AdSense4Dummies

TweetAttacks - Super Boost Your Twitter Followers

2011-08-08T13:41:00.006Z

TweetAttacks is another product I've been trialling with one of my Twitter accounts.

It is a speedy way of gathering and interacting with huge numbers of Twitter followers, which can then be used to monetise your Twitter feed.

The software, which is very simple to install, can be used to boost your Twitter audience by increasing your followers. It does this by auto-following the followers of different Twitter users, safe in the knowledge most of them will follow you back out of courtesy. The full package also allows you to auto-generate Tweets, post pre-scheduled Tweets and interact with other Twitter users in a human manner.

It comes with regular email support, which gives you the latest insider advice about using Tweet Attacks to the max without falling foul of Twitter rules. After slowly building your Twitter followers by auto-following hundreds or even thousands of different people a day Tweet Attacks cleverly allows you to auto-unfollow everyone not following you. There is also the option of protecting certain VIP followers from being automatically unfollowed, so you don't accidentally remove your most famous celebrity followers by mistake.

Once you have amassed a large audience of loyal followers you can easily monetise your Twitter feed by Tweeting targeted Amazon affiliate links or selling Tweets via Sponsored Tweets etc.

A summary of the key features is given in the video below:

A free trial version of the software is available on the TweetAttacks website even if you don't want to splash out on the full version. Just scroll down to the foot of the page and click on the free download link. Even using the free trial version I've been able to amass several hundred followers in the space of a few days.

Should you wish to harness the full power of TweetAttacks you can also purchase the full or lite versions from the TweetAttacks site.

Chitika - The PayPal AdSense Alternative

2011-08-08T12:05:00.004Z

Continuing my online quest for the best AdSense alternatives I recently came across Chitika, which conveniently pays by PayPal on a monthly basis.

I suppose the nearest thing I can compare Chitika to is Amazon Associates. Their ad units typically display a small picture and some text related to the product they're advertising. Chitika ads are truly contextual, which means they are automatically related to the content of the page they're displayed on. This means it is far more likely that search engine referrals arriving on the page will find the ads of interest and click on them.

In the example below the visitor has arrived at the Chitika ads having been referred from Google with the search term "iPod Nano".

Just like AdSense a Chitika publisher earns a small amount everytime someone clicks an ad unit. The clicks of US, UK and Canadian site visitors typically earn in the region of 20-30 cents each, so with large traffic volume it's easy to make a good alternative income stream. Unlike AdSense, as I mentioned earlier, an option exists to have Chitika earnings paid into a PayPal account, which means publisher earnings are received in a faster and more convenient form. Something else to be aware of is that publisher stats aren't displayed in realtime, meaning you won't know your actual daily earnings until the following day. This allows Chitika time to verify the authenticity of each click, which is good for maintaining advertiser confidence in the quality of the service.

Chitika offers a range of attractive ad formats, which can be blended with the design of any website. Unlike some alternatives they also offer the ability to generate ad code that displays to mobile phone web surfers, meaning that stream of traffic can also be monetised. This could be particularly useful on news and current affairs sites, which receive a lot of mobile web visitors.

Preliminary indications are that Chitika is a very strong contender to be the best AdSense alternative out there, if you get a lot of clicking visitors from North America.

If you'd like to give Chitika a try then please sign up and tell them AdSense4Dummies sent you: Try Chitika Now

Swagbucks Come Good

2011-05-05T16:58:00.003Z

Well, it's been a while but I can finally report on my experiences of Swagbucks. I've been using them for a few searches a day for the last year or so.

I wrote about Swagbucks a while ago, explaining how this paid-to-search site worked and that I was going to try it out. It's not quite a replacement for the now-defunct MySearchFunds, which paid above the odds for every single search a user performed. That's probably why it's now defunct!

Swagbucks works along the same lines. A user installs the Swagbucks search bar, or bookmarks a Swagbucks search page personal to them. They use the search bar or page to search the web as they would normally and every so often they are rewarded with points called Swagbucks. These points can be cashed in for a range of items including electronic equipment, Amazon giftcards and PayPal funds.

It costs 700 Swagbucks for $5 PayPal funds. In my experience I earn Swagbucks every 4 or 5 searches, spaced evenly over the day. In the course of a day I can make 20 or 30 Swagbucks, so it would take around a month of use to make enough for $5 PayPal funds. Proof of payment below:

That doesn't seem much of a reward, but it's really $5 for nothing because you'd be searching anyway. What is good about Swagbucks is that you get the Swagbucks of everyone you refer. Refer 10 people who also make 700 Swagbucks a month and you've very quickly made $50 for not much effort at all.

I think I'll be sticking with it, because it has now proven to pay and it's no extra effort to search using Swagbucks instead of my regular search engine.

If you'd like to give it a shot please sign up and tell them AdSense4Dummies sent you: Join Swagbucks Now

Coffee at The Marketplace on Neil

2011-04-20T18:47:00.001Z

Thanks for the guest post by Jonathan Curtis

The Ohio State University's Columbus campus has a ton of different places to go for food and drinks, but none quite like The Marketplace on Neil. Open extremely late every night, The Marketplace offers all of the drink recipes and food choices of larger chain coffee locations, but with the added comfort of a smaller, home-like setting.

Their Vanilla Chai is fantastic, as are the daily specialty drinks that change not only based on the day, but on the time of year, as well. Featured hot coffee drinks make a trip there during the winter worthwhile, and students and customers alike can relax in the building. Comfortable chairs and couches by the large fireplace offer ample space to complete homework, eat a meal, o! r just hang out with friends and classmates.

Though The Marketplace on Neil is located on South Campus, it is important to take the basic steps to protect your home - and yourself - before heading out to grab a quick cup of coffee or snack. Locking doors, setting a ADT ALARM, and using the buddy system are great ways to ensure that treating yourself won't result in a negative outcome. This little coffee shop is a great way to get out of the house or dorm room on a cold night, and gives students the opportunity to change their surroundings without going too far from home.

WidgetBucks Finished

2010-03-06T10:26:00.003Z

Mpire has announced that the WidgetBucks advertising program will cease operating from 10th March 2010.

WidgetBucks has been a good earner for AdSense4Dummies over the past couple of years, but I guess their generous $25 giveaways, high payment per click and current economic downturn has got the better of them.

Mpire say that they will pay out any account balances of $50 or more, but any account balances of less than that amount will be forfeited in accordance with the WidgetBucks program rules.

The following email was sent to WidgetBucks publishers:

Dear Widgetbucks Publisher,

This email is to inform you that Mpire Corporation, the parent company
of Widgetbucks, has made the decision to refocus resources outside of
the advertising network space. As such, the company will be
discontinuing support of the Widgetbucks publisher network. All
existing publisher accounts will be turned off effective Thursday, March
10, 2010.

Once your account is deactivated, you will no longer be able to access
your account statistics via the Widgetbucks.com portal. According to
section 6 (b) of the terms of service, located at
WidgetBucks - Terms of Use, Mpire will pay Publisher Payment,
subject to a minimum of U.S. $50.00. Account balances below the minimum
threshold of $50 are forfeited in accordance with Section 8;
Termination; of the terms of service.

All publishers with outstanding balances greater than $50.00 USD as of
March 10, 2010 will be paid out in full on March 15. Publishers with
balances less than $50 will forfeit the balance of their accounts.

We will follow up with an email with the balance of your account as of
closing of your account so that you are aware of the balance that will
be paid to you on March 15.

We truly appreciate you having been a member of the Widgetbucks Network
and wish you the best of luck in future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Widgetbucks Publisher Team

Now for the nightmare of removing my WidgetBucks code from everywhere!

How to Get Free Edu Backlinks

2009-12-24T22:44:00.003Z

Something that always annoys me when I'm visiting Digital Point forums is the way some people like to sell links on sites that aren't theirs to sell.

I'm thinking particularly of people selling lists of .edu sites where you can obtain backlinks by leaving a comment. They aren't really selling links but rather information about how you can build your own.

Some of these sites have "dofollow" comments, which means a link obtained there has some PR juice. Backlinks from .edu domains are also highly prized because of the perception that Google finds them more trustworthy and gives them more weight.

Anyway, here's my tip for getting your free .edu backlinks:

Most people who sell these are chancers who have already capitalised on the information themselves.
Simply find someone who is selling a list of .edu sites and study their forum profile closely. They will probably have a link to one of their own sites either as their profile homepage or in their signature.
Take the URL of the chancer's site and plug it into the Online Utility backlink checker.
The backlink checker will show any .edu backlinks.
Visit those .edu pages and leave your own comments.
Sit back smuggly that you've got that information free of charge.

Try it yourself - it works!

WidgetBucks Paying Good

2009-11-17T19:47:00.004Z

Remember WidgetBucks?

I've not talked about them for a long time but they've slowly been earning for me in the background. My latest payment of just under $100 arrived today and gave me a nice surprise when I was viewing my PayPal account.

I'm still a fan of WidgetBucks. If you've got a site with some space and traffic then plonk a few widgets on it, sit back and enjoy the profit. That's what I'll continue to do!

Try WidgetBucks yourself and don't forget to tell them we sent you: Try WidgetBucks Now

New AdBrite Inlines

2009-09-19T12:20:00.003Z

Online advertising giant AdBrite has just introduced a new version of their popular inline ad format.

The new ads, which are better targeted than before, include a pop-up box with 3 or 4 related links. This means visitors to your site are more likely to find an AdBrite ad of relevance, which should improve your click through rate.

A picture of the new ads is shown above. If you want to see how well they work on your site then please sign up to AdBrite and give them a try.

SwagBucks

2009-08-31T13:16:00.003Z

There's a new paid to search engine on the horizon that we'll be test driving over the next couple of months - SwagBucks.

Okay, all you hardened money making pros will realise that SwagBucks isn't actually that new, but the reason I'm visiting it now is to fill the void left my Homepages Friends.

Members of SwagBucks use their interface (or browser plugin) to perform web searches. Every so often they are rewarded with SwagBucks, which can subsequently be exchanged for a variety of prizes or even PayPal funds. One of the good things about SwagBucks is that every buck really does have a value and can be instantly redeemed for an MP3 download or similar. After a few days of clocking up SwagBucks you might have enough for a t-shirt, DVD or book from their online store. Currently you can redeem 70 SwagBucks for $5 via PayPal.

It's early days yet, but I'm hoping I can really bring in some extra SwagBucks by promoting the program over at my karaoke blog. I'll let you know how it goes or you can keep an eye on my progress using the widget in the sidebar.

In the meantime if you'd like to try SwagBucks please sign up as our referral.

Another AdBrite Payment

2009-08-17T10:42:00.005Z

I'm just back from my summer holidays and what better to welcome me home than another check from AdBrite.

This time it's for USD 351.27, which works out at about GBP 215 in my home currency.

I'm a huge fan of AdBrite and with checks like this landing on my doormat every couple of months it's easy to see why.

Anyone interested in learning more about AdBrite, the best AdSense alternative in town, should read our AdBrite review. AdBrite can also be used alongside AdSense as a complimentary revenue stream.

If you find it useful please consider signing up for AdBrite as our referral: Try AdBrite Now

Text Link Ads Revamped

2009-08-16T14:24:00.004Z

Regular readers of AdSense4Dummies will know that I'm a huge fan of Text Link Ads (TLA). The nice people at TLA have just refreshed their site and improved the affiliate program.

In the past publishers participating in the affiliate program would earn $25 to their PayPal account for every successful publisher or advertiser sign up. This was a nice little bonus but non-recurring.

The new affiliate program pays affiliates a minimum of 10% of their referrals' earnings over two years. This increases to 15% over two years if the affiliate refers more than $5,000 per month of publisher revenue.

The affiliate continues to earn a $25 bonus for each advertiser sign up.

There has never been a better time to try Text Link Ads for yourself. For further information about how the program works read our Text Link Ads review.

Supporting Friends - Charity Begins at Home

2009-08-15T19:39:00.004Z

It seems Homepages Friends (previously My Search Funds) is undergoing yet another revamp, with the recent unveiling of the new Supporting Friends site.

I have written at length about Homepages Friends so won't go into the fine detail of how the programme works. In a nutshell you sign up, install a search bar in your browser, perform searches and earn a few cents per search.

What makes Supporting Friends different is that all the money earnt goes not to the person performing the searches, but to a charity of their choice instead. This should reduce instances of people making searches just to increase their earnings.

It also means people who honestly use the search box to earn a few dollars are missing out themselves.

I think the people at Homepages Friends (Supporting Friends, or whatever they're called today) have scored an own goal with this one. They have removed the very thing that attracts people to sign up to their site - the prospect of earning cash to their own PayPal account. Furthermore they have probable alienated all of their current members, who have been automatically transferred to the charity version of the site.

They say that charity begins at home.

It seems Homepages Friends have made the costly mistake of forgetting this.

Ciao Surveys (Greenfield Online)

2009-07-23T16:20:00.013Z

I've been using Ciao Surveys for a long time, so it amazes me that I haven't written about my experience of them.

Quite simply they're a winner.

If you're the sort of person who has a little spare time and gets enjoyment from completing surveys then Ciao is the ideal program for you. They'll also reward you with a small payment or competition entry for every survey you participate in.

How does Ciao work?
Ciao is a market research company - businesses pay them to gauge public opinion about consumer products, services and habits. They pass on a small proportion of this payment to willing volunteers - people like you and me - who help them by completing surveys on these different issues.

Once you've signed up to Ciao you'll be asked to complete a profile, which allows them to match you to the different research proposals on offer. If you're a close match they'll send you a survey. The more detailed your profile information the more likely they are to send you lots of surveys.

How does Ciao pay?
You usually earn £1-2 ($2-4) for successful completion of a Ciao survey. A survey typically requires about 15-20 minutes of effort on your part. Most surveys begin with a few screening questions to double check you're the right target audience. You only get rewarded if you complete the entire survey and this depends on your success at the screening questions. I estimate that I get rejected from about half of the surveys I'm invited to.

Payment is by PayPal. You can request payment once you've reached £5, which is after only 3 or 4 surveys.

How many surveys will I get?
I usually receive 2 or 3 survey invitations a day. Remember that I'll probably not get past the screening questions on at least one of them, but I'll probably be able to complete one of them too.

As I said earlier, the more detail you put into your profile the more survey invites (and potential earnings) you'll receive.

Does Ciao pay?
Well, yes it does. I have received money directly into my bank account from them (their PayPal payment option is fairly new). They're a well established company with a good reputation - try Googling them.

Conclusions
If you're the sort of person who enjoys completing surveys then Ciao is a pleasant and reliable way of earning a little extra cash. It probably won't make you a fortune, but will give you a nice little bonus once in a while.

In the meantime if you'd like to try Ciao yourself please sign up as our referral: Try Ciao Surveys Now

My Homepages Friends Payment Received

2009-03-21T12:31:00.005Z

I was getting a bit concerned about this one because the payment was a few months overdue. I can now confirm, thankfully, that My Homepages Friends (formerly My Search Funds) has now sent me payment. It's only £47 (just short of $100) but now they've proved legit I'll be making much more use of them.

Find out more by reading the AdSense4Dummies My Homepages Friends review. If you fancy a go then please sign up under us and remember to keep searching and wait patiently for payment.

Sign up to My Homepages Friends directly (ref).

WidgetBucks Improves Referral Program

2009-01-30T16:06:00.005Z

Online advertising company WidgetBucks has just announced changes to their referral program that should make publishers smile in these uncertain economic times.

From now on publishers will earn 15% of their new referrals' earnings for a year. This is up from the previous (miserly) 5% referral rate. Lots of small publishers (like me) make the majority of their income from cost-per-click (CPC) ads and referrals, so I'm pretty pleased with the new rules.

If you've got a large site I recommend now as the ideal time to try WidgetBucks and cash in on the generous referral program. CPC is still paying well too, with most of mine in the 20 cent range.

More details about WidgetBucks (including proof of payment) can be found in my earlier WidgetBucks review.

PR Update in Progress

2008-09-27T12:31:00.003Z

Google is currently updating the toolbar PageRank values of different sites. PageRank (PR) is Google's measure of how important one site is compared to another.

Sadly the integrity of the entire PR concept has been brought into question by Google's penalisation of good sites - well known sites with lots of quality traffic and backlinks - just because they don't comply to the Google one-size-fits-all Webmaster Guidelines.

If your PR has increased this time congratulations, but take the result with a huge pinch of salt.

WidgetBucks $25 Bonus Weekend

2008-09-20T09:41:00.005Z

You heard right - WidgetBucks are yet again offering their famous $25 sign up bonus to all publishers who sign up this weekend.

Once the publisher has accumulated $50 revenue they will credit the account with an additional $25, making the first payout a cool minimum of $75. Payment is available via PayPal (recommended) or check.

There's never been a better time to try WidgetBucks with their CPC/CPM country lists recently expanded to include most North American, European and Australasian nations. Remember that CPM traffic pays from a lot of other nations too.

You can learn more about WidgetBucks in my review article (includes links to proof of payment).

To make the most of this limited opportunity sign up to WidgetBucks now. Remember the $25 bonus is only available to publishers who sign up this weekend.

AdBrite Payment

2008-09-16T12:12:00.006Z

In my previous review of AdBrite I wrote about what a steady earner it was and how it was a viable alternative to AdSense. Most of my earnings come from free Blogger blogs, proving that AdBrite works well with Blogger too.

What I neglected to do was include any proof of payment. To remedy that I have taken a photo of this month's payment check for $315.03 (click image to enlarge). The check was issued on 2nd September and arrived with me here in the UK on 14th September - quite a reasonable delivery time.

As you can see, AdBrite really can be an effective money maker. My only complaint remains their NET60 payment terms, which means payment isn't made until 60-days after the end of the month where the payout minimum is achieved.

If you're interested in AdBrite I recommend reading my AdBrite review and giving it a go.

Blogger Cocks Up on Spam... Yet Again

2008-08-03T13:05:00.005Z

I've written about the primitive and uneffective automated spam detection methods of Blogger in the past. That time Blogger decided that a brand new blog of mine - so new it had no content whatsoever - was a splog and they disabled it for about a week. How can their spam detection methods be that poor that they mistake a blog with no text content at all for a splog?

It appears that last Friday their inept spam algo whirred into action yet again, crippling the blogs of thousands of rule abiding Blogger users.

Blogger is rapidly getting a reputation for unwarranted censorship and poor reliability.

I hope they get their house in order pretty sharpish.

New Search Engine Takes on Google

2008-07-28T14:52:00.003Z

Former Googler's have launched a new search engine that they hope will rival Google one day.

The new site, called Cuil (pronounced 'cool'), has built up an index of 120 billion pages, which they claim are indexed in a more efficient way than Google.

According to Cuil founders the new search engine can understand the context of each page allowing the retrieval of better targeted search results.

Unlike conventional search engines Cuil displays search results in a magazine format. Unlike Google the new service will not harvest information about the search history of individuals.

Cuil founders, Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier are former Google staffers. The other founder Tom Patterson worked for IBM and others on search and storage technologies.

PageRank Update July 2008

2008-07-25T12:10:00.004Z

Blogging Googler Matt Cutts has just written a post on his blog confirming that Google will be updating toolbar PageRank (PR) over the next few days.

For anyone who isn't aware of what PR is then it's Google's measure of how important a site is. They work this out from the number of relevant sites that link to the site in question and how important in terms of their own PR each other those linking-in sites are. More in my previous post about PR.

PR update time is always an exciting time for webmasters - it allows them to see if their link building strategies have been successful over the previous few months.

Matt also mentions that Google will be removing penalties from a few sites that have been naughty (e.g. violated their webmaster guidelines) in the past.

Good luck to all webmasters out there. Hope you get the PR you deserve!

WidgetBucks Conquers Europe

2008-07-16T11:54:00.003Z

Great news for European WidgetBucks publishers - from this week they'll be eligible for CPC earnings from their European clicks. The new system has just started in the UK, but will expand to Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium over the next fortnight.

Traffic from these countries will see local products priced in local currency, which should encourage more interest and clicks. That's great news considering that WidgetBucks CPC clicks are currently paying around 20 cents each. I've already seen some improvement in my earnings over the last couple of days.

WidgetBucks is also expanding its CPM country list, meaning that traffic from most parts of the globe will generate CPM earnings.

There are now more ways to earn good money with WidgetBucks so if you haven't tried it I suggest you have a go. You'll find more information on my WidgetBucks review, or alternatively you can sign up now.

AdSense4Dummies: Email Subscriptions

2008-06-04T15:00:00.004Z

Just a quick housekeeping note today.

Recently I have been approached by several people wanting to know why they are having their email inboxes 'spammed' with posts from this blog. I can assure you that I hate spam as much as the next man.

You will only be receiving email updates if you, or someone giving your details, have subscribed to AdSense4Dummies in the past. That may be the distant past and it's possible that you've forgotten about it, but I can assure you that you will have instigated these email updates.

If you wish to unsubscribe just click the link at the bottom of the email.

HomePages Friends - Web Users Get Paid to Search

2008-06-03T19:38:00.005Z

Just a quick note that My Search Funds is about to change its name to HomePages Friends.

They're also changing a few things about the way their service works - for one all searches will be conducted through Yahoo! instead of Google.

Existing members of My Search Funds will have their account details migrated over to HomePages Friends automatically. They're promising a smooth transition over the next couple of weeks.

I'll update you here when I find out more. In the meantime check out our My Search Funds review.

My Search Funds - Web Users Get Paid to Search

2008-05-19T09:29:00.015Z

Mar 09 update: Payment received.

My Search Funds* is a scheme whereby web users get paid for completing their normal search engine queries.

It works as follows:

Sign up to My Search Funds (all you need is your name and PayPal email address).
Install the My Search Funds search bar in your web browser (Firefox and IE are supported).
Every time you want to search for something type the query into your My Search Funds search bar and use that.
Receive a small payment, typically 3 or 4 pence, for each real search query you make.

Search queries are handled by Google. All you have to do is get into the habit of using the My Search Funds search bar every time you want to look something up.

Search Quality and Fraud Detection:
It's important to stress that My Search Funds is for genuine searches only. If you make excessive or repetitive searches just to increase your earnings then you'll probably be banned and receive nothing.

Their system flags up the following:

Multiple searches in quick succession (could be a problem if you're spelling isn't too good).
A large number of searches on any particular day (difficult to quantify but more than 30 searches a day is likely to attract closer scrutiny).
Automated searches generated by some sort of software.
Repeat searches with the same search term.
Searches where the results are not acted upon (e.g. not clicked through to another site).

So try and avoid any of these situations by remembering to click through your search results etc.

If you need to make lots of searches in quick succession I would recommend temporarily reverting to the normal Google search box.

User Comments:
I first heard about this over at WebTalk Forums. It sounded interesting so I checked it out further, which led me to the MoneySavingExpert.com forum where there are a couple of threads all about it. People are making the following general comments over there:

Scatty Student1: "I've had over £30 in two months and am due £35 next time, never had any problems with them, they are one of my favourite sites."

geordie joe: "I've just been paid."

Why oh why: "I have had a payment today for about £21.00 yippeeeeeeeee."

(Note: GBP £1 is equal to about USD $2)

Most people over there seem to be earning around £1 per day for 30 searches, although one person I noticed had made almost £3 from 96 searches in a single day.

It's only fair to tell you that a few people have complained that their earnings have been reduced, but it's hardly surprising that My Search Funds keep a close eye on the authenticity of the searches made. Overall it looks like the majority of users are happy with the system and have received payment.

Payment:
My Search Funds has a minimum payout of £20. Payment is made 45 days after the last day of the month in which you made at least £20. Sounds complicated but this payment system, known as NET-45, is very common for most online advertising and money making programs. If you don't make it to £20 in a month your balance is carried forward to the next month.

You're probably wondering how My Search Funds make money to pay out to their users. I had a think about this too and the only thing I can think of is that they're monitoring your search engine habits for research purposes. That's nothing to be concerned about because all you give them when you sign up is a name (even a first name would do) and your PayPal email address - you do give any other personal details at all.

Mar 09 update: Payment received. Read more for proof of payment.

Referrals:
Members of My Search Funds receive 10% of their referrals' (called friends) earnings with the program. Unlike most other programs they also have second (friends' friends) and third (friends' friends' friends) referral tiers, which earn 5% and 2.5% respectively.

Conclusions:
If you're a regular web user, patient and don't mind having to wait a few months for payment then My Search Funds is the idea money maker for you. Get paid for surfing the web as you would normally - what could be simpler than that?

In the meantime if you'd like to try it yourself please sign up as our referral using the following link: Try My Search Funds Now

*My Search Funds recently rebranded as My Homepages Friends. It still offers the same great revenue potential, but now gets its search results from Yahoo!

McAfee and Yahoo! Team Up

2008-05-09T22:38:00.006Z

Internet search giant Yahoo! has recently teamed up with online security experts McAfee to bring a safer search experience to their users.

Users of Yahoo! will be alerted to any suspicious sites by a pop-up notification that appears in the search engine results. The system uses a condensed version of McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology.

"What we’re doing is bringing McAfee SiteAdvisor data around risks for sites on the Web and integrating it into... Yahoo Search," said Priyank Garg, director of product management for Yahoo Search.

The new partnership is expected to reinforce Yahoo!'s position as the number one search engine in the US.

Great Month for Advertising Revenue

2008-05-09T20:06:00.006Z

People often ask me about the progress of some of the advertising programs I use. Two of my absolute favourites are Text Link Ads and WidgetBucks. I earn well from these two without really trying.

WidgetBucks went through a bit of a rough patch a few months ago and they got a lot of negative publicity as a result. Some people branded them as a con but others, like me, maintained faith and have reaped the rewards as a result. I can confirm that WidgetBucks is still paying well - currently about 20 cents per click for US/Canadian traffic. You can see my latest payment of just under $100 below. Those earnings were generated in March 2008, proving that WidgetBucks rebounded from their problems earlier in the year.

I don't do anything at all to promote Text Link Ads. I just made some blogs, generated some links and PR and then placed TLA code on the sites. Last month I made more than $60 with them (shown below) and this month, with the benefit of the recent PR update, I'm on track to make closer to $100 from TLA. Those earnings were generated by displaying TLA on only 3 blogs - if you had a network of good blogs imagine how much more you could make. It's easy to earn with TLA - just get some PR, keep your sites topped up with regular content and sit back and watch the money roll in.

If you'd like more information on either of these programs please read my reviews. If they're helpful then please sign up under me!

WidgetBucks Review
TLA Review

Good luck.

Oxado

2008-05-04T23:14:00.004Z

As regular readers will know I'm always on the lookout for viable alternatives to AdSense for those who have had the misfortune of falling foul of Google's rules or have a site with prohibited content. One great alternative that I've come across is Oxado.

I have been using Oxado in various places for more than a year now and I have to say I am quite satisfied with their service.

What is Oxado:
Just like the other contextual ad networks Oxado serve ads based on your site content. This means your visitors see relevant content-related ad units and are more likely to explore them by clicking.

What types of site does Oxado accept:
Oxado accept pretty much any type of site. Unlike most other pay per clicks they will accept adult sites. When a publisher signs up to Oxado they have to generate new ad zones for each of their site(s). Oxado checks and approves all of these zones, generating a unique ad code for each one. Publishers can easily submit new ad zones for approval if they wish to use Oxado on additional sites.

How do Oxado publishers earn:
Oxado publishers receive a small payment, typically 5-50 Euro cents, each time a genuine visitor clicks an ad unit on their site. What makes Oxado slightly different from other pay per clicks is that publishers also receive commission if their referral subsequently goes on to make a purchase - a system called cost per action in the industry.

Which countries does Oxado cover:
Since its inception in 2005 Oxado has been adding new advertiser markets to its portfolio meaning that they now serve ads relevant to most countries around the world. This includes all of Europe, North America and Australia.

How does Oxado pay:
Responding to publisher feedback Oxado has also improved its payment options to include PayPal and Moneybookers in addition to the long running bank transfer system. Payment is made at the end of the month in which a publisher accumulates 100 Euros in their account. If they don't earn 100 Euros then their balance is rolled over to the next month.

Something else that Oxado do is send publishers a monthly itemised break down of ad zone earnings. Of course publishers can sign into their account and check their earnings at any time.

Is there a referral program:
Publishers earn 10% lifetime on the earnings of anyone else they refer to Oxado. This is very generous compared to most other PPC referral programs.

How to join Oxado:
If you've found this guide to Oxado useful then please consider trying it yourself. We'd appreciate you using our referral link: Try Oxado Now

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo! Bid

2008-05-04T14:52:00.003Z

Microsoft has finally admitted defeat in its takeover bid for Yahoo! after shareholders rejected an offer of $33 per share.

Microsoft has taken its decision after three months of increasingly fraught negotiations. One Microsoft source is alleged to have said that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang had unrealistic expectations about the transition of control. Yahoo! also thought that the $33 per share offer was greatly undervaluing the business - the board were holding out for a $37 per share deal.

The decision is expected to wipe billions of dollars off the value of Yahoo! share come the start of trading on Monday.

Microsoft is battling web giant Google for a larger share of the rapidly expanding online advertising market.

Blogger Overzealous on Spam

2008-05-03T23:05:00.004Z

I'm getting rightly pissed off with Blogger at the moment. I thought I'd make myself a few review blogs - the idea being that I'd write reviews on different things in very much the same way as I do in Soapbox Jury. After only one day of existence the petty bastards at Blogger have locked 3 of my 5 nice new blogs. Two of them didn't have anything on and the third, Gravitas Reviews, had an original and unique post about one of my favourite webmaster forums, Web Talk Forums.

So how can 2 blogs, which had only been in existence for about 5 or 6 hours and didn't have any content on, be classified as spam? It's Blogger's overzealous spam algorithms working over time with their spurious interpretation of what spam actually is.

To me spam is when someone makes dozens of blogs full of scraped content and hundreds of duplicated links all pointing in roughly the same direction. I think most people would agree with that definition. But Blogger's automation means that any blog where one post is similar to the next could be automatically classified as spam and blocked from use for up to 20 days as the issue is resolved - or not. I'll give you an example: suppose you have a blog about acrobatics and you start each post with the same safety disclaimer. If Blogger misinterprets that as spam, as it's increasingly petty algorithms often do, then you've probably lost a totally legitimate blog.

It's times like this when I realise why Google has so many critics and why hosting your own blogs is such a good idea.

Blogger in Draft

2008-05-02T11:24:00.002Z

Just thought I'd fill you all in on Blogger in Draft.

Basically it's a mirror of the normal Blogger site where the team test out new features before releasing them to everyone.

One feature they're testing out at the moment is future-dated posting. What you do is sign in to Blogger in Draft, compose your posts and set the publish time for sometime in the future. This allows you to write several posts at once and have them added sequentially when you're away on holiday or whatever. Very handy.

If you're a Blogger user then head over the Blogger in Draft and have a play.

Google Security: Avoid Getting Hooked

2008-04-30T19:33:00.004Z

A post on The Official Google Blog today gives a good reminder of the importance of remaining vigilant to email phishing scams.

The article highlighted the typical scenario of an email, often including a too good to be true offer, landing in your inbox and demanding an urgent response. I'm sure you all know the sort of email I mean - the one which comes from the manager of some obscure African bank who claims to have $3 million of your inheritance money.

You'd be amazed how many people still fall for these scams but with a few sensible precautions and common sense you needn't be one of them.

Google offered the following guidance:

Be careful about responding to emails that ask you for sensitive information. You should be wary of clicking on links in emails or responding to emails that are asking for things like account numbers, user names and passwords, or other personal information such as social security numbers. Most legitimate businesses will never ask for this information via email. Google doesn't.
Go to the site yourself, rather than clicking on links in suspicious emails. If you receive a communication asking for sensitive information but think it could be legitimate, open a new browser window and go to the organization's website as you normally would (for instance, by using a bookmark or by typing out the address of the organization's website). This will improve the chances that you're dealing with the organization's website rather than with a phisher's website, and if there's actually something you need to do, there will usually be a notification on the site. Also, if you're not sure about a request you've received, don't be afraid to contact the organization directly to ask. It takes just a few minutes to go to the organization's website, find an email address or phone number for customer support, and reach out to confirm whether the request is legitimate.
If you're on a site that's asking you to enter sensitive information, check for signs of anything suspicious. If you're on a site that's asking for sensitive information -- no matter how you got there -- check for the signs that it's really the official website for the organization. For example, check the URL to make sure the page is actually part of the organization's website, and not a fraudulent page on a different domain (such as mybankk.com or g00gle.com.) If you're on a page that should be secured (like one asking you to enter in your credit card information) look for "https" at the beginning of the URL and the padlock icon in the browser. (In Firefox and Internet Explorer 6, the padlock appears in the bottom right-hand corner, while in Internet Explorer 7 the padlock appears on the right-hand side of the address bar.) These signs aren't infallible, but they're a good place to start.
Be wary of the "fabulous offers" and "fantastic prizes" that you'll sometimes come across on the web. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is, and it could be a phisher trying to steal your information. Whenever you come across an offer online that requires you to share personal or other sensitive information to take advantage of it, be sure to ask lots of questions and check the site asking for your information for signs of anything suspicious.
Use a browser that has a phishing filter. The latest versions of most browsers - including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera - include phishing filters that can help you spot potential phishing attacks.

Referral Promotion Rules Clarified

2008-04-26T13:46:00.003Z

Some time ago I (and AdSense Support) published some guidelines to publishers about ways in which they could (and could not) promote their referrals.

A handy reminder of these guidelines has just been posted at the official blog, Inside AdSense.

Unlike other AdSense units publishers are actually permitted to promote their referral products. They must do so in an honest fashion by commenting on the benefits of the product concerned. They must not, however, blatantly encourage visitors to click on their referral links as a means of revenue generation.

Google explain that referral promotion is allowed because unlike AdSense for Content the advertiser is paying for a specific action and not just on a per click basis.

Mobile Image Ads

2008-04-25T12:02:00.003Z

Well, it's been a while but I'm resolved to try and post more regularly here at AdSense4Dummies. Maybe I lost faith after Google bitch slapped our PR late last year, but we're back up to PR2 and hopefully PR4 will be restored next update.

Anyway, the subject of today's post is AdSense for mobile image ads. The number of countries where image ads are available has expanded considerably over recent months. The ads give AdSense for mobile publishers a new innovative tool for monetising their web traffic - always useful with the ever increasing advertiser base.

Current AdSense for mobile publishers will need to update their ad code for the new image ads to to effect. The recommendation from Google is that you choose to display both text and image ads, to maximise your chances of obtaining targeted advertisements on your site.

Microsoft and Yahoo!

2008-02-04T13:58:00.000Z

It seems such a long time since I wrote an article about Google on AdSense4Dummies. I guess I've been distracted by my other blogging efforts, which I have recently been attempting to diversify. One story can not have escaped your attention over the last few days - Microsoft's attempt to take over the internet's second largest search engine Yahoo!

Unsurprisingly Google has some strong thoughts about this and dedicated an article to it on the Official Google Blog. According to David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer at Google, the attempted take over of Yahoo!: "Raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."

His main concern is that Microsoft will attempt to exert the same regulatory defying dominance over the internet that it did the PC. The might of Microsoft in unsurpassed even by a huge fish like Google. Coincidentally he mentions that the acquisition of Yahoo! will leave Microsoft with an overwhelming share of instant messaging and email capabilities.

To put it bluntly Google are running scared. Scared that their self-proclaimed guardianship of the internet is under threat by the combined efforts of Microsoft and Yahoo! It's about time Google had some real competition in the search engine stakes.

Last Chance for $25 Bonus

2008-01-04T12:50:00.000Z

WidgetBucks has just announced that they will be discontinuing their $25 sign up bonus for new publishers on 15th January 2008. That only gives you a limited time to sign up and benefit from this introductory offer.

You can read more about WidgetBucks at my previous posts:

WidgetBucks - Making Your Traffic Pay
(includes proof of payment)
WidgetBucks Update
WidgetBucks Update #2

Do not let the opportunity of the $25 bonus pass you by - sign up before it's too late!

ScratchBack - A Fancy Tip Jar

2008-01-02T10:22:00.000Z

Over the holiday period I've discovered another weapon in the blogger's money making armoury - a new electronic tipping service called ScratchBack.

What makes ScratchBack different from the usual dull-looking PayPal donate buttons in that anyone who makes a donation gets a small reward for their efforts. The reward takes the form of either a text link or small image which is displayed in the recipient's ScratchBack widget somewhere on their site. In effect anyone leaving a tip gets a temporary advert on the site they're tipping.

The developers of SratchBack go to great lengths to stress that every link is rel="nofollow" so no-one should get into any trouble with self-proclaimed saviour of the internet, Google.

The publisher retains complete control of what is displayed in their widget, meaning that they can reject any overtly spammy or otherwise offensive advertising messages which are left with a tip. Anyone leaving a tip should be mindful of this. The publisher decides the amount they want to charge for the top spot advert on their widget and how long it should remain in that position.

Currently, in the beta stage of the program, ScratchBack are taking a 10% cut of all tips. This compares pretty favourably to most advertising services. Payment to the publisher is via PayPal and there is a $25 payout minimum. According to ScratchBack payments are made at the end of a thirty day cycle and can take up to 15 days to process - I guess that means expect it to take up to 45 days to get paid after reaching the minimum.

It looks like a fun program and it's completely free to sign up. Why not banish those boring donate buttons from your site and include a snazzy new ScratchBack widget instead?

Festive Money Makers

2007-12-22T11:15:00.000Z

I wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

It has been a very busy month for me, hence there's only a couple of entries so far this month. To conclude the year I thought I would summarise some of the key money makers I have talked about earlier.

1. Text Link Ads (Tom's rating = 4/5)
TLA has proved a steady and dependable source of income. For the first three quarters of 2007 I was making between $40 and $50 per month from TLA without fail. At the end of the month my referral earnings ($25 per approved publisher or advertiser sign up) and publisher earnings would land in my PayPal account with no effort at all. It might be to do with my efforts promoting TLA - if you Google 'Text Link Ads' now you'll see that AdSense4Dummies comes on the second page of results which is not bad at all considering the wide coverage it gets.

Sadly, since my PageRank was hammered by Google (from PR4 to PR0), I get much less per link I sell with TLA. If you have a PR3 or better site it's definitely worth signing up to this great money spinner.

2. ExoClick (Tom's rating = 2/5)
Obviously having a blog called AdSense4Dummies I'm unable to directly promote AdSense on it. I looked for alternatives and ExoClick, a fairly new Spanish venture, was one of the first I considered mainly because of the hype (at the time) it was getting over at Digital Point forums. Things started off very promisingly for ExoClick, with most clicks earning around the 20 cent mark. I remember one day I had the best part of $800 in my account, but sadly that was a mistake which they quickly rectified!

The shine has come off ExoClick now I'm only making a couple of cents per click. Even though they aren't paying that much they have a couple of real advantages: firstly, they pay by PayPal on a weekly basis and secondly, the payout level is a very modest $10 minimum which is easily within reach of most publishers. Another bonus is that ExoClick can be used on pretty much any site - adult, gambling, pharmacy all included. Their ad units have thumbnail images which help with the CTR. They also have a referral program where you earn 5% lifetime on your referral's earnings.

If you're an advertiser you can also get 1 cent clicks from ExoClick - they get you traffic but the quality isn't great. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys as they say.

What I've started saying now is that ExoClick is a good space filler - if you've got some empty spaces to fill stick in a couple of ExoClick units and see what you get. It is not a great money maker by it self, but isn't to be dismissed because of the advantages I mentioned before.

Try ExoClick Now!

3. AdBrite (Tom's rating = 5/5)
AdBrite is the main source of revenue I'm getting from this blog. It is making me a cool $10 nearly every day. Their inlines are proving particularly profitable and I've even managed $1 clicks in the past (very rare, admittedly). Most clicks fall in the range of 10-15 cents, but you don't need too many of those to make it worthwhile. I also get a sizable chunk of cash (maybe 50% of my total AdBrite earnings) from their referral program, which pays 50% of AdBrite's profit on any of your referral's earnings for 6 months.

On the downside they only pay by USD check and on a NET45 basis. This means you can have a considerable wait for your earnings to arrive. AdBrite also operate an adult PPC called Black Label Ads which is well regarded by adult webmasters.

AdBrite is by far the best program I have reviewed in 2007.

4. WidgetBucks (Tom's rating = 3/5)
WidgetBucks came to life back in October and has had a rocky ride ever since. Publishers display shopping widgets on their site which pay on a PPC basis. Initial earnings were good, with many publishers making hundreds of dollars in the first month. WidgetBucks have since made it harder to earn by only counting US/Canadian traffic clicks because these convert best for their advertisers. Earnings per click, those clicks they do actually count, are very good at around 25-30 cents.

To calm the international uproar from publishers who don't get much US/Canadian traffic WidgetBucks have recently introduced CPM ad units. These CPM units seem to pay around 5-10 cents CPM, which is only worthwhile if you have huge traffic. Still, it's better than nothing I suppose.

Despite it's numerous teething problems, and it's still very new remember, WidgetBucks has some real advantages:

Each new publisher receives $25 credit towards their first payout just for signing up.
Their referral program pays 10% of your referral's earnings for 12 months.
They pay by PayPal.

I'm still hopeful that WidgetBucks will prove profitable in the long run.

More Sitelinks

2007-12-07T22:32:00.001Z

Those clever people at Google - they never fail to impress me with their innovative ideas and attention to detail. Recently they've been playing around with their search algorithms again but this time it's their image results that have been under the spotlight. Several sites are reporting a surge in their image result referrals over the past week or so. It just goes to show that it isn't just anchor text and flowery words that make a difference in the search engine results pages.

Another thing they've done is added more sitelinks to the top sites thrown up in text search results. If you don't know what I'm talking about you're by no means alone, but hopefully the images below will enlighten you:

Before:

After:

Now if they'd just give us all our PageRank back.

AdSense Tweaks

2007-11-18T17:39:00.000Z

The clever people at Google (or the same bastards who stole my PR, depending on your perspective) have changed the way that AdSense for content ad units respond to clicks. Previously users could click anywhere on the ad unit and their click would be counted; now only those clicks which fall on the ad title or URL will be counted.

"What's the purpose?" you might ask. Well, according to Google they've tweaked the system to try and reduce the number of accidental clicks - accidental clicks which AdWords advertisers have to pay for but stand little chance of converting. They also claim that the decrease in accidental clicks will benefit publishers by making their visitors stop for longer. So it's a pink, fluffy, all-round nice state of affairs that will keep everyone in the ad food chain happy.

Read the complete story at the official blog, Inside AdSense.

WidgetBucks Update #2

2007-11-12T11:52:00.000Z

My previous WidgetBucks posts:
WidgetBucks - Making Your Traffic Pay
WidgetBucks Update

I've had a good month with WidgetBucks but if you read around you'll find that some people have not. WidgetBucks is drawing in thousands of new publishers every week with the enticing lure of up to $6 CPM and a $25 sign up bonus - not surprisingly, with such attractive payments on offer, some people are trying to dodge the rules and pocket the cash.

To maintain integrity in the system for the benefit of their advertisers WidgetBucks has come down hard on certain rule breaking publishers. A lot of people have received warnings or bannings for:

Click fraud.
Placing their widgets on sites with adult content.
Placing their widgets on non-content (eg. ad only) pages.
Placing their widgets on non-English sites.

Obviously anyone who has been banned isn't very pleased with WidgetBucks and consequently there is some negative publicity floating about at the moment.

Have faith - WidgetBucks is part of the respected Mpire advertising business and they will honour their payment pledges as long as the publisher keeps to the terms of service. I can not emphasise that enough - people are only being banned for unnecessarily ignoring the rules.

Today the official WidgetBucks blog announced that October's earnings have been confirmed and it has been a good month for me. I am not raking in loads of clicks each day, but even a few 30 cent clicks begin to add up over the month. I'm on target for a nice little Christmas bonus, when I receive my first payment in December.

Another thing I like about WidgetBucks is the way they respond to publisher feedback. One thing that was concerning me was that referral earnings were only posted at the beginning of each month and there was no way to track them in between. Today WidgetBucks announced that they will be adding a real time referral earnings tracker to their site. Some publishers have also complained about losing track of their earnings from deleted widgets - to overcome this problem a new section is going to be added to keep track of these earnings too.

WidgetBucks are still offering the very generous $25 instant sign up bonus for all new publishers. If you haven't joined yet I recommend you do so before this $25 bonus offer is ended. Please use our referral button below to tell them AdSense4Dummies sent you.

AdSense Introduce Resources Tab

2007-11-03T16:56:00.000Z

A very brief entry today, it is the weekend after all, just to say that publishers may have noticed the addition of a new 'Resources' tab on their account dashboard. The new button provides AdSense publishers with a convenient shortcut to an array of program policy information. Why not check it out yourself next time you sign in?

More on this story at the official blog, Inside AdSense.

Gmail Spam Filter - Fighting the Good Fight

2007-10-30T15:25:00.000Z

Did you know it takes the average person 5 seconds to identify a spam email message? No, nor did I but apparently it does. With almost 80% of all the emails being handled by Gmail being spammy in nature that could add up to a considerable amount of wasted time over the course of the working week - time which could be better spent playing fussball or instant messaging your Grandma according to Google software engineer Brad Taylor.

Amount of spam aimed at Gmail users.

Gmail users are playing an increasingly major role in the fight against spam. Every time a rogue piece of spam creeps through the Gmail spam filter and gets reported a message is sent through the Google computer system to catch the same piece of spam before it lands in other inboxes. The spam filter is also smart enough to spot most important genuine emails, rather than hide them away in the spam folder - this reduces the chance of missing anything crucial.

It's all very interesting stuff - at least I thought so. Find out why Brad is a software engineer and not an actor by watching this YouTube Gmail spam guide.

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com

WidgetBucks Update

2007-10-26T11:42:00.000Z

Last week I wrote a post about a new semi-contextual advertising service called WidgetBucks. A few teething problems have become apparent - nothing major, but some things you should be aware of.

Firstly the widgets are quite slow to load. This is a problems that WidgetBucks are aware of and they have been working on a fix to try and speed things up. If you reapply your ad code you should find the widgets load slightly faster than previously.

Secondly, again a problem WidgetBucks are aware of, even when publishers are using the MerchSense system of targetting the ads don't always match the page content. This is to do with an initial shortage of advertisers. As WidgetBucks creating a massive stir in the webmaster community their service should reach new advertisers quickly and their ad content will diversify.

But do not despair - I am still experiencing very good results with WidgetBucks. So far every click has been worth at least 25 cents plus there is a $25 sign up bonus for every new publisher.

Some other things that have become apparent from surfing around the various reviews of the new service - ads related to PDAs and flatscreen TVs are paying particularly well - more like 30 cents per click. Many publishers, even with modest traffic, are reporting several dollars worth of income every day. Conscious of the fact that some people are trying to cheat the system WidgetBucks are monitoring earnings closely. Suspiciously high click thru rates are being investigated and cheats will be banned without payment.

Join quickly because that generous $25 bonus offer isn't going to last for ever!

Blogger Comment Alerts by Email

2007-10-26T10:37:00.000Z

Yesterday I noticed something new about the comments on Blogger blogs. An announcement in the official blog, Blogger Buzz, confirms my observations that people can now subscribe for new comment alerts by email. To do this you'll have to be signed in and comment using your Google Account.

But the image of the Buzz entry gives a very interesting insight into the world of the Blogger Googler - it shows that they actually use Internet Explorer 7 as their web browser. How bizarre. I thought every Googler used FireFox - it's almost a Google product from the amount of promotion they give it!

Google Introduce Tip of the Day

2007-10-25T13:09:00.000Z

They're an innovative bunch these Googlers - either that or they have very dull lives looking at the paint drying on the dull inner walls of the Googleplex. The newest little gadget they've come up with, to break the monotony of their repetitive keyboard tapping, is a 'Tip of the Day' gadget. The new gimmick can be easily implemented on your iGoogle homepage or embedded into your site or blog.

Another attempt to spread the famous Google branding and encroach even further on webmaster's everyday lives. Me, cynical? Absolutely not!

Read more about this story on the Official Google Blog.

AdSense Ad Management

2007-10-24T10:24:00.001Z

I'm amazed it has taken so long but AdSense has finally cottoned on to what every other PPC provider has already been doing since the dawn of time - they are going to allow their publishers to update their ad colours and formats directly from their account dashboard.

Nothing revolutionary there you be thinking? And you'd be absolutely right! Which makes it all the more surprising that Google has been dragging their feet on this elementary piece of functionality. In the past any publisher wanting to update the appearance of their ad units had to generate code for each new ad and endure the often painstaking and torturous process of having to re-paste it on their site.

The new ad management system means (thankfully) that publishers will no longer have this battle - they'll be able to sign into their AdSense account, change the ad options and their edits will be reflected automatically on any ads displayed.

Who says you can't reinvent the wheel?!

Read more about this story on the official blog, Inside AdSense.

PageRank Happenings

2007-10-24T09:56:00.000Z

Google PageRank - not such smiley faces anymore.

After months of nothingness on the PageRank front it now appears that Google engineers are beginning to flick switches in their network of Data Centers. It seems like bad news for a lot of webmasters including me, with vast drops in PR across the web. It looks like AdSense4Dummies and YouTube Karaoke, my two most popular blogs, could drop from their current PR4 to only PR2. This is despite considerable effort to promote them and build their backlinks and traffic.

I'm hoping it's just a temporary pre-update rollback, although I'm doubtful of this because these 2 blogs have never been PR2 in the past. Maybe Google, increasingly (and arrogantly) filling the role of web God, has just taken a dislike to my sites for including the words 'AdSense' and 'YouTube' respectively?

There has been a few major upsets PR wise over recent weeks. StatCounter, a webstats service which was previously a PR10, dropped to PR9 at the last update (end of April) and more recently to only PR8. Darren Rowse's ProBlogger, previously a solid PR7, now has the very mediocre rank of PR4. V7N forums, previously a strong PR6 webmaster community, is now only a PR5.

From these and the many other dramatic decreases in PageRank it is becoming more apparent that the sheer volume and quality of backlinks, the previous sole determining factor, is becoming a less significant commodity. Google is getting personal.

BlogRush? More Like Bog Brush!

2007-10-22T16:19:00.001Z

BlogRush.

I've held off doing a review of BlogRush until now because I wanted to fully test the merchandise before passing judgement. The verdict - BlogRush is pretty pathetic.

The idea is simple enough - you sign up, submit your sites, paste some code in your blog template and an ad unit appears which contains links to sites similar to yours. The more impressions and clicks the BlogRush unit accumulates the more credits you earn to display your own link on other blogs involved in the scheme. You also earn credits for referrals.

What an absolute load of tosh. After only one day of using BlogRush all I achieved was to slow my page loads to a snail's pace and alienate my readership. Despite accumulating hundreds of BlogRush impressions that days I got no visitors whatsoever in return. The BlogRush unit couldn't be described as attractive either - slow to load, bloodstained vomit in colour with horrendous clashing blue links.

Bog brush

Definitely one to avoid. Lots of hype and no substance.

If you want to get some visitors to your blog I suggest what I always do when someone asks - write lots of informative and unique content (very important), exchange links with related sites, submit to directories, append your link in forum signatures and emails and don't give up!

WidgetBucks - Making Your Traffic Pay

2007-10-16T18:10:00.004Z

Revised 30 Jan 09

I've been keeping a close eye on this new starter for the last month or so to see what the opinion is at Digital Point forums. They're an astute bunch over at Digital Point - all experienced webmasters who have seen traffic monetisation methods come and go over the years. WidgetBucks is getting good reviews over there from a lot of people at the moment - let's have a look and see why:

What is WidgetBucks?:
WidgetBucks is a promising new semi-contextual advertising program. Their attractive widgets advertise products of relevance to the website on which they are placed. Widget advertisements are geotargeted so that visitors see products available in their country. Payment is earned either on a per click or impression basis, depending on where the traffic originates from.

How does WidgetBucks work?:
Publishers sign up to the program, generate some advertising widgets and embed the widget code on their site. Ads are displayed immediately and begin to earn CPM (impression) revenue right away. They also pay on a CPC (per click) basis for clicks generated in the US, Canada or Europe.

What do WidgetBucks ads look like?:
Just like this:

The ad size and colour can be customised to blend in with your site. Remember that the ads are dynamic so they will cycle through a range of different products during each impression.

What does WidgetBucks pay?:
Over at Digital Point people are saying it pays as well as AdSense. That's a very steep claim and I couldn't possibly agree to it - I guess it depends on your traffic and niche. A combination of North American traffic and electronic goods (PDAs, flatscreen TVs) seems to pay particularly well.

WidgetBucks pays in two ways - for clicks from North America and Europe (CPC) and for impressions from most other countries (CPM).

In my experience their North American and European clicks are paying around 20 cents each. CPM earnings are not great at the moment - somewhere in the range of 10 cents per thousand impressions. WidgetBucks hopes to increase this rate once they've gained global advertiser confidence.

Is it AdSense safe?:
The widgets are non-contextual and dynamic - they don't look or work in the same way as AdSense ad units so are perfectly safe to use alongside AdSense.

What about a referral program?:
WidgetBucks publishers receive a very generous 15% of the earnings of their referrals for a 12 month period.

How and when does WidgetBucks pay?:
WidgetBucks pays by either USD check or PayPal. Payment is sent within 45 days of the end of the month in which you reach the $50 minimum payout. As with similar programs if you don't make the $50 minimum payment is rolled over to the next month.

Do they pay?
WidgetBucks issued their first payments at the beginning of December 2007, so have proved they pay promptly. I've received payment (shown below) so they're definitely a legitimate company.

How do I join?
If you've found this short review useful please sign up for WidgetBucks as our referral using the banner below.

AdSense Payments By Western Union

2007-10-05T20:28:00.000Z

I heard this rumour last week, but there hasn't been any official confirmation from Google until a couple of days ago. If you live in the following countries you can now elect to receive your AdSense publisher revenue by Western Union:

Argentina
Chile
China (mainland)
Colombia
Malaysia
Pakistan
Peru
the Philippines
Romania

This new payment option is available to individuals only (not businesses yet). To receive payment by WU publishers will need to sign up in their AdSense account. Government issued ID will be required to collect the payment, which must be done within 35 days of issuance otherwise it will expire and be re-credit to your AdSense account balance. Payments will mainly be made in US Dollars, but it may be possible to receive local currency in some countries.

For more information on payment by Western Union check out the official blog, Inside AdSense.

Go Go Gadget Ads

2007-09-23T17:43:00.000Z

Last week Google introduced a brand new ad format to their AdSense collection - the Google Gadget Ad. It differs from existing formats in that it's interactive, allowing the person viewing it to play a small game, perform a search or similar. The idea is that they'll provide better value to AdWords advertisers and benefit AdSense publishers by keeping visitors at their site for longer.

An example gadget ad.

Thankfully gadget ads are governed by the same high editorial standards as standard ad units, so there'll be no irritating smilies saying "hello" and tapping on the inside of your screen. I hate those!

If you're ready to start displaying gadget ads on your website you can increase the chances that they'll be shown by making sure you're opted in to image ads and using one of the image ad formats. Please note that the most popular sizes for gadget ads are the rectangle, leaderboard, and skyscraper formats.

Get the full story by visiting Inside AdSense.

AdSense Goes Mobile

2007-09-18T12:01:00.000Z

Great news for AdWords advertisers that they are now able to deliver their ads to an even wider audience browsing the web on their mobile phones. Of course the new AdSense for mobile service will be of benefit to any AdSense publishers displaying ads on mobile-optimised sites too. The new service uses the same targeting technology that the conventional AdSense uses.

To implement AdSense for mobile ads you need to do the following:

Sign in to your AdSense account.
Select the 'AdSense Setup' tab and click 'AdSense for mobile'.
Follow the onscreen instructions.

Publishers are currently allowed only one AdSense for mobile unit on each site. Also, don't forget to include the URLs where you are displaying AdSense for mobile ads in your list of allowed sites.

Get more on this story by visiting the official blog, Inside AdSense.

EFT For Mexico

2007-09-15T10:03:00.000Z

Great news today for AdSense publishers in Mexico. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is now available giving them the option of receiving their earnings directly into the bank. Read more about the different AdSense payment options in our earlier post. Gone are the days of waiting months and months for a check which, in some cases, never quite arrives! Sign up for EFT today to get your hands on, and AdSense's hands off, your money even quicker.

More on this story at Inside AdSense.

Blogger Play

2007-09-14T22:22:00.000Z

Today the Blogger team introduce a great new gizmo called Blogger Play. This new Blogger site allows readers to view, in real time, the images that are being uploaded to Blogger blog posts across the network. It's a very similar idea to the new version of YouTube embeds that have been springing up over the past couple of months. The new system uses Google's SafeSearch technology in an attempt to weed out potentially offensive images. Why not head across to Blogger Play and have a play yourself to find out what all the fuss is about.

There's more on this story at Blogger Buzz.

Enhanced AdSense Security - Allowed Sites

2007-09-09T10:32:00.000Z

Google has just announced another weapon in the war against AdSense fraudsters - a list of allowed sites. Each publisher will have the ability to register the URLs of sites displaying their AdSense ads. Only earnings from those listed sites will be credited to the publisher's account, giving them piece of mind that they won't be penalised if their code is used in an unauthorised manner.

For some time there has been concern that unscrupulous webmasters (or troublemakers in general) could steal the information of their rivals' AdSense accounts, use it for illicit purposes and potentially have their rivals penalised, through no fault of their own, for violation of the AdSense TOS.

To register your own allowed sites just click the 'Allowed Sites' link under your 'AdSense Setup' in your account. This great new feature should seek to reassure AdSense publishers that Google are taking seriously their concerns about account security. Read the full story at Inside AdSense.

Don't forget to update your list of allowed sites today.

Blogger Malware

2007-09-01T14:27:00.000Z

The Blogger team have issued a rebuttal to recent media speculation that the system has been hacked and used for malware. According to Blogger what actually happened was the machines of some of their users were infected with a Trojan horse. The affected bloggers had their mail2blogger email addresses in their PCs' address book so when the malicious software spammed every address in their address book, a copy was also posted to their own blog.

Blogger is recommending that any user exposed to the automated spam download the Google Pack anti-virus software and scan their machine for nasties. The same action is recommended to anyone who has clicked a link in an offending spammy Blogger post.

The GPhone Cometh

2007-09-01T14:06:00.000Z

Like a bolt from the blue and after months of speculation (Engadget, TechCrunch et al) it appears that Google is poised to release its very own mobile handset. The GPhone will come ready equipped with the corporation's VOIP system, Google Talk, allowing users to make very cheap (maybe free) voice calls over the web. It is believed the handset, complete with iPhone-like touch screen technology, will retail around the $100 mark when it is released in the US later this month.

Google also recently expressed interest in placing a $4.6 billion bid for a licence for part of the US airwaves - an asset that could be used to roll out a wireless broadband internet network. Stay tuned to the Official Google Blog for the latest GPhone developments.

Competition Closed

2007-09-01T13:46:00.001Z

The competition announced last week is now closed. Looks like I am the winner because no-one entered! Stay tuned for more opportunities to win with AdSense4Dummies.

Embeddable Google Maps

2007-08-25T20:00:00.000Z

View Larger Map

Hot off the press over at the Google Maps API Blog is news of their great new embeddable maps. Google Maps is a great tool and now, thanks to this latest development, it can feature on your site even if you have no coding knowledge whatsoever. All that's required is the ability to copy and paste the embed link - pretty neat, huh? Check out the full article over at the Google Maps API Blog. To demonstrate how easy it is even I can embed a map at the top of this post!

Ads by Google - Blogger Update

2007-08-25T13:19:00.000Z

If there's one question I hear more than any others it's "how do we integrate AdSense between our Blogger posts?" Google recommend optimising your AdSense earnings by placing ad units between the page content of your blog. The process used to involved tinkering with the code of each individual post - not ideal if you're an HTML dunce and hassle even if you aren't. Thankfully there's now an easier way to place AdSense units at the bottom of each of your blog entries. The clever Blogger and AdSense Googlers have been refining the AdSense widget. Now all you have to do is go to your blog layout screen, click 'Edit' on the post layout section and select the 'Show Ads Between Posts' option.

The new widget also allows you to easily customise the appearance of your in-post ads. Get optimising those Blogger AdSense ads now. Check out more on this story by visiting Inside AdSense.

AdSense4Dummies Competition - $30 Top Prize

2007-08-23T11:15:00.000Z

Welcome to the first AdSense4Dummies competition. I am seeking to increase the exposure of AdSense4Dummies a little bit by calling on the blog reviewing skills of my readers (or anyone else who wishes to participate). The rules of this particular competition are quite simple - in 300 words or less write a review of this blog.

Entry Criteria:
The review must comply with the following guidelines:

This is a blog review competition - if your site isn't a blog you're not eligible to participate.
The review must not exceed 300 words.
Include at least one link to the AdSense4Dummies homepage.
Include at least 2 deeplinks from this choice of 4:

Entries will be judged on the quality of writing, breadth of content and presentation.
By entering the competition you agree to leave your review in the archive of your blog for an indefinite period. A second best entry, winning a $20 prize, will be chosen from the archived entries one month after the competition closing date.

Submission:
Submit your entry by:

Either: Leaving a link to your review in a blog comment.
Or: Emailing me the link using the email address on the sidebar.
I will try my best to acknowledge all entries, although I can't guarantee to do so.
Please ensure I have some means of contacting you - preferably have a contact email address somewhere on your blog.

Prizes:
Prizes will be awarded as follows:

The best entry, as chosen by me, will receive $30 by PayPal on the day after the competition closing date.
The second best entry, as chosen by me, will receive $20 by PayPal one month after the competition closing date.
If you can not accept PayPal as a means of payment there's no point in entering - it is my only payment method.
Winners will be announced on AdSense4Dummies, with a link to their respective entries. They will also have the opportunity to write a guest post on AdSense4Dummies.

Closing Date:
The closing date and last date for entries is Friday, 31st August 2007 (UK time, GMT+1). Entries will not be accepted after this date.

Finally:
My decision about the winners is final.

Let the creative juices flow!

Google - Increased Storage Capacity

2007-08-18T14:31:00.000Z

Apologies I'm slow to cotton on, but I've been away for the past week so missed this article on the The Official Google Blog.

I've always thought that the free storage capacity that comes with Gmail and Picasa Web Albums was exceptionally generous. The current capacities stand at 2.8 GB and 1 GB respectively, meaning you can store tens of thousands of emails, far more than any normal user could ever generate, and several hundred high resolution images completely free of charge. In the unlikely event that you run out of free space you could just start a new Google Account, but that's not an ideal solution because it means your data is spread over several different places at the same time. Cue Google hosting - not their name, but my description. Basically Google are going to allow regular account holders to purchase storage 'bolt ons' for their account. The basic package is going to cost just $20 a year for an extra 6 GB (or several thousand high resolution images) of storage space. Google intend to offer power users plans of up to a massive 250 GB of increased capacity.

Keep an eye out for the latest developments by visiting the The Official Google Blog.

AdBrite - A Well Paying Ad Network

2007-08-03T12:35:00.003Z

Introduction:
I've been using AdBrite for quite a long time (say 8 months) but I've not been able to review them because I hadn't tested all of their services - until now that is. Last week I got an email from them saying I had sold an ad on my YouTube Karaoke blog. It's the first time I've managed to sell an ad directly using AdBrite - usually I display their network ads. AdBrite is a very good alternative to AdSense - it's what I normally recommend to anyone who has been banned from AdSense, but you can now use AdBrite alongside AdSense too.

For anyone who hasn't heard of AdBrite, it is program that allows you to sell link ads on your websites. Nothing unusual there you might think and you'd be right. What makes AdBrite different from something like Text Link Ads is that you can choose to display network ads at times when advertisers haven't bought any links directly from you.

Registration and Acceptance:
It is very easy to get accepted into AdBrite - simply complete the online application form, submit your site to the directory, place your ad code and away you go. They don't have any strict PageRank or traffic requirements like other programs. AdBrite is open to publishers from all over the world. One problem people encounter is that the application form asks for a US Social Security Number - being from the UK I don't have one of those, so I just left the space blank and have had no problems. I've heard other people say that they've just used the number '00000000' and this works too, although I can't confirm that.

Directly Purchased Ads:
After registering you can submit your sites to the online AdBrite directory. If an advertiser likes your site they might buy a link from you. You can price your own links, but I always select the automatic pricing because it's easier. You can also choose the duration of the ads you wish to sell.

Network Ads:
The network ads look very similar to AdSense for content units and AdBrite now offer inline ads too (shown in image above). The inline ads, which appear under keywords in your text, have a particularly good click thru rate. You get paid a small amount, typically 5 - 50 cents, for every click on a network ad. The image below shows a fairly typical day's earnings of 15 cents per click. Network ads aren't contextual, so they don't necessarily fit with the theme of your site. A lot of publishers choose to display network ads only - if you have regular traffic to your site you can make very good money from them.

Payment:
Payment is on a NET-60 basis - this means the earnings in your account must be 60 days old before they are paid out. Payment is made by check in US Dollars, which is posted to your registered address. The minimum payout is USD $5, but if you're overseas it is recommended you wait until you have earned much more (say $100) - you will be charged a fee to convert the check to local currency when you pay it into the bank.

Earnings for a fairly typical AdBrite day.

One of my AdBrite payment checks - this one for $315.

Summary:
AdBrite is a very good alternative to AdSense. Since January 2007 it is now possible to display AdBrite on the same pages as AdSense, as long as the competing ad formats don't look confusingly similar. If you want to earn a little extra money after being banned from AdSense then AdBrite is the program for you.

If you've found this review useful and wish to try AdBrite yourself please sign up and tell them we sent you by using our link below.

Quick Review: Inkers

2007-07-31T12:41:00.000Z

This is post is sponsored by Inkers. To view our policy on sponsored posts please click HERE.

Inkers is one of the US's leading suppliers of printer ink, toner and consumables. As well as all the usual high street brands they have a large range of generic inks and toners to suit every budget. If you're feeling all nostalgic you can even get your fax consumables (whatever a fax is) from Inkers. Every ink and toner cartridge is guaranteed to be defect free for a whole year and even comes with a 30 day no questions asked return policy. Orders are usually dispatched the very same day and come with free land shipping to the US and Peurto Rico. Their telephone support line is available if you need any additional help with your order.

For more information on the inks and toners on sale at Inkers, visit their website.

Site Authentication

2007-07-17T19:44:00.000Z

Whenever someone asks me about using AdSense on password protected pages I always say it's a bad idea. The reason for this is that only certain individuals will see those particular ads, meaning they'll be displayed to the same people over and over again. This increases the likelihood that the same few people will click the same few ads, which could cause problems with Google suspecting foul play.

Another problem with hiding your ads behind password protection is that the AdSense crawler can't read the page content correctly and consequently the ads are often poorly targeted. To get around this problem Google has just unveiled AdSense Site Authentication. Basically this allows publishers to provide AdSense with password information so that the crawler can 'unlock' protected pages and crawl the content effectively. To get the ball rolling just log in to your AdSense account, click on the 'AdSense Setup' tab and then the 'Site Authentication' link.

Read more about Site Authentication at Inside AdSense.

AdSense Toon Fun

2007-07-09T16:27:00.000Z

I was exploring my regular haunt of the Digital Point forums when I came across these little cartoon gems. There's not much too them, but they sum up the feelings of a lot of AdSense publishers quite succinctly! Quite often the simplest of things can bring a wry smile and ray of sunshine to an otherwise dreary day. I can sympathise with the sentiments of the top cartoon - the new AdSense publisher seems to spend endless hours studying their account and waiting for that first elusive click. When it does eventually come it's often nothing to boast about. The lower cartoon highlights aptly the sense of achievement when the first AdSense check, often months in the making, finally lands on your doorstep. It's probably cost you far more in terms of time and effort but the elation of seeing that first $100 and knowing the potential that lies ahead is pretty much unbeatable in terms of pay per click.

These images come from the brand new Blog Toon site - it's certainly something to take a look at.

Round and Round and Round We Go

2007-07-02T15:19:00.000Z

... where we stop nobody knows!

No, it's nothing to do with the song Pravado by Glassjaw - today we're talking rounded corners on AdSense for Content units. Just click the AdSense Setup tab in your account and you'll have access to square, slightly rounded or very rounded corners on your ad units - just the thing to soften up the appearance of your ads and hopefully get more clicks in the process.

Read more about rounded corners at Inside AdSense.

Update: Infected Or Not

2007-06-11T12:17:00.000Z

Just a quick update on my previous post about the Panda Software Infected or Not campaign. Infected or Not is a campaign to raise awareness of latent viruses and spyware that can creep past some protective software. They now have FireFox compatible versions of Panda NanoScan, which detects 813,653 different active viruses, spyware, Trojans and malware and Panda TotalScan, which detects 886,915 of the little critters. For further information refer to my previous post.

AdSense Policy Updates

2007-06-05T18:40:00.000Z

It only seems like only yesterday that the AdSense TOS were last updated. Back then, in January, Google relaxed their rules on the use of competing ads on AdSense bearing pages. This time, as reported in the most recent entry of Inside AdSense, they are allowing publishers to display up to THREE link units on each page of their site. Link units are a great way of filling those niggling little gaps in your page content.

So, the maximum number of AdSense units per page are now as follows:

3 AdSense for Content units
3 AdSense link units
2 AdSense for Search boxes
2 Referral buttons for EACH referral product

Remember that these are the absolute maximums and cramming your pages full to the brim with AdSense units is likely to alienate your visitors.

There is also greater emphasis on AdSense publishers complying with the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Where will the generosity of the new touchy-feely Google end?

Google Maps - Coming Soon to a Street Near You!

2007-05-29T18:39:00.000Z

One of the great things about Google is that they're always so innovative when it comes to developing new products or refining existing ones. One of their newest party pieces comes in the form of Street View for Google Maps. I'm a huge fan of Maps anyway but this new technology takes it to an even more impressive level that simply can't be matched by its rivals. Street View places you right in the heart of the action on your Google Map. Get closer to your favourite destinations by clicking on the Street View tab and seeing high quality 360 degree photography of your location on the map. It's the closest you can possibly get to exploring a brand new location from the comfort of your own home. Best of all it's absolutely free. Keep a close eye on Google Maps because very shortly Street View really will be coming to a street near you!

AdSense Click Mishaps

2007-05-29T18:12:00.000Z

AdSense click paranoia is sweeping the globe with publishers terrified of accidentally clicking their ads and even, in severe cases, the ads of other publishers. This concern is perhaps understandable with the high number of horror stories about publishers being unduly banned that are circulating the web. In an attempt to quell the unease Inside AdSense recently published an article entitled 'Accidents Happen'. In the article Google attempts to reassure AdSense publishers that their click analysis tools are so well developed they are able to recognise genuinely accidental clicks from something more sinister - and fraudulent. Just like the article title suggests, Google understands that accidents do occasionally happen and there's no need to report them every time. Accidental clicks will still appear in your account stats, but the earnings will be deducted so that advertisers are not left paying for the clumsiness of publishers. Publishers are also reminded that if they're genuinely interested in the destination of one of the ads they are displaying, they should use the preview tool to explore further.

Blogger Autosave

2007-05-20T16:34:00.000Z

A brand new autosave function is hitting Blogger for the first time this week - and not before time. This means that you'll never have to worry about losing your draft when your PC crashes in the middle of a long-winded post (see my main blog for long-winded examples). From my own observations it seems that post data (text, titles, labels etc) is automatically saved on the Blogger server every 20 - 30 seconds.

There's also a little bit of a change to keyboard shortcuts - CTRL+P publishes a post, CTRL+S saves a post, CTRL+D switches a post from published to draft and CTRL+SHIFT+P switches to the preview window. With it's friendly drag and drop widgets Blogger still remains the free blog host of choice for most blog newbies.

For more information check out Blogger Buzz.

AdSense Phone - No One Home

2007-05-18T22:36:00.000Z

As some of you will know, since the beginning of the year Google has been adopting a more 'belt and braces' approach to verifying AdSense publisher information. One of their recent brainchilds is verification of publisher's phone numbers. It's now necessary to confirm your telephone number at the same time as your PIN is released - the magic $50 earnings mark. Your AdSense account (My Account > Payment History) will prompt you to verify your phone number when the time is right. Some publishers have been having trouble verifying so Google have issued to the following advice:

Use a touch tone phone.
Rotary phones are incompatible.
If you have any trouble verifying try switching your phone number.
If everything else fails contact AdSense Support via the Help Center.

For more details on the phone verification problems check out Inside AdSense.

Your Chance to Buy A Nation!

2007-05-11T22:25:00.000Z

I've just come across a brilliantly original idea for online advertising. It's an alternative form of pixel advertising but this time, instead of buying boring old blocks on the screen, the idea is that you Buy A Nation! Nations are priced according to their size, on-screen prominence and desirability. As with all the good dictatorships once you've taken over your own nation you can use the pixels for pretty much anything you want to - maybe you'll want to place your website logo in there. There's also a profile page that accompanies each nation to give your campaign that all important extra bit of exposure. An imaginative site - snap up a nation quickly before they all go!

WordPress Themes - Sponsored by AdSense4Dummies

2007-05-02T08:46:00.000Z

If you're a WordPress user you might be interested in jazzing up your blog with one of these 3 great themes brought to you by AdSense4Dummies. We sponsor them so you can enjoy them absolutely free!

Theme 1: Tech Green.
This theme, designed by AKSinfo, really does live up to its name! The diagonally striped header and shadowed title give this theme a sleek contemporary look that really would prove ideal for a tech blog. Test drive and download it at the WordPress Theme Viewer:

http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/3095/techgreen-10/

Theme 2: Green Prosper.
This attractive natural green design by the Virtual Marketing Blog has two fixed width columns and is very easy to modify. Green prosper, with its pastel green header and silver-grey backdrop, is the elegant look for a professional individual. Test drive and download it at the WordPress Theme Viewer:

http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/2906/green-prosper-10/

Theme 3: Lemon.

This attractive lemon yellow design by askgraphics certainly isn't going to get lost in the dark! A contemporary theme guaranteed to liven up your otherwise plain blog. This user friendly theme has two fixed width columns and widget support. Test drive and download it at the WordPress Theme Viewer:

http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/2903/lemon-10/

We'll have more great WordPress themes for you later on!

Google PageRank - The Magic Begins

2007-04-27T19:55:00.000Z

AdSense4Dummies - first for the hottest Google News:

Posted: 1900 hrs GMT, 27 April 2007

It's here. After about 4 weeks of being perched on the edge of our seats it seems the much anticipated PageRank export has now begun. Good luck to everyone - hope the magic Google fairy dust works for you!

Monitor your PageRank progress with DigPageRank

More on PageRank: The Quest for the Golden Google PageRank

Quick Review: Infected Or Not

2007-04-24T20:57:00.000Z

Did you realise that half of the protected computers and almost 70% of the non protected computers are infected with some kind of malware? No? Me neither, but apparently a few virulent viruses and Trojans are able to defeat even the most hardy of antivirus software. Panda Software's Infected Or Not is a handy little site that allows you to scan your PC for viruses lurking on your hard drive. It's aimed at detecting little troublemakers that have penetrated chinks in your antivirus armour.

The site offers two quick tools for scanning your hard drive for potential problems - Panda NanoScan, which detects 813,653 different active viruses, spyware, Trojans and malware and Panda TotalScan, which detects 886,915 of the little critters. Being a busy sort of chap I checked out the NanoScan version which can sift your drive in only one minute. Despite my initial FireFox compatibility problems and having to revert to the inferior browser that is Internet Explorer, I quickly managed to install the ActiveX plugin and run the scan. I was distinctly impressed at the speed of the progress bar as NanoScan whirred into action. Thankfully my online empire isn't going to grind to a halt just yet because, completely as expected, my machine got a clean bill of health. I guess I buck the 70% trend, but as a rule I am very switched on when it comes to antivirus. The scan stats collected are displayed on the Infected Or Not site on a daily basis, so you can see how well you fair in the virus sweepstakes.

The Infected Or Not campaign really does provide a quick, informative and useful assessment of the integrity of your machine and I recommend you try it yourself if you have any doubts about the cleanliness of your drives. An important point to note is that NanoScan and TotalScan are tools for detecting viruses - they are not a substitute for your own antivirus program.

UPDATE: Panda Software have now developed a version of their software that is compatible with the Mozilla Firefox browser. If you're on FF you might like to try scanning your PC now.

Guidelines Clamp Down

2007-04-15T16:32:00.000Z

1. Page compliant with webmaster guidelines.

2. Non-compliant page with hidden link.

3. Source code of non-compliant page.

News hot off the press (Googler Matt Cutts' blog here and here) that Google are going to get 'tough' on sites that flout their webmaster guidelines. They are going to place particular emphasis on detecting hidden page text, links and paid links. Some 'black hat' SEO experts go to extreme lengths to hide their anchor and link in the body of apparently legitimate looking pages. An example is shown above, where the link has been adjusted so that the text stays the same and URL remains hidden during mouse over. This is a definite no no - links must be visible on the page. Cutts also explains the drive towards human and machine-readable disclosure of paid links. Paid links should be displayed in such a way that they don't affect search engine results - using the rel=nofollow attribute is one of his examples about how to achieve this. Any webmaster falling foul of the guidelines faces penalties - the ultimate being ditched from Google's search engine results.

All this is food for thought - it makes the future for pay to post and link sale companies look bleak. The arrogance of Google knows no bounds - what right have they got to dictate to webmasters how they use their page space?

Google Checkout Reaches UK

2007-04-13T21:48:00.000Z

Google Checkout, the internet giant's online payment processing system, is unveiled in the UK for the first time today. By a unfortunate twist of fate the launch clashed with major problems with the VISA payment system, meaning some Checkout transactions were disrupted. Checkout is basically the merchant parts of PayPal under the Google banner, although they would hate to admit to that! According to Google merchants can sell with complete confidence because they proactively identify and filter out fraudulent transactions. How reassuring. Until 2008 every AdWords advertiser who spends £1 on ads will receive £10 of payment processing free of charge. Check the Google Blog and Checkout site for more information.

Blogger - Splogs Be Gone

2007-04-09T15:20:00.000Z

A few new features have recently cropped up in Google's Blogger free blogging service. Last week saw the emergence of the new Newsreel and Video Bar widgets. Newsreel delivers the latest Google News live to your blog and Video Bar offers a convenient, fool proof way of integrating YouTube movies without the need to alter post HTML.

A major area of concern for Blogger is the way a few hardcore users abuse their platform by filling it with spam blogs (splogs). This week they are unveiling a new feature in the battle against the splog - word verfication of individual blog posts. This has long been a feature of comment moderation and should help to stop sploggers in their tracks. It has the negative side effect that honourable Bloggers will no longer be able to use software to publish the same post on multiple blogs. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Google Maps With A Twist

2007-04-05T16:06:00.000Z

Last week I talked about how Google Maps had made its first appearance on the Google homepage. Today they are taking another step forward with Maps by introducing a new feature called My Maps. Just as the name implies My Maps allows you to customise your own Google map using the same drag and drop idea that has made the Blogger interface so popular. You can do usual mappy things like add lines and shapes as well the new Googlesque novelties of being able to embed text, images or video. Best of all you can publish you map on its own URL to share with the rest of the world.

To demonstrate the new system Googlers at Mountain View have been feverishly working away making their own cartographic creations. A photo essay of the Googleplex itself features as one of the published examples. Why not hop across to Maps and see what's new for yourself? For further details visit the Google Blog.

AdSense Ad Units - A Clean-Cut New Look

2007-04-05T12:52:00.000Z

Out with the old, in with the new. The new ad formats will 'allegedly'
benefit advertisers and publishers alike.

AdSense have just released a refreshed version of their ad units. Gone are the irritating 'Ads by Goooogle' and in come a minimalistic alternative with neutral borders. Google have apparently been conducting extensive trials on the new format and have found the ads to be pleasing on the eye as well as better performing for advertisers and publishers alike. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the previous claim, about performing better for advertisers and publishers alike, is a contradiction in terms that couldn't possibly be true, but we'll just gloss over that!

The new ads are going to be making an appearence over the entire network over the next week or so. The changeover will retain the previous fonts and colour schemes, so there shouldn't be any inconvenience for publishers. For more info check out the official Google blog, Inside AdSense.

Quick Review: Broadband Suppliers

2007-04-01T21:55:00.000Z

This is post is sponsored by Broadband Suppliers. To view our policy on sponsored posts please click HERE.

I remember not so long ago when I wanted to download a music or video file I had to take a deep breath, hesitantly click the download link and wait sometimes hours for the thing to download by dial up - not a very productive use of time or energy! Thankfully nowadays most of us have broadband and the annoying whine of the dial up modem connecting is a distant memory - after all, there's no point having a fast PC if your internet connection is painfully slow. Most people are wise to what broadband technology is, but they aren't so wise as to where to get the best broadband package to suit their requirements and budget, which is where Broadband Suppliers fits into the picture. Their website has the latest information on the tariffs available from all major UK broadband providers. If you're not technically minded it also has some useful articles explaining the science behind broadband and how to set up your home network.

For the latest information on UK broadband tariffs visit Broadband Suppliers.

Google Maps Meet Search Engine

2007-03-29T10:41:00.000Z

Behold the power of Google Maps.

Two of Google's best services are making a collaborative effort for the first time this week. It is now possible to search Google Maps directly from the Google Search Engine. For anyone who hasn't used Maps, where have you been for the last 3 years? You've been missing out on a treat. Maps brings together state of the art cartography and aerial photography to produce the most comprehensive global map available online. The system also has an integrated journey planner and allows you to flick to a hybrid mode where you can see place names as you scroll over the aerial photograph. The above aerial photograph of the Pentagon highlights how powerful a tool Maps is. If you haven't been already go and have a play with Maps now!

Google Checkout - A New Referral

2007-03-24T11:44:00.000Z

There's a brand new referral product available to AdSense publishers - Google Checkout. Checkout, which I mentioned briefly before in relation to the appearance of shopping carts on AdSense for content units, is heralded as a faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online. Anyone unfamiliar with Checkout can sign up and test drive it them self, gaining a $10 welcome bonus in the process. The payment system is gradually creeping into online stores as an alternative to PayPal, although it will have to make mammoth inroads to topple eBay's dominance in the market.

The bottom line for AdSense publishers is that for every visitor you refer to Checkout who makes a $10+ purchase within 90 days you get a $1 referral bonus - kind of like Firefox with Google toolbar, but with more of a wait for your cash! Note that Checkout referrals are currently open to US publishers only.

Recall that AdSense rules allow a publisher to display a maximum of 2 referral buttons per referral product on each page of their site, meaning you could now display 10 buttons total per page (not recommended, because it'll look like a Japanese Admiral's medal ribbons).

For more news on Checkout referrals visit the official Google blog, Inside AdSense.

Text Link Ads - Great Earning Potential

2007-03-17T09:42:00.001Z

This post doesn't include any referral links - if you find it useful and would like to try the Text Link Ads experience yourself please use our referral banner on the sidebar to tell them that AdSense4Dummies sent you.

I haven't talked much about Text Link Ads (TLA) so far other than to announce their recent compatibility with Blogger hosted blogs. TLA works by allowing advertisers to directly purchase link space on websites and blogs. Every site involved in the program is listed in the TLA directory and if an advertiser finds it suits their needs they can purchase a link. Links are priced automatically by TLA based on the traffic, link popularity, Alexa ranking and PageRank of the site. The publisher receives a 50% share of advertising revenue, which is quite a generous amount at TLA prices. Payment is made by either PayPal, where there is no minimum payout, or check, where there is a $25 minimum payout. You can play around with a link price calculator on the TLA site to see what each of your links is worth - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The actual links are very discreet, looking very similar to any other sidebar link. To receive ads the site needs to be accepted on the TLA program and have a small piece of HTML/feed inserted in the template. The bonus of this is that, unlike other sidebar links, these 'outbounds' can't have a detrimental affect on the site PageRank. Another bonus of TLA is that payment is received simply for displaying ads - the number of clicks, if any, is irrelevant. As a publisher, every time an ad appears in your TLA space you can be confident it's money in the bank already. Any advertising slots unsold remain empty so you aren't giving away free advertising as is the case with most other advertising services.

Click here for proof of Text Link Ads earnings.

TLA also offer a 'feedvertiser' service, whereby ads appear when the site is displayed in feed readers. The payment rates for feedvertising are comparable to those of normal links. Another attractive proposition is the referral program, which most webmasters can participate in even if their site isn't accepted for the main program. If you successfully refer a new publisher or advertiser to the TLA program you receive a $25 bonus.

The main downside to TLA is that it's difficult to attract advertisers amid the vast array of sites to choose from. It's also quite difficult to get accepted into the main program too - you really need a decent amount of traffic (200+ uniques per day), a reasonable Alexa (less than 1 million) and a fair PageRank (PR3 at least). If you don't get accepted they will keep your site on record and review it every month until it does eventually meet the criteria. As I mentioned above, even if you don't make it to the main program the referral program is a very attractive package and will probably make you some cash in the meantime.

If you're not using TLA and have a site that you think is up to scratch, I recommend you give it a go. You really have nothing to loose because ads only appear if they've been paid for. If you've found this article useful and would like to try the TLA experience yourself please use our referral link to tell them that AdSense4Dummies sent you -> Sign up to TLA now

AuctionAds.com - Contextual eBay Ads

2007-03-14T09:37:00.000Z

eBay auctions direct from your blog.

Two giants in the world of blogging and online advertising, MediaWhiz and ShoeMoney Media, have teamed up together to launch a brand new advertising service called AuctionAds. AuctionAds publishers insert a small piece of HTML into their blog template and receive targeted eBay ads in exactly the same way as they would other PPC advertisements. When a visitor clicks your AuctionAds unit they are taken to a search results page that lists all the eBay auctions relevant to keywords in your page content.

Publishers receive a small cut of the sale price when one of their referrals makes an eBay purchase. AuctionAds are coy about how much the payment actually is and I guess only time will tell how popular their rates are in comparison to other services. Payment is made on a weekly basis by PayPal, with the very modest minimum payout rate of USD $10. The ads, which are currently displayed in English only, are geotargeted to match the visitor's country of origin. Publishers are allowed to display as many ads on their site as they like and there is no clash with the AdSense TOS.

To find out a little more about AuctionAds go visit their website.

SponsoredReviews is Officially Launched

2007-03-13T12:48:00.000Z

SponsoredReviews - the new kid on the block.

This post is sponsored by SponsoredReviews. To view my policy on sponsored posts click HERE. There are no referral links in this post.

You might remember a few days ago I discussed the imminent launch of a new paid to post service called SponsoredReviews. They are now sending out their first offers to publishers, which is why I'm writing to tell you more about the service now. I did consider just linking to my previous post but that would be a bit sneaky! I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of paid to post services - namely, an advertiser pays bloggers to write in a 'natural' way about their product or service so that they can acquire some organic links, surrounded by relevant content and hopefully get a few hits into the bargain. Traffic isn't the main consideration - it's more of an attempt to increase link popularity and search engine standing, so opportunities exist for small scale hobby bloggers as well as full-time blogging professionals.

There are a few key details that make SponsoredReviews stand out from the crowd. The 65% revenue share that the blogger receives is obviously an appealing proposition for some, but the biggest novelty is that bloggers can look for advertisers in their niche and negotiate directly. This 'cutting out of the middleman' should mean that bloggers can earn by writing reviews that are closely matched to their blog content and don't detract from their usual style. Another useful thing about SponsoredReviews is that your account and blogs are approved (or not) almost immediately - there isn't any of the waiting associated with existing paid to posts. Each blog receives a guideline price based on Link popularity, Alexa rank and Technorati rank, but the blogger is free to set their own pricing if they so wish. Reviews can attract payment of up to $1000 ($650 publisher share) but a price even higher than that may be offered for exceptionally popular blogs. As with all the good paid to post services disclosure is compulsory and reviews can be written in an honest way without fear of reprisals.

I'm still a very new publisher with SponsoredReviews but I'm so far impressed by the simplicity of the approval process, good payment rates and being able to deal directly with advertisers. So far, so good but you can be sure I'll give you an update in a few months time!

Exoclick - A Good Low Payout Pay Per Click

2007-03-11T18:45:00.000Z

A picture paints a thousand words.

There's no doubt that AdSense and YPN are two of the highest paying and best known contextual advertising services in the business. The main draw back of these two giants is that payment is slow and their rules are petty and prohibitive. They're also pretty unforgiving if you've fallen foul of their rules and been banned. A fairly new kid on the block is Exoclick. Exoclick offer a range of (roughly) targeted contextual ads, search boxes and web portals which operate on a pay per click basis.

Advantages of Exoclick:
Exoclick offers instant account approval, easy to implement HTML code and a low payout level. Ads are rotated so that the highest payers are always displayed. Some of the ad formats have integral images, which prove particularly useful for increasing your CTR. Probably the biggest advantage Exoclick has is that it pays by PayPal on a weekly basis if you reach the modest minimum payout level of only USD $10. Also, gone are the days of the mysterious 'zero cent' clicks that you get with some of the bigger players - every click pays something, so your efforts aren't in vain. Your Exoclick code can be implemented on any of your sites and they aren't too concerned about your content (adult, gambling etc. are all allowed). They also have good online support and you can easily speak to a real person if you prefer. They also have an attractive referral program.

Disadvantages of Exoclick:
As I briefly eluded to in the opening paragraph, the ads are not perfectly targeted - they will match the general subject of your site but they won't go into the fine detail that AdSense does. The price per click is also unpredictable and depends on your niche and where your 'clickers' come from.

Exoclick, although not quite a substitute for AdSense or YPN, can now be run alongside them as a complimentary source of income. It might also prove the ideal PPC if you've been suspended by one of the bigger providers. If you get a lot of traffic from the US/UK/Europe and have financial/tech related content you should see worthwhile results. I've been experimenting with it on a few of my blogs (not this one) and I've been pleasantly surprised by the results.

If you've found this article useful and recognise the huge potential in Exoclick please sign up using my referral link to tell them that I sent you: Try Exoclick Now.

Inline Ad Alternatives

2007-03-06T22:08:00.000Z

I thought I'd tell you about a couple of advertising services that are complimentary to Google AdSense and the other contextual advertising services. Since the relaxation of AdSense's exclusivity requirements back in January it's now quite safe to try and boost your earnings by displaying in line ads alongside AdSense. Two inline ad services you might want to have a look at are Kontera and AdBrite. I shan't dwell too much on Kontera because they have high traffic requirements just to qualify for their program. Reading around it appears you can use Kontera to make about half of what you make on AdSense each month.

The real focus of this post is to tell you about AdBrite's new inline ad service which started back in February. An example from my YouTube Karaoke site (a very good site - if you haven't been visit it at once!) is shown in the image above. The ads are still very new and so far few advertisers are using them, so you only get maybe one in line ad per page. It should be a shrewd investment for the future - especially if you haven't got enough traffic to qualify for Kontera. My preliminary investigations reveal that AdBrite inline ads pay about the same as their conventional ad unit counterparts - usually in the range 5 - 20 cents per click. If you use AdBrite I recommend you head over there, adjust your account settings and give the new inlines a try. You'll certainly be no worse off than you are now - in fact, you'll probably increase your earnings. No adjustment to the ad code is necessary - just change the settings in your AdBrite account. If you aren't using AdBrite and think you could benefit from inline ads, then please sign up and tell them we sent you by using our link below.

The CelebrityContest.net Entertainment Directory

2007-02-18T14:16:00.000Z

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

2007-02-15T17:20:00.000Z

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

2007-02-11T18:12:00.000Z

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

2007-02-11T00:13:00.000Z

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

2007-02-09T11:23:00.000Z

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

2007-02-08T21:23:00.000Z

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

2007-02-01T10:19:00.001Z

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.

PR Update Rumbles On (Still)

2007-01-25T13:06:00.000Z

It has now been 3 whole weeks since Google began exporting its internal PageRank values to the Data Centers (and toolbar) for the whole world to admire. The past few days have been quiet and I thought that the export was complete - no more excitement for another three months or so. This morning I got a comment from fellow blogger Rob StGeorge (of Million Dollar Experiment fame) and he told me that his site, thus far unnoticed by Google, has started showing PR4 at a handful of DCs. I headed to my (now) regular haunt of the DigitalPoint forums and sure enough a lot of people, especially in the far far east, have just begun the receive their quarterly bonus from Google. If you fall into this category good luck.