Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Morgan Freeman Dead? No, He Joins Eddie Murphy, 50 Cent As The Latest Victims Of Celebrity Death Hoax
Morgan Freeman is not dead, despite Internet rumors that surfaced after a Facebook page titled “R.I.P. Morgan Freeman” surfaced Wednesday. The actor is alive and well, according to Gossip Cop.
Morgan Freeman is not dead, despite a report that originated on Facebook earlier this week. A Morgan Freeman impersonator, though, did read aloud from the book “50 Shades of Grey.”
The Facebook page in question quickly received thousands of “likes” even though there had been no confirmation of the news. The blogosphere and social media quickly lit up wondering whether or not the “Shawshank Redemption” actor had indeed died.
The news that Freeman hadn’t died follows the false rumors that rapper 50 Cent and comedy superstar Eddie Murphy had also died. Murphy was said to have been killed in a snowboarding accident in Switzerland while 50 Cent was said to have been killed in a brutal car wreck; both stories originated at the fake “news” site Global Associated News.
Many Facebook users were irked when they heard the news was just a joke, although Gather.com reported the page garnered more than 10,000 likes in less than one day.
“Celebrities are still normal people with family members and friends just like us,” one person on Facebook wrote according to Mstarz.com. “How would you feel if someone said your most precious loved one has passed away? You can’t joke about someone’s death.”
The story that Freeman had died follows similar rumors “killing off” Bill Nye, Rihanna, Bill Cosby, Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, Taylor Swift, Adele and dozens of other celebrities.
This isn’t even the first time Freeman has been thought (by some) to be dead. In 2010, one Twitter user reported that CNN declared Freeman dead, an event that never took place, according to Popeater.com. That rumor, like this one two years later, spread so quickly at least in part because of the lack of fact-checking users have on social media sites. Emotion simply takes over their mind.
In another hoax related to the actor, a Morgan Freeman impersonator recently read the highly sexual book, “50 Shades of Grey” in the actor’s signature, distinguished voice. You can watch that here, although the dialogue is highly NSFW.
Morgan Freeman Dead? No, He Joins Eddie Murphy, 50 Cent As The Latest Victims Of Celebrity Death Hoax
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Google Zeitgeist 2011: Rebecca Black, Google+, Ryan Dunn Top Searches
Google has released their Zeitgeist 2011 data, complete with the top 10 search queries in sports, entertainment, news, and more for 48 countries. Zeitgeist’s lists allow you to compare results of any two queries on each list across various sliding time spans on an interactive graph, with hyperlinked icons indicating where news articles are available.
Global data shows that Rebecca Black was the fastest rising query in the world, with searches for her name increasing more than 10,000 percent in 2011. Google+ and Ryan Dunn were the next fastest growing queries worldwide.
Compare this to last year, when ChatRoulette, iPad, and Justin Bieber topped the international list. The complete Fastest Growing Queries – Global 2011 list is as follows:
- Rebecca Black
- Google+
- Ryan Dunn
- Casey Anthony
- Battlefield 3
- iPhone 5
- Adele
- TEPCO (Japanese electric utility company)
- Steve Jobs
- iPad2
Fastest Falling Global Queries
Who lost the most traction in 2011? As Google Zeitgeist reveals the queries that fell fastest this year; see if you can spot the trend:
- MySpace
- Hi5
- Mebo (we believe they meant Meebo and not the misspelling)
- Nasza Klasa (social network)
- Netlog (social network)
- Baidu
- Wer Kennt Wen (social network)
- Meinvz (social network)
- Hotmail Correo
- Delta Airlines
Fastest Rising People Queries in the World
If you were worried about the future of mankind given that Kim Kardashian made top 10 lists byFacebook, Bing, Ask.com, and AOL, fear not… she’s nowhere to be found. The Fastest Rising People Queries – Global were:
- Rebecca Black
- Ryan Dunn
- Pippa Middleton
- Casey Anthony
- Adele
- Steve Jobs
- Amy Winehouse
- Osama bin Laden
- Charlie Sheen
- Kate Middleton
Google Zeitgeist 2011: Rebecca Black, Google+, Ryan Dunn Top Searches
How to Create a Wireless Ad-Hoc Network between Macs
How to Create a Wireless Ad-Hoc Network between Macs
Apple was one of the first companies to take advantage of wireless networking technology. You can wirelessly connect two Mac computers together in just a couple of minutes.
On the first computer, click the AirPort icon in the menu bar and choose create network. In the computer to computer window, type a name for your Ad-Hoc network. And just below that, select a channel number from the channel menu. If you want, you can check the box to require a password and enter a password in the next field. Now click ok.
Go the other computer and choose the AirPort icon. Then choose the desired computer to computer network. Just look for the name of the computer network you created and select from the menu. When the computers are connected, you can access the other computer.
Click on the finder icon in the doc to open a new finder window. In the side bar, look under shared and choose My Network. Now click the name of the computer you want to access. Click connect and log into the remote computer using that computer’s user name and password. Here you can see that I’m connected.
Now when you’re done using the computer to computer network, click the AirPort icon and choose disconnect from current network. Now you’re flying solo again.
Creating a wireless Ad-Hoc network is an effective way to network multiple computers together without all the expense.
How to Create a Wireless Ad-Hoc Network between Macs
RAM, ROM, and Flash Memory
So, what are RAM, ROM, and flash memory? All three are kinds of computer memory, but RAM, ROM, and flash memory interact each in their own way with the data that they store. Here’s a quick explanation of each kind of memory:
- RAM: Stands for random access memory; refers to memory that the microprocessor can read from and write to. When you create something in memory, it’s done in RAM.
RAM is memory and vice versa.
- ROM: Stands for read-only memory. The microprocessor can read from ROM, but it can’t write to it or modify it. ROM is permanent. Often, ROM chips contain special instructions for the computer — important stuff that never changes. The microprocessor can access information stored on a ROM chip whenever it needs to. The instructions are always there because they’re not erasable.
- Flash memory: A special type of memory that works like both RAM and ROM. You can write information to flash memory, like you can with RAM, but that information isn’t erased when the power is off, like it is with RAM.
Sadly, flash memory isn’t as fast as RAM, so don’t expect it to replace standard computer memory any time soon.
RAM, ROM, and Flash Memory
How to burn a CD on Windows
To install Ubuntu on a computer that currently runs Windows, you need to download the installation file and burn it onto the CD, which you can then use to install Ubuntu. Once you’ve downloaded the file, follow the instructions below to burn your CD, depending on which version of Windows you are currently using.
Windows 7
- 1
Right-click on an ISO image and choose ‘Open with > Windows Disc Image Burner’.
- 2
Select a disc burner (drive) and choose ‘Burn’. If you check‘Verify disc after burning’, it will confirm that the ISO image has been burned correctly.
Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista
- 1
Download and install Infra Recorder, a free and open-source image-burning program.
- 2
Insert a blank CD in the drive and select ‘Do nothing’ or ‘Cancel’if an autorun dialog box pops up.
- 3
Open Infra Recorder and click the ‘Write Image’ button in the main screen. Alternatively you can select the ‘Actions’ menu, then ‘Burn image’.
- 4
Select the Ubuntu CD image file you want to use, then click‘Open’.
- 5
In the dialog box, click ‘OK’.
How to burn a CD on Windows
Windows 8 review
The final, Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 8 is now available to developers, IT professionals and (soon) businesses with volume licences (or to intrepid testers who don’t mind an evaluation version that expires after 90 days and can’t be upgraded, downloaded from here).
The rest of us will have to wait until October when Windows 8 upgrades, newWindows 8 PCs and Windows RT devices will be released – but this is the final version that you’ll get then, so we can finally review the full, finished Windows 8 operating system.
If you’ve been following Windows 8 through the development process, especially if you’ve tried the Release Preview, Windows 8 won’t surprise you. The changes between the Release Preview and RTM aren’t major, except possibly the removal of Aero Glass transparency from desktop windows and turningDo Not Track (DNT)Â on by default.
Windows 8 represents a fundamental shift in the way Windows works and is far more touchscreen-orientated for use on tablets as well as traditional PCs. If you’re completely new to Windows 8 and haven’t used a preview version, we’d recommend you check out our guide to the new features you’ll find in Windows 8 compared to Windows 7
The real difference is that Windows 8 is finished; it’s polished and smooth, with even better performance than in the previews, and none of the rough edges left.
- Read:Â Making sense of the Windows 8 versions
Even the previously disappointing Modern UI-style apps such as Mail, Calendar, Messaging and People are slick, sleek and far more functional. Even though Microsoft says it will carry on updating them, they’re now useful and engaging rather than frustrating. This is Microsoft putting it all together.
Running Windows 8 RTM
First of all, it’s worth noting that the Windows 8 RTM is still only for x86/64 PCs; there isn’t a version of Windows RT for ARM devices that you can download and try out, since there aren’t any ARM devices that will run it.
That’s because of the extremely custom way that ARM devices are built, where not even the way to control a physical button is standard. Microsoft isn’t supporting tablets built to run Android or WebOS, either.
- Windows 8 vs Windows RT: what’s the difference?
Much of what we’re seeing in the RTM will be the same on Windows RT systems as it is in Windows 8. Most features – from the Start screen user interface to the touch gestures, to the Windows desktop and built-in Windows tools such as File Explorer and Task Manager – will be practically identical (although we don’t have a definitive list of which built-in tools will be built in with Windows RT).
The vast majority of apps in the Windows Store will run on both. Microsoft has even confirmed it will offer Flash functionality for IE on Windows RT (at least on what it calls the “initial delivery of Windows RT PCs”).
But until we see it in action, we don’t know what Windows RT performance and battery life will be like (although the promised battery life for Connected Standby and HD video playback looks impressive, at up to 409 and 13 hours, respectively).
Windows 8 doesn’t include the desktop Office apps that will be bundled with Windows RT either – although you can still install the Office 2013 Customer Preview – and of course it runs all the x86 desktop apps that won’t work on RT. It also has the optional Windows Media Center, which we don’t expect to be available for Windows RT.
Along with the final release, we have the final system requirements for Windows 8; much the same as for Windows 7, with some added requirements for WinRT apps
You need a 1GHz or faster CPU (it also needs to support PAE or PAE-NX Physical Address Extension for new security features in the Windows 8 kernel), 1GB of RAM (or 2GB for 64-bit systems), 20GB of hard drive space and a DirectX 9 graphics card with WDDM driver.
If you want to use the Windows Store to download WinRT apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768, and if you want to snap two WinRT apps side by side, that goes up to a minimum of 1366 x 768.
Windows 8 review
5 Linux Penetration Testing Distributions for Hackers
Linux has gained popularity in the area of penetration testing and information security. Not just because of its security but because of its efficiency because most Pen testing Linux distros can be just  booted using your flash drive or a live CD . These live penetration testing distros contains a package of tools for hacking or cracking a system. Each pentesting distro has its own pros, cons So I’ve decided to write a review on my 5 favorite Penetrating Distros that i have used
BackTrack 5
BackTrack is a most famous and widely used Pen-tester distribution out there.The evolution of BackTrack spans many years of development, penetration tests, and unprecedented help from the security community. BackTrack originally started with earlier versions of live Linux distributions called Whoppix, IWHAX, and Auditor. BackTrack 5 R2 is the latest version that has been released, it has more than  350 security tools to perform pen-testing. BackTrack is one of my favorite pentesting distros that can run on a live CD or flash drive. Ideal for wireless cracking, exploiting, web application assessment, learning, or social-engineering a client.
BackBox
BackBox is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It has been developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments. Designed to be fast, easy to use and provide a minimal yet complete desktop environment, thanks to its own software repositories, always being updated to the latest stable version of the most used and best known ethical hacking tools
BlackBuntu
Blackbuntu is another penetration testing distro based on Ubuntu obviously because of its name. It uses GNOME as its DE and uses the Ubuntu 10.10 release. The categories of its tools include Information Gathering, Network Mapping, Vulnerability Identification, Penetration, Privilege Escalation, Maintaining Access, Radio Network Analysis, VOIP Analysis, Digital Forensic, Reverse Engineering and other Miscellaneous tools like macchanger and lynis auditing tools
Knoppix STD
As the name suggests this distribution is based on Knoppix and STD stands for Security Tools Distribution. This distribution didn’t get any update (like most pen-test distros) in a long time and might not work on some new hardwares but they have a fairly good collection of tools. fluxbox is used for desktop environment.
Peento
Peento is a smart and well equipped linux distro with various tools, based on Gentoo.It’s basically a gentoo install with lots of customized tools, customized kernel, and much more
Read more:Â http://www.101hacker.com/2012/05/5-linux-penetration-testing.html#ixzz253RZs3c0
Linux has gained popularity in the area of penetration testing and information security. Not just because of its security but because of its efficiency because most Pen testing Linux distros can be just  booted using your flash drive or a live CD . These live penetration testing distros contains a package of tools for hacking or cracking a system. Each pentesting distro has its own pros, cons So I’ve decided to write a review on my 5 favorite Penetrating Distros that i have used
BackTrack 5
BackTrack is a most famous and widely used Pen-tester distribution out there.The evolution of BackTrack spans many years of development, penetration tests, and unprecedented help from the security community. BackTrack originally started with earlier versions of live Linux distributions called Whoppix, IWHAX, and Auditor. BackTrack 5 R2 is the latest version that has been released, it has more than  350 security tools to perform pen-testing. BackTrack is one of my favorite pentesting distros that can run on a live CD or flash drive. Ideal for wireless cracking, exploiting, web application assessment, learning, or social-engineering a client.
BackBox
BackBox is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It has been developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments. Designed to be fast, easy to use and provide a minimal yet complete desktop environment, thanks to its own software repositories, always being updated to the latest stable version of the most used and best known ethical hacking tools
BlackBuntu
Blackbuntu is another penetration testing distro based on Ubuntu obviously because of its name. It uses GNOME as its DE and uses the Ubuntu 10.10 release. The categories of its tools include Information Gathering, Network Mapping, Vulnerability Identification, Penetration, Privilege Escalation, Maintaining Access, Radio Network Analysis, VOIP Analysis, Digital Forensic, Reverse Engineering and other Miscellaneous tools like macchanger and lynis auditing tools
Knoppix STD
As the name suggests this distribution is based on Knoppix and STD stands for Security Tools Distribution. This distribution didn’t get any update (like most pen-test distros) in a long time and might not work on some new hardwares but they have a fairly good collection of tools. fluxbox is used for desktop environment.
Peento
Peento is a smart and well equipped linux distro with various tools, based on Gentoo.It’s basically a gentoo install with lots of customized tools, customized kernel, and much more
Read more:Â http://www.101hacker.com/2012/05/5-linux-penetration-testing.html#ixzz253RZs3c0
5 Linux Penetration Testing Distributions for Hackers
Top 10 Tools that Ensure Your Online Security
The  Internet has opened up the world to all its users. We visit places we’ve never been to, make friends with people we’ve never met and find information at the touch of a button. But the threat of danger in the system being attacked by virus and hackers always looms large. And this becomes especially serious when we think of the volume of content on the net- bank details, personal details and what have you. Thankfully, here are a few ways to ensure your information stays safe
1. URLVoid.com will let you key in the website and then tell you if the website is dangerous or secure. You can use any engine for this service, including Phish Tank and McAfee Trusted Source, among others
2. Bitdefender online virus scanner is a rudimentary but efficient plug-in that detects threats in around 60 seconds. This means safe transactions, protection of information on social media sites and fighting off threats via internet.
3. Metasploit is an open-source code testing platform. You can collate encoders and payloads for some state of the art code writing. It brings together experts from all fields and creates a system that deals with weaknesses and breaches in security in an effective manner.
4. Webmaster Tools- Google’s tool, you will receive an email from it to your website has been infected. The information is updated many times faster than the previous versions and finding virus has never been this simple!
5. Nessus  If you are using UNIX, ensure that you pick up this free scanner with up to 46,000 plug ins. You can make security checks even from remote locations, which is great news for people on the move!
6. Cain and Abel  If you are a Windows Loyalist, then you will love this tool that does cool things like recording conversations, decoding passwords and recovering passwords among other phenomenal things.
7. Wireshark The renowned and brilliant open source platform, enables you to understand data from a network or on a dish. Supporting numerous media and protocols, Wire shark has been at the top of the table for a long time.
8. Virus Total This free service uses more than one antivirus engine to read and report on compromised files. Since it is very quick, you can fight off worms, viruses and Trojans a lot more effectively.
9. W3af  A relative newbie after the old timer at number 7 on this list, this is still a powerful and malleable tool meant to check chinks in the web application armor. You can use it to assess web sites and also to check plug ins and their efficiency.
10. Snort  This free tool has a formidable reputation when it comes to network security. It detects and prevents attacks using a detection engine and specific language to do so.
Top 10 Tools that Ensure Your Online Security
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
5 Reasons Why Education Must Be Coed
5 Reasons Why Education Must Be Coed
Coed or co-education gives a very clear and mysterious feeling to both boy and girl student that they have to get their further education where opposite sex will be mate and have to share the learning and keeps observing as desire to know more about them. It’s always a advantage when you gives intro rather than hiding from the child students because they have nothing to study about their confusions and interest when you delivers the same thing they may concentrate towards their studies as well. This system of mixed schooling gets different comments by the experts and valuable peoples on their own thinking and behavior for their opposite sexes but I am going to expose those points where both the gender will gain the actual meanings and confidential behind this strategy in our society.
1. Makes easy interaction :- Average of 90% boys and girls feel shy and confusion in case of interacting with the opposite sex peoples and in their future they gets uncomfortable with them in talking and all others activities to do as a social means and need. We all should be involve in these kind of communities where both the sexes do any kind of working or promotion to wash away the challenges mostly for the interactions.
2. Balances the understanding between them :- Whatever we are thinks only about our challenges and problems that have to deal with for the survival in this competitive world but totally forgets about the same situations that happens with our opponents and gives them a less value than ourself which shows illiteracy and banish power of your brain which requires a more education and training to live this modern and highly hi-tech world of humans.
3. To gain any target together :-Â Can achieve some targets with less efforts if gives the chance to our social partners and all have some expertise so choose them to work with you all and will see the improved results where probability was like nothing if you tries alone to show your value to the opposite ones.
4. Gives more confidence in life :-Â If you have friends in the opposite gender and you can see the both life of male and female will be more closer to each other and will find the confidence and value of your knowledge and partnership with any, ok let it lightly and leave for the tour of space without any contact and support you will see your decreasing interest in life but if your gets a partner of opposite sex will survive happily from your heart and emotions.
5. Controls social abuses :- If we puts us in a same bucket from childhood will be more open and touchy for their behavior,emotions,value and all that gives a break to social abuses like dowry, sexual harassment or else. Very few of us are thinking about these major problems that can be under total control but the efforts are also very time taking and may take a whole generation gap to be effective in live.
I was talking about both the sexes so don’t be confuse in only one, it’s all about change and improvement in our society if we takes the co-education as a serious factor for promoting because there is always some exceptions and will try to stop their exceptions while we all should have the tools like opening all the institutes for both the genders and try to advertise the advantages and disadvantages as well so that students and parents can take a further decision to move on the way to balance the situation of distractions in youths that always pushes us backwards.
5 Reasons Why Education Must Be Coed
What is the Windows Recovery virus ? & How To Remove it !
What is the Windows Recovery virus ? & How To Remove it !
his is a guest post by Rajnish Kumar who writes at www.fillsout.blogspot.com. If you also want to contribute guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines now.
Now days no one is scare of computer viruses because most of people are using anti-virus program it can be genuine or pirated security software but there are some situations when we disable our security software by ourself for installing certain cracked softwares or for using keygen or patching any software and that is the time when we give open invitation to viruses like `Windows Recovery Virus` about which I am going to tell you in this article.
How Windows Recovery Virus looks?
Click To Enlarge
Windows Recovery Virus Dignostics Tab
So, What the heck is this “Windows Recovery Virus†?
Windows Recovery is a fake computer analysis and optimization program that displays fake alerts in order to scare you into believing that there is an issue with your computer. Windows Recovery is installed via Trojans that display false error messages and security warnings on the infected computer. These messages will state that there is something wrong with your computer’s hard drive it will say that you HDD has crashed with that it will also delete all the icons/files/folders on your desktop to make you believe that it is saying is correct and then suggests that you download and install a program that can fix the problem. But When you click on of these alerts, Windows Recovery will automatically be downloaded and installed onto your computer bypassing the User Account Control (UAC).
Once installed, Windows Recovery will automatically start with Windows. Once started, it will display numerous error messages when you attempt to launch programs or delete files. Windows Recovery will then prompt you to scan your computer, which will then find a variety of errors that it states it cannot fix until you purchase the program. When you use the so-called defragment tool it will state that it needs to run in Safe Mode and then show a fake Safe Mode background that pretends to defragment your computer. As this program is a scam do not be scared into purchasing the program when you see its alerts.
What problems Windows Recovery Virus can cause ?
- Multiple Warning/Error Pop-ups
- You Will be not able to delete files
- Access denied to many program including Task Manager
- Not able to start any program from start menu shortcut
- Make complete system unresponsive
- Shutdown you Computer when try to run Anti-Virus Scan
- Redirect your browser to affiliate or selling page or fake online scanning pages
What is the best way to remove this virus ?
There are 4 Ways I can Suggest:
1} First and best method according to me is format your system and reinstall the windows so it will remove all the footprints of this virus along with others if any. But Use this option only when you don’t have any important document and software in your primary partition (c:\).
2}Â Manual Removal:
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Del on keyboard to stop process associated to “Windows Recoveryâ€. When Windows Task Manager opens, go to Processes Tab and find and end the following process: (random characters).exe
- You need to update your installed antivirus application to have the latest database.
- Thoroughly scan the computer and any detected threats must be removed. If removal is prohibited, it is best to quarantine the infected item. Manually locating and deleting of malicious files should also be performed. Please see files below that are related to Windows Recovery Virus.
- Registry entries created by Windows Recovery must also be remove from the Windows system. Please refer to below link for entries associated to this virus program. [Click here to download a text file to know how to edit registry and which entries needs to be deleted {Size:4KB}]
- Exit registry editor.
- Get rid of Windows Recovery start-up entry by going to Start > Run, type msconfig on the “Open†dialog box. A windows containing System Configuration Utility will be launched. Go to Startup tab and uncheck the following Start-up item(s): (random characters).exe
- Click Apply and restart the computer.
3}Â Windows Recovery Removal Tool:
In order to completely remove the threat from a computer, it is best to download and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Sometimes, Trojans will block the downloading and installation of MBAM. If this happens, download it from a clean computer and rename the executable file before executing on the infected computer.
4}Â Using Portable SuperAntiSpyware:
To thoroughly clean a computer, it is best to do a separate scan of another security program so that other infected files not detected by anti-virus application can be remove as well. Download and run SuperAntiSpyware Portable Scanner.
What is the Windows Recovery virus ? & How To Remove it !
No Celebrations ! While Festivals Are Required
Today the day of Diwali and offcourse holidays are going on. No doubt we are taking care of this time as much as we can but the uses of holidays are getting different from past time and celebrations, now a days we are taking only rest, time pass/non productive works instead of celebrating the same and here are those works likely to be participated in the list as below.
- The day to party/outing :- The youngsters don’t believe in maintaining those value our elders are taking care about but the youths think they got the time to party and outing with friends to remember their free time and sweet moments in past and don’t gets time to live the life as they thinks because of their busy schedule of working or studies.
- Time to meet relatives :- These festivals always spread the word of love and humanity amongst the peoples basically in the family members and creates a time interval to meet with most closer ones, these celebrations make time eligible for to do all the acts that can make families more closer and caring about each other these days we don’t have management around the own house to keep the relations alive but can fill the gaps in the holidays responding main festivals.
- Shopping for all :-Â Most of the time we shops for ourself but the festivals says to do it for all who is in frequent contact with us and yeah this should be without any demand in response because then only the celebrations gives you peace of mind and the relation will go more stronger.
- Day to sleep :- Peoples like me who don’t gives any chance to miss the time that may be a great day to sleep and get internal peace from the heart, sleeping don’t goes non profit because after waking up we gives more than capabilities and feels good to sleep again and again to perform that much of value.
- Time to drink :- The sale increases these days of wine, beer, and other alcoholic drinks available in the  market because occasional drinkers also gets activated these days and thinks it’s time to drink. Many  peoples thinks that these days they have licence to do what they want and that’s why they firstly  attempts those works that attracts much more than what should be in real and what that can give  more value than these attractive ones.
No Celebrations ! While Festivals Are Required
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Install A Pirated Security Software
There are many people who still want to know that ‘Is it safe to download and use pirated avg antivirus’.
But the answer is very obvious and that is NO, And most of the people who knows that it is not safe to use a pirated software but
don’t know why it is not safe ? And in this article I am going to tell that fact only so you should be reading this seriously.
Facts:
- McAfee Virus-Scan is the most pirated software on the internet.
- Internet file-sharing involves 700 million unauthorized music files at one time (800 million on the internet overall).
- According to FBI Anti-Piracy Warning if you use pirated software or do piracy you can be arrested for 7 years or fined $250,000.
1). Working And Update
Pirated copies of anti virus software may not provide proper protection. The main problem with pirated security software is that you cannot download and install updates because the key is not genuine. When it comes to anti-virus, updates are the most important because every day a new virus is invading web and updates makes anti viruses aware about them. The anti-virus software installed on your computer can only detect the latest threats only if the latest updates are downloaded and installed.
2). Data Security Issues
Most pirated copies of security software contain viruses themselves. Many spy-ware peddlers of bundle spy-ware & key-loggers with pirated software and distribute them over the Internet. Spy-ware and Key-loggers can send some confidential data such as credit card details to their author without your knowledge.
3). Costly Damages
Pirated software can also damage your computer’s Motherboard or Hard drive that becomes far more expensive than the money you “saved†by downloading or installing pirated software.
No.4). Customer Support
All Users of pirated software can not enjoy benefits of services that are provided by legitimate software publishers such as notification of problems to the publishers, training, support services, repairs, and upgrades.
5). Rescue CD
Most security programs now days coming with a Rescue CD. With a Rescue CD you can use to fix a computer that no longer starts because the operating system has been corrupted by malware. For more advanced users, Rescue CD enables other kinds of repair and data recovery operations as well.
What Should you do if you can purchase a legal security software ?
Use a free anti-virus package such as AVG, Avast, Avira or Use Microsoft Security Essentials Which is completely free and very good working security software form Microsoft but you can only use it if you have original Windows OS installed on your computer. You can find many other free anti-virus software by using a search engine such as Google.
You can also obtain commercial security solutions for free. When you buy a motherboard a CD containing security is usually included. This is not only legal, but also very safe when compared to using pirated software on the computer.
Before purchasing any security software take a look at 10 Top Antivirus Software Of 2010 – To know about the most efficient security software available.
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Install A Pirated Security Software
Branding Hobbies In The Manner Of Money Generation
All are well known with term of getting relax and charging ourself for the next big or strange responsibilities which all have to achieve successfully and managing in the way to gain more control over our fluent life style. A must have thinking and attitude required to do this life keep running and also much more efforts are required to control the situations and timing of eligibility in emergency of the unwanted and totally different goals that have to achieve anyway and not because of your own orders but dependent upon someone else’s.
You know what the hobbies are present there in your personality and waiting to the right time of the show off, keep finding your likes and the act where you feels better than all other and can give your 100% without any confusion and distraction with full of concentration and well managed working.
We all should have a list of the words and acts that keeps us more conscious about and then we can choose the most familiar is as our personal creation and then we have to think about the ideas using those can promote it all as a service of production and believe yourself it all have to be popular because of uniqueness and quality of your interest in the same. Be engaged with your idea for each and every moment of improvement and then only we can face the world of competition and changing power of time, many peoples have seen their dreams came true at their doorstep but suddenly they loose that all only because of very early carelessness. It’s a human nature to get laziness and carelessness when sees the target in front to achieve or have just achieved, so be aware about your natural nature and save your earning for a better tomorrow with the full of happiness and love around.
- Be real with your dreams and work for the same : You know each and every success story must have a cause and hence you should be always there sticked with the basic alarms you were getting all the time and then give the conformation to the pillars where business makes the depth and for more strong feeling about the whole process keep earning and sharing all the motivation.
- Create the habit of finding the solutions instead of saying it’s impossible because nothing is ……… : I hate them who says { it’s impossible, can’t do that, don’t do that you may be on risk } and you should do the same because it gives the power to achieve all the limitations without any probability of getting failure.
- Note it down †each and every work is productive weather in positive or negative side †: Don’t think more than startup and the most dangerous thoughts may be like the above quote confusion that it will be helpful and working or not, just do the right work you will be surely awarded by the positive outcomes from the same working and promotion.
For example if you are going to promote your singing and dancing talent in terms of business please make sure you have a broad view of the future events where you have to go step by step and nothing have to getting worry about because the sources are always moving around you to help you and make you one of them who gets the designation of successful entrepreneur and human also.
Your planning of hobby business should be something like following steps :
1. Create a non matching display of your idea in your mind to attract the advance investors and users of your service or products before launching in the public, and create some buzz with the help of right advertising methods in between targeted user of your production.
2. Keep checking of the quality because that matters more than quantity.
3. Launch with the attracting offers and the presentation should be all ready with some expensive advertisement options like promoting via direct salesman, print media, video marketing through internet and television, free services, and functions and games under your sponsorship with other co sponsors.
4. Keep feeding and maintaining the outcomes without any extra expenditure for better funding collection and don’t keep them safe but invest expect some percentage for the sudden uses.
5. Don’t be over confident and put all your power under a single banner because time remains changing and you should be prepare with all the common probability that may occur anytime, in this same point you should have a proper registration of your business and most important get related business insurance for further safety.
Now you have seen a basic to safety future that should have all the business and their owners may be well aware about but they always keeps them self on unwanted and strange risks that may harm more than calculations in all the business and non business contact of the entrepreneur.
What is there in your mind ? please make them out with your words and
make them publish for better discussion on them.
1. What are the questions you are feeling not get described here ?
2. Is it ok to do all the businesses for profit and loss only ?
3. How it may be possible to gain without any investment ?
Branding Hobbies In The Manner Of Money Generation
Top 5 Webmail Services
Here are those 5 best free email service providers are listed below with their features and limitations :-
Web position
- Alexa traffic rank : 130
- Google pagerank : 7
- Registered users : 65,000,000 (approx.)
- Monthly visitors : 05,000,000 (approx.)
Features to focus on
- Unlimited web storage
- Multi language support
- Fast file attachment
- Instant mail delivery
- Mail on mobile
Web position
- Alexa traffic rank : 299
- Google pagerank : 5
- Registered users : 100,000,000 (approx.)
- Monthly visitors : 09,000,000 (approx.)
Features to focus
- 10 GB web storage
- Schedule future mails
- 10 GB free web drive
- Multi messenger
Web position
- Alexa traffic rank : 48
- Google pagerank : 8
- Registered users : 511,000,000 (approx.)
- Monthly visitors : 13,000,000 (approx.)
Features to focus
- Unlimited mail storage
- Attachment size upto 25 MB
- Create Folders instead of labels
- Drag and drop for easy handling
Web position
- Alexa traffic rank : 4
- Google pagerank : 9
- Registered users : 803,000,000 (approx.)
- Monthly visitors : 49,000,000 (approx.)
Features to focus
- Unlimited web storage
- SMS messaging
- Calender integrated
- Keyboard shortcut
- Messenger integrated
- Additional apps.
Web position
- Alexa traffic rank : 1
- Google pagerank : 10
- Increase Registered users/month  : 1176,000,000  (approx.)
- Monthly visitors : 900,000,000 (approx.)
Features to focus
- 7500 MB web storage
- Chat option integrated
- Bulk emailing
- Spam filters
- Additional apps.
- Access on mobile
- Fast and secure
- Automatic support
- Up for 24*7*365
Top 5 Webmail Services
Netflix Powering Blockbuster Movies On Internet Streaming
One of the biggest source of online streaming for movies and daily tv shows Netflix Inc announced a powerful deal worth $ 1,000,000,000 (1 billion dollar) to boost up Hollywood Blockbuster Movies on demand and these services will be provided from the major studios like Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate Entertainment Corp and Powerhouse Studios where all these make it possible for distributing a mass media interaction amongst the Hollywood lovers and promoters.
What’s the excitement for common public and lovers of movies ?
To deliver their quality content easily towards the viewers and yeah the common public will be more interested in consuming their interest at this powerful platform anywhere on their own demand and mood. If we will think more about the possibilities for the audience then will surely find the value of these direct services without any blocker because of the mediums who always thinks to pirate and get more flash of the profit from their same working and promotion limitations and ofcourse both the producers and consumers thinks about their losses but no actions have been taken to think regards putting out some joy of uninterrupted flow for the actual followers who gives the value and that value should be their in actual producer and promoters instead of mediates who spoils also.
Published reports are disclosing the terms of this important move in which Los Gatos Firm that delivers DVD’s available on Netflix Services and Epix a pay TV service that is a joint venture between MGM, paramount pictures and Lions gate is worth $1 billion to licencing for the next five years.
What’s the deal and how these mentioned companies and going to grow ?
Netflix appeared in 2007 having links of about 2000 movies and all but after this deal will surely capture the hollywood movies market around 46% and that’s a great and biggest figure in moves like these. On the other side Epix will be regular growing in coming sessions and ofcourse an immediate profit will be expose out on the next profit or loss disclosure.
Netflix is spreading on the daily basis and the data tells the same as in the last year configuration company was providing movies and daily Tv shows through the internet services and then about 8 million peoples accessed their membership while the total number of subscribers was around 15 million, and now the figure is changing because 37 percent audience is increased now and the latest launches in technology and devices gives the power in these type of heavy and large figure growths and one of the most active device is Apple Inc’s ipad.
Investors view : For the immediate positive response of your funding.
Netflix investing about $600 million per year to deliver mail postage DVD’s, a expect to increase to $700 million in the coming year while a new startup of the instant streaming service will reduce the expense on delivery stuffs, and ofcourse this service get’s doubled subscription in no time.
The price of Netflix shares is growing instantly as it’s new start of internet streaming option and the figures are touching the level of $125 per share while the same was around $18 some time before.
Now this may be another move in the entertainment industry to promote and release their newest productions directly on the most active source of interaction and business Internet then why we don’t use the services like these where nothing will be pirated and no one will feel fraud about the value and quality. And then the Netflix may be a better startup because of their best and unique way to promote their service amongst the real users providing the whole access for first one month totally free.
Netflix Powering Blockbuster Movies On Internet Streaming
Statistics of Pirated Software Downloads
Internet is one of the greatest invention ever specially if we counts it in the human development using technology and gadgets, and this technical life demands more software to make our life easier and smarter.
But no one thinks about paying for using those paid software to make their output better while finds link to get the same for free and involves themselves in the piracy crime unknowingly and also promotes these activities in their circle to save some bucks. And developers are in loss according to their income reports but how long they will bear it all and choose to shutdown their services and again we will be in problems during solving our business problems.
Read about Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Install A Pirated Security Software
List of most downloaded Pirated Softwares
- Adobe Photoshop : Most popular image editor around the globe and that’s the region it’s targeted as most pirated software among the computer users.
- Microsoft Office : Microsoft is emerging as the best graphical operating system and that’s why people’s are getting it more helpful in their day to day life. No doubt Microsoft is creating a place for common computer users in their student, professional or business life, So it’s obvious to see these applications as most downloaded in pirated listings.
- AVG Antivirus :Â Rated as #1 in computer security softwares as it was always recommendation from the companies and experts as well but how to get these costly softwares update every year and pay for same. So the users are searching for cracked and hacked copies of these softwares.
- McAfee Virus Scan :Â Rated as #2 in computer security softwares and getting downloaded from the modern users of 2011 but all the users returns back to again AVG because of higher performance.
- Symantec Nortan Anti-Virus :Â One of competitive security software and getting higher download rate in the recent report. 1/4th of users are downloading this security crack and enjoying the same.
- Adobe DreamWeaver :Â Who deals with web development or something related to coding for the web pages they requires this editor that helps them to edit graphically that saves time and in lower mental power consumption.
- Intuit Turbo-tax : Intuit’s do-it-yourself tax program is popular — so popular, in fact, that in 2001 the IRS reported that 15 million tax returns had been prepared with the software, while Intuit only actually sold 5.5 million desktop copies of it.
- Adobe Acrobat :Â The popular program that allows users to edit, create, and view files in Portable Document Format.
- Autodesk AutoCAD :AutoCAD is a Computer Aided Drafting tool, first released all the way back in 1982 (the latest version was released in 2010). AutoCAD allows its users to design complex objects and is thus popular among architecture students (and design firms).
Regional stats for Pirated Software Downloads
Around the world Internet users are growing exponentially and in the same ratio software downloads are getting at it’s high in downloads, some time it also happens that server gets overloaded due to excess number of downloads for a specific software within a period of time when software gets popular or launch and becomes viral in the technology news because of use and availability via recommended sources on the Internet.
During the financial year of 2009 and 2010 piracy rate was as shown below.
Key features regarding the above mentioned stats of pirated downloads.
- The global piracy rate dropped by 1 point from 2009 to 42 percent — which remains the second-highest global rate in the study’s history.
- Emerging economies now account for more than half the global value of PC software theft, $31.9 billion.
- Many PC users lack a clear understanding of whether common ways of acquiring software are legal or illegal, especially in high-piracy markets.
- Half of the 116 economies studied in 2010 had piracy rates of 62 percent or higher, and two-thirds had at least one software program pirated for every one installed legally.
- Public opinion strongly favors intellectual property (IP) rights: seven PC users in 10 support paying innovators for their creations to promote more technology advances.
- PC users around the world recognize licensed software to be better than pirated software, with 81 percent saying it is more secure and reliable.
After reading all the above data about piracy in software business you may be wondering about how to get original and authenticated softwares or how to complain about the pirated softwares you may be using because of lack of information or because of unavailability, to register any complain about software piracy visit to Internet Piracy Portal.
Statistics of Pirated Software Downloads
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Wise and Witty Quotes About Advertising
y Dean Rieck
Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” How true.
I suppose that’s why I enjoy collecting and sharing quotations about advertising. You can read a hundred books and still not learn as much as you can from one pithy quote. Enjoy.
“Advertising is what you do when you can’t go see somebody. That’s all it is.”
-Fairfax Cone
“The simplest definition of advertising, and one that will probably meet the test of critical examination, is that advertising is selling in print.”
-Daniel Starch
“Advertising in the final analysis should be news. If it is not news it is worthless.”
-Adolph S. Ochs
“The most common trouble with advertising is that it tries too hard to impress people.”
-James Randolph Adams
“The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”
-Howard Luck Gossage
“In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.”
-Peter Nivio Zarlenga
“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
-David Ogilvy
“The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every man is really two men — the man he is and the man he wants to be.”
-William Feather
“When executing advertising, it’s best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly.”
-John O’Toole
“There are a lot of great technicians in advertising. And unfortunately they talk the best game. They know all the rules … but there’s one little rub. They forget that advertising is persuasion, and persuasion is not a science, but an art. Advertising is the art of persuasion.”
- William Bernbach
“People don’t buy from clowns.”
-Claude C. Hopkins
“Let’s say you have $1,000,000 tied up in your little company and suddenly your advertising isn’t working and sales are going down. And everything depends on it. Your future depends on it, your family’s future depends on it, other people’s families depend on it. Now, what do you want from me? Fine writing? Or do you want to see the goddamned sales curve stop moving down and start moving up?”
-Rosser Reeves
“Every time a message seems to grab us, and we think, ‘I just might try it,’ we are at the nexus of choice and persuasion that is advertising.”
-Andrew Hacker
“I have learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but that it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.”
-Leo Burnett
“A good ad should be like a good sermon: It must not only comfort the afflicted, it also must afflict the comfortable.”
-Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
“If an ad campaign is built around a weak idea — or as is so often the case, no idea at all — I don’t give a damn how good the execution is, it’s going to fail.”
-Morris Hite
“The product that will not sell without advertising will not sell profitably with advertising.”
-Albert Lasker
“Advertising is totally unnecessary. Unless you hope to make money.”
-Jef I. Richards
“Asked about the power of advertising in research surveys, most agree that it works, but not on them.”
-Eric Clark
“Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.”
-Samuel Johnson
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
-Mark Twain
“If I were starting life over again, I am inclined to think that I would go into the advertising business in preference to almost any other. The general raising of the standards of modern civilization among all groups of people during the past half century would have been impossible without the spreading of the knowledge of higher standards by means of advertising.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wise and Witty Quotes About Advertising
5 Tips for Making Widget Ads Perform Better on Your Blog
5 Tips for Making Widget Ads Perform Better on Your Blog
In my last post I talked about 4 Widget Ad options that bloggers should test in the lead up to Christmas – in this post I want to give a few quick tips for beginners to keep in mind as they test and optimize these types of ads.
1. Keep Ads Relevant to Content
To make any kind of product ad or affiliate program work the product that you advertise needs to match what you’re writing about as closely as possible.
Most of the widget ad units mentioned in the last post allow you to choose what product (or at least category of product) that will be featured in the ad – so make sure you choose products carefully to match your blog (and individuals posts) topics.
2. Position Prominently
These Widget Ads work best when your readers see them. Now there’s an obvious statement if I ever heard one – yet I see so many ads on blogs that are likely to go unseen. Make sure your ads are in a part of your blog that will be seen by readers.
This means putting them above the fold, as close to content as possible or perhaps even underneath posts (people pause at the end of a post and look for something to do – an ad can work well there despite it being low on the page).
Avoid putting them in sidebars unless you have no other option to do that.
3. Multiple Ad Units Per Page
A logical way to increase the earnings of these types of ads is to show more than one per page. If you have one high on the page include a second one lower on the page also.
Don’t fall into the trap of stuffing your blog with too many ads – but don’t be afraid to have more than one on a page.
4. Blend Your Ad Units
Each of the widget ads can be customized in terms of size and design so don’t just let the ads sit on your page in their default appearance.
I find that ads that blend into your blog’s design a little work best. Try making the colors of links in ads the same color as links on your blog, remove borders (or at least make them the same color as your blog background) and where given the choice use fonts for the ads that don’t clash too much with your blogs font.
5. Track Your Results
Most of the widget units mentioned in the previous post have the ability to be tracked in one way or another. Utilize this and work out what works best for your blog. You will find that some ad positions, design and products will work better than others – once you work out what works best stick to it.
What tips would you ad? What have you found works best with Widget Ad Units on Blogs?
5 Tips for Making Widget Ads Perform Better on Your Blog
7 Reasons not to have Empty Ad Spots on your Blog
7 Reasons not to have Empty Ad Spots on your Blog
Blog advertising is an excellent way to reach a wide audience without breaking the bank. It can also make money for your own blog. There is a mistake that quite a few blogs make – using a lot of empty ad spots. There are a few reasons why I think this is a bad idea.
1. It devalues the ads.
If nobody is buying ads on your site, perhaps the ad price is too high for the traffic your site receives. This suggests your site doesn’t provide value to advertisers. Who wants to be the first to buy an ad when there are 5 empty spots?
2. It makes you look desperate.
I’ve seen sites with a whole row of empty ad spots – to me, this looks like the blogger is begging for money. Let’s face it, a lot of people want to make some money from their blog – simply saying “I have ad spots for sale†isn’t enough of a reason for most advertisers, unless they already know your site.
3. It’s a negative lifesign.
It’s like seeing 0 comments or 0 views on a post. If you come back and see the same thing again, the blog is probably dead. Don’t leave empty ad spots on your blog for long.
4. It’s a waste of space.
Some blogs like to put a lot of widgets on the page. But how many of these are worth having? If you have an empty ad spot that just isn’t getting filled, could you put something more valuable in that spot?
5. It puts a limit on the number of ads you’ll accept.
If you have empty ad spots, it suggests there’s a maximum number of ads you’re willing to display. So if you have 6 empty spots, you might not sell more than 6 ads. But if you have 2 running ads and no empty spots, advertisers can just contact you about buying an ad on your site. Also, if you get a very generous offer to advertise on your site, you may want to consider pushing the limit. This is less likely to happen if you limit yourself with empty ad spots.
6. It makes it harder to promote different ad placements.
If a site has different ads running on each post, this suggests the blog is open to flexible advertising. If you use the same “empty ad†image for every ad spot then this doesn’t give the impression of flexibility, as it suggests you can’t buy ads on specific posts. However, you can get around this by using a different “empty ad†image for each zone, or specifying the available ad spots on your Advertise page.
7. It limits you to certain ad sizes.
If you have loads of empty 125×125 ad spots, advertisers may not realise that you offer different ad sizes. Empty spots can show advertisers where their ads will appear, but this could be done just as effectively with an image of your blog, highlighting the various ad spots.
Is one empty ad spot acceptable?
Sometimes it helps to have one empty ad spot if you don’t have any ads up yet. This shows you accept advertising. It’s just better not to have a lot of empty ad spots.
What you should do:
Create an Advertise page that specifies what you allow and what you don’t allow. Advertisers can contact you with their requirements and you can decide if you wish to accept their ad request.
That’s my opinion – what do you think? Do you have empty ad spots on your blog? Why/why not?
7 Reasons not to have Empty Ad Spots on your Blog
5 Ways to Make Money Blogging (Once You Have Traffic)
5 Ways to Make Money Blogging (Once You Have Traffic)
This is the last post in our series of tips for bloggers who have gone through their launch phase and want to grow their blog to the next level. In it we’re going to talk making money from your blog.
Making Money From a Blog – Moving Past AdSense
While it is possible to make some money with a blog of any size – your chances of earning income from a blog do generally increase as you increase your readership numbers.
Many bloggers start out monetizing their blogs using ad networks like AdSense. While ad networks like AdSense can still earn you a nice income as your blog grows (many large blogs use them) – an increased audience will also open new opportunities to you as a blogger.
1. Direct Ad Sales
One thing that becomes possible as your readership grows is that you can begin to attract your own direct advertisers. I’ve written on this topic numerous times before so rather than writing a long tutorial on the topic let me point you to some previous posts:
Find a Sponsor for your Blog
10 Ways to make your Blog more attractive to advertisers
How to Find Advertisers for Your Blog
Finding Advertisers for Your Blog
How much should I charge for my Advertising Space
5 Ways to Find Direct Advertisers for Your Blog
2. Ad Representation
Many bloggers struggle to sell advertising on their own blogs. Most bloggers are not experienced in the area of ad sales, don’t have contacts in the advertising industry, are unaware of how much to charge or even what technology to use to serve ads. Most of us also are passionate about writing content and building community – the admin of finding and interacting with advertisers can often be a distraction.
One alternative once you have a reasonable amount of traffic is to outsource your ad sales. Some blog networks and ad networks will handle this kind of thing for you once you have enough traffic. Generally you need a fair bit of traffic for them to look at you but in these tough economic times I suspect we’ll see more and more services to do this.
3. Start Your Own Ad Sales Network
One thing that I’ve been hearing more and more bloggers doing is joining together to sell advertising as a collective or network within a niche. You might not have enough traffic to attract a top tier advertiser alone – but what if you joined with 4-5 other medium sized blogs in your niche and approached advertisers together?
4. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can work on blogs of all sizes but once a blog has an engaged and loyal readership it can really pay off. Readers that have tracked with you for a while are more likely to buy something that you recommend than a one off visitor – so this is a particularly useful strategy if you have built a ‘community’ rather than just a blog that has a lot of search traffic. The key is to find products to promote that are of a high quality that you can genuinely recommend and that have high relevance to your readership.
Further Reading: 5 Tips for Making Money with Affiliate Programs
5. Sell Your Own Product
Another monetization strategy to start thinking about once you start seeing growth in your readership is your own product to sell.
Whether that product be an e-book, a membership area, a real hard cover book, training (online or real life), consulting, merchandise…. once you’ve got a loyal readership who trusts you and sees you as an expert in your field you’ll find that they are increasingly likely to buy something that you sell.
You’ll also find it easier to get other blogs in your niche to promote your product once you’ve build a blog with profile. I’m seeing more and more bloggers doing this and suspect that as advertising budgets get smaller in the current economic climate that we’ll see more and more of this type of approach (I’ve previously called it ‘indirect income’) by smart bloggers.
Further Reading: Making Money BECAUSE of Your Blog – Indirect Methods.
Written on 2/19/2009 at 12:23 am by Darren Rowse
5 Ways to find Direct Advertisers for your Blog
Filed Under: Advertising, Featured Posts
It is the goal of many bloggers to move from monetizing their blogs with ad networks like AdSense into selling ads directly to advertisers. But getting into this game can be difficult – particularly in the early days while you’re still growing traffic.
Below are 5 ways that I secured direct ad deals with sponsors in the early days of my first blogs:
1. Type your blogs topic into Google
What advertisers come up above and to the right of the search listings? These products and services obviously have budget for advertising online and are looking for exposure and could be open to a direct relationship.
2. Visit other blogs, forums and websites in your Niche
Who is advertising on them? These advertisers are targeting sites on a similar topic to you and are more often than not willing to test new sites that have relevance to their industry.
3. Identify Affiliate programs in your niche
Some affiliates will also be interested in an advertising relationship with your blog. This may or may not be in your best interests to pursue depending upon whether your readership converts with affiliate products.
4. Hit the Classifieds
When I first was looking for advertisers I looked at what local photography businesses were advertising in magazines and papers here in Australia and I got on the phone and rang them to see if they’d be interested in placing an ad. Most had never done anything online before and quite a few took the step in buying an ad.
5. Online Stores and New Sites
This is another tactic that I used early on also with some success. It involved googling the keywords associated with my topic and not just looking at who was advertising (as in point #1 above) but looking at what businesses were listed in the search results, particularly those below me in the rankings. I paid special interest in online stores who had a direct revenue from their sites and contacted them to see if they’d be interested in advertising – quite a few did. I also noticed that new sites who were still getting established were also sometimes more willing to buy advertising.
It should be said that when you have a blog with relatively low traffic that none of these methods are going to earn you a fortune. You’ll need to be willing to price your ads relatively cheaply until your traffic grows – but securing these types of ad deals is better than no income for your blog and means that you already have relationships with advertisers to grow as your traffic increases.
5 Ways to Make Money Blogging (Once You Have Traffic)
Does Your Blog Look Like NASCAR?
Does Your Blog Look Like NASCAR?
Are you responsible for a website that has so many ads that it looks like Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be driving it in circles at high speed with a strange aversion to right turns?
That is because your advertisements are out of control.
Like all things in life, with advertising you need to know when to stop. If there is one thing that drives me crazy, it’s arriving at a blog and being bombarded by a mess of Goggle Adsense, pop-ups, and 125×125 banner ads. All of these are ways to bring in some cash for your hard work, but at what point does it become counterproductive?
Here’s a hint: if I need to scroll down to get to your content because you have nothing but ads above the fold, then I am never coming back to your site. I will not click your ads. I will not subscribe to your feed. I will not download your e-book. I will not tell my friends about you. Are you getting the point? Too much advertising on your blog is simply insulting to your readers.
You need to come up with some simple guidelines for your ad campaign and stick to your guns. I’m not going to tell you that this ad is good and that one is bad. But I will tell you that there is certainly a point where the next ad you put up will cost you money.
Try testing yourself. Click on any post in your blog and scroll down to an arbitrary point in the post. Now take stock in what you see. What percentage of the screen is dedicated to advertisement? If the number is too high, then you’re readers are not happy (if you have any left).
So what percent of space should you dedicate to displaying ads?
Let’s look at the other popular media outlets our there. In television for example, the average 1 hour show has about 44 minutes of programming and 16 minutes of commercials. That is an ad/content ratio of just over 26%.
Print magazines are far worse. The average magazine has an ad/content ratio on the order of 40%! This doesn’t exactly demonstrate a devotion to reader satisfaction. Could this be part of the reason that print magazine circulation has fallen more than 10% since 2008?
So what can we take away from these numbers? For starters, you need to get your ratio down as low as possible. Certainly the 40% magazine standard is a failing number, and in my opinion, the 26% TV figure is not much better.
All the ads in the world won’t do you any good if there is nobody there to see them. If your blog has been sitting idle with no growth in earnings, subscribers, or traffic then try removing some of the ads. You will find that a user friendly site with solid content and a few small ads will consistently outperform a confusing cluster of banners.
So unless your blog has a world class pit crew and can do more than 200 miles per hour, you better do something about your ad/content ratio. My challenge to you is get your ratio down to 20% or less. Your readers (and your revenue) will thank you.
Does Your Blog Look Like NASCAR?
The Parable of the Lemonade Stand: Is AdSense Costing you Money?
The Parable of the Lemonade Stand: Is AdSense Costing you Money?
My journey into affiliate marketing.
Before I start, I’d like to make two disclaimers:
I don’t hate google or AdSense—this article isn’t a rant against either.
I recognize that every blog is different—what I’m about to say may not apply to your blog. Regardless, I think you should ask yourself the question I’m presenting here.
Disclaimers finished; let’s get to the point:
The Parable of the Lemonade Stand
Imagine a lemonade stand. The entrepreneurs get the ingredients, start up their business, and have dozens of customers per day. It earns twenty dollars a day. Not bad for a humble lemonade stand, right?
Now, let me throw in a twist: imagine the before-mentioned entrepreneurs are in their 30’s. They own the lot on which the lemonade stand is located. The lot is located along a major highway in a rapidly growing suburban area. All adjacent lots have businesses making thousands of dollars per day. Suddenly our lemonade stand seems rather silly.
This concept is called opportunity cost—the economic consequences of choosing one thing over another. I’m learning about this the hard way — I’ve been making pennies per click when I could have been making dollars per click.
Let me explain in a little more detail. As I’ve mentioned before, strongandfit.net is the first profitable blog I’ve ever had. As my traffic increased, so did my AdSense earnings. A few dollars a day ads up, so I was finally seeing checks come in at the end of every month (I’m new to making money online, so I’m easily amused).
But I started noticing something: a few products in particular kept showing up over and over on my blog (in the AdSense widget). “Wait a minute,†I thought to myself, “these products obviously convert well if someone is willing to spend money promoting them.†I realized I had inadvertently put myself at the bottom of the economic food chain: I was getting paid a few cents per click while someone else was earning commissions on sales produced by these clicks.
I did a little research and started directly advertising these products with affiliate marketing. So far it seems to be paying off—my blog is making more money.
But there’s another benefit: I have complete control over what gets advertised on my blog. It’s turning into a win-win situation: my readers are referred to high quality products, and I earn more in commissions.
I still use AdSense, but I’m devoting more of my prime “real estate†on my blog to affiliate marketing. Maybe you should also consider doing this.
A Note from Darren
Like Kevin says, I don’t have anything against AdSense either. In fact I find that it works quite well on some of my sites. For me the idea of ‘Opportunity Cost’ is a powerful one. For every decision you make to use ANY type ad unit on your blog (whether it is AdSense, some other ad network, an Affiliate product, an ad sold directly to an advertiser, an ad for a product of your own there is a potential opportunity cost of that decision.
The key is to test different options. Kevin has had success in substituting affiliate ads in the place of AdSense, for others affiliate products might not work, but an ad for your own product might. For others it might be about swapping ads to Chitika or another ad network. For others it could monetize better by selling ads directly. For others still it could be better to not have ads at all but to sell yourself on your blog as a consultant.
The key is to test and experiment with different models.
The Parable of the Lemonade Stand: Is AdSense Costing you Money?
How To Use Inception Marketing on Your Blog
How To Use Inception Marketing on Your Blog
Have you seen Inception yet? For those who haven’t, all you need to know is that it follows a team of thieves who access dreams in order to steal information for their clients. The term “inception†refers to the notion that information can be implanted in, rather than taken from, a person. An idea can be planted so that it feels organic to the dreamer, and when he or she wakes up, the person will take certain actions without questioning his own motives.
A similar concept can be used with the advertising that supports your blog. We’re all familiar with the 10,000 hour rule, but if you had a way to skip over it, and use advertising in a way that let you wake up a week or two from now with more devoted readers than you have today, would you be willing to make the effort?
Enter: social networks
“An elegant solution for keeping track of reality.†– Adriane
For a long time, the targeting process for advertisements was limited to basic parameters: age, gender, location, and context. Now, we have social networks. What used to be the outer limits of a consumer profile now constitute the baseline of information most people consider “safe†to share online.
And, thanks to social networks, many more will share specific likes and dislikes, their employment history, educational background, and more. All of this can be pieced together into a audience profile that has real dimension to it.
Gathering information from Facebook ads
“If we are gonna perform Inception then we need imagination.†– Eames
There’s something special about Facebook ads. Before you jump ship or question whether Facebook is appropriate for your blog, consider this fact:
There are over 500 million people on Facebook.
The total of the populations of the United States, Australia, Canada and Russia combined is only slightly above that figure. How many readers would you need to consider your blog successful? I’m pretty sure you could find at least a few thousand people who are interested in what you have to say—provided you’re willing to make the investment to locate them.
In order to use the Facebook ad platform to its full potential, you need to understand the differences between Facebook ads and search ads.
The most notable difference is the targeting techniques these ads use. The strength of Facebook’s ad platform comes from its ability to target users via the “Likes & Interests†section of a user profile. Search ads are targeted to the information a user is actively searching for in a given moment.
So, for example, I see Facebook ads for the Golden Girls box set because Facebook knows from my profile that I’m a fan of the Golden Girls. (Just … don’t tell anyone, ok?) Google or Bing will show me ads for the same thing—but only if I ask for them by performing a search on those terms.
The beauty of Facebook ads lies in the quality of the information you receive in the reporting data generated when someone clicks on your Facebook ad. Unlike a search ad’s reporting data, Facebook’s reports provide access to detailed demographic data plus a Responder Profile report, which details the nitty-gritty of the common interests of the people clicking on your ad.
The end result
“Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.†– Cobb
Bloggers can create an Inception-like effect using Facebook advertising. We can use the ad reporting data to create the illusion that our blog or our website is, and always has been, beloved by its audience.
We start the process of inception by using the Responder Profile. This profile will vary from ad to ad but is typically similar to this:
The Responder Profile is your toolbox when it comes to learning how to approach your users. Review this data, learn to love it, and wring the life out of it by incorporating it into all the techniques you use on your blog.
For example, let’s imagine you have a blog about home improvement and hope to monetize it, but you need to build your readership. You have some basic audience demographic information to get you started, and you decide to target an ad that includes keywords like, “home improvement,†“decorating,†“construction,†and “home repairs.â€
Your ads start running on Facebook, and two weeks later, your Responder Profile tells you that people who include those keywords in their profile, and clicked on your ad, also tend to share interests you never even thought of. Facebook’s report lets you know that 60% of the people who like “construction†also like “Uncle Fred’s Light Beer.â€
Suddenly, Uncle Fred’s Light Beer has some power to it. Perhaps you can use that as a targeting parameter: if Uncle Fred’s is what connects Group A to Group B, then Group B may like your blog, too. You can study Uncle Fred’s marketing techniques and apply them to your own campaigns.
Furthermore, you might decide that Uncle Fred’s should probably be mentioned somewhere in your blog content—probably with the same level of humor, or using the same language, that your intended readership uses.
I used this technique recently on a page I was running for a client. After I saw my first Responder Profile, I realized that my initial approach to the target audience was likely bordering on offensive: it was a little too young-sounding. I also noticed that many of our users shared the Bible as their favorite book, and had a penchant for the Blue-Collar Comedy series.
As I interacted with the community over the next few days, I took on a more at-home tone. and made sure that the content I provided had a sense of humor (sometimes at the expense of usefulness). Our interaction rates went through the roof. The more I knew about these users, the easier it was to approach them on their own wavelength. This, in turn, helped me learn even more about what we needed to be offering our customer base.
Ultimately, you can use Facebook’s Responder Profiles to take on a virtual version of your own client’s personalities. The effect is that your blog’s visitors will feel at home communicating candidly with you, following your work, and buying from you, without ever questioning why they feel so comfortable.
And when people like you that much, they become brand advocates. It only takes a few of them to spread the word about your site among the people they know—and beyond.
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.†– Eames
Tommy is an Online Marketing Strategist and owner of Tommy.ismy.name. He is about to release Hack The Social Network, the ultimate guide to Facebook Marketing, and is currently developing a “mind hacking†course.
How To Use Inception Marketing on Your Blog