Theft – intellectual property
I was about to link to this comic strip from the scopes, but once I got into it, I discovered that there’s a very clever – clever as far as I’m concerned – pitch for sponsorship. That pitch comes before the real strip is available. Nice way to sneak in adverts.
Personally, I’m rather fond of the cat in this strip, too. So that one made me giggle, wonder if I could steal that? “Harry Da Vinci Ring – the horrible scopes.”
Shades of the future?
I might have to switch from tortillas in my quest for the perfect image. On a related note, if I still lived in the Phoenix area, I’d be looking to switch to that one dentist, too.
All it leads back to is a little more marketing, and I’m trying to figure what’s not too intrusive yet carries the message. Besides, my eternal internal debates, when to sell out (not like I’ve got any offers pending, but it could happen).
First draft.
Second draft, but oddly, not much less of a footprint.
It’s not unrelated:
Mercury – being backwards and all – means I’ve got a little extra time to assess business decisions in the last year, and consider directions and goals for the coming year. What worked, what was a success, what didn’t work, and where to go from here. What worked? Scopes. Length and breadth has finally hit a comfortable spot for me. Not too comfortable, but there’s a process involved, and I’ve got most of that worked out. I still felt a twinge of panic when I looked at all of 2005, all those blank page holders.
Some mystical chatter is bit too much. That spooks folks. Plus the “free” horoscopes are losing a little ground, as folks realize that the stuff on the front page is last week’s material. But the flip side of that, the site is gaining in paying customers. I was offended by a sales guy who called me up to talk about astrology when all he wanted was to sell me ad space. Of the ads that I’ve tried, nothing’s worked. I tend to steer clear of various “new age” directories because those, it’s been my experience, cost a lot more than the business generated.
Another success, and one I aim to expand upon is the weekly audio file. It burns up as much as 10% of the site’s bandwidth. Not bad, except that it runs between 1 and 3 megs in size each week. Next year, I plan to archive all the weekly meanderings. Plus, I’m a little closer to having my lectures available on CD.
Unrelated to anything:
Poisson de jour (different day, different fish):
Nice fish for a Monday afternoon.
(Watermelon 4-inch worm, #2 worm hook – she was a fighter)
Really unrelated (except for travel):
As of last count, Austin was ahead of Seattle, way ahead of Dallas or Houston, too. Since we’ve got all this free WiFi, it means there’s a solution to the traffic problem: don’t drive. Join me on the sidewalk.
