FreshYields - Ecommerce and Internet Marketing Solutions

I’ve decided to slowly work ads into this blog, partly to make some money (at least enough for hosting), but mostly to experiment with some of the newer non-AdSense advertising programs. First up is Text Link Ads*. Right now, I have none :). They would be located in my sidebar menu, under the label that says “Sponsors”.

Applying to Text Link Ads is easy enough, but it seems that things go much smoother if you have a PageRank of 4 or greater. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for advertisers to buy links on your site. We’ll see how it goes, and I will be happy to report on any progress. Of course, you will be able to see progress as my Sponsors area (hopefully) fills up.

Here is where you would go to buy a link on my site: Sponsor Fresh Yields. Because my Alexa ranking is so low, it only costs you $15 a month to get your link on a PR4 blog. If you buy a link, I will also dedicate at least one blog post reviewing your site, using keywords where appropriate.

I’m frustrated. I need to vent. I was walking through Target today, looking to pick up some cheap t-shirts and anything else I could find. I have already given up on buying any jeans or pants there as they don’t carry my size, 38×34. They carry 36×34, but that’s just a little too tight around my legs and waist. Because of my height, I also can only buy XXL shirts, knowing that for the money that I’m paying, they will shrink a bit. XL shirts will not be long enough after washing.

Here’s the problem: XXL shirts cost $2 extra. Now this isn’t a big hit on the wallet, but I still take issue with this. The four sizes of S-M-L-XL all cost the same, but are we to believe that the extra fabric and sweatshop labor in making a XXL shirt is worth $2? Is the labor difference between a XL and XXL shirt greater than the difference between a S and XL shirt? Of course not. The reason the XXL shirts cost extra is because they don’t sell as many of them, so they tack on a premium. It isn’t just Target, many other companies add extra cost to XXL or Tall sizes. They probably would rather not make them at all. Even hen they close items out or put them a big sale, the price difference remains.

You might say, “Why don’t you just shop in a Big & Tall store?” Have you even seen the prices in those places? I have only bothered to check out a few, and they were outlets. Needless to say, I have never bought anything.

So what can I do about this? I can’t shrink. I guess I could lost some weight, but if you saw me you wouldn’t think I weigh as much as I do, so that probably wouldn’t help. Any ideas?

First, let me start by saying that I think that everybody who owns a legit blog should try and monetize it. If your writing style and the topics you choose are good enough to draw traffic and a following, you should be rewarded.

I have set my wife’s blog, Gaga For Lulu, up with a few zones that she has been running AdSense on. She has made $11.00 so far this month. Hey, she’s not ShoeMoney yet, but it’ll pay for the hosting. She’s experimented a little with AdBrite and some other smaller providers, but has decided to stick with Google.

Here is the frustrating part. The ads Google has been serving lately make no sense (or mabye no AdSense?) at all. I went to her site early this morning, and her top 468×60 banner was for a company that sells Vampire Fangs. Honey, is there something I need to know?

I had to re-read some of her posts to be sure she isn’t dabbing in the occult, although some would say she already is with all this mommy-blogging. My latest visit has found that the only ads showing on her blog’s home page is the top banner with the Hurrican Katrina ad, which is run as an alternative when Google can’t find anything better for your site. One question though, was the Vampire Fangs ad more relevant?

I’m writing this while debating whether to place ads here on my site. I may do it to test out some techniques for some other blogs that I either own or manage. But if I do, I may avoid AdSense.

Chad Randall recently wrote a guest post on Darren’s ProBlogger blog about why you should not use AdSense, and after the natives got a little restless, followed it up with more at his own blog. I think he is right on the money. Check it out!

I love good web design, especially blog design. I guess it’s because there are so many blogs out there using the same templates. Not that there is anything wrong with that. There are tons of very talented blog template designers out there helping people add some flare to their sites.

The first thing I notice when going to someone’s blog is the look and feel, even before I start reading. This is not to say that a blog with a poor layout is unreadable, but to be honest, I may not stick around too long or come back. Well, thanks to Hsien, I came across Alister Cameron’s Blogologist site, which has been recently redesigned. It is one of the best designs I have seen in a while. The image density is perfect, all the sections are easy to find, and the font sizes are well-proportioned and easily read.

Check it out and let me know what you think…

*disclosure: Alister is now part of b5 media, whom my wife also writes for. This did not sway my feelings on his new design

So I meet my wife for lunch and a little shopping today during an extended break. She had our two youngest with her, as well as her two nephews. They were surprisingly well behaved, but for some reason I was in a pretty foul mood. Maybe it was the monotony of all the meetings I had just had all morning. Maybe it was the general depression that overwhelms me each and every morning I go to my boring-ass job.

Anyway, I was not having much luck finding any pants out on the displays that would even come close to fitting me. My fellow tall guys out there know that if you are not right there when they bring out the 34 inseams, you might be SOL. Well, unfortunately for me, that 34 inseam also accompanies a 38 waist. The nice little old lady putting the clothes out saw me leafing through about 500 pairs of pants looking for that elusive 38 x 34 size sticker. She then brought me a pair from a different section, saying that she found my size. They were 34 x 34’s. Wow, my day just got better. When I told her I needed 38’s, she refused to believe it. She even went as far as saying that I had a better body than any guy she sees walking around in the store! I looked around praying that my wife heard her say that. She did :-p

OK, bring on the rest of the day. Wait, I just realized something while writing this. Oh God. The Mommy Bloggers are getting to me. Am I now a Daddy Blogger? Do they make Keds for Men?

Oh, and to all the keds-wearing mommy bloggers I offended with yesterday’s post, I give you the following video. Nice try guys. Close, but no cigarette…

Now that my wife is a mommy-blogging superstar, I see her checking out the writings of other moms out in the blogosphere. I could not believe how many are out there!

One thing I have found is they seem to fall into two distinct groups. One group is wholesome, clean (oops, can I say that Sen. Biden?), and writes nice little diatribes about how great family life is. Think of them as Christian rockers. They are hip enough to know what a blog is, but they probably wear White Keds.

Then there is the other group, of which I believe my wife belongs. They claim to tell it like it is, no holds barred. They use technorati tags like ‘wet fart‘ and ‘butt and poo‘. Go ahead and search, you’ll see! They are not afraid to talk about their private parts in ways us men really should never hear. Some of them know Wordpress and Blogger inside and out. They are Joan Jett and Kim Gordon. They get 80 comments per post from their legions of fans. They are the ones smoking in the girl’s bathroom.

Of course, nothing shocks me anymore after being married to my wife for nearly 8 years. I was forced to get over the initial awe the first time I had dinner with her family. Man, I was so innocent back then…

While it’s been no secret to some, Fresh Yields has temporarily closed it’s doors. Well, that should be door, since it was just the front door to my house. Many things have been going on for the past few months, but here is a summary:

• A few projects were taking way too long, and it was probably no ones fault but my own. I only have a few left on my plate, and I am trying to close them out as effectively as I can.
• While trying to get Fresh Yields off the ground, I still held a full-time job. Well, my real job’s duties increased big time, which left little time.
• Family. This may be the biggest thing, but by no means is it a bad thing. Juggling the two jobs while having 3 beautiful daughters under 6 years old and a very understanding wife become increasingly difficult. I really don’t know how some of you do it. It wasn’t that bad when they were younger. But now with homework after school, and soon sports practice or ballet, it’s just going to be too much for me. I would much rather spend time with them and not have to worry that I’m going to be up until 4 A.M coding. And, to be honest, my wife and I have been getting along much better since my workload decreased, although I think she is taking my place with her blogging.
• And finally, deadbeat clients suck. They lead to pissed off employees, who essentially worked for nothing. Any present and former clients that I still have a relationship with, please be sure to know I am not talking about you.

This does not mean I am finished with all things internet.  Hopefully quite the opposite.  Fresh Yields, the company, may be back and better than ever.  But for now, Fresh Yields will just be the blog home of Steve James.

Well, one organization doesn’t think so. Who cares if you are a blogger or a “real” journalist? I have seen plenty crappy “real” jounalists our there that can’t hold a candle to pro bloggers. Isn’t it the content that matters? I guess this is just a sign the “real” journalists are trying their best to hold their turf.

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…but this is a million times better.  FreshYields has made it on … wait for it … a banana.  It seems the folks at banananame.com have a very talented monkey who will write anything you want on a banana.  People will do anything for publicity, which is why I didn’t hesitate in sending my request.

I would have loved to been in the board meeting of the idiotic National Pork Board when someone decided that Jennifer’s Lactivist T-shirts were stealing their thunder.  This is all over one of her t-shirts saying “the other white milk”, derived from the pork slogan “the other white meat”.  Last I checked, milk is white.  I mean, ham is pink, and the pork in my pork fried rice is a browny color with a reddish skin.  They even imply that Jennifer’s humorist T-shirts are promoting the adult consumption of breast milk.  Get serious!