Hmm…guys I am having a slight problem with one of my directories. No matter what I did, I am unable to increase the amount of traffic from Search Engines to my Singapore Business Directory. Even direct traffic don’t seem to work too. I submitted my directory to countless web directories on the Internet, posted my directory’s URL on forum signatures, tried to advertise my directory on other websites, added good quality articles on my directory but they seemed not to work. Traffic from Search Engines has become stagnant mainly because a lot of my directory’s pages went into supplemental index. They usually don’t show up during searches. Direct traffic has dropped a bit too.

Perhaps it is time for me to stop online efforts and start doing some promotion offline? You know, by advertising in my local newspapers and magazines. Do you think that it will have better results. Advertising in the local newspaper cost about S$33 for one small column but the circulation is about 2 million copies per day. Even if 5% read that little advert, I could get quite a few hits. And anyway, Singapore is very traditional and the people still rely on (hardcopy) newspapers for information. Advertising flyers and pamphlets? That’s a very cheap medium of advertising as well. However, you need to distribute the flyers and that can be rather costly. Oh, television and radio is out of my budget as you well know.

So, what do you think. Should I cut my online efforts and start my offline newspaper campaign? Is it practical to concentrate on these kind of traditional advertising medium?

My favourite game series of all time - The Fallout Series, has another sequel! It’s Fallout 3. For those who never played Fallout and Fallout 2 before, you should rush out and grab a copy (or two) and play them great great Role Playing Game. It’s probably the best out there, except Darklands of course. Nothing beats Darklands, although I have to say Fallout 2 comes quite close.

For those who don’t know what is Fallout or don’t have the money to buy the game for like 10 bucks, it’s an isometric (sideview topdown) Role Playing Game set in the post nuclear world (yes, mutants, radiated rats, giant scorpions, burnt out cars and ragged dirty people). The game came out in 1997 and the sequel (that’s Fallout 2) came out in 1998. The game is sort of played in real-time (partly) and when combat starts, it becomes turn based. So you move a few steps or fire your M72 Gauss Rifle depending on the number of AP (Action Points) and your opponent does the same thing after you have finished yours. Yes, it was kind of like an old school RPG. Your character will gain experience points from completing quests or butchering people (or mutants) and he/she will increase in level. And the increase in level comes “perks” (essentially bonus skills), increase in Skills, increase Hit Points, thicker muscles, harder skulls….the usual RPG things that is standard issue.

But what is great about this game is it’s story line. You are a vault dweller (the people who escaped the nuclear holocaust by living in vaults) and you are forced by circumstances to leave your vault to save the something. It’s also an open-ended RPG, in which you don’t need a follow a fixed path and there are lots of quests to be completed. Futhermore, it has mindblowing violence, groin punching, trash talking, sex, vulgarities, drugs, everything you expect from a great RPG. Heck, you can even get married or become a porn star in the game! Truly, it was really one of the most innovative RPG I ever played.

Well then, after Interplay (the distributor) and Black Isles (the developer) were brought down due to financial problems (or something like that), the next sequel (Fallout 3) landed in Limbo. It was bought over by Bethesda Softworks (yes, the morons who brought you Oblivion Screensaver for 2-year old mutant girls with high end graphic cards) and just recently the released a trailer and a few screenshots for Fallout 3 after like 7 years? They also had a Fallout 3 Press Event in June in which Critical Hits attended and wrote a little preview on Fallout 3. Now, let’s keep our fingers cross that it won’t turn out to be a crap like “Oblivion in Power Armour”.

I will now end with this thought provoking quotation from Fallout:

“War. War never changes.” Whatever.

I came across this site (Printer Anywhere) a few days ago and I found what it offers to be a rather interesting idea. You download a software which shares your printer on the Internet and this software will also look for other’s printers (with an userid) on the Internet. It is sort of like a little Peer-to-Peer printer sharing. Basically you can print from someone else’s printer even if they are miles away. All you guys need is an internet connection. So, for example, you have a client who would like to have a copy of your document and he just needs an hardcopy, no softcopy is needed. Instead of printing from your own printer, you print to his “already shared” printer, saving you the problem of sending emails and wondering whether he/she has the correct software to open the file. It is also convenient if you (or them) do not have a fax machine available for you to do regular faxing.

Printer Anywhere claims that the data send across the network to the Internet shared printer is encrypted. Well, perhaps so, it’s my opinion that it is still not safe enough. Just think that you are sending your files to be printed on someone else’s printer which you have no idea where it is located or whether the printer itself secure. I mean, anyone can be looking at your hardcopy right at the printer. God knows what they could be doing with your document. Next, the problem with Peer-to-Peer is that it is prone to abuse. You are sharing your printer on the Internet. A spammer can easily get the same software and start sending our print jobs to thousands of shared printers, and you will be printing out spam and advertisements right on your own printer before you even know it! I mean, you not only waste bandwidth, you are wasting time and paper to clear these kind of spam or flyers/brochures.

This is a good idea, but it needs to be more secure. Spammers are the biggest problem on the Internet and letting them into your printer is probably not the smartest way to go about. Having perhaps password protected shared printer or sort of a userid identification would help cut down on the abuse that is bound to happen.