hi Merrill !

there’s a very interesting new wrinkle in our product strategy.

surf your smartphone browser to

http://timelog.metanotes.com

(seem to recall you had a smartphone).

this is a secure, private “note to self” system we’ve created as a component of METANOTES.

you can see notes you post on your PC at http://timelog.metanotes.com - everything is instantly synced up, so you never have to use your phone’s sync cable for those tiny notes again !

it’s an amazing way to share and remember web links and web content. if you enter a URL in the prompt, it automatically creates a LINK to that page, which gives you a great list of all the cool things you’ve come across online. furthermore, you can share any log simply by entering @username anywhere in the prompt.

unlike the totality of METANOTES, this is almost done.

we plan to launch in TWO WEEKS. we are also showing it off at a small hacker conference THIS WEEKEND in pasadena. it could be one of those “viral hits”, like Twitter was – we certainly hope so. we are definitely going to be spending some time on our North Carolina visit marketing this application around the Triangle. hopefully we can meet with the local media when we get out there !

we’re launching this as a sort of “appetizer” to the full beta launch (late summer). it works just fine on every smartphone and every browser (including Internet Explorer 7). we think “everybody needs to take notes” and this is the fastest way possible. it’s a new web gadget anyone can use.

we think we can get a MASS of users this summer – this is by far the quickest way to take notes that are synced up with your PC instantly. it’s a “private Twitter” – although you can direct-message other users too. plus – every time log registrant is automatically registered for a METANOTES account, and we will be building more and more integration between the two applications this summer.

what do you think ? i am going to CC: adam smith on this. we are going to make money through selling PRO accounts for $1 a month which will include things like time analysis etc. we can also sell ads within people’s time log streams after we get a critical mass of users. i think we can really make money on this SOON, and also buy John time to code METANOTES to an even finer degree in anticipation of back to school.

one issue may be scalability – if we REALLY hit this one out of the park, it might become increasingly important to fund expansion of our network infrastructure. still it should be fairly light overhead (we’re just serving text after all).

the goal is to have Emery in charge of this campaign – I will create marketing operations and design all the material, but Emery will be in charge of contacting influencers and spreading the word. both John and I agree that if he is able to take this challenge on that that would be a good equity position for him – if he is able to do amazing things with this, we could definitely be looking at a very valuable company BEFORE we are even launched !

- srini

• assess which slogans are clunkers
• improve the slogans
• add more slogans
• change offer to be for UA or SN

come on srini

• make it $5 off of $25, $10 off of $50
• two separate codes
• they work on both sites
• they get it if they answer my survey
• i will email them all a personal thanks
• this will make me a bunch of money i hope

come on srini

Google AdSense is probably one of the most popular revenue generators in the Web. We hear the stories about bloggers-genies, who manage to turn their blogs into cash machines overnight. However, it’s not that simple to find the actual tips, which stick to Google policies, might increase your revenues and don’t try to trick out the readers of your weblog.

We’ve spent several hours, trying to find out, what might increase your Google AdSense income and which tools you can use to observe and track your revenues. We’ve selected the key-points of successful stories and useful tips as well as Google AdSense sites and services you can use on a daily basis. Let’s take a look. Things You Probably Don’t Know About Google AdSense

• “AdSense Earning = Impression-count x Click-though-rate x Cost-per-click x smart-pricing-factor. Viewing your on website will not get you banned. Just make sure you don’t click on the ads.
• However, repeatedly reload your page to jack up page impressions can get you banned. Click-through-rate (CTR) is ratio of clicks per impressions. It can range from 0.1% to 30%, but most commonly around 1% to 10%.” [100 Google Adsense Tips]
• “First impressions count: make sure the ad unit with the highest CTR is the first ad unit in the HTML code of your page. Keep in mind that the first ad unit in the source code is not always the first ad unit that your users will see when the page finishes loading in their browser.” [Inside AdSense: First impressions count]
• “Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page. on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well.” [Where should I place Google ads on my pages?]
• “Format is important for multiple ad units, display your ad units where repeat users will notice them, place a leaderboard immediately after the last post.” [Six AdSense optimization tips for forums]
• “The middle, above the fold location performs the best. Best performing ad format is the large rectangle, 336×280. So the wider ad formats are doing better than the other ones and the reason is that they actually take up fewer lines. And so with every additional line, you have a chance of losing that interested user.
• So the wider formats do best so specifically, the top three formats are the 336×280 that you see on the page; the 300×250 medium rectangle; and then the 160×600 wide skyscraper.
• We have a feature in the AdSense account where you are able to multi-select different color palettes that blend with your site to add some variety and freshness to the ads. And that also will help decrease ad blindness.” [Google AdSense Optimization Webinar]
• “The second most active placement in terms of click-throughs tends to be the right-hand rail or margin”. “Skyscrapers” and vertical banners do well when placed next to the content in the main body. Square and rectangle ads placed within the center column also do well, provided they are placed in context to the content. Ads placed below the fold tend to perform least well, although that isn’t a hard-and-fast rule.” [Yahoo! Publisher Network: Location, location, location…]
• “I found the most success in placing the Google Adsense medium rectangle either right in the middle of the page or in a middle right column as long as it has content above and below the ad unit. Its is fine to use Adsense Ads on a forum however expect a very low CTR.” [Google Adsense Tips for Webmasters]
• “Post Adsense ads on text rich pages, avoid titles like the approved ‘Sponsored Links’ and ‘Advertisements’, place Ads above the fold, Match the colors of your ads with the colour scheme of your site, Blend ads with your page – remove the borders by having a similar color as your background.” [How to Increase Google Adsense CTR]
• “To remove Public Service Ads (PSA) in Google Adsense develop sufficient good content with keywords, Ensure that META tags like ‘title’ & ‘description’ and the headings tags like h1, h2 etc. have content which matches the rest of your site.” [How to Remove Public Service Ads (PSA) in Google Adsense]
• “You can now run AdSense on the same page as other contextual ad programs.” (January 2007) [It’s official! You can now run AdSense on the same page as other contextual ad programs]
• “Google AdSense Policy: We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads.” [Inside AdSense: Ad and image placement: a policy clarification]
• “Section targeting uses certain html tweaks to force the google adsense bot to focus on specific content. Section targeting is the latest and most effective addition to AdSense”. [Display Relevant Adsense Ads Using Section Targeting]
• “Over the weekend, I decided to change the number of ads units on my blog based upon where the traffic is coming from. I have a small PHP function that checks to see if the referrer is a search engine, and if it is, I display and additional 2 ad units. My Adsense revenue increasing by 284% on Saturday, Sunday and Monday!” [Positive Adsense Experiment]
• “Never click your own adsense ads or get them clicked for whatever reason. Never change the Adsense code. Do not run competitive contextual text ad (2006) or search services on the same site. Do not mask ad elements. Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing.” [ 15 Common Mistakes that Violate Google Adsense TOS ]
• “Putting ads on your site won’t hurt your traffic. There are 6 sorts of bloggers’ income: Google Adsense, Donations (e.g. PayPal), Text Link Ads (sold for a fixed amount per month), Chitika eMiniMalls ads (pay per click), affiliate programs like Amazon, Advertising sold to individual advertisers (three-month campaigns or longer) [How to Make Money From Your Blog – a VERY extensive article]
• “A number of factors come into play when AdSense tries to determine what the page is about: The URL of the page, the page title, the anchor text of links, the keywords that appear most frequently within the page, search engine queries that lead to the page or to another page that links to the page”. [How to Get Relevant AdSense Ads (Especially For Bloggers)]
• “Ask yourself if you are willing to compromise your blog’s layout and over-all feel by adding ads in them. Look at your traffic and see if it’s enough to draw the crowd. Make good use of the Ad Channels. Give it time.” [Tips on Blog Adsensification]
• “You can put upto 3 AdSense units on a page. For short articles, CTR is best when ads are placed just above the content. For long articles, CTR improves if ads are placed somewhere in middle of the content. Go Wide – the large rectangle 336×280 is the best paying adsense format.” [Adsense Tips, Layout Optimization Tricks for HigherCTR]
• “Google AdSense folks have unveiled another useful feature for Adsense publishers – Section Targeting. The concept is simple but the advantages and possibilities are endless.” [Display relevant Ads in Blogs: Just suggest Google]

Google AdSense: Google’s Information and Tools

• Google AdSense FAQ the Adsense support for official guidelines.
• Google AdSense Help Page provides a very detailed FAQ about Google AdSense. Learn optimization essentials, how to design successful ads, savvy ad placement and how to use features wisely.
• Google Adsense Program Policies.
• Google AdSense Ad Formats an overview.
• Google AdSense Success Stories provided by Google itself. Many interesting insights in concrete decisions, which helped to increase Google AdSense revenues.
• Google AdWords: Keyword-Tool The Keyword Tool generates potential keywords for your ad campaign and reports their Google statistics, including search performance and seasonal trends. Start your search by entering your own keyword phrases or a specific URL. You can then add new keywords to the green box at the right.

Google AdSense Tools, Services

• Getting The Most Out Of Adsense: Top 10 Adsense Tools Contextual Ads Preview/Comparison Tool (for Google Adsense, Yahoo YPN, Chitika eMiniMalls), AdSense Calculator, AdSense SandBox, AdWords Bidding Tool/Traffic Estimator.
• List of AdSense Trackers 15 AdSense trackers.
• AdWords and AdSense tools directory 1200 tools and services for Google AdWords and Google AdSense.
• Google Adsense Tips and Tools Collection a compilation of common Google tips and tools to make more money from Google Adsense. Among them dozens of AdSense Tools.
• AdLogger » Open-Source Click Fraud Prevention and Click Monitoring intends to prevent click-fraud on your websites by tracking visitors clicks and limiting the number of clicks one may make. AdLogger tracks AdSense clicks in real time and compiles the data for you to review.
• AdsBlackList.com – Filter them and increase your revenue ! increase your adsense revenue up to 50%, increase the reputation of your website by NOT linking to Made for Adsense sites, save the quality of contextual advertising in global.
• Adsense Notifier displays your Adsense earnings on the Firefox statusbar.
• AdSense Tracking Software | The Cutting-Edge Ad Tracking Solution reveals the precise AdSense Ads that are being clicked most frequently on your site, the exact pages that your AdSense Ads are being clicked on, the actual Ad Formats that are bringing you the most clicks and more.
• Free Charts Generated from your Google Adsense Reports Charts include: total earnings, clickthru-rate, earnings per click, number of clicks, earnings per impression, number of page impressions, earnings by day of week and earnings by day of month. Most of charts include 7-day moving averages which allow you to spot trends within your results.
• Using The Competitive Ad Filter To Increase AdSense Earnings The purpose of the Competitive Ad Filter is to enable you to block specific ads, such as competitor’s ads, from appearing on your pages.

Google AdSense Tips, Resources

• Adsense Tips for Bloggers an extensive series of articles on how to make money from the Google Adsense Program. By Problogger Darren Rowse.
• 16 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes to Maximize your Contextual Ad Earnings Ads Minded, Typo XP Reloaded, Seo AdSense and Problogger Clean.
• 10 Best Wordpress Plugins for Google Adsense among them AdSense Deluxe, AdRotator Wordpress Plugin.
• Monetizing WordPress Plugins an overview of 8 AdSense-Plugins you can use with Wordpress blog engine. AdSense Widget Wordpress Sidebar, AdSense Paster, AdSense Injection and more.
• What are alternatives to Google AdSense? 46 alternatives, among them Yahoo Publisher Network. Over 70 more services can be found on Other Advertising Networks Besides Google AdSense
• AdSense Forum is one of the most popular AdSense-related forums in the Web with thousands of questions and answers.
• How To Market Your Blog in 2007 41 ways to kickstart your marketing efforts.
• AdSense Niches If you want to make money with Adsense, NicheGeek’s free AdSense niches will show you exactly what niche you need to be in if you want to make 20, 30, 50, 70 cents per click or even more.

When conducting a survey - there are a broad set of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” - Keep in mind that you are asking your customers, users or partners to spend their time and give you feedback. Think about this for a minute - you are asking someone to spend their time and give feedback for YOU - In most cases without any real tangible and immediate benefit for them.

One of the easiest way to build confidence for users to spend 10/20 minutes of their time is to put together a “Intro” page that describes the survey, explains why you are soliciting feedback and explains your privacy policy and statement.

What are the key messages you want to convey in your INTRO page?

Explain to your users:

WHY are you conducting the survey? To better understand opinions? Is there a deadline?

How LONG will this survey take? You are asking users to spend time—Have you ever asked someone to spend time with you, without telling them how long?

Your PRIVACY STATEMENT – Who will have access to the data? Is the data anonymous? Will the privacy be protected?

Explain clearly any INCENTIVES that you may be planning on giving. If you have images, insert an image of the incentive—This will increase the response rate and participation rate.

Finally, have clear instructions on WHAT TO DO NEXT.

Make it clear that the user has to hit “Continue” or the submit button in order to participate. Explain what to do if users do not want to participate.

Think about surveys as inviting someone to spend time with you—You have to be compelling and authentic enough for someone to spend time giving you feedback.

Remember, sloppy surveys = sloppy data + brand dilution. Think about the second part here - “Brand Dilution” - Not only will you get high dropout rates, your brand will have a negative impact.

Despite my initial skepticism, I am enjoying using FriendFeed (”FF” from here out). I find interesting stories & news articles from my friends, I hear about news from colleagues, and am able to interact with them all in one place. I also like hearing from “related strangers” and finding new “friends” (Internet friends, that is) through the process. Below is my list of some simple things FF could do to easily enhance the overall experience.

1. Subscribing to Subscribers - Right now you have to manually go subscriber by subscriber. FF should add a button next to each person’s name for instant subscribing (like on the “recommended” tab). Also a “subscribe to all my subscribers” would be nice
 2. Find my Friends - I should be able to point at my Plaxo/LinkedIn/address book, and have FF automagically add whomever’s in there into my subscribers list (should also allow me to choose which ones specifically)
 3. FriendFeed interestingnessUse “interestingness” more - The current list of “who’s subscribed to me” is stagnant, calculated by some ranking. Use the info from the stats page to show a more dynamic list.
 4. Nested comments - no-brainer.
 5. Re-ping my Subscriptions - I have friends who I am subscribed to who were surprised to find me on FF. There’s no way for me to easily renotify people I exist.

6. Add to the “like” feature - I think a “dislike” button would be interesting (even if the results were hidden) as it could help add to the interestingness meter. Also, I’d like to see “Agree/Disagree With” as options, since they are very different from “like”.

7. De-duplicating redundant entries - if I write a blog post then mark it in Twitter or Delicious, FF should be smart enough to remove the extra entries (or group them). This could be crowdsourced as well, in case the automatic version is too hard to build.

8. More 2-way data sharing - if I like it on FF, then favorite it on Twitter. If I comment on a discussion, send it to Disqus or the blog comment system. Etc.  Edit (per a comment on FF): this should be an option for the user.

9. Surface the interesting features more - the ability to see stats, discussions, etc is very cool, but the features are buried away.

10. Enable auto-TinyURL in posts - all URLs should get Tiny’d.  Edit (per a comment on FF): this should be an option for the user.

11. Create filters - I’d like to be able to filter out terms completely - for example, I have no interest in hearing anything political on FF, so would happily filter out Obama, Hillary, McCain, and other terms.

12. Add “friends of friends” as a main tab - in addition to “me”, “friends”, and “everyone”, I’d like to see the feeds of my friends’ friends. This would be especially handy when I want to filter them out from my main feed.

13. Make history more relevant - how about a timeline? how about seeing all the stuff of mine that other people have commented on? how about seeing my most popular stuff?

14. UI clean-up - I read Louis Gray’s post on using the hide function, and while it’s extremely helpful, it just shouldn’t be that hard! Don’t agree? Go read tip#5 in that post again, and you’ll see how unintuitive that process really is.

15. Make a control panel - too many things going on (this is really an extension of #14) in too many places. Give me a single place to make all my settings happen, and I’ll be a happy camper.

16. FriendFeed typoFix the glaring typo on this page. Here, I’ll make it easy for ya…