Ads and Affiliates: Google AdSense vs. Other Advertisers
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Google AdSense payouts have decreased, but it still provides the most revenue for many sites, even if it don't disclose its revenue share. Date: Mar 16, 2005, 16:23 PST"

Site Design: What If JavaScript is Turned Off in Visitor's Browsers?
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"About 11% of Internet users seem to have JavaScript disabled in their web browsers. It's wise to have alternatives so that this significant minority can view your website easily. Date: Mar 15, 2005, 17:08 PST"

Conversion: Review: Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions -- Data and Design Guidelines
From: www.wilsonweb.com

" Date: Mar 9, 2005, 14:30 PST"

Conversion: Engaging Site Visitors with SitePal Animated Speaking Characters (Avatars)
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"SitePal speaking animated avatars can make a significant difference in engaging visitors and increasing conversion rates. This brief article gives preliminary results of how SitePal increased visitor time-on-site by 33% and number of page views by 17%. Date: Mar 9, 2005, 11:47 PST"

Marketing Tools: Defeating Pop-up Blockers
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Windows XP SP2 effectively blocks most pop-ups. However, Dynamic Popup Generator side-steps the current crop of pop-up blockers and enabled me to nearly double my subscriptions from a pop-up window. Date: Mar 2, 2005, 15:39 PST"


Symantec's Hosted Mail Security
From: www.webpronews.com

"Symantec intends to reduce the burden faced by many IT organizations associated with increasing costs and difficulty maintaining on-site solutions, with its Symantec Hosted Mail Security."

Corporate Blogging Guidelines
From: www.webpronews.com

"Corporate blogging guidelines are fast becoming a staple (pun intended) of many company employee handbooks."

Brand Humanity Webinar Series
From: www.webpronews.com

"What are blogs, and how do they relate to our business? Can you make money blogging..."

Ask Jeeves StockHolder Suing IAC Over Purchase
From: www.webpronews.com

"According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an Ask Jeeves shareholder is obviously a little disappointed in the valuation IAC has placed on Ask Jeeves."

Blogging: The Labour of Love and Tough Choices
From: www.webpronews.com

"Reading Robert Scoble's post this morning that he's giving up doing his link blog brings home in a very direct way some harsh reality about this blogging caper."


Block Porn or Pay the Price
From: www.wired.com

"Utah law compels ISPs to offer porn-blocking software for customers, but litigation looms. Also: Yahoo to buy back its own stock.... A report showing a drop in P2P file sharing is released just before the Grokster Supreme Court case.... and more."

German Workers Do the Wage Limbo
From: www.wired.com

"Beset by high unemployment and the ongoing cost of reunification, Germany's economy has been unraveling for the last decade. Now a German job site pits workers against each other to help employers cut costs. By Jason Walsh."

Latin AOL on the Rocks
From: www.wired.com

"America Online Latin America is struggling financially and could fold along with other internet providers in the region. Also: Google News under fire from wire service in copyright fight.... Apple news sites appeal court decision.... and more."

ChoicePoint's Checks Under Fire
From: www.wired.com

"Even though a federal law requires consumer reporting agencies to either verify the data they give employers when conducting an employee background check for them or notify job applicants about negative reports, ChoicePoint appears to be doing neither in some cases. By Kim Zetter."

Hackers Get Collegiate Info
From: www.wired.com

"A California university gets hacked, compromising the personal data of thousands of students and alumni. Also: Battle-tested Oracle wins yet another bidding war.... Microsoft finally gets invited to the mobile-phone party.... and more."


My Analysis of the Week
From: webword.com

" In my world the week starts on Monday.

Monday -- Monday is a fine day. I'm fresh from the weekend. Even bad weekends make me fresh for Monday. When I start work on Monday, I often have plenty of fluff to plow through. That is, I can ease into the week by burning through emails, especially easy ones. If you are like me, you expect Mondays to be bad which doesn't make them bad at all. In this way I accidentally manage my own expectations. I almost always expect Mondays to be terrible but when I actually experience Monday, it isn't nearly that bad. Monday ain't so bad.

Tuesday -- What a nasty day! I never expect Tuesday to suck me into the pit, but it does. First of all, Tuesday is still very near the start of the week. It is the Monday I expected but it is a day later. Also, any work pushed from Monday piles up on Tuesday. For me, Tuesday is all about work and plowing through stacks of stuff. People around me expect stuff done on Tuesdays.

Wednesday -- This is the middle of the week, obviously. Wednesdays go by quickly; I get a lot done; they are bland. If I want to really think about something, or if I want to socialize during the week with colleagues (not friends) then Wednesday is the day. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Goodbye Wednesday.

Thursday -- Like Tuesday, Thursday is a working day. Many people are getting ready for the weekend. The Friday Hype begins. People around me start to itch and grasp for the Weekend. On Thursdays I expect to have 1,000,000 meetings. I expect phone calls. Thursdays are better than Tuesdays -- certainly -- but they are still kind of rough most of the time. Tuesaday and Thursday; TNT.

Friday -- Friday is normally a good day, but it is a false weekend day. Most folks work on Friday. So, it isn't that Friday the day is great, it is that Friday the night is great. Most people lose sight of that. They think they like FriDAY but what they really like is FriNIGHT. Interestingly, since most people are busy thinking about the FriNIGHT and the weekend, I get a lot of work done. I can play my cards so that other folks leave me alone and I can kick booty. It is amazing how much you can get done on a FriAFTERNOON or FriNIGHT.

Saturday -- The weekend has arrived for real. The entire day is mine, unless I choose otherwise. This isn't always true, but generally Saturday is mine. Like most slugs, I often plan to have fun. My trick is having mild FriNIGHTS so that I am ready to blast off on Saturday. I'm ready. Saturday is mine.

Sunday -- Although Monday is coming soon, Sunday can be a good day. In many ways, Sunday is like a weekday because you have to get prepared for the week. That's fine. I generally prepare by being mildly social (family and friends, but not really colleagues). I also make sure that I eat good food on Sunday. I'm not entirely sure why I do this, but I try very hard to have yummy food.

(I'll openly admit that this posting is an experiment. It is long and personal. It has little to do with usability. However, it was on my mind and I wanted to share. Enjoy it; ignore it. Share your thoughts, if you please.)"

How to Start a Startup
From: webword.com

" Paul Graham -- "I think most businesses that fail do it because they don't give customers what they want. Look at restaurants. A large percentage fail, about a quarter in the first year. But can you think of one restaurant that had really good food and went out of business?"

Read the article...
"

amaztype
From: webword.com

" Usability..."

Debunking Myths
From: webword.com

" "Somewhere along the way, the myth developed that justified type conveys more of a hard news feel -- and that and rag right is more featurey. Readers don't make any differentiation between the two. Some reasearch has shown that rag right is easier to read because justified text can create large spaces and more hyphenation. Either way, the achieve the best reader experience, it's important to have someone with a skilled eye tweaking the size, letter and word spacing, and acceptable hyphenation."

Read the article..."

The Next Big Thing in Online Type
From: webword.com

" "Beginning in 2006, Microsoft says it will ship with its operating system and other software products six brand new typefaces created especially for extended on-screen reading."

Read the article..."


Thank You, Microsoft
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"I recently reported that Yahoo was in the process of launching its own AdSense type program (which is great news for web publishers). Well, it appears as if Microsoft won't be far behind... There's no news yet about Microsoft creating..."

More Yahoo 'AdSense Clone' News
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"News.com recently reported more information about Yahoo entering Google's AdSense territory. Check out the story here. Yahoo is already building an opt-in notification list for publishers that are interested in their "upcoming programs." Get on the list NOW to be..."

Good News For Us!
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"Well, it appears as if my speculation is finally coming true... Over a year ago, I predicted that Yahoo would follow Google's AdSense lead and release a similar program of their own. They'd have to in order to keep up..."

I Have A Strange Feeling...
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"I have a strange feeling that long form sales letters on the Web are going to become less and less effective. Call it a hunch. As an avid tester, I am discovering some interesting things about how long visitors stay..."

Virtual Real Estate -- The Coming Boom!
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"Write these words down... Virtual Real Estate. We are about to experience a major explosion during the next 5 years and it will all be centered around Virtual Real Estate -- which is the development of web sites. There will..."