Friday, February 16, 2007

The height of self-interest

As The Editor (I like that he always signs comments that way, as if he is a super hero who doesn't want us to know his secret identity) correctly identified Wednesday, the URL of this blog has changed.

It is now, officially, although the old address still works. I openly admit that buying my name in URL form is a lame thing to have done, and I encourage you to take the piss about it ("make fun of me" for those of you playing along at home). Although, if you do, I will storm out of the room like Preston did on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, or like when Eric hit me in the face with a piece of candy at Angie Luukkonen's house.

In a world where there are several free blog providers, there is no particularly good reason for me to have paid somebody so that I can use my own name. It doesn't make it right, but here's why I did:

Despite several years of consistent failure, I still have dreams of being the sort of author that people would actually give money to. Keen readers will note that just on Wednesday I was yammering on about plans to write a book this summer. If I ever do get something published, I think having my own site would become valuable in promoting myself so as to be able to dupe a publisher into paying me to write another book, and on and on.

That bastard Kiwi has already claimed, and is currently owned by Eun Cho of North Bergen, NJ. What the hell he's doing with my name, I do not know. Perhaps he is banking on my success even more than I am, hoping to extort shit loads of money from a future successful me. Well, you're shit out of luck, Cho, because I am now the true and rightful owner of my name in domain.

In the two months (or so) that I've had Google AdSense I have earned a whopping $11.24, which isn't exactly going to buy me a new house, but does cover the cost of the name.

The domain name is about all that will be changing at the moment -- I'll continue to use Blogger as my provider for the foreseeable future. Obviously if I had a published book I would want a more coherent website, but that's a way off. Even without that, though, I have long had visions of better incorporating my multiple blogs under a single banner. That would require money, which, at the current rate, advertising is unlikely to provide (it is against the rules for me to tell you to click on the ads -- cough, cough).

When I can be arsed, the URL for my Welsh blog will change to, following the trend of my (almost never used) Spanish blog (so rarely updated that I refuse to link to it). I may then create my own sort of Welcome page that then directs to my multiple blogs -- this depends on available time and my ability to come up with a good splash page (I am thinking of stealing Shooty the Death Panda as my logo*). So, uhm, it will probably never happen.

*That, or something incorporating a pint glass.


Eric said...

Chris, why would I click on an add for fully serviced Cardiff Apartments?
Oh, right it earns you a bright shiny quarter....
Oh, and I've never told you this, I meant to hit you in the face with that piece of candy.

DaviMack said...

Check out Makiko on Promoting Amazon, and Blog as Ad Lab. She's a full-time blogger, gets paid to write a blog for some Swiss folk, and actually makes a wee bit of money with her ads. What's she think of it? Basically, if you're in it for the money, you're in for a disappointment.

I don't believe you about the Spanish blog. Nobody does. So there.

heatherfeather said...

well, i wouldn't just ordinarily click on an ad asking me to discover my welsh ancestry (i don't got none), but the no-pressure atmosphere gave me an unprecedented amount of freedom to click on whatever i like.

and looky - i got no welsh ancestry.

Wierdo said...

Funniest never mind the buzzcocs EVER!!

clicky clicky? how dare you

Huw said...

This will go down in the history books as the start of the empire of Cope.