Page rank from zero to three and still burning ...

Well the tortoise had a swig of one of those guarana energy drinks last month and achieved a Google Page Rank of 3 just a month or so after launching. So congrats to the advertisers and our reciprocal link buddies all over the world for making that happen.

The reciprocal links page tells a great story about Internet-based businesses and life on the other side of the world. Check our our favourite links like "Catch it wild" (where I come from a snake in the attic would make front page news!), Robin's Comics (oh yes, the old days when we used to read under the blankets with a torch) and Piha Beach (ok, I'm biased but why not come and experience surf beach life in a coastal village at the edge of the world?).

The tortoise's race is not over of course and we've learnt a few things so far that will see tactical changes to Dingdots to make it more popular. First, most of our visitors are men who, after browsing the home page for a while, go directly to the Games section or one of the News pages. We've added some quality sites in both those areas so that there is a 'perspective' for everyone. The Bizarre News page in particular seems to be very popular - doesn't that say something about our secret desire to read about the strange and weird side of life.

In the meantime, I'm not so sure you can call Dingdots a pixel site for very much longer as the focus shifts according to the demands and trends shown by our visitors. Is changing ok? Of course it is, and in fact, we must change. I love the Internet because in today's world the opportunity to learn and improve is a timely event that can be just a few clicks away.

Page rank and the baby tortoise

The slow, focused journey of the tortoise as he barely notices the hare scurry off into the distance is not unlike the journey of Dingdots as it enters the page ranking race. A great page rank is the pinnacle that most websites hope to achieve - a place on the revered first page of the Google search results.

One cheeky observer asked the other day what Dingdots' page rank was now that it's two weeks old and I answered a confident zero without checking - after all we all have to start at the start! The work to "up" the page rank is a systematic, religious-like undertaking and I'm looking forward to comparing that PR=Zero with the new page rank number sometime soon (HA!).

Dingdots is actually a gurgling baby tortoise about to be burped, and people come and visit pretty regularly to googah and check out what I've been doing in the last 24 hours or perhaps just to see if Dingdots is still there.

Most of us know by now that pixel ad sites won't cut it if they are merely copies of the original pixel ad site. So, I've been watching how people use the site and adding value where ever it seems obvious to do so. This week, the category pages had an overhaul when I realised most of my visitors were men and now they have their very own "For Him" page ... don't worry, the rest of us have our pages too - even non-human manifestations like me.

A whole set of menus linking visitors to a variety of news sites has appeared - everything from bizarre news to sport news to business news. That's because many of our visitors are coming from news sites before and after coming to Dingdots.

Then there's the whole thing about linking. After much trawling through so-called 'best' SEO (search engine optimisation) advice, I believe linking from good websites will be one of the key "make or break" points for Dingdots. So, the task of getting quality inbound links has begun - that is links from other websites to Dingdots. It means that every website that presents the Dingdots logo or URL is sharing their visitors with us - how cool is that!

So, I make the plea on behalf of the gurgling baby tortoise (oh how cute, he just burped!) ... if you have a website, even if it's a modest affair, let's swap links and "share the joy!" I know I'd really appreciate it.

http://www.dingdots.com/general/logos.htm

Welcome to Dingdots official blog

Kia ora, Hola, Buon giorno, Ni hao, Aloha mai e, Buna ziua, Fakalofa lahi atu, Annyong ha shimnikka, Bonjour, Bula vinaka, God dag, Kam na mauri, Bore da, Kaixo, Malo e lelei, Al salaam a'alaykum, Talofa lava, ...

Pixel advertising! Gosh it's getting a bad reputation for attracting wanna get rich quick nerds who know how to build websites. But wait - there's more.

Pixel advertising might seem like a fad - but is it?

Pixel advertising websites now abound and the general 'feeling' suggests that they are no more than copycats of the original UK Milliondollarhomepage.

Many of the pixel advertising websites appear to be literally copied from the UK original with little or no attempt to disguise the fact. The likelihood of these sites succeeding is poor and the large areas of empty spaces are testimony to their struggle.

The reasons for the success of the Milliondollarhomepage is obvious. It was a new idea, had a great human story behind it, and used very good media tactics. But that mix can never be replicated.

So what is the future of pixel advertising?

One thing is clear, the concept of selling pixels is valid. Selling pixels is no different than any other advertising space that we've become familiar with such as billboards, neon signs, and even Google advertisements filling up pixel space on the periphery of our screens.

The difference between advertisements we are familiar with and pixel advertisements is basic - the advertisements are small and close together. Have a look at the classified ads in your newspaper – and you thought that was close.

A feature of the majority of pixel websites are the owners are lazy. They think that they can copy a fly by night idea and watch it bring in the bucks – the problem is the novelty has worn off, and their websites are not attracting the cash they thought it would.

However, there are a handful of pixel websites that have done a good job of ‘adding value’ to the idea and this is really what it is all about. It is what took Google from a copycat idea - starting from the idea of a search engine (yes it had been done before) - to the success that Google is now. The idea of evolving an existing idea and improving it is what raises the bar and gives us a better service or product. It’s the backbone of business on the Internet and everywhere else.

Pixel advertising could very well create a new revolution in advertising but the following two critical elements have to be addressed for it to succeed:

1. A way to convince customers to return
2. A way to gain the confidence of prospective advertisers to buy space

There are many ways to bring visitors back to websites and many good sites use these methods. They are:

1. Have good interaction with visitors
2. Provide incentives for referrals by other websites
3. Offer incentives to visitors (eg. prizes, games)
4. Offer a good all round experience

Pixel advertising may very well have a similar impact to that of search engine Google - sounds ambitious? Well Google started small with big dreams and look at its impact. Watch this space I say.