The end of October approacheth...

As the clocks have gone back, Christmas and wintry weather is on the horizon and a quiet month ends with a bit of a splutter. Thankfully I have had a few cassette to CD conversions to supplement the meagre paid blogging opportunities. I had begun to worry that paid blogging was showing signs of drying up altogether, but there are still a few opps out there if you can be bothered to chase them down.
I have opted for the new Adsense dashboard, but am finding it less than intuitive when it comes to assessing performance. I am sure Adsense performance is going up and down, but am less sure which of the various URL's I use are performing better and which are performing badly.
Many a time I have wished that I had more time to look into these things more deeply, but then if I did, it would probably mean I wasn't doing my day-job properly which, after all is the main means of keeping the wolf from the door...
I managed to find time to put a few eBay auctions on this weekend, and as I still have a few laptops to get rid of, I need to make sure I get a return on the 'investment'.
I hope to post earnings for October soon - watch this space...

ProFlowers flowers direct

If you have a last minute requirement for a gift, then nothing quite says it like flowers... Whether you require a fancy bouquet, a single rose, a bunch of daffs or even a flowering plant ProFlowers flowers direct have everything you require, and it's all just a click away.

The beauty of buying flowers online is that in less than five minutes you can have that awkward gift sorted - all you need to do is select the flowers that you want, enter the address and the payment. Nothing could be simpler, and expert handling and packaging ensures that your gift arrives in pristine shape guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of the lucky recipient.

Blog, Twitter or Facebook?

The world of social media is fast-moving, but which platform serves you best?

In short, each platform has advantages and disadvantages, each platform is suited to different roles.

The blog is still the platform of choice for keeping a public online diary, laying out your home-grown philosophy or making money online.

Twitter is best for fast moving trending, getting the latest gossip, throwing out publicity snippets and generally making yourself look busy

Facebook is truly social media allowing interaction and picture and video-sharing, keeping you in touch with friends whether they be distant or local. Additionally it works well as a tool for creating groups to share information such as for clubs, as well as a form of promoting a business.

Google Plus plans to give FB a run for it's money, but they have a long hill to climb if they plan to replace FB simply because of the high take-up.

All these platforms can (and arguably should) be used for marketing, but how they are used will depend on the type of business you are running. I think it's still true to say A blog is probably the easiest platform to get into, and although Twitter is simple, it is harder to work out how it can be used effectively as a marketing tool. Facebook on the other hand probably provides the best set of tools for marketing and will work especially well if you can get your clients and prospective clients to 'like' your page. This is best achieved either by promoting your Facebook page on your literature, or gathering email addresses so that you can invite people to visit your FB page. There are even professional companies who will create an attractive page for you - but even if you do your own thing, make sure there is something to see for when your clients come calling.

FB also makes a good platform for promoting special offers, promoting a special line of offers exclusively on your Facebook page can build a loyal following.

You may be able to tell that my preference is for Facebook, but it goes without saying that whatever other media you are using, a traditional website with suitable SEO techniques is still a must. Linking up with the right social media platform should be the very next step after you have established your website. Incorporating a Twitter or FB widget into your site can give you seamless and effective dynamic content, and it is this linking of the different platforms that is both the beauty and headache of social media for marketing purposes.

EZ Bloomers

September has just gone, and it is a really expensive month for me as I have three significant birthdays all rolled into one week. Would you believe it is my Mom's, my Wife's and my Dad's birthdays all within a 7-day stretch...?

Now, I was impressed with one gift that came for my wife, a friend who lives quite a long way away sent flowers, and they were so beautifully presented that I got to thinking how sending flowers was the norm in times gone by, but it has been ages since I have actually seen any flowers sent in this way. Yet with the way that the internet is growing as a 'shopping' experience, it is no wonder that companies like EZBloomers.com floral arrangement services are so popular. I think one of the things that internet shopping has done is to bring the price of delivery services down to a manageable level. The knock-on effect of this is that having flowers delivered is not perceived as such an extravagance as it once was, once people realise this is the case, I am sure we will be sending flowers all over the place.

After all having flowers from a real florist is a cut above the droopy offerings that your local gas-station might have on their forecourt... and in fact I am seriously considering sending flowers to my Mom next year, they are the perfect gift for someone who is not easy to buy for, and receiving flowers still gives the recipient the feeling that they are special. I'm not sure that my Dad would thank me for flowers though, so I will still have to think of something suitable for him.

September 2011

Adsense payout and affiliates have shored up an otherwise fairly quiet month. Affiliate payments amounted to £22.50 this month which is very pleasing - with this affiliate, I don't think there is a way of finding out which adverts are being clicked, so I'm not entirely sure where the revenue is coming from - but it is very welcome all the same...

One positive is that I have not spent a cent this month, so it's all profit! Cassette conversions have been very quiet, but I have one just done that will figure in next months takings. Overall, not a bad month, but heavily reliant on a (relatively) large injection of cash from Adsense. £637 profit for the half year so far which is in line with last years income. Hopefully I can build on this to overtake last years figure, but either way - it's all good (as they say)...