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Congrats! Indeed, Matt and Sarah's posts were excellent and quite deserving. :-)
It was an honor to be nominated and it was a blast to participate!
LOL! The Digg police strike again! Probably got burried becuase it presents alternate content based on visitor count.
An alternative method would be to redirect the random number visitor to a mirror site using header(); Generating a static copy of the page that can be uploaded to a friend's server or a mirror service is pretty quick and easy and it would ensure that everyone would get to see the original content.
With a bit of tweaking, this could be useful for a wide range of sites and hosting budgets. You could even use a variation of this to load balance between multiple MySQL servers for dynamic sites if needed.
IMHO, Google is Blowing Smoke to cover up for the fact that they cannot differentiate between quality content and junk. Paid or not, a quality editorial post about a product or service should at least have a link to the product or service so I can research it further on my own. If the content is of high quality, it should effect search engine rankings.
What about the thousands of corporate blogs and portals out their that write editorials for products and services. eWeek is a good example. Do you think for one second that eWeek is not getting paid in one way or another to write about a product or service? I expect EVERYONE to get paid in one way or another for taking the time to review a product or service. Whether that payoff be traffic or cash, in the end, it all leads to $$$ for most anyways.
As far as the TLA method of effecting rankings goes... Google will never ever stop link buying. It's as old as web pages and will be around long after Google is gone. The practice of link buying is fundamentally the same as manufacturers giving retailers bonuses for promoting their product over a competitor's product. It's a standard business practice. Google will never change this.
It's not Google's job to dictate what gets published where. It's Google's job to index, categorize, and rank what it finds on the web. If paid links are effecting Google's index, it's Google's responsibility to fix their algorithm so that paid links rank the way Google wants them to. It's not the webmasters job to bend over and take one for Google because Google can't fix its own algorithm.
Am I the only one who has a certain Queen song going through their head?
Meh, maybe "Under Pressure" or "The Show Must Go On"? Nah? Ok, let's go with the old standbye, "Another One Bites The Dust". ;-)
Make sure you take your blood pressure meds before reading this post if you get even remotely aggitated over big business bullying around little guys. The veins in my forehead are pulsating.
In keeping with the shameless self-promotion that makes The Columbo so prestigious, you can read my a$$ kissing, erm, take on this competition here. ;-)
Well that just settles it then! Taste is most certainly not a factor in this competition, as so clearly exemplified by my two co-nominees above.
:ducks and runs:
I'd better watch it. At this rate, I'm in the lead for comment whore of 2008. :-D
Just depends on the niche and the marketing objectives. Some sites do well with Digg traffic. For me and my sites, SU and niche "digg-clones" drive more targeted traffic.
From my family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I can't wait, 2008 will be great!!!
Excellent find, DoshDosh! There are a lot of great programs in there as well as some good alternative monetization ideas.
Perhaps because there are so many newcomers that constantly ask about how they can monetize their site. Given the spectrum of blog topics, what works for me may not work for you.
Selecting a monetization strategy that fits with your blog makes it a more natural extention of your blog, thus adding value. Some blogs work well with Kontera or Adsense; some do not. Knowing the options that are available only helps find a monetization method that works best for you and your visitors. Thus, monetizing without irritating your readers.
RE: "for most savvy web surfers"
Yes, as a whole, web surfers have become more savvy. However, I've had clients with sites with over 50,000 active members that could log on and use a complex CMS, but wouldn't know what social media was and were a very click-happy crowd. As with everything, it just depends.
Monetization is a hot topic. I think this sphinn is highly relevant and will be useful for many newcomers.
One cannot help but wonder how much of an environmental benefit would be had if all of these useless collections of carbon and water would stop stealing all the perfectly good oxygen out there. :-)
Sphunn and Stumbled because I can relate and appreciate the frustration of dealing with idiots. Sometimes you just want to get a BFH and give them what for. ;-)
Happy Holidays Marty!
Story: Why Nobody Should Buy Digg
What I said here -> http://sphinn.com/story/19279#c23266 sums up what I think about Digg selling out.
I'll give 'em $100 for the whole thing. :-)
Seriously, this comes across a lot like a "pump and dump". Digg is getting a lot of bad press and better alternatives are rising. I'm not gifted with foresight, but it seems clear to me that the days of Digg are numbered if some major reform does not take place real soon.
Quite honestly, $300 Mil sounds a bit high. $150-200 Mil? Maybe. It's going to take some serious work to reform Digg. An investment in man power and resources that should be considered carefully.
And here I thought quitting drinking would keep me from posting stupid stuff on my blog. Now, I can get drunk on words? Awe Man!
Story: Announcing The 2007 Rubber Chicken Award Winner