The CelebrityContest.net Entertainment Directory

Pretty much all webmasters know how hard it is to find good niche directories, especially in the entertainment and celebrities area, that are really helpful for your site and that don't cost too much: so it's very good news to know that the CelebrityContest.net Entertainment Directory finally got into the play - as this PR4 clean, uncluttered and SEO friendly directory is one of the most useful and powerful resources for every celebs/entertainment webmaster.

As a gift to all users, also, the directory owners just released a free and accurate link price calculator - an essential tool for all webmasters and SEO experts out there.

AdSense Shopping Carts

Check out the new ads making appearance on a web page near you - AdSense for content with shopping carts. The new ads indicate which sites accept Google Checkout as payment. If you don't know what Google Checkout is don't be too upset, because not many other people do either! It's kind of a poor man's alternative to PayPal - same functionality, but flagging brand awareness. You'll also notice Google Checkout buttons springing up on your Google search results in future - seems like they're really trying to push this brand (because it's the poor man's alternative to PayPal, like I said).

Get the full story at Inside AdSense.

Referral Endorsement

An important clarification regarding referrals has just been issued by the AdSense Team in the program's official blog, Inside AdSense. The clarification confirms that AdSense publishers are allowed to give "explicit endorsement" of the referral products. An explicit endorsement, although falling short of saying "click my referral buttons", does allow the publisher to imply that the visitor should download the referral product and experience the benefits of it. Statements like "this page is best viewed with Firefox and Google Toolbar" and "get Google Pack on this page" are permitted. Any endorsement must be in a way which supports the intended use of the product or service associated with the referral.

The logic behind this is that referrals are a "Cost Per Action" (CPA) product - the visitor has to complete at least 2 actions (click and download) before the publisher receives any sort of payment, which reduces the likelihood of click fraud via these ad formats. Furthermore there are some built-in constraints that prevent the same visitor from downloading a referral product, thus earning payment for the publisher, on more than one occasion.

AdSense for content ad units (the standard ads) remain an endorsement free zone - you must not draw any unnatural attention to these units on your page. It is not possible for a publisher to give an endorsement of these units because the content delivered by them is unpredictable, rendering any previous endorsement false and misleading. Encouraging clicks on these ads not only drives lower quality traffic to an advertiser’s site but provides poor data for an advertiser to make an appropriate bid on the click. This results in a poor experience for visitors and advertisers, which isn’t good for you as a publisher.

Check out the full statement at the Inside AdSense blog.

Agloco

I've recently heard about a program called agloco and have done a few searches on google about it.

Basically, it rewards members for downloading a toolbar, keeping it active while surfing and inviting friends to do the same.

It seems that quite a few people are promoting it, and I have to say, the best agloco promotion team I’ve come across has to be AglocoVIP.

They offer a free blog, hosted on your own sub-domain, a free e-mail account and free promotional graphics.

Of course, should you have a question regarding the program, free support if offered, and the owner of the website is just an e-mail away and will do his best to help you make the best out of your experience.

I have to say you can’t beat this offer, so that visiting their website is highly recommended. After all, joining is free, there is absolutely no financial risk involved, and the benefits could definitely prove to be worthwhile.

Let’s face it: there’s nothing easier to promote than a free product or service, and, since a pretty penny can be earned in the process, the risk vs. reward ratio seems an excellent one, making this one a "must-join".

Secured Credit Cards

It's that time of year again when the credit card bills reflecting your Christmas spending have just landed on the door mat. Money may be tight, debt may be high and you need some financial support to keep the wolf from the door. First-Stop-Credit.com offer loans and secured credit cards to people in financial difficulty. Secured credit cards can prove a helpful way of rebuiding your credit rating after hard times - simply keep your secured credit card in good standing and you may be eligible for an unsecured credit card.

As well as the wide range of high street credit cards on offer, you'll also find a collection of useful resources in the First-Stop-Credit.com article center. Their handy guides offer advice on personal finances, home budgeting, stocks, insurance and mortgages to name but a few. Whether it's investing for the future or saving on household bills today, these articles give professional advice on how to best handle your cash and make it work for you.

Whatever your credit card requirements you're bound to find a card that suits your needs at First-Stop-Credit.com.

Referral Repricing

AdSense has just announced some rather attractive new referral deals for publishers. Previously, particularly with the Google AdSense referral, it was an uphill struggle for the referred user to reach the payout threshold of $100 in 180 days. The new pricing structure means the referring publisher gets a bonus much more quickly. The details are as follows:

• When a publisher who signed up for Google AdSense through your referral earns their first $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you will be credited with $5.
  
• When that same publisher earns $100 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for payment, you will be credited with an additional $250.
  
• If, in any 180-day period, you refer 25 publishers who each earn more than $100 within 180 days of their respective sign-ups and are all eligible for payout, you will be awarded a $2,000 bonus (bonus payouts are limited to 1 per year).

Something that I noticed over at Digital Point a few days ago - there is confusion as to why a Firefox with G toolbar referral only paid $0.10 instead of the $1 expected. The reason for this is that Firefox referrals are geo-priced - the $1 payment only applies when it is downloaded by users in certain countries.

Click Fraud

Click fraud is a relatively new phenomenon, made possible by the advent of publisher networks on the internet.

Google, Yahoo and others all offer services whereby webmasters can display ads on their sites in order to profit from visitors who click on them. Likewise, advertisers can bid to have their ads appear on sites with content that very much matches their own.

Sounds like an ideal way for an advertiser to reach their target audience doesn’t it? Well.. yes and no. Of course, the genuine clicks that this type of advertising attracts will be from exactly the right type of audience to buy the related product or service available on the site they are redirected to.

However, the threat of click fraud is ever present. There are a couple of main reasons why someone would want to click on your ads, thereby making you pay for the click, despite having no interest in your product or service.

Read more about this and hundreds of other types of internet fraud and scams and so protect yourself from them before you get parted from your cash.