My Affiliate Place Blog

The Phishing/Trojan Scam-What Is It?

2009-11-05T14:02:00.004-06:00

The Phishing/Trojan Scam -What Is It?

The phishing/trojan scam has been around for a while, however, it is making a comeback. Why? People and companies are become more savvy-thus, so are the attackers.

If you work on the Internet, do a lot of Internet browsing, or you're into Social Media you must remain, or become more alert. The phishing/trojan scam is hitting not only consumers but enterprises as well.

Check out the details in my article:

Phishing/Trojan Scams on the Rise
There seems to be a decline in straight phishing scams-meaning that attackers are finding different methods to obtain the same gains they found with phishing but are now incorporating a Trojan. I give you a quick intro to what phishing is, as well as, what a Trojan is and can do to your system, before giving examples of what is hitting the Internet. Read More....

Are You Looking At Windows 7?

2009-10-26T10:14:00.003-06:00

Are You Looking At Windows 7?

Obviously Windows 7 is now out on the marketplace. You see it on TV, in the news and on the Internet. You also have to try to get past all the Internet chatter to get a thorough understanding of this new operating system.

Windows 7 is expected to be better than Vista, but what does Windows 7 have and no longer have that you have with Vista or XP?

And, are you going to have any compatibility problems with your old software when upgrading from XP or Vista?

Will your computer support Windows 7?

These are all questions that I try to answer in: Windows 7 Anyone?

Is PageRank Important?

2009-10-20T12:58:00.001-06:00

Is PageRank Important?

Is PageRank Important? In Google eyes, no. In fact, you will no longer see a PageRank tool in Google's Webmaster Tools.

Google has been telling people for a long time not to focus so much on PageRank. In fact, PageRank is just one small element out of 200 signals that indicates how your site will be crawled, indexed and ranked. What did PageRank give webmasters? A sense of security that they were doing something right, I guess.

What to do? I guess the only thing you can do is: 1) create quality content; 2) market your content to pull in traffic, and; 3) Don't worry about PageRank.

Adsense New Launchings

2009-10-12T11:20:00.004-06:00

Adsense New Launchings

What's new with Adsense. Several new launchings to help those that have Adsense on their site to make more money. Interested?

Adsense is launching a new feature that will help adsense mobile publishers to take advantage of high-end mobile phone browsing. Publishers will have the ability to run larger Adsense ads visible on high-end phones. With the new JavaScript snippet that Google Adsense is introducing, it will help to reduce latency on high-end mobile phones, as well as allow publisher the ability to select additional ad unit sizes from common AdSense formats.

YouTube.com- Adsense is launching YouTube Promoted Video in Adsense ad units. You can see anything from movie trailers to product demos to really almost any kind of video on YouTube.

These promoted videos to AdSense sites will enable content producers to broaden their reach, while providing you with another way to earn money. Currently this new launch is in English for US publishers only. But expect that to change in the future.

New FTC Rules Includes Fines on Bloggers

2009-10-06T12:07:00.003-06:00

New FTC Rules Includes Fines on Bloggers

The FTC has released new guidelines concerning the use of testimonials and endorsements in advertising on social media sites and blogs.

The new rule states that any testimonials or endorsements by bloggers or social media users will need to be properly disclosed, if they have received payment for the testimonial or endorsement either in the form of money or the product itself from the company.

Reasons behind the new guidelines are several:

1. Transparency
2. Keep consumers safe

Thoughts on the changes are mixed. Some disagree with the rules and believe it's an invasion of a personal conversation. While others feel that it may in fact, lower the scam level on the Internet.

However, bottom line is that it could cost the blogger or social media user $11,000 per post if the rules are not followed.

Are You Losing Focus

2009-10-01T10:33:00.003-06:00

Are You Losing Focus?

You are a one man office-your work may be piling up, and you may even be wondering if you can get it all done. What do you do? Do you jump into the fray and tackle the “pile-up” or do you give a frustrated sigh, and turn to such distracting ventures as browsing your favorite forums, checking stats, or even playing a mindless game of solitaire? It can happen, and it does happen. Here are some things that I have done to conquer these “I’m lost” moments, which leads to procrastination.

1. Make a to-do list for each day until you get over the “I lost my focus” feeling. The to-do list gives you direction for the day. If you accomplish the tasks for a day, reward yourself.

2. TV- this is a major distraction for many. If you have a TV in your office-it’s time to get rid of it. If you can’t do that, keep the TV off while working. But you may be saying under your breath, “But there is a program I like to watch every day.” Record it, and reward yourself by watching the recording after you completed your to-do list. If you cannot record your show-you may be able to find the recording online.

3. Internet Distractions-Internet distractions, such as, reading and contributing to your favorite forum or forums or hitting the social media circuit-Twitter, Facebook, etc. can absorb you into major distractions for hours. You will need to force yourself to put aside the temptation until you have your workload under control.

Losing focus can happen anytime. For instance, on one “I’m losing focus” occasion I found myself playing a mindless game of solitaire. When my husband happened to glance in my office, his comment turned into an accusation of, “I thought you were working. You’re just playing solitaire.”

I hid my guilt by saying, “No, solitaire, helps me to collect my thoughts on what I have to do.” Whoa! How do you like that feeble excuse? He didn’t buy it. As a matter of fact, I didn’t either. We both laughed. I closed solitaire and began work in earnest on my to-do list.

All in all, losing focus is a human trait that we all have to overcome. And for the individual that works alone, it’s up to you to recognize the problem and resist the temptation. If not, the to-do list can get very long, indeed.

Paid Links And Javascript

2009-09-22T09:25:00.005-06:00

Paid Links And Javascript

Paid Links -in with the new and out with the old. So before I enlighten you about some of Google's new thoughts about paid links, let me explain how paid links worked in the good old days.

In the good old days paid links worked in this manner- A high ranking website, would open a page where a webmaster could buy a plain text link. The webmaster who was buying the link was hoping to increase or improve his/her page rank. This simple concept had created a nice income for webmasters selling links. But...with the crackdown by Google-that changed. Many thought paid links hiding behind javascript was save. Is this still true?

According to Matt Cutts', Googles' Googlebot has gotten smarter, which means they (Google) have now gotten better at crawling javascript. So, if you're hiding paid URLS in your javascript, thinking that Google is unable to crawl and find those urls, you may very well need to rethink that thought. In fact, you may find those buried paid urls crawled and indexed.

The majority of people who do use javascript links are ad networks which Cutts claims Google does handle very well. But the big question is- Is Google penalizing paid javascript links? Currently no-but that can change.

Translated -if you're selling text links, make sure they (the links) don't do two things:
1) flow page rank
2) effect search engines

To avoid problems-Cutts suggests using the "nofollow", even within javascript code. Other alternatives are: using either your robots.txt file to block URLs or you can use redirects. As you can see, these new rules have destroyed the good old days-and profits for some.

Promote Your Site-Write a Free Ebook

2009-09-17T10:28:00.003-06:00

Promote Your Site-Write a free ebook

Writing a free ebook can help you to promote your website or blog? I know, some of you are cringing at the thought. Why? Some cringe at the idea of writing more than 500 words. While others feel that they are giving away valuable information to their readers-which they probably are, if they anticipate getting any response from an their ebook. Those concerns can be quieted by knowing what a free ebook can do your you?

A Free Ebook-What It Offers

What can the free ebook give you in return?

1. Free Traffic
2. Expert status
3. If You have a newsletter-maybe new signups
4. If you include affiliate links-it can help you promote your affiliate links. Please note: the affiliate links should be relevant to what you are writing about. If the affiliate links don't match the topic, it not going to get any clicks.

Expert Status

If you create a quality free ebook-you have created, online creditability--you have the knowledge that they are seeking. This can keep people coming back to read or hear what you have to say in the future.

Free Traffic

If the ebook is of quality, word of mouth travels fast on the Internet and that brings traffic. Also, if you do a write-up on your blog or website, with keywords specific to your ebook's topic the search engines will find you, and thus, so will the people.

Knowing what a free ebook can accomplish, it's time to write. But be advised, proofread your work.

Proofread Your Work

Just because it's free-doesn't mean that you should haphazardly but the ebook together. If you have the mentality that, "Since it's free, I really don't need to be particular with grammer, spelling and formatting", you may have a problem.

Thus, I would suggest you do the following:

1. Do a spellcheck on your ebook.

2. Set the ebook aside for a couple of days. Why? Sometimes after reading and re-reading your ebook you become blinded by your errors.

In fact, you may read over some misspellings. Or you may have used the wrong word, but spelled it right-meaning spellcheck will not correct it.

3. Proofread your ebook again, but if you can con a good friend into reading your ebook, do it. You want your copy to be as clean as possible. Why? What if you decide to produce an ebook that you want your readers to pay for-how many takers will you get if your first creation-free or not didn't pass the "typo test"?

As you can see, I strongly encourage you to take pride in your work, because if you do not, the free ebook can decrease your online creditability in an instant, whether the writing is free or not.

Link Checking

Links, whether it is to direct them to other web pages or to an affiliate program. Make sure the links are hot and working. Nothing can be more frustrating than to click on a link that you are interested in, to only find a "Cannot display page".

Once your ebook is formatted, and you have did a thorough check of your ebook for any errors, it's time to put it into PDF format.

Ebook Covers and PDF Files

You have a choice between putting your working document into an "exe" file or a PDF file. I would suggest using a PDF file mainly because the PDF reader is accessible and free to all on the Internet.

Now comes the expense. Some of these PDF software programs do cost some money, while others are free. I know what you are saying, "Go with the Free."

Yes and no. You have to be careful which any free program you choose, some place advertising on each of your ebook pages-which can make your ebook look like an amateur creation. I've found two pieces of software, one for the pdf convertor and the other for your ecover that are reasonable.

PDF995 offers a free version and a paid version. By the way the paid version is really reasonable so it's not going to break the bank. And for ecovers, look at Push-Button Ecovers Software. Though not free, it does offer a software program that is reasonable, while giving you an opportunity to create a professional looking ecover you'' can be proud to share with people.

Once you have the finished product completed you will need to find ways to publicize your ebook.

Simple ways to publicize your free ebook.

Once you have your ebook created and placed on your website or blog, it's time to promote. Two of the easiest ways to promote your ebook is through the following:

1. Create a press release
2. Advertise it on your blog

As you can see, a free ebook can help you promote your website, blog and/or affiliate programs-and at a relatively low cost.

Spam Blogs What Are They?

2009-09-08T10:31:00.003-06:00

Spam Blogs What Are They?

Spam+blogs=Splogs. Spam blogs can add a lot of clutter to the web-and they do keep the search engines busy. Splogs use other people's content with the sole purpose of increasing search engine rankings of their other sites or to increase their ad impressions on their sites. Simply translated-Money.

A full time spammer creates blogs using an automated process. They will not create one or two sites, but hundreds or thousands of sites, each creating a little money. But that little money created across a thousand sites can create a tidy sum of money. It is not only the money that drives them to create more sites-it's the never ending vigilance of the search engines and Internet service providers that try to keep these splog sites in check.

You may think that you can detect them easily. You may even assume that they would use a similar template for their blogs. Not so. To avoid detection from the search engines, they will create a new blog from scratch.

A part-time blog spammer will not automate the process-but use the manual cut and paste routine. And they may even give you credit for the content they stole. But the purpose is the same-to make money off someone else's content.

Sometimes blog spammers will choose a name that is similar to a popular blog. Their purpose- to benefit from an occasional incoming link from a blogger who thinks they are linking to a popular blog.

Can splogs cause problems for legitimate bloggers? Yes, if the search engines decides to block all "suspicious" web addresses within a particular domain name-you have a problem.

All this translates into one thing-know who you are linking too.

Internet Scam-Google Cash Kit Scam

2009-08-31T10:14:00.003-06:00

Internet Scam-Google Cash Kit Scam

How far will a scammer go to get money from a person? You'll see with this work at home scam that involves references to Google.

There are a lot of blogs/websites popping up stating that they are making $5000 a month by working from home, with only 10 hours a week with a Google Cash Kit offered through Google. For those new to the Internet, they assume this is a safe bet because of the "Google" name. So, here's a quick summary of how the scam goes down.

The blogs/websites that offer this unique opportunity always state that his/her life was changed when he/she discovered the Google Cash Kit offered by Google. It helped him/her get out of debt and he could quit his boring job. It goes on to state and show all the big ticket items that they have been able to purchase. In addition, they show you a check they received from Google (which is bogus).

The kit these blogs/websites are offering is free, with a small shipping fee of $1.97. They also state that with this small fee you will soon be getting $1500 checks from Google. (This is the first sign that this is a scam. You should immediately ask yourself why such a large company would be selling a kit to make money.)

Here is where the scam goes down. Once you filled in the form and released your credit card number, you will not only receive the useless kit (sometimes), but also, you will begin seeing additional charges on your credit card (around $78 a month). Other victims state that these charges continued until they canceled their credit card.

If you find yourself being taken in by this scam, contact your credit card company immediately. Tell them to please take the additional charges off your credit card. If more charges are placed on your credit card the next month, you should request that the credit card company cancel your card, and issue you a new one.

The credit card company will ask you to complete a form that states the charges you want removed from your card were unauthorized by you, the card holder. This form protects your credit rating, so don't ignore it-complete and return immediately.

My advice is to always research these get rich quick schemes. Here are some simple checks. And it's really simple to do. You can either do a quick Google search on the possible scam or look at RipOff website for announcements. In addition, report the scam to the Better Business Bureau (All links available on my web page Report Your Scams).

Remember, scammers always look for an emotional issue to draw the victim into their web of deceit. So, if a situation looks to good to be true, it usually is. Which means -DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Google Adsense and Multiple Ad Networks

2009-08-27T09:40:00.004-06:00

Google Adsense and Multiple Ad Networks

Google Adsense is making a new update for it publishers. Soon you'll be able to allow multiple ad networks to show on your web pages. In other words, advertisers outside of Google-certified networks will be able to compete with Adwords advertisers for your ad space.

Let's define ad networks according to Google. Ad networks are companies that partner with advertisers and publishers to buy and sell ads on sites they don't own themselves." This is similar to Google Adsense.

How It Works

This is how it is going to work. The ads from these ad networks will compete with Google ads on publisher sites. The ads that generate the highest revenue for the publisher will be displayed.

You, the publisher will have control over which networks can show ads on your pages. Within your Adsense account, you will be able to choose to opt out of receiving ads from specific networks or all networks completely-and continue with Adwords advertisers only.

If you want to block ads from an outside ad network you'll find a new section within your Ad Review Center to do so. This is how you can get to the section within your Adsense account:

1. Adsense setup
2. Ad review center
3. Go to section of allow or block ad networks
4. Click change
5. Review the ad networks you want to block. Move the ad network from the allowed to the blocked by clicking on the block url.
6. Submit and the changes are completed within the hour.

Certifying Ad Networks

Google will not give free rein to the ad networks. To keep the standard high, all participating ad networks will have to adher to Google standards for user privacy, ad quality and speed.

Bottom line, Google will require all Ad Networks that want to join to be certified.

Rules for You and the Ad Networks

Some ad networks also utilize interest-based advertising. For these ad networks, they will not be able to:

1. collect data for interest-based advertising, However, Google will allow those who comply with Google's user privacy guidelines to show ads using these tools.
2. You will have the ability to opt-out of showing ads based on user interests from these ad networks

Traffic and Your Website

2009-08-22T07:05:00.003-06:00

Traffic and Your Website

There are a lot of ways to get traffic to your website or blog. However, the three ways of getting traffic that have stood the test of time are linking, SEO, and Pay Per Click advertising.

Pay-Per-Click

Many have claimed that in the beginning, they utilized Pay-Per-Click advertising to bring traffic their website and money in their pocket.

The key to Pay-Per-Click advertising is that the ad or ads should be relevant to your web page/landing page. The keywords that you bid on should also be relevant to your ad and landing page.

Linking

There are paid and free methods of linking. Several of the free methods of linking is through Ezines or newsletters and Article Marketing.

Ezine Advertising - If you are thinking about putting links/ads within an ezine it is wise that the ezine has a following that has at least 500 advertisers. Remember, sales rely on the number of people you can reach. Do not blindly place your ads in ezines, it is wise to always read the fine print.

Article Marketing is a good way to get one-way links. It does take time and effort on your part, but it does bring traffic to your site-long term, especially if you place your articles in article directories.

Paid Links-With Google crackdown of the paying and selling of links among websites-I would be rather hesitate. A lot of top sites lost their page ranking due to buying of links.

SEO

SEO-Search Engine Optimization was and is a specialized process. But many webmasters are tackling the SEO process on their own. SEO is a solid way to get traffic to your website, but if you're new to the SEO game, you'll have to deal with the learning curve.

SEO - is the optimization of your web pages so that search engines will visit your site. You utilize relevant keywords, keyword phases within the body of your text, and within your meta tags. Trust me, it's a little more complicated than it sounds, but well worth learning.

Other methods that are coming on board are within the social media arena-Twitter, etc. With social media, it is only as strong as your following.

So, if you're looking for ways to build traffic to your website, don't leave out the three mainstays, SEO, linking, pay-per-click.

Credit Card Scams

2009-08-05T10:35:00.002-06:00

Credit Card Scams-How To Protect Yourself

With the increased use of credit cards, it opens up new avenue for scammers. This in turn, means that we (consumers) have to be more diligent and alert to protecting ourselves.

The article "Credit Card Scams-How To Protect Yourself" gives you 10 simple tips to remember, as well as, a look at two scams that is making the rounds. As with anything, being informed is the best offense.

SEO-Is It Useless?

2009-07-16T12:35:00.004-06:00

SEO-Is It Useless?

When I first started out on the Internet, I must say I was a little naive. I assumed that you could just set up a website and people would miraculously appear and buy. Nice thought isn't it? But truthfully, not at all realistic.

After checking my stats, day in and day out, for about a month-I realized that the only visitors I had was from "me". It was then I realized, that this website stuff was going to take work-but I didn't really know where to begin? Needless to say, it was time to do some research.

During my research I came across something called SEO (search engine optimization). It looked rather hard to do, but since my pockets were not that deep, and you could do it yourself, I thought why not try it.

What I learned, is SEO is not useless as some may say, but a rather useful tool, and it cost you nothing-if you do it yourself that is.

Check out my article "SEO Is Not Needed?"
to understand why you should try to use SEO on your website.

Amazon Ends Affiliate Program In Some US States

2009-06-27T08:48:00.003-06:00

Amazon Ends Affiliate Program In Some US States

With the recession, some states are trying to pull in more revenue, and they are now going online to get it. One company Amazon, is handling the proposed sales tax levy by North Carolina by closing their affiliate program from the state.

Per Fox Business, Amazon has closed their affiliate program to residents of North Carolina due to the proposed change in sales tax for affiliate sales. Amazon told their marketing affiliates in the state "that the move was a direct result of North Carolina's push to levy a tax on purchases made through Amazon affiliates."
(Fox Business)

Are there any other states where affiliates may be closed out by Amazon. Consideration is also on the board for California and Hawaii (Rumor or Fact: Hawaii is said to be closed by Amazon).

Will other states follow? Time will tell.

Adsense-Font and Font Size Changes Available

2009-06-22T12:43:00.003-06:00

Adsense Changes-Different Font and Font Sizes Now Available

Here's a quick note to a new change that Adsense is now allowing publishers to use.

If you have been wanting to have different font and font sizes for your blog or website, you're in luck. Adsense, after their own initial experimenting, has found that changes in font and font sizes does affect revenue. Thus, you are now allowed to change font and font sizes for your ads within your website or blog.

What's available?
For font sizes you'll be able to choose between: Small, Medium and Large, with font styles of Arial, Times, Verdana.

You will notice that the current default setting for your Google ads are typically set to small, but from a little experimenting they found that medium did perform better than the small. Thus, medium will soon become the new default.

If you are wanting to play around with your ads, you'll need to keep the following information handy:

When creating new ad units you can now choose:

1. the default font size
2. your new account-wide font size
3. Or a separate size

Updating existing ad units

To change existing ad units you will need to visit the "Manage Ads" page under the Adsense Setup tab.

Note: any font size change that you make to an individual ad unit will remain in place EVEN if you change your account-wide default in the future.

It Can Happen To AnyOne

2009-06-12T10:44:00.002-06:00

Is It Just Another Day Online?

One day Melissa received an email in her inbox. She glanced at the subject line
for a moment, cursed under her breath, "Now what", when she say the subject line that read:

"Please Verify Your Paypal Account".

She read the email thoroughly. Someone was getting into her account, and they would like her to verify her information. She was busy, but she thought that she should take the time to resolve the issue to get her online work done before the weekend. She clicked on the link they provided, and entered her id and password. But.....

When Melissa got into the website, she noticed that some of the items were not populated. No sweat, just refresh. It still didn't work. And when she clicked on the calender to put in the date span-it didn't work.

Frustrated she leaves. But then she remembers something that she had just read about phishing. Her stomach knotted up, as her mind wondered to the "What if possibility". Whenever she got that knot in her stomach, she knew she had to act. She got the link for Paypal from her stored links and contacted Paypal.

To her dismay she had been hit with a phishing scam.

When you have been hit by a phishing scam you should act immediately. Melissa did some things wrong, and some things right. One of the right things she did was to contact Paypal immediately. Why?

They can being to monitor the account, kill any suspicious transactions from the time you contacted them, and change your password and user-id.

Phishing affects credit cards, banking and other financial dealings. To learn more about phishing and the new avenue in which they are utilizing phishing, and most importantly, how you can protect yourself- read my article titled:

Phishing Can Affect Anyone

Google Enhancements and Additions

2009-06-04T12:55:00.004-06:00

Google Enhancements and Additions

Google is adding new things to their inventory of services. What is it? It looks like Google is moving into social networking and is now offering "Google Friend Connect".

They state that with Friend Connect, your visitors can join your site using credentials they've created with Google, Yahoo, AOL and others and link in the people they know on services like Google Talk, Plaxo, Twitter, and more.

They will offer "gadgets" with features like commenting, ratings and reviews and the social bar to add to your site. How is this added to your site? Just like Adsense, you just need to add a snippet of code to add the feature to your site. To learn more about Google Friend Connect or to get started click here.

Another Adsense Enhancement

Google Adsense is making another enhancement-this time, its with their link units. After you click a link unit topic, an image ad has been added to the bottom of each of these pages. In there testing, it showed revenue improvements for many publishers.

The image ads are contextually targeted, so what you see as the topic of the links you see the same topic with the image ad. What happens if there is no image ads available for the given topic? If no image ad is available you will see text ads instead. Some may be cringing with the thought that if there is no image ad or text ads for the topic they will show the ugly public service ads or a nice big blank space. Adsense says this will never happen.

How does it work for advertisers-they can bid on the image ads on a Cost-Per-Click or a Cost-Per-Impression basis. As you can see, publishers will be able to generate earnings for valid click and impressions. But one item to keep an eye on, in my opinion, between cost-per-impression vs cost-per-click revenue. Will it help you make more or less?

If you're going to try link ads, you may want to generate a link unit report on your Advanced Reports page to see if it is helping your site to generate more revenue with the added image ad.

Your Website and Springtime Dusting?

2009-05-11T07:34:00.002-06:00

Your Website and Springtime Dusting?
By Vickie J. Scanlon

Okay, you can tell it's Spring. Or, that I have a strong case of spring fever. But along with Spring, comes Spring cleaning. And that is not just restricted to housecleaning. Your website should go through some simple, well, maybe not simple, spring cleaning rituals.

Sometimes, these simple things discussed below can have a great effect on your pocketbook, as well as, better exposure with the search engines. So what can you do to get the cobwebs out of your website?

1. Clean out the broken links. This should be a continual process. Broken links can push your search engine ranking-page ranking down. So eliminate those links that go nowhere.

2. If you have articles on your website by other authors, you better check those links. Why? Some websites succeed, some fail, and some people just get bored with the website and have a for sale sign plastered on the front page.

What do you do with these links, find the website and their contact information. Send them an email and tell them that you have their article on your website and would like to update the link that is now a "link to nowhere". They will happily supply you with a new link.

Other times, the website is gone. I've kept their name, as the author in place, but eliminated the dead links.

3. Clean your webpages. This is the not so simple one. Here you have to go page by page and clean the code so that the search engines can more easily find you, and your server can better service you. Bad links on your server can cause you some problems-such as incomplete stats. And stats, are an important component not to have distorted or missing.

4. It also may be time to determine which products stay and which should go. If the product has been on your site for a year, made no money, had no clicks and you have given the product the exposure it needs to be seen, you might want to let it go.

However, if you have to let go of the old, remember you can bring something new to your site.

5. Last but not least, recheck and tweak your goals. Goals change. Why? Live is not static, nor is an online business.

I know, I know, spring cleaning is not fun. It's hard work, but hopefully you will see the rewards in short order.

To help your spring cleaning along-you can utilize this online tool for free: Dead-links.com to help you find your dead links. For other website tools you can check out my web page: website management tools

Category Filtering Beta Testing By Adsense

2009-04-29T08:30:00.002-06:00

Category Filtering Beta Testing By Adsense

Adsense is developing a much requested feature for publishers-category filtering.

What is category filtering? Category filtering will give the publisher a little more control over the type of ads that they can block from their website. You'll have specific categories to choose from, such as:

Dating
Drugs and Supplements
Get Rich Quick
Sexually Suggestive Weight Loss
Politics
etc...

You can choose up to 5 different categories in which to exclude.

One nice feature is the percentage of recent revenue that the ads in each category is generating-this will give the publishers a better tool to predicting how the filtering selections will impact their revenue.

This may be a viable way for publishers to rid their website of irrelevant ads on their website or blog. However, this feature is now in only in beta testing. Which means that only a small select group of publishers are able to utilize the tool currently. Thus, we are going to have to take a wait and see as to when and if it is going to be offered to the whole Adsense community.

Listening To Your Inner Voice

2009-04-24T12:39:00.002-06:00

Everyone has that "Inner Voice" and when you're working on the internet, many prey on your desires, while hoping that you will ignore your inner voice, and take the bait.

Let's take an example. We'll call the participant, Joe NotSoSmart.

Joe NotSoSmart got an email from another webmaster that they would like to buy space on Joe NotSoSmart's website. The webmaster told Joe NotSoSmart the specific page that they wanted their ad on.

Joe NotSoSmart, was elated about the prospect of making some money on a monthly basis. And simply said, "when will you have your ad ready?"

Joe NotSoSmart did not:

1. check the website. Always check the website, and all it's links. Why? The website may be a single splash page, with absolutely no content or link. Doesn't happen you say? It does.
2. State that he had Google Ads on his site, and he will follow the Google rules. Which means that, he will properly identify it as an advertisement. (This quickly will determine the mindset of the
individual). Either they will agree, or you will quickly know they were after your ranking-and will not respond.

What can happened to Joe NotSoSmart because he did not check these simple things?

1. The link can go to anywhere, especially if the website is only a single splash page that has only one benefit- a professional looking page. Could it possibly end up leading to a page that Google does not think highly of? If so, his website is in trouble. Obviously, it's not going to a no-content splash page.
2. He could possibly run into a problem with Google and see his ranking fall, as well as, his position in the Google search engines fall. Or, the worse case scenerio, be banned from Google. As well as, some of the other major search engines. This would eventually lead to his closing his website down and starting from scratch.

As you can see, always place your bets on the side of caution. And do your research.

Affiliate Programs-What's Best?

2009-04-08T10:05:00.003-06:00

I was asked a simple question. Are Affiliate Programs a Scam? And the answer can be a -- Yes or No. On the Internet, you always have to do your due diligence on anything. If you slack off, or become to trusting-taking things at face value, you may get burned.

There are always warning signs, if it is not legitimate. For example, contact information is bogus-you call no answer, you email-no answer; or if you're in the program, you're getting a lot of chargebacks-a major red flag.

However, most affiliate programs are legitimate, honest programs. But...you do need to look at the affiliate program and know what they do offer the affiliate, and what they don't offer the affiliate.

My article "Are Affiliate Programs a Scam" gives you a quick look at the programs offered by a business, and programs that are offered through the affiliate brokerage company. With each, you have to be aware of certain things.

Are Affiliate Programs a Scam

Are affiliate programs a scam? Yes and No. I'll explain.

Affiliate programs come in many varieties and is offered in many different formats. However, which is better? I'll let you be the judge.

Everything Adsense

2009-04-01T09:51:00.003-06:00

Everything Adsense

What's new at Adsense? What changes are taking place?

Video Units are Retiring-Somewhat

It looks like the Video units have not been the success that Adsense thought they would be. With that being said, Adsense will quietly retire the Video units at the end of April.

If you still want to display video ads you'll still be able to do so, by going to YouTube directly.

But most importantly, this video unit retirement will not affect the availability of other video ad units that appear through the image/text or image option of your ads. So yes, Adsense for video is still accepting applications from eligible publishers who produce video content.

New Email Notifications

Adsense will be rolling out new email notification preferences in your account over the next few days.

What does that mean? You'll have the option to receive specific messages like event invitations, information about webinars, and personalized account suggestions from members of the Google Adsense team.

In a couple of days you see a one-time page when you sign-in to Google Adsense. You will be asked to select the type of email messages you would like to receive from them. What if you change your mind? No problem.

If you change your mind about the selections you chose, you can simply sign in to your Account, visit the Contact Preferences section within your Account Settings to update the type of emails you want to receive.

Google Testing Interest-based Advertising

2009-03-13T12:26:00.003-06:00

Google is making an enhancement to their Adsense program. It's called Interest-Based Advertising. And whether you like it or not, it will affect your website and specifically your privacy policies. If you don't have a privacy policy on your website, it's time to get one.

Interest-Based Advertising will help the advertiser, the publisher, and hopefully give the user a better experience. It is Google's hope that the user will benefit from the additional relevancy that the interest-based ads will provide. And yes, users can opt-out of the interest-based ads if they so wish. Check out my article

What Is Interest-Based Advertising
Interest-based advertising enables advertisers to reach users based on their interests and allows them to show ads based on a user's previous interaction. Why is this important? Because Google is in the process of a launch of the new interest-based advertising feature. Read More

Affiliate Programs-Does It Pay?

2009-02-25T12:40:00.003-06:00

Affiliate Programs are a good way to bring in extra cash for your blog and website. But with anything on the Internet, it is always wise to know what you are putting on your site. Why?

One word, creditability. When a person comes to your site, you, the webmaster should be trying to gain their trust. With trust can come sales. Thus, it's imperative that you take the time to do your research. It will save you time, money and keep your online creditability intact.

So what do you need to consider before committing to an Affiliate Program? My article:
Is That Affiliate Program For You will give you some insight as to what to check when considering an affiliate program for your website or blog.

Is That Affiliate Program For You?
Affiliate Programs is another avenue in which to make money on your site or blog. The only thing that you need to be concerned about is if the affiliate program matches or blends with your niche and that it is legitimate. What are the typical things that you should consider when committing to an affiliate program-be it a stand alone affiliate program or an affiliate program offered through an Affiliate Brokerage Firm like Commission Junction or Clickbank? Read More