Screwed Over By Google? We’re Not The Only Ones…

Checking through the weblogs, this interesting search query was found within the refferals from MSN:

http://search.msn.co.uk/…

Now this query was made by someone else who had also been screwed over(not surprisingly, that person decided to use MSN instead of Google search) over alleged Click Fraud. Having a look at the results, VSNetwork.co.uk came up in third and fourth spots, but there are many other sites that were screwed over:

http://www.domainblog.net

http://www.itsmyjourney.com

http://business.timesonline.co.uk <-- Really good article here

Who needs Google Adsense anyway? Right? If you have also been screwed over by Google, please feel free to leave a comment.

TheShishaShop.com Will Be At This Years Brick Lane Festival

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TheShishaShop.com has confirmed its place at this years Brick Lane Festival in association with EMEP. The big day is set for the 10th September 2006 and if its anything like last year, it will be an grand day out for all!
Here’s a press release:

“Its party time once again for the most famous street of London… After Coronation Street (probably!).

Held every second Sunday of September, the Festival is now firmly established on the London calendar of events attracting over 60,000 people who come to enjoy the rich mix of culture, history, live music, films and food.

Fast becoming recognised as the alternative to Notting Hill Carnival, the event combines the excitement and buzz of a street festival, alfresco eating, fun fair, Brick Lane’s own Chili Film Festival (debuting this year) and a relaxing outdoor music concert with local and international performers.

Add to this, the huge diversity of cultures and the vibrant neighbouring street markets the Festival always proves to be a resounding success for the whole family.”

We hope to see you all there!

Its Been Quite A While Since The Last Post

Alot has happened in the last 3 weeks, especially with TheShishaShop.com project that has taken alot of time and resources. Other significant news relates to Google and its Adsense network. We were accused of click fraud and have had our account terminated! More on than later on as additional posts are added to make up for the last three weeks!

Google Closes Adsense Account

In quite a surprising move, here an email that was recieved from Google:

” It has come to our attention that invalid clicks and/or impressions
have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have
therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that
this was a necessary step to protect the interest of the AdWords
advertisers.

A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks or impressions on any
ad(s), including but not limited to clicks and/or impressions generated
by:

- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the
layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason

These or any other such activities that violate Google AdSense Terms
and Conditions and program polices may have led us to disable your
account. The Terms and Conditions and program polices can be viewed at:

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_GB
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_GB

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further
participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The
earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected
advertisers.

If you feel that this decision was made in error, and can maintain in
good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the actions or
negligence of you or those you are responsible for, such as employees
and family members, you may appeal the closing of your account. To do
so, please contact us only through this form:

http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py?contact=invalid_clicks_appeal&hl=en_GB

If Google decides to evaluate your appeal, we will do our best to
inform you quickly and will proceed with appropriate action as
necessary. If we have reached a decision on your appeal, subsequent or
duplicate appeals may not be considered.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team”

This of course was a ridiculous and outragous claim and an immediate appeal was made! This decision by Google has greatly affected the VSNetwork of sites including live sites such as TokyoDriftTheSoundtrack.com and PowerTheBrain.com. Let’s up Google decides to do the right thing and re-enable the account!

The Advertising Slogan Generator For When You Cant Think Of One Yourself

After struggling to come up with a good slogan for TheShishaShop.com, a quick Google search came up with a Slogan Generator at this site here: thesurrealist.co.uk. So off we went o a lucky dip in the hopes of a decent slogan and this is what we came out with:

You Too Can Have A Shisha Like Mine.

Whatever You’re Into, Get Into Shisha

Pretty cool eh?  Go on, you know you want to give it a spin! Link is here.

Relax Smoking Non-Tobacco Molasses with TheShishaShop.com

This was suppose to be kept underwrapped until it was completely ready but sod it, the latest venture to come out of the doors is TheShishaShop.com, yet another new project to add the ranks! This will be a full online store that is designed to go hand in hand with another venture, but enough said for now…

TheShishaShop.com

Here’s whats on the site right now:

Take Socialising to the Next Level and Experience the pleasures of the Middle Eastern Shisha Pipes with flavoured tobacco or non-tobacco herbal molasses.

Be the Envy of your Friends

But just what is Shisha? Well Shisha (Also called hookah, hooka, shesha, huka, nargile, narghile, shisha, shesha, sheesha, nargila, or shishah and even Hubbly bubbly!) is a unique water pipe device that is used as a smoking tool and has been the standard of smoking for centuries in the middle east. Originating in Turkey over 500 years ago, this smoking culture has been the standard for centuries in the middle east and was smoked by royalty and people alike to smoke away the day’s stress, today this experience is shared across the world as many people prefer “Shisha” smoking to cigarettes and cigars because of the smooth, flavourful, and cool taste of the smoke.

Shisha Tobacco (Also called tabac, tombak, tumbak, gouza, guza, moassel, sheesha) tobacco are available in a variety of flavors including apple, apricot, strawberry, capuccino, mint, peach, mixed fruits and plenty of others. For the non-smokers, a Herbal Alternative is available that contains 0% nicotine and 0% tar yet still manages to contain the all the excitement! We at TheShishaShop.com believe that this rapidly spreading social device should be spread across all other cultures and Shisha is quickly becoming very fashionable and popular amongst this new generation of smokers.

We guarantee smoking Shisha is like no other smoking experience. You can try it out real soon…

10 Retail Marketing Strategies Part 1

Did you know that 66.6% of our purchases made in retail store are impulse buys? That’s right, 2/3 of our shopping is made up of items that we have decided we need on the spot! Thousands of profitable retail stores use various types of strategies in an attempt to get its shoppers to buy more products and spend more money. Here are the 10 most common strategies used to make customers spend more money:

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