Over the past ten days I’ve been ‘on the road’ with my family taking a vacation. We traveled west of Melbourne to the wine regions of South Australia (and bought WAY too much wine). After 11 hours drive home (how many times can a guy listen to the Wiggles!) I’m home again for a few days before taking off to SXSW.
While I was gone a number of stories, links and posts came around that I thought I’d catch up everyone on:
- AdSense updated it’s Terms and Conditions – most of it is simply tweaks to accommodate for new products (their video product particularly) however there is one important thing to note – all publishers are now expected to ‘abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process.’ Jen has more on this and the other changes here.
- Domain Name Tool – just before I went away I found this great little tool call MakeWords for helping to find domain names. Warning – it’s addictive and potentially expensive.
- Freelance Blogging for Side Income – Skellie has a helpful post on how to make a few extra dollars as a freelance blogger.
The Next Two Weeks at ProBlogger
I hope you’ve been enjoying the guest posts that I’ve been publishing this past couple of weeks. In the two weeks ahead while I’m in SXSW (I’m leaving for Austin today) expect to see a mixture of posts – more guest appearances, a series of posts from me on blog promotion (next week) and hopefully a few posts live from sessions at SXSW.
And lastly a quick video (and a good example of linkbait from banner blindness I guess):
Cool video! That’s a great idea to get people linking back to your site. Do you know if the artist runs BannerBlindness, or if they were just hired for the video?
OK, following the link to YouTube I have answered my own question – yes, the artist is on staff at BannerBlindness.com.
Also, they spelt your name “Darren Rose”. Hehe.
They’ve done the same thing for Shoemone, John Chow, Seth Godin and Neil Patel. Sneaky :-).
Yeah those videos are excellent link bait! I think this one makes Darren looks a touch chubby though :)
thanks for links. it’s alas much easier to buy interesting domain names than make something of them.
Thanks for the domain name generating tool, I had forgotten about it…
Can’t wait to see your blog promotion series
Welcome Back Darren!
I know what you mean about listening to the Wiggles over and over :)
An 11-hour drive huh? I’ve done those long drives with a car load of kids and was ready for a vacation when I got home! Thanks for the post. The video shows the ways to be creative on the internet are endless. Thanks.
well i have lost some weight :-) but probably not that much :-)
I love the video and can’t wait until the series of posts on blog promotion.
One other domain search tool many of you may be interested is at, http://www.bustamove.com, which I think is more useful since it deals with creating domains with real words.
Thanks for the info in on the Adsense terms and conditions update. I’ve been putting off approving it until I had time to read it. But you’ve helped me figure out what’s in there.
Thanks, Darren, for the domain name tool…I tried it and I like it!
Great sketch of you…that is you, isn’t it? ;o)
“AdSense updated it’s Terms and Conditions” – The word is “its”, without the apostrophe, since “it’s” is a contraction, meaning “it is”…sorry, it’s the editor in me!
Wish I was going to SXSW and had a chance to meet you…hopefully next time!
Darren-
I know it’s off topic, but how about a short post on your vacation to the wine regions of South Australia? I don’t think I’m the only one who would be interested in a momentary detour from the everyday tunnel vision we have on blogging, and reading about what a top-gun blogger does to unwind might be not only entertaining but inspirational too!
Safe travels Darren! Try Strawberry Shortcake on the road next time. You can sing songs like ‘What shall I get for my friend?’ and other smash hits. :)
I wish they’d come out of the oven and just say ‘Hey, put on some Pink Floyd and crank it up, I’m tired of Beethoven already!’
Great domain name tool!
I’ve already bought a couple just now!
We’ve moved on from the wiggles to the Backyardigans. Get with the times man! ;~P
My favourite domain name tool is http://www.mybrandnewbrand.co.uk/. It creates brandable domain names, but each to their own (I like it because it tells me which “.co.uk” domains are free – don’t like “.com’s”!) :)
Thought the heading was “Speed drinking – I was gone ” …..
Easy to do over in the South Australia wineries. Ah, problogger … bottle wine, newbie blogger, the stuff in a box! Have a great trip.
I’m glad you liked the video we made for you Darren. I just corrected the spelling of your last name. If you or any of your visitors want a video like this created, please email or call us. [email protected] 843-425-3566. We have done a few of these videos now and they almost always work as link bait. Additionally, my company builds customized blog skins, full scale web development, online marketing management, seo, and video production. Sincerely, – John CEO BannerBlindness.com