One of the commonest ways to use SEO is by publishing a number of different articles on the website that can include a number of keywords that are relevant to the topic, and this will be identified by the search engine when they carry out a scan of the site, which will often lead to a higher ranking among the results for those people searching for a specific term. This is, however a hit and miss approach, which is why referring to an SEO professional will often be the best idea, as it is more than just the occurrence of keywords that will be considered by the results a search engine will return on a specific search.

Another thing that should be considered for the website owner looking to use SEO successfully is to look at getting articles about the site published elsewhere, which will have links onto their site, as having a number of links on to a specific site can also contribute to the ranking that a search engine will provide. For amateurs who are not looking to pay someone else for the SEO work, it will often be a case of trial and error in order to get a good ranking from a search engine, and looking at different ways of web marketing to combine with SEO can also be a smart idea.

SEO is a practice that is something that many websites invest a lot of money in without making money online and seeing massive results because ultimately the most important thing for getting visitors online is for people to be able to see and recognize a name online, although getting a good SEO ranking can also help in this task. By using SEO as a part of the web marketing strategy, rather than the sole approach, it can help websites to increase traffic to their sites and to get the right kind of visitors to the site that will be interested in the product or service on offer.

Using Online Advertising To Promote A New Website

Trying to launch a new website to an already crammed internet will often be a difficult thing to do, even if the product or service being offered is genuinely interesting and innovative, and different to what is already on the market online. One of the most traditional ways to market a website has been to buy advertising on a popular website in order to get the people from that website visiting the one that is being advertised, but the reality is that it can be hard to gauge what sort of success rate will be achieved, so looking at alternatives can also be a smart move.

When it comes to securing the advertising space, there are a number of different ways in which the advertising can actually pay for, and although it will often vary between the websites offering the adverts, with the larger sites tending to be more inflexible on the terms that they will want for using such advertising space. Of course, the most traditional terms of payment for such advertising will be in paying a fixed sum for an advert of a specific size that will remain at a specific location on the site for a period of time, but this is something that won’t allow fledgling websites to test the waters with their advertising budget.

The other ways in which advertising can be paid for is much more based on the success of the advert itself. Ultimately, the owner of the website will want to have people clicking through from the host website on to their own, and will also be more inclined to pay on the results. This is why many people placing adverts for the first time will be more inclined to choose the options that will pay for the number of clicks that are received onto their website, or in other cases a commission of any sales achieved through such adverts are also possible.

Online advertising will always be an important part of getting a new company and website noticed, and especially for those that are offering services or goods aimed at the young web savvy audience this should be a big focus of the overall marketing budget of the company. By spending some time in designing attractive and effective adverts that will encourage people to click through, it can be possible to grow the profile of a website and to ensure that the customer base will start to grow and develop an online following.

Thomas Alling writes about how you can utilize internet marketing to make money online with your blog. You can visit his blog at makemoneyhelper.com

Photo Credit: freeseotipsvideos.com

When it comes to virus protection software you CAN have too much of a good thing. Ask anyone who has made the mistake of downloading more than one of the major McNortonMicro packages and had their computer rendered useless.

If you’re a Windows-based blogger looking to fend off the junk without compromising the speed of your computer, you need Vipre.  (Read on for a chance to win a one-year subscription for FREE!) This light-weight software keeps viruses, adware, spyware, worms, rootkits and more away from your machine – all without the bloat!

Not tech savvy? Fear not. Even your great grandfather will understand the simple notification notices. And if you do get tripped up, free tech support is right around the bend. Not crappy tech support, but 24-hour U.S.-based phone support.

Vipre only requires a minimum of 512 MB, but let’s be honest – if that’s what you’re running – it’s time for an upgrade!

VIPRE Antivirus software

A 30-day money-back guarantee ensures that – unlike a major virus attack – you have recourse! Don’t like what you see? Vipre will refund your money. No questions asked. Malware removal assistance.

VIPRE’s FirstScanâ„¢ is the initial step to getting your computer out of harm’s way. Running at boot time. FirstScan bypasses Windows, directly scanning the hard drive for malware and removing infections when found.

Active Protection works inside the Windows kernel, providing real-time monitoring.

And if you’re worried about those silly forwards that your friends email you, with Vipre, you can open them as you please. Comprehensive protection protects against viruses spread via email.

The price drops with each computer that your protect, so why not get Vipre on all of your computers.

This product should improve your upload/download times. Vipre runs so quietly in the background that you won’t even know it’s there. But CyberCrooks beware – this stuff is the real deal.

We’re giving away a 1-year download of VIPRE Software. Interested? Leave a comment below on your worst experience with anti-malware security, email security, data retention, and malware analysis tools. One random person will snag the prize. Good luck!

 

As design programs like PhotoShop have dropped in price and left the cardboard box for robust Web-based versions, everyone seems to fashion themselves a designer. Need proof? Look no further than your favorite blog. For the record, resizing an image or creating a banner ad does NOT make you a designer.

When it comes to representing your brand, and YOU are your brand, bloggers need art help from the professionals.

Enter Logo Mojo.

Since 1992 Logo Mojo has designed over 45,000 logos. That means you’ve likely already seen their work!

Logo packages start at $195, and unlike hiring random groups from eLance or oDesk, every design is conducted in-house — nothing is outsourced! Yet because of the volume and quality of work these guys do, you will pay “outsource” prices.

What I like about Logo Mojo is their established Web presence. This is important because their website clearly illustrates what each package includes, how the process works, and what the final deliverables are. You can chat for customer service and even see a picture of their HQ.

Every logo package comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That means you get unlimited logo changes until you are totally and positively happy.

Already have a logo? Fear not! A special “revamp” package can help breathe new life into an already existing logo. Well-established brands like Apple and Pepsi are always evolving their logo and you should too.

From business cards to calendars, let the gang at Logo Mojo make your blog look like it’s hit the big time – after all, image on the Web is a big part of achieving success.

Logo Mojo does great work, but we dig the most about these guys is their transparency. As a customer, nothing is left to guess. The entire logo design process is broken down step by step. And you own all the logo design rights!

Logo Mojo Even if your blog is up to snuff, Logo Mojo can also help with your social media presence. From Twitter and Facebook profile images to background wallpapers, these guys can get your look consistent and enable you to put your best foot forward in the online space.

To join the iTunes affiliate program, you simply have to apply using the iTunes affiliate application, which is administered by LinkShare.  When you’re application is approved, you’re directed to log into your new account with LinkShare where you can manage your account, access your ad code, and so on.  You’ll receive a second email from iTunes within a few days notifying you whether or not your blog was accepted into the iTunes affiliate program.

The earnings potential for the iTunes affiliate program isn’t huge at just a 5% commission on qualified revenue generated from affiliate links on your blog or in your emails.  However, if you’re already talking about music or podcasts on your blog and you’re already linking to content on iTunes, why not include your affiliate ID in those links and make a bit of money from them.

Keep in mind, the iTunes affiliate program is only valid for the U.S. iTunes store, so make sure most of the visitors to your blog are likely to make their digital music purchases from the U.S. iTunes site before you take the time to apply, insert your ad code, and so on.

You can get more information on the iTunes affiliate website or on the program’s FAQ page.

Of course, if you don’t qualify for the iTunes program or would prefer not to join it but still want to earn a passive income from digital music links on your blog, you can always link to music downloads as part of the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Image: stock.xchng

Realizing that was silly, the decision was made to return to our regularly scheduled programming. Still, I’ve decided not to tempt fate on this one and talk about an issue that is a bit easier to avoid, advertising and the perils of turning your site into a giant billboard available to the highest bidder.

While every blog that isn’t solely meant as a hobby site needs to earn money to stay alive, slathering a site with ads in hopes of generating ad views and clicks is rarely the best strategy. In fact, it may do irreparable harm to your site and even sink it for good..

The Pitfall

Nearly every blogger, large and small, has faced the temptation. Dollars for clickthroughs and money for nothing. With dozens of advertising companies all looking to place ads on blogger sites and many of them promising huge rewards and returns for almost no investment, it’s easy to get lost in the lust for cash. Furthermore, with a few quick guides, you can be up and running and an overnight advertising success.

Unfortunately, the dollars in advertising are, almost always, an illusion. Though every site is different, unless you have a large visitor base and an advertising-friendly topic, the odds of making serious money are slim to none.

But where many bloggers either drop ads or decide to be happy with their few pennies or dollars, others decide to take it to 11, slathering their sites in ads hoping to gain more clickthroughs and more revenue.

This, in turn, often does raise revenue and gives many bloggers a new zest for advertising. However, it is a zeal that can quickly become very dangerous and taken to an unfortunate extreme.

The Danger

Though ramping up the ad count or being more aggressive with advertising does bring some initial rewards, it rarely lasts.

On sites with aggressive advertising, traffic and clickthrough rates begin to wane and a vicious cycle often begins where the blogger has to keep ramping up their advertising, adding more blocks or more annoying ads, just to maintain the same level of revenue.

Eventually, the entire operation simply collapses. Advertisers often begin to back out of such sites and, due to the overloading of ads, many visitors begin to confuse the site with a spam blog and respond accordingly. This, in turn, hurts rankings in the search engines as inbound links dry up and visitors bounce back to the results pages.

In short, an unsustainable model eventually dies out, unable to carry its own weight.

How to Avoid It

The simplest solution is to simply say “Don’t overload your site with ads” but that hardly seems to solve the problem. Though bloggers are usually aware, at least acutely, of the danger of overloading their sites with ads, that doesn’t stop some from falling into the temptation.

Instead, it is more important to avoid a situation where such an overloading might seem like a good idea and, instead, focus on solutions that can reach the same intended goals as ad overloading, without the vicious self-feeding cycle.

On that note, it is important to recognize what advertising is. It is a way for you, the blogger, to trade on the attention of your readers in order to earn money. If done well this is not necessarily a bad thing and a small price for the reader to pay. If done poorly, it can be worse than asking for a monetary subscription.

Consider the following:

1. Build Audience, Then Ads: Wait until you have a sizable enough blog to consider running ads. How big is determined by your niche, but wait until you’ve grown enough to have a chance at sustaining an ad model before, slowly, introducing ads.
2. Look at Other Business Models First: Could another business model work? You can earn more money off of smaller audiences through consulting, selling Ebooks or other models than you can ads. They may be worth trying.
3. Introduce Ads Carefully: If you do decide to go with ads, focus on keeping them to a minimum and work on finding the correct location for them on the page. A place that is noticeable and above the fold, but not in the way to create a good balance. Then experiment with that location by moving it, not adding new ads.
4. Sell Your Own Ads: Though using Adsense or other automated ad systems can help, the best approach for both yourself and readers is to sell your own ads. Not only can you earn more money and eliminate middle men, but your readers will get better-targeted ads.
5. More is Not Better: Finally, if you are struggling with making money from ads, more advertising is almost never the solution. Quality over quantity is usually the best approach.

In short, when you’re using advertising on your site, remember that it is your reader’s attention you are trading on and treat it with the responsibility and weight that comes with demanding such an intrusion of your readers.

If you do that, you might not find advertising riches, but you won’t sink your site while looking for them.

Bottom Line

Though advertising can be a great business model for a blog, it can also be a great way to kill a good site.

In order for advertising to work, you need to have a blog of adequate size and audience but, more importantly, treat advertising as a necessary evil that makes an unwanted demand of your reader. It’s impact should be minimized as much as possible, but balanced against the need to earn revenue.

There is no magic solution for this and no guide can tell you 100% definitively what is right for your site, but what is clear is that there are very unfortunate dangers that lay down this path that you need to be careful of.

For proof of that, just think of your own reaction when you see a site that is bathed in an excess of ads. How likely are you to stay?

Though good content can survive a bad layout, including a deluge of ads, it is best to not wound your efforts in such a way. There’s no guarantee your site is among those that can.

If you’re looking for an effective solution to help get your blog noticed then the Contextual Partnership Plugin for WordPress bloggers could be well worth consideration. Perhaps the most attractive aspect is that there is no cost involved.

According to the developers the plugin is designed to;

Drive more targeted visitors to your blog (or blogs) by strategically linking your blog to and from other bloggers participating in the network. The exact method used to achieve this remains confidential but apparently it’s not a basic reciprocal link exchange – nor the more common 3 way linking arrangement often seen between bloggers.

Enhance the user experience for your blog visitors by providing them with links to other high quality blogs for further information on subjects of interest (and it can do this without you actually loosing the visitor which is a great feature).

Indirectly increase your search engine rankings by building highly relevant incoming links to your blog for keyword terms you define, related to your own niche market.

Not a bad indirect benefit at all.

To better understand how the network works, first you need to know what a “contextual link” actually is. A contextual link is simply a link “within content” of a blog post and “within context” of specific keyword terms in that post. For example the term “dog training” found within a blog post becomes a link out to another blog (related to “dog training”) within the network. Contextual Links are found all over the internet – bloggers interlink their own pages contextually, there are paid advertising programs that allow you to place contextual advertising links and earn per click, and bloggers naturally link out to other websites they find useful “contextually” as well.

This is the key to the “Contextual Partnership”. When you install and setup the WordPress Plugin, you’re asked to provide the URL’s you wish to advertise on other partners blogs, and the keyword terms you want those blogs to use to link back to your own. When a match is found within the network for the keyword terms you provide (and assuming it meets with the Contextual Partnership’s strategic linking methodology), a link back to your blog is assigned, and your account has a credit removed.
The amount of credits your account holds appears to be directly related to the number of links you’re providing to other partners in the network for the keyword terms they themselves are looking to use to advertise. Apparently for every link you provide for another partner, you earn 1 credit. That 1 credit is then “cashed in” to assign a link back to your own blog from other partners whenever a match is found for your own keyword terms. So if you already have 100 posts in your blog, and each of those pages finds a match to provide a link to another partner, then technically you could receive 100 incoming links to your blog as soon as you’ve been approved to participate in the partnership. You also continually earn more points and incoming links as you continue to blog and add more posts just like you usually do.

That’s the basic overview and you’ll find more specific information on the plugin website including details of many features not mentioned here (like the ability to select specifically which blog posts you want to include – or nor include in the network)…

http://www.contextualpartnership.com

Uptake by the blogger community seems to have been extremely good and this new service looks to become very popular. In the first two weeks of launch the partnership already had over 54,000 individual places to place links throughout the network, and within the first 4 weeks over 10,000 advertising links had been allocated between network partners. This is most likely a result to how easy it is to actually setup the plugin and participate – it literally takes 5 minutes to install and setup – although approval can take anywhere from 24-72 hours depending on the moderation queue as only high quality blogs are accepted to participate to keep out the splogs and spammers.
This seems to be one of those services worth giving a shot for a few months, and by the looks of things the developers have some exciting new features in the pipeline to make things even more effective for partners in the future.

You can find out full details and download the plugin below…

http://www.contextualpartnership.com

Or alternatively you can download the plugin directly from WordPress…

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contextual-partnership-link-exchange-plugin/

As one of the top fifty affiliate networks in Website Magazine, Logical Media has reached a standard of customer service that many affiliate sites are simply unable to attain. Through the use of excellent placed ads, customer service and daily updates throughout the ads which are placed on the website, there are many reasons that you should consider Logical Media for marketing that can begin to earn you money from the moment you begin using the program.

With the added incentive that bloggers are equipped with, to earn twenty five dollars for signing up for the service, the blogger can begin to make money right away. With many other services, it seems that you are waiting weeks and even months for money to accrue within the account. However, with the instant twenty five dollars, just for signing up – you can begin to see an immediate profit!

With an easy to set-up and user-friendly interface, you can be up and running within a matter of minutes. Through the information which is provided and targeted keywords, ads will be developed that will be suited to your blog, your readers and your genre.

There are many other services which are offered to bloggers, in addition to the paid ad placement that can be taken advantage of throughout the blog. Through the use of valuable referral programs, in which the referrer can earn up to five percent through each referral and the real-time reports which the blogger will have access to, there are many ways that the blogger can learn to better the site – All while getting paid!

There are very few other paid ad placement companies that offer a high sign-up bonus. With the twenty five dollars that is offered to new customers you can begin to see your account move upward, through each click which is made on the ads placed within the blog. Are you seeking a program that enables you to track these movements in real time, while making real money? If this is the kind of program that you think would work for you, consider Logical Media, as the services offered are one of the many reasons more bloggers are choosing the company.

When it is time to get paid, bloggers always get paid on time, and the right amount. Through the use of intricate bookkeeping, bloggers are kept happy with accurate payments, regular payments and a variety of methods which are used to complete payments to bloggers that have signed up for the program. A reliable way to monetize your blog, more and more bloggers are choosing Logical Media.

Starting with an amazing slide of all of the trends and words that companies will need to know going forward, Lori’s presentation was very marketing and marketer focused.

What the lab does is allow people to get their hands on the latest technology in a comfortable, home like way.

“The current economy is an opportunity for digital media content producers” – Lori Schwartz

Even with the downturned economy, online advertising is expected to grow from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $28.5 billion in 2009.

Open platforms are driving ubiquity. Where there is OpenSocial, and Google’s Android where things are able to scale, and be developed in an interesting way that hasn’t been done before and creates new opportunities for developers, brands and advertisers.

The new consumer reverses the 80/20 rule. Where you used to spend 80% of your money on distribution, and 20% on content, but that has switched, and is continuing to change and grow. Content is everywhere, but attention is limited.

Lori then moved into trends for 2009 that everyone here at nextMEDIA needs to know if they want to take advantage of the opportunities appearing.

Beyond the browser is the first one she wanted to cover with it becoming the new operating system on computers where applications are hosted online in the cloud, and the only thing you have directly on your computer is the browser.

The second one was the semantic web, where the browser or Internet websites learn from the behavior or interests of the user. A great example that she tossed out there was StumbleUpon, which learns what things you are interested in and adjusts its display accordingly. This changes the advertising on search ecosystem, as you can’t just advertise on general search results.

She also showed off Cooliris, a plugin for Firefox that allows you to browse the web in a pictorial way, rather than flat text.

Personal branding was an interesting addition to her presentation as well, which made me happy. I wondered if personal branding would be mentioned at this conference filled with companies and corporations.

“People are establishing themselves as experts… and that makes them powerful as influencers” – Lori Schwartz

Gen X and Gen Y moms are big players online, in blogging, video, and giving opinions on products, services, and companies.

The new ROI is Return On Involvement.

She then shifted gears and started to focus on the transmission effect, where the length between our thoughts to the publish of that thought has become nearly instant. Content can’t be controlled, so now it becomes reputation management.

The new editorial is citizen journalism and the technology has grown in ways that you can live broadcast nearly anything to a large audience instantly.

Robert Montgomery, CEO of Achilles Media took the stage first to apologize for the various issues, from the registration line-up and onwards.

He was amusing as he introduced Mark Greenspan, Director of Digital Media at Achilles Media. Mark stood out in the crowd with his blazer and its white trim. He presented in a fairly monotone voice, but was fairly high energy, seeming excited about the event, and what it meant.

His hope is that the event gives a snapshot of digital media revenue today, a great idea, and hopefully it translates well going forward. Some of the sources for revenue building that they wanted to cover is multi-platform advertising, sponsorship and branded entertainment, e-commerce, pay per use and licensing.

“Our goal is to make the most relevant mix possible and service the industry the best we can” – Mark Greenspan.

One amazing thing that they have created this year was their Match Maker system, that allows people to connect with others in their field or people that might be helpful to their businesses.

Shelly Palmer, of MediaBytes and the Managing Director of the Advanced Media Ventures Group, was then introduced to lead the first topic entitled Economic Meltdown? Will “Free” Save the Future?

He started by getting everyone to introduce themselves to the person next to them in the room. Everyone started actually doing it, and a few real connections might have been made.

“I am going to talk about what they wanted me to talk about, and then flip the script because what they wanted me to talk about is depressing…” – Shelly Palmer.

Shelly’s way of talking was powerful and fairly commanding. He was confident, and interesting to listen to. He made a bold statement early on to say that there will never be a YouTube killer. He did concede that there were better technologies and sites for video distribution, but said that none will ever be the hit that YouTube is today.

“I’m in business to make money, everything else is just a hobby” – Shelly Palmer.

Shelly, also smartly talked about currencies online, saying that money, or cash is not the only currency worth trading online. The currencies of attention, intention, fame, respect, and passion are all important online and worth considering going forward.

He also talked about how, if the music industry understood these things, they would have been able to build bigger brands, rather than kill their business.

One question that really caught my attention was, “what is the value, pre-advertisement click of someone on your site?” He touched on the fact that there is no scarcity online. There is an oversupply of content and information, and so users are not controlling everything. He says that the CPM of advertisements must drop to zero, as only the gatekeepers like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have any control over scarcity as the ads on their sites will be the most important.

A.I.D.A. – awareness, interest, desire, action are the phases of the purchase funnel and you need to push visitors down that funnel to convert the currencies of the Internet into cold, hard cash.

Awareness doesn’t always solve the problem of translating the currencies of the web to money, as you need to build up interest and desire to continue to push them down the funnel. Shelly used the example of Coca-Cola. Everyone knows who they are and what they sell, but awareness alone doesn’t sell product.

He closed out with a few well placed questions, and everyone seemed to be interested in what he covered, since it was a great primer in advertising, new media and the direction of the industry.

Show your love for good ‘ol WP!

I’ve seen several creative WordPress fan art lately, which brought  me to think if there are any official or unofficial collection of all WordPress logos on the net.  If you’ve got any WordPress fan art yourself, you may want to consider writing the WordPress team to submit it for all the world to see, or use, or whatever… maybe to just brighten up their day.

The WordPress fan art above was from WordCamp Philippines.  Matt was quoted to “really like this art work”, though I’m sure he favors every fan art made for his WordPress work.  We’ve seen this fan art on t-shirts and bags… they really rock!

What makes me wonder though is “can people copy these logos on shirts”, some of them really are cool and would be great to wear a few myself.  Is there a way to ask permission to use them?  hmmm…  of if you would like to make fan art, would that require a permission from WordPress? double hmmmm…  wonder how that works? anyone?

Set your browsers and travel to this fan art page … and this one too.

I just heard today that Google is developing a web video series.

Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

It’s 2 minutes per episode, much like a cartoon (Dilbert, Happy Tree Friends, etc.) BUT will be the first written for a series on the web. They are initially producing 50 2-minute episode to start with and they’ve tapped “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane to work on an original series that Google will distribute via its AdSense advertising system. This is according to a report filed by The New York Times. More of that story, right here. People from Hollywood have commented that this project , even if it will be exclusively avaialble on the internet, will be groundbreaking and will be a huge success!

Target audience??? Young men. Distribution method??? Thru “Cavalcades” of video clips replacing static Google advertisement.

Advertising will be incorporated into the clips in varying ways. In some cases, there will be “preroll” ads, which ask viewers to sit through a TV-style commercial before getting to the video. Some advertisers may opt for a banner to be placed at the bottom of the video clip or a simple “brought to you by” note at the beginning.

Mr. MacFarlane, who will receive a percentage of the ad revenue, has created a stable of new characters to star in the series, which will be served up in 50 two-minute episodes.

I think the most innovative part of this project is the way it is distributed… via the web thru Google’s AdSense system. But a spill-over to traditional distribution will likely take into being as well. This being the first of its kind will surely be writing new books for the next generation of producers, film makers the entire biz.

• Guaranteed $2 CPM, up to $200 per month, during beta period(June 18 – July 18)
• Get in on the ground floor of a new kind of network based on influence
• Access to great brands and advertisers eager to work with you

According to BuzzLogic, their main purpose for this high payout is to get enough interest of bloggers. They expect the beta users to be able to help the BuzzLogicCommunity Team to get feedback the performance of the ads–what’s working, what’s not. BuzzLogic will eventually develop other blogger tools based on influence to help bloggers not only understand their own influence but to leverage that influence to get higher CPMs for ad inventory.

Some limitations of the program, though, are that only traffic from the US will be counted as eligible impressions, and that the beta program will end on July 18th. Still, $2 CPM is an interesting proposition, particularly for blogs that have high traffic.

Still, I believe in working smart and I’m almost hitting myself in the head for not implementing an efficient ad-serving solution since the start. Now I’m considering a few options:

• Of course the first option here is to serve the ads directly. For most of our sites, the ads are hard-coded into the themes. I do have the ad expiries on Google Calendar, so we get alerted when we need to follow up for renewals. And I get to track clickthroughs and page impressions via pMetrics (crude, yes, but it does work for me). The advantage here is that it’s pretty straightforward. I can say I have full control over what gets displayed on the sites. But the downside is that it gets cumbersome to manage things this way with a big network.
• I could have someone create an adserver from scratch. Actually for some sites that need rotating ads (e.g., two or more ads or banners sharing the same space at random or alternating) I use a simple PHP script, and it does the job well. We’re welcoming some developers into the team soon, and we might as well ask them to help out with this concern.
• However, with readily available adserver options like OpenX, I can just have this installed somewhere and tweaked to our liking.
• But since running my own adserver would require some resources (in terms of servers/hosting and maintenance/management) I might as well have dedicated adserver-providers take care of this for me. Our very own colleagues at Performancing has launched their Performancing Ads. Even Google has launched its (closed) beta of Google Ad Manager.

Whatever happens, I’m sure of one thing: that serving ads manually become really tedious and cumbersome at some point. And this has its inherent disadvantages. For instance, ad-serving software usually let you track and analyze statistics like page impressions, clickthroughs and perhaps even conversion rates. Directly served ads might be more difficult to track.

So in the aim of working smarter, we’re moving toward a more efficient way of doing things. The question is which?

You might think that I am exaggerating the problem, but I found that spam, scam, phishing and adult ads accounts for a staggering 36% of all the ads on this site. The irrelevant (but non-spam) ads account for a further 7%. And, a single company accounted for 18% of all the spam ads.

Spam and spyware ads are bad enough, but I am absolutely annoyed by the adult ads.

He includes a variety of screenshots to prove his point, and just to drive it home for those that still don’t agree with him, he’s included some text from others with the same complaints.

The best part though is the fact that AdSense is still in the far right hand side of his site. So the question becomes, even if AdSense did become the home of only “junk” ads, would we still plaster it on our sites to make a dime or two here and there?

We have already discussed our excitement for this advertising platform on Blog Herald and my own blog XFEP.com. Jim Kukral has also mentioned our uptake of the service on the Scratchback blog, which we feel is a testiment of how personal and wonderful the service is.

We can’t wait to see how advertisers and users react to this addition as we continue to add the widget to more and more of our higher level blogs. Some of the places you can already add your tip and link to include the Blog Herald, 901am, Forever Geek, and soon many more.

The third session of the first day was by Robert Jenkyn, the VP of On Demand Media. They consider themselves media experts, and have customers like Telus, WestJet, Best Buy and Futureshop.

Robert was quick to point out that with advertising online, most companies are beyond the point of asking themselves “if” they should enter the space, but instead are saying “how much?”

They want to know how much time, money and resources they should be investing into the ever growing market of web users in the world.

In Canada alone, eighty-two percent of adults have Internet access, and out of an audience of nearly fourty million, half use the Internet, every single day. Canadians spend more time online than reading books, magazines, watching television or listening to the radio.

And what’s great about all this is that it is highly measurable with things like impressions, clicks, sales, rich media interactions, and brand awareness.

Robert said that what web publishers and content producers need to deliver to get advertisers interested is information like their audience composition, niche, ad inventory, and create valued editorial environments.

He brings up two studies in his talk, and the more compelling one to me was their Telus example. Telus is a cellular service provider in Canada and is one of the top three companies in its niche.

Recently, there was a shift in the legal requirements of cell phone companies to allow consumers to bring their number from one carrier to another, rather than having to sign up for a new number with each carrier.

On this day, Telus made it a point to advertise all over every Google property, including YouTube, targeting Canadian consumers, welcoming them to Telus with the telephone number they valued so much.

They used multiple advertisement formats, on every site they could afford, and tracked the awareness, web traffic and reach of their message.

Once bloggers noticed that Telus was buying up all the advertising spaces on Google owned sites, they began to write their own reports about Telus, and what it was doing, further expanding the reach of their idea.

Over the course of twenty-four hours, Telus received fifteen million unique visitors, which accounted for over 64% of all Canadians online during that day.

They continued to receive traffic that ballooned to a 250% increase for the month, and they found their visitors were much more likely than regular search traffic to view multiple pages on their website.

Telus concluded that this advertising was much more effective and cost effective than either a television roadblock or full page ad on all major daily newspapers.

Robert definitely made it look like companies are waking up to the value, cost effectiveness, and reach of the web.

I have posted about the implications in a weak American currency before and so I have to admit, I would enjoy seeing Google switch their AdSense payouts to a currency that converts better to Canadian dollars, and is more stable.

Here is a bit from the article:

If you’re a US publisher then this probably doesn’t mean too much to you, but it definitely affects those of us on the outside, as Google’s US-denominated payments are worth less and less to us once they’re converted over. On the flipside, however, non-US advertisers should see their AdWords costs decrease because the conversion to US dollars for bid prices will be cheaper.

Now if only Google would switch to Euros as its base currency for advertising transactions. The exchange rate is much better…

Has the shift in the value of the American dollar effected you? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear some kindred spirits feeling the pressure due to the online economy being so cemented in the US greenback.

Like it or not, many blogs survive thanks to Google AdSense – a fact that’s leading some to debate the use of ad blocking software. However, implementing and tweaking AdSense ads on a WordPress blog can be tedious. We’ve gathered 17 WordPress plugins which help you implement, control and overview AdSense ads on your blog.

Talking about PayPerPost and its features, he believes that they are the only worthwhile system in regards to companies paying for such content. He talked about the features in the system and their work at combating the issue with review quality, and blogger quality issues that have been plaguing the system. They have added a way for their users to have their reviews ranked by the purchaser, so others have a way of telling how good or bad a writer is.

It is understandable as currently, they are the biggest system that I know of. He brought up the number of features they have brought up over the course of nearly a year. PayPerPost’s one year anniversary is coming up soon.

He also let me know that there is a new release of features, or information coming out in the next week or two. He wouldn’t pin it down any more than that, but he said that it will get people talking again, more than even PayPerPost Direct, one of their newest services.

Overall, he wasn’t as evil as people believe. He really stands behind his product and compares it to paid search results. He believes that the industry of blogging was hurting for a better monetization system, and that is what PayPerPost and its counterparts have provided.

An interesting breakfast indeed.

Monetization of a site really varies from site to site, but it is always interesting to see what successes others are having. Here is a bit from Alex’s post:

While I may not like the way it looks, “in your face” advertising definitely seems to work much better than tucking the ads away in a sidebar. Putting the ads at the top of the page seems to work a little better than in a sidebar as well, but I don’t like the way it pushes the content down.

However, this is my personal web site, so I can choose to keep the ads somewhat out of the way instead of trying to squeeze every dime I can out of the site.

I also recently turned down sponsored posts and an opportunity to put a flash banner ad on my home page. Sure it probably would have made a few bucks, but I felt it would really detract from the overall site experience. There’s definitely a “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” side of how you choose to implement advertising on your site.

This is something that all the Bloggy Network sites have had to deal with as we continue to make producing content our full time jobs. We have to balance our needs to pay our bills, without going too overboard on advertising, and sometimes it has to be a bit “in your face” but we try very hard to blend, and stay away from certain types of ads.

Check out Alex’s full post for more details on the things he has tried. A great article.

Ahmed believes that this will provide Google with even more information about the elusive blogosphere and has published a post entitled Google & FeedBurner: Double Whammy.

So the acquisition of FeedBurner gives them a ton more information. They know clickrate. They know the subscription # of a lot of sites. They can find information/data they previously did not know existed (which I touched on briefly).

I talk about covering the A to Z process for our properties – Google has done the same. They know what end-users are doing (via Google Analytics). They know what end-users are reading and finding interesting (via Google Reader). And now they know how popular blogs are, and what people find interesting on those specific blogs (via Google FeedBurner). And don’t forget they can trick your ad habits now – not just via AdSense/Adwords, but also through DoubleClick now.

Griffith, over on Forever Geek, has published a post called Google acquires FeedBurner for $100 million.

He goes over more of the meat and potatoes of the deal, and give a quick nod to the possible inclusion of Adsense in RSS feeds.

Although FeedBurner already gave you the option of adding advertisement to your feeds, my guess is that now it will be Adsense exclusive, if it isn’t already (I haven’t checked in a long time). Other than that, you can probably rest assured that it will remain free for everyone. The only difference is that it will probably be integrated into more Google products.

I agree with both of them. This gives Google even more information on a wide variety of sites, and while Google is not really known for improving the features of a service they buy, they have started to make some serious headway with their Blogger platform, and I can see FeedBurner becoming an integral part of their Blogger blogs. As well as providing them with a large user base that they can get using Adsense both on their sites, and in their feeds. With FeedBurner, Adsense, and Analytics, they will be able to provide you with advertising and statistics to cover every angle.

I think this was a great move for both Google and for FeedBurner, and I look forward to seeing what interesting ways that FeedBurner is integrated into Google’s already powerful brand.

Ahmed believes that this will provide Google with even more information about the elusive blogosphere and has published a post entitled Google & FeedBurner: Double Whammy.

So the acquisition of FeedBurner gives them a ton more information. They know clickrate. They know the subscription # of a lot of sites. They can find information/data they previously did not know existed (which I touched on briefly).

I talk about covering the A to Z process for our properties – Google has done the same. They know what end-users are doing (via Google Analytics). They know what end-users are reading and finding interesting (via Google Reader). And now they know how popular blogs are, and what people find interesting on those specific blogs (via Google FeedBurner). And don’t forget they can trick your ad habits now – not just via AdSense/Adwords, but also through DoubleClick now.

Griffith, over on Forever Geek, has published a post called Google acquires FeedBurner for $100 million.

He goes over more of the meat and potatoes of the deal, and give a quick nod to the possible inclusion of Adsense in RSS feeds.

Although FeedBurner already gave you the option of adding advertisement to your feeds, my guess is that now it will be Adsense exclusive, if it isn’t already (I haven’t checked in a long time). Other than that, you can probably rest assured that it will remain free for everyone. The only difference is that it will probably be integrated into more Google products.

I agree with both of them. This gives Google even more information on a wide variety of sites, and while Google is not really known for improving the features of a service they buy, they have started to make some serious headway with their Blogger platform, and I can see FeedBurner becoming an integral part of their Blogger blogs. As well as providing them with a large user base that they can get using Adsense both on their sites, and in their feeds. With FeedBurner, Adsense, and Analytics, they will be able to provide you with advertising and statistics to cover every angle.

I think this was a great move for both Google and for FeedBurner, and I look forward to seeing what interesting ways that FeedBurner is integrated into Google’s already powerful brand.

I have to admit that I find advertisements in feeds a little less glaring than most on site advertising, but at the same time, I have never clicked an advertisement in a feed.

Some of the tools and services mentioned in the article include Text-Link-Ads Feedvertising, Feedburner Ads, Pheedo and Kanoodle.

Check out the article for some details on these services, and if you have thousands of feed readers, and feel you should monetize them, then one of the mentioned sites will help make that happen.

Deep linking is excellent for advertisers as it usually gets more benefits and allows a more specific and/or concentrated approach to advertising. I have always found Text Link Ads to be less intrusive than Adsense, but remember, there are some Google Page Rank effects to your site as you add more and more outbound links.

Installation is easy as they have made it into a WordPress plugin which you upload and activate on your site.

It could be interesting but I look forward to seeing how people do with the new addition to their popular advertising system.

Here are a few:

• Perceived value is in the eye of the beholder. More specifically, no one values any site more than the owner. This is natural as the owner puts “blood, sweat and tears” into a site and sees value that maybe is not there. Do not think that depth of archives necessarily translates to value.
• Private is always better than public. Maybe my biggest mistake in this process was posting the auction at SitePoint. I recieved derision and ridicule by onlookers not interested in bidding, but interested in making sure everyone else knew how they felt. This was numerous people and it probably contributed to the anger mentioned in bullet point 3. The private discussions held with two particular parties, however, was quite good and open and honest. Though the sale did not develop as I had hoped, I definitely have a respect for the parties and would be interested in doing business in the future.
• Value is found in the blogger and this was an eye opener to me. I expected to sell Technosailor and be happy, but the interested parties were more interested in me. Though I was flattered, sometimes business gets in the way of business and no one wins.

Check out Technosailor for the rest.