Bush Mackel

I really should have my WP plugins listed somewhere on my site (for all eternity) but seriously – I already have enough tabs at the top don’t I?

Maybe I’ll lump it into my About tab at some point, but until then I thought I’d share one of my favourite wordpress plugins – the Shylock AdSense plugin!

This is one plugin that has been serving me well for quite sometime now and I think it could do you kids a world of good too.

Why I Love the Shylock AdSense Plugin
Not too long ago, I was looking for a plugin to manage my AdSense ads. A lot of you were nice enough to recommend some, but on the whole I found them to either be a bit too simple for my purposes or a bit too unwieldy. So after a bit of searching on my own, I found the Shylock AdSense plugin.

In a nutshell, it allows you to easily put AdSense code into your posts and to have different code bases for various situations such as individual posts, main page or other situations like that. And of course you get to configure how you want these ads to be positioned and it really is easy as pie to setup – But this isn’t why I love this plugin.

Imho, the best part about the Shylock AdSense plugin is the ability to not have to use AdSense code. “Say what?” That’s right, you don’t have to use AdSense code with the plugin. For instance, you’ll notice that my 300×250 AdSense block has been replaced by an ad for Dual Monitor Babes. Not AdSense, but still taken care of through the Shylock plugin. Oh, and another thing you’ll notice is that the 300×250 ad cycles through 6 various ads how is that accomplished? I did it through a bit of JavaScript I put in the plugin’s option setting.

Final Thoughts on Shylock
This is just a great plugin. At this point, I don’t really hang my hat on my AdSense earnings, but I know some of you do. And with Shylock’s aggressive AdSense options, you might want to give it a look, especially to optimize some of your older posts.

Sony’s Playstation 3 was released in the States on November 17, 2006. If you do the math, that’s about one and a half years ago.

Up to release day and even after, lots of game fans had to ask themselves, “Why should I buy a PS3?”

Today, many are still haunted by this question and unfortunately – I still don’t think Sony has a real answer.

Do you?

Where Are the Games?
Personally, my biggest problem with the PS3 is the games. Namely, that there aren’t any worth buying the system for. And coming from ME, that’s a big statement because not only will I often buy things JUST to buy them, but I OF COURSE love video games.

You look at the 360, and you have Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock…And going back to the PS3, I’m really struggling to come up with ONE must have game. In fact, just looking at this “Top PS3 Games” list from Gamespot, I STILL don’t see anything I want to get the system for that’s currently out and not already available for the 360.

What the Devil is Sony Doing?!
I’ve heard on various sites that Sony is finally turning the proverbial corner with their PS3 profits. But I honestly just don’t understand how that can be. Again, me and friends are hardcore gamers and only two of them own PS3s. One of them also owns a 360 and says that the ONE game he has for PS3 is “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight” and that PSN is “WEAK” compared to XBL.

I know I’ve complained about it a lot before so I won’t drag it out much longer, but I really still can’t believe that PS3 has up ’till now done SO LITTLIE with their online network especially knowing how successful the original XBox live was.

So My Question To You
Why buy a PS3? I’m desperately searching for a reason to buy a PS3 but even in my warped video game mind, I can’t rationalize the purchase. If you have a PS3 now, any thoughts on all of this? And if you don’t have a PS3 – Any chance you’re going to get one anytime soon? (Like before Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out?)

One of the great things about having a site like this is when you’re in unchartered waters, you can throw yourself upon the helpfulness of your community!

If you couldn’t tell, I need some contest help from all of you out there in blog land… This site is coming up on its 1 year anniversary next week and to celebrate, I’m definitely having a contest. (wahoo!)

The problem is, I’ve never really run a contest before.

How Do You Go About Marketing a Contest?
So the first thing I really need help with is how to market this bad boy. Obviously when you have a contest, one of the big things you try and do is bring in new readers. And common sense says that if potential new readers don’t know about your contest, they’re not going to become new readers because they’ll never find your site.

Now I already know that one of the contest conditions is – “If you blog about the contest I’m going to give you better odds to win it”, but I need to know of places that specifically promote blog contests that I can get my little site onto. I could search into this info myself, but why waste the time when I’m sure SOMEONE out there has already talked about it on their site ad nauseum. (So especially if you have a post about it, please feel free to throw in the link on your comment).

What Do You Kids Like Nowadays?
By far this is more interesting part of my plea, but I’m asking you guys for some ideas as what you’d like to win! I already have in my head a few things that I think would make great prizes, but I know you can probably offer up some stuff that I haven’t thought of yet. And while there’s no guarantees that I’ll follow your suggestions (especially if it’s way expensive) – I’ll at least ENTERTAIN the thoughts. (#):)

Thanks everyone!

Oh, and I updated the blog earnings report with more ppl’s figures – So make sure you check it out!

2008 is indeed off to a great start thanks to my wonderful sponsors!

When I first put up my ads, I’m not sure what I really was expecting. And truthfully, even though they’re currently only bringing in a little bit of income, every little bit helps when it comes to hosting fees.

But most importantly, January’s success paves the way for bigger and better things for the site that I’m very much looking forward to. (#):)

I really hope your January’s were as good to you as mine was to me!

You may have noticed something a bit odd with this post… Mainly that I’m the only one listed so far! I’m sure that will change soon but lately I’ve been a lot more organized with my posts (in an effort to get what I want online ON TIME) and today is the day for this bad boy.

So you know the deal! If you feel like sharing, please drop a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll make sure to get your totals up. But remember that this is BLOG EARNINGS for a SPECIFIC BLOG for LAST MONTH! So if you made $1000 but it was from your collection of websites, I’m not that interested!