andrewbuonocore.com

I had a question for the AuctionAds support team and I am pleased to say that they came back with not only a speedy answer, but a very interesting and useful one.

I asked about the criteria for getting the correct ads to display on low-traffic sites. Specifically, sites that have just been set up.

AuctionAds support explained that the default ads (What’s Hot On Ebay) are displayed if your site has not had a visitor (to whom the AuctionAds ad has been displayed) within the last 10 minutes.

The AuctionAds site mentions that this happens on low-traffic sites but this is the first time I have had the timing parameters confirmed, so it’s very useful information.

To avoid this problem, I created a simple page that auto-refreshes every 8 minutes (which AuctionAds said was OK) so my sites satisfy the sub-10 minute criteria in their early days.

This is a podcast from last year’s Podcast And Portable Media Expo. Every week or so, one of the presentations is made available via this feed.

I have to say a lot of it is awful. People standing up and shouting “KNOW WHAT? NOW, YOU ARE THE RADIO STATION!”.

Useless.

This presentation from Ben Williams is the worst I have heard so far. I have tried to listen to it several times but I find it too awkward, too uncomfortable to stick with for too long.

It seems to have no structure. It is peppered with things like “and another thing I like to do is” but it seems more self-indulgent than helpful.

I was at the first Expo in 2005 and many of the presentations were like that. Speakers didn’t really seem to think they needed to be that professional and I am afraid this is how Ben comes across.

For balance, I also gave up on Paul Colligan and Leesa Barnes (who I think is the worst one yet) but the talk given by David Lawrence is superb. He is one person I do admire because he gets on with it and then shares his success stories.

In addition, several of the presentations are no more than adverts, particularly the one with 3 Podtech staffers on the panel. I would have walked out.

I have a ticket for this year’s Expo but it is likely that I won’t be able to make it (so I need to find a way of selling my precious room at the Ontario Airport Marriott).