Via googlfied:
According to Blogger Buzz Google is looking for user experience research blogging with google blogger. As mentioned in the FAQ you first need to sign up. After you have signed up you may or may not be selected depending on what they are looking for:
For each study, we need to make sure that we invite people who match our target user profile for the product we are researching. We also want to get a good balance of ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience, so please be honest with your answers. It’s easier for us to match you to a suitable study when we have more information about you, so if you fill in as much of our sign-up form as you can, it’s more likely that you will be invited to participate.
There are different experience sessions where you will work with a google researcher 1 on 1, on the phone, or in a group. It looks like some of the research will be done in person at google. Except you have to find your own way there. The pay looks pretty decent too.. “typically we pay $75 for each hour that you spend with a Google researcher”. The FAQ also mentions the average time commitment is in the range of 1-1.5 hours during business hours.
I think this is great customer service. It seems they want to see how users view and work with their goods. It also gives an opportunity for users in the test to request features, changes to existing features, as well as having features removed. I wonder if this is a result of googlecanyouhear me?
All in all I think this is a smart move and I’m quite curious what will come out of this.
google, blogger, blog
I went for it. I upgraded (finally) from WP v1.2 to v2.1. Along with it I chose a new theme for beginner code. I really like that its very symmetrical. I didn’t want to change partly because it’s something different. But why not.
Upgrading Word Press was fairly easy. Just follow the steps outlined at the WP blog.
Then I chose this simple-tech theme from the Word Press Theme viewer. I chose it because it looks easier to tweak for the adsense heat map. It was hard to find themes that I liked visually, that also had a left column out of the box.
Darren Barefoot has put out a survey of 16 blogging questions entitled “Why Do You Blog”. He’s collecting data for a speech he is giving in Vancouver Canada in Feb. He wants to hear from anyone who has created a blog. Take the survey and random submissions will win a prize. Some of the prizes include; an iPod Shuffle, 2 books, or a $50 Canadian gift certificate. All you need to do is link to his survey!
I think it’s worth the entry just to hear his findings.
Why did I start beginnercode.com? It first started out of curiosity. What was the point? To me it first seemed almost like a personal diary. But as time moved on I realized I could use it to share any of my programming or tech experiences with people who were maybe looking for the same information. It’s been a while since I’ve written any programming related posts lately. My family life has taken more precedence. However, I haven’t lost interest!
There is much to write about. So much web, so little time…
Contests, iPod Shuffle, Survey, Free Stuff
I have had the recent pleasure of being added to the BlogMad beta testers. I haven’t ever tested anything before so this has been really quite exciting…
BlogMad is a surfing/ traffic service. If you have an account there you can use it to view other blogs. While viewing other blogs, you receive credits. You can use the credits for various items. You can upload a banner from your site, and purchase impressions to be shown to other viewers while they surf. This can bring you traffic. You can also use your credits for other things.
I figured I would make a good tester for a few reasons;
1. I’m not biased. Although I have found some similar services I did dislike, I still gave them a whirl. There are some I do like, but I’m always open to others.
2. I’m fairly new to blogging. Beginnercode has only been up since August.
Firstly I had to login to the site and check it out. I looked for general items as a user. For example, I found asthetics that were broke – or ugly. I found some things, but nothing major. There were a few navigational issues I found to be quirky etc. Some of this is to be expected due to it being Beta, that’s what we testers are for!
Then I looked for functionality of links and features within the site and did the same thing.
Some of the nice features I like:
- 10 Second Surf Times!
Update 2/15/06
– The 10 sec surf time is only for this Betea run * see comment #1 *
- Control which blogs you view/block/Or add to favorites.
- del.icio.us is incorporated into the blogbar
(Add favorite blogs direct to your del.icio.us account!)
- You can edit your action bar (your account navigation bar).
- Play Games to win credits.
- Transfer credits to other users.
- Messaging between other users with an email type account.
- Buy text ads and banner space with credits.
- Random Credit Prizes.
(I was awarded 95 bonus points while taking these screenshots!)
- Referral credits – get credits just by referring someone to join.
- Blog Rankings. This rating depends on how many blogs you have viewed and how many have viewed you. If you gain in ranking you get additional benifits such as: Additional credits per referral; More messaging space; BlogMad lotto tickets; and you can add more blogs to your account.
In the end what it means for you – More traffic (ideally). I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops as it goes live. Click the banner below to get an account early before they go live. They are already accepting referrals!
BlogMad, traffic, blog traffic
I’ve tried a few of these blog traffic surfing sites. Some have been successful. They have given me traffic etc. Some visitors come back again outside of the realm of the ’surf bars’. It’s nice to have a few regular readers. Unfortunately what I haven’t seen from this type of traffic is any affiliate or adsense revenue.
I have noticed some things. I noticed that over at BlogClicker, the credits I receive for surfing have started to ‘lessen’. Over at blogAdvance I’ve had times where my account shows I’ve earned manual credits, but I was unable to transfer them or allocate them in the control panel. The control panel would show I hade none, yet the surf bar would show at least 10 credits. At BlogExplosion I’m pretty pleased.
I haven’t gone one day without winning some mystery credits. The user interface is pretty easy. I was able to assign surfing credits and banner credits intuitively. I’ve voted for blogs in the ‘battle of the blogs’ contest. (I’ve won and lost some of those battles as well). You can even rent your blog, or have your blog rented. The rentor gets a position on another bloggers page for a fee of credits. That also generates some traffic. I saving up my credits for a reputable page to hopfully rent some space. There are many opportunities to gain credits.
Today I received a newsletter from BlogMad. I signed up there after finding out they haven’t launched yet. After all the experiencees I’ve been having, I’m quite curious how well their service will work. I hope it isn’t a letdown. They are promising a 1:1 ratio! The newsletter included some screenshots of the soon to be launched site.
News and main page
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Directories
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Your referral Page
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IRC chat Page
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The newsletter also included a list of sites that will be Beta testing. I would really like to be part of that. It would be nice to be able to give input from a ‘users’ point of view. They are including a mascot naming contest which the prize is of course some credits and bragging rights. They are also still accepting signups with bonus credits for referrals. As far as the irc thing goes, I’m not too sure about that. Iv’e seen quite a few channels get taken over. Hopefully that no longer happens. If your still interested in signing up, you can still get in on the early referral credits. Just give the button a click 
