Crazy Google Ads

Free Personals

2007-11-27T09:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, a "friend" of mine has done a lot of soulmate searching on online dating sites. Of course, you'd rather find a free site and not spend money on it. But it seems like the free sites never have any good features and mostly spam. Well the free personals at DateHookup.com are changing that scene. Right off the bat, they show you a sampling of singles (FOR FREE!) and they all seem to be real people!! This is in contrast to other free sites where they lure you in with a couple super ridiculously sexy singles and then once you join, there's not a person to be found anywhere. I'd rather have the 8 regular people to convince me to join then a unfair sampling. Honesty...it's what this site is all about (oh and singles)!

Comments?

2007-11-21T17:21:00.000-05:00

Is anyone reading this? I know I read a lot of blogs without ever leaving a comment (often called lurking), but if anyone is checking this out, be nice and leave a comment so I know. It can even be an anonymous comment! My stat counter says I have a fair share of visitors, but why can't we get some lively comment discussion going on? This is like at a pool party. Someone just needs to jump in and then everyeone else will follow suit :)

MIX IT UP!

2007-11-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, today I want to tell you about the Eclectrics® Mixer. This thing looks crazy awesome and would be a huge help in the kitchen.

What I use my current (crappy) mixer for most is making homemade pancakes. In fact, why don't I share that recipe with you:
4 cups of Bisquick
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

But then of course what makes the pancakes really amazing is the optional additions. You know what I'm talking about...the fruit of your choosing (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)...or the ever popular CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES! Notice that I didn't put any measurements for these delicious fruit and chocolate additions. Well, that is because, honestly, I don't think you could add TOO MUCH of these. The more you add, the better it tastes. Especially the chocolate chips...man, I am writing this at 9 in the morning and had a stupid banana for breakfast. I WISH I HAD THESE TODAY!

The problem with my crappy mixer as opposed to the Hamilton Beach® Mixer is a couple of things. The Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer is faster, bigger, and easier to clean. With my current mixer it always seems to take longer than its worth, plus if I want to make a big batch for my family and friends, I need to do two separate mixings! And forget about cleaning it up, it's disgusting and starting to rust!

Advertising My Site

2007-11-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I picked this web site name hoping that someone might search for it on google and stumble onto my page. Well, today that happened. I got my very first hit for the search of "crazy google ads". I'm #4 on the list, but I must've been appealing enough to click. Thanks Google, you're awesome!

COUPONS!

2007-10-23T23:32:00.000-04:00

Wow, holidays all all sorts are upon us. We got your Halloween. Then a month later we got your Thanksgiving. Then another month later we got your Christmas. A fun way to round out 2007. Particularly fun if you enjoy your shopping. Well, couponchief.com makes all that easier. They got Gap coupon codes and Best Buy coupon codes (two of my favorites) to help save you money if you got a lot of people to shop for this holiday season (or if you just wanna buy a ton of stuff for yourself). My wife really wants some new clothes for Christmas, and I think I will be the guy to get em for her. I just gotta go raid the closet to check the tag size first ;-)

Why advertising?

2007-10-19T14:02:00.000-04:00

I always thought I would make a good ad executive. I have a good eye for what works and feel like I have a good sense of the general public. Plus, I have a good sense of humor which often comes in handy in commercials. The only thing I don't really have is a creative eye for art, but I could hire someone to do that for me. Anyone interested? I can currently afford to pay you a salary of $0 per month!

Bathroom Faucets

2007-10-11T23:51:00.000-04:00

Uh oh, my wife and I's bath faucets are a little leaky these days. Bath faucets are such a pain to repair because you can't get in under them like you can on a kitchen sink or what not. Sometimes it's just easier to replace them. Plus, a little change can add a nice spice to the decoration of the bath room. Faucet.com has a crazy amount of cool faucets for any style bath room, and the prices ain't too shabby either! Plus you can get all the accessories (sink faucet, etc.) to match the bath faucet. That way it ties the whole room together!

This has been a sponsored post...

Free Raleigh, NC Getaway

2007-10-11T11:43:00.000-04:00

Wow, haven't written in awhile, but I couldn't pass up writing about a FREE Raleigh Getaway. In case you're geographically inept, Raleigh is in North Carolina. My wife and I hope to one day move to North Carolina, to us it seems like the perfect blend of north and south. We are born and raised in the north, but prefer the warmer climates of the south. Raleigh and North Carolina in general seem like a perfect blend of the two.

So, you wanna know more about this FREE Raleigh Fall Getaway? Ok. How's a start at a Marriott sound? That's a pretty snazzy hotel. How about a $25 gift card to a delicious local bistro for lunch? YUMMY! I'm not sure what Rum Runners is but I do know that (1)You get FREE VIP Admission and (2) You can't go wrong with a name like Rum Runners. You also get 2 tickets to each of the following: North Carolina Theatre, North Carolina Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism, and Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. And if that isn't enough included in the package, you could always splurge and check out the Diwali Festival!

Need to improve...

2007-09-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

I don't like to give up! I still have a lot of ideas for things to write about on here, I just need to do a better job of bringing in an audience. I'm thinking maybe I need a new twist. You'd think a blog about advertising would have good advertising. Oh well, back to the drawing board!

Memory Walk

2007-08-24T10:32:00.000-04:00

Memory Walk

Hi guys today I am here to talk to you about the Alzheimer's Association. This topic is very close to me, because my grandfather was a victim of Alzheimer's. He has recently just passed away, but the disease left him a shell of the man he used to be. A "good day" was one where he might smile when you came to visit...forget about him remembering or being able to say your name. While there are a ton of awful diseases that cause great physical pain, there is no disease that can match the amount of mental pain caused by Alzheimer's.

So what can you do about it? Well, for one you can join the annual Alzheimer's Memory Walk. Similar to the other popular charity walks such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Race for the Cure and the March of Dimes, the Memory walk is a nationwide annual event benefiting the sufferers of Alzheimer's and the efforts being made to find successful treatments and cures. Since 1989, the Memory Walk has raised over 225 million dollars!

So, the Memory Walk needs team captains! This Memory Walk is held nationwide in literally hundreds of cities across the United States, so without a doubt there is one being held within a few short minutes of your home (who knows maybe they even walk right by your house). It's still early, but it's never too early to sign up as a team captain and help the fight against Alzheimer's!

Halloween the Movie

2007-08-07T22:43:00.000-04:00

Wow, I just found out that the latest edition of Halloween the movie is going to be directed by Rob Zombie. Don't know who Rob Zombie is? Imagine the weirdest, most deranged, scariest person you know. Now multiply that by about 1000 and you got yourself Rob Zombie (unless of course you know Rob Zombie, in which case you need to multiply by 1).

I think Rob Zombie will bring something to this Halloween the movie that we haven't seen in any of the others. I mean, don't get me wrong, the others are scary. In fact I'd say that the original is one of my favorite if not my top favorite scary movie of all time. I'd not saying this one will be better, but it will certainly be different. Good different. Deranged different. It'd be like comparing apples to apples that murdered their own parents. "House of 1000 Corpses" (another film by Rob Zombie) is a perfect example of his style of work. In that movie there is basically a family of misfits that gets off by torturing seemingly innocent victims in their back woods house. It makes ya scared to venture down any back roads, that's for sure.

If you're interested, I've secured an exclusive preview of the new movie (ok, it's just from YouTube, but it's cool none the less). Check it out and lemme know what ya think!

Buy Electronics Online

2007-08-07T09:20:00.000-04:00

Mango Tango is a new site (with a cute name!) where people living in Great Britain (a.k.a. England, a.k.a. the United Kingdom) can buy electronics online. I was just checking out their site and I can't help but thinking that I would REALLY love an in car navigation system. They've got one for £181.90...I don't know how much that is but it sounds pretty reasonable. Haha.

No Comments...

2007-08-06T00:22:00.000-04:00

Well, my last post appealing for comments didn't work. Or maybe you guys still refuse to leave one. I put a lot of thought into my GEICO series of posts and I hope at least someone else on this planet gets to read them. Please leave a comment if you are reading this!

Car Donations

2007-08-05T22:51:00.000-04:00

Got an extra car lying around? Ok, that question came off sounding a little silly, I mean who among just has extra cars lying around, right? Well, I'm not talking about your brand new convertible. Maybe you have an old junker in the backyard that barely works. In any case, Car Angel dot com is looking for your Car Donations. They take all proceeds and use them to help out young kids... Kids who are stuck in a foster home or at-risk youth who have already gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Now, you might be thinking, sure I'd like to help these kids out, but I can't just afford to GIVE away my car, I need that money! Well, now is the point that I remind you that CarAngel.com is a nationally recognized charity organization, and that a car donation is tax deductible! So, you may not get money in your pocket immediately, but you'll save yourself quite a few bucks come April 15th. They also accept donations of boats, donations of houses, and I'm not positive, but I bet they'd accept a cash donation if you sent it over, haha (as would I!) Unfortunately, I don't have an extra car, heck, I'm in the market for a 2nd car (my wife and I currently share one). But maybe someone reading this will help out!

Superbad!

2007-08-01T01:21:00.000-04:00

Has anyone seen the previews for the new movie coming out, Superbad? It's a comedy and it looks like it's going to be hilarious. It's from the same guys as 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up (both excellent, hilarious movies I'd recommend seeing if you haven't already). I think Judd Apatow is the guy's name, or maybe he's somebody else, in any case it doesn't matter! I recognize the two leads in this movie (who play two high schoolers...best friends who are going away to different colleges). The one guy was in the aforementioned Knocked Up (he played one of the friends) and the other guy, Michael Cera, was on Arrested Development (which I just finished watching on my TiVo). He played George Michael Bluth and was easily my favorite character. His comedy was so understated, very dry, right up my alley! He appears to be playing a similar character in this movie, at least from the previews. That's fine with me, all the more likely I'll think this movie is just as funny as 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Arrested Development (which I think is the most underrated sitcom of the 21st century).

Anyway, I encourage you to head over to YouTube.com today and check out the 5 exclusive videos they have for Super Bad. Or you can go to the Official Superbad Movie site for exclusive ringtones, wallpapers, and stuff like that!

Adsense

2007-07-31T14:06:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about putting Google Adsense up on my blog. I've been pretty against it every since they said I violated their rules and wouldn't pay me. But, they are very aesthetic and are a good source of revenue if I can more closely monitor the terms of service. Plus, it will give me an opportunity to further judge the text based ads people put up. Anyone have any opinions on what I should do?

Video Virtual Tour

2007-07-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

Whenever an online feature takes off for social reasons, you can count on companies trying to use it to promote their business as well. Makes sense, I don't blame em!

So it also makes sense that many companies are using videos and services such as YouTube and Google Video to promote their sites.

Well, how about this: video virtual tour? This is a way for realtors and sellers to create a little buzz about the property they are selling and a handy feature as well. I mean, what can't you see in a video virtual tour that you can't see by driving out to the house yourself? The videos are automatically created in 4 different formats (the big ones: Flash, Windows Media, Real Media, and Quicktime) and uploaded to 4 different video websites (again, the big ones: You Tube, Google Video, Yahoo Video and Realtor dot come).

Security Systems

2007-07-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

Do you sleep sound at night? If not, well isn't it worth just a few dollars a month to be able to? That is the benefit of having Security Systems. Sure, they'll keep your stuff safe when you're not home. Absolutely they'll lower your home insurance costs. But the absolute best benefit in my opinion is punching in that Arm Code and being able to go lie down knowing that me and my family have nothing to fear. Hey, it'd be great if there was nothing to fear in the first place. But the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of crazy people out there these days. Sure, the chances of them targetting you are slim, but why risk it? Easy to install, 24/7 monitoring from LaserShield...DON'T RISK IT!

Celebrity Gossip

2007-07-19T09:24:00.000-04:00

It must've been nice to be a celebrity before the internet started. You could go about your business and even if you did slip up and do something embarassing/criminal/stupid/intoxicated the internet wouldn't be there to let the whole world know in a matter of minutes. Well, lucky for us non-celebrities the internet DOES exist and celebrity gossip is a hot topic! This site that I just linked to is one of the best. Their Mission Objective: they present the gossip, the users do the rest. You can comment and talk about what you think about the latest juicy news or you can vote on which gossip is the most scandalous! How fun!!

My Goal

2007-07-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

What I'd like to discuss on this site is advertising. I want to talk about commercials that I like and why they are effective. I'd also like to talk about commercials I hate and what could have been better. I find advertising fascinating and hopefully I can get you into it as well. I hope I've been doing a good job of this and hope to do more in the future!

Fitness Dating

2007-07-19T07:17:00.000-04:00

A great way to advertise your product is by appealing to a particular target demographic or "niche." Especially in a saturated market like online dating, you need to find a way to separate yourself from the juggernaut competitors. Well, that's exactly what fitness dating did. This is a great new website where muscular women and men can meet and set up dates. This is a great idea for dating, since compatibility often revolves around having a common interest. And leading a healthy lifestyle is a very important interest to many people out there (myself, not as much as it should be, haha).

The name of this blog...

2007-07-19T05:00:00.000-04:00

Why I picked this name... I was going to do a blog where I did posts about random crap and saw what kind of targetted ads Google Adsense came up with. After reading about their terms of service, I saw that this wouldn't be allowed. But I had already created the blog and kinda liked the name anyway.

THE POLICE!

2007-06-27T19:07:00.000-04:00

One bad thing about the internet is you can not tell the tone of a person's voice. Reading that title, you might be confused. It's in all CAPS with an exclamation point. Perhaps you think I am freaking out, yelling, griping, about some incident that I had with the police. Well, you would be wrong.

I am yelling, yes, but it is in excitement about the new Police Cd that recently came out. Well, I say CD, singular, but I should have said CDS!, plural. They released a 2 disc compilation set earlier this month. It's got all their hits on it...Roxeanne, Every Breath You Take, Message in a Bottle, the list goes on.

I'm a little young to remember these songs when they originally came out, but who cares? They're American classics (heck, they're probably world wide classics, too!) My mother in particular was a huge, HUGE Police fan. Luckily, she's also a huge, HUGE fan of my blog, so she'll probably get to hear the great Police news from reading this post. HI MOM! And of course HI EVERYONE ELSE WHO MAY BE READING THIS!!

Also, check out this cool banner:

It's got very easy access to everything Police related you could possibly need:
Videos
Track List / Jukebox
Tour
Enter The Contest
Send To Friend
Ringtones

Why I admire Google

2007-06-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen a commercial for Google? I know I haven't. Even though I haven't seen one for Yahoo! in quite some time, I have seen one before. Google has become a house hold name without spending narry a penny on television ads that I have seen. That's pretty amazing. I don't think there are many other companies that can claim the same, can you think of any?

Reno 911!

2007-06-20T11:16:00.000-04:00

Are you a big fan of Reno 911! like I am? Well, then you'll be interested to know that Reno 911! Miami The Movie is out on DVD. I love Love LOVE the fact that they made it unrated with lots of extra bonus material and scenes. Unrated DVD's are always the best. If you haven't seen this movie already, you gotta check it out. The same hilarious hijinx of Dangle, Jones, Garcia, Junior, and the rest of the gang take to Miami to help foil the plotting of some terrorists.

On the official website, They have a fun game called "Calling All Units" which I got caught up in playing. In this game you drive around Reno in your very own police cruiser, reporting to the scenes of crime to bust the bad guys. I always thought it would be fun to drive a cop car and ignore traffic laws and stop lights! Well, I crashed my cruiser into quite a few building and other cars. Not good... I cost the city $96000 in damages while only making a salary of $12400. Though I did get a $2000 "Bustin Bonus" for nailing 2 bad guys!

Job Hunt

2007-06-20T11:15:00.000-04:00

I am currently searching for a job. Last year I was a teacher and I loved it, so I plan on doing it again. My philosophy has always been to just apply to as many jobs as you can to cover your bases. Well, with all this reading and writing about advertising it makes me almost want to apply to an ad agency. I think I am probably still vastly underqualified, but if it worked out, it could be awesome.

Payperpost!

2007-06-12T14:27:00.001-04:00

Hey, why not get paid to blog? I know I am and I am loving it! Pay Per Post is the exclusive market place for advertisers and bloggers to both get what they want. The advertisers get good reviews and reach a new market of people and the bloggers get paid for their thoughts on the topics of their choice. You never HAVE to write about anything you don't want to! It's sweet!!

Well, today Pay Per Post announced that they have received 7 million dollars in extra funding to take their platform to the next level. I was left thinking, there's a next level?? I can't wait to see what they will think of next. If I had 7 million dollars I'd love to invest in a young yet super promising company like Pay Per Post. But I don't have that much, so in the mean time I'm happy to make $10.77 for spreading the word with a post like this.

Here is the official press release:
The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

Adbrite

2007-06-12T14:25:00.000-04:00

Hmmm, investigating my Adsense quandry a little more I stumbled upon a site called Adbrite. They're like Adsense except better. For example, you don't have to wait until you earn $100 to get a check, you pick the minimum check amount! This is better for small time web masters like me, $100 isn't exactly an over night total I am going to reach, ya know??

Stop Drug Abuse!

2007-06-12T14:21:00.001-04:00

There's nothing like drug abuse to take a young life full of potential and just crush it into nothing-ness. It also affects the lives around the users. Well, there is a brand new 28 day rehab clinic in Michigan to help out. The big thing with this clinic is that the length of stay there isn't open ended. Some people think they can go for a week and be cured for life and very often are persuasive to that effect until they get back to the old habits.

Hurrah for Spy Sweeper!

2007-06-08T15:50:00.000-04:00

SPY SWEEPER IS THE MOST AWARD-WINNING ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE!

If you tend to be the type to judge products based on their past success then Spy Sweeper is a great program for you. Any company can self proclaim themselves to be the best. "We're the number one program available for removing spyware!" "Your BEST option for spy removal software!" "The last spyware removal software you'll ever need!" Well, these all sound fancy and terrific and the end all solution to all your needs, but there is nothing to support these super and outlandish claims.

Well, when another site, a 3rd party site, an impartial site, a site truly interested in honestly finding the best...when that site says you are number one, THEN (and only then) can you put some trust in that statement. Therefore, you can sure bet you can trust Spy Sweeper. The most awards in the industry. Yes, there are multiple spyware awards. Heck, I could do my own spyware awards presentation right now, because I know I've tried quite a few of them through the years, and without a doubt Spy Sweeper would be my winner as well.

So, if you want to test the industry rated most viable and reliable option for killing spyware, look no further than Spy Sweeper!

Stupid Spyware

2007-06-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

I had one of those free Spyware programs. Adaware or something like that. Anyway, I must say that it was pretty good at finding Spyware on my system. Problem is that it wouldn't get RID OF IT once it found it. Well, then what the heck's the point? Am I right? I know that I wouldn't have had that problem with Spy Sweeper. It's right in the name, it sweeps your system clean, as opposed to pointing out the mess but refusing to do anything. Another thing I like about Spy Sweeper is its ability to monitor your system automatically. As opposed to having to tell it to scan your system when you think you MIGHT have something on there that shouldn't be!

My worst experience happened after I went to a suspicious page. Something told me that I had better go and scan my system to be safe. Sure enough there was some spyware on there that the program I had rated as "very dangerous." When I clicked to delete it, it couldn't! When I clicked to quarantine it, it couldn't! All right, well thanks for nothing! Luckily I had a backup hard drive and just used that, but if I didn't, who knows what shape my computer would be in right now.

Drug Rehab

2007-05-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

They often say that the best way to learn something is by doing it yourself. I am a math teacher and I can say this is particularly true for me and is the very reason I give so much homework (sorry kids!). Anyway the people at Stone Hawk drug rehab center have many taken this to an extreme, but perhaps a necessary extreme.

The founders of Stone Hawk are former drug addicts themselves. They're clean now, but they know what it is like to go through these things, and they know how much effort it takes to snap out of it. They can care so much because someone in their lives cared enough to help them. A simple business model to provide help for those who need it. Smart thinkin Stone Hawk!

Customer Relationship Software

2007-05-24T17:01:00.000-04:00

AIM Promote! Ok, are you excited now? No? Ok, let me try again...

AIM Promote! All right, there we go. I'm trying to get you excited, because you should be if you have a company that is struggling to make sales. Because AIM Promote has the solution in their lead management software. Beyond that, they will help you manage your Customer Relations department (something every company needs, especially those jerks I had to deal with at The Home Depot today, more on that in another post). Just because you aren't making the sales you expected, don't lose hope in your product, you just gotta try something new. And AIM Promote is that something new!

PPP Direct

2007-05-24T16:54:00.001-04:00

Pay Per Post Direct is a new service in the Pay Per Post blog related money making empire. How it works: Normally in Pay Per Post, the bloggers select the ads that they would like to do and must go by the price set by the advertiser. In Pay Per Post Direct, the blogger sets his own prices and the reviewer selects from the bloggers in the directory. Kind of like a cool reverse on the old process. It's completely logical and seemingly inevitable, but it's still a really big deal.

There are other companies out there that already have this half of the idea implemented. At this point you should give a sigh like you've been tricked into thinking this was innovative. Well, hold on! It is innovative. Because these "other companies" have HUGE (50-100%) mark ups for their blog ads. Pay Per Post has only a 10% mark up (5% of which goes toward paying Paypal fees and credit card fees). The rest of the money is passed onto the blogger.

All right, bring it on Pay Per Post!

Motor Insurance

2007-05-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

I love when companies promote their businesses by offering online discounts. I mean, it's as if they're implying there's some non online way to make purchases these days. I mean, they make these incentives to drive up their online campaign and I just react like that's how I was gonna buy it anyway, super! Well, that's what CIS motor insurance is doing... they have an introductory 10% off offer for new online customers. Normally 10% doesn't seem like a huge deal, but for a expensive (albeit necessary) purchase like car insurance it does make a big difference!

Ipod Giveaway

2007-05-06T10:42:00.000-04:00

Giveaways are one of the best ways to generate interest in a company that people might otherwise not be very interested in. All too often though, these giveaways end up having a long list of rules and aren't really giveaways so much as elaborate manipulations. Well AddisonAvenue.com is giving away a 30 gig ipod give away! No Joke!. Sure, they'd like you to open a checking account with them with free web billpay and direct deposit, but they'll give you an iPod even if you don't. They're not out to rip you off, they wanna get some buzz going about their site and giving away iPods are a great way to go!

Why that Super Bowl ad was good...

2007-05-06T10:40:00.000-04:00

First of all, it was the hands down funniest ad of the Super Bowl in my opinion. It had a joke that was completely original and not some variant of the old fall backs. Bud Light obviously is a household name as it is, so they don't need to worry so much about telling us what their product does. Therefore, what they are going for is to leave a lasting impression on us. And it worked on me.

Prosper Learning

2007-05-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

It is hard in a field like business to be a good teacher. To me a good teacher is someone who spends many hours perfecting the craft of teaching and honing their skills. But business is a discipline where you can't just learn from a textbook and teach away. You need to have experience and further more, business is an ever changing field. Well, prosper learning has an excellent variety of unique business courses taught by experts in the field. And not FORMER experts, people who are currently still in the field and teaching in whatever free time they might have left. Pretty cool...

My favorite Super Bowl Ad

2007-05-06T07:06:00.000-04:00

My favorite super bowl ad was a bud light commercial. A man is driving with his girlfriend and sees a man holding a pack of bud light on the side of the ride trying to get a ride. Problem is the man is also holding an axe! To the man, the promise of bud light along for the ride outweighs the danger of the axe. I'm running out of time here, but I will be sure to post why I thought this was good soon.

Information

2007-05-01T16:17:00.000-04:00

Information is great. The more information the better. But, when you have TOO much information you have to decide a good way to present it. For example, web directories contain a lot of awesome links to other sites. But, with so many links they have to decide how to sort them. Some sort them by first come, first serve... others sort by click throughs... others sort alphabetically. All of these have their draw backs... the owner of the web site doesn't have complete control over where they end up. Well, at BigWebLinks.com web masters can bid for placement. This means that the highest bidder gets the most exposure. Hey, makes sense for anyone willing to work up the cash... and anyone with a good site should be willing to help their site grow!

Bird Binoculars

2007-05-01T16:01:00.000-04:00

Any bird watchers out there? I like to watch the Eagles... the football team, not the bird though. Birds are truly majestic though, and I really do find them interesting. Makes me wish I had a nice pair of bird binoculars like those found on EagleOptics.com. As you can imagine there aren't TOO many binoculars shops out there, but that's okay because Eagle Optics have everything you need in a binocular retailer: great selection, low prices, awesome customer service, free financing and easy check out options. The bird binoculars in particular are awesome... they can see REALLY far away, so you don't have to get too close and scare the bird away. Plus, they have really good focus so you don't have to fumble around with that and miss the perfect instant of seeing a rare bird.

Paintball

2007-04-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

Paint ball is a great sport. I have only gone a few times, but have had a lot of fun every time I went. Heck, I liked it so much that I actually played an online paint ball game for quite a few years and got really into it. So, even though I may only be a REAL paint ball novice, my online experience makes me an expert in different types of equipment like paintball guns, paintball gear, paintball masks, paintball tanks, and paintball markers. For example, never having held one myself, I know that Tippmann is one of the big names in paintball guns. Pntball.com has an excellent selection of all these items as well as free shipping! Any web site that doesn't offer free shipping gets a bad mark in my book...heck, if you won't ship it free I'll go to the store and get it myself.

Person.com

2007-04-30T20:28:00.000-04:00

Attention: this post is for Persons only. If you are not a person, please stop reading now. What a cool web site, Person.com - webcams, chat, personals. This makes me really wish I had a web cam. You can create your own live video show and lots of cool other things. I checked out one of the shows and it was pretty entertaining, better than I thought it would be. There is just a lot of stuff to do there to keep you entertained, it's like the amusement park of the internet!

Welcome

2007-04-30T18:58:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog. I am just getting set up here, but I've been going for about 3 months now and hopefully will keep getting more and more stuff to keep you reading. Keep checking back and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Lead Management

2007-04-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, so you have got a product to sell. You are pretty confident that it is a good product that people would enjoy using, especially at the given price. You decide to sell this product online because it is easy to ship. Ok, now what? There are many ways to get traffic to your website: search engines, paid advertisements, word of mouth. What you need to figure out is the most successful way of doing this. This is where AIMPromote.com comes in. They have state of the art, cutting edge website analytical tools. With these you can figure out where visitors are coming from and who exactly is making the most purchases. There are lots of ways of advertising, but the hardest part is figuring out what works and what doesn't. AIMPromote also offers some nifty CRM software (customer relationship management) for when you product sky rockets into the big time and you need to open a new resource for customer questions.

800 Numbers

2007-04-27T13:41:00.000-04:00

These days it is really hard to get a nice domain name. The internet has been around long enough that all the good ones are taken. Well, then the same must be true for 800 Numbers, especially since it isn't as easy to spell things out with them (3 letters per number). It's cool to see then a company that got a PERFECT 800 number! It's a drug rehab referral service and their number is 1-800-NO-DRUGS. Perfect, that's also their website, 1800nodrugs.com. Seriously though, this isn't something you want to mess around with, so if you are reading this, go check out their website or just the perfect toll free number if you'd rather and get yourself or your loved ones the help they need!

Cavemen

2007-04-27T13:40:00.000-04:00

By now, we've come to expect the very best out of GEICO commercials. It's been over a year now and they've by far had the most successful series of commercials, and I'm sure the other car insurance companies felt that in their earnings for the year. The cavemen started out as a simple idea and kind of blossomed into an entire series. Now I even hear talk that there may be a sitcom that runs with this idea on NBC? I'll believe it when I see it, but I wouldn't be that surprised.

Customer Relations

2007-04-27T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hey guys check out this site I found called AIMPromote.com. No, this has nothing to do with the popular instant messenging tool put out by America Online. Rather they are trying to sell and promote their crm software. CRM stands for Customer Relation Management. That reminds me of the really hilarious episodes of NBC's "The Office" last night, because it was mostly about how to deal with a customer relations nightmare! Anyway, AIMPromote is offering a free 14 day trial, so there's no risk if this is a product you really need. Plus, they make a strong claim that they will save you a lot of money in the long run, especially over their competitors.

Celebrities

2007-04-27T09:17:00.000-04:00

Celebrity commercials are over done. But, GEICO was able to come up with a twist on this old standby. They hired celebrities to help tell the stories of real people. A great way to push themselves for being the best for real people while including some B-celebrities in the process.

Working Hard

2007-04-26T17:04:00.000-04:00

You got to work hard in this life to get what you deserve. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there looking for the short cuts, for the easy way out, and some will even try to resort to taking the hard earned possessions of another person. That's where UControl.com and their home security system come into play and it is really essential for homeowners.

UControl is different than what you may be familiar with. If you are interested in learning more here's how it works and here is some information on plans and pricing. If you do head over to the site be sure and check out this video, which is the best of the bunch, because it explains why UControl is different (like their online personal settings and event notifications).

I do have good news...

2007-04-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

Now that everyone knew GEICO's name, it was time for them to take it to the next level. These commercials about "saving a bunch of money by switching to GEICO" quickly became a popular catchphrase. I even remember seeing a skit on SNL where they had George Bush saying it. So, with these, GEICO went from someone we heard of to a leader in the field.

Bluetooth

2007-04-26T16:57:00.000-04:00

What a funny name for a product. If I didn't know what that was and someone came up to me and said I just got a new blue tooth, I would give them a long, intense, confused glaring stare. Of course, it is offer weird, yet unique and distinguishable names like this that sets some companies apart from their competitors. Well, I do have a blue tooth headset and can tell you it is awesome. And Wirefly has an awesome deal going on there you can get a free blue tooth headset with a new subscription to a certain number of T-Mobile cell phones. I'm kinda locked into my Verizon contract (grr), but the T Mobile "Top 5" or "My Faves" or whatever it is called is a really cool feature. I'm not cool or popular enough to really call many more than 5 people regularly anyway. These aren't just the crappy phones that you get the deal with either. We're talking the ever popular RAZR phone and the up and coming (and cool capitalized vowel neglected spelling) PEBL as well. Blue tooth, "MyFaves", RAZR, and PEBL... all great examples of how you have to set yourself apart from the competition in the advertising world.

The Gekko

2007-04-26T16:55:00.000-04:00

The first series of GEICO commercials featured the gekko. I think this was an important series of commercials for them. The reason being because before this no one had ever heard of GEICO, so this was a great way to make their name because a household name. Plus the gekko was pretty cute and the commercials were funny.

Bidding

2007-04-26T16:51:00.000-04:00

A great way to distinguish yourself in a crowded consumer market is come up with a fresh and fun new idea. That's exactly what I think bid4prizes.com has done. Are you sick of watching EBay auctions sky rocket over the price you can afford? Well, at bid4prizes.com, the lowest bid wins! I know what you're thinking, "I bid a penny, I win!" Not so fast there. I should have said that the lowest UNIQUE bid wins. So, if you bid a penny, but someone else does too, you don't win. I think it would be really cool to win a prize like this, though I'm not gonna say I would be charitable and give it away or anything, I'd probably keep it for myself ;)

GEICO

2007-04-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

I am proud to say that I am a member of GEICO. They did save me a lot of money, but I probably would've picked them anyway because their commercials won me over. What is great about GEICO is that they haven't just come up with 1 great commercial idea, but they've come up with a bunch. In my next series of posts, I am going to talk about the series of commercials they've come up with and why they worked.

Comparison

2007-04-26T11:17:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of Progressive car insurance? Of course you have, they compare car insurance quotes. How about Expedia.com? Of course you have, they compare travel prices. How about LendingTree.com? Of course, they compare mortgage rates. Comparison is a hot trend that is sure to keep getting hotter. Now at SavingsAccounts.com you can compare interest rates for different savings or checking accounts and help you find the best way to make the most out of your spare change. Online banking interest rate comparisons at SavingsAccounts.com will help you find the best high yield online savings account or checking account.

Global Futures

2007-04-25T11:49:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, the global futures exchange & trading company can help you get started on some smart investments. What's that, not enough money to invest? Well, you can start a portfolio for as little as $250!

Back

2007-04-25T09:06:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm back! But I don't have anything prepared to blog about... So, I guess does it even matter that I am back? Probably not, but enjoy this post anyway!

Crazy Coupon Codes

2007-04-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

CouponChief.com offers the very best selection in online coupons. I'd imagine that this is a very hot business to be in right now. Online shopping is really taking off. Just think, anyone who gets a Sunday paper gets a huge section of coupons. Well, imagine if your web site was the internet equivalent of those ads and got as many visitors as there are people who get Sunday papers. Right off the home page of this site you can view featured coupons, newest coupons, top stores, or even browse by category. My favorite store that they have on there is for Target coupons, Target is the not-quite-poor-but-not-quite-rich-either version of Walmart!

The Low Down on Mortgages

2007-04-22T11:12:00.000-04:00

Need any info on home loans? Well, MortgageLowDown.com has it for you! I love their domain name. You can tell that they are definitely trying to appeal to the younger audience. And why not? Those 20-somethings who use terminology like this will be the next wave of home buyers. Their site is pretty nice. They have a featured articles section which is brilliant. Put the most important information front and center for your audience to find it...smart thinking. I would be very surprised if this site didn't enjoy at least moderate success.

Prescriptions

2007-04-22T09:51:00.000-04:00

One of the worst recent problems to come about in our society is prescription drug addiction. Doctors spend years and years researching drugs and testing products designed to help make our lives better and people exploit that and abuse that and become basically junkies. If I had the chance, I would get rid of all the cocaine in the world, but would I get rid of all the prozac? No, because there are legitimate cases of people who do legitimately need it. If you know someone who has fallen into this pit, 1800nodrugs.com is here to help. They're a non-profit organization that will take calls from anyone who needs help toll free. Hey, if they're non profit, they shouldn't have to be advertising wizards, that's why I thought I'd help them out here and try and get the people who need help the help they need!

Rehab

2007-04-20T20:24:00.000-04:00

It's too bad that drug rehab centers have to exist at all. It's a sad commentary on the affairs of our nation. But, I'm all for calling a spade a spade, so if you're going to have a drug rehab center, you might as well make it as good as you can! 4rehabilitation.com has a hotline that offers drug rehab information to its clients. Whenever I go into something, I definitely like to be informed. Hopefully I never find myself in that position, but education is definitely an important step towards rehabilitation in my opinion. Keep up the great work guys!

Fantasy Football

2007-04-19T19:57:00.000-04:00

It must be hard to market your product against fantasy sports giants like ESPN and Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline. But AFFL.com has held their own. First of all, they have a nice and easy web site name and URL to remember. Second of all, they have an easy to use web site with a nice look. Finally, for such a small sign up fee they offer pretty substantial prizes to the winners. Check it out now before the 2007 gets under way (it'll be here before you know it!)

iBackup

2007-04-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

Well if there is a leading competitor in the Online Backup industry, it is iBackUp. With a name that speaks to the consumer driven public and a solid quality service for personal use and small businesses! No wonder they are getting lots of press in magazines like PCWorld. You can even do scheduled unattended backups. A great name and a great product, the gateway to a successful web site!

YOUTUBE!

2007-04-19T14:28:00.000-04:00

I got it! I am going to try and find YouTube videos for some commercials and review those. I've never seen a blog like that where they analyze commercials right along side the actual commercials. I'll have to see which ones I can find and how feasible this idea is, but it seems solid!

Black Dating

2007-04-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

One of the first rules of advertising is don't start a battle you can't win. It will just lead to a massive loss of money. But if you can some how make your product different from other companies, than you can appeal to a different audience, even if it is a smaller more targetted audience. That's the exact brilliant philosophy that BlackScene.com has used with their Black Personals. They don't have the biggest database or the best, but they offer a great service for a specific audience, and that's the kind of quality that consumers are looking for!

Away

2007-03-27T19:33:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna be away for a few days. Try not to miss me too much! If you get bored and wanna leave me some comments, you can choose commercials for me to talk about!

Why it stunk

2007-03-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

Emerald Nuts has actually had good commercials in the past which is what makes this one so disappointing. First of all, Robert Goulet is not that famous of a celebrity. Especially when it comes to the younger audiences (a large proponent of the super bowl), they do not really know him. Even if they had the most famous celebrity in the world, I still don't think it would have been funny, which is what they were going for. Oh well, try again next year Emerald Nuts!

My least favorite Super Bowl Ad

2007-02-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

My least favorite ad was the one for emerald nuts. This one featured office workers being tortured by Robert Goulet, an old lounge singer. Some how the nuts were supposed to ward him off. Not good, not good at all. Check back to my next post to see what went wrong with this ad.

The Super Bowl

2007-01-31T19:04:00.000-05:00

As everyone knows the super bowl is not only the crowning moment of the year for football players. It is also a huge marketplace for companies to display the very best of what ads they could come up with. Well, the super bowl is quickly coming up and I'm sure there will be some amazing ads (as well as some that just aren't so good).