Announcing: Top Sites of America + American Banner Exchange!

[Gamecock]

Greetings fellow Aardvark Top Site List enthusiasts!

Below is a message that I planned to post on another board, announcing the new banner exchange I opened.

It has been created for people who probably do NOT understand what a TSL is, never mind how it actually works. I'd appreciate YOUR feedback on this so I can make some changes to it that will no doubt be needed.

I wrote it to go in the forum for the banner exchange software that I bought, but that forum had a problem.

It was meant to be fun and interesting to read, but I may want to use some of it for a press release also.

Here we go!

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I am VERY proud to make an announcement here...

A brand NEW banner exchange for ONLY kid-safe web sites in the USA has just now opened its doors!

American Banner Exchange

Please come take a look to give us some feedback!

We are proud to be using BannerPlus Pro and have plans to quickly upgrade to BannerPlus Gold (US $250.00) ASAP.

What makes this banner exchange VERY powerful is it was designed from ground up to launch with a State of the Art USA Top Site List at the SAME TIME!

Top Sites of America Web Sites List

American Banner Exchange ads will be shown down at bottom of every page on this new XHTML site!

I'm still putting some of the finishing touches on a few things, but it should be off to a FAST running start by the time most of you read this.

Both of these 2 new sites will make the other one Even MORE Effective! I will now predict, within 1 year from today, these 2 sites will get MILLIONS of 468x60 banner ad and 88x31 button exposures between them. Does that sound amazing?

To be blunt on this, I say it'll be a SLAM DUNK!

Here's some verifiable PROOF to back up my claim:

Top North + South Carolina Web Sites List

The above site was mostly promoted by this site:

Carolina Banner Exchange

You still with me so far? Good! Now, go see:

Total statistics for Top Carolina Web Sites List

From the above link, look in far right Overall column for Total PVs (Total Page Views). At the time of this message, it currently shows there's been 1,994,878 page views from 133 members in just over a year. By the time most read this, I'm confident that # will be well over 2 MILLION!

It is NOW going up by 20+ THOUSAND PVs every day!

And, the amazing part is, that's ONLY traffic from just the Carolinas! Going nationwide, the combination of these 2 NEW sites will become 25X MORE Powerful - All 50 USA States instead of TWO!

How does the American Banner Exchange tie into this? It will bring visitors to your site that have NO idea what that button that says Top Sites of America means. Just out of curiosity, they will click on it to see what it means. When they do so, your site Earns a VOTE, which will move your site up even higher on the list!

Anybody want to place a friendly wage against me?

Millions of exposures? No way that CAN'T happen!

Of course, this won't happen overnight. But, it WILL happen - even faster than *I* think it will.

Once a popular Topsite List has reached what I often call "Critical Mass", it begins to promote itself AUTOMATICALLY! How? The open-source PHP software I'm already using for 3 other sites now (Aardvark PHP Topsite 5.1.2) was designed to use All Google-Friendly Links! NO need for site ID names or numbers, which can only muck things up.

Want to call my bluff? Assuming you are in the USA, come and sign up for both American Banner Exchange and the Top Sites of America Web Sites List. Both sites are using ideal domain names!

HINT: There are definite advantages to signing up early! For example, the tie-breaking factor.

Add the Top Sites List of American HTML fragment somewhere on your home page. This will display an 88x31 button. Every time it's clicked on, your site earns 1 vote. The more votes you get, the higher up on the list your site will move!

The higher up on the list your site moves, the more traffic FROM the list your site will get!

When your site is among the top 25 on the first page, you will be able to display a special 1-25 button, instead of the generic one for 26+ sites!

If you can manage to stay on that first page, the more Google PR (Page Rank) your site earns. And, as you probably already know, the more PR your site earns, the higher your Google ranking!

Naturally, some webmasters just won't GET IT. They will join, but will bury their voting button on a seldom seen Links page or worse. The less visitors to their site that get to see the voting button, the less votes their site will get. The less votes they get, the lower on the list they go. And, of course, the less traffic they get.

My 3 existing top sites have a PR of 5, 5 and 6! My web design site fluctuates between a 5 and a 6 - depending on how many new web sites I have started recently (very high 5 OR very low 6).

Actually, this is just a good example of the power of building an online community. In this case, all kid-safe sites located in the United States.

I have probably said more than enough, but I did want to go on the record making what sounds like an extraordinary claim for 2 brand new web sites.

It's going to be FUN and I hope YOU come along for the ride. This HAS been planned for YEARS!

My apology to ALL webmasters not located in USA or sites that now have ANY questionable content. I'm sorry, but you will NOT be allowed to participate. I'm afraid this also includes other top site lists with overseas web sites. What we are looking for is ONLY sites with kid-safe USA content! Actually, that's a pretty easy requirement.

In any event, thanks for your time to read this and please wish us GOOD LUCK!

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Well, what do YOU think of this?

[Gamecock]

Just for fun, I thought I should post an update to this... We now have 25+ sites (which has now created a new second page), from 15 Different USA States!

Our GOAL right now is to try to get ALL 50 USA States in Our First 50 Days!

That may be very unlikely or even Impossible. Averaging a New State Every Day is quite a BIG Challenge! But, it's been Fun so far and we're off to a Great Start.

As each new site from a new USA State comes on board, we create a brand new RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed for that State. This automatically makes a site that joins from a new State the #1 Ranked Site in that State on The Top Sites of America Web Sites List! Well, at least temporarily...

http://www.topsitesamerica.com/top-usa-sites.xml

If above link just looks like raw code to you, you're probably using an old version of Internet Explorer. If so, try it with latest Firefox (2.0) browser! (BIG Difference?)

If YOUR web site is Kid-Safe and based in the USA, please JOIN!

http://www.topsitesamerica.com/index.php?a=join

Tap into the immense power of RSS Feed Syndication for FREE! The chances are still good (35 out of 50) you'll get a new RSS feed all by yourself!

If you don't understand all this new RSS stuff, don't feel bad. It may be all the rage among the bloggers (because it's usually built into their blog software), but MOST people still don't have a clue what it is OR how it works (Yet).

On the other hand, why NOT join and get in YOUR state's new RSS Feed NOW? Getting in Early WILL give you an advantage!

Before long (once we get all 50 states, but possibly sooner), these RSS Feeds will be submitted to HUNDREDS of web sites already on the lookout for new and interesting feeds. People will, quite naturally, ALWAYS be curious which are the top web sites in THEIR State! As more people use RSS, the traffic grows.

Please wish us GOOD LUCK getting all 50 States in Only 50 Days! (We may NEED it!)

THANKS!

[Gamecock]

We now have 25+ sites (which has now created a new second page), from 15 Different USA States!

Here's a Quick 30 Day Progress Report for anyone interested...

We now have 44 USA web sites participating, from 27 different USA States! We got stuck at 24 states for several days in a row. We are still running behind on the required average of 1 new state site per day, but I did somehow manage to convince 2 talented webmasters in 2 new states to join us in the last 24 hours.

Oh, here's an interesting statistic I stumbled across. Alexa had the site ranked at #4,433,712 a month ago. We have now almost cut that HUGE number in half!

Current ranking: UP to 2,244,870 (1 Month).

Alexa rankings almost always have to be taken with a grain of salt and some webmasters discount their validity entirely. But, that IS an encouraging sign!

I still need to sign up sites from 23 new USA States in ONLY 20 Days! If YOU know of a web site that wants FREE traffic (and LOTS of it eventually), please refer them to us! I don't know if we can actually make all 50 States in 50 days, but it's still possible and the quest to reach this goal continues.

http://www.topsitesamerica.com/top-usa-sites.xml

Above is a link to the Top Sites of America Web Sites List RSS Feeds where you can see which 27 USA States are already on board. We NEED sites from ALL 23 USA states NOT listed there! Is YOUR state missing? If so, why NOT join and be listed as THE #1 Site in your own state? This opportunity might expire in 20 days!

Oh, there is now a POLL where you can vote on whether or not YOU think I can achieve my goal of signing up at least 1 site in all 50 USA States in only 50 days.

http://www.osempire.com/community/showthread.php?p=23284#post23284

Please cast YOUR vote with your HONEST opinion so we can see what ATS community thinks for this question.

Please wish me GOOD LUCK!

THANKS! Your support and/or assistance is very much appreciated.

[Gamecock]

Quick Progress Report Update:

Today is Day 48 in my supposedly "impossible" quest to get a Top USA web site from all 50 States + set up 50 Statewide RSS Feeds in Only 50 Days (or Less!).

They're coming around the final turn...

As of right now, we have 73 top site members from 47 USA States. 6 new sites from 6 different States have come on board in just the last 48 hours alone!

They're coming down the home stretch...

I'm hoping to get ALL 50 in the next 25 1/2 hours, so we CAN achieve our GOAL in UNDER 50 Days! That does sound just a wee bit better than ONLY 50 days.

Hey, number 49 IS under 50, right?

Please wish me good luck with getting these last 3 USA States into the corral.

Thanks to ALL who helped get The Top Sites of America Web Sites List off to such a Great Start!

[Jeremy]

which are you missing, out of curiousity?

[Gamecock]

which are you missing, out of curiousity?

Well, I'm VERY happy to report that I'm NOT missing ANY States NOW!

The Top Sites of America Web Sites List now has 78 member sites from...

(Drum roll)

ALL FIFTY United States!

Thanks mucho to ALL of you who have helped me, in any way, to reach this Goal! I really appreciate your assistance to make this happen. At a few points in time, the outlook to reach this milestone looked pretty bleak, but it did come together.

To answer your question, the Last 3 States to come on board were (in order): Arkansas, Nebraska and Montana.

THANKS AGAIN!

Gamecock

[Gamecock]

I just posted the SIX new site maps for the Top Sites of America Web Sites List!

http://www.topsitesamerica.com/sitemap.html

These are first ones to include sites from ALL FIFTY States (love that phrase)!

It's hard to believe, just over 50 days from Launch, we now have 300+ Pages!

Gosh, that's some great data for all of the search engine spiders to chew on...

I'm convinced cleaning up files auto-created at XML-sitemaps.com will pay off!

Also included at the bottom of that page are design credits for Mark and Vicki (NevadaBadGirl) for an awesome job they did on my buttons + header/banner.

The First NATIONAL vote reset will be taking place about 19 hours from the time of this message. If YOU have a USA website and wanna join in the fun, Do it NOW! Filling out the join form should only take you a few minutes.

GOOD LUCK to ALL Members!

[Gamecock]

LAST Call for USA webmasters that want a "guaranteed" position among The Top 100 Sites of America! We now have Over 95 top USA web sites participating...

If YOU want to join for a Top 100 slot, PLEASE have a standard-size (468x60) banner ad ready to go. Every other site now on the list already has a banner!

I really think that makes a significant quality-control difference, as compared to almost all other top site lists. I know some actually REQUIRE that in order to sign up, but I hesitate to make that an official rule. In a way, it would be nice, but...

Actually, it can be FUN to create a cool-looking banner ad that invites a click.



http://www.carolinabannerexchange.com/free-banner-ads.htm

The link above goes to a page with 18 (count them, EIGHTEEN!) places where you can make a banner ad online for FREE! Of course, you can just make one online to get you started and then update your banner ad line later overwriting the same filename or modifying link to it. You can also try Banner Maker Pro!

http://www.bannermakerpro.com/

The above link lets you download it to try ALL the features of the latest version. I'm pretty sure you can get a discount on it, after installing the trial.

New v6.0 includes a built-in GIF and JPG image cruncher, to keep file sizes small! It has reminders (OK, nags) if you don't register it right away, but 15 day trial is plenty of time to design a banner ad for your own site.

Thanks to Jeremy for allowing me to do some more unabashed self-promotion!

If you do join us, GOOD LUCK!

[Jeremy]

Thanks to Jeremy for allowing me to do some more unabashed self-promotion!

i do typically delete stuff like this, but you seem like a good guy.

[Gamecock]

i do typically delete stuff like this, but you seem like a good guy.

Thank You Sir!

[Gamecock]

I will now predict, within 1 year from today, these 2 sites will get MILLIONS of 468x60 banner ad and 88x31 button exposures between them. Does that sound amazing?

I forgot to post that my "amazing" prediction already came true well over a month ago. Some site owners not familiar with top site lists thought I was being very BOLD.

In reality, that "bold" prediction was one of the most safe predictions I've ever made in my entire life. Hehe

There are now 150 USA member sites participating and I regularly have to delete applications from all over the world (who don't realize it's for USA sites ONLY)!

There have been over 2.5 Million 88x31 voting button exposures alone (not counting ANY 468x60 banner ads).

Special thanks to Jeremy for allowing me to post this!

[Karen]

wow that's fantastic!

Well done!

[Gamecock]

wow that's fantastic!

Well done!

Thank you very much Karen! Sorry it took me so long (Months?) to thank you for your kind words...

Indeed, it was an exciting project to work on as the 50 day goal literally went right down to the wire!

The Top Sites of America was also fortunate to get the most votes to win 2007 Topsite of The Year!

http://www.osempire.com/community/showthread.php?t=9969

Believe it or not, I now have a :30 radio commercial running on 3 radio stations about this nice honor.

http://www.topsitesofamerica.com/top-usa-sites.mp3

In honor of The Top Sites of America's First Birthday (and my Top Carolina Web Sites List's 5th Anniversary coming up March 2, 2008), I just made FIVE new improvements to all of my Topsites!

1. I made a new transparent, animated Stats button in same size (21x21) as default graphic. I think that'll help users realize that IS a link to click there!

2. Added a new widget to display number of users who are online at any time. Here's a link if anyone else wants this simple and really easy to add feature...

http://www.freeonlineusers.com/

3. Added new Google Page Rank button to show PR of each member site off their Stats page. Previously, if a site wasn't in Top 10 overall or a category, there was no way to see what its Page Rank was. Looks nice under Reviews!

4. My stats pages now include automatic home page screenshot creation from Picoshot. If it wasn't for OSEmpire, I probably never would've heard about that!

5. I made above screenshot image be another link going to that member site.

By the way, if anybody here wants to use that new stats.gif file I made, go right ahead and use it! To switch to use that, you just edit table_row.html to use stats.gif instead of stats.png (default with the Fusion skin for ATS 5.x). NOTE: Copy this image and use it from your own server! (Don't use MY bandwidth!)



It's a 4-frame 8-bit interlaced image with transparent background, but weighs in at only 697 bytes. If I make it all 4-bit (16 color) images, it'll be even less!

Thanks again for your kudos Karen!

I also have to thank Jeremy who made ALL of this possible for me! I ran 3 topsites LONG before I ever knew about Aardvark Topsites PHP. My old (free) host went down suddenly and I was left with HUNDREDS of emails from concerned webmasters asking what I was going to do, when I'd be back, etc. I did promise them my topsites will be back and better than Ever! Thank goodness I was smart enough to go with ATS (v5.0 at the time)! He saved my Ass!