Archive for November, 2008

The Future of Google Adsense

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

There are many ideas springing up concerning what AdSense will look like in the future and how the system will change as opposed to what it is now.

Firstly, it’s clear that targeting algorithms will become even better and more powerful then they are now. This has clearly been seen with the Google search engine itself over the last few years and it should be of no surprise as this happens with AdSense. Advertisers will appear in more appropriate results and those advertisers who manipulate their content to allow high paying keywords to appear may struggle to do this unless it is actually appropriate to their content.

Another thing which is bound to happen is more protection for AdWords advertisers concerning click fraud. Google acknowledges this to be a very key issue that it needs to address as quickly as possible and there’s no doubt it will happen as fast as possible. At the moment those who have high levels of traffic, can easily disguise IP addresses and increase CTR ( Click Through Rate).

Google is always keen on improving its products and this has been seen before in AdSense. The search engine company has introduced site-targeted AdSense CPM, “smart pricing” and domain blocking and there will probably be improvements that have already been added by other similar sites.

One such example is the option for the advertiser to have more control over where the content is being displayed. This could mean blocking your site from displaying on several addresses that host AdSense banners.

Another idea that has been advanced is that Google will integrate AdSense in other forms of media like newspapers or television and so on. While this might seem to be more on the science-fiction side of the facts there’s no indication that this might not happen.

Google have access to an international array of over 150,000 advertisers of whom may choose to penetrate offline markets in different countries. With Google’s strong network of advertisers, they may choose to appoint or allow offline distributors to create a format for Adwords advertising in content, in search and now offline.

More options could be implemented for AdSense publishers, allowing them to specify keywords of their own. While Google has been reluctant of this there’s no indication that this will not happen in the future.

Also, a lot of people are demanding a clear specification of the pricing policy of AdSense. Google has given no indication of why this isn’t public information but at this moment it seems highly unlikely that such information will ever be present on Google AdSense.

Another feature that could find itself into AdSense would be letting website publishers see which links are generating clicks on their website and based on what keywords they arrive there.

This could end up being a major issue that could threaten the entire system as it could perhaps encourage more adsense only websites as profits become more transparent. A lot of people may make AdSense-only sites, designed just for making profits through AdSense.

While this is already happening today, it might be foolish of Google to put such tools in the hands of its publishers.

However, one thing that could happen is a way for users to fix their issues with low AdSense generated income on their site. This could be done through an on-line wizard or something similar that would make suggestions to website owners based on their contents.

But the major buzzword of the day is RSS. The possibility of sending targeted ads directly to users without requiring any navigation on their behalf is becoming a reality with RSS. And there are clear signs that Google isn’t going to let such an opportunity pass by.

This is what “interactive television” and similar items have been trying to do for quite some time now. But the Internet would be a much better medium for this, because there are no mediums quite as interactive as the Internet.

But in the end, this is mostly speculation and we are bound to have Google surprising us with new features we would have never thought of.

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Writing the Resource Box so it Makes People click

Friday, November 28th, 2008

The internet is the information highway, this phrase has been used so may time it should be nominated for the Internet Cliché Award. People that go to the internet are subdivided into groups, but generally, they are out to search information. Whether for gaming, business, fun or anything else the internet has provided us with information that has proved to be very beneficial. 

Through the recent years many people have learned the secrets of Search Engine Optimization. More and more sites have seen the effects articles have done for the traffic of their sites. Some have even created sites devoted entirely to providing articles that could be read by their website visitors and have links that could lead to many sites that are related to the topics and subjects of the articles.

For example, the sites may feature many articles about a whole lot of topics. As a website visitor reads the articles they have searched for, they can find at the end of the article a resource box that can be clicked on to link them to the site that has submitted the article. Of course the article would be in relation to the site. Lets say if the article is about rotating the tires, the resource box may lead to a link to a site that sells tires or car parts.

A resource box is what you usually find at the end of an article. They will contain the name of the author, a brief description of the author, a brief description of the sponsoring site and a link. If a reader likes what they read, they would have the tendency to find out where the article came from to read more. The resource bow will be their link to the source of the article and this will entice them to go to the site and do some more reading or research for the subject or topic they are interested in.

But like the article itself, the resource box must also be eye-catching to demand the attention and interest of the reader. While the resource bow encompasses only a small space, providing the right keywords and content for your resource box will provide more prodding for the reader to go to your site.

Now we know what resource boxes are, what are the benefits of having a good resource box? Mainly its driving traffic to your site. Many sites would allow articles to be placed in their sites because they can make use of the articles to fill their pages. They also get affiliation with other sites that can be beneficial for them as well. For the sponsoring site, when you get people to click on your resource box, you generate traffic that can be counted upon as potential customers.

So what would be a good content for your resource box? Basically it is keywords, learning about the proper keywords that people are mainly searching for. There are many tools you can find in the internet that can help you in determining what keywords to use.

Resource boxes can also make use of all the creativity it can get. You only get a small space for your resource box so you better make the most of it. Try to catch the attention of your reader with resource box content that can make them give a second look. Unlike TV ads, you don’t have visual aids to drive your point in. But you do have the power of imagination of a reader. With the right content, you can make them think and intrigued.

Another tip is to use keywords that should be related to your site. Do not mislead your potential website visitors. Build your credibility so that more people would get enticed to visit your site and browse what you have to offer. Make the people click your resource box by providing resource box content that makes a lasting impression. You only get one chance to wow them and hundreds of chances to repulse them.

Never underestimate the power of the resource box. It may be small in size but they will provide a significant aid in driving traffic to your site. A boring resource box will never get a job done. Be fun and creative but at the same time show that you have a great deal to offer, too much to ask for something that couldn’t fit a paragraph? Yes and no, there are many tips and guides that can help you in doing this, the first step is realizing how important a resource box could be in making people click your link and be directed to your site.

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Tools for Adsense

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

If you’re just boarding on the AdSense train, and looking to find a quick way to make the profits you’ve seen all being pulled of all over the Internet, you might be interested in a couple of tools.

These software tools are designed to aid AdSense publishers in getting a better understanding on how traffic flows through their site. Some will help you in understanding which keywords gain you more money and which locations give you the best AdSense payment.

One of the best such tools available is AdSense Gold (http://www.profitbooks.com/go/astracker) which allows you to have a better understanding of which ads and formats actually get more clicks and which are useful or nearly useless.

This program works by tracking views and clicks on all the publisher’s pages. It even goes as far as offering you the possibility to see which referrer each visitor came in through.

There’s a free tool called SynSense (http://www.singerscreations.com/RSS/Posts/235.asp) which is more of an AdSense monitoring tool. This sits in the tray and offers actualized AdSense stats as you hover your mouse over its icon. It’s a very nice tool for those which like to be informed on how their AdSense is doing at all times of the day.

Google provides you with stats in a csv format on their site. So someone made a tool that can automatically download such files and extract a lot of information from them. The name of this tool is CSV AdStats and it is available from http://www.nix.fr/en/csvadstats.aspx?q=download

It has a large number of features, including the possibility to highly customize reported stats, exporting data and charts to other formats. It’s in French but the language can very easily be changed to English.

Of course any tool can only access these stats as often as 15 minutes but the authors are well aware of that fact and none of these tools will get you in trouble with Google because of that.

If, however, you’re browsing content most of the time, and your tool of choice is the Firefox Internet browser, there’s an extension for this program that allows you to view the stats in your status bar.

Again, this software is aware of Google’s 15 minute rule and enforces its usage, 15 minutes being the minimum time between updates.  The Google AdSense notifier for Firefox can be obtained from http://code.mincus.com/?p=3

There is also a program called Golden Keywords out there that helps you in getting the best keywords for your site. It’s really efficient and very easy to use. It does come with a price tag though, it costs $49.95 and it can be obtained from http://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=8616-2

So as you can see, software developers are making more and more programs meant to help you in your quest to maximize your AdSense profits. But before you go out looking for them remember that Google has a few features of its own as well.

It does offer some reports (albeit a bit more limited) and using the ‘channels’ feature is a good way of finding out which ads on your site are really bringing in most of the revenue.

Be on the look out as new tools appear daily and make sure to invest time in your site, as that is the real key in success with AdSense.

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Age-Old Question Do You Need to Have Your Own Product

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Whether or not you need to have your own product to become a successful affiliate marketer is a question that has been asked and answered every few minutes since affiliate marketing came on the scene. The reason it is asked so often is because everybody has a different answer. There are those who say you absolutely MUST have your own product to get started and to succeed in affiliate marketing and then there are those who say you don’t need a product when you start or ever to be successful. So, which is it? Yes? No?

The fact of the matter is that everybody is right. Having your own product is great but it isn’t absolutely necessary. Those who have their own product can build a website around that product and add affiliate links to it. Those who don’t have their own products can still create a great website and be an affiliate marketer. Producers of products love affiliate marketers and products are not the least bit hard to find.

The thing that both those who do and those who don’t have their own product have in common is that they both must be passionate about the products they sell. You will never be successful in selling something that you aren’t interested in yourself. It takes drive and ambition to succeed at any endeavor and affiliate marketing isn’t any different. You must be passionate about a product or an idea in order to keep your drive and ambition alive and well for the long haul.

Whether you are marketing your own product or a product produced by others your success is directly related to how effective your marketing techniques are, how focused you are, how well you manage your time, and how much you believe in the product.

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Making Back-End & Residual Commissions

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Residual income puts money in an affiliate marketer’s pocket without any work or effort on their part. It doesn’t get any better than that. Sales of back-end products allow you to get paid for work that you do more than once. The idea here is to work smarter…not harder.

So what are back-end products? They are products/services you offer to existing customers, i.e. to people who have already bought a first product (front-end product. lead product) from you.
Most online marketers make much more money selling customers the second, third, fourth etc. product than selling their first product. The reason is that people who’ve already bought from you once are much more likely to buy again.

Strategies like back-end offers shifts the focus from the short sighted “take the money and run” strategy that is so much in use on the internet today. You’ve seen these sites all over. The focus is on getting a massive amount of traffic and then selling visitors an over-priced product that doesn’t deliver what was promised. They might make money in the short run but they will only sell to each customer once and will have to continue spending a lot of money on advertising to get new suckers to visit their site.

More successful sites focus on building a strong relationship with their customers. Your main goal shouldn’t be to just make sure your customers are somewhat satisfied…you want them to be extremely satisfied. If you deliver the goods, your customers will trust you more. If you have their trust, you can sell them anything. When you send your very satisfied customers an email offering another product that they would be interested in, they will flock to your site to buy it because they trust you. Trust is everything.

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