Antbag.com

For the past week or two, I’ve seen quite a few posts about Google Page Rank, and the hit that many popular blogs took this go around. It was first reported that two ultra-popular blogs that I regularly read, Copyblogger and Problogger, went from a PR6 to a PR4. This past week, it seems that they have recovered. Problogger is now a PR6 and Copyblogger has actually gained rank landing at a PR7.

The apparent reason the Page Rank of so many sites took a turn for the worse, is based on the sites having paid links. Not sure how this will affect services like Text Link Ads, but I’m sure it’s not good news for them.

I’ve never had paid links here before, mainly because I didn’t qualify back when I applied for TLA. At the time, my blog had a Page Rank of 3, and I think a PR4 was required before your site was considered established enough to be profitable. With this update, seems I’m a PR5 now. Although I’ve placed ads on this site from time to time, I’ve never really set out to directly monetize it. What money I have made from it has been in more of an indirect way(WP design/customization), not through ads.

Why does it matter?

So the golden question is, how important is the Page Rank of your site? Maki, from popular money-making blog, Dosh Dosh, says it doesn’t matter. He makes the point that that what Google does is completely out of anyones control, and bloggers/siteowners don’t need systems that use Page Rank as a metric for measuring comparative value.

If your ad revenue is affected just because PageRank changes, then you’re not doing something right. Not exploring the right monetization options. Not having a long term business plan. Not making full use of the traffic you have. Not getting the right advertisers who know the value of your site.

While I agree with him, I must admit that I get a big chunk of the traffic on this site through Google. Ad revenue aside, if Page Rank determines how high on the list your site is, then you can’t deny it’s somewhat important. Especially when you consider that Google is seemingly taking over the world…

Tags: Blogging, Web by Anthony ∗ 18 Comments »

I admit it. I didn’t really get the appeal of the tumblelog(aka miniblogs). I could see the value of having the mini-blog in your sidebar, for things you might like to share, but aren’t really full-blog-post-worthy, but aside from that…..

While checking out an incoming link the other day, it turned out to be from a friend of mine with a Tumblr tumblelog. So I decided to sign up, and check it out.

Of course, the first thing I did to mine, before even thinking about posting, was to start manipulating the template. I ended up making it look like a mini version of this site…..which only took about 20 minutes. Tumblr is like a super mini version of Wordpress, without so many options. You have no sidebar. Basically, you have four six ways that you can post:

1. text
2. video
3. quote
4. link
5. chat
6. photo

It’s that simple. It’s actually fun.

So, what’s it actually good for?

For me, the value is creating a cool place to bookmark places on the web I run across, and to post things I want to remember. Does anyone actually read these things? I really don’t know. Whether they read mine or not, it doesn’t really matter to me. I like it because it’s extremely easy to use, and it’s easy to change the design however you want. If you want to see what I find interesting, you can check mine out at antbag.tumblr.com.

Tags: Blogging, Web by Anthony ∗ 5 Comments »

This is one of those emails I got forwarded to me. This one got my attention……..

“There was a family on holiday in Australia for a week and a half when the husband, wife and their 15 year old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the Navy and has had some scuba experience.

The son wanted a picture of his mom and dad in all their gear so he got the under water camera ready to go. When it came to taking the picture the dad realized that the son looked like he was panicking as he took it and gave the “OK” hand sign to see if he was alright.

The son took the picture and swam to the surface and back to the boat as quick as he could so the mom and dad followed to see if he was OK. When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat and absolutely panicking.

When the parents asked why he said “there was a shark behind you” and the dad thought he was joking……..but the skipper of the boat said it was true………but they wouldn’t believe him. As soon as they got back to the hotel, they loaded the picture onto the laptop and this is what they saw. (continue reading to see the picture)

[Read more →]

Tags: Personal by Anthony ∗ 11 Comments »

Ok, so where did I come up with a name like “Reverence”? Honestly, I’m not sure. I know I heard the word used from time to time growing up in the church, and I suppose that’s where it came from. I was looking at this theme, and the thoughts that came to mind were something very quiet and settled. So the word just sort of popped in my mind, and I went with it.

This theme is one of my favorite dark themes so far. It has smooth, linear look with a matte finish. Hope you guys like it.

Tags: Wordpress Themes by Anthony ∗ 21 Comments »