Countless well-meaning, tasteful, and respectable people have taken a swing at making friendly advertising that is both respectful of the viewer and valuable to the advertiser. The problem is that it very rarely works out in the long run because well-meaning, tasteful, and respectable people really do not like “the business” advertising. And viewer-friendly advertising is often of very little to no value to the advertiser.

The business of advertising is a numbers game. When well-meaning, tasteful, and respectable people start out trying to change the world of advertising they typically look at those numbers as they should – they look at them as people. People that don’t want to be swindled or bothered or nagged. People that are at the current web page they are viewing because they really like the blog post they are reading, the newspaper column they are reading, or the video they are watching. People that actually do not like advertising.

So the well-meaning, tasteful, and respectable people say to themselves “I’m one of those people. I don’t like ads. But people that write blogs for free and want to do it full-time need to make money somehow so let’s make a great ad network that sells unobtrusive advertising that people will love.”

Noble. But this business plan isn’t based in reality. This plan can only work if the ad network’s brand is as strong as the brand of the sites in its network. And even then it is questionable whether or not the network can sustain advertiser value longterm. The Deck seems to have success in this area because simply being an advertiser on The Deck comes with some credence. But in my experience this is the exception.

Once the initial novelty of the idea for a viewer-friendly ad network wears off everything comes down to the pageviews and the click-throughs. If the click-throughs are high the pageviews can be lower. If the pageviews are high – and they usually have to be very, very high – the click-throughs can sometimes be not as important since advertisers will typically hope to make up for them with brand recognition of some kind.

And then there is the repeat advertiser problem. If an ad network can bring in brand new advertisers every few months then they needn’t worry about having repeat advertisers. So they needn’t deliver on value. “Your campaign wasn’t all that great but thanks for trying.” And then they simply move onto the next company with $5,000 to spend. The problem is eventually the black books of the individuals running the network will run out of companies to call. Then they have to deliver. Every single month.

Viewer-friendly advertising can work in smaller numbers and with direct relationships with advertisers. However, once an entire “network” of brands are involved it slowly will move away from the relationship between website and brand and move towards the numbers.

Ad dollars will always move towards the latest and greatest thing. The thing the kids love. So newer ad networks with novel ideas on how to do advertising will all typically start off pretty well. Any company with a decent advertising budget will take a crack at whatever the latest fad is. Make no mistake, the same people that will buy your 120×120 pixel well-designed, well-meaning, tasteful, and respectable ad will buy a pop-under ad. They don’t really care about your high-brow morals in the world of advertising. They will go to where the value is. And when your network doesn’t produce value for them in a certain amount of time they’ll stop buying your inventory. Simple.

Patrick Dryburgh nails it in his post about leaving FusionAds:

I hold nothing against the guys running Fusion now. They’re in a tough business, and need to produce page views and sell those page views and then produce and sell some more. So, I get why they need to take money from companies or sign on publishers I don’t think represent the initial vision.

Fusion Ads has to compromise because in the world of advertising there is money in compromising. The more you’re willing to let go of the viewer as the customer and the more you’re willing to give up their experience the more money you’ll make.

Several times in my life where I’ve made the bulk of my income on advertising. Each time I always thought there was a new and better way to do it. A way that didn’t feel so icky. A way to make the viewer and advertiser the customer. It simply isn’t possible. If you’re thinking about starting an ad network of some kind I’d strongly suggest you reconsider.

In no particular order:

The best blog: A VC by Fred Wilson

Credit: Randy Stewart, blog.stewtopia.com

This year’s pick for best blog did not come easy. I’ve chosen Fred Wilson’s blog, A VC, for a number of reasons. First, he writes very often. In a post about his own tips for bloggers he says to write every single day and I believe he comes fairly close. But that isn’t what makes his blog great. Somehow, even though he manages to write nearly every single day, he consistently writes extremely open and revealing posts about the world of venture capital and business in general (with music and other personal interests thrown in for good measure). It isn’t the quality of the writing, per se, it is the quality of the insight. As someone who has been involved in a few strong startups I can say that somehow Fred manages to hit the nail on the head more often than not. Even when he misses (in my opinion) and hits his thumb – he somehow brings the post that he’s writing back into a realm where you can see his point and believe that he’s probably right and you’re probably wrong. It is an art that I have never mastered.

If you are building your own company it is a must-subscribe. No question.

The best podcast: Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

I’ve gushed about Terry Gross so much this past year I’m sure you all think I’m hitting on her at this point. Maybe I am. But she deserves it. But the show isn’t just her. She must have a fairly good team behind-the-scenes that puts together her show each day and, ultimately, packages it for the podcast.

I don’t listen to many audio or video podcasts on a regular basis but I have been subscribed to Fresh Air for a few years now and I don’t see myself unsubscribing any time soon.

The best new blog: Letters of Note

Letters of Note is pretty much the perfect blog. Blogs, unless they are personal journals, should focus on a very specific topic. You’ve probably noticed that the most popular blogs are focused on technology, gadgets, startup companies, knitting, cooking, design, etc. There are very few popular blogs that focus on many things while there are a ton that focus on one thing. Letters of Notes knows where it fits and focuses on a really fascinating topic; letters, notes, memos, and even telegrams that are in some way notable.

I have yet to come across an uninteresting post at Letters of Note.

Honorable mention in this category includes Liz Danzico’s Bobulate (which is a personal blog but one that could have easily won this award this year). I’m hopeful that the Panic blog makes this list next year.

The best blog redesign: Pat Dryburgh.

Online friend and fellow aspiring thin man Pat Dryburgh recently redesigned his Tumblr-powered Weblog and I think he did a fantastic job. Pat’s simple logo, as an example, is inspiring. The work section on his site is very well done (I like the bit where you can get to any work from any work). I’m not too keen on his heading weights but besides that I really, really appreciate a well designed personal Web site that feels, personal.

More people (myself included) should have a Web site that oozes their personal brand. I believe last year’s winner, Jason Santa Maria, would agree with this year’s pick as well.

The best blogging platform: Tumblr

Although my personal blog is still running well on WordPress I’ve been thoroughly impressed by what the Tumblr team has done this past year. They are continuously rolling out excellent features that help them both catch up to and surpass the competition.

Where does Tumblr fit? I believe that Tumblr is the best choice for new bloggers while WordPress is still the better choice for those of us that like to get our hands dirty. If the Tumblr team keeps up their current pace, I could see that changing in 2010.

The best service: Instapaper.

On today’s Web new reading material comes from every direction like a barrage of arrows from an invading army. Accept that these arrows are tipped awesome words rather than steel dipped in poison. Twitter, Facebook, your favorite feed reader, your best friend via instant message, and even your mom via email. These are all new sources of great things to read. But this poses a problem. You didn’t have time to read before and you certainly don’t have time to read now. But, maybe, just maybe, you’ll find some time to read later.

And that is where Instapaper comes in. Instapaper is comprised of a simple bookmarklet, a Web site, an iPhone application, and many other small pieces that are loosely joined together to give you a place to keep a stream of things you’d like to read later. Then, when you’ve found the time, you can read them. Wherever you’d like to. When you want to. On your iPhone, Kindle, computer… anywhere. Awesome.

In November I described it as drugs without the side effects. Use it. Abuse it. Become an addict.

The best mobile Twitter client: Tweetie 2.

My pick for best mobile Twitter client is consciously nearsighted, being that I’m an iPhone user and haven’t played much with other mobile platforms, but I’m fairly certain that my pick is still the best. You probably thought that I was going to say Hahlo. Last year I did. And this year Hahlo has seen some incredible updates, with 4.1 being released just this week, and I still think it is absolutely fantastic. But, Tweetie 2 steals the crown for a few simple reasons. On my original iPhone (yes, I still have an original day one iPhone) Hahlo can not perform nearly as well as Tweetie. To no fault of its own. As John Gruber recently covered, in his usual thorough manner, iPhone web applications simply can not perform as well as native applications due to drawbacks within Webkit.

Tweetie 2 for iPhone is brilliant.

The best book: Cesar’s Way by Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer.

If you follow me on Twitter than you probably know that I’m a very big fan of Cesar Milan who is probably better known as The Dog Whisperer. One of the books I read this year was Cesar’s Way. The book chronicles Cesar’s rise to the point he is now; author, TV host, Dog Whisperer. I’m not choosing this book because of Cesar’s literary prowess, I’m choosing it because I believe that Cesar Milan understands dog psychology better than anyone and that he does a great job relaying that information through his books and TV show.

Although I do not have any dogs at the moment we had a few dogs growing up. I come across dogs quite a bit in my life now so having the basic knowledge of how to deal with dogs, read their body language, and be calm and assertive has served me well since reading the book.

The best browser: Chrome for Mac.

I’ve been using a nightly build of Chromium for about 2 months now and I’m addicted. Even though the browser is severely crippled feature-wise due to its “beta” status (it is missing a bookmark manager, proper import/export, and has a few UI niggles on the Mac) I’m addicted to the speed. I haven’t seen any benchmarks to support my claim but on my Macbook Pro Chromium seems much faster than Safari.

It shares some drawbacks with Firefox but so far speed is the winning feature of browsers.

All that being said about Chrome on the Mac I could easily see one update from the Safari team getting me to switch back to Safari. No new features needed, just make it faster. Ok, the tabs on top is a nice touch too.

The best Twitter account: @Jon_Favreau

I know, a celebrity Twitter account being the best? Keep in mind, this is my list, not yours. The main reason that I enjoy Jon Favreau’s Twitter stream is because it is really him. There are a number of celebrities that have people “managing” their Twitter accounts or they only use their Twitter accounts strictly for promotion of their projects. Favreau strikes a good mix of personal, business, and communication tweets. We should all aspire to do the same.

The best email client: Mobile Gmail.

Mobile Mail.app on the iPhone is an adequate and capable mail client. However, if you have a Webkit powered browser on your mobile device I suggest giving mobile Gmail a spin. In a pinch, it works remarkably well and is arguably the best email client on any mobile device.

So, this is the best of 2009 as told by me. I’m sure I’ve left a few things out. But subscribe to my site or follow me on Twitter because I’m sure that I’ll be mentioning some great things throughout 2010 too.

Thanks for reading, see you next year.

Today I weighed in at 189 lbs. which is down three pounds since I weighed in 15 days ago. I was hoping I’d be 188 or even 187 (which would have meant that I’d have finally beaten Pat Dryburgh in our little challenge) but I’m willing to wait for next week for that to happen. And it will happen.

Overall I had two fairly good weeks full of activity, a decent food diet, and no major setbacks. Even though I missed basketball last week I still managed to run over 9 miles that week and 6 the last week with basketball on that Monday. I’m currently working on bringing my 5K (or a 3.1 mile run) time down. My current goal is 28 minutes. I’m hoping to hit that this week.

Today Chris Fehnel and I did the Plyometrics portion of P90X, an exercise routine that he’s been doing since we re-started the diet, and it was intense. Fun. But intense. It is definitely a much harder workout than I would ever put together for myself. I’m considering doing this workout either every-now-and-then or even each week. We’ll see.

Next week will, more than likely, end the competition between Pat and I but I’m not going to stop there. I’ve decided to make other goals, besides actual weight, for myself. My 5K in under 28 minutes is my first goal, and perhaps “bringing it” to an entire PlyoX routine would be my second (since while I managed to make it through the routine I definitely didn’t “bring it”).

I know that Eliza, Chris, and I are doing great on our diets. How about all of you?

I know, I play basketball a lot. But it is the sport that I could play every single day and not tire of it.

I had one ‘bad day’ on Saturday (for reasons I’ll leave out for now, but suffice to say the day consisted of not very good food, although it tasted great, and a lot of couch time). I’m going to try to avoid this type of day this week.

This morning I weighed in at 194.something pounds. My scale consists of a rotating dial with small numbers that are hard to read from 6′ 1″ above it. That is a loss of 2 pounds for this week. I’m feeling very good, fitting into clothes better, and ready to have an active summer. This brings me down 13 pounds in 1 month and 1 week. I’m looking forward to shedding this last 7 pounds, to beat Pat, before mid-May.

But that isn’t the case with everyone. Some people thrive on competition, being told that they can’t do it, being challenged by their peers. Some don’t. Personally, I thrive on the energy created around a competition. The desire to win isn’t what motivates me, its the desire to participate in a competition with others. Again, this probably isn’t the case with everyone.

This week Pat Dryburgh, the guy I’m in direct competition with on this round of The Diet, posted that he gained one pound. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal to me and I’d just keep moving forward with my diet, try to give Pat some tips via IM or something, and see how he progresses next week. But it was the language that Pat used in his weigh-in that really struck me and has made me think that we need to make a change in how we’re approaching The Diet this time.

“I don’t have to tell you that this is disappointing. I really thought I had been doing well. I know I shouldn’t be giving up, but it this has been a long, hard struggle over the last year, and I really just want it to be over with. I’m tired of it all.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt this way. And, since I do a relatively good job of keeping tabs on everyone else that has done The Diet over the years, almost everyone experiences these feelings at one time or another.

If Pat wanted to give up because of a one pound weight gain, normally I’d just give him a punch on the shoulder, telling him that his expectations are set far too high and that sometimes your body simply doesn’t react as well as you’d like it to. But this isn’t about one pound for Pat. This is about the entire process. About finishing what he started. About winning the battle, not with me but, with his weight.

Then he said this.

“So, not only have I gained a pound, but Colin has now lost 4 pounds. I feel more discouraged than ever. He has 16 pounds to go, and I now have 21.”

“I feel more discouraged than ever.” This is the direct opposite effect that The Diet has set out to create. If he had said “Now I’m more motivated than ever to get to the gym, do some running, and stay strict on my diet.” that’d have made me smile. But discouragement is not what anyone on the diet, including me, wants to see anyone go through.

So as of today the challenge between Pat and I is off. I forfeit. I will gladly find something under 20 dollars and send it to you Pat. Your encouragement, motivation, and health are worth far more to me and to you than 20 dollars.

So what is the new challenge? Of course we’re all still going to do The Diet in hopes of losing as much weight as we all set out to lose from the beginning. I think the new goal should now be to help motivate those who need it the most. If you are on The Diet your goals should be to help find more people to join us, to motivate those who have bad weeks, and to use the group as your primary means to stay motivated to accomplish your goals. The Diet is no longer a weight loss competition, it is a challenge to all that are on it to get healthy and help as many people as you can along the way.

How to turn weight gain into weight loss

I’m not a trainer, dietitian, or any other type of health expert so I can only go on my own experiences over the years with losing weight and trying to stay motivated. In week two of the first round of The Diet I gained 3 pounds.

I said “This week, I’m unhappy to report that I gained three pounds. I am now back up to 221.8lbs. However, this makes me more determined to stay on my diet, and get more exercise to make up for the set back.”

The weight gain motivated me to hop right back on and try to lose weight the next week. Why? Why did I get motivated and Pat got discouraged? It is all about identifying what went wrong the week before and not blaming yourself.

I have never gone to the gym with Pat so I have no idea about the intensity or process of Pat’s workout but to me going to the gym 4 times in a week is a great, great accomplishment. So what did Pat do wrong this week? Pat mentioned that he went over his calories by 1,000 calories on one of the days. He also weighed in while he was at the gym in the evening while his initial weigh in was earlier in the day. I believe these are factors in Pat’s weight gain this week and not Pat himself.

Our weight fluctuates during the day. A lot. If I weigh in when I wake up at 7:00am I will be at least 3-5lbs. lighter than when I went to sleep. If Pat weighs 5 pounds more at night than he does in the morning, he would have weighed in with a 4 pound weight loss instead of a 1 pound weight gain! It is that simple.

Eating properly should be the number one goal when someone is trying to lose the last few pounds (or even 20 or 30) on a diet. I believe the saying goes; abs aren’t made in the gym, abs are made in the kitchen. Something like that. Chris Fehnel and Mike Stickel do a workout called P90X. It is a rigorous daily workout that lasts a little over an hour a day for 90 days. That is a lot more than I work out. Still, they’d both agree that they key to making P90X work is to stay on the diet plan that they give you. A certain number of proteins, carbs, etc. are scheduled out per day. If you don’t follow the diet plan you will, no doubt, lose weight. But you will not see the results you would have otherwise.

Pat, you need to get your eating in check. Eat more often and hit your daily allotted calories before 7pm at night. Turn your body into a calorie burning machine by feeding it regularly. Weigh yourself at the exact same time of day each week, instead of at different times. If you are going to go over your calories for the day try to work in a short run to keep your body burning fat. Do not give up. Ever. This battle is far to worth the win to give up because of one pound. Especially when there are clear reasons why you weighed in one pound heavier. We’re all with you and we’re all here to help. I bet you will lose weight this week.

I hope everyone on The Diet stays motivated, keeps tabs on the others that are dieting and motivates them when they need it, and even tells new people that could really use the encouragement to get on The Diet and get healthy. We’re in this together and we’re all going to accomplish our goals if we help each other.

This approach, it would seem, usually escapes new dieters (which Pat is not). Many people approach a diet by “not eating”. This is horrible. Pat’s approach to only eliminate the amount of calories per day that help him to reach his goal in a healthy way – is the perfect approach to dieting.

Guess who’s back? Back again! The Diet is back, tell some friends!

You read that right. The Diet is back. And, like a Phoenix, it is back in a whole new way once again. Sort of like last time, what started out as a friendly challenge between a few ended up becoming something much larger, so too has The Diet this time. Last week I got an email from a guy name Pat Dryburgh who wanted to get on The Diet. We setup a challenge to see who could lose 20 pounds in the shortest amount of time. I asked him to write a little something for us here on the blog.

“There’s this guy who hangs around these parts that goes by the name of “Colin.” “Colin” invited me to check out his blog after seeing how über awesome I am over on my own blog. As I was poking around, I came across a cobweb-infested page simply titled “The Diet.” It was refreshing to see someone who spends their life behind a computer screen who had taken an interest in getting active. A year or so ago, I weighed about 270 lb., and today weigh in around 225 lb. However, I’ve been at this weight for the past few months. I was looking for encouragement, for direction, for guidance. With excitement filling my heart I scrolled down to see Colin’s most recent weigh-in…

June. 2008. 207 lb.

I realized then and there that something needed to be done. Colin has clearly neglected the Pudge 2.0 that’s formed between himself and his Mac for too long, and it was time to take action. So I wrote to Colin “hey, Colin. I know we don’t really know each other. In fact, we’ve barely made it through two emails back and forth. But seriously, we have a problem. You and me, we’ve got belly’s. And they ain’t pretty.

This is an intervention.

Think of your wife.

Think of your children.

We need to do this now.”

And so, with that the challenge was made. First one to lose 20 pounds wins. Loser buys the winner an online gift worth $21 USD (which is about $70 Canadian dollars).

Colin’s an American. He basically gets McDonalds delivered to his door every morning. Starbucks is part of his daily medication. I, on the other hand, was born with a hockey stick in my hands.

This will be a cake walk.

(Especially if I can convince Colin cake is part of a balanced breakfast).

Colin, it’s on like donkey kong.”

It is definitely on!  However, since we exchanged emails others had expressed interest in doing some dieting as well. Since most of them are my friends here in the local area – you can say I have my own support group – and I’m looking forward to following their journeys of weight loss.  I’ll let them tell their story in the comments.

My weigh-in for today, March 23, 2009: So we’re going to weigh-in every Monday. If you want to make your weight public, that’s cool, if you don’t that is fine too. My current weight is 207lbs.

Want to join us?

Like last time, this is an open invitation for anyone that would like to lose weight, get healthy, and have some support doing it. It can be hard to lose weight on your own. Hard to get motivated. Hard to stay on track. This is why we do this diet. We’re here to help each other.

So, whether you have 1 pound or 100 pounds to lose – please leave a comment below and let us know you’re in this for the long hall. Pat and I are going to race to 20, but then we’re going to be sticking around to keep each other and everyone else motivated to lose the weight and keep it off.  Third time’s a charm?

Reminder note: All photos, blog posts, AND Twitter messages should be tagged with ‘the-diet’ so that we can keep track of this thing. (For Twitter/Facebook, you can write #the-diet in your post.)