The removal of all eBay advertising from Google began when Google attempted to crash eBay’s user conference, in Boston, this week.  eBay is holding their annual user conference, this week, in Boston.  Google, in an effort to promote their Google Checkout program, unveiled plans for the Google Checkout Freedom Party.  The event was intended to try to convince eBay - via lobby from eBay users - to start accepting Google’s Checkout, a direct rival of eBay-owned PayPal (eBay has banned Google Checkout from their system, stating that it has yet to prove itself in fraud protection).  All attendees of eBay’s user conference were given special invitations to attend Google’s Checkout Freedom Party, for free food, free drinks, and free massages.

Google backed down at the last second, when eBay expressed serious reservations, publicly, about the Google event, and Google’s actions toward the advertising partnership.  On Wednesday Google canceled the event, only one day before it was to take place several blocks (a quick trolley ride) away from the eBay event.  Google’s blog stated that, “eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy this week in Boston, and we did not want to detract from that activity. After speaking with officials at eBay, we at Google agreed that it was better for us not to feature this event during the eBay Live conference.”

Spokespersons for both companies have made a few choice comments on the issue:

Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman, declined to say whether his company pulled advertising on Google in retaliation for the party. But he did voice disappointment in Google for the event, saying, “We didn’t think it was the way for one partner to treat another.”

Durzy decided to cast the advertising freeze as an experiment, news articles say, in an attempt to see if the money eBay has been using on Google will yield better results, elsewhere.  Neither Durzy, nor any other eBay representative, has mentioned where eBay will next advertise.

Derek Brown, an analyst for Carter Fitzgerald, stated, “We’ve seen that the two companies (eBay and Google)  have been on a collision course for a long time.  This seems to be the latest and most bizarre twist.”

eBay’s advertising funds were withdrawn from Google, this past monday, and AdSense publishers are already feeling the pinch.  Although the majority of eBay ads were relatively low cost per click (most in the two to five cent range), eBay was still Google’s biggest advertiser.  According to comScore Networks, eBay’s ads showed up on Google a whopping 188.3 million times in March.  More than double the number shown by Target, Google’s second largest (now first) advertiser.

What does this mean for AdSense sellers?  Those profiting off of eBay-related AdSense sites will find themselves in a sudden financial loss.  Publishers whose sites deal with specific products, auctions in general, and/or brand specific information, will find a good portion of the advertising on their site has disappeared.

In some cases, this may be a windfall for some publishers.  Almost every publisher would have had eBay ads on his or her website a few times a day, regardless of the theme.  Now the eBay ads that were so prevalent, and out of place, will be replaced with more highly targeted ads with potentially greater cost per click.

It will be interesting to see how this affects each individual publisher’s income.  This particular publisher has noticed a slight increase on one site, and a noticeable increase on another.  Time will tell how well publishers will fare with the loss of Google’s largest advertiser.

Technorati Tags: Google, eBay, AdSense, eBay User Conference, Google Checkout, Google Checkout Freedom Party, Target, PayPal

Go check out the Google International Zeitgeist for information on who is searching for what, from where.  You’ll be surprised.

Recently, I had a spare $18 in my paypal account, so I decided to engage in a little adsense arbitrage.  Essentially, that is where you check your average CPC (on the low end of the scale) for your main keywords, and create adwords ads, bidding less than the average CPC on the site.  For example:

Let’s say that I’m using the keywords “foo” and “bar”.  “Foo”, in the lower amounts, has an average CPC of around thirty cents ($0.30).  “Bar” has an average CPC of around twenty-five cents ($0.25).  In this case, I would create an adwords campaign with those two keywords, and set my maximum CPC bid for each keyword to be less than $0.25.  I’d likely go with $0.20 at the very most, and more than likely around $0.15 or so.

So I’ve had an ad running for a while, for that page.  The ad reads as follows (Remember, ad format is TITLE // Line 1 // Line 2 // URL):

Halogen Desk Lamps
Learn More About Halogen Desk Lamps
and Find Great Buys From Top Stores
fyreplace.com/HalogenDeskLamps

Yes, I’m well aware that it’s a crappy ad.  Needless to say, it’s shown nearly 50 times, so far, and hasn’t gotten a single click.  I’ve gone through and made changes to my account, however, to increase the number of ads shown.  First, I enabled the Google Budget Optimizer, which will automatically change the CPC max bid for each keyword, to maximize displays and minimize costs.  Secondly, I created a new ad:

Save Your Eyes
Reduce Eye Strain With Halogen
and Full Spectrum Desk Lamps!
HalogenDeskLamps

It should be fairly obvious why this ad is better.  Here are a few reasons:

• The “title” is catchier.
• The ad includes a “call to action” (in this case, saving your eyes)
• The ad includes a reinforcement of the call to action (in this case, another call in the form of reducing eye strain)
• The ad includes both halogen and full spectrum lamps
• The ad URL isn’t a /whatever style URL.  Although it’s not a .com, or even a complete URL, most people will assume that it’s a .com, or similar.

The thing to remember is:  The majority of people, once on your page, WILL click through to an advertisement, thus making you money.  So long as you make more than you have to spend to get them there, you’re golden.

I’ll be updating more, as time goes by.  If this works out reasonably well, I’ll be opening a few more pages, and running some ads on them.  I’m actually considering doing an investment project with some folks I know, where we buy a generic info-related .com (or .org) domain, create a ton of single-page (or few-page) sites on it, do a directory style front page, and split the costs of adwords ads for the pages (as well as split the profit).

Before I go, here are a few quick tips for your own single-page sites:

• Do your keyword research! (There’s not much point in using keywords that only get around five cents/click, when you usually can’t bid much lower than that in your ads.)
• Try to find topics/keywords that aren’t already watered down with similar single-page site.
• Got the love of all that is holy, do not use articles from article directories.  Most of the time, since these articles are being used so often online, Google (and other engines) will ignore them, and won’t index your page.  Also, if you use an article from those sites, you have to include a link to the author’s URL, which gives you viewers a place to click that ISN’T an ad.  That’s bad.  It’s okay to base your own articles off of others’ articles, but do not plagerize.
  period.
• Use a decent template for your sites.  Yes, they can all look the same if you want them to, just use different images.
• Do not - I repeat, DO NOT - place too many ad units on the freaking page!  One link unit, one large Google unit (medium or large rectangle), and one skyscraper (standard, or wide), should be sufficient.
• You might consider Chitika, if you’re doing single-page consumer-product-oriented sites.
• Do NOT spend money on ads you can’t afford to lose, especially when you first start out.  Arbitrage is a lot like gambling.  You’re gambling that you’ll make more money than you’re shelling out.

All right, that’s it for now.  I’ll keep you updated with how things are working out.

On June 23, 2006, JavaScript links will become Commission Junction’s default link type in the CJ Marketplace. However, we will continue to offer Legacy links through the beginning of 2007. The Legacy links will be available for all your advertiser relationships, including those joined to before and after June 23, 2006. At this time we have not scheduled a date for which the Legacy links will no longer be available or supported. We will notify you at
least six months in advance of making this change and will not require the change during the 2006 holiday season.

Of course, CJ is encouraging their affiliate marketers to start using the new JavaScript links as soon as possible to take advantage of the new features they are planning, and to ensure compliancy early on.  For more information on Commission Junction’s change to JavaScript links, please see their FAQ page regarding the change (CJ login, required).

Welcome to a brief primer on my version of a channel naming scheme…

Where I come from:  I use AdSense… a lot.  I run four blogs, one forum site, a few single-page AdSense pages, and a website specifically designed to make money via AdSense and affiliate links.  I’ve been with AdSense since early 2005, most of that in the blogging arena.  I’ve learned a lot since I started, and have spent a lot of time playing around to get the most out of what AdSense offers.

How I do things:  My naming scheme is very, very simple (yet the explanation is a bit complex, heh)…

I use the following method:

Site designator-Unit Type or Location-Page or unit type(size)

Site Designator: This is a one or two alphanumeric (letter/number) designator that tells me, at a glance, which site the channel is on.  For instance, for <a href=”http://www.topdogdeals.com”>Top Dog Deals</a>, I use “d”.  For MindBlog, I use “mb”.  For MindSpeak, I use “p” (politics).  For my single page sites, I use “sp”.

Unit Type or Location:  This varies depending on the individual usage.  For Top Dog Deals, I use a combo type/location.  In other words, I might have: d-content, or d-side, or d-links.  Since I know I am only using 300×250 medium rectangles for content, 160×600 for sidebars, and 728×15 for links, I don’t need to be more specific.

For MindBlog, I use designators like: mb-links, mb-top, mb-pages, and mb-sidebar, and mb-content.  I know that the pages only appear on WordPress “static” pages, Top, Sidebar and Links are on every page.

For the single pages, I use: sp-desklamp, and sp-chess.  In other words, the secondary designator tells me the specific page the unit is on.

Page or unit type(size): This tells me the specific page the unit resides on, or the specific unit type and size.  For exmaple, for Top Dog Deals, I do: d-content-dogfood.  I know that that unit is for the Top Dog Deals site, it is a 300×250 medium rectangle in the content area, and it is on the dog food page.

For MindBlog, I use mb-content-inline250×250, or mb-links-series, or mb-top-768.  In order these tell me: MindBlog, on content pages, inline with the entry text, 250×250 rectangle.  MindBlog, link unit, in the “series” location on my top bar.  MindBlog, top of each page, 768 banner.

For single page, I simply use location designators: sp-desklamp-bottomleft, sp-chess-side.  Single Page, Desk lamp page, bottom left of page.  Single Page, Chess page, sidebar.

In short, my naming scheme is usually:
Site Designator-type-location&size.

This way, when I go to AdSense to view my reports, I can rapidly select which channels I want to view, and know what they represent.  I can also tell, at a glance, which pages, and units are performing the best.

One more suggestion.  When designing channels for a blog, try to seperate your channels by type of pages, and location.  Since AdSense limits you to 200 channels, you’ll not be able to have a seperate channel for each entry.  That’s a bitch, I know, but you can make due.

For static sites, like my <a href=”http://www.topdogdeals.com”>Top Dog Deals</a>, you’ll notice I have a seperate channel for each and every unit, on each and every page.  This means I have a total of 29 channels for that site, alone.  This way I can spend time seeing which pages and units perform the best, and make adjustments over time.

Spend some time exploring the channel options, and developing your own naming scheme.  You don’t have to use mine, the key is to find  a scheme that makes sense, is easy to remember, and works for you.

This presents a couple of major problems.  1) Every person will have to modify each and every single CJ link they have.  2) Affiliate links/ads will not be visible to people who do not have Javascript.

First and foremost, it will be a time consuming, and annoying task to have to change over every single link code you use.  I am set with several affiliates, and use multiple link types across fifty or more HTML and PHP pages.  I will have to update each and every one by hand.

Secondly, viewers who do not use Javascript will not be able to see the ads.

There are some benefits, however.  First and foremost, the Javscript links will auto-update if the image changes.  Additionally, it will be a single link format across the system, and the new Javascript links will automatically be able to change with the times - i.e. they will be able to handle rich media, etc…

Secondly, they keep your search engine rank from being degraded by affiliate links (little known fact, affiliate links can degrade your search engine performance, somewhat.  We’ll all notice a bit of a jump when it comes to SERPs, once these links are implemented).

Get ready, because they roll out Javascript links on June 23rd.  Those of you who have partnered with advertisers prior to June 23rd, will still be able to use “legacy” links (the current style), for a limited time.  Get ready to make some changes, folks.

More information, direct form the CJ FAQ, after the jump…

What does it mean to me?
The LMI introduces some changes to our technology that will impact your Commission Junction account.

• Once you begin using the new JavaScript links, your links will be future-proof and you will be able to take advantage of any future enhancements without having to change out these links.
  • Future enhancements planned under the LMI include improved communications with advertisers and Commission Junction, additional ways to find and select links, better visibility into offers and dynamic link capabilities, such as offer rotation.
• You will now see the new JavaScript link type as the default link type.
• For the advertisers to which you were joined prior to June 23, 2006 (the launch date of the LMI), you will still be able to access Legacy link code for a limited time.
• If you are doing search marketing, you will now only be able to get keyword links from the Keyword Link area in the CJ Account Manager™ (Get Links >> View Links >> Keyword Link), and only if you have designated your promotional method as doing search engine marketing (SEM).
  • If you have been creating your own keyword links from other links, you will no longer be able to.
  • If you are joined to an advertiser who has not provided a Keyword link, you won’t be able to do search marketing for them. However, Commission Junction is embarking on a campaign to make sure advertisers are up to date on their search and keyword preferences.
• If you would like to embed links into e-mails, you can convert any link into an E-mail link in the “Get HTML” page of your selected link.

What are the benefits of introducing these changes?

• Once you begin using the new JavaScript links, your links will be future-proof and you will be able to take advantage of any future enhancements without having to change out these links. Key benefits of these links include:
  • They can still be modified in all the ways important to you, including modifying destination URL, appending with SID, encrypting, changing destination URL and designating hyperlink location in text links.
  • They are very common and can easily be incorporated into any Web site.
  • They eliminate the limitations of affiliate links in the legacy format – specifically search engine ranking degradation.
  • Support of multimedia – they will call any future link type, such as video.
• We have improved the Keyword link area in the CJ Account Manager – it is now more user friendly and suitable to your needs.

What are JavaScript links?

Simply put, JavaScript links use JavaScript technology. JavaScript links are structured in a unique way, putting the publisher site ID (PID) and advertisement ID (AID) in the HTTP header, (using the POST method). JavaScript links will deliver the same user experience as Legacy links. JavaScript links are future-proof, so as we provide future link enhancements, you won’t have to replace JavaScript links to take advantage of improvements.

What are benefits of JavaScript links?

JavaScript links:

• Support multimedia and future dynamic capabilities such as automatic rotation, etc.
  
• Are dynamic, so for example, if an advertiser makes a change to a text link, it will be dynamically updated on your site without any effort on your part.
  
• Offer new defense against ad blocking software, so links won’t get blocked.
  
• Can still be modified in all the ways important to you, including modifying destination URL, appending with SID, encrypting, changing destination URL and designating hyperlink location in text links.
  
• Will call any future link type, such as video.
  
• Are very common and can easily be incorporated into any Web site.

What are limitations with JavaScript?

• Excessive use of JavaScript on a Web page may cause page loading to slow. We will be offering some benchmarking information on this at launch.
  
• JavaScript links are not supported by some programs that aren’t multimedia-ready, such as e-mail clients and RSS feeds.
  
  • Please rest assured that we are fully aware of this and are in the process of coming up with alternative to circumvent the RSS limitation. More details will be made available as they develop.
    
  • We have an alternative solution available for links used in e-mail.

Why are we defaulting to JavaScript links?

Since JavaScript links build the foundation for the many enhancements we are planning with the LMI we have decided to default to this single link type going forward.

How are JavaScript links different than the current (Legacy) link format?

• The content of the link is not visible in the link structure. For example, the AID, PID, and text in a text link are contained in the HTTP header and are not visible via the code. However, once the JavaScript is placed in a Web page, the ad itself will look the same.
  
• The links themselves cannot be changed or tampered with.

How are they the same as the Legacy link format?

• JavaScript technology is a variation of HTML, so JavaScript links will initially behave in nearly the same ways Legacy links behave.
  
• Link tracking will remain the same.
  
• You will continue to get links from the “Get Links” area and “Get HTML” pages. Placing
• JavaScript links in Web pages will continue to be via copy and paste. You will still be able to modify JavaScript links by adding the SID, modifying the destination URL and moving the hyperlink in a text link.

Why is Commission Junction doing this?

In discussions with internal and external clients, it was discovered that there were many opportunities for improvements to our existing feature set when it comes to link management. We learned that efficiency, quality and opportunity were being compromised and that action needed to be taken in response. We therefore devised a list of features in answer to these needs and will be releasing them on an ongoing basis. As needed, additional features and enhancements will be considered as part of this initiative.

Why is Commission Junction doing this now?

There are several reasons for this timing:

• Recent changes and innovation in Internet and search technology have brought to light the opportunities available with providing JavaScript links. By releasing now, we are allowing you to take advantage of the recent changes and prepare for the future.
• Due to the nature of our business, we have to consider seasonality when releasing new products or features. Rather than introduce this in the middle of our busiest quarter, we decided to release this now and provide sufficient preparation time for you to take advantage of our new features for the upcoming holiday season with minimal business impact.

Are other affiliate marketing platforms using JavaScript links?

Yes, the industry standard is moving towards JavaScript links.

How will Commission Junction support me through this change?

We will provide you with continuous communication regarding the upcoming changes and our technical documentation such as Online Help and the Advertiser link Guide will be updated with details. If you require assistance, please contact client services by using the “Ask a Question” feature in your CJ Account Manager.

It appears, however, that this is not working.  The ad unit does not display the alternate url, however.  The unit simply displaying nothing - a transparent area.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue, or is something funky with my blog?  I’ve got an e-mail into Google, so we’ll see what they say, but thus far I can find no problems with the code I’m using - especially since I copied and pasted it directly from Google’s create ad unit page.

When I responded to the compliance notice, letting them know I fixed the issue, I asked if it was permissible to single out and mention clicking on specific ads that were not a part of Google’s AdSense program.  Google responded:

In response to your question about encouraging language, our program policies do not allow publishers to encourage users to click on advertisements, regardless of whether or not the encouragement is ad-specific or whether the targets of the encouragement are Google ads or not.

I was a bit surprised, and felt that Google’s policies regarding this were a bit draconian.  Essentially, Google is stating that I cannot encourage a user to click on an advertisement, even if the advertisement is not a google ad, and the encouragement is addressed to that specific advertisement.

Certainly, the defense of this policy is that encouraging a user to click on any ad - whether from Google, or not - will put them into the mindset that they should click on the ads, and it may influence them - unintentionally - to click on Google ads, when they otherwise would not.  Unfortunately, I have no choice but to accept that reasoning as valid, as I cannot find a way to refute it.  While I may find the policy to be a bit draconian, I can still understand where Google is coming from.

So, folks…  Add that to your list of things you can/cannot do to remain compliant with AdSense policy.  You may not ask a user to click on any advertisement, even if the advertisement is not from AdSense.

For more information on AdSense policies, and to ensure your blog is compliant, please see https://www.google.com/adsense/policies.

Technorati Tags: AdSense, AdSense Policies Share This ]]> http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/21/adsense-policies-prohibit-all-encouragement/feed/ http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/19/google-adsense-doing-compliancy-checks/ http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/19/google-adsense-doing-compliancy-checks/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2006 04:19:16 +0000 Fyre http://www.fyreplace.com/?p=451 Hey, folks.  It appears that the AdSense team is doing random compliancy checks.  I received an e-mail from them, earlier today:

While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as [URL]

In this specific case, I had a paragraph at the end of the post telling users to click a specific ad.  Unfortunately, the site layout changed, and that particular ad expired, so it appeared as if I were encouraging clicks on Google ads.  Needless to say, I’ve corrected the issue.  If it weren’t for Google’s e-mail, I probably never would have know about it.  In case you’re curious, the page in question was over two months old, so they’re checking
back a ways.

Additionally, Google’s e-mail included some information, explaining in no uncertain terms what we cannot do to, near, or with our ads:

Publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click on Google ads or bring excessive attention to ad units. For example, your site cannot contain phrases such as “click the ads,” “support our sponsors,” “visit these recommended links,” or other similar language that could apply to the Google ads on your site. Publishers may not use arrows or other symbols to direct attention to
the ads on their sites, and publishers may not label the Google ads with text other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements.”

Check your sites, folks, and make sure they’re compliant, and keep them that way.  If you’re not positive whether or not you’re in compliance, check Google’s AdSense Policies for more information, or send them an e-mail.

Technorati Tags: adsense, adsense policy

Previously, when one looked at the overview screen, one was presented with the totals for each type of product (AdSense for Content, AdSense for Search, or Referrals), and a link to “Channels”. Clicking on the “Channels” link revealed all channels, in no particular order, with no way to sort the list.

Now, AdSense reporting overview shows total information for each product, along with a “Top channels” link. Clicking the “Top channels” link, reveals only those channels which have had activity within the specified time frame, making it much easier to see - at a glance - which ad units are performing well, and which are not performing at all.

Primarily, I will be using AdSense and Chitika.  If one does not perform well, it will be removed and replaced.  As you can see, I am also using Amazon.com.  I don’t know how well my amazon link will do… we’ll see.

I’ll be creating more pages, some with only AdSense, some with only Chitika, and some with both, in the coming days.  For now, I’m starting with a page about halogen desk lamps.  Yes, for those curious, I am writing the articles, myself.  I can’t afford to pay anyone to write them, and Google frowns on multiple sites having the exact same content (ala e-zine articles, etc).

Let me know what you think of the page, and this rather ambitious plan.  I’m hoping to see a pretty decent return from this.

According to the Google AdSense Terms of Service:

Participating in Google AdSense does not affect your site’s rank in Google search results and will not affect the search results we deliver. Google believes strongly in freedom of expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web. Our search results are unbiased by our relationships with paying advertisers and publishers. We will continue to show search results according to our PageRank technology.

Adding the Google AdSense ad code or AdSense for search code to your site will not queue your pages for crawling by our main index bots. While our bot (starting with ‘Mediapartners-Google’) does crawl content pages for the purpose of targeting ads, this crawl is not associated with our main index crawl.

…What could this mean for publishers?  It’s possible that you could end up with a duplicate content problem, especially if you use a special template to serve data to the AdSense crawler.  On the upshot, it may mean that AdSense publishers will find themselves added to the Google Index more quickly and readily than non-adsense publishers.  …Makes you wonder if this will affect PR, and/or if this would be affected by the Google Sandbox.

It is possible that there was an accidental cross-over issue taking place between AdSense and the search index.  I’ll keep following the issue, and see what pops up.

Technorati Tags: mediapartners-Google/2.1, GoogleBot, AdSenseBot Share This ]]> http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/18/adsense-mediapartners-crawlerbot-adding-to-google-index/feed/ http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/18/im-back-with-adsense-news-and-interesting-info/ http://www.fyreplace.com/2006/04/18/im-back-with-adsense-news-and-interesting-info/#comments Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:54:54 +0000 Fyre http://www.fyreplace.com/?p=445 First off, let me apologize for being gone for so long.  There are a lot of things going on in my personal life that I don’t talk about on here.  From time to time, they effect me in ways that cause me to drop off the face of the Internet for a week or two.  Let’s just say that there are some things I’m trying to work out and take care of.  Hence the reason I was looking (and continue to look for) guest bloggers (fyre@fyreplace.com if interested).

So, let’s get down to business.  For starters, the Official AdSense Blog has an entry entitled “Earnings: Your Questions Answered“.  Many of us will think that everyone should know the answers to the questions presented in the post, but for an AdSense beginner, they are asked fairly often.

Moving from the making money through advertising, to the arbitrage vein, Shoemoney has started something called the $10,000 experiment.  You can read bout it in his first post, and his second post on the topic.  Essentially, he’s using Arbitrage-type manuevering (more on this later.. if it doesn’t make sense,
don’t worry), to make money off of affiliate links.  He’s essentially advertising to get people to come and click on his links so he will make money from said links.  So far, it appears to be a success.

There’s a technique called AdSense Arbitrage that concentrates specifically on AdSense/AdWords combinations.  I’ll post more about this in the next couple of weeks (someone remind me, if I haven’t by the end of the month), and introduce you to the basics, as well as pimp a great ebook on the subject.

Finally, I’m coming back from this break in a big way.  With the success of the past few months, I’m ready to spread some of it around.  I’m beginning a few case studies.  Basically, I’ll be asking for applications from beginning and new-ish bloggers who want to use my SEO and AdSense knowledge to help them maximize their profit potential (buzzword, buzzword, buzzword).  I’ll also be including a fair bit about affiliate marketing, and other possibilities in the study.  Stay tuned for
more information, and the requirements to submit an application.

First, they have brought back the old style single-page AdSense code generator. When going to AdSense Setup, and selectiong AdSense for Content, you now have the option of using the wizard, or the single-page method.

Secondly, AdSense had changed the reporting of the CTR amounts to two decimal places. It’s a smal change, but it allows you a better grasp of the true CTR. Although programs like the AdSense notifier, etc… will still round up, meaning your 1.57% will display as 1.6%.

Thirdly, Google has added an AdWords referral program for its AdSense publishers.

By using a button, much like the one to the left of this paragraph, you are able to allow people to sign up with AdWords through your affiliate link. Once the new sign up has spent at least $100 (within 90 days), your account is credited with $20.

…yeah, I thought that seemed pretty low, myself. JenSense believes it’s because the old Adwords affiliate program (for Adwords members) was a $20 credit when the new folks spent $20. When they didn’t elect to change that, I’ll never know. The other factor is the 90 day time limit. Then again, spending $100 in 90 days is pretty danged easy in AdWords. My proposed budget for the initial AdWords marketting campaign for my up and coming website, was $500 in 90 days. Not too shabby, eh?

So, go and enjoy all of the new AdSense toys… If you don’t yet have AdSense, well, what’s keeping you? Go and sign up:

The data I’ll be using is from February and March. I did an AdSense report looking at each ad unit, seperately. I looked at Feb data, and March data, and compared the two. While I can’t show you specific amounts/totals (TOS forbids it), I can tell you the percentage change.

Let’s break it down by ad unit… Remember that March is not complete, yet. We’re not even halfway through the month, so these numbers will likely continue to improve. We’re comparing an entire month to a half a month, so…

LINK UNIT: Total clicks have doubled, thus far. CTR has increased 400%, and eCPM has increased around 700%. That’s pretty astounding. I’m pretty certain that this is based entirely off of a traffic increase, as I have not made any changes to the link unit, or its layout/appearance.

TOP Unit (468×60): This unit has actually declined. I have had no clicks on it, so far, this month. Why, I’m not sure. I have made no major changes. Perhaps I need to revisit this ad unit, and see if some changes will garner more click-throughs.

SIDEBAR (160×600): This unit is down, across the board, for this month. However, the month isn’t over, yet. I think I’ll see a slight decline in this unit, for the month of March, due to increased traffic (page views), but not increased clicks.

CONTENT INLINE (300×260): This unit it up, and is showing the most promise. Although the link unit is way up, I believe that’s a fluke that will level out. The Content Inline has shown continual elevation across an extended period of time. Realize that I’m only at about half the page views, so far this month, compared to February’s page views. Having only half the page views, and showing this much change, is extraordinary. So far, my clicks are up, the CTR is up 140%, the eCPM is up over 150%, and earnings are up as well. This unit shows the most promise, for this month.

Overall, I’m showing less than half the traffic as I had in Feb (as I’m only halfway through March), yet my total clicks are only four less than my February total (I’ll surpass Feb in total clicks, easily). My overall CTR is up 100%, my eCPM is up around 95%, and my earnings are on par for exceeding February by quite a bit.

I’m very impressed with the amount of increase over the past month. This is on this site, alone. I’m anxious to see how my other blog, and sites, do when I start getting traffic to them!

You may have noticed today that the time limit for AdSense referrals is now 180 days. Based on the feedback we heard, we agreed that 90 days may not provide enough time for your referred publishers to complete earning $100. Therefore, we decided to double the window. This change is retroactive, so it will also apply to AdSense signups that occurred more than 90 days but less than 180 days ago.

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The official e-mail from Google states, in part:

As part of our efforts to continually improve the advertising experience for our users, advertisers, and publishers, we wanted to inform you that over the next few months we will be testing new ways to serve ads to your site. Specifically, we will be running a limited number of site-targeted campaigns that will leverage 3rd party ad-serving/tracking technology.

The letter then goes on to explain the mechanics of the bit, which are precisely as you’d expect. It seems that third party ad servers may place a cookie on visitors’ computers that will capture “standard wen traffic information such as time, date, IP address and browser information.” Interesting.

According to Gokul Rajarm, Senior Product Manager of Google AdSense:

We will be working with a number of different 3rd parties during the course of this experiment, since different advertisers use different third parties to measure effectiveness. Google will not have any access to the 3rd-party cookie information, and these 3rd parties do not collect or track any individually or personally identifiable information. Of course, publishers can opt out of this if they so choose. Finally, this is an experiment, and we will evaluate the results of this experiment in a couple of months to figure out how to proceed.

Again, interesting. I wonder if “opt-out” means “you are in to begin with, and you can find the truly obscure link on the AdSense system, to opt out.”

According to Google the affected ads “will be image ads, and will be in all the sizes that support image ads.” Those would be:

• Leaderboard (728×90)
• banner (468×60)
• skyscraper (120×600)
• medium rectangle (300×250)
• wide skyscraper (160×600)

This is quite an interesting step Google has taken. It seems that since this is such a limited beta, those who are participating in it will likely see increased revenue, as advertisers begin to purchase advertisements on their domains, for the purposes of the beta. Then again, it’s also at the cost of consumer privacy.

For those who want to play at being conspiracy theorists, you can imagine that the United States government may well be placing tracking cookies in ads, now. Then again, you’d be going out on a pretty thin limb.

As such, I’ve decided to take on a bit of an SEO challenge, and attempt link exchanging. I’m going about if through a new web forum set up by the editor of The Blog Herald (Duncan Riley). The forum is called Web Log Empire, and it is dedicated to blog link exchanges.

A lot of you are about to say “WAIT! Didn’t you speak ill of link exchanges, before?” Yes. Yes, I did. However, I spoke ill of only a certain type of link exchanges. Those being the “pay for play” exchanges - where you pay to have your site listed (usually in hidden text) on many other sites. I also spoke a bit negatively of the automated link exchange systems. The reason being is that both of these systems can actually hurt your performance within the SEO spectrum. Search Engines looks very negatively on the pay-for-play exchanges - especially when they utilize massive amounts of hidden links. The automated exchanges, usually aren’t what they’re cracked up to be, and thus far I’ve yet to find one that is as good as offered.

Therefore, I’m going the “old fashioned” route, of seeking out individual blogs with which to exchange. How will I be exchanging links? All exchanged links will be set up in categories using WordPress’s links system. Then, they will be listed on my sidebar. Additionally, when I find a blog that I really like (or one that will do the same for me), I’ll make a post about it.

These exchanges are the simple, old-fashioned way of doing things, and they provide the most quality control. Every. Single. Blog. I exchange with will first be explored by me. If I don’t care for the blog, or the writing, I won’t offer (or accept an offer) to exchange.

For those of you who are wondering, “what about when you said no, before,” let me put it this way: That was before. This is now. Formerly, I didn’t want to do link exchanges, primarily because I thought they were too much work, and not enough reward. I’m doing this now, as an experiment. If it works, WONDERFUL! If it doesn’t, no harm done. If it crashes and burns, and Google throws me back in the sand box, then - well - I’ll have learned a very valuable lesson.

I will give you one tip, though. Be, at least, pretty sure that the blogs you’re exchanging with aren’t splogs (spam blogs), and don’t engage in underhanded SEO tactics. Sometimes you can’t be certain, but trust me - look over things, carefully.

Oh, yes, monetization report. I’ve done some re-arranging of ad units, etc… on the blog, as per the case study. Well, to be honest, I’m not sure I’m happy with things, as they are right now. I think the site looks a lot more “ad heavy” than it did. Primarily because of the 160×600 skyscraper in the right side bar. I’m not sure if I’ll keep that as a full skyscraper, or if I’ll shorten it to a verticle banner. Once I get to the traffic level I truly want, I might even remove it, entirely, and go with Adbrite, or Bidvertiser. No, no, I’m not trashing Google, I’m just saying that when you combine aesthetics and bang-for-the-buck, it’s not adding up to brilliant, in my mind. I do have to say, though, that I’m already seeing an increase in my Adsense CTR, with these changes. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s increased, and even a slight increase is a good increase!

Messages like the following have accompanied the bannings:

We have terminated your Yahoo! Publisher Network beta account [ACCOUNT ID] for breach of the Terms and Conditions and/or Program Policies. Your breach includes but may not be limited to sending traffic from users located outside the United States, in violation of Section 11(l) of the Terms and Conditions. In accord with Section 6(a), we will not include such amounts in your payment. We have refunded amounts generated from the non-US users to our advertisers and will pay any remaining amount owed to you in accord with the Terms and Conditions.

While everyone knew that YPN was only in beta, and only accepting US publishers, who knew that their Terms Of Service excluded non-US traffic?! That means my visitors from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, The People’s Republic of Korea, and other fun and interesting companies, would get me banned?

How the hell (pardon my outrage) are publishers supposed to keep international visitors from clicking on the ads, when YPN is not serving up geo-targetting. It would be up to the customer to set that up, somehow, and believe me… Things like that are not easy.

YPN just rang a funeral bell for themselves. Thus far, it’s the first one they’ve rung, but we all know that sometimes that one little screw up, is all it takes.

Publishers can now select “category hints” for their Chitika ads. Essentially, it works like this. If you select a keyword, and there is no add availible for that keyword, Chitika will automatically place an ad from your chosen category. An ad that is - more or less - relevant. Here’s Chitika’s explanation:

Category hint is a new targeting option by which you can pick and choose from a list of categories supported in the eMiniMalls system. Your selected category will be used as a “fallback” in the event that the system does not find an appropriate product for your preferred keyword(s).

Chitika provides several categories to choose from.

Additionally, you can use categories as your primary marketing method. By simply selecting a category, and not entering a keyword, Chitika will rotate products from that category. For example, if I had a blog on graphics cards, I could set up an add unit and choose the “Graphics Cards” category, without keywords. Then, Chitika will serve up relevant ads about graphics cards.

In short, if you have a keyword, Chitika will try to serve an ad for the keyword, first. If it doesn’t find an ad, it will serve up an ad from the category you selected.

There’s two ways to set up categories. For new ads, simply use their code panel in the set up process. For existing ads (that are already in place), you can insert the following line of code: ch_default_category = “XXXXX”;
Where XXXXX is the category code listed on the Chitika categories page.

Go to it!
(Thanks to Problogger for the info.)