Disqus - Latest Comments for John

Re: We're Hiring

John — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:59:54 -0000

I'd be interested, if you'd consider a Brit.

John Crickett

john -at- crickett.co.uk

http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/</p>

Re: We're Hiring

John — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:59:54 -0000

I'd be interested, if you'd consider a Brit.

John Crickett

john -at- crickett.co.uk

http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/

Re: KPMG to settle overtime lawsuit

John — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:58:37 -0000

"for promotions you are pressured to not only work OT, but to NOT record it anywhere."

I worked for one of KPMG's competitors in the past and they were just the same... So I left and found somewhere better to work.

Re: The people have spoken – will HMRC listen?

John — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:41:27 -0000

It's worrying when you think they also have access to all the details about our income, tax returns, NI etc etc...

Re: The Bug Store Is Open For Business

John — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:45:39 -0000

That's a cool idea. Especially if the expand into robotics further down the line...

Re: Mashups

John — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:15:26 -0000

That shes claims to be planning to "donate the proceeds to charity" sounds like she knows she is being unreasonable and is trying to justify her actions.

Personally if it were me I'd be only too keen to help fans promote the brand.

Re: My Head Is In The Cloud This Morning

John — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:56:03 -0000

While I'd agree that Alex is right. The counter argument is that when it does break no one else is as motivated to fix it as you are, so the question "How can I possibly rely on these guys?" should really be "How can I make sure these guys are reliable" and you should then ask "What if these guys let me down".

Re: My Head Is In The Cloud This Morning

John — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:36:53 -0000

Wayne,

Yes he makes a good point - which is why I agreed.

However when "outsourcing the rest" it's not just a question of if their technology is good (it probably is otherwise you wouldn't be outsourcing to them), you also need to factor in the additional risks you are now exposed to; for example, if your supplier has a problem are you important enough to them that they'll care about it, what if your supplier goes out of business, what if your supplier decides to stop offering the service, what if your supplier is taken over by a competitor of yours. What if your supplier suddenly increases their price.

None may be likely, but you'd be a fool not to consider the risks.

Regards, John

Re: Twitter Nofollow

John — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:17:41 -0000

Once everyone nofollow's what are Google going to be left with for their PageRank algorithm to work on? It's getting out of hand.

Re: Twitter Nofollow

John — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:17:41 -0000

Once everyone nofollow's what are Google going to be left with for their PageRank algorithm to work on? It's getting out of hand.

Re: It Turns Out Brainstorming Has NEVER Worked

John — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:36:39 -0000

I agree with Sam brainstorming is a valuable tool and does work, however to get the most out of it you need the right people all focused on the right goal.

My experience has always been that a team brainstorming an idea can radically improve on what one person alone would have created.

Re: Blog Hack: Link to New Blogs and Get More Readers

John — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:59:27 -0000

Finding new _relevant_ blogs is always a challenge, even with Google blog search, anyone got any tips?

Re: Guest Writing at Pronet Advertising

John — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:28:16 -0000

You'd be welcome to send me a guest post on entrepreneurship / business ideas.

Re: Is Your Ego The Perfect Size To Be a Great Leader?

John — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:50:45 -0000

And it takes a lot of self confidence to be able to show you humility in public...

Re: 14 Tips for Moving From Full-Time to Freelance Work

John — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:39:23 -0000

I'd add, get networking. Ideally within the groups that your customers will attend. Equally there's value in networking with your 'competitors' too.

Re: How Important Is Intellectual Property For Startups?

John — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:48:58 -0000

Even if the average startup can afford get a patent it's unlikely to be able to afford to defend it. Execution must always come first.

Re: Leisure Time From Barclaycard - Fail

John — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:05:02 -0000

You'd think companies like Barclaycard would be able to get it right by now wouldn't you!

Shocking!

Re: Resource: Top 100 Business Blogs Listed

John — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:29:39 -0000

Thanks Cristina you have a great blog.

Re: Pet Peeve: Blog Snobs

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:05:47 -0000

I agree, I find it disappointing when I can't begin a conversation with the blogger. However I think some of the bloggers in question just suffered from too much spam.

Re: 8 from the ProBlogger Group Writing Contest

John — Sun, 13 May 2007 03:55:06 -0000

Thanks for the complement! I've enjoyed reading your blog today too.

Re: Could you pull a Radiohead?

John — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:54:33 -0000

Unfortunately they seem to have managed to make it backfire and upset some of their best customers i.e. dedicated fans.

Re: Frequency matters

John — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:26:00 -0000

Absolutely, it's very easy as a small business owner, in particular when starting out to cast the net too wide.

Once you can define your ideal customer, it's also easier to identify where they are and then to target your marketing to them.

Re: Comics, is there any way to make a business here?

John — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 01:43:01 -0000

There's also userfriendly.org - he's making a living from it.

Re: Times releases list of best business blogs

John — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:51:24 -0000

I'm not even sure I'd count some of them as business blogs. Tescopoly is more a rant against Tesco's than anything else.

Re: Google Falling Apart at the Seams; Doesn’t Appear to Care

John — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:04:14 -0000

But putting the staff turnover into perspective Google is at that age where lots of their long term (and senior) staff have vested. It's only natural therefore that many of them will take their new found wealth and pursue their own interests/challenges. The same happened to Microsoft 10 to 15 years ago but they didn't fall apart.

Equally new hires will now have Google on their CV and probably never stood to get anywhere near the same level of options of the earlier staff.

John's last blog post..Business Nightmares - Rachel Elnaugh

Re: Google Falling Apart at the Seams; Doesn’t Appear to Care

John — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:17:04 -0000

@Nicole, no Microsoft is not quite as bad as Google on that count, but then again it's core has long been Office and Windows.

@PS3, we don't see anyone (yet), but the obvious source of a challenge is an ex Google employee taking the millions and self funding their own SE.

John's last blog post..Be Brave, Be A Specialist

Re: Icahn Haz Yahoo! Board

John — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:03:58 -0000

If he's driven to Microsoft's deal Ballmer could be in a position to lower the offer... I think he might stick to the $33 however.

John's last blog post..Gordon Brown To Have His Own ‘Apprentice’ Show?

Re: Microsoft Gives Up Earning Your Loyalty; Launches “Cashback” to Bribe You Instead

John — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:26:23 -0000

I was going to take a look but I'd already forgotten the brand name by the time I reached the end of the post...

John's last blog post..Swapping Stuff

Re: CD-Wow Fined Â£41m And Told To Stop Selling Cheap CDs

John — Wed, 30 May 2007 04:52:16 -0000

But we don't compete on a level playing field anyway just look at the "UK" retailers that are based in Jersey to avoid VAT.

Re: New Logo Design For London 2012 Olympic Games

John — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:10:27 -0000

Shocking aint it. What a waste of taxpayers money.

Re: 3 Faces Hidden On Vista DVD

John — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:05:14 -0000

Amazing - I'm impressed you where able to take photo's off it too, looks tiny!

Re: Google Accounts For 24% Of All Wikipedia Traffic

John — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:08:56 -0000

I agree it's a shame they nofollow links as it does mess with the linking structure of the web and many of the links are relevant and useful.

Re: What’s Your Strongest Video Game?

John — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 04:00:54 -0000

My name's John and I used to be a Quaker...

More recently like Rob I've dug out TA and managed to waste an aweful lot of time on that excellent game.

Re: Young Brits Would Rather Give Up Sex Than Their Mobile Phones

John — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:00:38 -0000

Action Man! Those where the days! I guess plastic undies just don't cut it these days.

Re: Backlash Against Large Sites Using NoFollow Begining?

John — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:04:20 -0000

The idea of nofollow is fundamentally flawed so lets just hope the search engines fix their software and remove the need for it then it can be ignored by them

Re: More Adsense Customisation Options

John — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:36:27 -0000

I've always found that borderless ads do better when I've tested.

Re: Has Your Alexa Rank Gone South Recently?

John — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:37:24 -0000

Oddly my daily rank has shot up yet my 3 month average is going down (despite the daily rank now being higher than the 3 month average).

Re: Friday Fun: Don’t Talk On Your Phone At A Concert

John — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:13:41 -0000

I can't believe some people - I've even seem someone answer their phone and chat through a west end musical - I was amazed he didn't get lynched!

Re: Why My Adsense Earnings Are Better Than Other Blogs

John — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:52:15 -0000

I think the difference is also partly down to audience - John Chow's readers are generally more internet savvy and therefore more likely to recongnise and ignore adsense ads.

Re: Open Post: How Do You Make Money From Affiliate Schemes?

John — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 09:22:50 -0000

While I've done a lot with affiliate schemes in the past, it's not been on blogs, but in general, what works is pre-selling the product or service. In my case that now means I'm reviewing books that might interest my readers and including an amazon affiliate link at the end of the review.

Your most obvious first step would be to add Amazon or similar affiliate links to the reviews of Football Manager 2008 etc that you include. All those posts about mobile phones would be good targets too.

Then add an affiliate link for something like Yaro Starak's Blog Mastermind course to your earnings related posts.

I think you get the idea, if you'd like more idea/info drop me an email.

Re: Microsoft And Nokia Partnering For Online Music Service

John — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:28:59 -0000

I wonder what impact this will have on the smartphone OS wars? Will we see Nokia using Windows Mobile or will it make Symbian work with Microsoft?

With regards to services to unlock the demand, could mobile Instant messaging take over from "Texting"?

Re: What Are Your Plans For The Halo 3 Launch?

John — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:01:56 -0000

Surely the headline for this post should have been "Dating Direct Dumped for Halo 3"... ;-)

Re: Argos Caught Selling Halo 3 Games Early

John — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:02:34 -0000

Doh I hate being so predictable... I've just started shopping at Argos again because we'd had a baby!

Asides from the cool issue though, their prices rarely compete with what you can find elsewhere a catalog just can't be kept that up-to-date...

Re: What Are You Planning For Halloween?

John — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:18:52 -0000

"Halloween is less than two weeks away"

Damn October has flown past, so was Halo 3 worth skipping the Dating Direct bash for? ;-)

Re: Mobile Phone Charger, One Is Enough!

John — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:28:46 -0000

Now wouldn't it be great if ALL our portable electronics standardised on this i.e. PDA's MP3 players etc then it might make sense to push low voltage DC wiring around a house for them all and we could hook it to those nice low voltage DC solar panels and all be a little greener...

Re: Free Mobile Phone & 12-month Free Line Rental

John — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:10:02 -0000

I wonder if the business can still turn a profit if everyone takes up the offer and manages to claim within the defined timeframe...

Re: PlentyOfFish.com – One Man + One Language + Three Servers = Multi-Millionaire

John — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:56:45 -0000

He does amazingly well. You're right though why aren't Microsoft using this as a case study to shout about ASP.NET?

I just can't imagine a BBC reporter putting their profile on the site either ;-)

Re: New Eureka Site Theme!!! Please Leave Feedback

John — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:17:30 -0000

Maybe I'm just difficult, but I prefer the current theme. In particular I don't like the black background. It might look a lot better when you get the logo back however.

Re: New Eureka Site Theme!!! Please Leave Feedback

John — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:29:54 -0000

I didn't really comment on the layout as I only ever tend to see the single post page.. or RSS feed. :-)

Re: Update On New Eureka Theme For Site

John — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:42:28 -0000

It's growing on me I think the logo competition might be a good idea if you're not sure what you're after.

Re: Monday Blues Shocker- Kill Your Website Now!

John — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:44:15 -0000

It's certainly one way to get buzz and a lot of inbound links to a his domain...

Re: Man Gets Jailtime For Sending Facebook Request

John — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:50:57 -0000

I'm starting to feel like the only person who ISN'T on facebook... Bring back the good old days when we met friends (and friends of friends) in the pub!

Re: Halo 3: Thumbs Up Or Down??

John — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:35:01 -0000

But what we really wanted to know was if you did skip the Direct Dating do to play it? ;-)

Re: $100 Site Logo Competition – Batch #5

John — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:30:24 -0000

21 and 23 are good, but 21 really fits the theme too.

Re: Google Page Rank Fallout – Possible Legal Action?

John — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:09:20 -0000

Google got where it is because webmasters promoted it over and above Lycos, Altavista, Infoseek and all the other first generation search engines.

It's just as possible for webmasters to fall out of love with Google and to promote a new favourite...

We just need a new favourite to appear on the scene...

Re: Please Choose Your Favourite $100 Logo

John — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:39:14 -0000

IMHO, #2 is perfect for the theme.

Re: Google’s Open Source Mobile OS

John — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:17:52 -0000

I wonder where this leaves companies like Symbian that sell their OS?

Re: Friday Fun: Unaired 1994 24 Pilot

John — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:42:40 -0000

Thats very funny. Brings back memories! :-)

Re: Friday Fun: Unaired 1994 24 Pilot

John — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:43:30 -0000

P.S. Everton - Theres loads of error messages appear after I hit submit...

Re: Please Let Me Know If You’ve Been Having Problems Leaving Comments

John — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:01:02 -0000

I saw the same errors as matt, if this works I guess you've sorted it...

Re: Do You Prefer To Read The Latest Comments First Or Last?

John — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:02:49 -0000

I'd prefer older first as I read left to right, top to bottom it makes senses to read the article and then keep on reading down...

Re: Adding CommentLuv Plugin And How To Tweak Feedburner For Better Backlinks

John — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:54:29 -0000

Are you not worried that much like the "dofollow" lists this might attract more spam comments?

John's last blog post..Pick Of The Week - 17th May 2008

Re: Adding CommentLuv Plugin And How To Tweak Feedburner For Better Backlinks

John — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:47:22 -0000

@Zath Like Everton I too have a problem with spam comments from humans :( Askimet stops a lot of spam but theses still get through and I waste time moderating them.

Read John's latest blog post....Pick Of The Week - 17th May 2008>>>

Re: 13 Signs You May Be A Digg Power User

John — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:35:11 -0000

That's good.

I've always rather assumed Digg would have a similar audience to Slashdot... but perhaps a bit less techie.

Read John's latest blog post....Google Sites - An Interesting Collaborative Tool For Entrepreneurs?>>>

Re: Help!! Why Is My Site Showing HTML Code For Characters In Posts?

John — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:24:49 -0000

On this site or one of your others?
Do you have an example?

Read John's latest blog post....The Top 100 Business Blogs - Readers Choice>>>

Re: Add A WYSIWYG Comment Editor To WordPress With MCEComments

John — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:28:17 -0000

It adds a lot to the page size though (by the looks of it). So how is it affecting your server load?
It'll be interesting to see if it affects the level of comments etc over the coming month or so - perhaps you could do a follow-up?

Read John's latest blog post....The Top 100 Business Blogs - Readers Choice>>>

Re: Build A Windows Home Server For $400

John — Mon, 26 May 2008 06:13:49 -0000

I noticed one of the PC mags (PC Pro I think) currently has an article on building a PC for £100. I'm not sure if it was up to spec for WHS but it looked pretty impressive for £100!

Read John's latest blog post....Pick Of The Week - 24th May 2008>>>

Re: Ugly Sites Make Loads of Adsense Income

John — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:11:47 -0000

One of our most successful sites ever is also the ugliest, it's so ugly in fact that we don't admit to owning it - but we can't bring ourselves to change it because it just works!

It doesn't run Adsense so it's not just clicking, people buy from ugly sites too.

Read John's latest blog post....How To Start With Nothing And Make A Million In Just 28 Steps>>>

Re: Do You Want Garry Conn's Opinion?

John — Tue, 29 May 2007 09:45:11 -0000

I've be interested in any comments you have on my blog, in particular on this post: http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/...

Re: Does Google Adsense Work In Your Niche Blog

John — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:53:10 -0000

Great post Garry and very true.

Re: Writing About Really Bad Blogs Might Be A Really Bad Idea

John — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:32:41 -0000

Lets face it though if she attacks enough high profile blogs (and you all respond) she'll end up with some great backlinks...

Re: Tutorial Books For Bloggers

John — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:54:35 -0000

I'd suggest:

Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh

and

Blogging Tips What bloggers wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t tell you about blogging
by Lorelle VanFossen

Re: Alexa Sucks At Explaining How To Boost Rankings

John — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:53:17 -0000

Whats really sad is some of the articles he references do actually agree with him that the best way to increase your rank is to increase your traffic.

The tips on the articles are then aimed at making sure Alexa counts that traffic if for instance the users don't have their toolbar installed.

Specifically my conclusion says:

"ultimately driving traffic to your site is what will give you the highest ranking, once Alexa is counting the visitors."

Re: Do You Want Garry Conn’s Opinion?

John — Tue, 29 May 2007 09:45:11 -0000

I've be interested in any comments you have on my blog, in particular on this post: http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/...

Re: Does Google Adsense Work In Your Niche Blog

John — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:53:10 -0000

Great post Garry and very true.

Re: Writing About Really Bad Blogs Might Be A Really Bad Idea

John — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:32:41 -0000

Lets face it though if she attacks enough high profile blogs (and you all respond) she'll end up with some great backlinks...

Re: Tutorial Books For Bloggers

John — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:54:35 -0000

I'd suggest:

Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh

and

Blogging Tips What bloggers wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t tell you about blogging
by Lorelle VanFossen

Re: Alexa Sucks At Explaining How To Boost Rankings

John — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:53:17 -0000

Re: We're Hiring

John — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:59:54 -0000

I'd be interested, if you'd consider a Brit.

John Crickett

john -at- crickett.co.uk

http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/