Review: adgridwork.com

The latest review from WebIque focusses on www.adgridwork.com.

I came across this site when looking for some free advertising for another site of mine. It offers contextual advertising which is completely free. All this means is that you can have a text advert for your site displayed all over the internet; all you have to do in return is display some ads provided by adgridwork.

Now, you may have come across sites which advertise your site in exchange for putting some of their adverts on your site. What sets adgridwork apart is the fact that ads are displayed on similar site (often referred to as targeted ads), which helps your advert get more clicks. Not only this, but you can track your campaign and view detailed metrics such as impressions, conversions and daily hits to each of your sites. For example, I'm viewing my account now and it tells me my ads have been displayed a total of 2,952 times. As you would expect with any kind of web advert, I haven't had anywhere near that amount of clicks but everything counts. People, myself included, sometimes see ads but don't click on them at the time. They may have remembered the URL though and may visit the site later though, so even if people are just seeing your ads, and not clicking them all the time, it may be quite good.

The website's FAQ does a much better job than I can at explaining what the sites does and how it works, etc. Follow this link to view it.

As well as providing a brilliant service, adgridwork.com also looks great and has an extra fun feature which I like! That is the 'adspy' feature. You can view in real time whose ads are being displayed, and on which sites. I tested the feature by visiting my site and straight away my URL appeared in the 'Shown By' column. Its a great little feature - once you've signed up and your site is in the network, why not give it a go?!

Overall, I really like adgridwork. It provides a very useful service in an easy-to-use yet comprehensive way. The ads they provide blend in with my site, and will do with most sites that display them. Its definitely worth signing up for and giving a go, as you've really not go anything to lose!

Review: Obares.com

Obares.com is a website which offers visitors the chance to buy or sell a home. Specifically, it helps people, and I quote, 'sell your home or buy your dream home the FSBO (For Sale By Owner)'. But its not a simple 'classified ad' type site - it also provides users with resources to help them through the process of buying a new home or selling theirs. I would classify the site in the 'useful services' category, which also has an element of 'uniqueness'. There are other sites out there which allow listings of homes, but I don't expect many (if any in fact) provide a complete service like Obares.com does - they help buyers and sellers by providing useful resources, they help find real estate agents for sellers and they even help finance buyers' loans in some cases!

The site itself is very good. It is comprehensive, easy-to-use and is awash with features to make visitors experiences' smooth and enjoyable.

Lets begin with the homepage: I was drawn straight away to the map. It is very clear, contains all the states and best of all is 'clickable'. You may think this would be expected on a site of this kind, but its not always found. Secondly, there is a search box below the navigation bar, so if you want to browse the listings by city or zip code instead of state, you can do it very easily. For example, search for New York and straight away you are taken to the profile page of New York. What I also like is the fact that on the profile page you can see stats about the city you've searched for; this is by no means vital but its a very nice touch.

On a whole the website should be given a lot of praise. Mainly because it is comprehensive and is filled with good content, but also because it is so easy to use. True, design wise its nothing special, but perhaps if it had a unique design it wouldn't be so easy to use! But there is a downside - I live in the UK so unless I decide to move to the US soon I won't be able to fully appreciate everything the site has to offer. But it was definitely worth a review, and I'm sure quite a few readers of this blog live in the US, so hopefully it will be useful to them.

Link: www.Obares.com

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You-Cubez.com

Here is the first review from WebIque!

You-Cubez.com uses the unique concept of selling 'cubes' as advertising. Effectively each cube is simply a text link but in the form of a cube. Visitors to the site can purchase a cube and choose its colours; they also choose the rollover text for their cube, in the hope of attracting people to click on it and be taken to their website.
Cubes can be bought for as little as £1, but in theory the more you pay, the more exposure your cube will get. The cubes are ordered whereby the most expensive cube is at the top. The least expensive (£1) cubes are found at the bottom.
Currently there are three pages of cubes, which indicates the site has been pretty successful. Over 1 and a half of these pages are £1 cubes, but the most expensive cube cost the owner £110, which isn't exactly small change!

You-Cubez.com is not a new site; its been selling 'cubes' for over 9 months now. Started in January of this year, it has sold well over 500 cubes, which we think is impressive. The total value of all cubes on the site is currently over £2400 (£2426) - the top row of cubes have a combined value of £828! But this does not reflect site revenue, as cube owners can add value to their cube by simply logging in (every 30 logins adds £1 value) and inviting friends (£1 for every 15 friends invited).

When the site was first started, it received a mixed reception. Some disliked the design of the site, some the concept. But it also received some positive responses - people liked the idea you could buy a cube for just £1. When I first saw the site, I liked it. In my opinion, the design was quite nice, and the concept itself intrigued me. Its very simple, yet potentially very lucrative. Many visitors to the site (who own a website) probably bought a cube, even if just for £1. And even if 90% of visitors do only spend a pound, you can still make a fair bit of money.

Interesting point: Near the beginning of You-Cubez.com's life, I contacted the owner to enquire about the possibility of investing in the site or joining in a JV (joint venture). Unfortunately, the owner declined as they said for them it would be easier to go alone, mainly because they wouldn't have to worry about pleasing investors (me)! Oh well...

Note: We have contacted the site owner to ask a bit of info on the site, so we can give you some real stats. We may not be told anything, but check back soon if you're interested as we may have a bit more.

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WebIque

WebIque is a new, independent blog which aims to bring you news and reviews on the latest websites. We will scour the web to find sites selling a unique product, using a new concept or offering a good service.

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