Entries from September 2006 ↓

The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not. — The Upanishads

Blogging like any other activity psychology. If you want to succeed, you will. I get inspired often, very easily. I’m little emotional, if I come across a sad moment - be in movies, newspaper, books - my eyes become moist. If I watch a movie that’s patriotic or inspirational (like October Sky), I get inspired. I’m saying all this not drive home the point that I’m a emotional jerk but to stress that I get influenced easily. That’s important. It pushes me to perform better and raise the bar every time I blog.

I’ll list some factors that influence me to be inspired, motivated and focused.
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What’s Niche? Niche is a special place within the scheme of things. It sometimes denotes the function or position of a thing within a structure. (Wiki) It helps you focus in one area and you’ll be an ‘expert’ as time go by. Do you know that Niche site earn more than site with broader appeal?

I recently happen to scout for some niche topic so that I can start a new site and made lot of research on this subject. I have already registered a domain and I’m all set to write contents. There is a thread at Earners Forum that has wonderful information on how to go about in selecting niche topics for your online venture. I have posted the contents of that thread here (with the permission of the authors).

Before you start - Do you have the burning desire and passionate about the topic?

Be aware and choose the topic of your niche wisely. Initially we might have train of ideas, but it’s essential that you post regularly (it might not be frequent). For this concept to take off, then it’s mandatory to choose topic that interests you. Otherwise you find yourself burnt out - you should have the burning desire to continue as long as it takes.

You need not be an expert in the area (though it’s better to be an expert in any area that you write), but you should feel comfortable in the topic and you should be fresh and bursting with energy even after working on the topic for over 9-12 months also.

People often go by niche which has high payouts than working on the topic, than they have passion and desire. Mesothelioma (I still have no idea what’s it about) might fetch you high Rate per Click (RPC), but long long can you sustain and add contents? The last thing you want is to plagiarize.

Here are the basic steps that one follows in identifying a niche topic and develop a site.

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Of late, we see a lot of advertisements about Online Movie Rental and Movie on Demand (with DTH). I’m always interested in such stuffs, so decided to do dig and research on this subject.

The results were interesting…
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BlogHerAds was initially started in May 2006 to some 39 premium parenting bloggers, now they have decided to come out of the beta and open for everyone to join.

Check the PDF invitation and more information on how to join and all that jazz.

Here is some key features, specifics and info:

• You’ll be paid 60% of the revenue generated through your blog. The CPM is going to be $10, so you’ll get $6 for every 1000 impressions.
• BlogHer ads have to be the only graphic ads above the fold.
• A number of Ad sizes including Ads for your RSS feeds.
• The Payment is based on CPM. That is, cost per 1000 impressions. So you’ll earn irrespective of clicks that the Ads get. So more the traffic, more the revenue for you.
• There’s no guarantee that you’ll see ads immediately - works the same way as Text Link Ads. You see Ads as soon as advertisers purchase slot in your blog.
• Your blog should be atleast 90 days old plus regularly (not only frequently) updated blog.

Another good thing is we can monetize your RSS feeds. Feedburner also got something of this line but you need to have 500 subscribers which is not easy for small publishers. AdSense also has Ads for feeds but only for premium publishers.

Is it only for Women Bloggers?
I had initial doubts whether male bloggers can join. But I noticed that nowhere in their invitation PDF or in their site that they look for women bloggers (BlogHer) only. It seems their focus is on women bloggers, it seems that they “provide a quality connection to the women’s blogging community”. I don’t think they’ll approve any male managed blogs that don’t cater to womens and moms. From from an advertising perspective, they call it “vertical”. Plus in their site, we have: “BlogHerAds is actively recruiting applicants for bloggers on all topics.”

Sexbaiting and BlogHerAds
Sexbaiting is creating (usually) fake, (usually) female, profiles or characters on websites that are used to lure men into spending money on the false pretense that they have a chance of having sex with that character. Sexbait examples include many Myspace profiles, personal ads, and sex dating site profiles. From Seo Black Hat.

Now, if only they got Ads that target males through sex appeal with Ads having gorgeous ladies. Think Gillette Ads, what business do ladies have in the Ads? Even if we target males in women related/centered blogs, I’m sure it’s good news for Advertisers. I know a lot of guys who worship chicks blogs even if the blog suck par se. It’ll work out well for the advertisers as they pay for traffic and not for sales, leads or clicks. It’s a known fact that sex sells.

I think it’s a good move by BlogHer. Plus it’s great for publishers who look for additional and/or alternate revenue source than the popular AdSense. My average CPM is just over $6 (this month - just over $7) so the CPM they offer is kind of good for “small publishers” who can’t earn big with Affiliate marketing which IMO needs solid heavy traffic. So incase you’re a women blogger or blog on women related topics, then go for it. Additional income will do you good.

[tags]blogherads, ads, blogs, revenue,sexbaiting, sex bait, earn online[/tags]

Getting a domain name a paid hosting is the first and most important step that you’ll take while you start a website. In my opinion, a site is completely not yours unless you have total control and have domain name and a good host for it.

If traffic and popularity is all you care, then it’s ok to have Blogspot, Wordpress or a typepad hosted blog. If you want to go a step ahead (earn money, have authority, strong online presence, etc..), then the first best decision that you take is going for a paid hosting and a domain name for it. To start with you can get yourself a 25/50 MB web space (around 2-4 GB monthly BW) and a domain name registered for an year.

Paid Hosting:
Going for paid hosting has many advantages. The uptime of your site is high, your web pages load faster, your host will take back up regularly, etc..

Tips to choose good web host: Web Hosting is a very lucrative way to earn online. So never get duped. Never ever go for free hosting. Either you’ll have forced Ads (or have your Ads), or you need to spam their forums, use paid softwares (like vBulletin) or they lack key features (which you might not be aware of as a newbie), etc.. they person is not doing a charity by giving you free space. He’s here to earn money. He’ll make quick bucks and close the service, leaving you

Now consider this: 1 GB web space, unlimited Bandwidth and all the other jazz for less than $15 a year. Looks too good? Yes, it’s tempting as well. Those web hosts are inflating the space and bandwidth assuming that average user does not use this much space and bandwidth. Take this blog for example. On an average I post somewhere around 15 posts a month. In some 10 months period, it took me only 22 MB space. So why do you need 500 MB or 1 GB space? Don’t get carried away by such claims, they have riders in their TOS for “abuse” of traffic and/or space.

Domain name:
A reality check:
1. How is bestgadgets.com
2. How is bestgadgets.blogspot.com

If I’m the visitor, I’ll think bestgadgets.com is maintained and run by some pro and geek even though it might be run by nOObs.

For less than $5/year, we get some reliable service to register a domain. You have no excuse not to have a domain if you are financially challenged. You should never fall for a free domain, unless you have complete control over it (which for 90% you won’t have). You should be able to change DNS or transfer to any other registrar at your will. After all your sites are known by the domain name and not the IP of your hosting server! There are a lot of reasons why you need to get yourself a domain name..which I have discussed in the following section.

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India is playing Australia and West Indies at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 12 to September 24. I’m really exited and can’t wait as India is in action after a long time. The Sri Lanka Tri Series was also canceled.

Here are the List of links where you can find links of sites that offer Live cricket streaming telecast:
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I’m a big Formula One fan and from the day I started watching Formula One I never liked Micheal Schumacher. Now he’s going to retire after this 2006 season which he announced after the Italian GP.

Just winning races does not make u great. He might be good, and I don’t care. He’s a cheat and dishonest driver to the core. Michael unlike Mika or Senna does not drive for the fun of it. He’s hell bent to win GPs at any cost.

Damon Hill beat him, Jacques Villeneuve beat him,Mikka Hakkinen beat him, Fernando Alonso beat him, loser only ever won titles when he had the best car than the other cars. I want to know if he has ever won a championship very close or had any competition from other teams when he won the World Championships. Schumacher - Ferrari = ZERO

Schumacher Celebrating Imola 1994 Aftermath - Heartless and Disgusting
How can a person celebrate after a person (Senna - Car Crash) dies? Plus Ayrton Senna was arguably the best Formula One driver.In the post race press conference, he says: “I can’t feel happy” and you can clearly see in the video MS was happy, he drank champagne and pumps his fist in the air after he won, when the race was restarted after Senna’s crash.
YouTube video about MS celebrating at Imola

Austrian GP 2002 - Shameless Creature
Michael “orders” Barrichello to leave way for him towards the end of the GP. He also gave the winner’s trophy to him. Moreover if I can remember well, David Coulthard was second in the championship title race - not by a slender margin, yet the shameless creature made Barrichello pull in the final lap. Plus he wanted his 7 GP wins in a row intact and before that he has never won at Hungary. Poor Rubens, he was leading from the start of the race.

Monaco GP Qualifying 2006 - A Cheater
During the final lap of qualifying at Monaco, M Schumacher came to a stop (he said his car was stalled) at the La Rascasse hairpin, resulting in a yellow flags, so that the other drivers can drive in full speed. The stewards made his time void and Alonso was declared P1. How can there be an error when one drives a F1 car at 16 Kmph?
YouTube video about MS “mistake”

How much more?
Those were only some of the instances. Remember the Adelaide 1994 crash with Hill when MS has hit the wall and his suspension was damaged and by all probability wouldn’t have continued the race and Schumacher crashed into Hill on purpose. That was not all –he won his first championship having a illegal traction and launch control mechanism in his Benetton, European (Jerez) GP 1997 with Jacques Villeneuve and he was stripped of his points, usage of ‘illegal fuels’ Argentian 1998 with David Coulthard , Belgian GP 2000 with Mikka Hakkinen, European GP 2001 with Ralf Schumacher, Canadian GP 2001 where he almost scared the shit out of his brother when he forced him ‘kiss’ the wall , British GP 2003 with Alonso… now MONACO GRAND PRIX 2006 with Alonso…. so much instances to prove he’s a cheat. Still MS fans think all this is an one off incidence.

Michael Schumacher - Lucky Prick
Everything for the past 10 years has fell into Schumacher’s way. Michael Schumacher has only had “ONE” Engine failiure (German GP 2001) in the last 6 years. And we all know Bridgestone’s loyalty towards Ferrari. Their bias towards Ferrari made McLaren switch towards Michelin.

Britain 1998, He was allowed to win a race by taking his stop go on the last lap. When Hakkinen had exhaust failure and his engine blow in the last lap in the Belgian GP (I forgot the year). Kimi Raikonnen’s bad season and not a reliable McLaren in 2004, etc…

I don’t say that michael schumacher is a bad driver. But he’s not a great driver. He’s a cheat for sure. He got a serious attitude problem and is arrogant. I think he is a great racer, great strategist with zero ethics and morals.

It’s really good riddance. Good to see a cheater and an dishonest driver to retire. He should have done that long time back. I hope that Alonso and Renault win the Drivers and Constructors championships respectively this year. He personally made sure that he had all the records in his name and retired.