Google

I just realised that my Adsense spam/scam (spacam?) test page is not quite working as planned.

If you feed the URL for the page through this site, it does not pull back any details from the RSS feeds.

This is normal though as the RSS feed content is generated on the fly and Google will only see the Javascript code that generates the content - not the actual content itself.  The site does pick up the links though - but it will definitely not be enough to get it anywhere near Google.  I will have to search to see if I can find it in the Google results anywhere.

Some sites I have seen actually post the latest RSS feeds as single postings in a blog format website.  As the information is inserted into a blog post and becomes static, Google will index this information and the site will certainly rank higher than my design.

So, the question is, how do I take RSS feed data, automatically insert it into a blog post and publish it without the need for me to do anything?

That is my next test/quest (qutest?).

Tags: adsense, sony, RSS, feed, blog, post, generator

If you come here often you may have noticed that I have started to introduce Google Adsense into my blog.

Google Adsense is a Pay-per-click based form of advertising whereby the page owner gets a (small) fee paid for each advert clicked on by a reader. There are also some pay-per-view advertisements too, but they are seldom seen.

I feel that I put quite a lot of effort into writing things for my blogs and it is not unrealistic to assume that I would want to profit from people who might want to follow advertising based on the content I provide. I have been writing for Geeklimit for a while now and each of my posts has Adsense embedded. So far I have achieved a sum so measly that I could not even buy a coffee with it! In fact, all of the income I have received has been from Geeklimit so far.

I have been reading sites like ProBlogger, run by Darren Rowse for a while now and have seen that a living can be made from Adsense based income. There are tricks to getting Adsense to work the best for you and there are plenty of sites out there that will tell you the best places to put the adverts and how to target them according to your content.

ProBlogger also put me on to a forum based site called EarnersForum where internet based entrepreneurs discuss means and methods of making a living online. it makes very interesting reading and there are people out there who obviously make thousands a month from websites based on the Adsense formulas. And once they have created one site - they can just apply the same theory to another and double their income!

I have decided that I would like to “jump on this bandwagon” and will be looking to set up a site based around Adsense advertising. Not as a real income generator but more as an experiment on how it works and whether it is possible. It all seems “too easy to be true” that a site could generate me extra money so that my wife would not have to work part time or something like that.

I have to take a lot of things into consideration when approaching this, like visibility in Google and other search engines. Using high paying keywords and targeting Adsense on those keywords to generate the most income from each click. The web is flooded with sites set up in this manner already and choosing to make a site based on say, MySpace Video Codes would be foolish as there are millions of results in Google and getting anywhere near the top of that list would be a near impossible task.

The main problem is finding that niche area, getting a good domain name and generating the site based on all the various criteria. I have a few things in mind for the content but need to find that niche before I jump into anything. Most people don’t search past the first few pages of a Google search before they start delving further into the sites themselves. Getting to the top of that list is probably the most important thing - but achieving that goal may be a different matter.

Technorati Tags: adsense, google, income, problogger

For those like me who are obsessed with thinking they can manage their time better, the new Google Calendar is a godsend. Unfortunately, like most things, you can only see whats going on when you are in the site.

To counter this, a Google Calendar Notifier extension has been created for Firefox which shows you your up-coming appointments in the status bar. You also get cute little pop-ups too!

Great for the absent minded people of this world, like me.

As per a wish in my recent gripes about Whats Missing From Gmail, the Google Calendar has now been released!

Shame it still does not appear to be bolted into Gmail though…

Just stumbled upon this site after I was assisting a customer with their word document that had inherited "selective" spellchecking on some parts of the file - but not others.

The site contains a series of "5 minute productivity tips". I expected it to be full of "teamworking, networking and corporate bitch making" skills but I found the Searching with Firefox Keywords tip and was plesantly suprised!

I thought I used most of the nice Firefox stuff like Live Bookmarks and the "Open In Tabs" stuff - but this is cool.

When searching at a site (such as Google) you can right-click the box you put the search text into and then click "Add a keyword for this search". You will then be prompted to put in a bookmark for the page and a keyword too. Put in the keyword "g" for Google for example.

Once it has been saved, you can then type "g taoski" into the Firefox address bar and it will immediately search Google for Taoski.

You can also add keywords to any bookmark you have stored so you could just type g and press Enter to take you direct to Google too!

So now, I can quickly search through that HomeMadePornTorrents site I have access to.

Technorati Tags: firefox, bookmark, google, taoski, word, spellcheck, tabs

Google's GMail webmail interface has now become my mail application of choice. I have had several (over 10) email addresses over the years with various ISPs and a gaggle of WebMail sites but have now settled for GMail as my primary mail address and mail application. All the others are either full of spam, have closed down or I no longer remember the password.

I have been using GMail for nearly a year and a half now and am still very impressed with it.

But what's missing from GMail?

1. The ability to use a GMail calendar would be excellent.
As my wife will attest, my memory for personal stuff is total crap! I can remember an IP Address of an old obscure decomissioned NT3.51 server at work, but I am not sure when my Mother and Father's birthdays are! Or even how old they are!

If I could create a Calendar in GMail and (have my Wife) update it, share it with others, tag or categorise the entries then that would be cool. There are rumors that a Google Calendar is somewhere on their (immense) roadmap - but for now I will have to rely on someone else to organise my life for me.

I have recently found out about the 30Boxes calendar which looks nice. Would be great if it was in my GMail account though. It is still in Beta and does not get properly "born" until the 3rd of Feb.

2. Online storage.
I already use my GMail account to store useful information that I need access to on a fairly regular basis. I compose a message, enter the information and then save the message as a draft. The information is then easily searchable and available to be copied or forwarded on to others if need be.

I use drafts to keep a copy of:

• Phone numbers
• Addresses
• Passwords
• Interesting sites i've found (that are "NSFW") ;-p
• Blog HTML code that go AWOL when posting to Blogger
• My Blogger template HTML code

It might be nice to be able to handle this information in a better way. Maybe an "Online Documents" or "Notepad" section would be useful. I came across Writely, the excellent Web2.0 based Word Processor which would be a good addition to GMail. You can even make posts to your blog from there too!

I also use the Draft facility to move documents from one PC to another. For example, it's quicker for me to upload a file to a draft to take from home to work (to print on the expensive color laser) than to get my USB2 Hard Disk out of my bag each time.

3. Color tagged messages.
Gmail allows you to create "labels" for messages, which can also be usefull for tagging messages you need to find easily. This can be done by clicking the label on the sidebar which automatically shows the messages tagged as such. You can also "star" messages to make them stand out too. A little "gay" though methinks!

What I want is to be able to tag messages with colors. It's not really for anything amazing - it would just be nice to be able to do so.

4. Incorprate Google Reader.
I currently use Bloglines to manage and read my RSS subscriptions, but I am sure Google Reader would get more interest from me if I could view the RSS feeds properly within my GMail.

I know that GMail has recently added that little "Web Clips" thing along the top - but for the RSS hungry types like me, it's totally useless and just gets in the way.

All Google need to do is improve the interface of the Google Reader and allow it to be displayed inside the GMail window somehow and all will be well. At the moment, the nice scrolling interface on the Google Reader just takes up too much space and I can't easily see the feeds I want to get to. Bloglines have got it right in my opinion. Quick and simple.

5. Online Favorites.
I have just started using Del.icio.us to store my online favorites and findings but if i could drop those into GMail too that would be cool. Import my Firefox bookmarks or IE favorites and off I would go! I could then subscribe to them in firefox as a "live bookmark" and have them all updated and available where ever I went.

I realise that Using Del.icio.us you can do all this (and more) and it looks very powerful. The Import function is offline at the moment though so I will have to test that later.

6. Interface.
The GMail interface is good, fast and responsive on all the machines that I use it on. This is where services like Hotmail have gone down in my opinion - too much clutter and fancy crap on the screen just makes it too slow to use. Keeping it simple keeps me sweet!

To incorporate all the extra features I have mentioned above, Google could add some sort of tabbed interface along the top or bottom of the GMail screen. Not too much to ask though is it?

I'm sure all this is pontificating is falling on deaf ears though…

Hello? Is there anybody in there?

Technorati Tags: gmail, googlemail, google, webmail, 30boxes, calendar, bloglines, del.icio.us, writely, hotmail, firefox, live bookmarks

For quite some time I have been a champion of the excellent Google GMail service and now use that more regularly than the other (13) email accounts I have.

In the UK, Google's use of the GMail name has been the subject of dispute as another company has already claimed its right to use the GMail name.

So it appears that (for once) Google have given in and will be changing the addresses for the UK users of its service from @Gmail.com to @googlemail.com sometime soon.

Shame really. Its not got the same ring to it.

I still have 100 invites left to give out for GMail… sorry… Googlemail. So if you want one, let me know.

Technorati Tags: gmail, googlemail, google, email, webmail