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e_Marketing Blog Watching Widgeteers About a month ago The Widgeteers advertising network went live. The deal sounded so good I became a paying member almost on the spot. It works like this: members load ad blocks on their sites. Ads look similar to Google Adwords. When someone visits a page that has an ad block on it, that visit is recorded as a view. In return for showing other people's ads you get to run your own ads on other peoples' sites. In other words, you can get "free" advertising, just by putting a few ad blocks on your websites. Even though this kind of advertising gets a notoriously bad click thru rate, the paid option seemed like a no-brainer: 5000 views per month for an entire year for something like $150. Obviously quite a few others thought so too, because the network went down after a couple of days, presumably because of an overworked server. The initial problems were overcome by changing to a different server, and since then I've been keeping my eye on the performance of the ad network. Unfortunately I can't say I've seen a lot of traffic from the Wiedgeteers ads, but I'm hoping things change for the better next month as problems continue to get worked out and new advertisers jump on board. If nothing else, the free Widgeteers option is worth checking out... Google Docs Could Be Useful We do a lot of collaborative writing and publishing at Linknet - where two or three people get in on writing articles and posts, creating videos, etc., and the people involved are often not on the same internal network. So managing the writing, editing, publishing, reporting and archiving can be a challenge. A shared online repository for content seems like the answer, so over the last few days I've been looking at Google Docs to see if it fits the bill. So far so good. One person creates a document and then shares it with others. The originator of the doc can work on it and then have a collaborator make additional edits to exactly the same document. Take a video script for example. The script writer can write a script and store it in a Google Docs folder. Then give access to that script to the person doing the voice track and the other person doing the actual video production. If changes are made further up the production chain - say by the voice track person - these changes can be made right to the master version stored in Google Docs. So everybody is working from the same script. One potential problem I've seen so far is that you cannot share folders - only individual docs. That means Person A may want to organize the same files in completely different folders from Person B. That sounds like it could be a good thing in some cases, but in others not so good. I can also see this system being good for client communication and reporting. You create a report, say by using the online Spreadsheet utility, then share it with the client so he/she can see what is going on. Other users could even make notations and add stuff like you can with a wiki. I must admit though, that I haven't quite figured out the Google "account" thing yet. If you've got accounts for adwords, adsense, docs, video, analytics, etc. and you signed up for them at different times, there's no telling whether or not they are synchronized. I'm sure there's a way, but I haven't figured it out yet. Can't Believe it - Another Host Is Down This time it looks like HostGator is down. I have many major sites on HG and none of them have been working for the last couple of hours. Anybody else notice this? |
SBO-Linknet.com is the home of the Linknet Publishing Network. This is a growing network of active websites covering various areas of interest from Online Marketing to Golf to Personal Health and Real Estate. The Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should IgnoreFeb 24, 2006 - Linknet Internet News The Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should Ignore Feb 24, 2006 - Linknet Tech News - by Kai Chandler, http://www.surfcontrols.com - The internet is undoubtedly a fantastic resource for families and offers a rich vein of educational content. However, there are potential dangers - welcome to the seedy world of viruses, spam, trojans, pornography, spyware and other nasties.== AntiVirus - Download Norton AntiVirus 2006 == Here are the Top Twelve Threats No Computer User Should Ignore: 1. Viruses - A computer program that copies itself. They often disrupt your computer system or damage your data. Viruses are usually received by email attachments so be careful opening anything from a dubious source. They can affect anyone, for example, the destructive Mydoom worm affected one out of three small and mid-sized businesses. 2. Spyware - Sends information about you and your computer to somebody else. Spyware may send the addresses of sites you have visited or worse still, transmit personal information. With today's concerns about identify theft this is a real worry. For example, CoolWebSearch may hijack web searches, home page, and other Internet Explorer settings. Spyware is normally received as part of shareware or freeware downloaded from the web. 3. IP Spoofing - A technique to gain unauthorized access to computers, whereby the intruder sends messages to a computer with an address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted host. 4. Trojans - An apparently legitimate computer program that is really intended to disrupt and damage computer activity by sending information, perhaps even passwords onto a third party without you knowing. As an example, recent emails entitled "Osama Bin Laden Captured" attempted to download the "Trj/Small.B." Trojan if the embedded URL was clicked. This trojan attempts to hijack the PC. 5. Spam - Unsolicited mail often promoting products of a dubious financial or sexual nature. Don't leave your email address on websites and internet bulletin boards as they are harvested by spammers. 6. Adware - puts advertisements on your screen. These take many forms including popups, popunders and advertisements that appear later, even if your browser is closed. Some are sent using the Windows Messenger service which allows a spammer to direct an advertisement straight to your computer by sequentially sending messages to IP addresses. Always irritating, they are also often of a pornographic nature. 7. Diallers - for those of us still with dial up modems, dialler programs redirect calls to a very expensive number. You won't know until you get the bill. 8. Hijackers - Hijackers take control of your web browser and may reset your home page, search bar and search pages. They can redirect you to undesirable sites or stop you going to particular sites. 9. Hackers - With so much personal data available online to anyone with a password you must be sure your password is secure. If you are using your mother's maiden name, your cat's name or your birthday then your password is at risk. Here are two tips for making a secure password. Method One - pick two random unrelated three letter words and two digits. Mix them up and what do you have? A secure password such as "red19cat" or "hotpin73". Method Two - pick a short sequence of words such as Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent Made Glorious' and you have a password of "nitwoodmg". You could even change the I's and O's to digits. 10. Phishing - Emails purporting to come from reliable sources such as Paypal, Ebay or your bank. Often wanting you to verify your account details, they can look very realistic but are generally scams to harvest usernames and passwords. Always open a new browser winder and type the address there, rather than clicking on the link provided. 11. Hoaxes - Chain letters, scams, false alarms. At best they take up time and bandwidth but at worst vulnerable can be victims of fraud. Pass it on! 12. Stranger-danger - For those of us with children - do you know what they actually do when they are online? Are they working on homework tasks, downloading illegal music or pornography? Or are they chatting to strangers in chat rooms? You should consider blocking access to undesirable sites and logging their activity with a surveillance tool. Oh, and don't forget that where children are concerned, computers should always be kept in a family room and never in their bedroom. Three Step Action Plan There are three essential steps that should be taken to ensure your PC is kept threat-free. Firstly, be sensible when opening attachments or following email instructions from apparently reputable sites. Secondly, make sure you are using the latest service pack of Windows as Microsoft is continually closing loopholes to tighten up security. Finally, there's a range of low cost tools such as firewalls, antivirus, spam blockers and spyware killers available. Like everything else they vary in quality and you tend to get what you pay for so always do your research first and perhaps try a free trial before getting your credit card out. http://www.surfcontrols.com specializes in providing reviews and recommendations of top-rated tools to help protect your online experience. There's a quick reference list to dozens of top sites promoting different aspects of safe surfing packed with useful information and there's also a great set of top tips for safe surfing. Copyright Kai Chandler (#12t5109) Kai Chandler is a project manager and journalist. Kai is particularly interested in tools and techniques to protect his family and computer against spam, porn, viruses and malware. As a father of two he is also keen to ensure that his children enjoy a safe surfing surfing experience. His reviews of the very best parental internet filters, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware and surveillance tools are maintained at http://www.surfcontrols.com. It's essential reading for any parent and computer owner. Reprinted from Click-Partners.com Earn up to 75% of PPC Revenue - Premierad.com pays webmasters up to 75% of advertising revenues to place contextual ads on their websites or blogs.
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