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Special launch contest!  Before we launch the new widget, one final order of business is to create a new CMF logo.
The current CMF logo shows several ads overlapping, to highlight the way that you buy an ad and share views with other ads on the same spot - hence the low cost to advertise. (and in my opinion looks like crap.  Shh, don’t tell Ben)  However, the logo was something Ben knocked together quite quickly, and we (meaning Turnip & Stan) are not 100% happy with it.  So we’d like to run a quick contest to get a better logo created.

The requirements: Create a 125×125 logo that will fit above the “CMF Ads” text in the banner at the top of the page, where the coloured boxes are currently. It doesn’t have to follow the “overlapping ads” concept - this is entirely up to you.

The prize: 80 credits (worth $20), and the usage of your logo across the CMF network.

Terms:
1. The 80 credits must be spent on advertising.
2. You can submit multiple entries if you wish.
3. Submissions should be sent to “admin at cmfads dot com”
4. The contest will close once we launch our advertising services.
5. Logo must be your own work and not belong to someone else.

Turnip’s contest hints:  Since I have a say in picking the winner, kowtowing to the turnip improves your chances of winning!  The ideal logo should be simple and scalable;  meaning you can recognize it when its dimensions are tiny when used as an icon, yet looks nice when used normal sized in a header.  The logo should say “CMF”, “CMF ADS”, or no text.  Look at the websites I design, some say they all look the same.   It should be easy for a designer to appeal to my tastes (No bare breasts please). 

Below are some entries we’ve already received.

  

Don’t let the greatness of these 3 entries intimidate you.  Submit your own ideas or try to appeal to Stan and Ben, the other judges.  Stan likes fantasy baseball, 70’s hairstyles, and Jamie Kennedy Movies.  Ben likes fruity colors, the comedy of Bill Bailey, and stealing lupins from the rich to give to the poor.

Not the most brilliant of discoveries, but a connection certain people like to deny exists.  Traffic exchanges destroy your Alexa rank.  There is no point in arguing the value of an Alexa rank, much like Google’s page rank, it has no value in its own.  However, certain advertising companies use it to rank sites. If you do paid posts or sell ads through an agency, then ranking well in Alexa helps.  I’d rather get $60 a post than $5.  Look what happened to turnipofpower.com after the infamous asshat incident.  I went from an average of 450 readers a day down to 300 readers a day.  The loss of those 150 toolbar droppers turned out to be a huge positive.

Look at another former member of Entrecard, Lyndi from Nice2All.com.  She stopped using that traffic exchange a few days earlier than I did. 

The question is why?  My bounce rates, though improved, are still relatively high.  My two current sources of traffic, Stumble Upon traffic and Search Engines, have similarly high bounce rates.  Thus the theory that Alexa penalizes high bounce rates is out.  Stumble traffic is also social traffic, so you can’t say Alexa hates social traffic.  Conspiracy theories about Spottt vs Entrecard?  Wishful thinking, but not likely.

The answer must be the exchange of pageviews.  Say 100 people all have the Alexa toolbar.  If those 100 toolbar users load the same sites routinely, that would be detected.  It’s the reciprocal nature of the traffic exchange that is detected and penalized.  Google does something similar with pageranks.  If I link to a site, and that site links back to me, then the effect of those links is weaker than a one way link would be.

This is why my own social network,  CMF ADS won’t be repeating this critical error.  The only benefit of visiting another member’s site is the pleasure gained from reading it.  Sure, when we see something we like we advertise there, Stumble the post, Digg, Mixx, Buzz, or whatever social media seems appropriate.  But traffic exchange?  Never.

Midnight of the new year signaled the reopening of CMF Ads.   Featuring a redesigned blog directory, redesigned blog promotion page, a blogging resource forum, and a soon to be released widget that pays publishers for ads shown on their site.  What began as a closed beta in October 2008 is now open to everyone meeting our blog quality standards.  The relaunch is actually a two-part launch.  Everything but the new widget is available as of January 1st 2009.  The new widget is being tested and should be finished shortly.   I hope all my readers who aren’t already members of CMF ADs stop by and sign up for the forums as a first step.

Why the need for a relaunch?   There were a number of issues with the old setup.  Let’s look at a few of the issues and how they were addressed. 

1. There was no unified look to the network: We now have a familiar theme throughout each area of CMF Ads.  The forum, promote,  directory, and the soon to be released advertising control panel section.
2. There were too many URLs:  Between ec-ads, cmfads, and Ben’s forum, that was too many URLs to remember.  We are now using one main URL http://cmfads.com for everything.
3. Some parts of the network were under utilized:  The community blog didn’t really catch on.  Like people have time to post on their own blogs even?  Nor did the community chat get used much.  I blame twitter.  Curse you twitter!  That’s why it was a beta network.  I designed all the modules as proof of concept.  We kept what worked and cut out or redesigned what didn’t.
4. We needed a unified login:  Under the old system as an admin, I had 7 different logins to remember.  Now I have one.
5. The ad network needed to be automated: I used to mail the code to each publisher by hand and then work with them to make the code function.  I had to upload all ads to the server manually.  This was too labor intensive a process.  Now everything but blog approval should be automated. 
6. The beta servers ran off shared hosting: We have now moved to a dedicated server, giving us more control, better reliability, and the ability to handle a large number of users.

The following letter was sent out to current CMF Members:

“Today sees the public launch of the brand new CMF Network, a number of interlinked resources for bloggers.

 * What’s different about CMF?

We are bloggers just like you. We understand the challenges that bloggers face and we have first-hand experience of what blogging is really like. We don’t just spend a day or two looking at blogs then go off to do something else.

We don’t just run the CMF services - we are reading, commenting and promoting blogs every single day.

 * What’s new since the previous version?

If you’ve been using CMF prior to this announcement, here’s what has changed:

   1. Brand new link directory - we are now using vbAdvanced Links Directory, which is fully integrated with the forums. We have already migrated most of the links over from the old CMF Direct, but we couldn’t migrate links for the people who haven’t joined the forums yet.
   2. Control panel - in the future this will allow you to manage your ads, but for now you can go here to see all of your sites, and upload a 125×125 image for each. Please go and upload your images so you’re all set up for when we launch our new widget and advertising services.
   3. Only one login ID required - sign up at the forums, and you can use the whole of CMF.
   4. Only one URL to remember - www.cmfads.com. Everything is now running on the one domain, so there’s no need to worry about all the URLs we had before.
   5. Unified theme and navigation - all sites have the same look and feel.”

2008 was a great year at Turnipofpower.com and I hope it was a great year for your blog as well.  2008 saw the rise and fall of Entrecard, pages ranks, and alexa ratings.  In 2008 I reached 223 posts and 3250 comments, with a high of  1,103 visitors on December 5th of this year.  For 2009 I hope to achieve several website related goals.  Unfortunately, halting any future creation of photoshopped image monstrosities is not on the list.  So put on your asshats and let’s ring in the new year!

2009 Website Related Goals

1. Make the CMF Network a serious contender in the world of blog advertising.  The code has already been redesigned to create a single login with a  simplified interface.  We have moved to a dedicated server, and will be relaunching in early 2009.  Look for everything except the new widget to be ready first week of January.  You know you will hear all about it here once the coding and testing is finished.

2.  Deliver more opinion articles on social networking and blogging in general.  Of course I will continue to provide blogging tips at turnipofpower.com. 

3. Improve my knowledge of php and WordPress to make some of the cool ideas I have into plugins. 

4. I’d like to design and release my own theme sometime this year.  Something for Internet marketers.  Take a look at Dark Shades, my proof of concept project I worked on over the holidays.  Not my ideal niche, but it was the only merchant I had access to with an up-to-date datafeed.  It was a fun experiment and nearly finished.  Once a month I upload a text file and it repopulates the database.

How about you?  Do you have any blogging related goals  for 2009?