I am running several blogs besides this one and have decided early on to advertise on them. The earliest blog that I worked on that is still extant, Mindless Ramblings, is exactly what the name says. The blog that you are reading now is my third blog. Recently, I have created a music discussion blog to accompany my music review site. My very first blog is no longer in existence, and analyzed emerging trends in technology.
At first, I was unsure of whether or not I should advertise on my blogs as I did not want to clutter up the display and detract from the readability of the sites as I have seen many others do. Also, I didn't want to "sell out" just to make a buck, or in my case, about half of a buck. Third, I was concerned about disreputable advertisers attempting to rip-off my readers.
When planned out properly, advertisements can be displayed in an unobtrusive manner where they do not interfere with readability. The second issue, fear of losing credibility, does not concern me as the ads that are displayed are targeted and I believe that they provide a valuable service to readers. Finally, Google seems to do a great job of screening out seedy advertisers, so I do not have to worry about readers being taken advantage of.
Many of the ads that I use - especially on the product review on this blog - are from Amazon and show an image of the product being reviewed. This provides two valuable services to readers. First, as the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words"; instead of just relying on my description, people can actually see what I am talking about. Second, if the image is clicked, it allows a prospective customer to immediately purchase the item from Amazon without having to search the web for a retailer. Google's AdSense program also seems to be targeted extremely well and I have been tempted to visit sites that are advertised on my blogs.
If you have concerns about monetizing your site, that is perfectly understandable; but, the concerns that I was facing turned out to be unfounded.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Trust Keyboard reviewed - 5 out of 5
Last week I purchased the KB-2200 Multimedia Scroll keyboard by Trust and have been impressed with it.
First off, all of the multi-media keys seemed to work "out of the box" for me with Ubuntu linux 8.04. On several other keyboards that I have used, I had to spend 1/2 hour remapping the volume knob so this impressed me right off the bat. Speaking of the volume dial, it is large enough that it is easy to locate by touch without having to look at the keyboard.
Other than that, it does everything you would expect from a keyboard. The keys are responsive and do not stick, the spacing of the keys is small enough that I don't have to strain to reach the 't' and the 'y' keys, but not so close that it causes me to hit multiple keys at once, and the face is smooth so it shouldn't collect dust as easily as more textured keyboards do.
The only complaint I have is relatively minor - the backspace key could be a little larger. This fault though is not enough to lower my score from a 5 out of 5.
First off, all of the multi-media keys seemed to work "out of the box" for me with Ubuntu linux 8.04. On several other keyboards that I have used, I had to spend 1/2 hour remapping the volume knob so this impressed me right off the bat. Speaking of the volume dial, it is large enough that it is easy to locate by touch without having to look at the keyboard.
Other than that, it does everything you would expect from a keyboard. The keys are responsive and do not stick, the spacing of the keys is small enough that I don't have to strain to reach the 't' and the 'y' keys, but not so close that it causes me to hit multiple keys at once, and the face is smooth so it shouldn't collect dust as easily as more textured keyboards do.
The only complaint I have is relatively minor - the backspace key could be a little larger. This fault though is not enough to lower my score from a 5 out of 5.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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