Trying Out Different Ad Networks

I get so many emails asking me how to get approved for Adsense. The reality is if you don't have your own domain name then it is next to impossible to get accepted to the Adsense network. This was probably a step taken to get rid of all the spammers who create blogs using free platforms and fill them with advertisements, but the step has hurt some genuine bloggers as well. If you have a hard time getting accepted to Adsense then you should check out some alternatives to Adsense as well. I personally use InfoLinks so if you are interested then you can read my InfoLinks Review. I added some extra tips on how to improve your earnings as well.
If you have a hard time getting accepted to international networks then you could try some local network as well. There are some advertisement networks specific to Sri Lankan's but the payout is a bit low per click. You might be able to get some advantage because of the high click through rate as they are related. If you are looking to make money online then it is important to get your own domain names, so the best way to get accepted to Adsense might be getting your own domain.

Mobile Phone Recycling in Sri Lanka

Today I got a very interesting question from a friend who came from UK. He looked at all the old mobile phones stored in a rack and asked me why I'm not recycling old mobile phones. I thought mobile phone recycling is something to do with protecting the environment, but I was surprised to learn that it means getting cash for your old mobile phones. It is also used when people give there old mobile phone and get the latest model for a discounted price. He went on to explain the environmental and the social benefits of the whole procedure. I personally don't know of any company in Sri Lanka that offers money for old mobile phones, and it might be not a good business idea especially since most Sri Lankans are on the lookout for the latest mobile phone models. Anyway it seems like a good idea to recycle those old mobile phones because they are potentially harming wasts.

Refresh Colombo - April 2011

I'm not a big fan of rain, it usually means lightning is around and I have to switch off the computer. I absolutely hate it when it rains when I need to go out. So I was contemplating whether to go for Refresh Colombo this time, especially because today everything was going to be about Firefox 4 and related stuff. Although I love the browser with all its plug-ins, talking about how it was developed didn't really appeal to me. But so far Refresh Colombo managed to serve up something new and worthwhile in every meeting so I thought of braving the weather and going for the meetup. And it turned out to be the correct decision :-) .

HTML5
The first presentation was about HTML5 and it was done by Dilantha Nanayakkara. He went through a slide show ( http://slides.html5rocks.com/ ) and explained the contents of the slides. The guy has being building websites since 1996 so I'm sure he appreciates the new features in HTML5. One thing I noticed while attending meet ups is that it is increasingly getting easier to build cool looking websites, will this lead to a reduction in prices :P ? Anyway I mostly build niche blogs using WordPress and you can build a cool looking blog easily enough if you have a decent WordPress theme. Here is my recent niche blog about Birthstone Jewelry which took me around 30 minutes to set up, it still needs some dressing up with a decent header images but setting up navigation etc is so easy with WordPress.

Firefox 4 Party
The next event was the Firefox 4 party and there was a big cake sponsored by the Cake Factory. I guess Dilantha was the oldest guy at the event so he was given the honor of cutting the cake. After the refreshments various features of Firefox 4 and Firefox for mobile were discussed. Danishka Navin showed some videos explaining the various new features. I have only used the "Pin as App Tab" so it was interesting to get to know about the new features. I was impressed by the new Firefox button which saves a lot of space. If your using Windows as the operating system this doesn't come as default. To get the button you need to go to View -> Toolbar and deselect the Menu Bar. I think it is a good idea if Firefox explains how to enable these features while listing down features.Thejo explained how Firefox 4 mobile version has improve the user experience and some more cool new features. We were also given some Firefox souvenirs to remember the event. You can view some photos of the party visiting this link ( via Malintha ).

Firefox 4 Discussion by Sinhalen FOSS
Next item was a panel discussion about Firefox4 hosted by the Sinhalen FOSS team. Sinhalen FOSS is the first Sinhalese podcast and they discuss various things related to FOSS. Although I'm a software engineer I hardly consider myself a geek but I found the session thoroughly entertaining. Bud and SeeJay were joined by Danishka and Thejo in the panel. Various things including how you can contribute to the open source community were discussed. If a non geek like myself enjoyed it I think this podcast will be perfect for geeks. I couldn't find any pattern to there podcast so I guess subscribing to the RSS feed is the best way to keep track of them.
Although I enjoyed the session I personally think it would be a good idea if they diversify the topics discussed at Refresh Colombo so a much wider audience can benefit from it. Maybe this was a one off because of the FF4 party. Looking forward to the May edition :-) .

Finally Optimized It

For a product owned by Google, Blogspot is pretty poor when it comes to SEO, that is why I did some code modifications to improve the search engine friendliness of this blog. Inspiration came from SEO for Blogspot article which I have published myself. There are few more things that could be done to raise the standard, like making labels show as keywords in single posts, but that could be a bit cumbersome and since I'm not targeting search engine traffic in this blog that could be done at a later time. Hope you will find my new super optimized blog via search engines.

Refresh Colombo - March 2011

When you are looking forward for something it usually is something pretty good and that's the feeling I get with Refresh Colombo. Organizers were kind wise enough to move the event to Tuesday, because there was a quarter final on Thursday. There were four presentations lined up today, all of them different but related to me in various ways.To learn more about the event visit the Refresh Colombo Website.
The first presentation was done by @Joe, Wishmini and Harith and it was about Open Space. I have being seeing tweets about Open Space for a while now so I was very interested to learn more about the company and what they offer. They are promoting a concept called co-working and it looks like a nice idea. Niche blogging and freelance SEO can be a lonely job and it is nice to have some buddies around to bounce new ideas. It looks like an ideal place for start up businesses as well with the very affordable pricing structure. For a location based business I think they could do a better job promoting the location. Finding the address in there website is not the easiest thing to do, and if I'm the owner I would surely add a map or image highlighting the fact that it is near Galle Road and it is very easy to get there. And if you came to Refresh you are entitled to a discount ;) .
Next presentation was by Yasas and it was about Business process outsourcing. I have written some articles about this topic for the sake of back links but they tend to perform well in search engines. I get a web design gig here and there from those articles but I have to turn them down or refer it to someone else because I don't know web design :-) .If you are a web design company and want to be listed there you can contact me.Yasas talked about how BPO could be good source of revenue for Sri Lankans, challenges faced by Sri Lanka to improve this as an industry etc. As he pointed out in his presentation, Sri Lanka cannot compete with countries like India when it comes to providing man power, so we should focus on small niches that requires skill, where few people can get high returns. One area where Sri Lanka already have a reputation is in Financial accounting and I think Web design and Search Engine Optimization are another two areas we can compete in. They require specialized skills and few people can easily handle multiple clients and there are plenty of excellent web designers in Sri Lanka. If you want to learn more about BPO and want BPO certification then visit Lanka BPO Academy.
The next presentation was done by @Anudi and it was about Intellectual Property Law and how to protect your rights. In Sri Lanka soon as you publish something online it is very hard to protect those rights. Take celebrity pictures for example, how can you take action against a pictures published in a free blogspot blog with no contact information. You can complain to Google and get the blog banned but it's a tedious process. She also talked about the importance of adding © ( copyright symbol ) for any creative work you do. You can easily add this to a blog post by going to HTML mode and typing &#0169 .What she said about Facebook TOS is what really got my attention. Before the recent changes in FB TOS every photo we uploaded is owned by FB and can be used by them. I have few clients who work with ShutterStock and they promote there photographs thorough Facebook. Definitely need to check out if this could impact there earnings and violate ShutterStock terms. If you are a photographer looking to earn some money from your photos then give ShutterStock a try.
Next presentation was a bit of technical one with @Jerry talking about CSS3. IE haters Web designers in the room seem to enjoy it and I guess that is how they create those premium Wordpress themes that cost a small fortune these days. If you take a WP theme like Thesis there are so many things you can do with it and I suppose technologies like this are what makes them possible.
To conclude it was another great Refresh Colombo meet up and definitely looking forward to the next one. And thanks a lot for all the presenters who shared valuable information with us.