Part 1 : Mumbai Bar (Blog) Camp 3

Always wanted to be a part of what they call bar camps, and see whether they actually are as much fun as they promise to be or should I say as others claim them to be. And finally the opportunity did come knocking on the door with Bar Camp 3 organised at IIT Powai SOM Institute.

So here is my quick take on Bar Camp3. Quick but not short :) . Dividing this post into two parts, this being the first.

Organisers Of Bar Camp 3

Event was organized decently but could have been carried out in a better manner. The timing schedules were not put up properly. There were rather dramatic mismatches with the timings put on the “White Board” and the actual timing of the sessions being conducted in the seminar halls. In all other ways though the organisation was perfecly carried out. And must say over here, the blog t-shirts are pretty cool.

All sessions mentoned out here are the one’s attended by me. There were many sessions running in parallel and these were the ones I got an opportunity to attend.

Rashmi Bansal

Really wanted to be a part of this session. But due to display of improper schedule by the organizers, I missed it. Of the one minute that I did bother to catch , the session seemed like a light talk on blogging and how one shouldn’t get too involved in it. Plain and simple, without even a dash of tech in it.

How To Secure Your Blogs Session

A very very basic talk on security like why you should upgrade your wordpress blogs. Pretty much toddler stuff. Three musketeers from the audience interrupted, reinterrupted and re-reinterrupted the speaker recursively to make sure that the speaker got screwed and the impeccant audience couldn’t figure out what was going on.

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Posted in Blogging | 2 Comments

Did The Recent PR Update Screw You?

If you are a pro-blogger then these few days must have been like waiting for your exam results to come out. Tense moments, bad dreams and miserable thoughts. And why not? Google’s PR (Page Rank) Update was on it’s way.

Google had warned various publishers that selling text links ads on their web pages and hence tampering Google’s algorithm would adversely affect their sites PR. And the warning wasn’t just an empty one.

The recent Google PR update toppled various famous sites PR and there were cries of dismay all around the blogosphere. Some problogger’s like Johntp suffered a major PR drop from PR 6 to a measly PR 3. Other PR 5 entertainment sites like Ourbollywood and Naachgaana slumped to a docile PR 3 from a healthy PR 5.

My Advice To Bloggers

Crying too much about the loss of PR wouldn’t do any good. I strongly recommend bloggers not to purchase links. Create a better blog to get quality traffic to your site and create a larger reader base. That’s the only mantra for a successful blog.

Now moving to the point of should you continue selling Text Link Ads? I guess if you think your major source of revenue is through selling text link ads, then it makes no sense removing them. Ask yourself , why you want a high PR . Is it just too command respect on the internet or is it too make a lot of money? If the answer is the latter then removing text link ads would be nonsensical. As if you want a good PR to sell links and if Google will decrease your PR if you sell links. Then you are in a real catch 22 situation. So do not care about Google and just go ahead and sell those links.

But if you observe a drop in the SERPs of your site or if google ( search ) traffic to your site has greatly reduced. Then the best option would be to ditch text link ads. Most of my blogs receive around 70% of their traffic through Google, so if selling text links are going to affect my SERP than I would prefer to stay away from them.

But John Chow whose site suffered a PR blow from 6 to 4 is in no mood to bow down to Google’s dictatorship. He has no plans of removing his text link nds and wants to take the Google bull by its horns. He has also stated that Google traffic is only 2% of his total traffic ( a big exaggeration , I feel) . Anyways, check out his post : “Turning A Negative To A Positive” : a real inspiration if you want to wage a war against Google :)

Here’s a great cartoon of this PR update: I found on the net. Cannot recollect though from which site :(

PR Update Cartoon

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Posted in Blogging, Google, Make Money Online | 1 Comment

Make Money Online With Widget Bucks


Earn $$ with WidgetBucks!

Just heard about this new site WidgetBucks that helps you make some great money by adding some cool widgets to your site. The widgets generally show shopping items available on different sites like newegg.com, amazon.com, etc.

Widgets come in a range of sizes( 468*60, 728*90, 660*330, 300*250, 160*600) and can be customized to different colors, so as to gel in with the colors of your site. By choosing the Merchsense option ( that is patented by Widget Bucks ) you can have ads relevant to your site content. Check the bottom of this post to see how the widgets appear.

How To Apply For WidgetBucks

As Widget Bucks is a relatively new venture, they do not have restrictions for publishers to join. No minimum traffic requirements or minimum PR guidelines. All you have to have is a site for which you must apply. In a few minutes you will receive confirmation by Widgetbucks to jadd the widgets to your site. I got thw widgetbucks confirmation mail in my bulk account, so please do check your bulk mail. Once you receive the confirmation, you are on your way making money with this widget.

Signup by clicking on this link : Earn $$ with WidgetBucks.

Get $25 Just For Sign Up At Widget Bucks

Auction ads too has this incentive to attract publishers to join their site. But it is rather difficult to make money with auction ads because you get paid only when some one clicks on the ads and then buys a product. So you get a commission only on converted sales.

But Widget Bucks isn’t that way. With Widget Bucks you make money on a ‘per click’ (CPC) basis and WidgetBucks claim that those who’ve tested them are getting $3-$6 CPM. Payment is via Check or paypal, but you need to hit $50 before you trigger your first payment. So to get your first pay check you just have to wait for another $25. This $50 payout is definitely attractive as other sites ( adsense, kontera) generally have a payout of $100.

Have A Big Bite When The Cake Has Just Been Baked

Widget Bucks has just launched ( it has an alexa rank of 1,000,000 +) and popular sites have already started blogging about it. So hit the hammer when the iron is still hot and cash on the opportunity to make some great money with Widget Bucks. I have just applied for Widgetbucks, for one of my sites and shall report about how much earningsI make in a week’s time. Also shall review any downsides if any on Widgetbucks.

Read articles about a few bloggers who have written about Widget Bucks :

Earn $$ with WidgetBucks

JohnChow’s Review on Widget bucks

Probloggers Review On Widget Bucks

How The Widgets Look Like ?

WidgetBucks – Trend Watch – WidgetBucks.com

 

WidgetBucks – Trend Watch – WidgetBucks.com

Posted in Blogging, Make Money Online | 3 Comments

A Joke That Created Havoc

Rj Nitin must have never imagined that one of his many PJ’s on his Red FM show, Khurafati Nitin would cause riots in West Bengal. Ok so you all are interested in listening to the so called PJ? Then here it is : “shopkeepers will now have to make their own security arrangements as Gorkhas have taken to singing.” The reference being made to Indian Idol 3, Prashant Tamang.

Like me many of you might pull your hair off at the silly material passed off as jokes by these FM channels. But this so called joke, was not taken well by the fans of Indian Idol Prashant Tamang, leading to violence and strikes in the serene Darjeeling.

Now what surprises me is that “People In India Have Way Too Much Time To Waste”. First of all they have so much leisure time to listen to a rather stupid show on FM, then they have the time to protest and carry of dharnas against stupid jokes carried on that stupid show. And also get involved in fights for a man, who oblivious to all this is busy relishing his new found success.

First of all I do not feel there was anything racist about that PJ, cracked by RJ Nitin. If this joke is a racist attack, then what about the Santa Banta joke fodder that we have been feeding upon? Do those jokes mean, all the Sardar’s all over start engaging in fights and create widespread violence? Ridiculous!!!

 

Rj Nitin Jokes

Rj Nitin : Joke Bhaari Pad Gaya Bidu Continue reading

Posted in India | 14 Comments

And They Did It…… India Win Twenty Twenty World Cup

A team of 15 youngsters. No experience of Twenty Twenty Cricket. A docile bowling line up. A batting line up sans Sachin, Saurav and Dravid. Surely no one in their right senses would put their money on India.

But cricket is a game of uncertainties. A team which wasn’t given a whiff of chance to do well in he shortest version of the game, have been declared the Champions of that game. Under Dhoni’s positive captaincy, India for once removed the chokers tag and held onto nail biting situations, handled the pressure excellently. And lo behold ….. They Did IT!!!!

A team of 15 rejuvenated champions. Twenty Twenty World Cup Champions. An overly agressive bowler in Sreesanth. A batting line up which had the Australians running for cover. Bow your heads to the new Twenty Twenty World Cup Champions… Team India.

India Are Twenty Twenty World Champions

Pic : India Are Twenty Twenty World Champions Defeating Pakistan In The Finals

Posted in Cricket | 1 Comment

Three Men And A Baby : A Comedy For the Entire Family

Just caught up with this wonderful comedy, Three Men And A Baby, directed by Leonard Nimoy. I had this dvd for quite a while but had just kept it in on the shelf. I do not know what prompted me to catch this flick, but whatever did, I am really happy that I caught up with this movie.

Three Men And A Baby Movie Story

Jack, Michael and Peter are three happy go lucky friends. Every thing’s going nice and jolly until one day, two unexpected parcels arrive at their doorstep. One is a cradle with a baby in it and the other parcel has a drugs in it. Suddenly their lives take a full 360 degree turn. With the responsibility of a baby ( who they are clueless how to manage) and with the police and goons after them for the drugs, what you can expect is one comic journey.

The movie is so appropriately tagged : ” They changed her diapers, she changed their lives”

Three Men And A  Baby

Poster : Three Men And A Baby

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Posted in Movie Reviews | 1 Comment

Yuvraj’s Six Sixes In One Over (Full Video)

Shahrukh’s six pack is no longer the talk of the town. It’s Yuvraj’s six pack that the whole of India is going crazy about.

Twenty Twenty world Cup Match. India v/s England. A do or die situation for both the teams. Sehwag’s and Gambhir’s brilliantly orchestrated innings were made to look miniscule by one angry young man, Yuvraj Singh.

Yuvraj Singh Six Sixes In One OverAfter a rather disappointing Twenty Twenty tour so far, Yuvraj was blazing guns on Wednesday Night. A tiff with Andrew Flintoff had Yuvraj all charged up. And the next thing was balls flying all over the park. A helpless Broad could just look up at the skies as balls went flying in the air.

Watch the video of Yuvraj smash Broad for six sixes in the over. Sweet revenge for Yuvraj, after he was hit for 5 sixes in England by Mascarenhas. Continue reading

Posted in Cricket | 37 Comments

Making Money Online With Nautanki.tv

What is Nautanki.tv?

Nautanki.tv is India’s first online 24/7 TV channel. Nautanki.tv provides unique online video content such as film reviews, celebrity talk shows, tele-films, car shows, travel documentaries and much more. The videos shows on nautanki.tv last for around 5 minutes each.

So How Can Bloggers Make Money With Nautanki?

Nautanki.tv has ads playing before and after it’s video content. The advertisers pay on pay per view basis and Nautanki pays its publishers a part of that amount. If you would like to be a publisher for the shows of Nautanki TV, then you could register on the Nautanki site . Then enter the codes provided on your site and you are off to make money. Nautanki.tv is a boon for regional language blogs (Hindi, Tamil, etc) which cannot be monetized well with other ad networks like Adsense

My Experience With Nautanki

Firstly, Nautanki.tv is no scam, I have been trying it for five months. And the payment is always done on time. But a major problem with Nautanki is that it pays its publishers in multiples of Rs. 10,000. So if you have even made Rs. 9,999/- in a month, then you will not be paid in that month. You will have to wait for another whole month to get your rightful money.

When I first started using nautanki on one of my sites the money generated was unbelievable, with a traffic of around 3000 uniques daily, Nautanki was making close to Rs. 2000/- daily. This was a dream. A dream that ended in a month or so.

As time passed, I was of the opinion that the money would only increase, as Nautanki would end up making more money with time ( with increase in advertisers). But I was in for a rude shock, though the advertisers increased, the revenue continued to spiral down. Though the traffic of my site has increased from 3000 uniques to 6000 uniques, the revenue generated through Nautanki has spiralled down from Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 200/- a day. A fact which is hard to digest.

The worst thing about Nautanki is that a month back they started auto-playing their videos on publisher sites. This was a real disaster. Playing the videos automatically, without the users interest, was an indication of Nautanki’s desperate means to make money at the cost of user experience. Imagine loud videos being played as you are browsing. That is surely one irritating experience for your site viewers. And this was something that I did not want my site viewers you to experience. Though I was making around Rs. 200/- Rs. 300/- with nautanki, I decided to scrap it off from my site.

Nautanki.tv

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Posted in Make Money Online | 23 Comments