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April 29, 2007
Barack Obama 2008
I was searching for some cool souvenirs for the presidential race and came across this site that has some really original t-shirts and other swag for
Barack Obama.
This site offers cups, stickers, ties and more featuring the phrase: "Barack Obama is my Homeboy." The campaigns are already big news these days and we are going to be hearing more and more about them now through the election in 2008. So I don't want to waste any time; I'm stocking up now. It's going to be a very interesting battle for the White House, that's for sure.
Posted by Idea Man at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2007
What a tangled web I weave
Those that know me know I have been trying to find a good hairstylist that can handle my long hair style since I moved back to Michigan I tried a salon recommended to me, but had no luck. The hair stylist did an “ok cut, but my hair style seemed to disappear after two weeks—it just didn’t grow out well and ended up looking “blah�. So I was on the hunt for a new salon, and a new hair stylist—again. I went to Alex Emilio Salon and had Ixchel as my hairstylist. Ixchel was awesome!
She was so friendly. Ixchel deftly managed my super-thick hair, even with my long hair style. She did a great cut and beautiful highlights. Ixchel turned out to be a great hair stylist and I have gone back to her salon regularly since then. She has never steered me wrong, and my hair style looks great the day I walk out of her salon, and for many, many weeks later. The maintenance of my hairstyle has decreased, which I love, thanks to Ixchel!
Posted by Idea Man at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2007
Contextual Links
I recently found a website with the best website idea I have come across in a long time. Webmasters with commercial websites are always looking for new ways to make money on their websites. Until now, unless you sold a great product or service, your best money making option is Google Adsense. In case you don't know, Google Adsense ads are those annoying ads in boxes you see all over the web on commercial websites.
Unfortunately, Adsense is pretty much the only game in town so they have been abusing their publishers by consistently lowering payouts. This makes the stockholders of Google happy because of record profits, but Google is not building any goodwill among their publishers. What goes around, comes around, Google.
This new website idea I found, LinkXL, is a new concept in website advertising that is going to turn website advertising and marketing upside down with their contextual link ads. This spunky website will not be making Google and their fat cat stock holders very happy.
LinkXL offers webmasters an automated way to sell monthly contextual links on their current web pages. The unique thing about LinkXL's concept is that standard HTML text links are created for advertisers, on the fly, in the middle of current content of established web pages. Their slogan is "Real Links, Real Time" - clever.
This new concept helps both the publisher and the advertiser tremendously. Since the advertiser gets a regular HTML contextual link, they will get click through traffic in addition to page popularity. Publishers, on the other hand, are able to sell contextual links on their entire website.
This means, if your website has 1,000 pages and you sell an average of one contextual link ad on each page for $10 per month, you will make $6,000 extra per month (LinkXL does a 60% - 40% split with their publishers).
Since I have a few commercial websites with tons of content I immediately signed up for LinkXL's beta program that will start in a week or two. LinkXL also will let me continue to run Adsense and use their service at the same time so everything I make will be icing on the cake. Whether you are an advertiser, publisher, or both, I would recommend you check LinkXL out. They truly have a revolutionary website idea.
Posted by Idea Man at 03:01 PM | Comments (9)
April 14, 2007
Host a web site
My friend has a very busy blog, but she wanted her own server for some other website ideas that she has, so I checked around the Internet and found a web hosting site that was easy to follow and had reasonable rates. They boast that they have maximum reliability, reliable support and fast page loading.
Their web hosting plans inlcude php, mysql, blogs, JSP, tomcat, python, CGI, Ruby on Rails, WordPress, mambo, Fantastico, RVskin, OScommerce, SSH, SSL and more. Their dedicated servers means you have the server all to yourself, and that means more reliability, speed, and control of your website.
They can help my friend, who is just starting out, or others who want their businesses to grow.
And one of the best parts: Micfo has 24-hour technical support and customer service. Who among us hasn't needed a hand at 3 a.m.?
Posted by Idea Man at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
One-Way Links
Traffic Through Inbound Links [Part 2]
I discussed acquiring links through link trading, article sites and link directories a few months back. It is important to realize if you want to drive traffic to your great new website idea, the cornerstone to getting web traffic is links.
The dilemma is how does a new website get links? Google says the best links are links you get naturally, but unless your website is revolutionary or has amazing content you probably are not going to get many links from other sites out of the goodness of their heart. That's the reason I like to talk about new website ideas and provide links to them - I think great website ideas need to be pointed out because there are so many garbage websites out there cluttering up the web. To even things out, I like to do my part and give the good guys some props. So the bottom line is, if you want natural links you need to give other websites a reason to mention your website - garbage websites don't get talked about and don't get natural links.
Trading links only helps you so much because Google cancels out most of the benefit you get from a traded link. So what you really want is one way links that look natural. There are a few good tactics in use to get one way links. You could buy links from one on the many text ad sellers out there. Do a Google search on ‘Text Link Advertising’ to find some great websites where you can buy text links.
Other options are to contact websites directly and offer them a monthly payment for a one way link to your website. One tactic I like to use is to do a search on some of my site’s keywords. Then go back 20 to 40 spots in Google's SERPs and contact those webmasters and offer to pay them for a link.
It is even better if they will put your link in the flow of their current content. Say you would like to be ranked for the keyword phrase ‘red widgets’. Do a search and find websites that talk about ‘red widgets’ and negotiate with those webmasters to turn ‘red widgets’ into a one-way link to your website. This is the best possible link you can get – one that is buried in the content of existing Google indexed text.
Remember, when it comes to one way links the process is never-ending. You must continue work to increase inbound links to your site each and every month.
Posted by Idea Man at 05:29 PM | Comments (1)
April 01, 2007
A Diamond Website Done Right
I've been thinking about buying a diamond so naturally I looked online
first. There are a lot of companies out there but it's a pretty daunting task searching through their inventories when I know next to nothing about diamonds. I was excited when I came across Abazias Diamonds though.
They utilize a lot of AJAX which makes searching through their 80,000-plus diamond inventory a lot easier. Getting info on multiple stones, comparing them and even requesting more information on multiple stones was a lot easier than other sites I've come across.
None of that does much good though if you don't know what you are looking for and their interactive diamond information section is sweet both in its technical and usability aspects. There's a printer friendly version as well if you want to print stuff or email it, but it doesn't score the cool points. They also maintain live help via an 800 number and live chat if that's what you prefer.
If you're looking for a diamond, an engagement ring, or any other jewelry for that matter check out Abazias. This site will come in handy for the upcoming holidays.
Posted by Idea Man at 09:02 PM | Comments (1)