eBay Broken!

It's always funny when large internet companies such as Google and the like make blunders on their sites. One that springs to mind is when someone at Google accidentally deleted the official Google blog from blogger.com, (requiring and address to change from http://google.blogspot.com) which an astute member of the public claimed while it was free.

The latest slip up from eBay happened today when they have obviously made changes to the site, be it to increase user security or whatever, it doesn't matter. At the moment the site is unusable to Mac users, with the site asking if you wish to download the eBay isapi dll when trying to log in...!

Funny Names

I came across a page on the internet the other day that had a list of funny names, some of which are real people. I thought I would add to this list myself, with a few more from personal experience, and some more info for the existing ones.

• Adam Baum (Atom Bomb)
  Adam Zapel (Adam's Apple)
  Al Bino (Albino)
  Al Dente (All done)
  Al Fresco (Outdoor dining?)
  Al K. Seltzer (brand of heart burn medicine)
  Alf A. Romeo (make of car)
  Amanda Lay (real person)
  Amanda Lynn (a mandolin)
  Amber Green
  Anita Bath, Anita Bohn, Anita Friske, Anita Knapp, Anita Lay, Anita Mann, Anita Mandalay
  Anna Prentice (an apprentice)
  Anna Recksiek (anorexic) Anna Sasin
  Anne Teak
  Annie Howe, Annie Matter
  April May (a real person I knew in high school)
  April Schauer (real person)
  Aretha Holly
  Armand Hammer
  Art Major, Art Painter, Art Sellers
  B.A. Ware
  Barb Dwyer
  Barbara Seville
  Barry Cade
  Beau Archer, Beau Tye
  Ben Dover, Ben Down, Eileen Dover, Skip Dover
  Ben Marcata (a musical term)
  Bess Eaton (donut shop chain)
  Biff Wellington
  Bill Ding
  Bill Foldes
  Bill Loney
  Billy Rubin
  Bob Apple
  Bob Katz, Tom Katz
  Bonnie Ann Clyde
  Brad Hammer (carpenter joke)
  Brandon Cattell
  Brighton Early
  Brock Lee
  Brooke Trout
  Bud Light
  Bud Wieser (real college math teacher)
  Buster Cherry, Buster Hyman
  C. Good (alledgedly a real eye doctor)
  C. Senor
  Candace Spencer (can dispenser)
  Candy Barr, Candy Baskett, Candy Kane, Candy Sweet
  Cara Sterio (alleged real person)
  Carrie Dababi ("carry the baby" - Dababi is an Egyptian name)
  Carrie Oakey
  Casey Macy
  Cheri Pitts, Harry Pitts
  Chris Coe
  Chris Cross
  Chris P. Bacon
  Chuck U. Farley
  Chuck Waggon
  Claire Annette
  Constance Noring
  Count Dunn, Count Orff
  Coyne Flatt (real person)
  Craven Moorehead
  Crystal Ball
  Crystal Claire Waters
  Crystal Snow
  D. Liver
  Dan D. Lyons
  Dan Druff
  Dan Saul Knight
  Darren Deeds
  Dick Bender (real sports person)
  Dick Burns
  Dick Bush (real person)
  Dick Finder (real name of a urologist)
  Dick Head
  Dick Hertz
  Dick Hunter (my junior high principal - really!)
  Dick Mussell
  Dick Pole (real major league baseball player)
  Dick Rasch (real person)
  Dick Tator
  Dick Trickle (real person, a NASCAR driver)
  Dilbert Pickles
  Dinah Soares
  Dixon, Cox, and Peters (law firm)
  Don KeyDonny Brook
  Doris Schutt (Doris Open...)
  Doug Graves
  Doug Witherspoon
  Douglas Furr
  Dr. Harry C. Beaver (real OB/GYN, retired now, see HERE)
  Dr. Bender (Chiropracter)
  Dr. Butcher
  Dr. DeKay, DDSDr. & Dr. Doctor (real married doctors from Norwalk, CT)
  Dr. E. Ville
  Dr. Gass (allegedly a real anesthesiologist)
  Dr. Gutstein
  Dr. Hanus
  Dr. Hurt (real pediatrician in Saginaw, MI)
  Dr. Hymen
  Dr. Kauff
  Dr. Look (real opthalmologist in Hawaii)
  Dr. Looney - a psychiatrist of course!
  Dr. Payne (plastic surgeon in Sandusky, OH)
  Dr. Pullham
  Dr. Surgeon (another real doctor from Stamford, CT)
  Drew Peacock
  Duane Pipe
  Dusty Rhodes
  Dusty Sandmann (real person, submitted by his dad Roger Sandmann)
  Edna May (or may not)
  Earl E. Bird
  Earl Lee Riser
  Easton West
  Eaton Wright and Liv Good
  Ella Vader
  Eric Shinn
  Estelle Hertz (it still hurts)
  Evan Keel
  Faith Christian
  Fanny O'Rear
  Ferris Wheeler
  Ford Parker
  Forrest Green
  Dr. Frank Bonebreak (real doctor)
  Gae Hooker (allegedly real surgical prep nurse)
  Gaye Jolly
  Gail Storm
  Gene Poole
  Geoff L. Tavish (Gefilte fish)
  Gil Fish
  Ginger Rayl, Ginger Vitus
  Gladys C. Hughes (glad to see you)
  Hamilton Burger (Ham Burger, character on the old Perry Mason TV series)
  Harry Armand Bach, Harry Balls
  Harry Caray (famous sports announcer)
  Harry Hooker
  Harry Cox, Harry Johnson, Harry P. Ness, Harry Peters
  Harry Rump (a real plumber from Freemont, Maine!)
  Harry R. M. Pitts
  Hazle Nutt
  Heidi Clare
  Helen Waite (credit manager - if you want credit go to Helen Waite)
  Holly McRell
  Holly Day, Holly Wood
  Hugh Jass
  Hugh Jorgan
  Hugh Morris (a "humorous" name, thanks to Shaun Oriold)
  Hy Ball
  Hy Lowe, Bea Lowe
  Hy Marx (scholar)
  I.D. Clair
  I.M. Boring
  I.P. Freely, I.P. Daly
  Ileane Wright, Ilene South (West, East...)
  Ima Hogg (a real person, daughter of a Texas governor)
  Iona Ford
  Iona Frisbee (alledgedly a real person)
  Ivan Oder
  Ivana Mandic (a real basketball player)
  Jack Goff (my uncle - no kidding!)
  Jack Hammer
  Jack Tupp (the perfect name for a car mechanic)
  Jay Walker
  Jean Poole
  Jenny Tull
  Jim Laucher (gym locker)
  Jim Shu, Jim Sox
  Jo King
  Joe Kerr (joker)
  Jordan Rivers
  Joy Kil
  Joy Rider
  June Bugg
  Justin Case, Justin Hale, Justin Inch, Justin Time, Justin Miles North (just ten miles north)Kandi Apple
  Kelly Green
  Kenny Penny
  Kerry Oki
  King Queene
  Lake Speed (a real person, NASCAR race car driver)
  Lance Boyle, Lance Butts
  Laura Lynne Hardy
  Laura Norder (law and order)
  Leigh King (leaking)
  Levon Coates
  Les Moore
  Lisa Carr
  Lisa May Boyle, Lisa May Dye
  Lois Price (bargain shopper) and her husband Hy Price
  Lou Pole
  Lou Zar (loser)
  Luke Warm
  Lynn C. Doyle
  Lynn O. Liam
  M. Balmer
  Marlon Fisher
  Marsha Dimes (march of dimes)
  Marsha Mellow
  Marty Graw
  Mary Annette Woodin
  Mary Christmas
  Matt Tress
  Maude L.T. Ford
  Max Little
  Max Power
  May Day
  May Furst
  Mel Loewe
  Melba Crisp (real person who emailed me)
  Melody Music
  Mia Hamm (a real person)
  Mike Easter
  Mike Hunt
  Mike Raffone
  Mike Rotch
  Mike Stand (a real person)
  Mike Sweeney (sounds as Mike's weenie), famous baseball player
  Minny van Gogh
  Mister Bates
  Misty Waters (a real person)
  Misty C. Shore (a real person), Rocky Shore, Sandy C. Shore (another real person)
  Mo Lestor
  Molly Kuehl
  Mona Lott
  Monica Monica (real person)
  Morey Bund
  Muddy Waters (famous blues singer, though probably not his real name)
  Myles Long
  Nancy Ann Cianci (real person, wife of Providence, RI mayor Buddy Cianci)
  Nat Sass
  Neil Down
  Neil McNeil (submitted by his cousin)
  Noah Riddle, Noah Lott
  Norma Leigh Lucid
  Olive Yew
  Oliver Sutton (all of a sudden)
  Ophelia Payne
  Oren Jellow
  Otto Graf
  P. Ness
  P. Brain
  Paige Turner
  Park A. Studebaker
  Pat Downe (a real person)
  Pat McCann
  Pearl E. Gates, Pearl E. White
  Penny Dollar (real person)
  Penny Lane
  Penny Nichols
  Penny Wise
  Pepe Roni
  Pete Moss and his son Forest
  Peter Johnson (a real announcer on public radio)
  Dick Johnson (Auustralian V8 race car driver)
  Peter Peed
  Phil Graves (cemetery employee)
  Phil Rupp
  Pierce Deere
  Pierce Hart
  Polly Ester
  Post, Mark
  Price Wright (another real person)
  Priti Manek ("pretty manic", real doctor in Houston, TX)
  R. M. Pitt
  R. Sitch
  R. Slicker
  Randy Guy
  Randy Lover
  Ray Zenz (raisins)
  Rob Banks
  Rex Easley (reportedly a real traffic safety teacher at Kamiakin High, Kennewick, WA)
  Rhoda Booke, Rita Booke
  Richard Bush
  Richard P. Cox (real person)
  Richard Chopp (real Urologist in Austin, TX, does vasectomies)
  Rick O'Shea
  Rick Shaw
  Rip Torn
  Robin Andis Merryman
  Robin Banks, Robin Money, U. O. Money
  Robin Feathers
  Robert and Reginald Soles (allegedly real brothers: R. Soles)
  Rock Pounder, Rock Bottoms
  Rocky Beach, Sandy Beach
  Rod N. Reel
  Roman Holiday
  Rose Bush
  Royal Payne
  Russell Leeves
  Rusty Blades, Rusty Carr, Rusty Dorr, Rusty Fender, Rusty Irons, Rusty Nail, Rusty Pipes, Rusty Steele
  Sally Forth
  Sam Manilla
  Sandy Banks, Sandy Beech, Sandy Brown, Sandy Spring
  Seth Poole (poor guy has a lisp)
  Seymour Butz
  Seymour Wiener (should be a urologist)
  Shanda Lear (daughter of Bill Lear, inventor of the Lear jet)
  Sharon Needles
  Sheila Blige
  Skip Roper, Skip Stone
  Sonny Day
  Sno White (real person)
  Stanley Cupp
  Dr. Steven Sumey (Dr. sue me, real person in Fairmont, MN)
  Sue Flay
  Sue Yu, Sue Jeu
  Summer Camp (allegedly a real person)
  Summer Day
  Summer Greene
  Sy Burnette
  Tad Pohl
  Tanya Hyde
  Tarre Beach
  *Terry Achey (real name)
  Tess Steckle
  Therese R. Green
  Thomas Richard Harry
  Tim Burr
  Tom A. Toe
  Tom Katt
  Tom Morrow
  Tommy Hawk
  Trina Woods, Trina Forest (tree in the woods, tree in a forest)
  Ty Coon, Ty Knotts
  Virginia Beach
  Walter Melon
  Wanda Rinn
  Wanna Hickey
  Warren Peace
  Warren T.
  Will Power
  Will Race (real person who told me he races cars and on foot)
  Will Wynn (Mayor of Austin, Texas)
  Willie B. Hardigan
  Willie Leak (or won't he)
  Willie Stroker
  Winsom Cash, Owen Cash
  Woody Forrest
  X. Benedict

Attorneys anyone?

Are you looking for an attorney? Well, maybe an attorney is looking for you! Whether it is a family law attorney, a divorce attorney, or you were a bit naughty drinking and driving and are looking for a list of dui attorneys - they seem to be eager to get business nowadays.

A quick look through Google Adwords reveals a lot of results for attorneys who are willing to pay top dollar per click on search engines and content pages alike:

By attorney type:

dui attorneys

dui attorney

tax attorneys

criminal attorneys

personal injury attorney

criminal defense attorneys

injury attorney

defense attorneys

personal injury attorneys

criminal lawyers

attorneys medical malpractice

attorneys malpractice

injury attorneys

houston attorneys

criminal attorney

criminal defense

employment law attorneys

tax attorney

find attorneys

divorce attorneys

bankruptcy attorneys

defense attorney

family law attorneys

employment attorneys

divorce lawyers

medical malpractice

divorce attorney

attorneys in los angeles

attorneys

lawyer

lawyers attorneys

lawyers

trial attorneys

estate planning

attorney

corporate attorneys

civil attorneys

Or by state / region?

san diego attorneys

arizona attorneys

los angeles attorneys

philadelphia attorneys

chicago attorneys

maryland attorneys

colorado attorneys

san francisco attorneys

atlanta attorneys

georgia attorneys

dallas attorneys

minnesota attorneys

new jersey attorneys

boston attorneys

attorneys in new jersey

seattle attorneys

illinois attorneys

washington attorneys

washington dc attorneys

pa attorneys

nj attorneys

michigan attorneys

california attorney

massachusetts attorneys

Debt consolodation / consalidation / consilidation

debt consolodation

debt consalidation

easy forex com

debt consilidation

Certain SMS shorthand has already made it into the Oxford English Dictionary... how long until common mis-spellings make it in there also. I mentioned in a previous post about how much per click Virgin Credit Cards were prepared to pay for mis-spellings of their brand name.

Car Insurance for Young Drivers

For many young drivers, getting car insurance can be a bit of a hassle. Especially if they own, or have use of a high performance car. But what are the alternatives?

In Australia there has been a recent rise in accidents causing death by young P-plate drivers, or drivers on their provisional license, most of which caused by excessive speed. We would all have to agree that surely safety of the public should come before convenience and affordability of insurance...

Google Adwords costing for landing pages

I have been doing a bit of work optimizing a client of mines website recently, to improve it's Adwords compatibility. I had noticed a slight drop in the amount of click throughs it was getting as well as an increase in the pay per click amounts for some of the keywords, so I thought I had better do something about it.

Everyone seems to be commenting on Google Slaps and SEO techniques recently, and I had paid minimal attention up until this point as I believe that if you create a site with good intentions and don't "overdo" the SEO for search engines, then you can't really go wrong... or can you?

I made sure that there was a moderate amount of keyword rich content on the home page to do with the subject at hand - urinary incontinence - and pitched the adwords campaigns similarly by split-testing certain ads in small groups according to seperate keywords.

I was quite happy with the fact that the new Google tool that shows quality of keywords for the destination page of the ad was showing "Great" for the keywords urinary incontinence and stress incontinence, but somewhere in the last couple of weeks, the minimum bid price went from 0.08 to 0.22 - and with it went the quality... down to "OK".

Today I spent some time craeting new landing pages to counter this, by basically taking the home page and recreating the copy to suit each keyword combination from my split-testing, and pointing the associated keyword to that individual page, instead of simply at the home page. I am a little concerned about the duplicate content rule that seems to be in play with the Google algorhythm, but I guess time will tell if I have made the right move.

The client is definitely happy with the amount of movement traffic-wise there has been up till this point, given that sales have increased.

List of Google Subsidiary Companies

Wow! Check out this list of Google Subsidiary companies, and the jurisdiction under which each lies that has been released after the internet giant's 10-K annual report filing took place.

@Last Software, Inc.	Delaware
@Last Software, Ltd.	United Kingdom
Aegino Limited	Ireland
allPAY GmbH	Germany
Android, Inc.	Delaware
Applied Semantics, Inc.	California
At Last Software GmbH	Germany
bruNET GmbH	Germany
bruNET Holding AG	Germany
bruNET Schweiz GmbH	Switzerland
dMarc Broadcasting, Inc.	Delaware
Endoxon (Deutchland) GmbH	Germany
Endoxon (India) Private Ltd.	India
Endoxon Ltd.	Switzerland
Endoxon Prepress AG	Switzerland
Ganji Inc.	Delaware
Google (Hong Kong) Limited	Hong Kong
Google Advertising and Marketing Limited	Turkey
Google Akwan Internet Ltda.	Brazil
Google Argentina S.R.L.	Argentina
Google Australia Pty Ltd.	Australia
Google Belgium NV	Belgium
Google Bermuda Limited	Bermuda
Google Bermuda Unlimited	Bermuda
Google Brasil Internet Ltda.	Brazil
Google Canada Corporation	Nova Scotia, Canada
Google Chile Limitada	Chile
Google Czech Republic s.r.o.	Czech Republic
Google Denmark ApS	Denmark
Google Finland OY	Finland
Google France SarL	France
Google Germany GmbH	Germany
Google India Private Limited	India
Google Information Technology Services Limited Liability Company	Hungary
Google International GmbH	Austria
Google International LLC	Delaware
Google Ireland Holdings	Ireland
Google Ireland Limited	Ireland
Google Israel Ltd	Israel
Google Italy s.r.l.	Italy
Google Japan Inc.	Japan
Google Korea, LLC.	Korea
Google Limited Liability Company - Google OOO	Russia
Google LLC	Delaware
Google Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V.	Mexico
Google Netherlands B.V.	The Netherlands
Google Netherlands Holdings B.V.	The Netherlands
Google New Zealand Ltd.	New Zealand
Google Norway AS	Norway
Google Payment Corp.	Delaware
Google Payment Hong Kong Limited	Hong Kong
Google Payment Ltd.	United Kingdom
Google Payment Singapore Pte. Ltd.	Singapore
Google Poland Sp. z o.o.	Poland
Google Singapore Pte. Ltd.	Singapore
Google South Africa (Proprietary) Limited	South Africa
Google Spain, S.L.	Spain
Google Sweden AB	Sweden
Google Switzerland GmbH	Switzerland
Google UK Limited	United Kingdom
Ignite Logic, Inc.	Delaware
JASS Inc.	Delaware
JG Productions Inc.	Washington
JotSpot Inc.	Delaware
Kaltix Corporation	Delaware
Leonberger Holdings B.V.	The Netherlands
Liquid Acquisition Corp. 2	Delaware
Neotonic Software Corporation	California
Neven Vision Germany GmbH	Germany
Neven Vision KK	Japan
Nevengineering, Inc.	Delaware
Orkut.com, LLC	Delaware
Picasa LLC	Delaware
PiFidelity Holding Corporation	Delaware
PiFidelity LLC	Delaware
Reqwireless Inc.	Ontario, Canada
Scott Concepts, LLC	Delaware
Scott Studios, LLC	Delaware
SkillSet LLC	Delaware
Skydocks GmbH	Germany
The Salinger Group LLC	Delaware
Transformic, Inc.	Delaware
Upstartle, LLC	Delaware
Urchin Software Corporation	Delaware
Where2 LLC	Delaware
YouTube, LLC	Delaware
ZipDash, Inc.	Delaware

Vigin Credit Card? Don't you mean Virgin?

There is a lot of money in credit cards and credit card consolidation these days. Credit Card companies like Virgin and Chase are clamoring to 'take over your debt' for you - and by taking over your debt, we mean making money on the interest you are paying on the outstanding balance you currently have.

The competition in the marketplace for companies that offer to consolidate your debts is fierce, with some willing to pay around $20.00 per click for advertising referrals through to their site - which brings me to the title of this post... Virgin Credit Cards have covered all their bases by purchasing pay-per-click advertising not only for 'virgin credit card', but also for common mis-spellings of keywords:

• vigin credit card
• vigin credit cards
  
• virigin credit card

This way if anyone mis-spells their search in google or yahoo, they still get the advertising that hopefully refers the person through to their site.

How can this affect you?
You are able to capitalize on this kind of thing by writing well written articles on how to consolidate credit card debt for example, and posting adsense or similar advertising on the same page. In the case of Google, they will sift through the content on your page and look at what the article is about to serve up relevant ads - in this case 'credit card consolidation' which is paying approximately $27.00 per click for the top spot.

Then the real trick is to get people to visit your well written page to learn about how to consolidate their credit card debt, and have them click on the related ads

Useful tools for planning, marketing and making money from your website

Here is a list of useful webmaster tools for planning and marketing your website online.

http://www.vretoolbar.com/keywords/
This is fantastic for assessing how much traffic could possibly be generated from users querying Google and Yahoo search engines

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
Google Suggest tool that suggests search terms for you as you type... the best part about this tool though, is that it shows the number of results that google holds for each suggested query. The higher the number, the more competition you will have in a certain niche.

http://www.spyfu.com
This tool used in conjunction with Google suggest is very powerful. Basically you can use this site to view bid approximations for keywords by industry and category, then check Google Suggest to see how many results are found for that industry. If there are only a few results in Google for that keyword combination and a high pay-per-click for the same, you have found a great niche for making money... (see Vigin Credit Card)