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So much to do…so much time!
Aside from my two jobs in life, I’ve always been interested in earning a little extra through the interweb. I already have my Singing Success website that isn’t brining in much ($21). I will, eventually, have my home domain set up, NeillBoyd.com that will detail my brilliance in the vain hope of attracting clients for small scale IT work. However, I have been working on something else for now.
Ever since I worked for Microsoft I’ve always wanted to do something somewhat interested to do with maps. I worked in the MapPoint team and got a bit of a thing for integrating maps into applications. It opens up a whole new range of possibilities (admittedly, most of them have been covered by now) but I still want to add mine to the list.
More will be revealed when I actually have something worth while showing to people.
Basically, this is just a post to say to those 5-10 people who read this blog a day that I am not gone nor forgotten, just busy.
Keep reading though, no doubt something will irk me enough to make a post!
Internet Advertising
It’s been a long time since a money spinning idea has hit the Internet with regards to a paid advertising service. The last big site I can remember that earned the big bucks and got international attention was the Million Dollar Homepage. Since it’s success many many clones hit the market. Now I think the dust has settled on that fad it left me wondering what next?
I’m still convinced that there is huge potential (financial potential) in offering a unique and quirky style of advertising for a company. The obvious reason for the Million Dollar Homepage’s success was down to the global exposure the website got. Had it not hit the blogosphere or been featured on 5pm newscasts across the world (more than likely as part of the ‘And Finally…the world isn’t such a bad place!’ kind of news reports that really questions why some journalists get paid’) then the site would probably have been somewhere between mediocre success to failure.
Some of the clones did quite well. I came across one today offering pixels for $0.25 and they managed to sell about $150,000 worth which for next to no work isn’t bad. I’ve seen quirky variations like BuyANation.com offering you the chance to slap your advert on a country on a globe for anywhere between $49 and $400 - again with about 5 sales so we’re talking about $200 - $1000. Not bad really for little work.
So is the pixel advertising model one that can still be successful given that it has a unique twist? Clones of the Million Dollar Homepage are obviously going to be bemoaned as exactly that, a clone or a rip-off but one good idea often spawns another that is bigger and has more revenue potential than the last.
Thinking cap time as I think now could be a great time to get in on that market. The recent news stories about the guy in Australia selling his entire life on eBay again goes to show that nerdy concepts and computer-geek ideas can still get noticed and once your site or story appears on the news, curiosity steps up.
End of Hiatus
Ah, back to blogging. I returned last week from a good two week break in Tenerife, a lovely island. There won’t be much topical discussion in this post therefore, more of a status update and what have you.
Whilst away on holiday, I learnt that despite previous British misconceptions, the Germans are actually a lovely people, if you can speak a little German. They don’t really come across as rude and arrogant and I haven’t really seen them barge in front of people to get on a bus. I’ve noticed the English do that, mind you. The biggest grievance I have with English speaking people abroad is the expectation that the rest of the world speaks English. Most English speakers can’t speak a second language but yet expect foreigners to be able to speak English, which is absurd. If in doubt and you speak English, the rule of thumb is to shout louder and slower and the more likely it is the non-English speaker will understand what it is you are on about.
Now I have finished a quick bout of xenophobia, time to go through a few things. Everyone who knows me probably knows I try to earn money without really working too hard for things and as of yet have failed miserably. My ‘online income’ has probably amounted to $47. At least it pays off all my domain names. So, part of this blog I’ll keep track of my online ventures, which as of yet I only really have one, which you can have a good butcher’s at here. If anyone has any interested website ideas but may lack to technical know how to get going, feel free to drop me a line or visit NeillBoyd.com, my more professional alternative.
That’s it really for now, I’ll probably be back some point this week with some completely trivial musing about something that’s not in anyway important but hey, that’s just me. Thanks to Sami over at Sami and the City for the backlink and whilst you’re clicking around links, feel free to visit NerdAnger.com, where you can read the latest rants (most of which aren’t actually ranty or angry but nonetheless interesting) about most things nerdalicious.
Enjoy.
