19 - he raised the money to get the project to its current state through dabbling in import/export from China. He asked for £80,000 for a 15% stake in his business, but quickly upped his offer to 35% under very little pressure from Theo. He explained later that he was very keen to work with Theo, who runs the stationary shops Rymans and Partners. Peter Jones looked a bit gutted not to have managed to get in on the deal that was eventually done between Christian and Theo, as he was clearly keen to work with him. The website for the product is www.foldio.co.uk and it's apparently coming soon.
Anna Dickson brought her Mummymits into the Den - a pair of gloves that attached to a pram and allowed for the person pushing the pram to quickly get their hands in and out of a pair of gloves to tend to their child. The concensus of the Dragons seemed to be that it was a nice idea and could be a good lifestyle business for Anna, but she lacked the business acumen to really push it forward. I had an idea what they mean when they say "lifestyle business" but it was useful to see this quote from Peter Jones on the BBC site: "I defined her business as a ‘lifestyle business’ which means she was not planning to channel profits back into her company to expand it but was using it to fund herself"
The only other successful entrepreneur was KC Jones whose company, Innovations4u, had an exclusive distribution deal for a box, a bit smaller than a microwave, that could sterilise anything using silver-nano technology. KC was a bit of a character, but just the right side of eccentric to still be investible. Richard Farleigh and Deborah Meaden took a punt and invested £100,000 between them, for which they negotiated an equity share of 50%. Personally I think if an entrepreneur comes into the den, by all means negotiate on the equity share but to force him to a stage where he only retains 50% of the shares of his company seems a bit greedy.
Anna Dickson brought her Mummymits into the Den - a pair of gloves that attached to a pram and allowed for the person pushing the pram to quickly get their hands in and out of a pair of gloves to tend to their child. The concensus of the Dragons seemed to be that it was a nice idea and could be a good lifestyle business for Anna, but she lacked the business acumen to really push it forward. I had an idea what they mean when they say "lifestyle business" but it was useful to see this quote from Peter Jones on the BBC site: "I defined her business as a ‘lifestyle business’ which means she was not planning to channel profits back into her company to expand it but was using it to fund herself"
The only other successful entrepreneur was KC Jones whose company, Innovations4u, had an exclusive distribution deal for a box, a bit smaller than a microwave, that could sterilise anything using silver-nano technology. KC was a bit of a character, but just the right side of eccentric to still be investible. Richard Farleigh and Deborah Meaden took a punt and invested £100,000 between them, for which they negotiated an equity share of 50%. Personally I think if an entrepreneur comes into the den, by all means negotiate on the equity share but to force him to a stage where he only retains 50% of the shares of his company seems a bit greedy.
Labels: dragons' den, review, tv
February Earnings Update!!
Just a little update on online earnings in January for anyone interested in that kind of thing.
I was pleased to see Adsense income actually increase upon what I earned in January by 1.5%, despite it being a shorter month, thanks mostly to a nice rise in Referrals. So it was a pleasing month but there was a slight downside when I compared to Feb 06 and realised it was down by quite a bit but February 06 was a monster month for Adsense for me so maybe not a useful comparison.
Amazon income was up massively, mostly thanks to some PPC work I did in January, but when costs taken into account, I think it roughly broken even. Was fun though and I learnt some stuff but have put that on hold for a bit and plan to revisit.
Other affiliate income was mostly steady. Most suprising and welcome affiliate earning was a £70 commission from the mobile network Three on Buy.at. I did a mobile phone site a while ago but there was no real angle to it and the finishe dproduct didnt inspire me to try and promote it so I just left it. This sale came from that site so it was nice and unexpected. I think they may be charging customers (like me!) too much to afford £70 commissions though!
I was pleased to see Adsense income actually increase upon what I earned in January by 1.5%, despite it being a shorter month, thanks mostly to a nice rise in Referrals. So it was a pleasing month but there was a slight downside when I compared to Feb 06 and realised it was down by quite a bit but February 06 was a monster month for Adsense for me so maybe not a useful comparison.
Amazon income was up massively, mostly thanks to some PPC work I did in January, but when costs taken into account, I think it roughly broken even. Was fun though and I learnt some stuff but have put that on hold for a bit and plan to revisit.
Other affiliate income was mostly steady. Most suprising and welcome affiliate earning was a £70 commission from the mobile network Three on Buy.at. I did a mobile phone site a while ago but there was no real angle to it and the finishe dproduct didnt inspire me to try and promote it so I just left it. This sale came from that site so it was nice and unexpected. I think they may be charging customers (like me!) too much to afford £70 commissions though!
Labels: earnings
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