Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A little bit of poetry

A little bit of poetry

To add a little culture here at my blog, I shall digress a little and indulge in savouring a couple of beautiful poems written by Robert Louise Stevenson for children and those young at heart :-)

See how simple the words he used, the turn of phrase and how effectively and harmoniously he constructed the verses to rhyme. I’m sure you’ll find it a pleasure to read.


Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating--
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.
Robert Louise Stevenson



Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
Robert Louis Stevenson

Friday, November 10, 2006

Does AdSense Make Sense?

Does AdSense Make Sense?
For many people, being able to put Google AdSense ads on their websites to earn money is a very welcome thing. But it’s a different matter to some other people. Like with 54-year-old Australian, Graham Hunt, the idea is against his principles.

In his article which appeared in EzineArticles.com he says AdSense makes no sense to him. It is an interesting point of view and it is worthwhile reading the article which I reproduce as follows:

Adsense Makes No Sense To Me
By Graham Hunt

You won’t find any Adsense ads on my website.

Yes, I’ve read about the apparent “death of Adsense” and my inbox has been stuffed with claims and counter claims about the value of this product or that strategy. But that is not the reason.

You see, I am a writer. I love nothing more than to research and write material on the area of my passion. In fact I have devoted my life to that very thing. Other than a bit of housework and meal preparation in support of my hardworking life- partner, my time is spent online researching and writing my own material. I am very proud of the material I have produced and offer in the form of articles and e-books on my website.

Once I have attracted a visitor to my site, why on earth would I want them to suddenly leave and go who knows where? At least if they clicked on an affiliate link I have something of an advantage for two reasons: (a) I have chosen where the visitor will go when they leave my site and (b) I could receive some income if they purchase the product or service on the site to which I am an affiliate.

With Adsense, the most likely place my hard-earned visitor would end up would be my direct competitor! That’s like owning a Pizza restaurant and advertising the local Chicken Take-Away in my establishment. Yet, that is in effect, the type of thing I would be doing if I displayed Adsense on my site.

Yes, it might make sense to Google to provide contextual advertising. It would probably even make sense to the advertiser (otherwise why would they do it). But it makes no sense to me.

I write because I believe I have something worthwhile to say. I believe, in all honesty, there are a lot of people who would benefit from hearing what I have to say. I also believe that laborers are worthy of their hire, so yes, I offer some of my material for sale.

I put my material before people. If they like what they see, if it fills a need in their life at that particular moment in time, they may buy. If they don’t like what they see, that’s okay. But the last thing I want is for them to rush in and out of my ‘store’ because their attention has been grabbed by my competitor who I allow to stand in the entrance to my place of business for the purpose of diverting my customers across to his ‘store’. Will they come back to me? I don’t really know, but I sure as heck would rather it didn’t happen in the first place.

On the other hand, I recognize that I am something of a crusader. My site is not there specifically for me to make money, although the income is appreciated. If I was only interested in making money (and it seems, if you believe everything you read you either make millions or you make zero when you are in business on the Internet. There is, apparently, no middle ground) then I could provide the mega-store approach and offer you anything and everything your heart desires.

I heard recently of one entrepreneur who has 75,000 websites! Apparently the content on those sites is so unappealing that he makes tens of thousands of dollars each month from Adsense alone.

To that I say “Great. I trust he enjoys his money.” I choose to journey along a road apparently less travelled. What I lose out on in the area of financial gain, I certainly make up for in satisfaction of achieving my life’s goal and a career path that I honestly love. There’s not much more I could ask for.

About the author
Graham Hunt is the Founder and Thinker-in-Residence of The Ultimate Success Center, the website of which can be found at http://www.the-ultimate-success-site.com. Graham has also started an interactive blog on Aglet Marketing. An aglet is the small metal tip on a shoestring. Aglet Marketing, therefore seeks ways to promote your website on the tip of a shoestring. The blog can be found at http://www.aglet-marketing.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Graham_Hunt


Well, so you’ve read what Graham Hunt has to say about not putting AdSense ads on his website. Don’t you think that’s an interesting point of view?

Posted by Dale Ng, an Internet entrepreneur enthusiast who shares tips, info, news and articles on Internet marketing. Feel free to visit his website on Internet home business at: http://www.homewebbiz.com/ . You can also visit his other website at: http://tinyurl.com/jcsqs .