So boiling hot July has come to an end, and boiling hot August begins.
Summers seems to be a fairly quiet time online. I guess everyone’s taking holidays and so forth.
Adgitize has done quite well this month. I earned 55cents everyday from that, so easily earned my fourteen dollars back, plus another three, which was nice considering how much traffic it sends my way.
Project Wonderful, on the other hand, continues to perform poorly for me. It brought in a record low of just over four dollars. This could be seasonal I guess, but I’m still looking for a replacement that doesn’t send payment by check. If anyone has any suggestions…
Right, on to my top Entrecard droppers, at least as defined by my stats board. This doesn’t always catch people, so my apologies if you are a top dropper that doesn’t appear! As always, my thanks to everyone who pops by my blog, wherever you are.
T-Shirt Reviews 31
The Chicago History Journal 31 Thanks CHJ! Sorry I don’t drop on you much, China blocks your site, probably due to your scandalous content. Oh, wait…
Cheap Graphic Design 31
Web Design Web 31
One World Realty 31
Selfploitation.com 30
Michelle’s Menagerie 30
Teen Suicide Talk 30
Art Shout! 30
Grampys World 30
Special mention to:
One World Realty 26 clicks
Dontpaycredit cards. Com Blog 25 clicks – (Sorry DPCc, China blocks your site too.)
…for having the most clicks on adverts I placed!
On a side-note, I notice that WordPress has version 3.0.1 out. Don’t forget to upgrade people!
Tags: adgitize, Blogs, Entrecard, monthly roundup, Project Wonderful
Friday seems to have come around fast this week. Anyway, lethargy time!
Princess Leia’s really let herself go…
Keeping on the Star Wars theme…
Tags: Lethargic Friday
A few days back the ball and chain and myself took a trip to the big IT market area in Hai Dian, in the NW of Beijing. There are several big malls there, just stuffed full of IT and other goodies.
We went there to get her phone fixed (a small button had broken). So we went to our regular dealer and he said he could get the replacement part today. It would be about an hour apparently. Fair enough.
So we went and had a look around and came back at the prescribed time. The part wasn’t there, which didn’t surprise me much I admit. We asked how long and it was going to be another ’10 minutes’.
Twenty minutes later, I asked again, and it would be just ’10 minutes’.
I realized at this point that we were on ‘Chinese time’, by which when they say ’10 minutes’ they actually could mean 10 minutes, or (more likely) they could mean anywhere up to two hours.
Some time later we were told the part was there, so we went to another area for fixing. We arrived and were told it was still on the way, but would only be ’10 minutes’.
Sigh.
Tags: living in China, Only 10 minutes.
Whilst I’m on the subject of chopsticks, we should remember that the pendulum swings both ways.
Many people, when they visit China, have problems eating some of the more slippery food with chopsticks, sometimes giving in and reverting, where available, to a knife and fork.
In fact, one time I was having a meal with a colleague who’d only been in China about a week. We were chatting and eating, as you do, when a waitress came up, giggling slightly, and handed him a fork!
I’d not noticed, but my friend had been having trouble eating his food with the traditional Chinese impliments, and so she’d come to his rescue! This kind of initiative isn’t normal for wait staff in China! I laughed anyway.
When in a ‘western’ restaurant, the shoe is often on the other foot, and I’ve seen, on quite a few occasions, Chinese asking for chopsticks, as they can’t handle the knife and fork!
It’s all what you’re used to I guess.
Tip: Plastic chopsticks are about the hardest to use, usually being heavier and more slippery, so if you have those it may be worth asking for some wooden ones, which most places keep on hand as well.
Tags: Chopsticks
Sometimes I find myself eating out with Chinese people whom I don’t really know well (it’s surprising how often this happens actually).
When the food starts arriving we dig in, and these people, who’ve asked me already how long I’ve been in China etc (all the usual questions a Laowai* gets asked in fact), act all surprised that I can use chopsticks well.
They say: “You can use chopsticks?!”
Why??? Why would this be surprising to people? I’ve already told them I’ve been here for more than eight years. How long do you think it takes people to learn how to use chopsticks well?
The vast majority of Chinese restaurants only have chopsticks (and/or spoons), so if you eat out at just about anyplace that’s not a western restaurant, you’ll be using these things.
Maybe they’re just making conversation, but I’ve always hated stupid questions.
*Foreigner.
Tags: Chopsticks
As mentioned the other day, I’ve been looking around for an alternative to Project Wonderful, as I’m not very happy with the drop in payment rates since they changed their advertising methods.
Of course I looked at Adsense, but that, along with what seems to be the next best thing, Adbrite, both pay by check! WTH? Why, in this day and age, do these online companies pay using this anarchic method?
I have three problems with this, living as I am, in China:
1. In my eight+ years here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use a check. Paying one into a bank would be a nightmare, I just know it.
2. I can’t rely on the postal service to deliver such an item. There are simply too many weak links in the delivery chain.
3. WTF are they paying by check for anyway???
Does anyone have a good suggestion for an advertising company that pays online? (By Paypal preferably).
In the meantime, I’ve a couple of spots top right which are available direct! Bargain rates!
Tags: advertising, Project Wonderful
I’ve been busy this week, but I can always* spare a little time for Lethargic Friday.
A couple of WTF!?!? pics today!
Have fun at the beach, even without a date…
*Maybe.
What does brand mean? Put simply, it means name. So product brand = product name. Company brand = company name.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple. Brands can also encompass logos, taglines, jingles, soundbites and much more.
Are brands worth money?
Companies usually own assets. Assets are things that are worth money. For example: The company vehicles, the computers the staff use, or the buildings and land the company owns.
These kind of assets are fairly easily valued. People know approximately how much a second hand computer is worth for example, or how much a building might sell for.
However, brands are called intangible assets. This is because, much like the software in computers, you can’t actually physically touch them. Also, unlike a building or a computer, brands have usually started out from nothing.
A building or computer had a set cost when it was bought, and the present value can fairly easily be calculated from the going market rate and other factors, like depreciation. A brand though, has usually been built up over time, from when the company started, or the product was launched.
There are other things to consider too though. How much has the company spent promoting the brand? How popular is it? Does it have a good image? Companies that have had some image problems may suffer from bad feeling from their customers and general public. BP, for example, isn’t well liked just now!
Despite these difficulties working out a value, some brand names are obviously worth more than others:
Do you recognise this brand? Of course you do! But why? Well, because Coca Cola (also the company brand) has spent millions on advertising and promotion over the years, and because it’s a very popular drink!
Tags: Brand basics
I’m not a dog person. When I was younger we had a dog or two, Alsatians, whom I took out for long walks. Both dogs lived outside, as my dad has always said that’s where animals should be. I agree with him on this.
There are lots of stories about people eating dog in China, but to be honest it’s not that common, especially in the north. In fact the one time I’ve had dog here (to eat), was in a Korean restaurant. Can’t say it was wonderfully tasty. (I didn’t even try the silkworms).
Still, I’ve noticed a growing trend of dog ownership here, for pets. Of course, due to the fact that the vast majority of people live in apartments, the dogs owned tend to be the small, yappy types, which I dislike even more.
The dog owners don’t have them on leashes either, most of the time, instead talking to them like they were children. Strangely enough, the dogs are usually fairly obedient.
I still don’t like them though. I still agree with my dad that they belong outside, but when you’re on the sixteenth floor, that becomes a little awkward.
Tags: dogs in China, living in China
Just lately I’ve been considering alternatives for Project Wonderful advertising, which I use on this site, the reason being I’m less than happy with the drop in revenue from them since they introduced their different Advertising Zones (US, Canada, Europe and everywhere else).
Basically PW ads work by people bidding on one spot. If they bid higher than the ad which is there now, they win. The other ads my have a higher limit though, so they automatically counter bid until one gives up. Now, for people like me, with hundreds rather than thousands of daily page hits, in the old system the ads ran from anywhere from nothing to about 50cents a day.
However, their new system effectively takes each spot and splits it into four, by area. This means that ads are less likely to bid against each other, as there’s only a one in four chance of bidding on the same spot, and the bids don’t go as high as often.
Since they introduced this my average income has been about USD5 per month, down from an average of USD15.
So I’ve refined my ad spots (to the right), and the top two are now up for direct rent. (There are a couple of ‘holding’ ads meanwhile). If you would like to advertise on my blog (125×125 ads only I’m afraid), then you can click on the link at the top of the first column, enter your details and have your ad up for 1 week (USD1) or a month (USD3). The system should work automatically, thanks to a handy WordPress plugin I found!
Time to cut out the middle man!
Tags: advertising, Blogs, Project Wonderful
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