While browsing my site, www.bloopdiary.com, I noticed an ad that just kept re-appearing. It was for NIKE trainers, allowing you to customise your own pair with your country’s flag (at least that’s the impression I got, I’d nevert click my own ad guv’ner!) I wondered if somebody was targeting the channel given its location at the end of all diary entries – probably one of the most exposed slots with the highest chance of a click.
I considered the benefits of site targeted advertising, somebody wanting to advertise on my website is quite the ego boost! And if they’re advertising then they must be advertising with a product that is worthwhile, or so you’d think. The question I have to pose is: are these ads going to be relevant to everybody, or even anybody at all?
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Google AdSense
Picking a host for your website is probably one of the most important things you’ll ever do. And fate forbid that host goes down, you’ll need all the support you can get. Actually, all you really need is somebody that is willing to investigate the issue in a timely manner, and timely is the category that Leaseweb’s technical support fits least in to.
Yesterday (Monday, 25th July ‘08) the server stopped responding. I know I paid my bill because I have a receipt, so surely they haven’t cut it off?! Panic set in, there were people trying to access the server, I have two business clients relying on that server – one for the website, okay so that isn’t too bad, and the other for email! Lucky for me it’s the end of the working day, except – oh no, Leaseweb’s technical support is closed. They’re not in my time zone either, of course they can’t be blamed for that, it was my choice to rent a server outside of my country after all.
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Community Management, Hosting, Leaseweb
The web is dominated by social networking websites, and if there’s one thing that keeps somebody coming back to your website, it just has to be the community aspect. It’s what makes a website a home and anchors oneself to the sea of domain names.
But sometimes we forget the basics. More often than not you find webmasters are busy focusing on what they think could be the next big thing instead of what their community actually needs.
On that note, one thing that has become transparent in my years of developing an online community – never expect the community to know what they need because they aren’t the ones running the community. I’m not suggesting that you ignore your users, but take what they say with a pinch of salt. Instead of reading too far into what they say, spend your time carefully working out what they need in an overall sense.
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Community Management
I’ve decided to finally bite the bullet and start my own blog about my experiences in my profession. I’ve got to be honest – I want to make a bomb, a bomb lot of money that is! But primarily I want to offer the advice that my years of experience allow me to offer. I want to inspire people to reach for what some consider impossible, but I’d consider only the beginning of an individual’s capabilities.
I don’t have any qualifications, so if you’re looking for somebody that spent all their money in college then you’re definitely at the wrong place. I spent my money on McDonalds and pizzas, and countless cars. Despite that, I do have experience. I have www.bloopdiary.com and years of experience running a computer repair business.
So bookmark me, and read my ramblings when you get a chance. Create your own account and leave me some comments – I want to be read, and I want to know I’m being read.
I look forward to my next post.
Community Development, Website Development
