Stuart McHenry - My Internet World

I know I’m not alone but some days I can almost time the next YPN or Adsense update in my head. I sit here working away and then I realize it’s time to check the cash flow. It’s funny how often one logs in to their accounts to check and see how much they have made for the day. I sure there are some of us out there that check it over a dozen times per day. Why is it so addicting?

It’s pointless to login and check your accounts so much but people do. It’s not like you can actually change the SERPS from one hour to another. I have to admit there are times I’m one of those people. I spoke with a friend who said if someone is waiting for him… he has to check his accounts (he makes them wait) when he gets in for the day. He said there has been numerous occasions where he just walked in the door from getting food or whatnot and he goes straight for the PC to check his accounts. He hands his the food off to his wife… it’s like the PC has some sort of tractor beam pulling him in.

I’m sure he and I are not the only ones.

YPN could be the ultimate contextual advertising program but they lack one basic function:

relevant ads

We have a small handful of sites that could run YPN ads on… but should we? The few sites that we identified are not geo-specific sites. They are sites which fit better with the type of ads YPN is currently serving up. For example if you have a health site that is not very specific to the type of health issue or products then YPN would be good for it.

It has been about a month since we started with YPN and we now have pulled the ads off of one of the two testing sites. There are a few reasons why we pulled the ads… the important thing to know is it was purely a business decision.

When we first started out our average click was around $2.50. I’m not 100% sure why but it has dropped to just about a $1.00 per click now. I could speculate why but it really doesn’t matter… the bottom line is I’m getting much less now.

The biggest reason is the click through rate. The two sites we tested out YPN on the click through rate was considerably (4%-14%) low but at first this didn’t matter as the overall revenue was more. The last two weeks this hasn’t been the case since the average cost per click is lower now we started loosing money. We get considerably higher click through rate from Google Adsense since the ads are very targeted to what the visitors are looking for.

Since we pulled our YPN ads off of one of the sites we are experiencing an average of 24% increase of revenue. Once Yahoo gets a better handle on targeting ads I think YPN would be a better choice but until that time we will run YPN on a limited basis.

Has anyone done a search for gifts this year using Google? No wonder Google is doing so well ($$$$) this year. The last Google algo update should have been called Operation Adwords and not Jagger.

Go ahead and do a search for the digital camera, Barbie dolls or lockers. Try and find a site to buy things from… it’s hard to find one on the first page. Google has done an excellent job of ensuring they get maximum dollars this holiday season. If you own a shopping site and want traffic from Google you will more than likely have to pay via Google adwords to get your site some exposure.

I was talking with a friend today and we were discussing how Google is doing a poor job. Check out the SERPS for lockers. Now be sure to check out the sites on the first page. Let’s start with the # 1 site because it must be relevant since it’s # 1 in Google, right?

Not! It’s a survey that has nothing to do with lockers. In fact the “Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire” doesn’t even mention the word lockers even once.

Now the # 3 site doesn’t even have a page up. It looks like the page has be down for some time now… who knew what it was about. According to the cached of MSN back on 12/8 it had less than 10 words on the entire page. It must have been a great resource for lockers.

I think I could go on and on… the digital camera results all are about reviews of the cameras. Google must be bringing in the cash this holiday season with Operation Adwords.

People often ask me what makes a good directory and want to know what directories we submit our sites to. So instead of just giving a list of the sites we submit to… I thought I would post a few of my thoughts on what I consider a good directory.

1) Must be cached in all three major search engines

I expect my sites to get crawled from the major three search engines and the same from a directory listing. If a page isn’t crawled how do you expect to get traffic.

2) Must have a substantial number of backlinks

You know you have seen them… the PR5 directories with a few backlinks from one site. I also tend to look at where the backlinks are coming from. It’s nice to see a few authority links in there some where.

3) Must get cached by Google frequently

Ideally a website that gets cached every 0-14 days. If it’s longer the directory might have issues and you risk no getting crawled.

4) Must be a top level directory

In the past six months too many people have decided to put a directory on an already existent website. (i.e. www.domain.com/directory/ ) I want a directory where the main business of that site is being a directory and not software or cialis website.

5) Fast submission review time

If it takes longer than a week then they won’t get my money. There is no reason for a service business to take longer than a week to review a website.

6) Is the directory ran well?

I look at the other sites listed in the categories I’m looking at. It’s nice to see a good theme going on. Some directories are too general and some categories have a few different themes going on. I also look for spammy sites… I don’t want my sites listed with spam.

7) No site-wide links

Site-wide links ruin the quality of a directory in more ways than one. If I’m going to spend money I want a directory that doesn’t have ROS (run of site) text links.

8) PR

We don’t focus on PR and there are a few websites that have low PR that we submit to but it is nice to see a little green.

So doing 95% of your business online can mess with your eyes. Some days it seems like I’m on the PC for morning until dawn. (Ok, sometimes I am) After a while my eyes start to mess with me. So what do I do???

I like to take breaks and get away from the Internet a few hours at a time. During the week days when my daughter is at school I play a little poker or just go sit in the Jacuzzi for a while.

Poker is kind of nice because I get to take my mind off of work and it gets me out. I play Texas Hold’em at a local casino and I really enjoy going during the weekdays. Most people are at work so the poker room is filled up with old men… most retired. Now, I don’t have some sort of old man fetish but when it comes to poker.. it’s so much easier to win money against old men that are creatures of habit. Most of them play the same set of cards.. the same way.. every time and they are easy to read.

The other quick break I like is turning on my Jacuzzi and jumping in for 30 minutes or so. Today for example is a beautiful day here in Palm Springs.. 72 degrees outside. (people back east have weather envy.. I know) Anyway, I think it’s almost time for another break.

Good thing I have some cool Free T-Mobile Ringtones for my cell. I use different rings for just about everyone this way I know who is calling.

There seems to be a shortage of good content writers these days. We have projects backed up do to lack of content writers. We use someone on a regular basis but we have more than enough work for one or two more article writers.

I went in search for some on a few forums but I’m having a hard time finding what I’m looking for. Here are some of the qualities/requirements I’m look for in a writer:

1) Delivers what’s requested.
2) Uses proper grammar and spelling
3) Able to meet deadlines (nothing makes me more angry)
4) Writes unique articles and doesn’t plagerize
5) Can handle multiple articles per day
6) Proper English is a must

If you know of anyone that can handle the above and has a passion for writing please have them contact me.

The Yahoo Publisher Network is fast becoming the contextual advertising choice of many webmasters. As of last month YPN had 2,000 accounts but a few days ago 1,000 more invites were sent out.

The prices per click are significantly higher than Google Adsense but currently there are down sides as well. If you run a geo targeted site.. chances are the contextual ads are not relevant to what your site is about… which leads to lower click through.

Jeremy and I spoke with Will Johnson, VP and GM of the Yahoo Publisher Network back in November (at pubcon) about his network. Will ensured us that we will see significant improvements in the first part of 2006 with the relevance of the ads. I have already seen an improvement in the ads over the last month. Unfortunately the improvements aren’t to the point where I can start using YPN on our larger money makers.

Last week we were contacted by a company looking for some Internet exposure. They don’t want to sell any products or make any money off a site… they just want their story told. A very large corporation (let’s call them Goliath Inc.) had an arrangement with this little company (let’s call them David LLC) about a new line of widgets. (yes, I know it’s always widgets) Well, to make a long story short Goliath Inc. took the new widget idea and made there own new widgets without consulting or compensating Davis LLC.

As you can imaging legal fees for these types of situations can run into the hundreds of thousands and take time. During this time David LLC looses more and more of it’s start up cost. So what do they do? What seems to be an effective new trend these days is to embarrass the company on the Internet and in trade publications. Notice I did not say slander… but rather embarrass by telling the real story. What would this accomplish???

By telling the real story over the Internet it provides a cost effective way to gain the attention of Goliath Inc. for one-tenth of the cost of what the legal fees would be. Given the short duration in which David LLC wants to accomplish this we are going to target a few areas:

1) PPC
2) MSN (organic search)
3) Advertising in trade magazines
4) News Stories

Will this work? At the very least it will get the attention of Goliath Inc. and could lead to an out of court settlement which would save David LLC time and money.

If you are in the Internet marketing/search engine optimization business networking is a crucial part of your job. There is always things you need from people and things people need from you.

Some of the easiest places to network are webmaster forums but the best places are conferences. Last month I spent a few days in Las Vegas at pubcon10 a search engine marketing conference put on by WebmasterWorld.

The confrence overall was OK. Some of the speakers were just not dynamic enough and I found myself day dreaming a few times. Don’t get me wrong some were great and hats off to Andy Beal who really knows how to give a presentation.

The best part of the conference was the dinners and nightclubs afterwards. Whether it’s hanging out at Pure with the guys from BOTW, having a great dinner with Shoemoney, Nitin and Doug or just playing blackjack with Jason until 4:30 AM… one thing is for sure there was plenty of networking going on… no really.