Saturday, September 12, 2009

How to integrate Infolinks into your Wordpress or Blogger blog

How do I integrate Infolinks into my Wordpress or Blogger blog?
The integration takes a few seconds only and it's very simple. Just go to your Layout section and select Edit HTML, then paste the Infolinks code right before the <*/body> (without the *) tag and you're done.

How do I restrict Infolinks ads to specific sections of my blog?
If you use Infolinks you might have noticed that its ads appear in every section of your blog, which can be frustrating and compromise look of your web pages.
If you want to restrict Infolinks to specific sections of your blog, you have to use the following tags:
To enable Infolinks ads from this point on: <*!–INFOLINKS_ON–> (without the *)
And to disable Infolinks ads from this point on: <*!–INFOLINKS_OFF–> (without the *)

Did you find this post useful, or you would like to know more? Feel free to post a comment!

Monday, August 24, 2009

What is AdBrite and how does it work?

AdBrite is a digital marketplace for advertisement.
It is one of the most popular advertisement provider and it offers various options for publishers, including pay-per-click text ads, banners, full page ads and in-link ads. You can even choose to diplay pay-per-view full page ads or cpm (cost per thousand impressions) banners.

How does AdBrite work?
AdBrite allows you to choose which type of advertisements your want to display on your website, for instance you might want to display text ads only, or to display in-link ads and ful page ads as well.
You're allowed to customize the appearance of the ads boxes, which allows you to blend them perfectly in your website template (or make them stand out if you so desire), it also allows you to fully customize other options, such as after how many clicks by an user a full page ad will be displayed.

So it's up to you to find out what works best for you: for example, if you are displaying full page ads, you might want to find a good compromise between website usability and maximum revenue. It is fairly obvious that the more often a full page ad will be displayed, the more likely someone will click on it but, on the other hand, too many full page ads might annoy your visitors and drive them away

How do I get paid?
AdBrite pays on a net-60 basis. This means earnings from each day must mature for 60 days before they are eligible for payment. For example, December earnings will mature at the beginning of March, January earnings will mature in April, etc.
Just like most other ads providers, AdBrite allows you to choose the minimum earnings required before you get paid.
The default option is 100$, but you can raise it or lower it to a minimum of 5$ if you so desire.
As of now AdBrite only offers payment by check in US Dollars, there are no electronic payments options (such as Paypal), it is important to make sure you fill all the informations correctly or you won't receive your check.
US publishers are also required to fill in their tax informations.

Does my website/blog qualify to participate in AdBrite marketplace?
Click on this link to check the Publisher Acceptable Use Policy

Where do I subscribe?
Signing up for AdBrite is easy, just click here and fill in the form to get started.

Friday, August 7, 2009

How to cheat Adsense - and get yourself banned!

Today I want to talk about something important.
Google Adsense is a profitable ads service, but one thing that new bloggers and webmasters should keep in mind is that, just like any other advertisement service, Google Adsense won't allow you to quit your day job over night.

To make money with Google Adsense and the likes, you have to provide a good service, keep your blog/website updated with fresh and interesting content, do your best to promote it and be patient: chances are you won't see much money in the beginning, not until you have a good amount of followers.

Unfortunately some people are not patient and begin to look for ways to cheat Google Adsense.

There are several methods to cheat Google Adsense, I will only make a few examples:
  • Clicking on your own ads, which can be done manually or using bots
  • Soliciting your visitors, or friends and family, to click on your ads
  • Using malware that will cause your visitors to click on your ads
  • Joining clicker-rings, which are basically association of folks who click on each others links - in many different way
  • Hiring people to click on your ads, some crafty folks hire underpaid workers in India or China for the job.

    Let me tell you something: first of all, even if you could manage to cheat Google Adsense without being detected, you would be committing a crime - it's actually a fraud, you are stealing money from Google and its advertisers.
    That should be enough for anyone with common sense: whether you're blogging for fun or to make money, you sure don't want to end up in jail, do you?

    There is more though, for those who didn't make up their mind yet..

    You can't cheat Google Adsense.

    The reason is simple: Google is a huge company, they can afford to use some of the best technologies, hire the best programmers and engineers and they sure don't want to give money away to scammers.
    What makes you think that you can beat them?

    The truth is, it's just a matter of time (could be minutes, could be days), before they catch you and ban your account forever.
    Which means you will never be able to get it unbanned or to get a new Google Adsense account.

    And mind one more thing: Google tends to ban at the slightest suspicion of fraud and won't even give you a reason for the ban.
    Some folks have been banned for no apparent reason, or for simple mistakes.
    Therefore there are some precautions every blogger and webmaster should take, to avoid any risks:
    1. Don't click on your own ads, or you will get banned.
    2. Do not solicit or even hint your visitors to click on the ads: just place your ads in the best possible position in the page and "forget about them". Clicks will come in time.
    3. Do not boost your page impressions count or your might get banned.
    4. Do not put adsense code where you're not supposed to: no Adsense ads in your email, registration forms etc.
    5. Do not alter any portion of the Google Adsense code.
    6. Do not put Google Adsense advertisements on a blog or website if you talk about subjects that violate the TOS.
    7. Should you receive any email from Google about your account, be sure to reply (although they normally won't contact you until you get automated mail following the ban.

      Did you like this article, or you think I forgot something? Please leave a comment!


Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Paypal donations

If you visit many blogs and websites, you must have noticed the Paypal donation button before.
It's an easy way to allow your visitors to donate something if they want to support your website/blog, or if they want to show their appreciation for one of our articles.

How do I get a Paypal Donate button?
First of all you have to register at www.paypal.com. Once you have your own Paypal account, go here and follow the simple instructions to get a donate button for your website.

Most bloggers put the Donate button in their sidebar to make sure it is visible on every page, but you can also experiment with its positioning to find out what works best for you.
The Donate button is very easy to add to your sidebar, here is how to do it on Blogger Blogspot:
  1. Go to Paypal and create your button. You can let your visitors decide how much to donate or to choose a set amount. Make sure to select the "Secure Merchant ID"box, this will prevent spammers getting hold of your email.
  2. When you're done, save the button and copy the code generated by Paypal.
  3. Go to your Blogger blog, enter the Layout section.
  4. In the "Page Elements" section, click on "Add Gadget" and select "HTML/Javascript" widget from the list
  5. Select a title for your new button page object, such as "please donate"or something like "buy me beer"or "buy me a cup of coffee"
  6. Now paste the code you copied on Paypal into the box below.
  7. Click on Save.
  8. Drag and drop the box into the desired position of your blog
  9. Click on Save
There you go, you have now created your Paypal Donation button!

How much will I make from Donations?
Probably not much. Paypal donations will not generate as much cash as advertisements, but it is so easy to add a Paypal donation button to your blog that you should try it out, every little bit counts.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

What is Infolinks?

What is Infolinks?
Infolinks is an in-text advertising provider, which means it inserts text link advertisements within the content of your website or blog.
The in-text ads will look like double-underline links and, if your visitor hovers is mouse over one of the links, a floating bubble displaying the advertisement will appear. If the user clicks on the bubble, he will be redirected to the advertiser's page and you will earn some money.
If they don't, they bubble will disappear as soon as they move their mouse away from the link.

Who can sign-up?
Infolinks accept small websites and blogs too, you don't need a minimum amount of visitors and, of course, you don't need to pay any set-up fee.


Is Infoflinks customizable and will it alter the appearance of my website?
Infolinks will not alter your website layout and it won't override any existing hyperlinks in your pages.
Once you have created an Infolinks account, the integration into your website is simple: you just have to paste a line of html code into your website or blog and you're ready to start.
Furthermore, you customize Infolinks in many ways, such as locations within your website/blog, appearance and even the amount of ads.
You can also choose to display infolinks only in certain sections or pages of your website.

How much does Infolinks pay?
Just like with most other advertising programs, it all depends on your website's traffic, the amount of regular visitors you have and the stream of new visitors.
Infolinks states on its website that "We seek the advertisers, you get the revenues, and we make sure you keep most of it with the industry’s highest revenue share offer."

When and how do I get paid?
Infolinks pays every month, like most other services, but only if the amount they owe you has reached the 100$ minimum, otherwise you'll have to wait until the next payment cycle (provided you reach 100$ in the meantime). You can choose to be paid via paypal or bank transfer.

How can I check my Infolinks earnings?
To check your current earnings you have to sign in to your Infolinks account and click on the Report tabs. Mind that, unlike other ads services for publishers, Infolinks does not update in real time but is updated once a day instead.

Was this post helpful to you? Please feel free to leave a comment and also to suggest anything that can improve this article.

Monday, August 3, 2009

The basics of Adsense

Getting started with Adsense is easy, it only takes a few minutes to subscribe and set up the account.

How do I register to Adsense?

You can register at www.google.com/adsense, you are asked to provide your personal informations and the url of your website.
Once your application is submitted, it will take up to 48 hours for the Adsense staff to review it and approve or reject it, you will receive an email notification with the results.

I manage more than one website or url, do I need multiple Adsense accounts?

No, once your account has been approved you can link all of your websites and blogs to Adsense, which makes it easy to keep track of the total income generated from advertisements.
You just have to make sure that all of your websites and blogs are not in violation of the Adsense TOS.

Ok, my account was approved, how do I get started?

You just have to copy and paste their code into your website/blog, it's really easy and it doesn't take long. Once you're done with that, you will start displaying ads on your website and potentially make money.
Blogspot has integrated support for adsense, so you can subscribe to the service and place the ads directly from the blog settings, in the "Monetize" section, that's something to keep in mind for those who are new to blogging, or have little knowledge of html and the likes and want to choose the easy way.
Note that it will take a while for Google Adsense to crawl your website and send relevant ads to you, so in the beginning you will be displaying public service and generics ads.
When I started this blog it only took about four or five hours for them to approve the account and to get relevant ads displayed on it - surprisingly fast.

Can I manage the ad layout? I don't want them to become an annoyance for my readers.

Yes, in fact you can choose where to display the ads from Google Adsense, and you are encouraged to experiment with the positioning until you find what works best for you. I will explain more about the crucial importance of ads positioning in one of my next blog entries.

How much does Adsense pay? How long will it take to get my first payment?

It's hard to tell how much Google Adsense will net you, it mainly depends on the amount of clicks you receive, but also on the type of ad (some pay more than others). As a rule of thumb, if your website/blog has a constant stream of visitors and you place your ads in the right positions, you're bound to start making nice amounts of money.
Google Adsense pays at the end of the month, if your account has reached the minimum paying threshold (which is 100$ for the USA and 70 Euro for the EU countries).
You can choose among different paying systems such as check, Western Union money transfer and EFT payment (EFT stands for Electronic Funds Transfer), which is the fastest payment option available.

What else should I know?

First of all, you should read the terms of service carefully.
But I want to give you a few reminders anyway: you are not allowed to click on your own ads, nor to ask anyone to click on them, or to exchange clicks with someone else. You're also not allowed to put adsense code in your emails, nor in pop-ups or pop-unders, or anything that might mislead the visitors.
These are only a few examples, so go read the terms of service, just remember that Google Adsense enforces its rules and you risk getting your account permanently banned if you breach the TOS.

Do you want to contribute to this post, or you found it useful? Please leave a comment!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

A short introduction to Google Adsense

Google Adsense is perhaps one of the most well known PPC (pay-per-click) advertising programs.

How does it work?
If you create a Google Adsense account, and embed their code into your webpage, you will get advertisements on your website: everytime a visitor clicks on one of the advertisements, you earn some money.
It's simple, isn't it?

One of the strong points of Google Adsense is that their system examines your website, and it shows ads that are relevant to the content of your website: so if you have a website or a blog about mortgages an loans, or electronics, or how to make money on the internet.. well, you'll get advertisements that are potentially interesting to your readers, which is good for two reasons: relevant advertisements are generally not perceived annoying by your readers and, which is the part I love the most, relevant ads are more likely to be clicked by your visitors, because they offer goods or services they are very likely to be interested in.

Stay tuned for the next part of this article!

And don't forget to leave a comment if you want!