earn money today

Online advertising

2007-09-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

nline advertising is a form of advertising utilizing the Internet and World Wide Web in order to deliver marketing messages and attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.

But convergence is also driving the evolution of other forms of online advertising, resulting in information/content that is not limited by geography or time. The emerging area of interactive advertising presents fresh challenges for advertisers who have hitherto adopted an interruptive strategy. But it is quite clear that given a choice, television audiences would prefer uninterrupted viewing of content.

Online video directories for brands are a good example of interactive advertising. These directories complement television advertising and allow the viewer to view the commercials of a number of brands. After this, if the advertiser has opted for a response feature, the viewer may choose to visit the brand’s website, or interact with the advertiser through other touch points - email, chat or phone. Response to brand communication is instantaneous, and conversion to business is very high. This is because in contrast to conventional forms of interruptive advertising, the viewer has actually chosen to see the commercial.

Contextual advertising

Many advertising networks display graphical or text-only ads that correspond to the keywords of an Internet search or to the content of the page on which the ad is shown. These ads are believed to have a greater chance of attracting a user, because they tend to share a similar context as the user's search query. For example, a search query for "flowers" might return an advertisement for a florist's website.

Another newer technique is embedding keyword hyperlinks in an article which are sponsored by an advertiser. When a user follows the link, they are sent to a sponsor's website.

Ads and malware

There is also class of advertising methods which may be considered unethical and perhaps even illegal. These include external applications which alter system settings (such as a browser's home page), spawn pop-ups, and insert advertisements into non-affiliated webpages. Such applications are usually labeled as spyware or adware. They may mask their questionable activities by performing a simple service, such as displaying the weather or providing a search bar. Some programs are effectively trojans. These applications are commonly designed so as to be difficult to remove or uninstall. The ever-increasing audience of online users, many of whom are not computer-savvy, frequently lack the knowledge and technical ability to protect themselves from these programs.

Affiliate marketing

2007-09-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Affiliate marketing is a method of promoting web businesses (merchants/advertisers) in which an affiliate (publisher) is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale provided through his/her efforts.

Affiliate marketing is also the name of the industry where a number of different types of companies and individuals are performing this form of internet marketing, including affiliate networks, affiliate management companies and in-house affiliate managers, specialized 3rd party vendors and various types of affiliates/publishers who utilize a number of different methods to advertise the products and services of their merchant/advertiser partners.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates are using the same methods as most of the merchants themselves do. Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, email marketing and to some degree display advertising.

Affiliate marketing - using one site to drive traffic to another - is the stepchild of online marketing. While search engines, e-mail and RSS capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing, despite lineage that goes back almost to the beginning of online retailing, carries a much lower profile. Yet affiliates continue to play a fundamental role in e-retailers' marketing.

The Beginner Tips for Internet Marketer

2007-09-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

Where do you start if you want to be an Internet marketer? Tough question, huh? There are lots of ways to begin your way on the bumpy journey. Just make sure you are aware that it will be a bumpy ride.

First things first: do a lot of research. Find out what kind of thing appeals to you most. It could be affiliate programs, Google AdSense or maybe you like the idea of selling other peoples products for a commission etc.

There are a ton of options, and 1000 times more hype. This is why it’s so important to do as much research as you can before starting out. Sure, you can go the long way round, which is how a lot of us start out, but that’s even more of a bumpy ride.

Ok, so let’s say you’ve decided on where you want to start. You don’t have a product of your own, so you decide to sell other peoples information products, just as an example. Don’t make the mistake that so many people do, by trying to sell something you haven’t personally tested.
Put it this way: Who would YOU prefer to buy from? Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the product they’re selling? Or someone who has had firsthand experience with the product they’re selling? You know it’s person number 2, right?
So test the product first. Learn everything there is to know about it. If people can trust you to give an honest opinion, they’ll be back for more. Great way of getting contacts AND repeat customers.
Never ever use hype when you’re promoting any programs. Believe me, it doesn’t work in reality. People get disappointed if they don’t get what they’ve been promised within the timeframe it’s been promised.
Be honest in your promotional efforts. Tell people what’s worked, and what hasn’t worked for you. If people ask how much you’ve made over how long a period of time, tell them. Let them know that online marketing is NOT the easiest thing on earth.
Let’s face it, if you want to make good money with online marketing, you Have to treat it as a business, not as a hobby, and yes, it does demand a lot of hard work and self-discipline. But taking all these things into consideration, you'll be able to work your butt off and have something to show for it.

tips for earn money from your blog

2007-09-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

Pay Per Click Advertising

It's possible to earn a decent income through Google Adsense or other pay-per-click advertisers. While some bloggers report earning a meager income with the pay-per-clicks, it's indeed possible to earn up to six figures. If you have a popular blog, you can do well. Installing Adsense on your blog is simple, it's just a matter of pasting code on your website. Every time a visitor clicks on one of the links in the ad, you'll collect a percentage of the ad revenue. Because you can fine tune the ads to match your blog, they're not as unattractive as other forms of advertising.

Blogads

Invitation only sites such as Blogads sell ads for placement on high traffic blogs. The good news is that this isn't affiliate income. Bloggers receive a flat fee for every ad sold. The bad news is that Blogads doesn't accept just anyone. If you don't know anyone who can offer a recommendation on your behalf, try emailing a request to be placed on the waiting list. But don't hold your breath, some bloggers have been waiting years.

Affiliate Revenue

Many online retailers will pay a percentage of a sale if it results from an advertisement placed on your site. Amazon.com offers a popular program, or you can visit an affiliate super-site such as Commission Junction to find retailers catering to your particular niche. Bloggers report mixed results. While it is possible to earn a decent commission, it's not as easy to earn with these advertisers as with the pay per click programs. Still, some do well. The flashing, colorful ads are a turn off for many because they're so distracting. Fortunately you can choose codes for the ads that work best for your site.

E-Books

If you're an expert in your field you might consider writing e-books and selling them through your blog. This would be a good way of expanding on some of the information blogged about in the past. Check your stats to see which topics garnered the most interest and take it from there. If you have loyal readers and good traffic, you might have a best seller on your hands!

Café Press

If you have a recognizable logo, why not Café Press it? Café Press allows you to place your blog's logo or catch phrase on merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts and calendars. Sell them on your blog for a percentage of the earnings.

Tip Jar

Some bloggers place "tip jars" on their blog's sidebars. Tip jars are donation buttons leading to the recipient's paypal account. Some bloggers report earning hundreds of dollars through tip jars alone. While this isn't recommended for every blogger, those who put in hours to provide a useful service are certainly justified.Suggested Reading

10 steps to getting links to your site

2007-09-17T08:43:00.003-07:00

This advertising mode is known as "link building," and it involves getting other Web sites to link to your site. It's like one of your neighbors recommending a good plumber or handyman; it carries more weight than if a person just stumbled across your Web site.

In today's world, there is much more to good search engine listings than simply optimizing your site for keywords.

In order to keep searchers happy, search engines are always developing ways to make their results more relevant. In the last couple of years, links have become increasingly more important to the engines because they see links as an endorsement of your site by other Web sites. Think about it for a minute: Would you link to a site you didn't like?

This concept is referred to as "link popularity." Based on the links pointing to your site, the search engines either increase or decrease how relevant your site is for particular keyword searches.

Obviously, you want to increase your site's relevancy, right? Good. That's the goal here: to make sure you start building the right kind of links for your site in order to improve your search-engine results.

To this day, the best way to build links is still doing it by hand. Here are the steps you should follow when building links:

Set a goal. Link building takes a lot of time, but it is very effective and easy to do, so you want to keep at it. Set a goal for the number of links you want as a way to stay motivated through the process. Depending on the sites you ask and your approach, your results will vary. But a general rule of thumb is to set your linking goal at four-to-six times higher than the number of links you actually want to receive. You need to set your goal higher because most sites will not want to trade links, for various reasons.
Make sure your site is worth a link. This means your site must offer something of value to entice other sites to link to yours. If all your site does is sell products or services, you need to get busy creating some additional linkable content. Examples of linkable content include how-to articles, product reviews, tools, tips and so on. Creating content can be tough, but if you don't have some on your site already, you've got to do it. Adding linkable content not only will encourage others to link to your site, but it will improve the overall quality of your site for your visitors. Make it easy on yourself by writing about something you know that relates to your site. This column is a perfect example. It teaches without trying to sell something. The best part of creating linkable content is that if you do it well enough, you will find that people will link to your site without you even asking, and that's the easiest way to build links. You're not a writer? You can always add free tools or free downloads. Also, consider creating a links page prior to requesting a link trade with a site. You can usually expect a better reception from a potential link partner if they can see where you will place the link to their site.
Determine the type of sites you want to trade links with. This takes some thought. You need to figure out all of the different types of sites that could potentially trade links with you. Focus on sites that are related to your target market. Here's a good example: I worked on a site that sold sunglasses, so I approached sites that sold swimsuits and tanning lotions, but not sunglasses. Once we accumulated links from those sites, we then developed a section of our site on eye protection and asked for links from all of the sites we could find that addressed eye protection. In the end, we significantly increased the number of links to our site from other sites in our target market. Plus, we added about 10 additional pages of content to our site that our visitors enjoyed and we continue to link to. This helps significantly in search-engine placements.
Get equipped to evaluate your link partners. To make the most of your efforts, you don't want to spend too much time going after links from sites that the search engines don't think are valuable. While it isn't perfect, the Google Toolbar can help you decide which sites are quality link partners and which aren't. The toolbar integrates with your Web browser. It helps you by displaying the "page rank" of each site you visit. Put simply, page rank is a rough indicator of what Google thinks of a site. You can rest assured that if Google thinks it is a good site, it probably is. The higher a page ranks the better. One strategy is to try to link up with sites that have pages ranked as high as or higher than your own.
Locate quality link partners. There are many ways to find link partners, but the easiest way to find quality link partners quickly is to start at Open Directory and Yahoo!. Open Directory and Yahoo! are good places to start for three reasons: These directories are both so difficult to get listed in that each potential link partner you find there is likely to be of a higher quality than those you would find elsewhere. Yahoo! and Open Directory greatly boost a site's link popularity when they list a site. Your site will receive a little bit of that boost each time someone from one of those directories links to you. The links you build don't help your link popularity in the search engines unless the engines know about the link. The search engines crawl the sites listed in Yahoo! and Open Directory on a regular basis, so by starting your linking campaign here you can be sure the search engines will find you new links quickly. To find partners, simply start searching for terms that are related to the types of link partners you decided are best (step No. 3 above). While surfing your potential partner's Web site, keep your eye on their page rank (step No. 4).
Organize your findings. Again, there are many ways to do this, but it's always a good idea to keep it simple. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of the following:• Full name of site owner or Webmaster.• E-mail address of the site owner or Webmaster.• Home page URL of link partner.• URL of the page where you think your link belongs and why you think it belongs there.• Page rank of the page where you think your link belongs.• Something unique that you liked about the site.• Date of initial link request.
For many sites, much of this information will not be available, but you should try to find as much of it as you can.
Prepare for contact. Now that you have a list of potential link partners, go through the list and send a custom e-mail to each one requesting that you trade links. Do not send a generic e-mail requesting a link; it will not get a response. Your link request should mention the following, most of which comes from your spreadsheet (step No. 4):• Something you liked about their site; compliments go a long way.• Why you think your link belongs on their site.• The URL to exactly where you think your link fits on their site.• The URL of where you'll be placing their link on your site.• How you would like them to link to you. Provide a sample link and description. The easier you make it, the more likely they will post it.
Check for links. When building links, you are dealing with real people, so it can take some time. You may need to wait a month or longer before checking to see if anyone has linked to your site from your new partner. Usually it is best to do this step by hand, but you can use a link popularity tool if you have a lot to check.
Follow up with the cream of the crop. Once a month has passed, follow up with each site that hasn't linked to you yet. Save time and only follow up with the cream of the crop — those in your spreadsheet with the highest page ranks.
Set a schedule. You will find it easier to keep building links if you put yourself on some sort of link-building schedule. Consider doing a certain small amount (30 to 60 minutes) of link building each day. It will help prevent burnout, which is inevitable if you try to do your entire campaign in a couple of days.

(http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/10_steps_to_getting_links_to_your_site.mspx)

Be friendly to search engines: 8 ways

2007-09-17T08:43:00.002-07:00

Granted, this may sound like Online Marketing 101. But it's advice not heeded by a huge number of small businesses, says Shari Thurow, a leading expert on search engine-friendly Web sites. Thurow provides a wealth of tips on improving search results in her 2003 book, "Search Engine Visibility."

Why should you care? Because search engines and directories average more than 300 million searches a day and are the main way Internet users discover Web sites, Thurow says in her book. Estimates vary, but roughly 42% to 86% of Internet users rely each day on search engines and directories to find the Web sites they seek. Getting good listings is no longer just a bonus, it's a necessity for companies serious about doing business online.

So, more important in the title tag (the words in a browser's title bar) than a business name such as "Cameron, Wilson AND Boone," Thurow says, would be the words "Intellectual Property Law" or "Handmade Leather Goods" or "Financial Planning for Baby Boomers." The reason is simple: That is what most search engines look for in selecting placements in their listings.
"Put your specialty in your title tag and make it very prominent on your home page," she says. "Focus on what your audience is looking for." If you must include your name, do it after you've mentioned what your company does.

Thurow is marketing director and webmaster for Grantastic Designs, a Web design and search engine marketing firm based in the Chicago area. She's found that while many businesses make this mistake, law firms are among the worst offenders. "They put their law firm names in when they should be putting in their specialties," she says. "Oftentimes, it's simply an ego thing."
Company names do have a place -- in logos, footers and the "About Us" section of a Web site. That way, most companies won't lose the small number of people who actually type in a company name in a search query. The users will go straight to the company's "About Us" section.

Here are seven other simple tips that Thurow offers in her 300-page book.

Use keywords that match what users are typing into search queries. Thurow says she's baffled at seeing "Welcome to our home page" in big letters on a business Web site, or home pages with only Flash or graphics and very little text. If your business is selling help-desk software, say "Help-desk Software" on your home page; that is what search engine users will be looking for, she says. "You need words, and the right words," she says, adding that Flash sites and graphics-only sites do not perform as well on search engines as HTML sites. Don't know what search queries are being used to reach your site? Do keyword research through various search engines, or check out Microsoft Submit It!'s search engine submission tool, which recommends the keywords you should use and analyzes your site prior to submission.
Worry more about getting keywords into title tags and body text than in meta tags. Meta tags have two components: a brief summary description of your site and a series of keywords that you'd want people to use to find your site. Together, they provide a framework for search engines to know where to list your site. Many people, however, spend more time strategizing on keywords for meta tags than for their Web site content, which is a mistake, Thurow says. "The title tag is far more important than the meta tag," she says. "The meta tag is important, but for different reasons." Some search engines, such as Inktomi and Fast Search, will display your meta-tag description on their search results pages. Again, concentrate on getting keywords on the text on your site.
Put your most important keywords on the first part of your Web site. People shouldn't have to scroll or surf very far to find the keywords they're seeking on your Web site. Many users won't have the patience. You want them to land on a page that provides what they are seeking, but also offers a representative view of what your site is all about. Thurow urges that you model a newspaper's traditional "inverted pyramid" style of reporting, where the most important information goes at the top of every story, with more details and secondary information as you descend further into the story. Also, don't be so consumed with having Flash images on your front pages, Thurow says. You're better off with keyword-rich text.
Submit your site to human-based directories first, then to spider-based engines. First thing to know is the difference between "human-based" directories and "spider-based" engines. Search directories such as Yahoo!, Open Directory Project and LookSmart are edited by humans. Search engines such as Google, AltaVista, Fast Search and Teoma employ high-tech "spiders" that crawl across the Web to collect keyword matches. All measure link popularity -- meaning the number of search engines, directories and sites linking to yours -- in determining rankings. But getting your site listed first on reputable directories (such as Google, MSN and Yahoo!) can boost your chances for quality links and stronger overall search rankings, Thurow says.
Design pages that provide search engine "spiders" easy access to your keywords. This is where a "search engine-friendly" site design comes in. "A search engine-friendly Web site design has at least one navigation scheme that search engines can follow," she says. It's not that hard to do. Nine out of 10 times, she says, just adding text links at the bottom of all the pages on your site is all it takes.
Do your directory submission right the first time -- you usually don't get a second chance. Don't file your submission at 3 a.m., when you're half-asleep. You need a factually accurate site description that contains as many keywords as possible. If your description contains little or no keywords, the editors aren't likely to change it -- in other words, they usually won't go back and change a description just so a site owner can add more keywords.
Constantly monitor your site statistics, to see what your visitors prefer. For example, if you find your "Human Resources" pages are among the most popular, you might want to consider adding more of those pages. Or if you spell "healthcare" throughout your site as one word, but your users' queries are consistently "health care" as two words, you might consider making the switch. You need to update your site constantly, based on what your audience prefers and which of your pages delivers the best return on investment. Focus your efforts on those pages, Thurow says.

For additional research to get the best keywords for your site, several search engines and directories list "related searches" or terms "people also searched for." A few, such as Overture and Google, offer free search-term research tools. (by jeff wuorio, http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/be_friendly_to_search_engines_8_ways.mspx)

Blogging for business: 7 tips for getting started

2007-09-17T08:43:00.001-07:00

A Web log, or blog, can be a boon to your business. In an accompanying article, I offer reasons why business owners and managers might want to establish themselves as bloggers.

But now comes the inevitable question: How do you get started?

Here are seven tips to get your Web log up and blogging.

Identify your audience. A basic precept of any business is just as essential with your blog. It's critical to pinpoint your audience and, in the process, decide what you're going to say that will make them read what you write. "It's really a process of elimination —what's not being covered by someone else?" says Scott Allen, co-author of the upcoming book "The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Using Online Social Networks." "What's your unique spin? If you don't have an original voice, why is anybody going to read it?"

Decide where your blog should live. Next up is determining where to locate your blog. There are numerous software packages that let you add a blog section to an existing Web site. A more automated and perhaps easier option is a blog hosting site (with a link from your Web site bringing visitors over). Here, the setup is easy, as the site usually provides preformatted designs and other options from which you can choose. In particular, watch for features that may be helpful in building traffic, such as trackers that identify recent posts and the most popular message threads. (See sites such as Businessblogconsulting.com for reviews of various publishing platforms. One easy place to create a blog is on Windows Live Spaces.)

Start talking. At this point, bringing your blog live will mean little more than placing your thoughts, observations and insights into the blog for others to read. But to really kick start your blogging traffic, don't just vent marketing-speak about how great your business is, or chatter about news and current events for which you offer no expertise. Instead, aim for a fresh, unique take. Provide a perspective that is heartfelt, compelling, and has the potential to help you market yourself and your business.
One way to get up to speed on what to say is to read other blogs and, in turn, offer your own viewpoint on an industry or business topic for which you know something about. "It's not a matter of competing with other blogs," Allen notes. "But one way to attract other bloggers to your site is to start reading other blogs and commenting on what they're writing about."

Get into the practice of "blogrolling." Getting regular visitors to your site isn't just a matter of fresh, insightful commentary. Building traffic between blogs is another central element to luring repeat visitors. Here, "blogrolling" is an effective tool. This, in essence, is a set of links on your blog site that identifies other sites on the Internet --- related to your business, industry or expertise --- which you find valuable. Developed in conjunction with a fresh voice, blogrolling encourages a steady back and forth between various sites, including other blogs. "Write commentary about what other bloggers have written, then link to them," Allen says. "That really gets you into the overall bloggers' pool."

Emphasize keywords. Search engine hits are another element of generating traffic. One strategy to attract search engine interest is through careful use of keywords in both your headlines and blog copy. For instance, if your topic focuses on marketing a business overseas, use of the words "marketing" and "overseas" as often as possible and in varied permutations can help push your blog site toward the head of the search engine line. "Stay on one topic, so your content is focused on keywords," advises Sally Falkow, a Pasadena, Calif., brand strategist who uses a blog in her business. "That, and link to other blogs on the subject."

Keep it fresh. One cardinal snafu that can bring down even the best intentioned of blogs is stale content. Nothing is more discouraging to prospective readers than returning to a blog site to find old or outdated material. So, be prepared to work at keeping your blog as fresh and current as possible.
That doesn't necessarily mean regular entries as lengthy as a Michener novel — indeed, many engaging blogs are built of short, concise messages. But make a commitment to update your blog on as regular basis as your schedule reasonably permits. “You need to develop what I describe as a ruthless persistence toward posting, particularly if you disseminate the blog's address, and customers or suppliers come to depend on the information," says Rich Hanley, director of graduate programs in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. "People view blogs as daily information vehicles, not once in a while musings on a stray issue. Think of blogs as a conversation, and that will help with the daily focus."

Watch your traffic closely. Don't make the mistake of feeling locked into your blog's initial topic. Monitor the amount and quality of the traffic you receive. If things seem slow or stagnant, don't be gun-shy about varying your themes or subjects to boost interest. But don't stray too far from your business or expertise. Also, advises Falkow, "Investigate how effective the [publishing] platform you choose to blog in is. I have tried several that did nothing for my search visibility."

(article by jeff wuorio, http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/blogging_for_business_7_tips_for_getting_started.mspx)

How to make money from your blog: 5 tips

2007-09-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Many of the people who write blogs today simply want to share their opinion on something. But then there are the business-minded folks, who have found a way to use blogs, or Web logs, to bring in a little extra cash too.

I recently wrote a column detailing how to get a blog up and running to boost your small business.

If you're interested in taking it further — blogging for bucks, if you will — here are five strategies that could turn your blog into a moneymaker.

Sell advertising. This is likely the most common means of leveraging a blog to generate income. If yours happens to become a well-known blog, or one that is well-received in a particular niche, it's always possible to sell ad space on your own. For lesser-known blogs, services such as Google's AdSense or BlogAds enable bloggers to establish ad programs.

AdSense's — which lets you select several ads that are consistent with the content of your blog — pays you based on how many readers click on the ads for further information. Even better, it's free. BlogAds, on the other hand, hooks bloggers up with would-be advertisers and levies a commission in return for any ad placements that result. "The nice thing, too, is that the ads are relatively unobtrusive," says Scott Allen, co-author of "The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online."

Help sell others' products. Here is another click-through opportunity. Affiliate programs enable your blog to serve as a conduit between readers and online sites offering various goods and services. One popular choice is Amazon.com. If, for instance, you offer book reviews or even just mention a book in passing in your blog, an affiliate program provides a means for your readers to click directly from your blog to Amazon to obtain further information about the book. If they break out the checkbook or charge card, you get paid as well.

Solicit contributions. Not every blog-related income opportunity involves hawking goods or services. As Blanche DuBois did in "A Streetcar Named Desire," consider relying on the kindness of strangers. Ask for contributions. If, for instance, your small-business blog supports a cause or issue in some fashion — say you repeatedly mention tax reform, health care or some other topic — you can always ask for reader support.

Even if you've attracted a group of regular followers who simply enjoy reading what you have to say, they may be willing to underwrite their loyalty with a little financial help. Programs such as PayPal make it easy to establish a simple on-site contribution collection button. "There are lots of worthy 'cause' blogs that would qualify for donations from grateful members of the blog community," says Las Vegas communications consultant Ned Barnett.

Market your services in your blog. Many people associate blogs exclusively with a cyberspace-based soapbox — a place to shout your opinions and little more than that. Granted, blogs are an ideal venue to share your thoughts with others, but don't overlook their capacity to generate new business as well. When appropriate, work in references to what you do and, in turn, what you may be able to offer any would-be client or customer who may be reading your blog. That can spread your opinion and your business moxie at the same time.
"Instead of short commentaries that begin a dialogue with readers, as many blogs do, I write the equivalent of journal articles that demonstrate my abilities, strategies and perspectives on specific issues," Barnett says. "When it resonates, it means money. Since starting this approach, I have generated three new paying clients and brought in about $10,000 on revenue — directly attributable to specific blogs."

Use a blog to deepen your existing customer relationships. Nor does any marketing material inserted in blog content have to be limited to bringing in completely new business. By using a blog to regularly communicate with existing clients as well as other readers, you can take advantage of the opportunity to fully inform them about everything your business does. That may expand your readers' understanding of the full scope of your products or services.
"My blog has helped existing clients determine the range of my skills and services," says Ted Demopoulos of Demopoulos Associates, a Durham, N.H. consulting and training concern. "One client who had only used me for training in the past was surprised at my range of expertise and is now using me for a consulting project. Another who only used me on technical projects is now considering me for a more business-oriented project." (by jeff wuorio, http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/how_to_make_money_from_your_blog_5_tips.mspx)

blog for money (beginner guide)

2007-09-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

Blog, If You Don't Mind Sharing

How many times have we heard that the more we give the more we'll receive? Is it also true in our blogoshpere? Before you ever decides to start their own making-money-online blogs, I think the very first thing you should ask yourself is whether or not you're ready and willing to share some hard-earned secrets. You might not yet have the hard-earned secrets just yet, but over time you WILL discover ones of your own. And when that time comes, will you be willing to share them?I'm not talking about any information you can find over the internet with a little effort. I'm talking about the sure practical ways you discovered that really really works! Let's say you stumbled across an untapped money making source and you're the first person to find the way in. You see this wide open treasure island that will bring you in more and more money over the years. If you share this magic secret in your blog, then hundreds of others will come pouring into it and there'll be little left for you. Are you still willing to share it? I say, you should be. Sharing your own secrets is what makes blogging fun. It's what makes the difference between personal blogs and professional websites. And don't ever be afraid of sharing your secrets here, because only then can you force your brains to be more creative and to come up with thousands of other untapped secrets that you're going to share with all of us. Share. And you'll discover a whole lot more.

Yes You CAN Help Newbies And Earn Money With Yahoo Answer

Some people say that Yahoo Answer is so full of newbies that you can't expect to make a dime with their help. How can they ever help you make a sale when they don't know a single thing about online marketing?I did prove it myself a while ago when there was this college girl looking for a way to earn some extra money to pay for her tuition. I asked her if she liked selling stuff and she said yes. Then I explained to her how IMC works and she was hooked. But that was before she knew how hard it is to promote the products. She gave up and never returned my email ever since.So, apparently, these kids from Yahoo Answer are NOT looking for the hard-earned money for a long term, but instead the easy way to earn just some extra bucks RIGHT NOW.Which made me come up with my do-you-have-fifty-friends technique.Here's how.Search Yahoo Answer for the keyword "money", and search only for the ones that do not yet have the best answer chosen. They might be asking something along the line of "What is the easiest way to make money online?" and might have been getting join-treasure-troopers answers. Now what I do next is reply to the question by asking them if they have 50 friends. If so, then they can make at least $50 in the next couple of days. I'll ask them to contact my email for further detail, as they will perhaps require some personal coaching to do it.And then I wait. The best thing about it is that any other readers might also be interested, not just the one who asks the question.Finally, the last thing to do is to tell them briefly how they can make $1 for every male friend they can refer to sign up to Adult Friend Finder, and $2 for every female. I give them the link, tell them to sign up as an affiliate, and the job is done.However, the technique does have one drawback as some people might not be open enough to idea of referring their friends to join an Adult site. You can only hope that at least one in three will bring you home some extra cash. Do it wisely and sparingly, and try it in some other forums too.

Work Your Way Up, Then Sideways

There have been some debates as to whether Page Rank is more important than traffic, or is it the other way around. I say, they are both equally important, although you don't really have to work on them at the same time. If you hate multitasking as much as I do, that is.Getting a high PR does not necessarily mean that you get tons of traffic. It does help you to get more traffic, though, if you optimize it carefully.Now, let's start with increasing your PR first.
When you're just starting a blog, you might only be able to exchange links with other new PR 0 blogs. It won't do you much good in terms of PR because those are definitely not quality inbound links. But that's okay, just don't overdo it. If those new blogs are good and develop fast, they will automatically increase your PR quite significantly. Have at least five exchanges. Eight is maximum.

You'll want to submit your blog to directories. Some people still believe that submitting their blogs to as many directories as they can will increase their PR rapidly. I only submitted mine to some directories and my blog made it to PR 4 in three months. I say, submitting your blog to directories won't really help you by much. Even if they're PR 7 directories, they'll have thousands of outbound links, which means that they are just as trashy as a link from a PR 0 blog.

Make friends with people who have great blogs. Visit them regularly and introduce yourself. Don't ask for a link back yet, though. Just make yourself noticed. If you're lucky, they might write something about the new blogs in the niche and who knows that yours might also get mentioned. That's one really good quality inbound link for you.
Try joining Digital Point Forum and hang around the Link Exchange section. There are people sometimes just looking for links and they don't care what PR your blog/website is, as long as it has the same theme. That's jackpot.

Finally, the best way to get backlinks is by writing great articles and post them to as many ezines as you can find! And don't just stop there, you can also optimize forums to promote your best article by having its title as your signature. My best linkbaiting article so far is the 101 ideas to write in your money making blog, which boosts my PR in next to no time.However, having lots of backlinks by way of articles might not bring you in more traffic. Your links will just be footnotes of your article posted in their blogs. And next week that post will no longer be in the front page. The inbound links you get are permanent, but very few will see or click on them. You'll rank high in terms of PR, but not in traffic. Now, the next thing to do is to take advantage of your high PR. First, take a look back at your outbound links (from the exchanges you did with other related blogs) and check them one by one. Are those blogs still active? Also, check your Google Analytics stat to see which blogs are not giving you any traffic at all. Get rid of them. Don't be afraid to do a little clean up. Tell those other blogs that you've taken off their links and that they can take off yours, too.So, now that you've got only a few outbound links, you'll have plenty of room for quality link exchange. Browse around for some blogs that have the same high PR as yours, or blogs with a slightly lower PR but is looking really popular and getting lots of traffic. Contact the owners and state your offer. And it's done.You'll start to see a rise in traffic in no time at all.

Where The Rest Of The Goldmines Are

If you're thinking about starting a blog, here's an advice that I can give you: don't blog about your journey to make money online. I know I did, and so do hundreds of others, and it's sure getting kinda lame. There's a whole lot of unexplored territories out there with more goldmines than you could ever find here. And to rule there is a whole lot easier! Here's why:
Most people blog simply for fun. They don't monetize their blogs like you and me. They might not even care that their blogs are forever at PR 0 or that they should be pinging every time they post something new. What this means is that if you could identify these unexplored niches, you will undoubtedly be able to conquer them right away, because you have the weapons and knowledge to do that!
People visiting those unexplored lands might know even less. They could be surfers who've never even been blogging in their entire life! It would be a lot less difficult to guide those readers to click on your ads or fill in forms offering free stuff.
You can use more general forums to advertise your blogs, and no one would mind! Again here, most forum members are simply there for fun. They have absolutely no idea that you're trying to make money out of them. Now, just what kind of niches are they? I'll give you six here, you figure out the rest that will suit your own interest.1. ArtYou don't have to be a painter or a photographer to blog about art. You could just browse the web for great pieces of modern art or whatever and post them in your blog. Promise your readers that you'd be posting daily for more great pictures, and that's it! You don't even have to worry about writing articles at all! With this kind of blog, it is highly possible to make money from: selling posters from an affiliate program you've joined, promoting your own stuff on ebay, selling tutorial DVDs from Amazon, and of course AdSense. If your blog is starting to look really good and more people start giving you compliments, you might even consider asking for donations.2. Fitness and BodybuildingI'm quite surprised to find out that not so many people blog about this. If you happen to know quite much, even theoretically, about fitness and bodybuilding, then why not give it a try? Daily tips you recompose from some magazines would do it. Or, if you're feeling a bit adventurous, why don't you blog about your journey to lose fat and gain muscle?It is indeed one of the most lucrative niches that are not yet widely monetized in blogs. Here you can sell: muscle enhancing products that hard-gainers often find too tempting to resist, ebooks about the kind of new training that's guaranteed to work, training videos and DVDs, and even subscriptions to magazines.3. Book DiscussionsWrite reviews about your favorite books using your own point of view. Then, join Amazon's affiliate program and put up the ads in a catchy display. Most people who like to read might also like to learn about new languages, so why not have an ad that goes something like "Learn Spanish In 30 Days". 4. Dating TipsIf you believe yourself to be a dating expert, then this could be a real money making opportunity for you. With this kind of blogs, it should be easy to earn money from: online dating sites (such as Friend Finder or even Adult Friend Finder that pays you mindbogglingly high), affiliating ebooks and DVDs about dating, and affiliating sites that require memberships.5. Scholarship InfoDo a little research on the web, quote a little here and there from this and that program, and that's pretty much it! Some companies pay their affiliate partners everytime a visitor fills in a form.6. Anything that's for women onlyIt could be a Chicken Soup kind of blog, it could be about make up tips, it could be about things you can do at home when you're bored, it could be about the truths of men, and it could be about how to raise a child on your own. The money making opportunity here comes from affiliating e-stores that cater for women's needs. They could be dresses, jewelry, perfume, and home decoration ornaments.Those are just six possible niches. There are probably hundreds of others left unexplored. Find your own passion, blog about it, and conquer your own niche.

Give Your Visitors These Reasons To Bookmark Your Blog

If you've been following my blog for quite some time, then you must have known that about a month ago I started getting bored with writing for this blog and almost called it quits. Then I wrote a post about a new quest that was to find out what it is that makes people want to come back to your blog.I never actually got to finish that quest. And just when I had almost forgotten about it entirely, the answer suddenly jumped up right in front of me, smacking me in the face. Here's what I found out.People come back to your blog because of need. Need is the main motivation behind it all. Maybe they need to come back and visit your blog again because you keep it updated with new stuff. Maybe they need to read your blog again because it's full of useful and easy to understand materials that they can apply to their own blogs right away. People come back to your blog if your blog kinda has it all. A lot of us can surely name a web encyclopedia they visit quite regularly. Wikipedia. Britannica. And why should our blog be any different? If you blog about making money online, then your blog should have the A-to-Z of making money online. Why should your visitors bookmark tons of other blogs if your blog has got it all?People come back to your blog when they start to feel like they know you. Giving your blog a bit of personality (not too much of it) is good. An even better way to achieve this is by commenting in other blogs creatively in ways that will make them remember you. People come back to your blog NOT because it has a beautiful design. Don't get me wrong, having a beautiful design other than the Blogger's template is good! But don't expect that that will bring you more traffic. People come for content, not for the appreciation of your sense of design.People come back to your blog because they want to see how you've progressed. If you're an online money seeker like myself, then it'll be nice to sometimes visit other fellow online money seekers to see how they're doing and maybe steal a little trick or two.And finally, people come back to your blog because your blog is just so much fun. Okay, I got to admit that I myself am struggling in this area. I still can't think of a way to make a blog about making money online FUN. There are a couple of ways I've come up with so far, though:
Have a little "Something of the Week" stuff. It could be a fun quiz you found from some websites. It could be a poll. Or it could be your own wisdom, one smart line to summarize what you've learned during the week.
Simplify your posts. Write in short sentences. If possible, include a drawing or a diagram under your every post to sum up what your post is about. So that's it, then. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more reasons to bookmark your blogs.

List of Google products

2007-09-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

This list of Google products includes all major desktop, mobile and online products released or acquired by Google Inc.. They are either a gold release, in beta development, or part of the Google Labs initiative. This list also includes previous products, that have either been merged discarded or renamed. Features of products, such as Web Search features, are not listed.

Desktop products

Standalone applications

AdWords Editor (Mac OS X (10.4), Windows 2000 SP3+/XP/Vista)Desktop application to manage a users Google AdWords account. The application allows users to make changes to their account and advertising campaigns before synchronising with the online service.
Desktop (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows 2000 SP3+/XP/Vista)Desktop search application, that indexes e-mails, documents, music, photos, chats, Web history and other files. It allows the installation of Google Gadgets.
Earth (Linux, Mac OS X and Windows 2000/XP/Vista)Virtual globe that uses satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS over a 3D globe.
Gmail Notifier (Windows 2000/XP)Alerts the user of new messages in their Gmail account.
Hello (Windows 98/ME/2000/XP). Allows users to send images across the Internet and publish them to blogs.
Notifier (Mac OS X). Alerts the user of new messages in Gmail and upcoming events in Google Calendar.
Pack (Windows XP/Vista). Collection of computer applications -- some Google-created, some not -- including Google Earth, Google Desktop, Picasa, Google Talk and Mozilla Firefox.
Photos Screensaver. Slideshow screensaver as part of Google Pack, which displays images sourced from a hard disk, or through RSS and Atom Web feeds.
Picasa (Linux and Windows 2000/XP/Vista). Photo organization and editing application, providing photo library options and simple effects.
Picasa Web Albums Uploader (Mac OS X). An application to help uploading images to the "Picasa Web Albums" service It consists of both an iPhoto plug-in and a stand-alone application.
Secure Access (Windows 2000/XP). VPN client for Google WiFi users, whose equipment does not support WPA or 802.1x protocols.
SketchUp (Mac OS X and Windows 2000/Windows XP). Simple 3D sketching program with unique dragging interface and direct integration with Google Earth.
Talk (Windows 2000/Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista). Application for VoIP and instant messaging. It consists of both a service and a client used to connect to the service, which uses the XMPP protocol.
Video Player (Mac OS X/Windows 2000/XP). Video player to watch videos from Google Video, including unique resume and download features. (Also included in Google Pack.).
Web Accelerator (Windows 2000 SP3+/XP/Vista). Uses various caching technologies to increase download speed of web pages.

Desktop extensions

These products created by Google are extensions to software created by other organizations.

Blogger Web Comments (Firefox extension). Displays related comments from other Blogger users.
Browser Sync (Firefox extension). Saves browser settings for backup and use on other installations of Mozilla Firefox.
Dashboard Widgets for Mac (Mac OS X Dashboard Widgets). Collection of mini-applications including Gmail, Blogger and Search History.
Pinyin IME (Internet Explorer extension) (Google China). Input Method Editor that is used to convert Chinese Pinyin characters, which can be entered on Western-style keyboards, to Chinese characters.
Send to Phone (Web and Firefox extension). Allows users to send text messages to their mobile phone (US only) about web content.
Toolbar (Firefox and Internet Explorer extension). Web browser toolbar with features such as a Google Search box, phishing protection, pop-up blocker as well as the ability for website owners to create buttons.

Mobile products

Online mobile products

These products must be accessed through a browser on a mobile device.

Blogger Mobile. Only available on some US networks. Allows you to post to your Blogger blog from a mobile device.
Calendar. Read a list of all Google Calendar events from a mobile device. There is also the option to quickly add events to your personal calendar.
Gmail. Access a Gmail account from a mobile device using a standard mobile web browser. Alternatively, Google provides a specific mobile application to access and download Gmail messages quicker.
News. Access Google News on a mobile device using a simpler interface compared to the full online application.
Google Mobilizer. Makes any web page mobile-friendly.
iGoogle. Simple version of iGoogle - you must visit the information page to choose which modules to display on your personal mobile version as not all modules are compatible.
Product Search. Updated version of the previous Froogle Mobile.
Reader. View Google Reader on a mobile device.
Mobile search. Search web pages, images, local listings and mobile-specific web pages through the Google search engine. If a webpage is not tailored for a mobile device Google will provide a simple text version of the webpage generated using an algorithm.
Picasa Web Albums. Lets you view photo albums that you have stored online.

Downloadable mobile products

These products must be downloaded and run from a mobile device.

Gmail mobile. A downloadable application that has many advantages over accessing Gmail through a web interface on a mobile such as the ability to interact with Gmail features including labels and archiving. Requires a properly configured Java Virtual Machine, which is not available by default on some platforms (such as Palm's Treo).
Maps Mobile. Mobile application for viewing maps on a mobile device. Unlike other Mobile Google products, mobile Maps is available in non-Java versions, avoiding the difficulties with getting a Java Runtime Environment installed and properly configured on the mobile device. Maps mobile is currently available in versions for Windows Mobile and Palm OS smartphones.

Yahoo! Search Marketing

2007-09-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Search Marketing (searchmarketing.yahoo.com) is a keyword-based "Pay per click" or "Sponsored search" Internet advertising service provided by Yahoo!.

Yahoo began offering this service after acquiring Overture Services, Inc. (formerly Goto.com) (overture.com). Goto.com was an Idealab spin off and was the first company to successfully provide a pay-for-placement search service following previous attempts that were not well received.

Origins of Goto.com

Goto.com was an Idealab spin off and was the first company to successfully provide a pay-for-placement search service.

In February 1998, GoTo offered advertisers the option of bidding on how much they would be willing to pay to appear at the top of results in response to specific searches. The bid amount was paid by the advertiser to Goto every time a searcher clicked on a link to the advertiser's website. By July 1998, advertisers were paying anything up to a dollar per click.

GoTo's business model was based on the idea that its paid listings would make it more relevant than other services, especially for general searches, and web sites that pay more are probably better sites. A similar service had been offered by Open Text in 1996, but this precipitated outcries and bad publicity because searchers at the time did not want the search process more commercialized.

In contrast, GoTo's pay-for-placement model was very successful. Commentors theorised that the web had matured in the intervening two years, and these type of economic models were more acceptable since the web was no longer just a place for academic research, but also a place for buying products. GoTo founder Bill Gross speculated at the launch that GoTo would succeed because, as a relatively new service, it had no reputation to taint with paid listings, unlike Open Text.

On October 8, 2001, Goto.com, Inc. renamed itself Overture Services, Inc. GoTo's chief operating officer Jaynie Studenmund said "We also felt it was a sophisticated enough name, in case our products expand."

Through partnerships, Overture enabled portals such as MSN and Yahoo! to monetize the hundreds of millions of web searches made each day on their sites. Indeed, these partnerships proved highly lucrative, and in a period otherwise marked by dot-com failures, Overture became a substantial profit driver for portals like Yahoo!
This success enabled Overture to acquire web sites such as AltaVista and AlltheWeb.

Acquisition by Yahoo!

In 2003, Overture was acquired by its biggest customer, Yahoo!, for $1.7 billion. The old brand name of Overture has now been phased out as Yahoo! re-brands all of its products under the Yahoo! name. The exception to this is in Japan and Korea where the local businesses continue to use the Overture brand.

Details of current service

Goto.com's and Overture's original services provided only a list of search results ordered according to the bid amounts paid by the respective advertisers. Yahoo!'s Search Marketing's latest iteration, code named Panama, was released early in 2007. It replaced the old formula with one more similar to what Google AdWords[citation needed] uses to rank advertisements against search results. The exact formula is secret, but it is basically Bid * Quality Score = Ad Rank, where quality score is comprised of the ad's CTR (click-through-rate), the relevance of the ad to the creative, and the 'quality' of the landing page the ad is sending the user to.

Yahoo! Search Marketing also provides features such as Geo-targeting, Ad Testing, Campaign Budgeting, and Campaign scheduling.

Patent litigation

In May 1999, Goto.com filed a patent application titled "System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine". The patent was granted as US patent 6269361 in July 2001. A related patent has also been granted in Australia and other patent applications remain pending.

Prior to its acquisition by Yahoo!, Overture initiated infringement proceedings under this patent against FindWhat.com in January 2002 and Google in April 2002.

The lawsuit against Google related to its AdWord service. In February 2002, Google introduced a service called AdWords Select that allowed marketers to bid for higher placement in marked sections - a tactic that had some similarities to Overture's search-listing auctions.
Following Yahoo!'s acquisition of Overture, the lawsuit was settled with Google agreeing to issue 2.7 million shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual license.

Adware partnership

In April 2003, Overture announced a three-year partnership with Gator Corporation, (now Claria Corporation) an adware company. Under the partnership, Gator's software monitored a web-user's activity on web sites and search engines (even sites such as Google that are not affiliated with Overture) and grabbed search keywords. These keywords were submitted to the Overture search engine. As a result, advertisers who paid for listings in Overture found their products advertised through Gator's Search Scout software, even if they wanted nothing to do with Gator. Overture faced a great deal of criticism for entering into this partnership.When Yahoo acquired Overture, the Claria software impaired the operation of Yahoo's services. For example, when a user with a Claria application installed used Yahoo Search, they received a standard set of Yahoo results with sponsored listings at the top supplied by Overture. The user would then receive a full-screen pop-under window from Search Scout. Since Search Scout uses Overture's paid listings as well, Claria's window has the exact same listings as the Yahoo search results.

Subsequently, Yahoo! came out with the Yahoo! Toolbar, which allows users to remove adware and spyware from their system. The toolbar affected the operation of Claria's software and may have put stress on the relationship between the two companies. Claria's website, claria.com, does not list Yahoo! as a partner and a March 2006 press release states that they are exiting the adware business.

AdWords

2007-09-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue. AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. Google's text advertisements are short, consisting of one title line and two content text lines. Image ads can be one of several different Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard sizes.

Google's AdWords division is based in Mountain View, California.

Pay-Per-Click advertisements (PPC)

Advertisers specify the words that should trigger their ads and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click. When a user searches Google's search engine on www.google.com, ads for relevant words are shown as "sponsored links" on the right side of the screen, and sometimes above the main search results.

The ordering of the paid listings depends on other advertisers' bids (pay for placement P4P) and the "quality score" of all ads shown for a given search. The quality score is calculated by historical click-through rates and the relevance of an advertiser's ad text, keyword, and landing page to the search, as determined by Google. The quality score is also used by Google to set the minimum bids for an advertiser's keywords.

The auction mechanism that determines the order of the ads has been called a "generalized second price" auction. It is a variation of the Vickrey auction.

Site targeted advertisements

In 2003 Google introduced site-targeted advertising. Using the AdWords control panel, advertisers can enter keywords of interest, and Google offers to place ads on what they claim are relevant sites within their content network. Advertisers then bid on a cost per mille (CPM) basis for placement. Advertisers can also enter domains directly. Google will provide a list of related sites that you can select along with your entered site.

Site targeting campaigns are mainly designed for branding purposes, as the ROI will almost always be considerably lower than a traditional content-targeted campaign. Your ad will take up the entire ad block (as opposed to being 1 of 4 ads in a traditional AdSense ad unit), which will make it more prominent but cost quite a bit more.
The minimum CPM you can set on a Site-Targeted campaign is 25 cents.

AdWords distribution

All AdWords ads are eligible to be shown on www.google.com. Advertisers also have the option of enabling their ads to show on Google's partner networks. The "search network" includes AOL search, Ask.com, and Netscape. Like www.google.com, these search engines show AdWords ads in response to user searches.

The "content network" shows AdWords ads on sites that are not search engines. These content network sites are those that use AdSense, the other side of the Google advertising model. AdSense is used by publishers who wish to bring traffic to their websites. Click through rates on the content network are typically much lower than those on the search network and are therefore ignored when calculating an advertiser's quality score.

Google automatically determines the subject of pages and displays relevant ads based on the advertisers' keyword lists. AdSense publishers may select channels to help direct Google's ad placements on their pages, to better track performance of their ad units. There are many different types of ads you can run across Google's network, including text ads, image ads (banner ads), local business ads, mobile text ads, and in-page video ads.
Google AdWords' main competitors are Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter.

AdWords Account Management

To help clients with the complexity of building and managing AdWords accounts search engine marketing agencies and consultants offer account management as a business service. This has allowed organisations that otherwise would not have the advertising skills to reach a global, online audience. Google has started the Google Advertising Professionals program to certify agencies and consultants who have met specific qualifications and passed an exam. Google also provides account management software, called AdWords Editor.

Click-to-Call

Google Click-to-Call is a service provided by Google which allows users to call advertisers from Google search results pages. Users enter their phone number, Google calls them back and connects to the advertiser. Calling charges are paid by Google.

Pay per click

2007-09-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's website. Advertisers bid on keywords they believe their target market would type in the search bar when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser's keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser's ad may be shown. These ads are called a "Sponsored link" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to, and sometimes, above the natural or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster chooses on a content page. Pay per click advertising is a search engine marketing technique.

Pay per click ads may also appear on content network websites. In this case, ad networks such as Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network attempt to provide ads that are relevant to the content of the page where they appear, and no search function is involved.

While many companies exist in this space, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN adCenter are the largest network operators as of 2007. Depending on the search engine, minimum prices per click start at US$0.01 (up to US$0.50). Very popular search terms can cost much more on popular engines. Arguably this advertising model may be open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and other search engines have implemented automated systems to guard against this.

Categories

PPC engines can be categorized into two major categories "Keyword" or sponsored match and "Content Match". Sponsored match display your listing on the search engine itself whereas content match features ads on publisher sites and in newsletters and emails.
There are other types of PPC engines that deal with Products and/or services. Search engine companies may fall into more than one category. More models are continually evolving. Pay per click programs do not generate any revenue solely from traffic for sites that display the ads. Revenue is generated only when a user clicks on the ad itself.

Keyword PPCs

Advertisers using these bid on "keywords", which can be words or phrases, and can include product model numbers. When a user searches for a particular word or phrase, the list of advertiser links appears in order of the amount bid. Keywords, also referred to as search terms, are the very heart of pay per click advertising. The terms are guarded as highly valued trade secrets by the advertisers, and many firms offer software or services to help advertisers develop keyword strategies. Content Match, will distribute the keyword ad to the search engine's partner sites and/or publishers that have distribution agreements with the search engine company.

As of 2007, notable PPC Keyword search engines include: Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter, Ask, LookSmart, Miva, Kanoodle, Yandex and Baidu.

Online Comparison Shopping Engines

"Product" engines let advertisers provide "feeds" of their product databases and when users search for a product, the links to the different advertisers for that particular product appear, giving more prominence to advertisers who pay more, but letting the user sort by price to see the lowest priced product and then click on it to buy. These engines are also called Product comparison engines or Price comparison engines.

Some Online Comparison Shopping engines such as Shopping.com use a PPC model and have a defined rate card. whereas others such as Froogle (also know as Google Product Search) do not charge any type of fee for the listing but still require an active product feed to function.
Noteworthy PPC Product search engines include: Shopzilla, NexTag, and Shopping.com.

Service PPCs

"Service" engines let advertisers provide feeds of their service databases and when users search for a service offering links to advertisers for that particular service appear, giving prominence to advertisers who pay more, but letting users sort their results by price or other methods. Some Product PPCs have expanded into the service space while other service engines operate in specific verticals.

Noteworthy PPC services include NexTag, SideStep, and TripAdvisor.

Pay per call

Similar to pay per click, pay per call is a business model for ad listings in search engines and directories that allows publishers to charge local advertisers on a per-call basis for each lead (call) they generate. The term "pay per call" is sometimes confused with "click to call". Click-to-call, along with call tracking, is a technology that enables the “pay-per-call” business model.
Pay-per-call is not just restricted to local advertisers. Many of the pay-per-call search engines allows advertisers with a national presence to create ads with local telephone numbers.
According to the Kelsey Group, the pay-per-phone-call market is expected to reach US$3.7 billion by 2010.

earn with adsense

2007-09-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. Google is also currently beta-testing a cost-per-action based service.

Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted ad system may sign up through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website.

Currently, the AdSense uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating site. If it is included on a site which has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, it will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes known as public service announcements (PSAs). (Note that the Mediabot is a separate crawler from the Googlebot that maintains Google's search index.)

Many sites use AdSense to monetize their content and some webmasters work hard to maximize their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:

They use a wide range of traffic generating techniques including but not limited to online advertising.
They build valuable content on their sites which attracts AdSense ads which pay out the most when they get clicked.
They use copy on their websites that encourage clicks on ads. Note that Google prohibits people from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. Phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".

The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction, in that it commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid.

AdSense for feeds

In May 2005, Google unveiled AdSense for feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSS and Atom feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official Google Blog, "advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising — and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from".

AdSense for feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by the reader/browser, Google writes the ad content into the image that it returns. The ad content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's site in the same way as regular AdSense ads.

AdSense for search
A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search lets website owners place Google search boxes on their pages. When a user searches the web or the site with the search box, Google shares any ad revenue it makes from those searches with the site owner. However, only if the ads on the page are clicked, the publisher is paid. Adsense does not pay publishers for mere searches.

As of September 2007, the HTML code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML, and does not follow modern principles of website design:
non-standard closing tags such as and
the boolean (minimized) attribute checked rather than checked="checked"
presentational attributes other than id, class, or style, such as bgcolor and align
a table structure used for purely presentational (non-tabular) purposes
the font tag

The terms of the AdSense program forbid their affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having validated XHTML websites.

How AdSense works
Each time a visitor visits a page with an AdSense tag, a piece of JavaScript writes an iframe tag, whose "src" attribute includes the URL of the page. Google's servers use a cache of the page for the URL or the keywords in the URL itself to determine a set of high-value keywords. (Some of the details are described in the AdSense patent). If keywords have been cached already, ads are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system.

Abuse
Some webmasters create sites tailored to lure searchers from Google and other engines onto their AdSense site to make money from clicks. These "zombie" sites often contain nothing but a large amount of interconnected, automated content (e.g.: A directory with content from the Open Directory Project, or scraper sites relying on RSS feeds for content). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs ("spam blogs"), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. Many of these sites use content from other web sites, such as Wikipedia, to attract visitors. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam and can be reported to Google.

MFA (Made For Adsense) is a site or page with few or none content, but filled with advertisements so user have no choice but to click on announces. Such pages was tolerated in the past, but due to complaints Google now disables such accounts.
There have also been reports of Trojans engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.

Criticism
Due to concerns about click fraud, Google AdSense has been criticized by some Search engine optimization firms as a large source of what Google calls "invalid clicks" in which one company clicks on a rival's search engine ads to drive up its costs. Some publishers have been blocked by Google, complaining that little justification or transparency was provided. Webmasters who publish Adsense can receive a lifelong ban without justification. Google claims the revealing of any information may reveal the nature of their "proprietary" click fraud system, and thus Google will not "disclose any specific details".

To help prevent click fraud, publishers can choose from a number of click tracking programs. These programs will display detailed information about the visitors who click on the AdSense advertisements. Publishers can use that data to determine if they've been a victim of click fraud or not. There are a number of such commercial scripts available for purchase. An open source alternative is AdLogger.

Google has also come under fire for allowing AdWords advertisers to abuse trademarks. In 2004, Google started allowing advertisers to bid on any search terms, including the trademarks of their competitors.

The payment terms for AdSense customers have also been criticized. Google withholds payment until an account reaches US$100 , but many small content providers require a long time - years in many cases - to build up this much AdSense revenue. These pending payments are recorded on Google's balance sheet as "accrued revenue share". At the close of its 2006 fiscal year, the sum of all these small debts amounted to a little over US $370 million - cash that Google is able to invest but which effectively belongs to its customers. However, Google will pay all earned revenue, even if smaller than 100 dollars, when the Adsense account is closed.

Google came recently under fire after the official Google AdSense Blog showcased the French video-site Imineo.com that clearly violates Google’s AdSense Program Policies by displaying AdSense near explicit adult content while other site owners were banned for showing adult content.