tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62412541930421240602024-03-06T15:33:48.155+07:00c3v3nc3v3n Blogs berisi catatan, tips dan trik, hasil percobaan, dan info lainnya seputar teknologi informasi, blog, komputer dan internetc3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-20762129803038306932009-02-25T05:18:00.000+07:002009-02-25T05:20:19.225+07:00AdSense Success Story<p style="text-align: justify;">AdSense has truly been changing lives of many. There are huge numbers of people who earn a fortune from AdSense and a few lot who earn quite a decent income only from AdSense displayed through their sites or blogs. But still there are a whole lot of people who still struggle to earn a decent income from AdSense. You will need to spend a lot of time researching and analyzing about AdSense before you reap the benefit from it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You can start with joining any webmasters forum to learn how others are doing in this regard. How they optimize their websites to display AdSense in such a way that they earn a fortune out of it. Webmasters forums are the hubs where all the plusses and minuses of AdSense would have been discussed. What’s more promising here is that you can share your views too. Some of the forums you can join and gain from it and improve your AdSense earnings are like Digital Point Forums, Webmaster World, V7n, Warrior Forum, etc. These forums apart from letting you learn, you can automatically promote your sites by adding it to your signature blocks and hence double benefit from it.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You can also subscribe to those successful blogs on how they found their success with AdSense. As some of the blog owners share their technique on how they found success with AdSense every now and then which would definitely be of help for your aim of earning more from AdSense. You can follow their tips diligently to at least earn a percent of what they are earning.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You should also subscribe the official Google Adsense blog which updates on the latest with AdSense. You can get various tips and tricks as well as new features introduced at AdSense can be read here so that you can update the same in your AdSense account and try to get the maximum out of it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Google AdSense too also has its own success stories page where the fellow webmasters share their stories on how AdSense changed their lives. It is a must read too. There are some really good and inspiring stories out there to read and motivate ourselves. There are also tips and tricks on AdSense shared here by the different webmasters to use it on a trial and error basis on our ads and see which works better. You can find webmasters from all walks of life, from forums to blogs, from general websites to technical ones, etc., here.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The other best method to get success from AdSense is to try it yourself guide. Where you should always try to impart new techniques and experiments with AdSense in your site. If you do so, you might end up with some technique where the click through rate might increase. And hence you can stick to it until find another method successful. This method can also be shared among others too at the above places.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">With these methods you can actually get great benefits and success with AdSense at least to some extent from what you are earning now.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-79606196211960399842009-02-25T05:16:00.001+07:002009-02-25T05:29:45.557+07:00Ways to improve your earnings with Adsense<p style="text-align: justify;">If you are a webmaster and is trying to monetize your websites, then the best way to go forward is by adding AdSense to it. Although adding AdSense alone cannot guarantee you huge earnings you will need to optimize it well to earn well. As many of the webmasters out there have been struggling to earn much from AdSense. But still there are some webmasters who earn a decent to huge amount through AdSense from their websites.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">And if you think why some are so successful and while the others are not. It is because of the fact those who are successful have been experimenting with their AdSense to find the best set of ad unit and the best position to place their ads and have found the right way to display their ads.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">There are some few tips which can be followed to get the maximum from your Adsense ads. If you could follow these tips, you too can earn a decent amount from it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">One important aspect of earning more from AdSense lies on the format you choose. The best performing ad format when it comes to AdSense is the Large Rectangle format (336 x 280). This ad format has the highest click through rate when compared to other formats. If you think on why this ad format is performing well, the answer lies in the fact that the ads displayed in this unit won’t be looking like an ad unit instead it will be like a regular web link and hence people will click them if they find something useful or has a tempting title.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The other important tip that should be followed diligently is to choose the right color combination for your ads. The thumb rule here is that the color of your ads should be blending with that of your website. And also you should remove the borders in your ad unit to make it look like being part of your web page. This way you surely will find a spike in click through rates for that particular ad format.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Instead of placing your ad units on the bottom of your page, try and place it on top or at the place where the users can see it without scrolling or moving. This is the best method followed by the pros to get maximum revenue from AdSense.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Try and experiment with all your ad units and formats and positions of your ads displayed in your website until you find the right combination which works well for your site. This is because not all the formats and units work for all the sites since each site has its own uniqueness and this has to be tapped well by experimenting with AdSense Ads.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Above all you should have a very decent content to let users get back to your site or blog regularly. Without good quality content no matter how your experiment or play with your ad units you will end up being unsuccessful. Hence good quality content plays a key role in getting maximum revenue from Adsense. As they say “Content is the King”!</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">So, with those tips you can surely boost your earning - time to motivate you, read my last article about <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-success-story.html">adsense success</a>.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-13091342715314523032009-02-25T05:14:00.002+07:002009-02-25T05:27:05.742+07:00Getting Started With AdSense<p style="text-align: justify;">One thing which is so good to talk about <strong>Google AdSense is that it is very easy</strong> to get it on to your site and getting it approved if you have a pretty decent contented site.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">To start with you will need to create a site either from your own domain or from many of the sub domains available. The site can be of any theme or niche but should have a good quality content to get the approval from AdSense. If you are newbie and don’t know how to start a website, then you can always go for blogging using the free blogging platforms such as Blogspot, Wordpress, etc. You can start to blog about anything that you love and would be able to write about it on a regular basis.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">As soon you got your site or blog ready with good quality content in it, then you will need to submit your site to AdSense for their approval. Normally the approval process will take place two or three days or around that. When your site got approved then it is all easy job for you. If not approved, you will need to restructure your content in your site and also you can update your content with more fresh content and try submitting again later.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Once approved you will need to login to your AdSense account and can choose the ad formats which you are going to integrate with your website. But before that you will be prompted to agree the terms and conditions of AdSense if you are login in for the first time, you will need to agree to it and then proceed further.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The best performing ads are the bigger square ads in AdSense and this is also the best ad format for the blogs too. Choose them accordingly and paste it in your site and that’s all, in a jiffy your site will start displaying AdSense ads.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The best method to get more clicks for your AdSense is by choosing an ad format which integrates well with your site rather than going for a contrast colored ad formats which will mostly be ignored by the users due to ad blindness. The maximum number of ads for contents you can display in a particular page is three and don’t even think about adding one more ad unit in a page. Instead you can try to add in other units with AdSense like Ad Links, video units, etc.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You can experiment with the ad units by rotating the place your ads get displayed. You can also choose image only ads for a difference in any of the ad unit you are going to display in your page.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After finishing up with adding AdSense to your website you can now login to your AdSense account every now and then to check how your ad units are performing and can make changes accordingly on which is performing better and which is not.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>AdSense</strong> has changed many people’s life and surely can change yours too and you have taken that first step by applying for AdSense and integrated to your site.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">However, starting with adsense will not get you your success. You will need to know which ads in which combination work best. The fourth of the fifth guide is about <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/ways-to-improve-your-earnings-with.html">boosting your adsense earnings</a>.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-13508176743592878422009-02-25T05:10:00.002+07:002009-02-25T05:25:22.872+07:00How adsense changed the internet<p style="text-align: justify;">The internet actually transformed a great deal ever since <strong>Adsense</strong> was <strong>introduced by Google</strong>. Although some changes are as good while some are not.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">This is just a small analysis of how this small revolution called AdSense has <strong>stormed the web</strong>. It actually deals with the transformation that both publishers and advertisers have undergone due to AdSense and how it has become a part of our daily life.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Even before the start of AdSense, people were using AdWords. It is nothing but a form of advertisement from Google to get on to the top page of the Google Search using the keywords that we specify. It actually saved lots of time and energy and money for many of the SEO experts out there by making their job easier by placing your ads on top of the Google search page which otherwise would only be a dream for many sites out there. This prompted many to launch websites to profit rather than undergoing a long term analysis with no results or returns.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When AdSense came into being, you have had the option to get your ads in almost any website which display AdSense. And for this reason AdSense really have brought a new way of advertising to the net. Before the advent of AdSense people had to toil it hard offline to get the much needed exposure.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, with AdSense, companies don’t need to hire those expensive experts to create ad campaigns for them. The cost for running ad campaigns have dropped dramatically and guess what with even greater success rate.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Now for the advertisers, with AdSense/AdWords, you would only have to create some keywords related to your business and just sign up for AdWords and create a campaign just like that and see real traffic. And you don’t have to worry about your campaign except for logging in every now and then and maintain it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">But the real change happened from AdSense from the point of view of publishers. Where people used to struggle to make money from their websites are now making a fortune out of it due to putting up AdSense ads on it. This prompted many individuals to start their own website as all they needed was a good quality content to get decent traffic.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Then came the phenomenon called blogging and this made AdSense even more easier and profitable. Anyone who are able to write a few words about what they are passionate about can actually earn a decent income from AdSense. This is what made AdSense a phenomenon sort of thing with even common people could make money out of the internet.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Although there are bad things spoken about AdSense like too many sites crept up with the sole intention of making money out of AdSense, but that too have been dealt well by Google by imposing a ban of such websites.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Apart from these minor hiccups overall AdSense has indeed made our lives easier and changed how the Internet functions for sure.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">So, finishing my history lesson let’s continue with information for you to <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/getting-started-with-adsense.html">get started with adsense</a>.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-67892712622218111992009-02-25T04:21:00.003+07:002009-02-25T04:31:39.929+07:00Adsense Optimization - Traffic<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGziHjjLjQiCj0gB8XcFmahRFr5YUvbIEMC22G1d4OaA7dd0wMyYQxAE_v-B91uo4CRdBV1h9yAHhjqyyz-3IPoPS7NpXnJFgfa121XwpgJXlZ8Pxft41nkqrGTrK4JvPwd-QFNplhOE/s1600-h/blogging4beginners.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 106px;" title="blogging4beginners" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGziHjjLjQiCj0gB8XcFmahRFr5YUvbIEMC22G1d4OaA7dd0wMyYQxAE_v-B91uo4CRdBV1h9yAHhjqyyz-3IPoPS7NpXnJFgfa121XwpgJXlZ8Pxft41nkqrGTrK4JvPwd-QFNplhOE/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306477628437472946" border="0" /></a><em>This is my third post on my series: <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Adsense Optimization</span>. If you missed the other parts be sure to check out <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Introduction to Adsense Optimization - Ad position</span></span></span></a>, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Adsense Optimization - Ad design</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span>, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Finding High Paying Ads</span></span></span></a> and <span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Adsense Relevancy</span></span></a>.</span></span></span></em><br /><em></em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> There are many different direct income earning methods (as I will be making posts on that subject later this week) and each will have it’s own ways of being optimised - but the following are principles that many bloggers find across different forms of advertising programs (for the sake of this post I’ll mainly use blogs using AdSense as examples - but much of what I write can be applied to different ad systems). </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The basic factors that I’ll be covering in the following posts are:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Traffic</span></a></span></li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html">Ad Position</a></span></span></li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html">Ad Design</a></span></span></li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ad Relevancy</span></a></span></li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">High Paying Ads</span></a></span></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I believe that all five elements are important to running profitable ads on a blog. Take any one of them out of the picture and you decrease the overall earning potential that you have. ie a blog with high traffic but with ads that no one see’s is never going to earn much. Likewise a highly trafficked blog with well positioned ads that are completely irrelevant to the topic of the blog are less likely to perform to their potential… you get the point. Each element should be considered and worked on simultaneously.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’ll start briefly with the traffic topic and last two will follow in the next day or two. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Principle 1 - Traffic</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The frustrating thing about blogging for an income is that you can have perfectly positioned, designed and relevant ads that would pay a fortune but still be not making any money at all because your blog has no traffic. So while I encourage publishers to work on design, placement and ad relevancy, it’s worth remembering that you shouldn’t do any of it at the expense of developing a quality blog that people will come and read. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> This isn’t the post for talking about traffic building strategies - but a holistic approach to building an online income will definitely factor traffic building as a primary objective. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Speaking from personal experience - I know how easy it is to get sidetracked by the other factors mentioned - but if you simultaneously work on building a readership you’ll build a much more profitable blog.</span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-44130680230647603402009-02-25T03:32:00.015+07:002009-02-25T04:50:10.996+07:00Adsense Optimization - Ad Design<p><img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq62olq-NJx7fTTW-2uOzI47CRZLMGZmpUXHrukKFNC1Ul-uwwpb0qL7alPok46Iyt_Itzmx3_BU_97wzU_BhU87mUKu84yotBG9aarHQVmlF7J3zux2WL4KPSgxAkSJaSMkna1_Ke-GA/s200/increase-adsense-earnings.jpg" alt="Adsense Optimization - Ad Design" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306465085246916514" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Yesterday I’ve talked about what the </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>best position is for an AdSense ad</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>how to optimize AdSense traffic</span></span></span></a>, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Finding High Paying Ads</span></span></span></a> and <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>AdSense Relevancy</span></span></span></a>. And today I will continue on this subject but now talk about Ad Design - another key factor in the performance of AdSense ads. </span></em></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In my previous post I’ve talked about how changing the positioning of ads has seen significant changes in people’s AdSense earnings at different times - ad design can have a similar impact. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">AdSense give quite a bit of control over how text ads can display on your site. You can change the color of a number of elements in ad units by changing the ‘color palettes’ that you choose. </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTClwAQYcyG0lZIy3cm4FXIfihkEZPgkHwQDqja6QrQycSX50LbkmqSqDNZIwmtJcc6RW0dXE1MMWDoTIi1LJ0C1z1BbjqSmxbsC_7X_7C40yrPAoNT-K6D69ll0vyKDuAgf_M0ZJ92s/s1600-h/adsense-color-palette.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 134px;" title="adsense-color-palette" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTClwAQYcyG0lZIy3cm4FXIfihkEZPgkHwQDqja6QrQycSX50LbkmqSqDNZIwmtJcc6RW0dXE1MMWDoTIi1LJ0C1z1BbjqSmxbsC_7X_7C40yrPAoNT-K6D69ll0vyKDuAgf_M0ZJ92s/s320/adsense-color-palette.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306466551225540130" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As you can see above in the ‘default’ color palette there is the option to change the color of ad borders, the title, background, text and URL. There are rumors floating around at the moment that we might have more control over the font of ads too in the future (I’ve been seeing a variety of fonts in my own ads lately which is a signal that Google is experimenting). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Unfortunately there’s not a single color palette that works best on every blog. As with everything - testing different color schemes is the only way to work out what works best for you. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> There are a number of different AdSense ad design strategies that bloggers have used over the years. Lets look at four of them: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">1. Contrasting AdSense Ads</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I remember visiting some websites when the internet was still new back then, the ads on sites were jumping out of the content. The advertisers did everything to make the ads visable to the visitors. The theory is that if people see the ads they’ll be more likely to click them. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> The result was some of the most horrendous color combinations that you’ll ever see put together in an AdSense unit. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Warning - what you see below might induce headaches…. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArL8FFf9HH79sB7b8SbBN3PhQSEsR3tcynNiocJyMqCTXXdESIst1GJGIhGp5GSycg5hnM-WqZ6LEuCQ12qyKyqEEKiTI3bKXUKL1VehHsghszQXVvZB6NJnwaKY6x3CAew9Foe7JlbQ/s1600-h/adsense-ad-design-clash.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 147px;" title="adsense-ad-design-clash" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArL8FFf9HH79sB7b8SbBN3PhQSEsR3tcynNiocJyMqCTXXdESIst1GJGIhGp5GSycg5hnM-WqZ6LEuCQ12qyKyqEEKiTI3bKXUKL1VehHsghszQXVvZB6NJnwaKY6x3CAew9Foe7JlbQ/s320/adsense-ad-design-clash.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306467220106000370" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’m not sure why anyone would select this kind of combination but it was commonplace a few years ago. I saw a number of publishers back in that day saying that a Red/Yellow combination worked best. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Pros of this design where that they were eye catching - the Cons were that they didn’t do a lot for creating a great first impression of your site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">2. Blended AdSense Ads</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As a result the trend moved from ‘clashing’ ads to what was known as a ‘blended’ approach. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> The keys to this approach were to set the background and borders of ad units to match the background of the site that they were going. In doing so you removed any border/boundary between the ad an your content. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Title was then made to be the same color as links on the site. Text was made to match the color of text on the site and the URL field either was </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">made to match the title OR to be as light a color as possible (a light grey) so as to blend into the background as much as possible. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> The attempt was to make the ads blend into the site as much as possible and look like an integrated part into the site. So it could be something like this:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fps-O178XhQeudxmN9RlAM6ywCMnbJ9qdgkvVqIH-kkIzqKBfqnIBrCr8iXaa0R4h2SPFIIutJoUsX0iAelj-xbQWREC6vMy1AKGfAZeJNvDZm-kWtcnX46DtiEpGzk2yQQ-L2Xldvk/s1600-h/adsense-ad-design-blended.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 157px;" title="adsense-ad-design-blended" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fps-O178XhQeudxmN9RlAM6ywCMnbJ9qdgkvVqIH-kkIzqKBfqnIBrCr8iXaa0R4h2SPFIIutJoUsX0iAelj-xbQWREC6vMy1AKGfAZeJNvDZm-kWtcnX46DtiEpGzk2yQQ-L2Xldvk/s320/adsense-ad-design-blended.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306467745869796018" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The pros of this approach was that ads didn’t clash with the site and as a result didn’t scream ‘CHEAP AND NASTY MONEY GRABBING WEBSITE’. The ads also performed better in most cases than a ‘clashing’ ad. The Cons were that sometimes the ads could blend too much into the site, particularly those sites which had a loyal readership which became blind to the ads.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">3. Complementary AdSense Ads</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Over the last couple of years another term has crept into AdSense publisher circles to describe ads - ads that ‘complement’ a site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">These ads are similar to blended ads but they don’t completely blend in. They complement the colors of the site but aim to also stand out a little by adding a different background and border color. The color you use might be unique to the ads but still ‘match’ the overall colors on the site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This type of ad is what Google recommend if you’re putting an ad in your sidebar or some slightly out of the way part of your blog as it draws the eye to it. However if you’re putting an ad in or close to content they suggest a blended ad. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">4. Designer AdSense Ads</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Most publishers still use a blended or complementary approach but over the last few years a number of AdSense publishers have played with incorporating different design elements around their ads to integrate them even more fully into the site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There was a period where publishers got away with aligning images directly beside, above or below ads - AdSense cracked down on this and now don’t allow it at all - however there are ways to incorporate the ads into the design of your site. Two examples are shown below:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3ZS1Dnx_kylnkZ9T77vzW28Od-xkAf7uVUjiuqZMVYs0Nk7PgY5U02mA7-S7jAThGza3CPxAF9ZYR8s0kVwd8Iw3Hm11iPYVl0kYeh59ln2xzzPe5ijcMgL09HIa49ewSHM4OGu2jRg/s1600-h/adsense-ad-design-designer-2.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 205px;" title="adsense-ad-design-designer-2" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3ZS1Dnx_kylnkZ9T77vzW28Od-xkAf7uVUjiuqZMVYs0Nk7PgY5U02mA7-S7jAThGza3CPxAF9ZYR8s0kVwd8Iw3Hm11iPYVl0kYeh59ln2xzzPe5ijcMgL09HIa49ewSHM4OGu2jRg/s320/adsense-ad-design-designer-2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306468185697016546" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDd-UrhLya9zjOzwQ625cAacKKGvc_lFZBKRtlwy8cE2DozPj2SzWx9Z5Q-GTKJUf0a7ZMu8_2VajsONBmx6M-8fMVPkzD1jpSvB1z79G8rHq1GZPEHk5I_amTTxA1FWslHFv-tTPLaA/s1600-h/adsense-ad-design-designer-1.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 308px;" title="adsense-ad-design-designer-1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDd-UrhLya9zjOzwQ625cAacKKGvc_lFZBKRtlwy8cE2DozPj2SzWx9Z5Q-GTKJUf0a7ZMu8_2VajsONBmx6M-8fMVPkzD1jpSvB1z79G8rHq1GZPEHk5I_amTTxA1FWslHFv-tTPLaA/s320/adsense-ad-design-designer-1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306468276831528642" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can see the ads themselves are placed inside frames that integrate the ads into the design of the site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Interestingly Karen no longer uses these ads on her blog. I’ve seen a number of publishers attempt to do this with mixed success. It’s something to experiment with. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">So Which AdSense Ad Design is Best?</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The choice of which AdSense ad design to choose for your blog is a decision that you need to weigh up on a number of fronts including: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Performance</strong> - test different designs to see which converts best in terms of click through rate</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Feeling</strong> - each of us have a different preference on what does and doesn’t look good and on how willing we are to allow ads that ’stick out’ a little.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Other Competing Design Elements</strong> - if your blog’s design is ‘busy’ and has a lot of competing points of visual interest for readers you might need to increase the ‘loudness’ of the ads in order to compete.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> When it comes down to purely financial considerations - the fact is that sometimes blending works best and on other occasions it can be better to go with a more contrasting approach. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Check out the official advice from AdSense: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;" class="codeview"><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em>“</em><em>The color strategy you should use on your site varies depending on the ad placement and the color of the background where the ads are placed. Review the table below for a quick reference about which strategies we suggest will work well on your site.”</em></span></p></div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg_GWT6zrsxdfuy4IvYYzPxJA3QRXiqJEjSTl6FsaWe7ydFQgkkKXFK8Au4aCBk6VSmj_dhf1Bfj3HMk2sFqNk_2FqEcNNWdbL3TsNC8NfsADko5sNvQkavfr9fvhnIIPJsRBB50Q5eY/s1600-h/adsense-ad-design-choices.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 56px;" title="adsense-ad-design-choices" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg_GWT6zrsxdfuy4IvYYzPxJA3QRXiqJEjSTl6FsaWe7ydFQgkkKXFK8Au4aCBk6VSmj_dhf1Bfj3HMk2sFqNk_2FqEcNNWdbL3TsNC8NfsADko5sNvQkavfr9fvhnIIPJsRBB50Q5eY/s400/adsense-ad-design-choices.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306476098199784050" border="0" /></a><br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can see the overall design of your site comes into question quite a bit in the eyes of AdSense. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Other Design Choices</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There are a few other choices that publishers have when it comes to the way that their ads look. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Curved Corners</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">One somewhat recent chose that AdSense have given us is the ability to round the corners of our ads. As publishers we now have the ability to have three formats - Square ads, Slightly Rounded ads and Very Rounded ads:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpzdTnWXsxRX3IxPRA60Wcfw5n6iDSaHQek63M3CXdG63hMBW54oQI6N6FcC2WmJLgBm4HZdKKzb3SrunO2cs0LL8fJuw41gobKza8bMuXO_nlItCFiS5hZ2BmPfrxTabq1Y_DnRX21I/s1600-h/rounded-corners.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 382px;" title="rounded-corners" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpzdTnWXsxRX3IxPRA60Wcfw5n6iDSaHQek63M3CXdG63hMBW54oQI6N6FcC2WmJLgBm4HZdKKzb3SrunO2cs0LL8fJuw41gobKza8bMuXO_nlItCFiS5hZ2BmPfrxTabq1Y_DnRX21I/s400/rounded-corners.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306469898046525074" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Your choice with the corners of your ads only comes into play if you go for a complementary or contrasting approach (ie blended ads effectively don’t have borders that can be seen). The choice will will depend upon the design of your blog. If you have curves on other design elements this will help to integrate the ads better. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Rotate ads</span></strong></span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong></strong></span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong></strong>If your blog has a lot of repeat readers who come back day after day you will want to consider changing the design of your ads from time to time so as to overcome ad blindness. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can manually do this on a regular basis or use the built in mechanism that AdSense offers for you to choose up to 4 different color palettes for your ads to automatically rotate through. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Test Test Test</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The key to finding the right AdSense Ad Design for your blog is to test different options and see what works best for you. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><em>What are your experiences with adsense designs?</em></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-60598039397985475762009-02-25T02:47:00.005+07:002009-02-25T02:57:17.280+07:00Best Google Adsense blog positions<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9oMLvjLWwHxU4fAWj4rn0MH-Ni-JAYaNbDW8HWsV8zJnpP4lvWkJLGn7-J2ry7V2XcwcYC7N0_LjDWTwY8Tm_N0i2v3GsLZEujbVqA2AsXbIguj8RgqADRqrX92vMDRGJ3MPAd801lY/s200/timthumb.php1.jpg" alt="Best Google Adsense blog positions" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306453090680791154" border="0" /><p style="text-align: justify;">The first thing on your agenda should be to either have your website already <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/noob-blogging-guide.html">set up or your blog</a>. Once you have this all set up and ready to go, and you have signed up with the Google AdSense program you are ready to place some ads on your page. But where to put them is the first thought that pops into your head. It is all about location, and it can become a complete art when it comes to placing your ads. Once your visitors reach your site and become intrigued, they are more likely to stay for awhile and look around; this includes staying long enough to follow and click on some of your offered ads. Your ads need to coincide with your content, this enables your visitors to actually want to click on your ads, because your ads can offer them other information that they may be looking for.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Analyze the design and layout of your blog or site. Pick which spots your visitors are most likely to look. In research studies, visitors tend to start by looking at the top left corner of a page, and then proceed to move downwards throughout the page. It is much like reading a book, you start at the top of the left page, and then you read from left to right, down to the bottom of the page. This is what visitors do when they look at a website or a blog. One of the best spots to put your ads is the place where people start to read on your page before they start pressing the scroll down button.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You want to make sure that there is a good sense of flow throughout your site; everything needs to blend to keep your visitors from becoming confused and frustrated. A great way to blend your ads is to use tables. Tables offer a clean and appealing look to your ads, that turns a visitors attention to the actually ad, instead of passing the ad by. If you can get the visitors attention to the ad, you can earn money. If you are having some trouble with the position of your ads, and you are not getting the amount of clicks you desire, try checking out some of the larger Adsense sites, just to get a more comfortable feel of how they position their ads. After all, they are larger Adsense sites for a reason, so they must be doing something right.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6z39XY6Ib1niMgC7nul3jbMKqDvUnw2ldWtbWxV_zkhDWLpRlhCXlEHkABFNZ8q6JxoiRUbUnXSoPqd7O-DOrdW1_PQeRdrMDjbQTf1uTo3cD4TR7zX5cT2Tv-cCij9z7jpY94YXqHgA/s1600-h/general_en-225x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 300px;" title="Best Adsense positions" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6z39XY6Ib1niMgC7nul3jbMKqDvUnw2ldWtbWxV_zkhDWLpRlhCXlEHkABFNZ8q6JxoiRUbUnXSoPqd7O-DOrdW1_PQeRdrMDjbQTf1uTo3cD4TR7zX5cT2Tv-cCij9z7jpY94YXqHgA/s320/general_en-225x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306454441186109826" border="0" /></a> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Play around with your ad positioning, do not just stick your ads anywhere on your pages, and wait for money to roll in. Try to experiment which positions work for your visitors, and for you. You should eventually reposition your ads every once and awhile to keep your regular visitors from getting bored with your ads, make sure to keep it fresh and new! Try to keep from making your site or blog look like just a site full of ads. People do not want to visit a page and be bombarded with loads of ads, this tends to make people want to immediately press the back button, and move onto another page.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Adsense allows you to have up to three ads, so try being strategic about this, and take full advantage! Remember that location is key factor here in the Adsense process; you need to test things out, and see what is working and acknowledge what is not working. Once you can see what is working you can continue with this strategy, while moving your ads around to keep things alive. People these days tend to get real bored real fast, you want to make sure that you keep your visitors wanting to come back for more, liven things up!</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-63622213876487902002009-02-25T02:19:00.010+07:002009-02-25T03:18:20.167+07:00Google Analytics guide<img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwQ933a0ELhSG_Fo5DjfCLhAsJXHq2q39_pMosjlaiFR3-XC4OLTUyAk685Og07fd15OwrryJ1lvoJu9KhZgRg59YHzueu3b3YFREHbcWdW7rNM6u7CC65HyDZNSbyz1MZPpr8QX6omc/s200/timthumb.php2.png" alt="Google Analytics guide" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306446339599374450" /><p style="text-align: justify;">Keeping a good record of your site and keeping track of how much traffic and profit your site brings is vital to your site’s success.<span> </span>Google analytics is the perfect way to track and see what is working, and what is not working for your site.<span> This is a <strong>guide to use Google’s webmaster tool analytics</strong>.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">So what the heck is Google analytics anyway, and what does it do for me?<span> </span>How does it help me in the long run?<span> </span>Well, let’s take a look, and take a free tour into the world of Google analytics; I promise you head won’t hurt when we are finished.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Good analytics is a system designed to show you how people are finding your website, and how you can improve your website, to ensure better visits for current and future viewers.<span> </span>This application tracks your visitors through your site, and keeps track of all advertising programs you currently use, this way you know which keywords for your site are actually working, and which ones are not working.<span> </span>This is an excellent way to track everything you need to know, is simple and clear cut.<span> </span>Now that we know what Google analytics is, let’s talk about what this program actually does, and how it works.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTpc_NcqiekLDQA-vUzjYtGiBhtRxXdeLGo-7xl58yo-v5JgpRiex0PG7rtCkgKNNppIFNkYOK9smCIdLbPbL2_DCLKWLks8c6O9IgdoohWc9iW2gkYLltvUOVhBBrxa9myqY0gyfcXA/s1600-h/google-analytics-300x187.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 187px;" title="google-analytics overview" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTpc_NcqiekLDQA-vUzjYtGiBhtRxXdeLGo-7xl58yo-v5JgpRiex0PG7rtCkgKNNppIFNkYOK9smCIdLbPbL2_DCLKWLks8c6O9IgdoohWc9iW2gkYLltvUOVhBBrxa9myqY0gyfcXA/s320/google-analytics-300x187.png" alt="google-analytics" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306446897909415586" /></a> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When someone comes to visit your site, Google analytics takes this information and stores it to your server in the form of access logs.<span> </span>Don’t be too scared, Google analytics has made reading these logs very clear cut and simple.<span> </span>These access logs are saved in text that is incredibly simple and easy to look over and analyze.<span> </span>Most analytics software can achieve this for you, but Google analytics takes it one step further by allowing you to see where in your site your visitors are actually going.<span> </span>This is excellent in comparison to competing analytics programs that do not have this specific ability.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Google analytics helps you to understand the reports you view.<span> </span>It provides tips that you can view throughout your reports.<span> </span>These tips are located on the bottom right hand corner of each page; they describe the report data, and what it actually means in terms that you can easily understand.<span> </span>So now that Google analytics has caught your eye, let’s talk about the various features of Google analytics.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Google analytics offers a wide range of features that will help you get the full effect of what is helping your website and what you need to do to improve your website.<span> </span>One of the newest Google analytics features is the ability to capture internal search statistics.<span> </span>This feature tracks and shows what a specific visitor entered into your internal search box, and what page they were actually on when they entered their search information.<span> </span>From there you can see which page link the visitor chose in the search results.<span> </span>Google analytics also allows you to track certain document downloads, and tracks certain links.<span> </span>You can tag PDF files, email address or even outside links and track it when someone clicks on these files or these links.<span> </span>Let’s say now you have viewed all of your analytics reports, and you want to keep and save this to your personal computer to maintain for future records.<span> </span>Google analytics makes this easy by letting you export your reports to an excel page.<span> </span>This will save you tons of time, instead of copying and pasting all of your data.<span> </span>All you need to do is export your data into a CSV file.<span> </span>CSV stands for comma separated values, and what that does is helps you export and save into any desired Excel spreadsheet.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsZR1kWdHYZHDVfmsGeeo_UunkXRw604jvGkJxljmA1czxsbxjI5tHCYaZek1OL-U2McmSTt6mKBObwoDlwl7OQPlJUeQ2nPWfhDsPsNwWfU-4idDo8uly-3z-GaKi_cpU8WxpRuu_g4/s1600-h/analytics-keywords.png"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 167px;" title="Analytics Keywords" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsZR1kWdHYZHDVfmsGeeo_UunkXRw604jvGkJxljmA1czxsbxjI5tHCYaZek1OL-U2McmSTt6mKBObwoDlwl7OQPlJUeQ2nPWfhDsPsNwWfU-4idDo8uly-3z-GaKi_cpU8WxpRuu_g4/s320/analytics-keywords.png" alt="Traffic-generating keywords" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306447245008489074" /></a> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Keyword source is a way that Google analytics reports what keywords viewer are using to actually find your website, this way you can see what words are good words, and which ones not so good. Now you know a few among many features that Google analytics has to offer, you are probably wondering how you can find this program and how you can use this program to your full advantage.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">So now you feel as though you are ready to improve your site, and add Google analytics to help you save time and achieve success with your site.<span> </span>Where can you find this application, and how do you add it and access it?<span> </span>You can either do a simple Google search for Google analytics or go to the site <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.google.com/analytics" target="_blank">www.google.com/analytics</a>.<span> </span>From the site, you can take a tour and really get the full idea of what this site is all about, or if you feel you are simply ready to go, go ahead and sign up.<span> </span>The neat aspect to this site is it’s free!<span> </span>Once you have signed up, you still might need a little bit of help figuring everything out, well the first step to success was signing up for Google analytics.<span> </span>Once you do this, you need to then insert Google analytics JavaScript into your pages.<span> </span>In order to track your pages, you must have this code inserted into every page that you want to be tracked.<span> </span>After you have done all of this, Google analytics will do the rest for you beginning with overviews.<span> </span>This allows you to view your site’s performance.<span> </span>Simply log in and go to your website profile and view your site’s reports.<span> </span>This will break it all down for you, but letting you view site traffic over the past months.<span> </span>If you are looking to break it down even more, that option is certainly available, whatever fits your specific needs.<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs7oFZJ8tvdSdE2JD5UbeJI3g2KNLrNk31V8GufBc8fcpPMlHEQdfucdDgmaxCNDn8HBDEB0mJo4S0rqRsOjUy0sZWlng-SDZvnfLQUUbxpwXiBt7HPfDtSU_OcmoFCC9Y-Gl7iL5N2Y/s1600-h/2.jpg"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs7oFZJ8tvdSdE2JD5UbeJI3g2KNLrNk31V8GufBc8fcpPMlHEQdfucdDgmaxCNDn8HBDEB0mJo4S0rqRsOjUy0sZWlng-SDZvnfLQUUbxpwXiBt7HPfDtSU_OcmoFCC9Y-Gl7iL5N2Y/s400/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306447729217497762" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The above picture is an example of a daily report from Google analytics.<span> </span>It allows you to see the success of your site, and the increase or decrease in the amount of visitors.<span> </span>It shows visits, page visits, as well as the average time a visitor spends looking at your site.<span> </span>This site is wonderful because it literally gives you a complete breakdown of your sites activity and success rate.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPrbb2RE-NTxbqN1stmN0RUeY555NgZ8M9UdGAGUgHx3r4xibmzP3bqEMQVHmQ8KQzqpacyV3KhFIatNxS_pWdfJ2mmOWZjW5qZtkJ6KGM9Xy-3wB5WYVA9uNVVhWhEtHiQMH6xFcUuk/s1600-h/32-300x195.jpg"><img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 195px;" title="Plugin for Analytics" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPrbb2RE-NTxbqN1stmN0RUeY555NgZ8M9UdGAGUgHx3r4xibmzP3bqEMQVHmQ8KQzqpacyV3KhFIatNxS_pWdfJ2mmOWZjW5qZtkJ6KGM9Xy-3wB5WYVA9uNVVhWhEtHiQMH6xFcUuk/s320/32-300x195.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306448113018378322" /></a> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The possibilities are endless when it comes to using Google analytics.<span> </span>If you have chosen to use <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress.com</a> as your chosen blog, Google analytics provides a plug in to use to directly connect your blog to your analytics page.<span> </span>This feature instantly allows you to follow your AdSense clicks (if you are utilizing <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-adsense-guide-for-blogs_25.html" target="_blank">AdSense</a>), insert additional search engines, and tracks your inquires for your images linked to your blog.<span> </span>Installing the plug in for your WordPress.com blog page is incredibly easy as long as you follow the following instructions and read carefully.<span> </span>The first steps that you need to do when installing is download the Semiologic Google Analytics Plug-in.<span> </span>If this plug in does not work for you there are various plug-in downloads you can use, simply just do a Google search.<span> </span>From there, after the plug-in has downloaded, you need to then extract that plug-in from your .zip file (see image above).</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Next, you need to upload the plug-in to your /WP-contents/plugins/ folder.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Activate the plug-in by logging onto your WordPress.com blog and inserting it into your WordPress.com Administration panel.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After that, login to your Google Analytics page and add your WordPress.com blog into the Google Analytic.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">From there, a code will be generated for you, simply copy and paste this code snippet and go back to your WordPress.com Dashboard.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Once finished with that verify that the code has been added, by going back to your Google Analytics page.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">It may look hard and complicated, but follow the steps and ensure that you have everything saved, copied and pasted.<span> </span>Once you download your plug-in and add it into your blog, Google Analytics will instantly start tracking your traffic!</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">This is an excellent program and way for you to improve your site, and track and see what people are actually looking at when they come to your site. <span> </span>It can be a little bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you are sure to get the maximum experience of this program.<span> </span>Remember to use your resources, the internet, specifically Google is the easiest and quickest way to get help and find any information on Analytics you may need.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">If you find yourself having some unforeseen trouble with Google Analytics, go directly to the webpage, they have an extensive help page, that can give you step by step help, and ensure that your questions are answered.<span> </span>Get help from fellow Google Analytics users, these users may be able to explain things in a way you would better understand.<span> </span>Check out all of the message boards you can, to get the full idea, and help that you may be looking for.<span> </span>The Google Analytics Help Center will enable you to create a search for your help needs.<span> </span>Simply go to <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/" target="_blank">www.google.com/support/googleanalytics</a> either choose from a specific topic you are having trouble with, or type in a question or concern and hit search.<span> </span>It is as simple as this.<span> </span>Take time to learn before you jump on in; get the knowledge that you need.<span> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Google is an incredible search engine and we are lucky to have such a company that has created so many outlets to help us create, track, and profit.<span> </span>So take the time to learn and grow from this, be patient and know that in time everything will either iron itself out, or your will fix it yourself.<span> </span>Use your resources, be experimental and find out what essentially will work for you in the long run.<span> </span>Do not expect any successful results if you just build, and walk away.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Build it up slowly, and maintain and keep at it, you will be rewarded for your hard work, and dedication in the end.<span> </span>Read this article, write some notes, choose your keywords correctly and use your plugins and take advantage of every little free resource that Google Analytics has to offer!<span> </span>Once you sign up with Google Analytics and get set up you will immediately be able to track how visitors are finding your site, and how they are using your site, how to access your information access logs.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Once you receive your access logs you now know how to turn transfer them into Excel spreadsheets to maintain for your own personal records.<span> </span>Be sure to use all of the special features that Google Analytics has to offer, you can find tons more among the web, the few that were mentioned here, were just a simple few.<span> </span>Explore, and create, Google Analytics will do you a great world of good in the long run!</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Thanks for reading my guide about Analytics. Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-58181938907999090302009-02-25T02:14:00.005+07:002009-02-25T03:11:10.070+07:00Google Adsense guide for blogs<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdmfxHkQheyzCmGGW3XWhtp_nB0YC4Lxoia7hjsTSju-0TQn7rm4uZ4d7thk1jA2AL42fJnuTqDNNKWeIpiM7sdiLwLW0f9mRM52a4AGRJ0SkB65WUZjZLeH3D9RKhqAX42B6EZkdC4w/s200/timthumb.php1.png" alt="Google Adsense guide for blogs" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306444691618582082" border="0" /><p style="text-align: justify;">Finishing my <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-analytics-guide_25.html">guide about Google Analytics</a> I would now like to introduce you to Google Adsense. Perhaps you know Adsense already, it is an advertisement program which you can use to moneytize your block. It’s a CPC Ad program (sounds like rubbish eh - it means Cost per click). In other words you will get paid for every click on the advertisements on your blog.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Sounds easy and yes, it is very easy. The only thing you will need is a blog (you should have it by now) and an <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.google.com/adsense">Adsense account</a>. Once your Adsense account got verified make sure to check out the interface and get used to some options. The Ad program is relatively easy to use, however, to become an Adsense Guru you will need to know a little more. I dedicated some time to work on a complete guide for Adsensel. I splitted it into several parts, each of them about a different topic.</p><div style="text-align: justify;" class="fullpost"> <ol><li>My first post is about the <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/best-google-adsense-blog-positions_25.html">position of adsense units on you blog</a>.</li><li>The next guide will assist you on <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/best-google-adsense-colors.html">choosing the best ad colors</a>.</li><li>Next thing you will need are <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-use-adsense-channels.html">Adsense channels</a>.</li><li>You need to know whether you should use <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href=" http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-cpa-or-cpc.html">CPC or CPA Ads</a>.</li><li>And finally what the <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/best-ad-programs-for-blogs.html">best ad programs for blogs</a> are (other than Adsense).</li></ol> <p>So, go ahead, you got something to read. I have been working with Advertisements since 2007 now and still continue reading every day. Always remember, there is never the perfect solution, but there is a most suitable solution for your blog or website. You will need to test all advertisement programs to see which perform best for you. Depending on your website CPM advertisements might also be interesting for you. It is a very complex topic.</p> <p>I was starting with Adsense only and then combined it with other advertisement programs. On one of my websites I experienced that CPM Advertisements seem to perform best for me (not a blog, a forum). Since then I am working together with Adsdaq, Tribalfusion, Adsense and CPXinteractive. The combination of all of them is what gets me most :-). Nonetheless, before you start thinking about all those other ad programs, make sure to read my <strong>Google Adsense guide</strong> first!</p> <p>Let me know if you have any questions or need help!</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-58161182003780017892009-02-24T18:53:00.002+07:002009-02-25T05:36:32.518+07:00Adsense Revolution<p style="text-align: justify;">This is a series of articles about google’s advertising program adsense. At first I will write about why it changed the internet then how it changed the internet and lastly how you can improve your earnings. Make sure to read to the end :-).</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">In total I wrote 5 posts about adsense. Here is the list:</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-revolution.html">Adsense revolution</a></li><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-adsense-changed-internet.html">How Adsense changed the internet</a></li><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/getting-started-with-adsense.html">Getting started with Adsense</a></li><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/ways-to-improve-your-earnings-with.html">Improving your earnings with Google Adsense</a></li><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-success-story.html">Google Adsense success story</a></li></ol><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Adsense</strong> has been a <strong>revolution</strong> on its own in this web 2.0 era. It could get the credit for resurrection of the Internet after its bust in post Y2K scenario. Adsense has changed how the web functions pre-Adsense era. You can easily classify the Internet era into pre-Adsense and post-Adsense. During pre-Adsense era, you could make a living out from the Internet only by selling, products or ads, etc. But post-Adsense you can make a living out of anything if you have a decent and unique content.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">To start with Adsense all you need is some good quality content as said above and you can monetize that content by hosting it in a site (both self hosted or from free hosting) to earn money from it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">To explain more, before AdSense came into existence, there was only one form of advertising option available on the Internet, i.e. banner advertising where your ad will be displayed using an image. Eventually people have started to form banner blindness or ads blindnesss. Hence they tend to ignore such ads placed on websites without even looking at it, except on occasions or with some very impressive ads.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">This ad blindedness would have prompted Google to introduce Google AdSense, which is nothing but ads but involving only texts (but later they have even added banner ads). These text ads by Google initially was introduced only on their search results and eventually introduced to add to various websites and blogs. And this is when the actual revolution from AdSense started.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">AdSense slowly but steadily started to appear in many sites and although most of them were skeptical about its success, it broke all those and came out victorious. Now AdSense has started to creep into almost all sites across the net. The earning potential for the sites, which were nil before the introduction AdSense have started to creep up for various sites. After a while you could never see a site without AdSense Ads in it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">During this time, Web 2.0 came into being and blogs had become the buzzwords everywhere. Almost all blogs have started to place AdSense in them and this made individuals, and not only big or small firms, to earn money online easily and this has again started a new revolution in terms of making money online through AdSense. Many have started blogging on their own domain and some preferred to stick with free hosting from blogspot, etc.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">And this feature of monetizing money using blogs and other Web 2.0 tools had made the AdSense success story even sweeter. The AdSense alone combined with Web 2.0 tools like blogs made many individual entrepreneurs and some even quit their more lucrative high-paying jobs and business and started to concentrate on their blogs to earn money from it through AdSense alone. This shows the power of AdSense and how it changed the lives of many.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">It really was a dream run so far for Adsense except for a few minor hiccups here and there. This is how AdSense had created a silent revolution in the resurrection of the Internet again.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">So, finishing my article about adsene’s revolution I highly suggest you to continue reading my next article on <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-adsense-changed-internet.html">how adsense changed the web</a>.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-59503473118957288612009-02-24T17:58:00.003+07:002009-02-24T18:49:42.609+07:00Best Ad Programs for Blogs<div style="text-align: justify;"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-UIr1E-81lYnPO5tDBBNFH_zysS6nRLp7pgy4zi0unVi7axf3suyn0uTW2RQjjwCgDOJI4igGbK5E1myyDtRmSUF5n861RcUUJjxnixrh6n26DJURPXgcykHnExRzcrdS53wfWf1gL0g/s200/timthumb.php.jpg" alt="Best Ad Programs for Blogs" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306316856569957634" border="0" /></div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">What are the <strong>best ad programs</strong> to use when it comes to blogs?<span> </span>It is not as complicated as you might find it to be. Of course we have talked about adsense and the perks and the reliability it comes with, but what if you are not too keen on using the <strong>adsense</strong> program, what else can you turn to?</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span> </span><strong>Chitika</strong> is another excellent ad program for your new blog.<span> </span>Chitika targets the content of your blog page by displaying relevant advertising to your chosen blog topic.<span> </span>If your blog is about hip-hop music, or politics, Chitika will ensure that your page’s ads will coincide with your blog’s topic.<span> </span>This program is excellent, they send you payment every month, and it can be a great way to earn some money off of your page.<span> </span>But do not shun adsense out just yet; remember it is the leader in advertising and making a profit.<span> </span>Try testing both of them at various times.<span> </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Try adsense for exactly one month, and track and see what your profit comes out to at the end of your month.<span> </span>Then when the next month rolls around, try out Chitika, or any other ad program.<span> </span>Try to do what works well for you, remember that it is all about experimentation.<span> </span>Do a split test and figure out which ad program is going to make you a bigger profit.<span> </span>If you are not happy with either one of those, try asking fellow bloggers, and finding out what has worked for them and what has not worked for them.<span> </span>You might find a fellow blogger that is a bit more seasoned to the blogging world, take them up on some of their advice, and build yourself from there.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>Remember not to get discouraged if you are not making money right away, pick and choose, use programs on a trial basis and determine from there.<span> </span>There are hundreds of ad programs out there, and the two that were compared are among the leaders in the ad program world, the key is just to find what works for you, and how you utilize it.<span> </span>Figure out the INS and the OUTS to your chosen ad program; know how to work the system.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">You have received a ton of information regarding Google adsense and how it can help you, and how you can make some money.<span> </span>Everything you read online may make the process seem quick and painless, but getting out there and getting heard can be the hardest part in the blogging world.<span> </span>If you are working with Google Adsense use this program to your full advantage.<span> </span>Search for any tips that you can get, take the tutorials, ask for advice, and get help.<span> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">There are message boards for Google adsense all over the internet, take the time to look and get your answers and your knowledge.<span> </span>Be careful not to get in over head, and just dive into the pool before you know how to swim.<span> </span>We all would love to make money being our own boss and working from home using online advertising for our sites and out blogs.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>As long as you do your homework first, take your notes, and pass your tests you should eventually be at where you would like to be in the blogging and advertising world.<span> </span>Do not forget about your Google Adsense blog positions, your page’s color schemes, and weather or not to use either a CPC, or a CPA.<span> </span>Utilize your channels in every way possible to maximize and profit, and make sure you choose the right ad program for your blog. It does not come quick, so remember not to quit your full time job just yet!</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">So, here is a list of ad programs which you might want to take into consideration:</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Google Adsense</li><li>Adsdaq</li><li>Tribalfusion</li><li>Valueclick</li><li>Bidvertiser</li><li>Yahoo Publisher</li><li>Chitika</li><li>Azoogle</li><li>Zango Cash</li><li>Adbrite</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">I must say that I had most earnings with Google Adsense. There is no program that can keep up with the large pool of advertisers behind it. A very important factor for the amout onf clicks which you get is the relevancy of the ads. Nobody would click on real estate ads on a website about dogs… Almost all other ad programs do not have real targeted ads, resulting in lesser clicks and lesser money.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">If you don’t get a long with CPC programs where you get paid per click then I recommend you to test CPM programs. They pay you per thousand impressions. They are usually used for forums but might as well work relatively good with your blog. My favorite one is adsdaq. They have good support and a very easy to use ad-managing system. Everything for managing is made with ajax (lol, I love web 2.0ish ajax). If you like then you can set me as a referral (hendrik kleinwaechter). You can set the price of the every impression on your website, so you get at least the amount of money that you were looking for. You however won’t be able to fill the adspot completely, no problem, you can set google ads as alternate ads very quickly.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The <strong>best support</strong> undoubtedly has Tribalfusion. Really, you can call them, email them or IM them and you will get an answer within an hour. The account manager sets everything up for you! They are very helpful and I really appreciated that when I started working with them on one of my forums. They payouts weren’t that good.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">I also once tried Adbrite but made really bad experiences with them…. Earning 30$ a day with Adsense I got .50 $ with them. Was really disappointed and moved away from them.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Let me know if you need help with choosing a good advertising program for your blog. Just use the contact me form and I will be there for you :-).</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-80164374950062819052009-02-24T17:51:00.007+07:002009-02-25T03:22:27.741+07:00Adsense CPA or CPC?<p style="text-align: justify;">When it comes to your blog or your website and making money off of your page you want to shoot to maximize your possible profits by choosing an effective strategy.<span> </span>So when it comes to choosing either a CPC or a CPA the choice between the two can either make you or break you.<span> </span>Lets take a look at which one will actually help you in making a profit in the long hull.<span> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Currently Google AdSense is among the most popular and most desired cost per click program on the web.<span> </span>This method gives you more exposure for the keywords that you choose.<span> </span>They allow you to choose keywords that directly affect your page, and the amount of clicks that you receive is directly affected by the popularity of the keyword that you are using.<span> </span>Remember what we discussed about testing various color schemes for your ads?<span> </span>Well, testing various keywords for your site allows you to decide which keywords will work for you and which ones will do absolutely nothing for you.<span> </span>One of the best qualities of online advertising and pay per click campaigns is the fact that you can receive results immediately.<span> </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-eshKbrdW5kDirnNbuIjxXFvMg04-CdCgFrxQvUWBptHUHnIQdD2RDF6nZPjLkqjMEUwJ_mf6NJa4H8PaJWvu-qL71zV-sGg6syNEhtepb8YiW8f39f3XYKXsX_Jl4hPXOfzp0Lhtqo/s1600-h/cpc-advertisements-300x300.png"><img style="border: 1px solid grey; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" title="CPC advertisements" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-eshKbrdW5kDirnNbuIjxXFvMg04-CdCgFrxQvUWBptHUHnIQdD2RDF6nZPjLkqjMEUwJ_mf6NJa4H8PaJWvu-qL71zV-sGg6syNEhtepb8YiW8f39f3XYKXsX_Jl4hPXOfzp0Lhtqo/s320/cpc-advertisements-300x300.png" alt="How CPC advertising works" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306315258362788802" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">This is what you are aiming for, immediate results so you are able to determine what keywords are working for your page and which ones are just crashing and burning.<span> </span>The sooner you can pin point what is helping with the pay per click system and you keywords, the closer you are to making a profit.<span> </span>That is the goal here, isn’t it, making a quick profit, but ensuring that you quick profit will continue for a long period of time, so the sooner you figure out what works and the what doesn’t the better off you will be.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Now let’s turn our attention to CPA, or cost per action.<span> </span>Cost per action is used to draw people into an ad to make an actual sale of whatever is being offered.<span> </span>Instead of being paid for a simple keyword click, you are actually being paid for the end of a visitor’s action, weather they make a purchase, register or subscribe to a certain service or product.<span> </span>This can be considered to be a larger rick compared to the cost per click method.<span> </span>Your profit will be dependent on your website and the actual ads use of creativity.<span> </span>It may be rather chancy.<span> </span>Basically, what it comes down to is it is all about how much risk you are willing to take in this situation.<span> </span>Cost per action marketing is not as cut and dry as cost per click, so in the long run cost per click tends to be a better way to go.<span> </span>You get more freedom and more flexibility when it comes to the cost per click method.<span> </span>You get the immediate results that you are searching for will instantly help you see what you need to change and what you need to get rid of.<span> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When it comes to cost per action you are basically leaving it up to your visitor, and crossing your fingers that they will click an ad, and actually register or subscribe to the ad’s services.<span> </span>Be smart and think when it comes to all of this, again you want to try and keep your head above water, instead of drowning out. If you feel you are confident and knowledgeable and know what you need to do, and feel that cost per action is a better way to go that’s excellent there is nothing wrong with that, just make sure that you do your homework between the two before you actually put that specific plan into motion.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">I made relatively bad results with CPA. I must say that it also really depends on the niche. There are niches that have a higher conversion rates than others. For example if you run a website about a computer game then your audience mostly conists of kids which don’t have a lot of money, however in the dog niche for example, you have adults as visitors and they tend to buy products more often. Make sure you <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-use-adsense-channels.html">use adsense channels</a> for tracking the changes.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-85516244895673516792009-02-24T17:48:00.002+07:002009-02-24T18:49:16.231+07:00How to Use AdSense Channels<p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><strong>AdSense channels</strong> help you to fully understand how your site traffic is flowing and what methods are really working for your site’s revenue.<span> </span>Google uses its own free tracking feature by using channels.<span> </span>Take maximum advantage of this attribute.<span> </span>This feature shows you information about each of your channels, like ad impressions and what you are actually earning.<span> </span>This will essentially increase your profit for your various channels.<span> </span>There are two different types of channels that you can create using Google adsense.<span> </span>There are URL channels, and custom built channels.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>URL channels allow you to track the clicks you receive across all of your sites pages.<span> </span>Creating a channel for all of your sites is highly recommended for your sites success.<span> </span>Custom channels allow you to track the performance of specifically chosen ad units. These are chosen based on specific criteria you come up with and design.<span> </span>You can create this by posting a channel-specific ad code into your various pages.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>Custom channels help to track performance of various ad formats.<span> </span>When it comes to custom channels, it is all about being particular and being specific.<span> </span>This method of channel tracking tends to be a little bit more tricky and in depth. But Google adsense will make it easier for you by doing everything in a step by step format.<span> </span>Basically what you need to decide is which route you would like to go, if you are not very certain, or fairly new to this entire process it is recommended that you choose the URL method of adsense tracking.<span> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Again keep in mind to stay away from that headache route.<span> </span>Keep in mind though, that there is never too much information to obtain, the more information that you receive and track, the more in tune you will be to what you need to work on and what needs to be accomplished to receive and pull in more profit.<span> </span>If you know what do to, and which channels you need to track, then you are set.<span> </span>And if you run into any trouble at all, Google adsense can help you along with any sort of questions or concerns that you might have. However, be prepared, contacting them is usually a pain in the a**. You will have to wait at least a weak for an answer…</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">I am using URL channels and custom channels for my sites. I use the URL channel to track the earnings for the whole site and custom channels to track changes of the ad zones. I suggest you to combine both for best result.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-59420384224845549862009-02-24T17:46:00.003+07:002009-02-25T03:20:45.627+07:00Best Google AdSense Colors<p style="text-align: justify;">Your choices of colors for your ads are a big part of what will decide weather or not your visitors will click or not. Google already offers an exquisite color palette for you which are located in your administrative tools area. Utilize this to your full advantage of this tool! You can use this palette to tweak your ad look to match your website or blog, and essentially catch your visitors’ eye. Make sure that the border of your ad coincides with your blog’s background color, this will make your page look ten times cleaner, and will welcome your visitors to start clicking.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">You also want to make sure that you pick a background color for your ad that matches your page’s color. You want to make it look like your ad is actually part of your page, its part of your page’s web content;</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> this will capture your visitors’ attention. This process is all about sitting down and playing around with your colors and your color scheme. Its all about experimentation, pick and choose colors, and see them there, if you are not getting any ad clicks, play around with the color scheme again, it may take a bit of changes in color here and there to get the right scheme and the right feel for your site. You need to make sure that you choose colors that your visitors will respond to.</div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Once you find the right colors do not just let them sit there for weeks or months, this will enable your visitors to once again get bored with your ads, and you can and will lose regular visitors. Change it up every so often, find your own set of colors that work and try to create various sets, that way you can use a system of rotation between colors and ads. Now it is onto link color, people tend to think that the usual, everyday link color blue is a bland color, and they might try to change it up. Do yourself a simple favor, and keep things the way that they are. Blue is the best color when it comes to link color. It’s easy to associate the color blue to a link, because that is what visitors are used to looking for when they look for links. Keeping your blue link color also keeps your site from looking tacky or too flashy. Stick to what you know, and stick to what works.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Another thing to keep in mind and try to prevent is ad blindness. Ad blindness happens when you choose and display the exact same color palette for your ads that are in the same location. AdSense allows you to choose four different color schemes that can be rotated throughout your ads and your pages. Again, this is something you definitely want to take advantage of. You don’t want your ads to simply wash out because your visitors just look right over them as if they are not even there. When it comes to choosing your colors, be sure to choose your colors wisely, take all of this information, and use it, because it will help you in the long run. If you follow what works for you, and what colors work for your ads, and your blog page, then you will be doing yourself a huge favor, and saving yourself a headache.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">This is not something to go about doing the hard way, listen and read get all of the information and advice that you can use to keep yourself from getting in a world of pain and possibly debt. You are out to make money, and Google adsense helps you make money, choosing the right blend of colors for your site and your ads will enable you to make money in the long run. So will choosing weather or not you want to use the cost-per-click method, or the cost-per-action method?</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-57868279818996608102009-02-22T06:18:00.003+07:002009-02-24T15:58:42.573+07:00Blogging for Beginner Videos<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1B23VkM_728YUEOA5x1O-xrCG-hDr7nJu2padflZvXg9iAh97mIMRxVFxwITHLlml-5rE9QDzKg6Aztm0A0kd5zvmbsy6fBUZwMt3dtsob9b92YzQL6uiaL0vC_PpHepwXvgo-RRTJU/s1600-h/timthumb.php.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1B23VkM_728YUEOA5x1O-xrCG-hDr7nJu2padflZvXg9iAh97mIMRxVFxwITHLlml-5rE9QDzKg6Aztm0A0kd5zvmbsy6fBUZwMt3dtsob9b92YzQL6uiaL0vC_PpHepwXvgo-RRTJU/s200/timthumb.php.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305394561653785090" border="0" /></a><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">My friend Yaro Starak is getting ready to open the Blog Mastermind course again, and by doing so he just launched a site with several</span> <a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">how-to videos for beginners</span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. The cool thing is that he is not requiring registrations or email list signups in exchange for that. You just need to visit the site and start watching the videos (10 of them available right now).</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1615" style="border: 0pt none ;" title="blueprint medium" src="http://www.dailyblogtips.com/wp-content/uploads/blueprint-medium.jpg" alt="" width="160" align="right" border="0" height="215" /></a>For those of you that are also interested in joining the Blog Mastermind course, it is basically an intensive blog training that will lead you, step by step, from creating and setting up your blog to generating traffic and monetizing it. Yaro makes over $20,000 monthly with his blogs and courses, so he knows what he is talking about.I really recommend watching the free videos, and if you want to be as good as him then</span> <a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">sign up for the course</span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The course has already opened its doors for new students, and you can already download the free eBook that promotes it:</span> <a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Blog Profit Blueprints</span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can also read more</span> <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-tips-for-beginners.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Blogging for Beginner tips</span></span></a> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">here at c3v3n</span></p>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-16137294018765380752009-02-22T06:10:00.003+07:002009-02-22T06:17:40.697+07:00Introduction to Trackbacks<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" title="blogging4beginners" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305392201778471890" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em>This is part of my <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-for-beginners-series.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Blogging for Beginners</span></a> Series.</em></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Summary</strong>: TrackBacks automate the interlinking of blog posts, but often don’t contribute to search engine ranking. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> TrackBacks are notoriously difficult to explain and is an exercise that makes a great judge of the skill of any self-described ‘blogging expert.’ So here I go! </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You get comments right? Easy enough. You write a post on your blog. Someone reads it and thinks you’re either sliced bread or vile ooze and comments accordingly. Just like having a mini-guestbook for each post. </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> What if I want to leave a comment about your blog post on my blog? That’s where TrackBacks come in. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Let’s say I read something pretty fantastic on your blog and so I write up a post about on my blog: “Hey you gotta check this out, here’s a quote from it and here’s the link to it.” And I link to that particular post on your blog. And I click publish. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Unbeknownst to most, your blog platform - whether it is WordPress or Movable Type or TypePad, scans all the links in a post each time a post is published. It finds my link to your post and then goes out to your blog and checks to see if your post is accepting TrackBacks. If so, my blog sends a little ping! to your blog as if to say, ‘Hey! Andy’s talking about you over on his blog.’ and your blog answers the ping and says ‘Alright, I’ll make a note of it.’ And then your blog makes a little note on that particular post that in effect says, “Besides all these comments under this post, here’s someone talking about this post on their own site - and here’s the link to it.” </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">So readers of your blog can see not just what the commenters are saying about it on your blog - but what other bloggers are saying about. I’ve seen a post’s list of TrackBacks described as ‘Other blogs linking to this post.’ Many blog tools, like WordPress, lump comments and TrackBacks into the same list. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>You don’t have to know how TrackBacks work in order to use them</strong>, you can simply set a post to be able to receive trackbacks and set your blog to send them when you publish new posts. Your blog platform should do all the heavy lifting and email you when there are new TrackBacks - just like it does when there are new comments to a post. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">TrackBack was first created by Ben and Mena Trott during the early days of Movable Type and has gradually been integrated into the features of most popular blog platforms. A similar technology is pingbacks which has the added security of checking to see if the pinging site actually exists. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Of course like anything fun or cool online, the evil bastard spammers got busy funneling their sewage into automated TrackBacks pingbots that left everyone’s blogs with dainty messages about mortgages, online poker and Viagra. Most comment spam blockers are now configured to also scan TrackBacks to help stem the tide of spammy TrackBacks. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">One of the best parts about TrackBack is that it helped to increase your blog’s linked-ness and search engine ranking. With the introduction of the ‘no follow’ attribute, links in comments and TrackBacks are usually often not included in the calculation of your blog’s Google PageRank. I presume this applies to the other search engines as well. Still, the findability may not be in the search ranking - but links from other blogs is always a Good Thing. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>In TypePad:</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To enable TrackBacks by default in TypePad, go to Weblogs > (Your Blog) > Configure > Preferences > Comment and TrackBack Preferences: Check the checkbox ‘Hold comments and TrackBacks for approval.’ And set Default TrackBack Status set to ‘New posts accept TrackBacks.’ (for receiving TrackBacks) </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>In WordPress:</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To enable TrackBacks by default in WordPress ,go to Options > Discussion: Check the checkbox ‘Attempt to notify any Weblogs linked to from the article.’ (for sending TrackBacks) Check the check box ‘Allow link notifications from other Weblogs. (for receiving TrackBacks) </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>In Movable Type:</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">To enable TrackBacks by default in Movable Type, go to (Your Blog) > Configuration > Preferences > Publicity/Remote Interfaces/TrackBack: Check the checkbox ‘Allow TrackBack Pings On by Default.’ (for sending TrackBacks) Check the checkbox ‘Email New TrackBack Pings.’ Check the checkbox ‘Enable TrackBack Auto-Discovery.’ (for receiving TrackBacks) </span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-5036116634718206642009-02-22T05:57:00.006+07:002009-02-25T04:55:26.681+07:00Advertising Optimization - High Paying Ads<p style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" title="blogging4beginners" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="blogging4beginners" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305389139899376322" border="0" /></a><em>The last element of the mix to consider as you look to optimise your Advertising revenue on your blog is the actual amount that the ad will pay. </em></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There are many different advertising programs out there for bloggers - but most fall into three camps in terms of revenue. Firstly there is Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising, secondly Cost Per Impression (CPM - the M stands for the Roman numeral for one thousand and these ads are calculated on what you’re paid per one thousand impressions rather than per click) and thirdly there are programs that allow you to choose your own rates per time period (like BlogAds, Adbrite and private sponsorships). </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>CPM Ads</strong></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- When it comes to CPM advertising programs it is pretty difficult to have much impact upon the ad value being paid. A program like</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.fastclick.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Fastclick</span></a></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">does let you specify which ads run on your site (or rather it lets you block some of the campaigns that it offers) and thereby you do have some impact on the level of income on your blog - but the process is reasonably messy and in my experience not really worth messing with (the tailoring of campaigns that is). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> On the other hand the other two types of ads give you much more control over your ad values. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>Time Related Ads </strong></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- Obviously the ads you set the price on yourself is a matter of finding a price in the demand and supply spectrum that advertisers are willing to pay. This is not always easy and from my experience it can take a little time to hone in on the right figure to charge. For</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.blogads.com/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">BlogAds</span></a></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and Adbrite ads for instance I usually just come up with a price that is similar to what others seem to be charging in my niche (BlogAds lets you look at what others charge) and then adjust it up or down over time depending upon how many people buy ads. If no one is buying I reduce the price, if people are buying lots I increase it. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When it comes to private ads it gets more tricky. I always struggle to know what an ad is worth and generally try to enter into a conversation with the advertiser to sound out their budget before coming up with a price. Again it’s about negotiating and seeing what others are paying. Over time you’ll get more of an idea on how to set your prices. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>CPC Ads</strong></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- These ads are usually more of an art form in systems like AdSense, YPN and Chitika. Different ads pay different amounts - largely dependent upon the keywords that triggers that advertisement. For instance in an ad program like AdSense if you have a blog about financial related products, the ads that appear on it are likely to pay more than a blog that is on the topic of pencils. The reasons are pretty obvious really - advertisers are going to be less likely to pay big dollars for ‘pencil ads’ than they are for ones advertising financial products.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What follows are some tips on how to maximize the amount that AdSense and Chitika ads will pay per click (I suspect that YPN will be similar to AdSense). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Finding High Paying Ads in AdSense</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’m often asked (weekly) by readers what keywords they should target on AdSense to maximize their income. My answer is always the same - target keywords that you’re writing about - relevant ads will always pay much better than irrelevant high paying ads (simply because people won’t click irrelevant ads). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Having said this - it can be worth doing some investigating around keyword value in AdSense because there can be significant differences in payouts on very similar words. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Finding high paying AdSense words isn’t always an easy thing though. Do a search for Google on</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&q=high+paying+adsense+ads&btnG=Search"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">High Paying Adsense Ads</span></a></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and you won’t find too many sites listing the best keywords for Adsense. The top Adsense users in</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Adsense discussion forums</span></a></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tend to be pretty secretive about not only what keywords they focus on, but also what sites they run. I don’t blame them either - its good business sense really. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Having said this there are a number of strategies and tools that you might like to employ to help find high paying keywords. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>Buy them</strong></span> - <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Finding high paying keywords for your blog is possible by yourself for free - but as with everything a few entrepreneurial types are willing to do the leg work for you to save you some time and give you a comprehensive result. One service that you might like to try to find good keywords is </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.toppayingkeywords.com/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Top Paying Keywords</span></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.toppayingkeywords.com/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">.</span></a> I know of a number of OwnBlogger readers who use it although have never felt the need to use it myself. I’m much more into the next method.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>Trial and Error</strong></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- I know this will frustrate some of you who want a nice and easy quick fix but overall it is one of the best pieces of advice I can give. Try writing on a topic - track the results - if it pays off do it again….lots. Adsense allows you to track specific pages or sections of your blog using its ‘channels’ feature - if you’re smart you’ll watch which sections of your blog are generating the highest ads by dividing your overall earnings by the number of clicks and comparing it to other channels. Keep trying new topics until you strike gold and then dig in like crazy!</span></li><li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://7search.com/scripts/searchterms/top_paying.asp?n=100"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>7 Search</strong></span></a></span><strong> </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">has a list of the 100 of the top paying keywords (in their advertising program - not Adsense) at the moment. Its a bit depressing actually to see a list like this because you’d have to sell your soul somewhat in order to go with many of them. Its an interesting site to check out though.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>Also from 7 Search</strong></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">(and more useful) is their</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/login.aspx?msgid=1&nextpage=http%3a%2f%2fconversion.7search.com%2fscripts%2fadvertisertools%2fkeywordsuggestion.aspx"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Keyword Suggestion Tool</span></a></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">which gives you an idea of what people are paying per click on different tools (again this is not specifically for Adsense but it will give you an idea of what the going rates are).</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><strong>Overture</strong> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">offers a </span><a href="http://www.pixelfast.com/overture/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">service</span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">where you can enter your keywords and they will not only tell you how much advertisers are paying for the words but also how many people are searching for the term. This is a very useful tool that I use a lot to check keyword values. You do need to remember that the results you get with them are not for AdSense but another ad system and that they are what advertisers are willing to pay for words - and not what publishers get (ie the middle man always takes a cut). I do find it useful to compare keywords though.</span></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Sign up for </span></strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://adwords.google.com/select/Login"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>Adwords</strong></span></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong> </strong></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- One way of getting a feel for how much people are willing to pay per click is to sign up with Google as an advertiser yourself. It doesn’t cost much to start a mini campaign and do some research this way. You’ll get a feel for what people are bidding on different words very quickly this way.</span></li><li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.wordtracker.com/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Word Tracker</span></a></span> </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">is a good tool to help find keywords that people are searching for in the major search engines. The excellent thing about Word Tracker is that they also tell you how many other sites out there are targeting the same words. This is very handy as it will stop you targeting ‘Britney Spears’ as a Keyword phrase even though its one of the most searched for keywords on the web because literally hundreds of thousands of other sites have beaten you to the punch. Word Tracker has a free version to trial it.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Finding High Paying Ads for Chitika eMiniMalls</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Probably the best advice that I can give with choosing the right keywords for your Chitika eMiniMall ads is to use trial and error and to track your experiments. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ideally you’ll want to target keywords that are relevant to your content as much as possible (relevancy is crucial with these ads) but having said that if you want to go after higher paying ads I’d suggest setting up a channel for your test and to choose a keyword to test over a day or two and to run it exclusively on that channel (ie don’t rotate words). You’ll see very quickly (in that days statistics) by monitoring that channel what the keyword is paying. The next day try another word and see how it goes. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> In this way you can not only track how much words are paying but also what kind of Click Through Rate the ads are getting. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’ve also heard a number of bloggers say that if you search the ‘best selling buys’ in the different categories of these online stores that you will find higher paying ads. I’m not sure if this is the case - but there is some sense in this. In any case with the coming of channels we’ll soon know what type of keywords trigger what level of click values. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Ad Value isn’t everything</span></strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong></strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I want to finish by re-emphasising that with CPC ads that high paying ads are not everything. In fact you can have VERY high paying ads and not earn a cent if your ads are irrelevant and are poorly positioned and designed. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> To maximise your ad performance you need to bring together all of the elements covered in this series - </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Traffic</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Ad Position</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Ad Design</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Ad Relevancy</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and High Paying Ads. Become obsessed by any one of them and your overall earnings will suffer.</span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-59784288890711384132009-02-22T05:34:00.009+07:002009-02-25T04:52:52.868+07:00Adsense Optimization - Ad Relevancy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305383152155931586" border="0" /></a><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This is part of my series: </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Adsense Optimization</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and this post is a follow-up on</span> <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Adsense Optimization - Ad Design</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If you like this post, then I suggest taking a look on </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Adsense Traffic Optimization</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> and </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Finding High Paying Ads</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Also in the coming days you will see how to fine tune your blog for christmas.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">The importance of relevancy </span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">AdSense is a ‘contextual advertising’ program and when it is working at its best it is highly effective because it serves up ads that are highly relevant to the content on your site - this results (ideally) in a higher CTR (click through rate) (the way I describe it to friends is that if people come to your site looking for information on a particular product they are more likely to click an ad for that product than if they’d come looking for something else that is unrelated to the ad). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="fullpost"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The problem is that AdSense doesn’t always get it right when assessing what your content is about and it will from time to time serve up irrelevant ads (although I’ve noticed less problems with this over the past 12 months in comparison to when I started out with AdSense). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> There are a number of things you can do to increase the relevancy of your AdSense ads: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Section Targeting </span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">AdSense acknowledge the problem of irrelevant ads and have come up with a way of helping their ‘bots’ determine what parts of your site you want the ads to relate to (section targeting). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In short - section targeting allows you to put code around the most important parts of your page (ie the bits that you want the ads to relate to) and also allows you to put code around parts of your page that you don’t want AdSense to consider when serving up ads. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When I use section targeting on a blog page I generally put the code that highlights the important bits from just before my post titles to the end of posts. I also tell the bots to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ignore my sidebars and footers.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23168"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">More on Section Targeting here.</span></a></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Metatags</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">These ‘tags’ are a part of your page’s source code (the code that you don’t see that is the backend of your page. You can view them by using the menus in your web browser (on Firefox go View > Page Source for example). They are generally at the top of your source code with something like: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="codeview"><meta name=”keywords” content=”page keywords”><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><meta name=”description” content=”page”></div><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">While many people debate the relevancy of metatags in modern day search engine optimization (I think it does have some - limited - relevance personally), there is some evidence to suggest that what you have in them has an impact upon the AdSense ads that are served to your site. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">At the very least put in some generic keywords and a description that fits with the overall theme of your site. However if you want to get a little more technical there try tying your page title into your metatags. You can do this in some blog platforms by using the ‘title tags’ code or by using a plugin designed for manage your metatags. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Keywords</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The main way of influencing the ads that AdSense serves to your blog is to think about the words you use on your blog. AdSense is not very good at reading between the lines of what your post is about - it needs to be explicitly told. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If your post is about digital cameras - use the words ‘digital cameras’ (and other associated with it including product names) throughout your posts. You don’t need to do it to the point of annoying your readers but do attempt to make it the dominant words on the page. Particularly pay attention to:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"> Content</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It almost goes without saying but what you write in the main part of your post has an impact upon your ads. Don’t go over the top but use descriptive keywords in your posts that match the type of ads you’re looking for. Product names, brand names are particularly good.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"> Titles</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Post titles are important for search engine optimization as the search engines assume that what you put in your titles tells your readers what your site is about. Similarly they are important for AdSense.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"> Sidebars</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A common reason for irrelevant ads on blogs is that a blogger has a sidebar which has a high keyword density for an irrelevant term in their sidebar. One prominent example of this 12 or so months ago was that many bloggers had ads about ‘blogging’ appear on their sites even though they never wrote about the topic. Often this was a result of sidebars having ‘blog rolls’, introductory sentences telling people they were reading a ‘blog’, links to other blogs that contained the word ‘blog - etc. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Pictures</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I’m not completely certain on this one - but it makes sense that if you are using pictures on your blog that you should name them with keywords that relate to your posts. This helps with SEO and I suspect would help with AdSense as it’s yet another word for the AdSense bots to analyze. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When I’ve done AdSense consulting in the past - one of the first things I’ll do when I come across a new page is check the source code of that page. It’s amazing what you’ll find when you do and it is particularly useful when looking at keywords. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Contact AdSense </span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If you’ve done all of the above and are still getting irrelevant ads served to your blog - consider shooting AdSense an email asking them to look into it. You might find it takes a little time for them to do it but I know of numerous examples of both big and small bloggers getting some results from this either with suggestions on what to do or with them flipping a switch somewhere at AdSense central that fixed the problem. </span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-8075391822063977312009-02-22T05:24:00.006+07:002009-02-25T04:38:05.942+07:00Newby blogging guide<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRiSj8OBBk6BIyY6srVb7POAweuPvN66cw0tW5sI3_xoRxBOi-4UseCC9CIor3mPdGrGxD_YL1LLUCLqBnPbu8C5NUorGHxmoaGoKFArsbPrFHq38XKZSEusmDUGZhN8Y2etlwuqGl7Y/s200/timthumb.php.jpg" alt="Noob blogging guide" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305380551941102114" border="0" /><p style="text-align: justify;">You love to write, it’s something you have always been good at, and you think to yourself, why not try and write for a living?<span> </span>Seems easy huh?<span> </span>I am gonna comment on that in this guide which is really helpful for every <strong>blogging noob</strong> (newby). Perhaps a bit too easy, writing for money and making a living from writing is not an easy task, it takes incredible patience and hard work to finally get to making money.<span> </span>You have decided to start out small, with a blog maybe, you have heard it is quite possible to earn a living from your very own blog, so you start there.<span> </span>But what exactly is a blog?<span> </span>How do you choose the right topic to blog about and where is the best place to post it?<span> </span>All good points and thoughts to think about before you dive into the blogging world.</p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">There are numerous definitions on what a blog actually is.<span> </span>Before you decide you want to start a blog in hopes of making a profit, you need to actually figure out, and understand what a blog is, and the purpose blogs serve.<span> </span>When we think of the term “blog” our thoughts usually go straight to <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.myspace.com/" target="_blank">Myspace.com</a> or <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook.com</a>.<span> </span>Sites like these enable people to open themselves up through an online diary.<span> </span>That’s what a blog typically is, an online space for us to post our thoughts and our ideas.<span> </span>But as time has gone by, the spectrum for the purpose of a blog has widened quite a bit, people now use blogs to spread their word, for a cause, an event, politics, music, anything!<span> </span>A blog is a website used to write your thoughts, or causes on a daily basis.<span> </span>So now that we have our definition taken care of, how about we move on to choosing an actually topic for<span> </span>your blog.<span> </span>Choosing the right topic for your blog is the very first step towards making a profit from your work.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">If your core purpose to starting your own blog is to make a profit, and eventually work to the point of making a living, then you need to choose a topic that people can’t stop reading about.<span> </span>Chances are you are not going to make money from you blog right away; it tends to take months to a year to finally being able to come out on top, so remember to be patient.<span> </span>You may think that you have some profound thoughts and feelings inside of you, and you probably do, but not everyone wants to read about someone’s thoughts and feelings.<span> </span>The key to choosing the right blog topic is choosing something that people want to read about.<span> </span>While writing about what people want to read about is important, and essential, so is writing about what you’re passionate about.<span> </span>If you are not writing about a topic that completely knocks your socks off, really gets you pumped then the interest in writing your blog on a daily basis will die very quickly.<span> </span>Brainstorm first, sit down and write out some ideas, choose topics you know a lot of information about.<span> </span>Writing about what you already know will save you tons of research time, which will allow you to write more quality work.<span> </span>Remember to make sure that the topic you choose has plenty of information to write about, you do not want to stop your blogging after four or five entries because you ran out of subtopics within your topic to writing about.<span> </span>Now, you have got a topic, and you are completely pumped and ready to, but where do you go?</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">You are feeling pretty confident now, you’ve got your blog topic, you’ve got tons of ideas for your topic, now you just need to place to post your blog, and get your word heard.<span> </span>Now, if you are looking to make money, posting your blog in any free space available might not be the best idea.<span> </span>You need to choose a site that will enable you to post, receive good reader traffic, and eventually make some money.<span> </span>Keep in mind this will not happen overnight, patience is imperative in this case.<span> </span>There are hundreds of online sites specifically for blog posting.<span> </span>You’ve got <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress.com</a>, <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">Blogger.com</a>, and <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Squarespace.com</a> just to name a few among many.<span> </span>You can choose to write anywhere you like, but choose a site that you know people flock to, and visit frequently; this is where CPC (cost per click) will come into play.<span> </span>Choose wisely, choose somewhere that receives a good amount of traffic, the more traffic to your blog you can get, the more money you can eventually earn from <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-adsense-guide-for-blogs_25.html" target="_blank">adsense</a> clicks.<span> </span>Make your blog appealing to the eye; make it catchy, not flashy.<span> </span>Most blogging websites you encounter will already have pre-made templates for those of us who are not too web savvy.<span> </span>Choose a design that fits your style, and your blog’s style.<span> </span>This will get your readers’ attention, this will pull them in.<span> </span>Now that you are set up, you’ve got a little bit of traffic coming in; let’s talk about promotion, getting word of your blog, out there.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">You are not going to get very far if no one comes to read your blog.<span> </span>Keep in mind this process does take a bit of time, and it takes some hard work.<span> They key to gaining traffic is analysis. You need to analyze where you are getting your visitors from. A tool I recommend you to use to <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-analytics-guide_25.html">analyze your traffic</a> is google Analytics.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">A great way to promote your blog is reading fellow writers’ blogs.<span> </span>Reading and leaving comments and providing a link to your personal blog will help you get some traffic, get your word and your work out there.<span> </span>Usually when one writer receives recognition for their work, even in the form of something simple such as a comment, they tend to want to return the favor, and will most likely do the same for you.<span> </span>Make sure your blog has a high level of quality, you can write three or four blog posts a day, in a snap, but does that necessarily mean that they will be wroth reading?<span> </span>If you can try and combine those three or four posts into one detailed, flowing post, you would probably have a better shot at getting some much needed recognition.<span> </span>The main key to success in the blogging world is having good quality work, if you’ve got good content, then you’ve got a good shot at some recognition.<span> </span>Now that you are set up, good posting site, good quality work, let’s discuss pulling in some more money in the form of <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-cpa-or-cpc.html">advertisement, CPC, and CPA</a>.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Now that you are getting much needed traffic, now it is time to turn that traffic into profit by CPC, or cost per click.<span> </span>CPC is a form of advertisement that pays you when someone clicks on your blog.<span> </span>Look into selling advertisement space on your blog.<span> </span>This is a great way to make profit because you can set your advertisement rate, and choose from the best offers that you may receive.<span> </span>But try to keep in mind that if you set your rate too high, you might not get any offers at all, so it is important to play around with some numbers and meet in the middle, not too low, but not too high.<span> </span>CPA is cost per action, which pays you when someone downloads something from an offered ad, or subscribes to an offered service.<span> </span>All of these aspects can make you or break you; it’s all about picking the right strategy that works for you and works for an advertising company offering you money.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">I wrote an article about <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-adsense-guide-for-blogs_25.html">how to use google adsense</a>. If you are new to the blogging business then Google Adsense is a good tip to get started with advertising. Setting the account up is very easy and you will see relatively good earnings with only little effort. They pay out a lot compared to other advertising networks. Read my guide and you will know why, in a way <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-revolution.html">adsense revolutionized the internet</a>.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Blogging can be a lot of fun, and if writing is something you enjoy and something you would like to make a career out of, you need to work hard at it.<span> </span>Remember, this will not happen overnight, so don’t quit your day job just yet.<span> </span>Market your blog strategically, keep the quality of your blog high and consistent, do not write and excellent blog one day, and get lazy and post something that can be looked over the other day.<span> </span>Advertise, and promote, sell your blog, sell your available space.<span> </span>Be patient, be consistent, the money will come soon, just wait and see!</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">I am in this business for more than 2 years now and must tell you, there is a lot which you need to know.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-73730931658865067882009-02-21T17:57:00.010+07:002009-02-25T04:47:03.566+07:00Blogging for Beginners - the series<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Welcome to my <strong>Blogging Tips for Beginners</strong> Guide. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On the page below you’ll find links to a series of <strong>blog tips</strong> that I’ve written with blogging for beginners (and ‘Pre’ Bloggers) in mind. It unpacks the basics of blogging and a lot of the decisions and strategies that you’ll want to consider when setting up and starting a blog. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">3 More Excellent Resources on Blogging for Beginners</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Also - if you are looking for so<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">me more personalized help in starting and running a blog I highly recommend that you check out these resources by a blogger that I respect - Yaro Starak:</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com/">Blog Mastermind Blog Mentoring Program</a></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- one of the best coaching and training course going around on blogging.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com/">Become a Blogger Videos</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- a free series of videos that talks new bloggers through how to set up a blog. Easy to understand and best of all, free.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com/">Blog Profits Blueprint</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- a free rep</span>ort on how to build profitable blogs.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Lastly- if you enjoy these posts and want to keep in touch with c3v3n - sub<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">scribe via my</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/C3v3n">RSS feed</a></span></p><div class="fullpost"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Blogging Tips for Beginners</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Introductory Posts</span></strong></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-blog.html">What is a Blog?</a></span><br /></span></li><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/noob-blogging-guide.html">Noob Blogging Guide</a> - by Hendrik</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Blog Design Tips</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/choosing-good-blog-design.html">Choosing a Good Blog Design</a></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Tips for Writing Content for Blogs</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-write-your-me-page.html">How to Write an “About Me” page</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/writing-blog-content-make-it-scannable.html">Scannable Content</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/writing-good-content-unique-and.html">Writing Good Content (Unique and Original)</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-long-should-blog-post-be.html">How Long Should a Blog Post Be?</a></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span> </span></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tips on Making Money from Blogs</span></strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-adsense-optimization-ad.html">Introduction to AdSense Optimization: Ad Position</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html">Adsense Optimization: Ad Design</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html">Adsense Optimization: Traffic</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html">Adsense Optimization: Ad Relevancy</a></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html">Adsense Optimization: High Paying Ads</a></span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Blog Networks</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><a href="http://www.b5media.com/" target="_blank">b5Media</a></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Other Beginner Blogging Tips</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-to-trackbacks.html">Introduction to Trackbacks</a></span></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-for-beginner-videos.html">Blogging for Beginner Videos</a></span></span></span></li></ul></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-78335130097222775972009-02-21T17:54:00.015+07:002009-02-25T04:43:55.257+07:00Introduction to Adsense Optimization - Ad position<div style="text-align: justify;"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 106px;" class="size-medium wp-image-369 alignleft" title="blogging4beginners" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="Introduction to Adsense Optimization - Ad position" /> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This is an introduction post to my series: Adsense Optimization. More on this will be coming the next weeks. If you liked this post be sure to check out what I’ve writting about <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-design_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>optimizing ad design</span></span></span></a>, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-traffic_25.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>how to optimize adsense traffic</span></span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span>, <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/advertising-optimization-high-paying.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>Finding High Paying Ads</span></span></span></a> and</span> </span><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/adsense-optimization-ad-relevancy.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span>AdSense Relevancy.</span></span></span></a><br /></span></em></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Perhaps the most common mistake I see when I enter a blog or a site are the advertisement positions. In fact this is not a unique thing for blogs or even just online advertising as effective advertising relies upon positioning in all of it’s forms. This is why ads at Prime Time on TV, in the front pages of magazines and on the big billboards at busy intersections are in high demand. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The theory is pretty simple (and logical) really - if you increase the number of people who see an ad you increase it’s chances of making renvenue for you (note that position isn’t the only factor, as we’ll explore later).</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="fullpost"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A good question to ask yourself as you consider ad placement on your blog is ‘where are people looking?’ Some of the factors to keep in mind when answering this question include:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Above the ‘fold’</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When you look at the front page of OwnBlogger you will notice that only part of the page is showing. This is because I have more content than can fit on the screen (unless you have a massive screen of course). The only way you can see everything on the page is to scroll down.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If you were to draw an imaginary line across Ownblogger’s front page at the point where you had to start scrolling this line is known in web circles as ‘the fold’.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Research shows us that elements of a website below the fold are seen by significantly less readers than elements above the fold. Of course it doesn’t take a genius to realise that in general (and there are some exceptions which I’ll outline below) this will mean a lower conversion for your ads.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Content</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The content of your blog is hopefully the place where most of your readers are drawn to (if it’s not you might have a problem). This is the case whether your content is text, video or image and as a result one of the best converting positions on a blog in terms of advertising is within or close to content.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Different bloggers have different opinions on both on firstly whether ads <strong>should</strong> be put near content (that’s a debate for another post) as well as what is the best method to do so - but in general there are a number of fairly common ways that it is done. Let me outline a few:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Between Posts</strong> - perhaps one of the most common ad placements running on commercial blogs at present is to place a rectangle or small banner ad between posts when running ads on the front page and/or category pages.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHz9bMdpyNP0AWpj-9gyXY-gzCzZm6potL-kv3B1CqMsTyBzmv_tw_pDScinThnUKaBq1AGKPyOoigdjV1s-JokXdKS9ZRSH1Z1tb4CXK0tAHP2q_uriY_XmiB93a8gWIRNcrTWduW9W8/s320/blogtimize-775540-1-300x234.jpg" alt="Introduction to Adsense Optimization - Ad position" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305218798925795858" border="0" /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Before Content</strong> - Placing an ad unit slightly above a post can be an effective placement, especially if using an ad with a smaller height. 468 x 60 pixel ads are one such ad, as are the horizontal ad link units from Adsense which often are placed across the top of a blog just above a post’s title. My own experience is that ads above content are not quite as effective as ads IN content (see below) - but they are generally less intrusive than IN content ads.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>In Content </strong>- There is some debate around this method of ad placement but in my experience it is by far the most effective in terms of Click Through Rate.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">While readers do scan content - their eyes are generally in it’s vicinity and to have ads in this position means they naturally see it and if the ads are relevant to the content itself they are much more likely to click. </span></em></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Comments</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Another hotspot on many blogs is in the vicinity of the comments section. There are a number of reasons for this position converting well. For starters, comments are at the end of a post and at a point where a certain percentage of your readers are looking for something else to do. They’ve consumed your content and will either be looking for more of the same or wanting to take some action as a result of what they’ve read. As a result - an ad that is contextually relevant is sometimes quite clickable. The other reason ads near comments do well is because they are a place that draws the eye of your reader. The discussion that happens on a post can be just as valuable to readers as the post itself and so they become hotspots.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiFbAMn54spy6YJhDWUn-e9nmmYubCSDodqMEouI_QVm789Bf-quQRtbQLVTwa5sG5K13lPuX375sti6y8MQH_-UTYswTvzbQ4NqLKhuZ1ak3C59VQC31QhJdZDXvNOWzXtcjKagHQj6w/s1600-h/picture208-tm.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 248px;" title="adsense layout" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiFbAMn54spy6YJhDWUn-e9nmmYubCSDodqMEouI_QVm789Bf-quQRtbQLVTwa5sG5K13lPuX375sti6y8MQH_-UTYswTvzbQ4NqLKhuZ1ak3C59VQC31QhJdZDXvNOWzXtcjKagHQj6w/s320/picture208-tm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305219697730211298" border="0" /></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Images</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A strategy that some bloggers use is to draw the eye of their readers towards their ads by using images or other visual aids. While there are many poor examples out there of people doing this (many of which break the Terms of Service of programs like AdSense in my opinion).</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ahvlsx8J8vyhxheAtiTSi2pPXbTssgEYbNYm-WzLN_7p606S2IVkfPYkrxMNeMhgcRxmE6Ld1Hq15CM0lxT3h3VCXbE6Pz-aidUKmE7AEbL79qN7EKLVFWl4LzDBrgD2JsJBZ2qtYMY/s1600-h/adsense-2-1-1.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 205px;" title="adsense layout" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ahvlsx8J8vyhxheAtiTSi2pPXbTssgEYbNYm-WzLN_7p606S2IVkfPYkrxMNeMhgcRxmE6Ld1Hq15CM0lxT3h3VCXbE6Pz-aidUKmE7AEbL79qN7EKLVFWl4LzDBrgD2JsJBZ2qtYMY/s320/adsense-2-1-1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305219990609494898" border="0" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Left hand side</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When I first started experimenting with ads the advice I was given was that ads on the right hand side of a page did best because people looked over there to use the scroll bar. In more recent times the research and expert opinion on the matter is that the left hand side is best. Perhaps this is because those of us from countries which read from left to right are wired to look left when viewing a page - or perhaps there is some other reason - but from my own experience in tracking ads - it does seem to be true.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">AdSense published the following ‘heat map’ to illustrate where they found ‘hot spots’ to be on web pages. As you’ll see - ads positioned to the left tend to do better than those on the right.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhgSo67hQogyeEc0du5isNKtbhAZf7Ynbl_UIX3fHYS5H7C8ypSwO-RQbqMAyCVzxZQIc4LH9uMbNDeK-VQe4uIguciOa05Bz3e7xVkv8q9F4TDPh-6_x7HMXXhsDqaMr11AhBi8N7FM/s1600-h/placement.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 285px;" title="adsense placement" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhgSo67hQogyeEc0du5isNKtbhAZf7Ynbl_UIX3fHYS5H7C8ypSwO-RQbqMAyCVzxZQIc4LH9uMbNDeK-VQe4uIguciOa05Bz3e7xVkv8q9F4TDPh-6_x7HMXXhsDqaMr11AhBi8N7FM/s320/placement.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305220292441270994" border="0" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Of course there are many other things to consider when working on the placement of ads.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What are your experiences with this?</span></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Next in this series we’ll examine the topic of <strong>Ad Design.</strong></span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-39511658939635484462009-02-21T17:31:00.006+07:002009-02-21T18:12:49.074+07:00How Long Should a Blog Post Be?<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.duoblogger.com/">by duoblogger</a><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLt7JIxby0teVnS1g_NjZRHDaKFshlIXRquWpYNN9kQLzRgiNCI7XK1U42VAEmhOJt3sOVv3yVz6dsRw7GS2M0f4MCpVC4eN5yTXQ4RkSgmi6qGsrPCvDK1OWPAHWE3yyJ6t76lPu2kQ/s200/timthumb.php.jpg" alt="How Long Should a Blog Post Be?" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305200267151236402" border="0" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We might as well continue exploring the topic of writing good content (from my</span> <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-for-beginners-series.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">series of posts for Beginners</span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) with a topic that has been debated by bloggers rather hotly over the years, the length of the optimum post. There are a number of ways of looking at it: </span></p><div class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Reader Attention Span</strong> - It is pretty well documented that the typical web reader has a short attention span when it comes to reading content online. As a result many web-masters purposely keep their content length down to a level that is readable in short grabs, which means the first paragraph of a story should express where you are going with the post. (Read more</span> <a href="http://www.livingroom.org.au/blog/archives/blog_statistics_length_of_stay.php"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">here</span></span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)<br /></span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>SEO</strong> - There are strong opinions from those who call themselves experts in Search Engine Optimization that both extremely short and extremely long web pages are not ranked as highly as pages that are of a reasonable length. Of course no one really knows how many words are ideal - but the general opinion seems to be that a page of at least 250 words are probably a reasonable length. Similarly, many advise keeping pages under 1000 words.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Quantity of Posts</strong> - One theory that goes around is that shorter posts allow you to write more posts and that more posts are better for generating readership with RSS and in Search Engines. While I don’t know their strategy personally, some believe this is what sites like</span> <a href="http://www.engadget.com/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Engadget</span></span></a> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and</span> <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Gizmodo</span></span></a> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">do with their high number of short posts which make up the majority of their content.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Topic/Genre </strong>- The type of post that you’re writing will often determine it’s length. For example when writing a review of a product you’ll generally write a longer post than when you write a news related post where you link to something someone else has written.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Comprehensive Coverage of the Topic </strong>- Ultimately this has to be the main reason that bloggers go with. I can’t remember who advised this but at some point in the last year I read someone saying that you should write enough to comprehensively cover your topic and then stop. Long posts for the sake of them are not a wise move - but so are short ones that don’t cover the topic well.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> In the end you need to find your own way on this. Here at OwnBlogger I tend to mix it up a fair bit. I try to write at least one longer post per 2 to 3 days that gives readers a bit of meat to chew on (whether it be a tips post, a review post, a rant etc). </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em>How long are your posts on average?</em></span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-52049746319066174402009-02-21T16:56:00.004+07:002009-02-25T19:04:46.260+07:00Writing Good Content (Unique and Original)<a href="http://www.problogger.net/">by problogger</a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://www.problogger.net/wp-content/blogging4beginners.jpg" vspace="10" width="144" align="left" border="0" height="106" hspace="10" />I’d now like to swing the <a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-for-beginners-series.html">blogging for beginners series</a> onto the topic of writing content with a series of posts exploring different elements of quality content. By the way - Peter mentioned in the <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/17/blog-design-for-beginners/" target="_blank">last post in this series</a> that his part 2 piece on blog design would be posted today - unfortunately he’s been unwell and the post will be delayed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">List after list have been compiled by bloggers on the things that make blogs successful - but on every one that I’ve ever seen has been a statement about content being the ultimate key. ‘Content is King’ is a catch cry that has echoed through the blogosphere for years and while at times I think it’s been used to the point of ignoring other aspects of what makes a successful blog - it really is what a good blog boils down to. </p><div style="text-align: justify;" class="fullpost"> <p> <strong>What is Good Content?</strong> </p> <p>Ultimately defining what is ‘good content’ is a subjective exercise (perhaps in a similar way to defining what is a ‘good book’ or a ‘good movie’) and so a post like this one is likely to cause a little debate as each person will define it differently depending upon their personality, their needs, the topic that they are talking about and perhaps even their ethics. Not only will bloggers themselves each have a different view on what is ‘good’ content - but readers tend to also. I know that every time I ask for feedback on ProBlogger and what I write more about I get a real spectrum of responses. </p> <p>Future posts in this series is an attempt to unpack some of the elements of content that might go towards making it good - or not. At most points along the way there will be debate but hopefully out of it readers will be able to mix and match the elements and identify what works for them.</p> <p>So without any more introductory remarks, lets get into it with the first element of writing quality content: </p> <p> <strong>Usefulness and Uniqueness </strong>- As this post is a part of a series of posts that get back to the <strong>basics</strong> of blogging and so I will start unpacking the topic of ‘writing good content’ with perhaps the most basic and obvious point of all: </p> <p> <strong>‘for a blog to be successful your content needs to be useful and unique to your readers’</strong> </p> <p>As I say - it’s not rocket science but it’s a factor that I think bloggers need to continually be asking themselves about as they review their blogging. Is your blog useful? </p> <p>Back in the days when I studied marketing I remember sitting in lecture after lecture getting more and more frustrated as I heard my lecturers drum into us the same thing time after time. Although they said it in different ways, the lessons that they communicated was largely the same in every instance and boiled down to this:<span id="more-2208"></span> </p> <p> <strong>‘Start with the customer - find out what they want and give it to them.’</strong> </p> <p> This is a good lesson for bloggers also. </p> <p> While I would also recommend that you start with yourself as a blogger and blog out of your own passions, experiences and knowledge - it is essential that you are aware of your reader and that you create content that will add something to their lives. Give them something useful. </p> <p> <strong>What is ‘useful’ content?</strong> </p> <p> Of course ‘useful content’ to me is different from what it is to you, but could be any of the following: </p> <p> - <strong>Entertainment</strong> - increasingly blogs are being used as entertainment. People are going to them for laughs, for gossip and for fun conversation.<br />- <strong>Education</strong> - some blog readers are primarily interested in learning something about a given topic.<br />- <strong>Information</strong> - many successful blogs are built on the thirst that some have to be informed on an issue, product or topic<br />- <strong>Debate</strong> - some blog readers want a place that they can have a good old fashioned dialogue, debate or even a fight over an issue<br />- <strong>News</strong> - many blog readers just want to be kept up to date in a field<br />- <strong>Community</strong> - I’m aware of some very successful blogs that tap into the need that people have to connect and belong. Quite often the topic is secondary to these connections. </p> <p>This list could of course be a lot longer (feel free to add to it in comments). Each blog has the potential to be ‘useful’ in a different way and it would probably be unwise to start a blog that tried to be all of these things at once (although many blogs do do a variety of these things at once). </p> <p> <strong>Research your Readership</strong> </p> <p>Perhaps the best advice that I could give on developing useful content is to research your readership (or potential readership). If you already have a blog do this by surveying your readers (either formally or informally) or by asking for feedback. I regularly seek out the opinion of my blog readers to find out what their needs and desires are in the topic I’m talking about. If you don’t have a blog already then you’ll need to work a little harder to research your potential readers. I tend to survey friends, look a lot at other people’s blogs on a topic (especially their comments section to see what types of questions people are asking) and particularly look hard in forums and discussion groups on topics where there is usually a lot of question asking going on. As you do this you’ll begin to put your finger on what people are wanting and what you might be able to provide to meet these needs. </p> <p> <strong>Unique Content </strong></p> <p>Another factor to consider when thinking about ‘good content’ is whether it is ‘unique’. </p> <p>With a blog being created every second and with blogs on virtually every topic you can think of, the challenge for bloggers is to build a blog that stands out from the crowd. I see blogs every day that provide ‘useful’ content that have no readers simply because people are finding that information in other places. </p> <p> <strong>Distinguish yourself</strong></p> <p>My advice to new bloggers trying to break into a topic where others are already blogging is to take a surf through the other blogs and websites in your niche and do some analysis upon what sort of content that they are producing. In most niches you’ll find that sites are all presenting very similar information in pretty much the same voice, tone and style. As a new blogger on the topic you have a choice - you can either replicate what they are doing and try to do it better (difficult as they will already have loyal readers and unless you’re brilliant at it you’re unlikely to convert these readers over to you) OR you can distinguish yourself in someway from what others are doing. </p> <p> This might mean tackling a slightly different topic (<a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/01/18/sub-niche-blogging-lessons-from-a-baker-named-tom/" target="_blank">perhaps a sub-niche</a>) but could also mean writing in a distinct voice (take a look at <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/09/23/shoeblogs-six-figure-blogger/" target="_blank">Manolo’s blog</a> for an example of a blogger who has grown a cult audience by writing about an odd combination of topics as an anonymous blogger writing in the third person). It might also mean writing in a different genre of posts (ie if everyone else is writing ‘newsy’ posts you might like to write more ‘opinion’ type posts). </p> <p> Bring together the elements of both <strong>Useful</strong> and <strong>Unique</strong> content and you will be one step closer to a successful blog. </p> <p><b>Original Content</b> - You will notice that I have chosen the world ‘unique’ instead of ‘original’ in this post. There is mixed opinion in blogging circles on whether original content is always best. Regular readers of this blog know that not all my posts here are completely ‘original’. There are some posts where I use short excerpts (quotes) from other blogs as part of my blog entries. For example in a earlier post in this series on ‘<a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-blog.html">what is a blog</a>‘ I used a number of quotes from other bloggers as part of the post. As a result that post might not be classified as ‘original’ as such - but it is somewhat ‘unique’ (and hopefully useful) as I put them together in a way that they had not been used before (side by side) and then added my own comments to them. </p> <p>My main advice on ‘orginal’ content is that writing is generally best as it won’t be found anywhere else in that form - however clever and fair use of other people’s content (always giving credit for it and using it within a ‘fair use’ way - ie only using short quotes’) CAN be worth doing IF you use it in a way that is useful to your readers.</p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-46788082233413071272009-02-21T16:38:00.012+07:002009-02-21T16:50:57.166+07:00Writing Blog Content - Make it Scannable<a href="http://www.duoblogger.com/">by duoblogger</a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIT3H5AvoL8ylgT2f2SBF3n3DMtVqHV-2kOIvZHb97zfmFVP_r-09DDzosZRTFnGoTW5IZ7b0Q7-CDUPk06Eo_FqYsdd8LN9YR6QeOgUePdj56lCmVd5_ZnxirqtaWNQ3Iah795QVAn8/s200/timthumb.php.jpg" alt="Writing Blog Content - Make it Scannable" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305183426557972354" border="0" /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Only 16% of people read web sites word for word.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Source</span></a></span></strong></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The average person only comprehends 60% of what they read.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.readingsoft.com/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Source</span></a></span></strong></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em>Knowing this - how should bloggers who want to communicate effectively write?</em></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Is your Blog Scannable ?</span></h4></div><div style="text-align: justify;" class="fullpost"><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Most people read online by <em>scanning</em> the page for individual words or phrases, headings and other visual cues. Studies have shown that reading from a screen is more tiring and therefore about 25% slower than reading from paper - hence scanning becomes a technique that most employ.</span></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Is your Blog Scannable? It’s a pretty simple thing to test. Ask a friend who is not familiar with your site to take a quick look at a few of your recent posts. Give them 15 to 30 seconds on each post, at the end of which you ask them what the post was about. You’ll quickly get a sense of how they’ve interacted with your blog.</span></p> <h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" >Techniques to Make your Blog Scannable</span></h4> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Good bloggers keep this in mind as they write and will employ a variety of techniques to make their posts easier to read. Some of these techniques include:</span></p> <ul><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Lists</strong></span> - Anecdotal evidence here at ProBlogger suggests that its my posts with bullet point lists in them that get linked to ALOT more than similar length posts written in of an essay style.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Formatting</strong></span> - Use <strong>bold</strong>, CAPITALS, <em>italics</em>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">underlining</span>, <tt>teletext</tt> and to emphasize points. Don’t go overboard as you run the risk of frustrating your reader. Also consider changing font size, color and style to draw your readers eyes to your main points.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Headings and Sub Headings</strong></span> - Large, Bold words that act as visual cues of what is happening in the content are effective ways of drawing readers further into articles.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Pictures</strong></span> - Research shows that readers eyes are drawn down the page by pictures. Place them cleverly by your key points (especially when they closely relate to the content) and you have more of a chance of getting readers to read full articles.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Borders/Blockquotes</strong></span> - boxes around quotes and key points can similarly get the attention of readers.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Space</strong></span> - don’t feel you have to fill up every inch of your screen - rather create spaces because they help readers not to feel overwhelmed and again tend to draw readers eyes to what is inside such space.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Get to the Point</strong></span> - try to be succinct with your points.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Don’t Bury your Points</strong></span> - one trap many of us fall into is to bury our main points deep within content where it’s unlikely to be noticed. If you have a key point make sure you say it up front. You can expand upon it later but get your message across in the first few sentences if possible.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Find creative ways to reinforce your main point</strong></span> throughout your post.</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Don’t Introduce too many New Ideas in one post</strong> </span>- once again this helps to avoid overwhelming readers with information all at once. If you want to cover many ideas that relate to one another consider a series of posts that link to each other.</span></li></ul> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If your site and its posts are not easily scannable you run the risk of losing your reader to another blog that is.</span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6241254193042124060.post-64337788284324517242009-02-21T16:19:00.011+07:002009-02-25T05:01:26.359+07:00How to Write Your About Me Page<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There are four main questions that readers want answered on your <strong>About Me</strong> page: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 144px; height: 106px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y0QR7Ol_EAU/SZ_KH1Zp3AI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Rcna7l4t3oU/s200/blogging4beginners.jpg" alt="How to Write Your About Me Page" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305181122008308738" border="0" /> </div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);">who you are…</span></li><li> <span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);">y</span><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);">our expertise and how it addresses…</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);">their problem or goal, and how they can…</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);">contact you</span></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Here is a sample “About Me” page that answers these questions: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">——————————————-</p><div style="text-align: justify;" class="fullpost"> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Hi, I’m Jane Smith and I write TransitionMomBlog (who Jane is) to help women make the transition from full-time mom to successful entrepreneur (the reader’s problem or goal). I started TransitionMomBlog in 2004 (Jane’s expertise – shows she has been blogging for two years) to help other women deal with the sometimes overwhelming prospect </span></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">of starting a new business while still running a household (how Jane helps them overcome their problem or achieve their goal). Prior to raising my family, I spent over ten years as a teacher, corporate trainer and workshop leader (Jane’s expertise, both as a mom and a business person). To contact me, please email XXX (how to contact Jane). </span></p> <p>——————————————–</p> <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Why write an “About Me” page?</span> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Engagement</strong>: I know some bloggers prefer to write in a more impersonal style - but I’m a heart guy - I like people - I like a bit of humour, personality and emotion from time to time in blogging and an About page can really help create a more personal connection with your readers. Sure not everyone is like me and won’t appreciate the ‘gush’ - but I suspect plenty of your readers will appreciate a little more information on the person they’re reading.</span></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Highlighting Key Pages</strong>: An About page has the ability to propel your readers deep within your site to your key posts. Is there an article that you’re particular proud of that sums up what you’re blog is about? Is there a sponsor you want to highlight? Is there a page with an income stream that you’d like to expose all your readers to? Are there some categories that you’d like to highlight? Your About page will get read - and its an opportunity to introduce your readers (particularly first timers) to your key pages.</span></p> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You can also check out “<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://c3v3n.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogging-for-beginners-series.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Blogging for Beginners</span></a></span>” page for more related information. </span></p></div>c3v3nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037556737718993098noreply@blogger.com0