Joel Comm and AdSense Account Closures

Contrary to good blogging practice, this is my first post on this blog for a few weeks. Unfortunately I've been busy setting up a new business and moving to a quaint old thatched cottage in the English countryside. Many topical news stories have come and gone during my hiatus but there is one that I just cannot resist commenting on.

One of the big news stories of recent weeks was the closure of several AdSense accounts that were based on MFA (made for AdSense) sites and AdWords arbitrage. However, for me the biggest aspect of that story was the hypocrisy of AdSense guru Joel Comm when he blogged about this topic. To quote Mr. Comm:

What did those publishers do wrong?

They had either built their site specifically for AdSense or they'd been practicing AdSense arbitrage (buying traffic cheaply from one place then selling it on to AdWords advertisers through their AdSense units.)

What both those practices have in common is that they put the ads ahead of the content.

That's just wrong. Google is making a good move for advertisers in drawing the line.

I'm certainly fed up clicking search results and finding myself on a page full of ad links instead of the content I want. And advertisers are fed up paying for clicks from people who aren't really interested in their services.

Do you see the blatant hypocrisy? No? Well, let me enlighten you. First, take a look at these 2 web sites run by Joel Comm, InstantAdSenseTemplates.com and SuperAdSenseTemplates.com. What are these sites selling? MFA web site templates! That is, Joel himself sells templates to create the very type of sites that he is disparaging in his own blog post. If that isn't hypocritical I don't know what is.

To make matters worse, I left a comment about this very issue on his blog but, of course, it didn't pass his moderation. That's the second time I've left a critical comment on his blog that he has refused to publish. Guess he's more concerned about protecting his online empire than actually being prepared to face honest, valid criticism.

I've had issues with Joel for quite some time (see this post and this one), now I've concluded that he's just a shallow money grabber and a hypocrite to boot.

Tags: adsense, opinion, joel comm

Text Link Ads Affiliate Program - Even More Unhappy

As I've written about here and here, I'm pretty convinced that something major is wrong with Text Link Ads' affiliate program.

As of today, I have now sent 410 referrals to Text Link Ads and not one of them has converted. You would definitely think that at least one out of 410 would have "place[d] an order with us or . . . [become] a publisher and install[ed] the ad script on their site."

So, even if referral number 411 does finally convert (which I doubt, somehow), that would be a conversion rate of 0.2433%. Pretty crap, doncha think?!?!?

Tags: text link ads

Why It's Not Worth Putting Competing PPC Ads Alongside AdSense Ads

I frequently read questions on various AdSense discussion forums regarding whether or not you are allowed to put ads from other PPC programs, such as AdBrite, Bidvertiser, Clicksor, etc. on the same page as AdSense ads.

In this post I'll discuss why I don't think this is generally a good idea anyway. However, first, what exactly are the rules governing this situation?

AdSense Rules Regarding Competing Ads

The rules governing competitive ads and services were amended earlier in 2007 and now read as follows:

In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.

In various places, Google has also stated that if the competing ads naturally have a similar look to Google ads, they must use a distinct color scheme to clearly differentiate them from the Google ads.

Thus, you can now use pretty much any competing ad program alongside AdSense provided they are visually different, even if the competing ads are contextual, which was formerly prohibited. Of course, you also need to make sure that the competing ad program permits AdSense to be used alongside their own ads!

Why It May Not Be a Good Idea

There are 4 main reasons why I think it is generally not a good idea to display competitive ads alongside AdSense. However, I want to begin with a proviso. I do not consider in-text ads as being competitive ads. By this, I mean such ad programs as Kontera, Intellitxt, etc.

So, here are my reasons:

1. Poorer Quality Ads
Many of these competing programs simply have poor quality ads, as compared to AdSense. They don't necessarily follow the same editorial policies that Google requires of its ads and often just look tacky. However, this definitely does vary from program to program. Also, the format of some AdSense competitors' ads is not good. For instance, Element Ads often truncates the title of the ad when it is wider than the ad width. Thus, you may see ads for "Bicycle Shelters and R" or "Lake Tahoe Mountain Cabi," for example, where the end of the ad title is missing.

2. Lower Paying Ads
In my experience, AdSense competitors tend to have lower paying ads both in terms of the average cost per click and the click-thru rate. For example, on one site of mine, I earned more than 10 times the amount with AdSense in about 6 weeks than I earned from Bidvertiser and AdBrite during a period of several months. (Note: AdSense was not run alongside Bidvertiser and AdBrite).

3. Competing with AdSense
This kinda goes without saying . . . but if you have other ads on your page that are competing with your AdSense ads, you are going to get less clicks on your AdSense ads. If the AdSense ads tend to pay more per click, why compete against them?

Another issue to consider here is that of payment threshold. Suppose your competing program has a $100 minimum payout requirement, like AdSense has. By running the two programs side-by-side you are going to take considerably longer to reach the payment threshold, even if both programs perform equally well. Now, if you're a high-traffic, high-earning site, that's not an issue, but I know there are plenty of AdSense publishers out there struggling to reach $50 in earnings, let alone the $100 minimum! Can you really afford to wait perhaps twice as long to get paid?

4. AdSense is More Than Adquate On Its Own
In my opinion, you really don't need competing CPC ads because you can already place more than enough AdSense units on a page anyway. Under the current rules, you can place 3 ad units (which may each contain up to 4 ads), 1 link unit, 2 search boxes, and 2 referral units per product. That's potentially an awful lot of ads to appear on a single page!

Of course, if you're unhappy with the performance of your AdSense ads, feel free to try other programs, or test their performance against your AdSense ads. However, in my opinion, AdSense is by far the best contextual PPC program available.

Tags: adsense

Google PPA Ads: The Pros and Cons

As you've probably already read elsewhere, Google recently announced a limited beta test of its new Pay-Per-Action ads. This new pricing model will initially only be available to U.S. advertisers and the ads are only going to be shown on AdWords' Content Network, that is, as AdSense ads.

Under the PPA pricing model, publishers will only generate income when a customer completes an action that the advertiser has predefined, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, etc. Each action is assigned a value by the advertiser and part of the price the advertiser pays goes to the AdSense publisher.

As part of this new pricing model, Google is also introducting a new type of advertisement: text link ads. This is in addition to standard text or image ads.

So, what are the pros and cons of this new form of AdSense advertising for you, the AdSense publisher?

Pros

More Control
Google's PPA advertising model has four characteristics that provide greater control and choice for the publisher:

1. Publishers can choose whether or not they want to have PPA ads on their web sites.
2. Publishers can choose "between an individual ad, a shopping cart of ads, or a specific term or phrase that is relevant to their site’s content."
3. The introduction of the new "text link ad" format gives publishers more flexibility in the type of ads being served.
   
4. Finally, before the ads start to be served to their sites, publishers will be able to "view the specifics of the ad, including company name, logo and products or services being sold."

I think point 2 is of particular importance. It is a frequent complaint of (newbie) AdSense publishers that they have no, or little, control over the ads being displayed on their sites. With the PPA model, publishers will be able to choose specific ads to display, or ads pertinent to keywords of their choice. This is potentially a big plus for the PPA pricing model.

Potential for Greater Earnings
This "pro" is certainly more uncertain and tenuous than the issue of greater control. However, because the advertiser can place a fairly accurate value on the action, they should be willing to pay considerably more per action than they would pay per click because, in reality, only a certain percentage of clicks ever leads to a conversion for the advertiser.

The issue of clicks and conversions also raises another important point to remember. Under the CPC pricing model, if clicks on the Content Network are less likely to lead to a conversion, the publisher's income per click is reduced as a result of Google's Smart Pricing methodology. Thus, PPA ads are a way of avoiding Smart Pricing.

Cons

Uncertainty and Risk
By far the biggest issue on the negative side with PPA ads are the issues of uncertainty and risk, particularly with regards to income. Because this pricing model is new, it will take time for prices to reach their optimum levels, such that they are attractive to advertisers but still providing a decent income to publishers.

Also, and by far the most obvious issue, is the fact that publishers will only earn when an action is completed. This will therefore put pressure on the publishers to ensure that such ads are displayed on pages that are likely to be read by customers actively looking to complete such actions. Thus, PPA ads are more likely to succeed on, for example, product review pages, than on purely informational or educational pages. Thus, it is going to be risky for publishers to place these ads on their sites without any way of assessing the likelihood that clicks will lead to conversions. This is particularly true of pages that are already generating a relatively decent income on a CPC basis.

Minimizing the Risk
So, given the riskiness and uncertainty of PPA ads for the publisher, how can this risk be minimized?

1. Have you Been Smart Priced?
If you have been an AdSense publisher for a while, analyze your income per click over time and see if it has gone down. If so, that means you have probably been "smart priced." That is, clicks on ads on your site(s) are generally not converting well. In this case, PPA advertising is probably not a good choice for you unless smart pricing has so siginficantly reduced your income per click that the value of a single conversion would exceed your CPC income within the time needed to get a conversion in spite of smart pricing.

2. Analyze Your Site's Content
Take the time to analyze your site's content with regard to the action the advertiser is trying to achieve. Are visitors to your site likely to be seeking to do what the advertiser is hoping for? Is your site's content very specific to the content of the ad and its associated action?

If you can answer "Yes" to these questions, PPA ads may be a good choice for you.

3. Test
Test PPA ads on a small section of your site as a trial. Make use of AdSense Channels to analyze the performance of the ads and compare their performance against (1) non-PPA ads on other parts of the site during the same time period, and (2) the peformance of non-PPA ads on the same section of the site prior to the switchover to PPA ads.

4. Are You Unhappy with your CPC/CPM Income?
If so, then PPA ads may simply be worth the risk!

Tags: adsense, ppa

Update: If you are interested in reading the pros and cons of AdWords PPA advertising from the advertiser's perspective, read my blog post on the subject.

MyBlogLog, a Passing Fad?

If you spend any time reading blogs, you cannot help but have noticed the impact of MyBlogLog ("MBL") over the last couple of months. For example, you've probably noticed those "Recent Readers" widgets sitting in the margins of many blogs, including this one. However, there seem to be mixed feelings about MBL and whether it really is a useful service or just a passing craze.

For example, Darren "ProBlogger" Rowse just authored a post entitled, "MyBlogLog - Is It Adding Value?" in which he wrote:

I guess I'm also still a little confused about what MyBlogLog offers bloggers . . . I'm worried that in it's current form their communities could actually hurt the reputation of the blogs that they form around.

Yet other "A-List" bloggers such as John Chow have been actively pushing their MBL communities and John has even run a competition for which you had to join his community in order to be entered. A sure sign that he's keen to build up his MBL community membership.

Futhermore, MBL was recently purchased by Yahoo, Inc. and will soon be transitioning to using Yahoo IDs in order to log in.

What Does MBL Offer?

Stats
So what does MBL really offer? Well, in my opinion, the best thing that MBL offers is its stats and the best bit about the stats is the "What Readers Clicked" listing, which lists all of the hyperlinks on your blog that visitors clicked on, including AdSense ads, external hyperlinks, etc.

However, even though I really like the stats, there are other sources of such stats, especially where your visitors came from and what they viewed.

Contacts & Admirers
I like the fact that I can see what other MBL users have linked to me as a contact or an admirer. But does this really have any value apart from massaging my ego . . . and the egos of other MBL users? I suspect not. However, people like having their egos massaged (and I got quite a buzz to see someone as well-known as Jill Whalen adding herself as a contact!) so I guess there is some value here but it's an intangible value and not anything that will actually add to the value of your blog in any real sense.

Communities
Again, this merely shows a list of people who have joined your blog's community. This gives them a chance to network with each other and to have your ego massaged again. Yes, it gives you a way of networking with others that you might not have met elsewhere but I'm not convinced again that it offers any real value despite the John Chows of this world that are making such a point of promoting them.

Spam
Yes, MBL offers quite a bit of spam, both in the form of messages, requests to co-author blogs, spam images in the "Recent Readers" widget (including scripts to refresh pages so a person's icon remains in the listing all day) and so on. In fact, this last weekend witnessed a bit of an MBL spamming frenzy, which the MBL owners have since tried to take steps to prevent in future.

Conclusion

If it weren't for the stats, I would say that, at the moment, MBL offers more fluff than substance and it was the stats that really caused me to join. The only other real value that MBL offers is the value that has been placed on it by well-known bloggers who are both promoting it and using their services on their blogs. As for whether Yahoo will add any real value to MBL remains to be seen and I shall look on with interest to see how it develops over the coming months.

Technorati Tags: mybloglog

Alternatives to AdSense: Element Ads

I recently noticed an advertisement for Element Ads (aff) among the Google ads on this blog, so I thought I'd try them out.

Overview

Element Ads (aff) provide semi-contextual text ads, very similar to Bidvertiser or AdSense. They are only semi-contextual because they are actually based on keywords that you enter for each web site on which you want to place their ads.

[Aside: at the moment you cannot edit these keywords either, the interface doesn't handle that yet. If you want to edit them, you have to email the changes to Element Ads directly.]

Element Ads also offer a nice range of ad unit sizes as well as the typical color scheme customization. They also seem to have a good advertiser base - at least, they do in this blog's niche!

As well as publishing ads, you can also earn money from Element Ads through their affiliate program.

The sign up process was also easy to complete, with no big hassles at all. The site is also pretty clean and crisp and easy to navigate and find your stats.

Rating

As far as customization and choice are concerned, Element Ads do well. However, my biggest concern is that their ads simply don't fit properly into the ad unit sizes in all cases. For example, in the wide skyscraper that has appeared on this blog, the ad title is often truncated, so you get ads containing text such as: "XML Affiliate F," "Earn Extra Mone," and "Work in the Com, " etc. Also, the boxes in which each ad appear contain a LOT of whitespace beneath the text. All in all, they look pretty tacky compared to AdSense.

In terms of earning potential, at the moment I cannot really judge this effectively but my gut feeling is that it may be quite low, but I could well be proved wrong. My ads are in a low visibility position so I wouldn't expect a high click thru rate. Thus far, they have had 274 impressions with no clicks. I think this is in part due to their position on the page and partly a result of the poor fomatting of the ads.

My rating for Element Ads as compared to AdSense: on the basis of the variety of options, 5/10. This could be increased or decreased when I am better able to assess their earning potential.

Footnote

If you want to display Element Ads on the same web site as AdSense, you may do so under the new AdSense competitive ads policy. However, in order to differentiate them from the Google ads, you will have to ensure that you use distinct color schemes for the two ad programs, otherwise you will be violating AdSense policies.

Technorati Tags: element ads

Kontera Doesn't Support New Blogger

As I mentioned in a previous post about Kontera, I have been having problems implementing Kontera's code in my Blogger.com blogs, which use the new version of Blogger.

I wrote to Kontera about this and, along with a bit of a mixup on their part, they said to contact them again if I continued to have problems implementing their code. I did just that and I finally received a reply from them, which is bad news for New Blogger users and, in my opinion, for Kontera.

Here is the beginning of their reply:

At this time, Kontera is not providing technical support for products like . . . Blogspot . . . but a number of our publishers have written about it and there is a fair amount on the web that can offer you advice as well. (Emphasis mine.)

So, even though Blogger ("Blogspot") could potentially carry an enormous user base for Kontera, they do not seem particularly interested in ensuring their advertising program works on it but just fob you off to go find a solution elsewhere on the Web.

Thanks Kontera, for nothing.

On the basis of this, my previous rating of 6/10 has dropped to 4/10.

Update: At some time since this post was published, Kontera has started working on Blogger. I have no idea if the change occurred with Blogger or with Kontera, or both.

Technorati Tags: kontera, blogger, blogspot

Agloco Viewbar Scheduled for a March Release

According to the Agloco (aff) blog, the infamous Viewbar should be released in March.

The author of the post, Brian Greenwald of the Agloco development team, goes on to say

Obviously, I have two minds when it comes to this. I really want the Viewbar out there. I want Members to start using it. I want advertisers and online merchants using it. And I want to start generating revenue for Members and the company.

On the other hand, I also want more time to get ready for the Viewbar. As a part of the AGLOCO Revenue team, I want to have more time to get more agreements in place so the Viewbar makes more money even at the start.

I don't know about you, but I find this whole thing rather worrisome. There are so many reputable people actively promoting Agloco members and yet there is nothing tangible to promote, except a hope that Agloco will live up to its own promotion. I also find Brian's ambivalent prevarications seem to be underpinned by a hint of concern that Agloco doesn't yet have the necessary advertisers to meet the promise of the Viewbar that has thus far been promoted.

Of course, time will eventually tell whether it's all smoke, mirrors, and snake oil or whether Agloco really is a viable means of generating online income, with a good base of advertisers. I hope it is, or there are going to be a lot of web gurus with egg on their faces.

Technorati Tags: agloco

AdSense and Exchange Rates

I realized that I've never seen anyone blog about this issue before but I think it's an important one that needs to be addressed.

Does Google allow for current exchange rates when calculating AdSense earnings?

This issue is premised on a few basic facts:

1. All AdSense earnings are calculated and reported on in U.S. dollars
2. AdSense ads are ads from the AdWords content network, which are paid for (and bidded on) in local currency
3. People browsing sites containing AdSense ads get ads served to them based on their geographical location

So, here's a scenario.

I am in the U.K. which currently has an exceptionally favorable exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. I have various web sites serving AdSense ads. If someone from the U.K. visits one of those sites, some of the ads they see may well be from advertisers whose target audience is solely within the U.K. Thus, if one of those British ads gets clicked on by a British visitor, is the current exchange rate taken into account when my AdSense earnings are calculated?

At the moment, the same ad on the same site should be worth more to me, all other things being equal, than it would have been a year or two ago because of prevailing high value of the G.B. pound against the U.S. dollar.

If you have any thoughts or information on this topic, please leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: adsense

Text Link Ads Affiliate Program Update

As mentioned in my previous post, I was contacting TLA to find out what an affiliate referral has to to in order for me to actually earn any money. This is the reply I received:

Once the referral takes place you can earn money two ways. One, if someone places an order with us or two, if someone becomes a publisher and installs the ad script on their site.

So, it would appear that of the 321 people that I have referred to TLA, not a single one has decided to advertise with TLA or publish TLA's ads on their site. I have really only promoted the latter program and, given that TLA is supposed to be one of the best-paying programs after AdSense, I find it hard to believe that not a single referral has placed the TLA script on their web site, particularly when you consider that it's a way of earning money that costs the publisher nothing. What's more, there's not even a minimum earning requirement.

Furthermore, supposing the very next person I refer does sign up, number 322. That's a 0.31% conversion rate.

I still think something's not right. What do you think?

If you've had experiences with TLA's affiliate program let me know about it by leaving a comment.

Technorati Tags: text link ads, TLA

Does the Text Link Ads Affiliate Program Actually Work?

Back in July of 2006 I became an affiliate for Text Link Ads (aff). Since that time, according to my TLA stats, I have referred 321 people to TLA but guess how much I've earned as an affiliate? Zip! Zilch! Nada! Nowt! Not a single cent has been added to my balance.

You would think that at least one person out of 321 would have done whatever is necessary to earn me at least a cent, wouldn't you?

I have written to ask TLA what a referral has to do in order for me to earn anything and is it correct that no-one has actually done so. This is the second time I have written, the first time I received no reply.

I will keep you posted.

Technorati Tags: text link ads, TLA

Why You Can Explicitly Encourage Clicks on AdSense Referral Ads

Google has just published an interesting post on the Inside AdSense blog entitled, "Referral policies - clarified," which explains why publishers are allowed to explicitly endorse the referral products (i.e., encourage clicks on them!) when they're not allowed to do so for regular AdSense ads.

The post gives 2 main reasons.

The CPA Nature of Referral Ads

Because referrals require the user to actually do something (the action) before the publishers gets paid by the advertisers, the advertiser will always get what they're after even if the publisher encouraged the click. For example, you won't get paid for any clicks on a referral ad for Firefox unless the person who clicked on the ad actually installs Firefox on their computer. In this case, the advertiser is happy, they got what they wanted, so they're happy to pay up!

Endorsing a Specific Product

When you endorse a referral ad product, you know exactly what product you are encouraging your visitors to click on. This is not true of ads that appear in regular AdSense CPC ad units and, as such, if you encourage visitors to click on those ads, you cannot possibly be doing so with any real knowledge that the products or services being advertised are of value to the visitor.

My Thoughts

I think in many ways this is a very sensible policy, however, as the post also points out, it must be remembered that you still cannot encourage visitors to click on referral ads "for deceptive purposes." In fact, unless you have actually used the product yourself, you cannot possibly genuinely endorse the product with any real knowledge of it.

Thus, this policy is still open to blatant abuse and I personally think the CPA nature of referral ads provides only a limited level of protection to the advertiser because many of the products being referred cost the user nothing.

It will be interesting to see if Google eventually changes this policy for free referral products.

Technorati Tags: adsense

Alternatives to AdSense: Kontera

Introduction

Kontera is a contextual advertising system that examines your site's text for keywords. It then transforms some of those keywords into hyperlinks that, when you hover the cursor over them, display advertisements. You get paid a certain amount every time one of those ads is clicked on.

Thus, Kontera is:

• Contextual advertising
• Pay per click advertising
• In-text advertising

Or, as Kontera puts it,

[Kontera works using] ContentLink™s, [which] are contextually relevant keywords discovered in real time on a publisher's web page that are automatically turned into a link to the most relevant and highest paying text ad from one of Kontera's thousands of advertisers.

Sign Up Requirements

According to Kontera's web site, in order to be eligible as a publisher, your web site must generate more than 500,000 page impressions per month, be primarily in English, and have more than 50 words per page on most of the site.

However, my experience with Kontera is that they are often happy to work with sites generating far less page impressions. Indeed, when I registered with them, the site I was publishing their ads on did not receive anywhere near that amount of impressions!

My Experience of Kontera

So far, in terms of payout, Kontera is currently second only to AdSense. However, it has still fallen way short of my AdSense earnings.

Another issue that I recently had (in fact, I'm still having!) is that I have been unable to implement Kontera's code on any of my Blogger.com blogs. I have tried every method I can think of to do so, but they have all failed.

As a result, I contacted Kontera support and received a fairly quick reply (less than 48 hours). However, the advice was not very good. In the email, I was also told to let them know if I still had problems. So, I wrote back to tell them I'd tried everything they'd suggested but with no joy. This email lead to the biggest frustration I've had so far with Kontera--their reply didn't even acknowledge or seem to realize that I'd already written before on this issue and, what's more, they didn't actually address the problem I was having with implementing the code but simply told me I needed to use different code on each of my blogs. This, of course, I not only knew but had already been emailed the unique code blocks a few days earlier, by Kontera. I am still waiting for their response.

Finally, Kontera's reporting mechanism often seems to have issues where they fall a few days behind. This happens frequently enough that it makes me feel uncomfortable but it always catches up in the end. However, it does sometimes make me wonder if it under-reports my actual earnings.

Competitors

The main competitor to Kontera is Intellitxt. This has similar sign-up requirements to Kontera but, in my opinion, is less open to smaller publishers. I also personally just plain like Kontera more - I prefer the format of their ads and the actual advertisers. However, Intellitxt generally seems a tad more popular than Kontera.

Conclusion

Kontera is definitely a worthwhile addition to any web site owner hoping to generate extra income, provided you have text-heavy site. As compared to AdSense, my rating would be a generous 6 out of 10.

To learn more about Kontera, read the ebook Kontera AdLinks Secrets (aff).

Technorati Tags: kontera, adsense

Bye-Bye eBay

I am done with eBay.

eBay used to be a great place to sell stuff and I have sold many items on eBay over the years. However, that has all changed. eBay now has a virtual monopoloy in the online auction world and its power has gone to its head. The fees that are now being charged by eBay U.K., especially when coupled with the additional fees you have to pay PayPal, which is, of course, also owned by eBay, it means that it is now no longer viable for me to sell on eBay.

So, I have closed down my eBay store and, if I ever need/want to sell anything else online, I certainly will never use eBay again unless they drop their fees by a considerable margin.

Yes, there are other online auctions but none that even comes close to having the clout that eBay has. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Bye-bye eBay.

Technorati Tags: ebay, ebay fees

Sick of Inside AdSense Video Posts

As you've probably already figured, I'm not happy with all of the video posts that keep appearing on the official AdSense blog, "Inside AdSense." The latest post, "Laura Chen answers your referrals questions" contains the following teaser:

Laura addresses these burning questions:

1. Why am I receiving less than the full amount for each conversion in my reports? Is something wrong?

2. After I've referred a person to AdSense, can I see how much they've earned so far?

3. Can I ask users to click my referral buttons?

The post goes on to mention how you can find further information on referrals in the AdSense Help Center.

So, what is my problem with these video posts, and this post in particular? One simple word: accessibility.

Video posts are great if you have a decent computer with speakers and you can hear - but what if you can't hear?

I am shocked and dismayed that in this day and age, Google doesn't provide a transcript of the video that is linked to from the post itself. As an accessibility advocate, I think this is appalling.

What makes this even worse is that at least 2 of the questions in the "teaser" are not answered in the AdSense Help Center. How frustrating is that!

Shame on you Google.

Technorati Tags: adsense, accessibility

Joel Comm's Monthly Templates Violate AdSense Program Policies?

In the Program Policies for AdSense, which all AdSense publishers must adhere to, you can read the line:

No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.

The well-known Joel Comm, author of "The AdSense Code," sells from his web site AdSense templates, which are basically ready-built web sites, content and all, whose purpose is solely that of generating income via AdSense ads.

That sounds like a Program Policy violation to me.

So, I left a comment on his blog post in which he promoted his monthly templates. I mentioned this program policy and my opinion that his templates possibly violated the AdSense program policy. Now a few days later, my comment has not been posted and, of course, he has left no reply.

That troubles me. I'd mentioned in a previous post entitled "Joel Comm or Joel Con?" that I had my concerns about Joel, now I'm more concerned than ever.

So, in order to assuage my concerns, I wrote to AdSense support to inquire as to whether or not such templates violate the program policies and I received an interesting response:

I understand that you would like to know on whether using a certain template complies with the program's policy. However, we do not endorse or encourage the use of any third-party tools.

We recommend that you exercise caution when using third-party software to ensure that you do not violate the AdSense Terms and Conditions. Please note that AdSense participants are solely responsible for verifying that any tools or software used in conjunction with AdSense do not violate the AdSense Terms and Conditions.

So, if I were you, I would not use any pre-built web site templates, whether they are from Joel or anyone else for that matter.

You have been warned!

Technorati Tags: adsense, adsense templates, joel comm

Digging Deeper into the New AdSense Program Policies

As I mentioned in my previous post, "New AdSense Program Policies", the "Competitive Ads and Services" section now reads

In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site.

In this post I want to concentrate on the first six words of this policy, "[i]n order to prevent user confusion."

That's an interesting statement, don't you think? What Google is saying here is that, the entire rationale for our policy is that we don't want our users thinking they're clicking on a Google ad when they're really clicking on an AdBrite ad, or a Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) ad because they'll get confused.

What a load of baloney!

Do you honestly think John or Jane Surfer could care less whether the ad is from Google, AdBrite, Yahoo, or even Bidvertiser!?! Yet, apparently Google is so concerned about us being "confused" that they want to make sure their ads look different to everyone else's.

I would love to hear from Google why they think John or Jane is getting confused and how that's harming them (harming John/Jane Surfer, that is).

I personally think this is a complete bluff on Google's part - all they're concerned about is making sure it's as hard as possible to incorporate two competing ad services in your web site, so that you will stick with AdSense.

On a side note, the only other time I've ever come across "preventing confusion" being used as a rationale for anything is in the area of trademark law. In trademark law, the "likelihood of consumer confusion" is a key concept and one that must be proven in order to win a trademark infringement lawsuit. Could Google possibly have legal reasons tied in with trademark law? I don't think so, as I said above, I think they're just concerned with maintaining their market share, but maybe there's a tad more to it than that.

Technorati Tags: adsense

Agloco: What No-One Seems to be Mentioning About It

I've read several bloggers promoting Agloco (aff) lately, such as Joel Comm, for example. Agloco is basically a paid-to-surf program: you sign up, download some software (the "viewbar" ™) and ads are displayed while you surf the Internet. You are then paid a certain amount according to your surfing and, presumably, the ads displayed.

However, what no-one seems to be mentioning about Agloco is that it is still currently in Beta testing phase and you can't actually download the viewbar at all unless invited to do so directly. I signed up with them several weeks ago and still cannot access the viewbar. What's more, according to their site:

The AGLOCO Viewbar™ is currently in limited beta testing and is not yet available for download. We expect that it will start to be available to download in several weeks. It will be released to Members in the order in which Members signed up. No testers are receiving any earnings while using the Viewbar™ in this testing phase. For now, we ask you to build the community, because both you and AGLOCO make more if you grow the community.

Now, I'm sure in time Agloco will be another useful tool for earning money online but, for the time being, it appears you won't be earning a cent from it! I wonder why no-one's mentioning that.

Technorati Tags: agloco

Alternatives to AdSense: Bidvertiser

In the middle of last year, Google wrote to me to inform me that I had to remove AdSense ads from my web site, adwords-for-profit.com, because the site was violating AdSense's trademark usage policy. This was a great shame because the AdSense ads had been performing well, which meant Google was earning, the advertisers were getting targeted clicks, and I was earning too. A win-win-win situation, you'd think. But, whatever, I had to remove the ads. This meant that I needed to explore for myself some of the alternatives to AdSense.

One of the main programs I've been using is Bidvertiser (aff). Now, I've read that some people have had pretty good success with Bidvertiser, however, in my experience, compared to AdSense, it has been a complete and utter waste of time. Since July 14, 2006, I have earned a grand total of $7.24 from Bidvertiser ads on adwords-for-profit.com (thankfully, that is not my only source of income!).

Now, that's a bit unfair because I'm not only displaying Bidvertiser ads, I'm rotating them with other ads, but even so, compared to AdSense, Bidvertiser's performance has been pretty dreadful. So what are the reasons for this? Below are my thoughts on the possible reasons:

1. AdSense's ads were way more targeted to my audience than Bidvertiser's. My site was primarily promoting Google AdWords and Google AdSense and most, if not all, of the ads were very specifically targeted to users of those two programs. On the other hand, Bidvertiser's most targeted ads tended to be about general "work from home," "earn money online" or "get rich quick" programs.
2. The quality of the ads themselves were generally much poorer than AdSense ads. They were often advertising rather questionable products or services and many of the ads were full of spelling mistakes and just poorly written. This was not true of all of the ads, but enough of them to catch my attention.
3. Many of the ads automatically approved for display on my site were either very untargeted or simply downright offensive. Ads were automatically approved for online casinos and the ad with the best payout in my currently approved list is for anabolic steroids!! I also regularly find ads for various questionable financial services and eBay items, which have nothing to do with my site and which I certainly don't want.

My biggest other criticism of Bidvertiser, as alluded to in point 3. above, is that I have to continually monitor the ads being displayed on my site in order to prevent inappropriate ads (to put it mildly) from appearing. This is such a drag. It would be great if Bidvertiser gave us the option to require our pre-approval before selecting new ads to appear.

All in all, even though I've heard of successful Bidvertiser users, my rating compared to AdSense would be 2 out of 10. Perhaps, as this blogger found, in order to earn money from Bidvertiser, you may only be successful when they are the ones advertising on your site!

Technorati Tags: bidvertiser

Perry Marshall: What's Up with His Affiliate Program?

Perhaps it's just me, but I think something's up with Perry Marshall's affiliate program for his "Definitive Guide to Google AdWords."

In the 3rd quarter of last year, this program was my most successful affiliate program. Of those that signed clicked on the affiliate links, 49% of the people signed up for his email mini-course and 5% purchased products. However, after some changes were made, a weird thing happened in the 4th quarter. Since that time, only 24% of people clicking on the ads are reported as having signed up for the email mini-course and less than 1% (0.89% to be precise) have purchased products.

So, signups have dropped from 49% to 24% and the conversion rate for purchases has dropped from 5% to 0.89%.

Doesn't that seem like a rather odd drop to you? What's more, no product has been sold at all for months now.

Well, I just took a detailed look at Perry's affiliate interface and found that in the area where you generate your links, the drop-down box from which you choose the affiliate program you're promoting no longer shows "Definitive Guide to Google AdWords" (or whatever it used to display), instead it has "AdWords > test redirect for tracking stats."

So, were we supposed to update our affiliate links, is the affiliate program now ended, are we simply meant to use this new link, even though it indicates it's merely a "test?" I don't know but I do know that no-one has contacted me about this in order to let me know what's going on.

One final thing ... I didn't get paid when I should have last year so I tried contacting Perry Marshall, or the people handling his affiliate programs, and had a job doing so. For ages, no-one responded to any of my emails, even though I used the link provided on his page. In the end I had to do some detective work to find out his company's phone number. When I did eventually get to speak to someone they were very helpful but, all in all, the ability to communicate with anyone regarding the affiliate program was sorely lacking.

I earned some good money from this program, which meant I also earned Perry some good money. However, I am now having to consider dropping his ads entirely.

Before I do that though, I shall try contacting them again and ask what's going on. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Technorati Tags: perry marshall, affiliates