I just recently built a site for this class called My Weekend Trip Planner.  It is a great website and I think you should check it out on a side note. Upon completing the site I realized that there are definitely a lot of challenges that need to be overcome in order for your website to be successful. Take my website My Weekend Trip Planner, it is a website tells people about great weekend trips that are located right next to them.  These trips are meant to be affordable and for people that can’t use vacation days. I think this is viral idea and it has a lot of potential.

The Problems

The Problem is having people find your website.  The internet is a big place and there are literally millions of website out there.  How is Google going to find you how are you going to be found.  SEO is essential, but when a website is created it has a lot of disadvantage that really hurt it SEO.  First, Google like sites that have existed for awhile.  This makes sense because Google wants to make sure that the website is some fake that was just created to rick people.  Another huge problem s since you were just created you obviously don’t have any links.  Links are the currency of the web.  It is essential to have a lot of links to your website this will really boost Google’s image of your site, but that takes time, but if no one knows you exist how are they going to link to you.  Finally a news site doesn’t have a lot of content because it was just created.  These are all issues that really devastate a website.  In my next blog I will talk about possible solutions to help get your site discovered.

PS You should visit My Weekend Trip Planner and submit a vacation.

A cat called “Maru” quickly became popular when the owner posted video of him trying to slide into the beer box. This silly and funny cat is now on TV commercial in Japan, mainly broadcasting  on metro train TV in Tokyo.

UQ Communications Inc. is a company that found this video to use for its commercial. With their tagline “Is it in yet?,” they associate that with Maru’s sliding into the box. It is such a clever idea to use this cat video for the Wimax brand, which is a cutting-edge technology to promote a high-speed wireless card. Because people in the metro are usually teen to working age, that is, the primary demographics to use internet, they might access youtube and watch more cats movie and feel the need of faster network. Chances are, they might go to UQ Wimax website that is tagged on the youtube  to look for an easy way to get connected to a higher speed internet.

I included the commercial, unfortunately they only have Japanese version. I added plot so you can follow what’s being said.

UQコミュニケーションズ　UQ WiMAX　ＣＭ　「入ってる？ 箱のネコ編」

Plot:

• Cat slides into the box
• asks “Is it in yet?”
• voice comes in and says “Is Wimax in your laptop?”
• “New revolution for laptop, new lines are also coming out!”

“What’s it called again honey, My Face?” Try explaining to anyone over the age of 50 the difference between Facebook and MySpace and you’ll get a blank stare. There is a difference though…or so I have heard. In fact, the debate is almost as intense as the pop vs. soda word choice that my friends and I argue about on a regular basis. What’s the difference, and is there a right choice?

“The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other ‘good’ kids are now going to Facebook” and MySpace is “… home for … ‘burnouts,’ ‘alternative kids,’ ‘art f*gs,’ punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm.” reports Berkeley Ph.D. student Danah Boyd.

Interesting.I do not have a MySpace account, so I decided to poll 50 of my friends (students at GCC) to see if there was a prevailing attitude towards MySpace or Facebook.

Survey Results

• 33 of the respondents have a only Facebook account
• 0 of the respondents have only a MySpace account
• 3 of the respondents have both Facebook and MySpace
• 1 respondent has neither type of account

RESPONSES

MySpace is for teenie boppers, that for some ungodly reason aren’t bothered by abominable web page designs. I don’t care what or who the account is for, I usually immediately close the window as soon as it’s opened. It always pains me when some artist that I listen to uses MySpace as their only webpage. – Joe

Facebook is much cleaner and fulfills networking purposes much better. The best feature is that the advertisements are never offensively large or “in your face”. In fact it’s easy to forget that the ads are even there, which is probably the biggest reason Facebook wins. That and they don’t let users design their profile page. – Joe

I used to have myspace too, but then I got hit on by a creepy girl I didn’t know. So I deleted it. – Becky

Myspace is so highschool. That’s where I used to go to procure hookups. Now I just show my face in public… – Eric

MySpace sucks. Facebook sucks…less? Myspace is only good for music artists’ pages; facebook is better at social networking – Dustin

Myspace is old and outdated, and creepier people are on there. – Tim

Myspace is for jr-highers (or high schoolers who never grew out of the jr. high phase.) Facebook, however, with all the applications, quizzes, games, top-friends, etc, is turning more and more like myspace. (I think this happened when it became open to everyone.) Myspace also always made me feel like I was getting a virus or something. It just seems shadier. I no longer have a myspace account. – Amanda

Facebook is cleaner and gives the appearance of being safer.  Myspace pages are typically loaded with busy backgrounds and those online quizzes like “What Disney princess are you?” (fun but when you have to scroll through them all to comment it’s a little annoying) – Laura

Facebook took over myspace, myspace is for people behind the times.
Myspace is weird, but not gonna lie, it’s a part of my past… – Corrie

I think that Facebook has better privacy settings and is easier to limit to friends only.  Since its origins as a college network, I see Facebook as reaching an older and more educated population. – Amy

I think people with myspace use it for music mostly. – Barbara

THE VERDICT

My very biased and unscientific poll at least supports the theory that there are perceived class distinctions between Facebook and MySpace.  Forbes Magazine has examined this distinction in terms of advertising. Should advertisers notice the differences and use adds differently on each site to target different audiences? The correct answer is soda, but as far as Facebook vs. MySpace…

In creating a website and trying to make money through advertising there are multiple things that need to be looked at. Many of the presenters in the elevator pitch competition talked about using advertisements as a source of income. The first and easiest way to advertise on a site would be through Google Adsense or Kontera. All you need to do with these sites is put code on your site where you want the ad to show up and you will have ads. The problem with these ads is that depending on what your site deals with the ads may not be very relevant and you also may not make very much per click. I think I am making around 5 cents per click which isn’t making me millions.

Another way which could end up being a better way to advertise would be using an affiliate. In this you work with a company either selling a service or product. What happens is if you send people to the affiliates site and those people purchase the service or product you get a percentage of the sale. This can end up making you more money than the Google Adsense because you will be making much more per purchase.

The Last method that I know of is selling advertising space. This can by far be the most profitable form of online advertising. In order to get people interested in your site and sell ad space you need to have a lot of traffic and relevant content. This is probably the biggest payout but also the hardest advertisement to get because they will be paying per month or per year.

So all in all there are a lot of different ways to advertise on websites and blogs you just have to pick the right one for you. The key to success obviously is traffic, traffic, traffic. The more people you have come to your site that you can convert the more money you will make off of these advertising opportunities.