Between Friends Blog

Marketing 101

    Okay, okay...I know, ENOUGH with the google ad stuff. 

I just wanted an excuse to post this cartoon so I'm going to respond to the comments posted under "Google Ads and Goals" here.

 I'm rather fed up with google ads! They clutter up a beautiful page and detract from the message the writer is giving us. It is a visual detraction from the content of the blog.

I think it diminished and demeans a blog, and I am tired of advertising everywhere...

I don't like pages that are inundated with ads either...especially when they make it hard to look for the content the page is supposed to be showing.  The thing is that the web is another venue for business and it's looking like advertising (as opposed to paying to view) is the way features are going to support themselves.  It's the same as television with commercials and newspapers with ads.  The trick is to blend ads with page content so that it is pleasing to the reader and beneficial to the advertiser.

I'm on the paying side of Google ads, and I'm charged for click-throughs, there being no real way to measure conversions. Presumably, if one of my ads popped up here and you clicked on it, Sandra would get a cut of what I would then be charged. Of course, I would be hoping that you clicked out of a sincere interest, but in this case I wouldn't begrudge the payout.

This is a good example in reminding me (or anyone) that there is always another side to the story.  As I mentioned above, there has to be benefit to the advertiser to make the relationship work. 

Sandra, how about sending me 50% of your earnings from Google ads? :D

Sounds fair! Where should I send the 50% of nothing? :)

"Today I noticed a google ad for Mammogram Screening."

It's a good on-line health service, but you have to have a scanner

Mike, Mike, Mike . . .

So, that's enough about the google ads.  Someone posted a link toTom Richmond's blog (thanks!) where he discussed his experiment with google ads.  With over 3000 daily hits, it didn't pay off for him . . . so I'm kinda thinking I have a long way to go here.

But . . . to get back to the win/win situation between advertiser and page host.  There is one other person to take into consideration and that's the reader.  So, if the content of the google ads hold no interest or benefit to you, you can always click on the widget in the top right corner of this blog.  You get to read the Between Friends comic of the day and I get to make a little money because you did.  :)

Kim Doodle

 

I cropped this little sketch of Kim out of my brainstorming book.  I like how she is slouched in the chair and the way her head is resting on the back of the seat.  And I like the little swirl under Kim's lips in the head sketch to the left.

My brainstorming book is full of doodles like these.  They usually have something to do with what I'm writing about at the time but not always.  This particular doodle was related to a gag I was writing.  I was looking for words.  See the different words written around the bottom of this sketch?  I'll write down every word that kind of means what I'm trying to say because (1) it helps me to spin off other word ideas from the ones I can see (as opposed to remembering them in my head) and (2) it gives me a selection of words to mix and match.

The trouble with sketches like these is that they're very fluid because they're done without purpose and if I decide I want to use the same illustration in my strip, it's very difficult to mimic.

At least, it's difficult for me.  Still, they're fun to do because the drawing is so free and relaxed and just goes where it goes.  And I have to admit that I think they're fun to look at too.

Google Ads and Goals

Okay, so I completed one of my New Year's resolutions and put up Google Ads.  I hope this is the first of many goals I will accomplish this year. 

Of course, I am under no illusions that my google ads are going to pay off my mortgage . . . but it is a beginning in my quest to make this blog pay for itself.  Last I checked, I hadn't made any headway in that particular area.

If nothing else, I have to admit that these google ads have become a source of entertainment for me.  Everytime I post, I wonder which ads are going to appear.  (The ads are supposed to appear in connection to the blog content) 

Take the hacking cough I talked about last week.  Google ads for Vicks and Mucinex are still showing up.  They don't seem to be willing to go away . . . much like my cough.  ( I'm feeling much better by the way but not 100%)

Today I noticed a google ad for Mammogram Screening.  This has appeared, obviously, because of my post, Mammogram Smiles.  I don't know why, but watching these ads pop up gives me a chuckle.  It's almost like a game to me.

Which leads me to believe that I really need to get out of the house a bit more.  Ahhh, another resolution to aspire to . . . and I'm working on it, believe me.

What I have in common with Shania Twain

 

Wellllll . . .  we're both Canadian.  That's one.

The second thing I have in common with Shania Twain is the sentiment expressed in the above comic.  Kinda.  Sorta.

I was about to post a quote from Shania ( I feel confident in referring to her on a first name basis seeing as we're compatriots and all. ) and I suddenly remembered this strip.  "Wow", I thought, "Her quote and my comic have practically the exact, same, identical message . . . kinda, sorta."

"It's important to give it all you've got while you have the chance."

-Shania Twain 

You see the similarites?  What's that you say?  Not really?

Well, okay . . . maybe the sentiment is not exactly the same.  But what's interesting here (at least to me) is that this is an example of where a strip idea comes from in reverse.

I realize that probably doesn't make very much sense but I've just deleted my explanation 6 times and I don't think I'm going to be able to make this much clearer.

What I'm trying to say is that, if I had read this quote before I had written this strip, I can see where I would have gotten the inspiration to write this strip.  So this is an example of where strip ideas come from . . . kinda, sorta.

Rock on, Shania!

   

Mammogram Smiles

 

A friend of mine e-mailed to tell me that her mother-in-law saw my mammogram strip (above) tacked to the wall at the Ontario Breast Screening Clinic.  How cool is that?  Seriously, nothing is more flattering to a cartoonist than having their strip cut out and stuck to a refrigerator or office wall.  It gave a nice little lift to my day. :)

Strip ideas 101

  

People always ask me where I get my ideas for my strips.  My usual answer goes something like this:  " Oh . . . just around . . . you know . . . newspaper articles, magazines, stuff that happens in life . . . uhhhhh . . ."

It's really kind of difficult to explain.  Something just strikes you as odd or ironic or funny or stupid or maybe something irritates and it's like a smart alec comeback in your mind.  Sorta.  Then you take that grain of whatever the idea is and you apply it.  It's gets shaped and expanded upon and stretched and turned over and around.  And there you have it.  Understand?

A little grain of real life influences a train of thought and becomes the nucleus of a broader idea.  Strips might reflect a nuance of the creator's life but they're not a specific reflection of the creator's life. 

I just wanted to make that clear.  You know, for the record.

*cough*

New Year's Resolution Number ONE

As you may have noticed, I've rearranged the furniture around this place.  And I've finally put up some Google Ads.  I am truly a marketing wizard, am I not?

  I'm getting a little chuckle out of seeing which ads appear after new posts.  Like, for instance . . . yesterday I posted about a dry hacking cough and today I see ads about breaking up mucus . . .

Anyway, believe it or not, putting up Google Ads and adding an RSS feed was a New Year's resolution.  And it's DONE.  One down, thirty-seven thousand more to go.

Oil of Oregano

Here's a totally, non-cartoon related post.

Quite a few years ago, I was getting my hair cut and I had a coughing fit.  It was very embarrassing but it just wouldn't stop.  The whole salon was looking at me.  My hairdresser (the one who left me to go teach at Niagara College) asked if he could give me something.  I said yes . . . anything.  He gave me a small glass of water with three drops of oil of oregano in it.  My coughing stopped.  Immeditately.  I couldn't believe it.  I went right out and bought some.

I've been waylaid by a DRY HACKING COUGH since last Sunday.  I've done nothing but lie on the couch and watch The West Wing.  (I'm almost through season three.)  I've been doing all the regular stuff I usually do to soothe a cough . . . lemon tea, Vicks Vaporub on my chest, spraying my throat with Cloreseptic, using a humidifier in my room at night and while those things have helped a bit, I haven't really been getting that much relief. 

Last night, while coughing out what remains of my lungs, I finally remembered about the oil of oregano tucked away in the corner of my cupboard.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?

It's pretty powerful stuff.  The smell is intense and you feel it burn as it goes down.  But it stops the coughing.  I'm going to be taking it all day and continue to take it until I feel better.

If you're dealing with this monster-cough, (it's really going around my neck-of-the-woods) you might want to give this a try.  You'll probably have to get it at a health food store and it would be a good idea to talk to them about it.  Obviously, if you're pregnant or nursing, don't take anything without talking to your doctor.  And keep it away from your eyes.

Now I'm going to go and have another shot of this stuff and get to work.  Season four of The West Wing is going to have to wait.

The Jay Kennedy Scholarship

Jay Kennedy Scholarship

The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist. The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention attended by many of the world’s leading cartoonists.

Applicants must be college students in the United States, Canada or Mexico that will be in their Junior or Senior year of college during the 2009-2010 academic year. Applicants DO NOT have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

Along with a completed entry form, applicants  are required to send 5 samples of their own cartooning artwork; noting if and where the work has been published (either print  or web).Please send copies. DO NOT send original artwork.

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 6, 2009

The applications will be judged by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) and the number of scholarships given out and their amounts will be at the discretion of the NCSF.