Internet marketers who use Google Adsense on their websites share a common fear of being ejected from the program due to click fraud. The common tale is for people to find out just before they expect to receive a check. This probably happens because Google protects their interests and the integrity of the program by looking closest at new program participants and how their account managed to achieve the magical $100 payout level. Many have heard stories of internet entrepreneurs that were waiting for a big fat check from Google only to be told that they were in violation of the Google TOS and then found themselves booted from the program with earnings forfeited.
To protect yourself and your online earnings, it’s important that you fully understand the terms of service. Do ensure you actually read the terms instead of simply scrolling and clicking to the “I agree” button. This way you’ll understand which subjects and actions are taboo.
Don’t ask for clicks. This may sound too obvious but really, even if you think you can get away with randomly asking a friend to click it will very likely catch up with you.
Don’t tell your family and friends that you are blogging for money or have a website for money because they might try to ‘help’ you. I once read on a forum that a particularly well-liked schoolteacher had told his students he was blogging and without his knowledge, the entire class tried to help him by clicking his ads. Needless to say Google saw the pattern by IP address and he lost his publisher status. Best to keep it to yourself so that if someone does visit your site and decides to click an ad, they’re doing it out of natural curiosity.
If the unthinkable has happened and something has happened that you think will jeopardize your status, write to Google and explain. Hopefully your efforts will pay off.
When you’re trying to make money online with a blog, contextual or text links might be something you’re considering. In the early days of trying to find your way to making money with a blog, any advertising opportunity can seem like a good one. Text link ads are popular but not everyone uses them because they can be considered overkill.
Text link ads are very much like Google Adsense in that they are contextual and look at your content to come up with relevant ads. Only, instead of being displayed in a side bar or blending in with your design in unobtrusive ad blocks, text link advertisements exist within your text.
When specific words and phrases are used in your text, the text will become a link and be underlined. As the reader hovers over that link, a pop-up window will generally come up with an ad that will take the reader away from your page.
Some people find these types of ads too cluttered and if a lot of your web page looks like links, your readers may not click any links you already intend to put in your text. The advertising can become overwhelming.
If you really want to give these links a try, there are a few things you might consider including:
Use contextual ads in archives instead of on your home page.
This way, your post of the day looks like usual and posts past a particular age can show text links and you can have the landing page of your blog that makes the first impression do something other than scream “blatant advertising”.
Using these ads but having this be your sole advertising program.
This could be a great approach. Instead of having ads and banners all over the place, one program in place could be the best approach when using text link advertising. You may decide to experiment and do trial periods with several types of ad programs or with ad placement until you find what fits your blog and helps with blog monetization.
Are you using widgets on your blog? Remember the plain old WordPress themes like Kubrick? Today blogs can be much fancier. WordPress is the industry standard in blogs and can be great for monetization and SEO and it’s quite widget-friendly.
Widgets can simply dress up your blog or they can provide function as well. They’re simple to insert and generally you can just paste the code into a text widget and place it where you like. Many sites offer widgets for you to grab and use. They can help you put advertising on the site as well as direct your traffic elsewhere. Here are some examples of blog widgets you might consider using:
These widgets can sit on your site and tell people what you’re doing. You can get the widget from your user settings and it’ll allow your website visitors to read your statuses, click to subscribe or follow your updates as well as let them see others on your friends list.
Ezinearticles.com has a widget that feeds your articles to your site which can be great for your marketing efforts.
I’m a bit of a self-professed widget junkie.MyBlogLog has one of my favourite widgets. There are a few to choose from that look great and can show people your various blogs or your activities in social marketing so people can see the sites you Digg or Stumble as well as links for new posts in cyberspace. Wink offers my other favourite options as it also lets people check out a lot of different aspects of your online activity and is customisable so it’ll blend well into just about any template.
Social profile sites often have widgets you can use that can help you with social bookmarking and networking as well as dress your blog for success. There are also functional ones that feed internet marketing ads and other blogs for advertising and link exchanges. What widgets do you use and why?
What are you doing when it comes to promoting your blog? Are you recording every post you make in all the social bookmarking sites you can find? Are you pinging it every time you update it in some way? How about your website – do you link to it and mention it on more than one page?
A lot of internet marketers do everything they can to spread the word about their website, but when it comes to promoting their blog things can go slightly awry. Some of them seem to leave the promoting to other people, hoping that every visitor who finds them will tell everyone else and send waves of traffic flowing in their direction.
Real life is not so wonderful of course. You should be promoting your blog by shouting from every rooftop you can find. If you have business cards make sure your blog URL is printed on them. If you fancy the idea of one of those neat metal strips on the outside of your car, boasting your web address and an eye catching quote from your blog, why not splash the cash and get one made up?
Sometimes all it takes to be promoting your blog in a way that will get you noticed is to do it differently from everyone else. Try printing up some slips of paper on your computer with a cryptic message or tantalising question that leaves people wanting to know more. Add your URL and stick those bits of paper wherever you can think of that’s relevant.
If you write about internet marketing, stick a piece of paper in every internet marketing book you can find at your local library. Get creative. Be different. It’s what will get you found when you are actively promoting your blog.
