Written on August 23rd, 2005 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse
Adsense Changes Announced
The Google Adsense team have been mighty busy in the past 24 hours with quite a few new features including section targeting, Search Query reports, Custom Reports, More Channels and Google Desktop Sidebar Adsense Status Plugin. Let me explain each below:
Section Targeting
As I mentioned a few weeks back - Google have been testing a system that allows publishers to highlight different keywords/sections of their blog that they want, or don’t want to have an impact upon the type of ads that they want to be served on their site. This feature is section targeting which they describe as follows:
‘Section targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and HTML content that you’d like us to emphasize or downplay when matching ads to your site’s content. By providing us with your suggestions, you can assist us in improving your ad targeting. We recommend that only those familiar with HTML attempt to implement section targeting.
To implement section targeting, you’ll need to add a set of special HTML comment tags to your code. These tags will mark the beginning and end of whichever section(s) you’d like to emphasize or de-emphasize for ad targeting.
The HTML tags to emphasize a page section take the following format:
<!– google_ad_section_start –>
<!– google_ad_section_end –>
You can also designate sections you’d like to have ignored by adding a (weight=ignore) to the starting tag:
<!– google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) –>’
This will be a feature that has the potential to have significant impact. It could mean the end to blogs getting ‘blog ads’ instead of the topics that they are actually writing about. It could also mean targeting words that have a higher monetary value. They do note on the above page that it can take up to two weeks for their crawlers to pick up these changes. Not a quick fix by any means. They also suggest that you need to include ’significant content’ in the tags or you’ll end up with irrelevant ads or PSAs (I wonder what ’significant content’ means in terms of the numbers of words? Probably the best use of these tags is to put them around the content on your individual pages so that Adsense looks less at your sidebars (which can often be a little confusing) and more at the meat of each page.
I doubt they will ignore the parts of your page you don’t put in these tags - otherwise it would be used by spammers to put up high paying ads on low paying content pages.
Search Queries Report
Another very handy feature is the added ability to now find out the top queries that readers look for using your Search box. They write:
‘AdSense for search top queries are the top 25 queries performed on your AdSense for search box within a given date range. Please note that the top queries report does not show unique queries; only queries that receive two or more hits are displayed.’
I’ve often wondered what people search for on my blog and now we can find out. This is a useful tool to have as you consider the types of pages that you might want to add to your blog.
Custom Reports
Adense have added a new feature to their reporting tools - Custom Reports which they describe as follows:
‘Custom reports are advanced reports that you can save for future use. Any advanced report you generate can be saved as a custom report with the same date range and channel settings you’ve chosen. You can quickly access custom reports from your Overview page or the drop-down on your Advanced Reports page.’
So if you have a number of reports that you always run - add them to your custom reports list. You can save up to 10 custom reports.
More Channels
Yesterday I used my last channel and today Adsense have announced you can now have up to 200 of them! Brilliant.
Google Desktop Sidebar Update - with Adsense PlugIn
Today Google also announced an update in their Desktop Sidebar (windows users only) which now allows plugins including one that reports your Adsense status/earnings to you. Pretty useless use for those of us on Macs!
Written on August 23rd, 2005 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse
Experimental blogging.
Duncan has a useful post on experimenting with the design of your blog at Don’t be afraid to experiment. Well worth the read.
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 10:08 pm by Darren Rowse
31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 22
Day 22 has arrived in the 31 Day Project and here are the submitted posts from readers.
- Nikki submitted Content Mangement System Review
- PC Doctor wrote Keep your Blogging Software Up to Date
- Rick writes Remove your own Duplicate Content
- Teli submitted Find Their Need and Fill It
- Robyn writes Google Adsense for Search
- Darnell let us know of Is your Site Pleasing to the Eye
- Edrei submitted How to Prevent Blog Bloat
- Graywolf submitted Blogging Tip: Permalink
- Ravi submitted Free Essential Tools for Blogger
- Tony wrote Web Site Promotion and Popularity
- Miha submitted Amazon Associates Program
- Miha also submits Track Visitors Using Google Maps
- Hatem lets us know about a new magazine - PHP Bloggers Magazine
- Christian writes on Proper Use of Your Blog Links
- Kevin writes Why would you want to Blog Professionally
- FMF submits Best Practices for Driving Traffic with Blog Carnivals
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 08:08 pm by Darren Rowse
Affiliate Programs - Amazon Associates
This post is part of a series on Affiliate Programs for Blogs
Amazon Associates Program
Amazon’s Associate Program is perhaps one of the most popular ones for bloggers because it is pretty simple to use and has such a wide range of products in their system ranging from books, to electronics, to jewelry, to CDs and DVDs etc. It’s also great because there are many tools that can be used to integrate it into your blog including WordPress Plug ins. Some bloggers even integrate Amazon stores into their blogs (something I need to get set up).
Another beauty of the Amazon program is the variety of ways that they give you to link to their products. Even using just their basic tools on the Associates page you have the option to link to products using text links, pictures, buttons and a variety of keyword triggered techniques.
I personally use Amazon’s program quite a bit on some of my blogs and find it quite effective. While my earnings from Amazon are far less than my Adsense income it’s a nice bonus each quarter (they pay every three months). This quarter (just over half way) my total is just over $900 (USD).
Amazon’s affiliate program pays out in either gift vouchers (to be spent in the store), cheque (check) or direct deposit (if you’re in the US).
Amazon Associates Program Pros:
- massive array of products to choose from
- reliable payment system
- options for different payment types
- reasonably easy to use
- variety of linking tools
- Amazon are fairly well regarded and trusted by consumers
Amazon Associates Program Cons:
- only quarterly payments (many other programs are monthly)
- commissions can be lower than some other programs (although they have an incentive/bonus program that increases the % when you sell certain targets)
- incentive program can be a little complicated to understand
- some of their buttons and link methods are a little dated
- not great on some products internationally (ie while Amazon will send books and some products internationally some of the bigger ticket items will not be sent overseas. So if you have a non US readership you might have to also sign up for other Amazon affiliate programs (ie they also have a UK, Canadian, Japanese one etc this can get a little messy)).
I’ll share more tips to help maximise Amazon earnings later in this series - but in the mean time I’m sure others have a variety of experiences with Amazon and can shed some light on it as a program for us. Share your thoughts on the Amazon Affiliate program in comments below.
Sign up for the Amazon Affiliate Program here
This post belongs to the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Series
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 04:08 pm by Darren Rowse
BuzzMachine Adds Ads
Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine has announced in the past day or two that he’s decided to put ads on his blog in a post titled Open for business. I’ve often looked at his site and wondered how he’d do with Adsense and/or BlogAds - I guess we’re about to find out. Jeff’s reasons for putting the ads on the site are twofold:
1) I don’t make as much as I used to.
2) I want to learn how ads work and because I talk about the topic often, I realized it’s time to get my money where my mouth is.
Good luck with the Ads Jeff!
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 03:08 pm by Darren Rowse
Affiliate Programs For Blogs
Ok - it’s time to kick the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog into overdrive and talk about a few ways that you can make money from your blog.
Let’s start with Affiliate programs (this will be a mini series).
What is an Affiliate Program?
To oversimplify it - an affiliate program is a system that pays you a commission when people buy a product having found that product via your blog. Let me use an example. If you click on this link for Jeremy Wright’s upcoming book - Blog Marketing (something I’m genuinely interested in reading myself) you’ll be taken to Amazon.com’s page for that book. IF you purchase it I will get a small commission for sending you there (the commission is somewhere between 4 and 9% of the price at Amazon - depending upon how much you sell, what the product is and a number of other factors).
Affiliate programs come in a massive array of shapes and sizes and on thousands of different niche topics. Over the next few days I’m going to speak about a few Affiliate programs that you might wish to try out and then will give some tips as to how to use them most effectively.
This series continues at - Amazon Associates Program, Clickbank Affiliate Program, Commission Junction Affiliate Program and Linkshare’s program. Also read the final post in the series - 10 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on your Blog.
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 10:08 am by Darren Rowse
Blogging in the Age
Melbourne newspaper ‘The Age’ features a small profile on me today (complete with a picture that half my neighborhood saw being taken in my front yard - embarrassment) as part of a larger feature on Blogging. Also in the feature is a piece looking at Blog Advertising and featuring an interview with Henry Copeland from BlogAds.
So welcome to readers from the Age - If you’re interested in blogging and/or making a living from it, please feel free to surf around.
Most of the articles on this blog (there are 1300 pages in all) are hidden away in the categories archives which can be accessed through the menus at the top of the page and through the menu at the bottom of the left side bar (Archives).
Also helpful are the pages About enternetusers and About Darren. Lastly you may wish to subscribe to a weekly email newsletter which gives a summary of what I write about here.
Lastly you may also be interested in a six week teleseminar course that I’m running with another blogger called Six Figure Blogging
I hope you enjoy your stay at enternetusers - if you need any more information please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Written on August 22nd, 2005 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse
Amazon Shorts
Has anyone ever tried using Amazon Shorts as a way to sell content? I’ve heard of a couple of people recently who have been using it but don’t know how they’ve gone. Could be interesting - let me know if you’ve given it a go.
Written on August 21st, 2005 at 10:08 pm by Darren Rowse
31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 21
It’s day 21 in the 31 Days Project today and I’ll keep it simple today - here are the reader submissions for today. Feel free to let me know about any blog tip posts that you post. Here’s the last 24 hours of submitted tips:
- Martin has written Should My Home Business Have a Blog?
- Michael has submitted Is your Blog Placement hurting Conversion
- Ignat wrote How to Benefit from Google Sitemaps
Written on August 21st, 2005 at 02:08 pm by Darren Rowse
Blogger.com Reacts to Spam Blogs and Comments
Blogger at last seems to be doing something about the rise of Spam Blogs and Comment spam on Blogger.com blogs with two new features - a “Flag” button which allows readers to report questionable content to Blogger and Word Verification for Comments which aims to attack comment spam (optional feature). Hopefully these help - I guess they rely completely upon users using them - but it’s a step in the right direction.
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