Kontera In-text Ads August 13, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : My Sites, Uncategorized , add a comment
I’m currently trying in-text contexual advertising out via Kontera’s publisher platform and I like the way that the ads are shown and they aren’t obstrusive at-all like you see with ads that are all over such as pop-ups as a prime example of being quite obstrusive. I also managed to get into CPXInteractive for one of my sites and I’ll be testing those guys out to see if I can squeeze anymore revenue out of my sites. Though a question did come to mind, “could I Kontera’s tags on my other sites?” or for a more relevant term, “could I use Kontera on more than one site”, as at the application side of things when you sign up; you only enter one website. However I’ve sent off Kontera an email to answer this question and I’ll post a follow up on this entry of my bloggin’.
As for CPXInteractive, I’ve had to confirm that I own a website by adding ‘the’ email address I signed up with to my website or a seperate file containing my email, as evidence that I’m in control of it. Hopefully I’ll receive a reply by today with login confirmtion so I can start placing their ads up. However it looks good and I’ve heard some good stuff about CPXInteractive as they are quite large as well - hopefully they will top my number one revenue source and along with Kontera we should have a great relationship to say the least.
CPX Interactive - Update
Today, I got accepted and my account was activated after waiting a few a days for CPX Interactive to review my website. However, later on today (Friday 15 2008) my account was deactivated without any notice at-all as to why. I can’t see why they would disable or ‘deactivate’ my account so ubruptly without the shortest notice via email or phone. At least with other ad publishing networks, they send you an email as to why your account has been deactivated.
(Click the image to make it bigger)
So first impressions haven’t gone to well, now the time is to find out why they have deactivated my account and if it’s an accident, then I’ll get along fine with it, however if it isn’t and they give some stupid reason, then I guess I won’t be recommending them but the other way around from my own experience. However that is the thing, they reviewed my website and after a few hours, activated my account, then as soon as I place their ads up, bam, I get my account deactivated. Well, I’ll see what they say next however this hasn’t gone terribly well.
The funny thing is, is that they are using the same control panel and design as RightMedia, who I’ve signed up with however conversion rates weren’t going to well with them, so I dropped them. - Whether they are the same company or what, I cannot tell however they do have the same control panel. Everything down to the support email option is the same. Hm. Something real interesting to look and up and think about.
…
Okay, I recieved a ‘reply’ or a reasoning as to why my account was disabled, and they assessed that I wasn’t getting enough traffic and the limit was 30,000 unique visitors. However sitewide on this website of mine which I had put their ads sitewide, it does recieve over 30,000 unique visitors (As of this month) and they assessed that it did not in the period of a couple hours with myself having these ads up. All I can say is that they aren’t very specific in monitoring traffic over a period of time; instead you have to have the right surge of visitors at the time you have their ads up. Oh well. There is a whole list of publisher networks to try. - Though the cookie in the jar would be either Yahoo Publisher Network! or either Microsoft adCenter Publisher which are both convieniently in beta and are only offering US website owners. The hunt goes on. However lest we forget Kontera, I love their ad system and I love the way the ads appear, they don’t look cheap like other ad publisher networks, here take this as an example:
Kontera
Ad Brite
Sorry for the low resolution. However I think Kontera’s looks much more inviting and much better visually and ads seems to be more relevant to the subject. Time will tell how things work out and hopefully it will be a thumbs up.
adCenter Publisher August 2, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : My Sites, Uncategorized , add a comment
So I’ve been reading up on Microsoft adCenter Publisher and quite frankly, there is not enough information about the program. However last month on July 18th, Chris from Microsoft posted some information on the adCenter blog about the program and that they were accepting publishers which I assume very few. Though just like Yahoo Publisher Network! they would only be accepting “US based web-publishers”, which from I hope they release internationally as soon as they pass the private stage, I don’t want them to be another Yahoo (YPN), plus I’m from the United Kingdom and I would be very happy to get involved in such program; as it will compete with the big players such as Yahoo Publisher Network & Google AdSense.
What I am afraid of?
Call me greedy however I don’t think there are enough publisher networks around, which I could use to earn the big money with, the only one I can think of is Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network! Those two publishing networks are where you make money from if you want to earn from any type of site, considering their terms of service policies. However if a service which ‘Microsoft’, a huge company name, came out with such service for the public, to every single Country in the world, things would be in the high-life for every webmaster. My concern is that this isn’t going to happen and just like Yahoo Publisher Network! Microsoft adCenter Publisher will be only limited to the United States of America. That is a major concern from an internet provider & webmaster such as myself, as I’d to be able to join such program without having to migrate to the US.
How to apply?
You can apply through the following link which Chris has provided via the blog post:
http://advertising.microsoft.com/publisher
The above link, doesn’t seem to be well-advertised for the size that Microsoft is, thus why they are still in a ‘private’ beta of some sort, however sign up and see if you get it, you never know!
adCenter Publishers official website, can be found here, it will give you all the information needed to tell you about the service they provide, and from the website we can ascertain this service is just like AdSense, Adbrite, Yahoo Publisher Network and down a whole stream of other advertising publishing groups.
I just hope they come out soon, as time is wasted, as AdSense is currently in the lead with no one being able to actually ‘compete’ with them. - As Yahoo Publisher Network! failed and are now using Ads from which Google are providing them with, thus why I don’t see the initial problem of YPN going world wide, instead of staying in a single country.
$500+ save up July 20, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet , add a comment
Who doesn’t like money?
I’m currently selling most of my websites to save up to $500 for a neat dedicated server at WiredTree.com, I’m hoping to keep some of my nicer websites however selling off some of my older websites will be needed to retain the amount of cash to generate the amount I need for the server. Here are the specifications of the dedicated server, I’m going to be getting with WiredTree:
- Intel Core 2 Quad (4 CPUs)
- 6MB - 8MB Shared Cache
- 3GB or 4GB of ECC DDRI RAM
- SATA II SAS
- SuperMicro Hardware + IPMI2.0
- 8 IPs on Private VLAN
- 2000GB Public Bandwidth Standard
- 2000GB of Bandwidth
- cPanel / WHM Server Control Panel
The price of everything above would initially reach out to $251.00 Monthly which I do not want to do, thus I’m saving up to $500 to pay a setup fee which will reduce the monthly fee to just only $151 monthly. Which is something I’d be willing to pay on a monthly basis as I could load more websites which could initially make myself profit. With such a server I could start up more projects and seeing as the RAM is not to costly compared to the $15 for 125MB on the VPS plans I’m currently on with WT; it isn’t a bad deal when I can get a gig of RAM just for just $10 each. 
*Big difference I’m also thinking of retiring variable.vlexodns.com onto this dedicated server to further reduce costs.
The new server name would be called powerful.vlexodns.com, seeing as this would be the most powerful dedicated server Vlexo services would be on during the time that Vlexo’s services have been up. Since the dual cores we were back in the beginning and to the Xeons (4 cores) which we were with along with the services of BurstNET; which we quickly left. This new dedicated server should project more power in giving a more reliable and stable service thus why I’m spending $500 into making this deal work with WiredTree as I spoke to the owner of WiredTree and he said he’d take off $100 of the monthly bill if I paid a $500 setup fee, which is what I’m aiming towards.
Seeing as I whole-heartedly pay for all the services that we provide on Vlexo alone, I will not be asking for donations and as such I will only be asking for donations if you guys want to see an improvement in things such as design and custimization of the website. - Leave the server down to myself.
Coming soon. 
6 month review of WiredTree.com June 19, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet, My Sites, Other, Webmaster , add a comment
I have been with WiredTree.com for around six months and I praise the very floor they walk on, they have been very consistent in the time they have set to respond to tickets, it seems their time limit is 15 minutes however I’ve always noticed them reply in just 5 - 10 minutes. - Which is astounding for such provider to offer such unique service, from which I have not seen elsewhere with all the moving of providers I have been doing; they are by far the best service I have ever been with! The six months I have been with them, there was no downtime which I could evidently see in front of myself, unless the actual server was having problems; all you’d have to do is contact them they would fix it. What makes me personally feel comfortable with WiredTree is that they give pro-active support which is awesome as it takes that feeling of your website going down out the window and if there is ever a time which it does go down, in a few minutes it will be up or an explanation given seeing as they literally reply to you in minutes.
Now I currently only have 1 VPS with them and I’m ordering a hybrid server - now I would usually only pick companies which offer dedicated servers as I’m not to keen in sharing a server with others (With other services running on it) though with the service they have provided me, there is no room for complaint; they provide a competent service which they don’t fuss around with. e.g. they do their job with pure professionalism and there is also a personal touch as if you were there only customer as they are just literally replying to you at such a fast rate; it’s as if they should have an instant messenger support available (I wish)! Well, just think of this scenario:
Say if you were having a really bad day and your VPS/Server was just constantly going wrong due to yourself making changes to the core of the files in your OS system - they would literally be the ‘knights in shining armour coming to pick you up and fix you’ or in this term they would fix or enhance upon the changes you made!
They are what we call a ‘Quality provider’! Some may think they are expensive however I believe ‘you get what you pay for’ and they aren’t that expensive, to be honest, they are actually quite cheap if you start comparing them against other providers who offer the same kind of service. e.g. a competing service. Literally if you want a backbone behind you, which what I mean is something you can fall back on if you can’t fix something; then go with WiredTree as they have provided me sufficient backbone in order to provide a running service which I did have and still am running with clients who I now host for free, since Vlexo went totally free as of early this month, though in heart we have always been a free provider! Since my last host who I was co-owner of went bust to the actual owner not being able to afford payments after 1 year of being up and was still on a reseller account with this flimsy (In my opinion) reseller host; I wanted to make a difference with Vlexo and I made sure I was able to afford running it. - With WT it has made this possible as a lot of costs have been cut with providers charging over the moon with a less impressive service in my opinion from my personal experience.
Now I tried to go even cheaper with my free users (Which was wrong; not morally however) as WT provided a much better service for a much better price; considering what I was getting and the level of service which was/is being provided. I’m thankful that such service is around as I bet I’ll be using their service for the next 5 years if not more if ‘they’ or ‘I’ are still around!
Just to make this clear, we have had some recent network downtime (Or our free users have) as they are still with the ‘old’ budget provider I was with, however we are moving fast away from this provider and migrating to WiredTree.com! Nevertheless we still use and have services with WiredTree!
Thanks for reading my review of WT, they trully deserve it!
-Jonathan Jones
123-Reg.co.uk First thoughts January 4, 2008
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet , add a commentI need to purchase a .co.uk domain name for a client who needs a website, this website needs to get into Google on the key term “Electric Motor Repairs“. This is going to be a hard task, seeing as all the general good domains are taken for this kind of keyword, so I’ve gone with a .co.uk domain name - which should do well in the search engines, especially on Google.co.uk. However this post is generally not about Google and my clients website, it is about 123-reg.co.uk and I must say the service is not what I’d call ‘impressive‘ compared to any American domain registrars out there. (No, I’m not from America, I’m actually from the UK)
123-reg.co.uk has a control panel which is REALLY basic and you cannot edit your domains nameserver after 1 hour, which is pretty stupid and I don’t know why they have that in affect; it just doesn’t make any sense as to why they would be doing that. I’m not trying to ruin companies such as this, but for a multi-million pound company, I cannot believe how they can get this basic with control panels; they should be advanced and affective, however what I’m seeing is simple and old. - I mean geez, they are still using iframes, which is … 2000? (The year 2000) e.g. ancient, old and behind the times.
I own near to around 60-70 domain names and most of them registered with name.com/domainsite.com and some regged with Godaddy and Namecheap, now none of these services are perfect, but at least they have some standards in creating a control panel that works and that is up-to-date! Now I do not mind 123-reg.co.uk, I just find them way too basic for the price being paid to them. For this domain name, I don’t require the usage of DNS, just nameservers, however I don’t like the way you have to login nor the way you have click on the text when getting to your destinated section of whatever domain you want to edit.
Maybe it’s just me? Perhaps I’m just used to name.com/domainsites.com’s control panel as it just looks as it gives more functionality, for lower prices (except for their .co.uk’s). I’ll see how it goes with 123-reg.co.uk then, if it is actually good in terms of their support or in terms of their DNS updating correctly, I’ll give a good review of them with screenshots attached. - If no, it works the other way around.
Thanks for reading.
Enjoying hosting December 5, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : AdNetwork, Internet, My Sites, Webmaster , add a comment
I’m currently enjoying web hosting, especially at Vlexo.com, when we moved over to our new provider, things just simply got better. Due to the fact, that I am now thinking more logically, instead of having this cloud of judgment out there - and due to the other fact that the server(s) that we have now are much more powerful, meaning we can offer more than we used to and with a lot more confidence - due to the 0 downtime network we are on, with WiredTree.com.
We even got this amazing review from one of our free users:
http://borisoft.vlexo.net/vlexo.html
http://forum.vlexo.com/showthread.php?p=14735#post14735
These reviews mean so much to me, and I just enjoy reading such reviews and when a free user even takes the time to make a page for us. Now that’s how things should be.
Buying websites with revenue November 25, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet, My Sites, Webmaster , add a comment
Hello,
So I haven’t made a post in quite sometime, perhaps what I’m trying to do as a Webmaster, may give you a cause of concern in terms of what I’m trying to-do.
I’m looking at websites, websites that can generate me some cash, I do know this will cost a lot of money, however I believe that if I can buy a website which can do this, I can of course recoup the amount spent on the initial cost of the website, depending on how much revenue this particular website costs. So money would not be the problem, if this ‘particular website’ was able to re-generate my money.
I’m currently holding my budget at $300-500 USD. Sure it’s not that much, however I’m not looking for something fantastic. I’m looking for something nice and something which I feel is unique and special, which usually costs a lot of money, however I’m generally looking for something nice. With the money, I could instead make my own website, though I’m looking for something which brings in some traffic; already.
Websites which make money and cost a lot are a huge investment, they could be the paying for your web hosting/dedicated server, or they could literally be feeding you. However with myself, it would be paying in towards my dedicated server bills. — So perhaps an investment into a website will be a good thing? I’ve searched on various forums and websites, however I have not found anything.
Yahoo! Search Marketing February 6, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet, Uncategorized , 1 comment so farJust recieved the following from Yahoo:
New customers are waiting. Activate your Sponsored Search account and start connecting today.
You’re only a few minutes away from an entirely new audience of customers. With Sponsored Search, customers find you—and you pay only when your ad is clicked1. So what are you waiting for? Log into your account at marketingsolutions.yahoo.com now to enter your billing information and activate your account.
- Click on the Administration Tab.
- Enter your contact information and click “Next.”
- Enter your billing information, including your initial deposit and credit card information.Please note that your initial deposit will be your charge amount. This is the amount your card will be charged every time your balance is low, to ensure that your account is not turned off2. If you would prefer to have your credit card charged only once a month, be sure to set your initial deposit at 30x your account daily spending limit.
- Click “Done” to complete the activation of your account.
After you have completed these steps, your account will be live and ready to drive traffic to your web site.
Activate now and start reaching new customers!
Log into your account to enter your billing information and start attracting new customers right away.For additional help, call us at 1-866-YAHOO-SM or visit the Help Center.
To better understand your new account, view the How to Navigate Your Account tutorial.
1. Each account requires a nonrefundable $5 initial deposit. There is a minimum bid requirement of $0.10 per click-through. Sellers of certain legally restricted products may require third-party certification at extra cost.
2. Your account balance is low if it falls below the prior 3 days worth of click charges. The prior 3 days worth of click charges or 3 times your account daily spending limit, whichever is lower, must be available in your account at all times in order to keep your ads online.
I might be signing up to this, if anyone has information on this, please tell me what you think of this service. I maybe advertising various of my sites, hopefully this solution will get me lots of traffic which some of that traffic if not all (hoping) will be interested in my Google Ads and the niche.
FlickCabin.com February 5, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet, My Sites, Webmaster , 1 comment so far
I recently bought a website, called FlickCabin.com it is a image hosting website for graphic designers and people with images that they need to upload to the the web. I bought the website for a good price, I mean it’s got a unique design and it’s PageRank 3, the content is also not re-used as it’s also unique, I added a few pages to it though, for SEO purposes and for a larger website if and when I come to sell the site. I hope to monetize the website with Google AdSense and I think Adbrite, to see how much money I can make with this site. All this website needs is a huge upstream of traffic, I can achieve this by posting this site on forums and even emailing people *my freinds* about the site.
I hope I can some people here, that can review the site for me and tell me what they think. I’m just loving the design of this website, I wont tell you how much I paid, but it wasn’t much. - But I’m telling you, what I paid is nothing compared to how much this website is worth. I’ll update you with anymore information about the site in the news section (http://flickcabin.com/news.php)
Good sites I’ve come across January 20, 2007
Posted by Jonathan in : Internet , add a commentI’ve just come over some pretty good free script sites. These are actually decent scripts, these are scripts that are made in the functionality that they’re going to be free. It’s as if, the developer of these scripts have actually made decent scripts, which are worth paying for; as the functionality of these scripts are just great as well as the user/admin interface.
The sites I’m promoting on here are these:
These are decent script sites, which offer decent scripts that do not need mass editing, unless you want to change the appearance of these scripts. But I just came accross these, and I fought what nice people to offer these wonderfully coded scripts for absolutely no price. - It really inspires me to start training at php/mysql coding, seeing as you can make all these wonderful things in your free time; for free. 
I’ll be using one of these scripts for my website: keeperscafe.com, and what you see on keeperscafe now is nothing, it’s just a CMS script I was testing out, but I’ll be uploading something nice on keeperscafe.com.
The scripts are as follows: (celerondude.com)
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Uploader v6
This script allows you to run a “file hosting” service on your web server. For a demonstration of the script and of the latest version, visit CDUpload.com.
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Shoutbox
This is just another simple shoutbox. I needed one for my site so I wrote one. It’s meant to run inside your layout but can also be run by itself. A demo of the script in action is right here on my site. For screenshots of the admin section, scroll down.
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Simple Gallery
A simple gallery script. Drop images into the albums directory and you’re done. Create albums is as easy as creating a new directory, literally. I’ve put up a demo gallery here.
More scripts which are from: (boonex.com)