Recently I had run a similar advertising campaign just like John Chow(at problogger/quickonlinetips) on Labnol. This was basically running site-specific text ads on Google AdWords - exploiting the site-specificity, and using site-specific ad-copy.

My ad that got noted mostly was this one -

Amit, your blog is cool. Keep up the good work-From Mani Karthik.

Many DI readers noted this and even penned down their thoughts - See John’s views here,and Rishi’s views here

Actually this wasn’t my first ad on Labnol, I had run two ads earlier, but only for a short time period - so it didn’t get noticed really.

The first one had a similar copy -

“I too love labnol - But heard of the mistakes Amit did?
I’ve found a few - Mani”

I pulled it off in a day or two as I thought it’s got a negative air with it.

My second ad was this -

“Ignore this ad - My salary isn’t enough to run it, yet I’m giving it a try”

This ad was banned by AdWords as it violated the TOS - It did indeed!

The final one was a safe play - I just copied the John Chow model as is. He had done the same thing on Problogger.

A few things you didn’t know about running this ad.

1. It took only INR 400 - ish to run the ad on Labnol for a week.
2. Google banned two of my ads which were not in compliance with their TOS, before i redrafted the copy.
3. I received 2000-ish impressions and more than 34 clicks(only)
4. There was nothing exciting about the whole story,except that some keen observers noted it and decided to blog on it. If there are any other blogs that reported this, please let me know and i’ll link them here.

Update - Azeez has reported this.

Image courtesy - Rishiraj

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Recently Google Images has undergone a re-do and the layout has been changed so that, no image details are visible at the image thumbnails but when on ‘mouse-over’, the image details such as file url,title and file size is shown.

I don’t like this design because it seems crappy. Many a times, especially when there’s a tall image amidst the thumbnails, the image details that shown on mouse over, often overlaps with the surrounding images. This somehow creates a cramped-no room-no space kinda feeling.

After all, what was wrong with the old design?

The image details would right away show beneath every image.And there was more transparency.Many a times, users like to go for images not just depending on their quality or look but factors like which site it is from and what file size/dimensions it is.One look at all the images and it would give you an idea of which image is the best for you.

For example - You wouldn’t want to use an image from a Stock image agency, because it may have copyrights. So you may select another site which may not have copyrights or is more amateurish. This helps when there are same image on different sites too.

With the new layout in place, you got to go to each image and see the url/details to decide whether you got to select this image or not.
That’s less usability - More clicks and More time.(And of course an overlapping crap layout.)

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Microsoft Word, despite being a nightmare considering usability, has a few gems and functions embedded in it. It’s not very well illustrated many a times.Here are a few.

1. Auto Save Function : - I’ve always wanted this function. The ability to save the word document automatically at regular intervals without manually doing it, just like the way Gmail saves your messages from composer as drafts.
   Goto Tools > Options, Goto ‘Save’ tab - Make sure the ‘Save AutoRecover’ option is checked.Also, type a number in the minutes box - it’s the time in minutes at which MS Word will automatically save the document you are working on.
2. Select Vertical Text : - It’ very easy to select text in Word, everybody knows it - shift select or use the mouse key.But what if you needed to select vertical lines of text from a paragraph?Just hold down the ALT key when you make your selection vertically.
3. More recent files :- In order to have more number of previously worked files in the File menu to be displayed do the following. Goto Tools> Options > General, In the box to the right there’s the ‘Recently used files list’ - Just type in the desired number of files and it will show up in the file menu.
4. Increasing the font size : - Just hit CTRL and ++ or — keys respectively for increasing/decreasing the text size. This works for many programs other than Word too.
5. Changing case : - Changing case for the entire document is not a big deal in MS Word, but what if there are case errors in a long article? Just goto the text you need to change and press Shift+F3. It toggles between Upper,Lower and Title case - so press Shift+F3 untill you get your case.

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Last December, Google was seen increasingly pimping it’s own services as “Tips” in search results to keywords related to the product. Many had noted Google showing “tips” like

- Want to share your life online? Try Blogger.

These tips weren’t classified as Sponsored Ads, and were shown bypassing all search results on the top.

It even suggested Google images to “flickr” and “photo sharing”. Clearly one of the most ridiculous decisions by Google, this “tip thing” seems pulled off and brushed under the carpet.

Though this feature is pulled off, it unveiled a very dirty face of Google. The space used for the tips(Top left above normal search results), was the best position to place an ad taking into consideration the credibility and the accessibility factor.

Recall that the ads were shown distinctively on the top of all the search results while sitting just below the search bar and with the icon/image grabbing users attention almost instantly.

Any advertiser on Google’s sponsored list would feel cheated if the tips are rolled out again, because it only gives their ads a third place no matter how much ever money they pay google.

Moreover, remember that Google has not given this space(where tips were shown) yet for advertising to adwords users but Google itself, when it clearly knows that this is the best spot available. Monopoly? Aggresiveness? Bullying? Whatever you call it. Imagine a Flickr ad on Google - illustrated on image below.

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I have a pretty good domain name - Bloggersense.com which I’ve decided to sell out.

It may sound good for a site that’s related to blogging,monetisation tips,hacks,templates and stuff. My be something similar to bloggingpro.com . So, if anyone out there thinks this domain is cool enough for you, buzz me with your price.

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Do you like to make flake images?

Flake images are those chain images you make out of paper, after cutting them in a particular fashion when folded. Oh! now you remember? (See sample)

Has been a childhood timepass for me - here is an online version of it, where you can simply fold a paper, and cut it using a scissor(online) and make a flake image. When the paper is in folded state just mark the points you need to cut using the scissor and it automatically goes by your command and make the flake.

And the good thing is that you can do those intricate cuttings online which you may not be able to do on real paper, and the results can be fruitful.
You can also save the flake image you made into the online gallery or simply download it in EPS, or jpg format.Make sure you check the gallery to see my flake images.

Make a flake image now

A litlle bit of creativity can give you some funny and cool images. Here’s what i made

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