Google Adsense Referrals program will be retired

I've heard this news before that apparently Google will be retiring its Adsense Referral Program, I didn't believe it until I received this email from Adsense. Now it's official, Adsense referral will be retired by the end of August.

Thank you for participating in the AdSense Referrals programme. We will be retiring the AdSense Referrals programme during the last week of August. After that time, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads.

If you currently use referrals, either to promote Google products or offerings from AdWords advertisers, we encourage that you take the following steps before the product is retired:

• Remove all referral code from your site(s): Please take a moment to remove all referral code from your sites before the last week of August, so that you can continue to effectively monetise your ad space.


• Replace your referral ads with AdSense for content ads: If you have less than three AdSense for content ad units on a page, we recommend replacing referral ad units with standard AFC ad units. This will minimise the risk of decreased AdSense earnings when the Referrals programme is retired.


• Run and save all referrals reports to your desktop: All Referrals reports will no longer be available at the end of October.

It'll definitely affect my current earning with this new development.

Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO's and PPC's.

Both SEO and PPC advertising are the two main methods of online marketing. Both of these are aimed at getting highly targeted visitors to the website by making the website rank on search engine results for the keywords being targeted.

Cost and Budget considerations often result in a business having to make a choice between using organic search optimization or pay per click advertising for their business.

Now as we talk about SEO's vs PPC's there shall also be some explanations about as how the both strategies of marketing go about.

SEO's refer to the search engine results that appear. Ranking can not be bought and ranking is a result of organic non-biased steps taken over a period of time.

Organic listings are the results that appear in the main section of a search engine such as Google when there is a search for something.

In a Pay Per Click results are already paid for and results are almost immediate to achieve. Recent years have seen an exponential rise in competition and steep rise in pay per click costs.

Surveys and studies have suggested that users are more likely to click on organic search results that appear on the main section of the page rather than the paid listings that appear as ads on the right.

Organic listings are non-biased and cannot be bought. As such users trust the results more than the paid listings which are a result of paid advertising. The conversion rate for organic listings is much higher than for paid listings.

Rising cost of pay per click. Pay per click campaigns are becoming more expensive day by day as competition is increasing. It is common now a days to pay as much as £1 or £2 per click for a top 5 position in pay per click campaigns like Google ad words.

The results of organic search engine optimization campaign are more permanent that pay per click. In pay per click the results stop almost immediately at the end of the campaign whereas in organic listings the rank remains.

Pay per click advertising is a much quicker way to get results. It is useful to advertise events other marketing campaigns that cannot be planned months in advance. Organic Search Engine Optimization is a time consuming task and organic listings often takes months to achieve.


Naman Jain is an Online marketing professional, Presently working with Rupiz Media, one of the leading online marketing company offering expert UK web development, search engine optimization services and website designing solutions over the globe.

Article Source: http://www.free-articles-zone.com

Pinoy Pro Blogger made it to the Top 100

After almost a month of hard work, my official entry to the Busby SEO Challenge made it to the top 100. It was on number 94 overall yesterday, at first I can't believe it when I check my rank using seobook.com's Rank Checker so I checked the Busby SEO Challenge leaderboard to confirm, and it's true! I'm on top 100.

Now, I need to double my effort to maintain my current standing.

The Secret to Converting Web Traffic

Copy is absolutely crucial to not only delivering a great customer experience on your website but also converting all that traffic. This is true for traffic that originates from organic search as well as pay per click advertising. In fact, research has shown that organic search visitors tend to convert at a higher rate than visitors from search engine advertising. So how do we make the most of our efforts to attract visitors to our website?

Achieving a good balance between visitors from organic search and search advertising is important as the right mix will bring you more traffic. To maximise the opportunity this presents, I recommend you develop landing pages with "purposeful design". This is critical to the success of your online business.

When a visitor lands on your web properties (pages), their subsequent behaviour is determined to a large extent by what they see and experience within the first few seconds. How do you know what will work and what will not? Well we need to create different versions and test. This is where the science of landing page optimisation begins.

There are two types of tests that I like to apply. One is called AB Testing and the other multivariate testing. Each has its place in the optimisation process. Let me explain.

Let’s use an example to explain each. Let’s assume I have a website that sells products. Should I direct visitors from my pay per click advertising to a page that contains all the products in a category or should I direct them to a single product? Which will convert better? We use AB testing to find out.

AB Testing allows us to test the conversion rates of 2 different pages. So we might direct an equal amount of traffic to each of our pages for a period of time and monitor the conversions rates of each to determine which delivers the better result. Once we have a winner, we adopt that page for all subsequent visitors. We could do sequential testing on this page but that’s a topic for another time.

We can now apply multi variates testing to compare the performance of different elements of the same page to determine what works best. To do this, we select different parts of our page, for example the headline, an image and perhaps the call to action. Then we test each of these with alternative versions.

For example, each time a visitor lands on our website, we can display one of three images of the product. Once we have had a statistically valid sample of visitors through the page, we will begin to learn about which image works best. We can do the same for other elements.

It is important not to get carried away with the testing. I prefer to test perhaps one or 2 elements at a time with 2 to 3 versions of each. If you change too many elements, it is more difficult to assess what really makes the difference.

Once we have the results of our multi variates test, we adopt our highest performing option and then, you guessed it - we do it again!

I hope I have been able to explain how to convert your traffic. As a channel to market, the internet offers a rich source of information that can be used to fine tune your website. Over time, you will know what works and what does not. This really places you at a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.

Billy is an internet marketing specialist and writes on various topics such as landing page optimisation.

Article Source: http://www.free-articles-zone.com

How Can I Make More Money With Adsense?

The affiliate program from Google needs no introduction seeing as it is one of the most talked about subjects on the internet. Adsense provides the best solutions for individuals desiring to make money with their sites. The problem is that when most inexperienced users first start using Adsense they are still not familiar with the optimization techniques utilized by professionals to maximize earnings. At times these methods are so simple but very effective and can make a big difference at the end of the month.

The steps covered bellow are intended to be a guiding light that hopefully will help determine the best solutions that in turn will boost earnings.

Bigger is not better:
Having big ads displaying won't always provide the best results even if these banners and link ads are located on what might seem like premium spots. To the frustration of many users such a strategy normally proves fruitless, leaving many unmotivated and in the verge of giving up. Small ad blocks or link units can really make a big difference and shouldn't be neglected. What is important is the number of visitors clicking on the ads and not the space they occupy.

Move ads around:
Ads can transform a site completely by making it look more dynamic and in some ways, somewhat appealing. Site owners tend to look at ads as a mere money making tool and neglect to use them effectively, opting most of the times to have them displayed in the most obvious places. Moving ads around will help determine the most profitable placements which in return will maximize earnings.

Channels are important :
Channels for ads are the single most important tool that should be explored when using Adsense. They will help determine whether a certain ad placement, format, or color will be effective on certain pages. Running various tests and experimenting different possibilities will help determine the most lucrative alternatives for a site.

Link unites:
Inexperienced users will undoubtedly be drawn to the bigger ads over the more reduced alternatives since at first glance they might seem more profitable. Experimenting with various alternatives is the only way to figure which ads are the most lucrative.

Link units are often neglected given their small size and archaic look. These units can increase the earnings of a website considerably because they adapt to content and the interest of the readers. The topics displayed on the ads are normally based on subjects relating to the sites content and when users click on them they are brought to a page full of Adwords ads. Although clicking on the topics won't generate earnings, the publicity displayed on the ads page are very appealing and profitable.

Ads inside content :
Inserting ads in the content is one of the favorite ticks commonly used by more experienced individuals. Most people when visiting a site tend to neglect the information displayed on the sides since what they are looking for is always in the middle or center of a site. When ads are displayed with the content they capture the attention of readers and increase the amount of clicks.

Improving a sites earning potential isn't hard, using these simple techniques will make a big difference. Turning any site into a well oiled machine is the first and most important step to increasing the earnings.

About the Author

Another great way to promote your website or company is through the use of promotional products. You can get a couple of pens or cool gifts to give to friends and family to promote your site for free. Many companies offer free imprinted promotional products. You can also find more about custom corporate apparel here.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Search Engine Optimisation; Content, Content, Content

Search engine optimisation is rapidly becoming the buzzword in the world of internet business. It is likely that if you own a site that at some point you will have been approached by an SEO company courting your business and promising that you will see top search engine rankings in a short period of time. Ultimately these guarantees are often misleading and wholly unrealistic. Any company that claims that they can secure top rankings is most probably unscrupulous. That said, while there are many in the business that will happily lie to court your business, there are a great deal of optimisation companies out there who operate morally and only employ ethical forms of SEO.

Fundamentally it is important for you to understand when undergoing a process of search engine optimisation on your site that no one can guarantee the top position for any given search term. Only those who have the power over the search engines can make such guarantees and as none of the major engines utilise optimisation in-house, no guarantees hold water. Your optimisation strategy instead of pursuing high rankings at all costs should instead focus on three core principles. These are accessibility, usability and high quality information. If you make your website accessible to the searching public, easily usable and filled with quality, well written and unique content, optimisation will follow as a matter of course. By putting these three principles into action during development, the optimisation of your site will be made much easier and search engine rankings will eventually follow.

You must also remember when looking into a process of search engine optimisation that results will not be instant. SEO is not a quick and easy way to court online business and will in actuality take a great deal of time. It will require hard work, most important is the content on your site, spending time creating content of high quality may be time consuming but when it comes to optimisation it is essential. Patience is a virtue and nowhere is this truer than in the world of search engine optimisation. Most moral SEO companies will explain this to you from the outset, if a company is promising rapid results it may be worth finding a different company to carry out your optimisation efforts.

The importance of high grade, unique content in search engine optimisation cannot be stressed enough. It is a vital building block to SEO success. Even if you have a site that is technically perfect and highly visible to the search engine spiders, without good content you will fail to see results. If you have concerns over what defines quality content fundamentally it should be well written text that is factually and grammatically correct. The content needs to be unique and above all worth reading. The importance that search engines place upon quality information cannot be underestimated; good content will eventually lead to rankings success. Quality content means that not only the spiders have a reason to visit your site but human users will also find it worthwhile. By updating this content on a regular basis, the spiders also have a reason to keep coming back to your site.

If you remember these golden rules it is likely that your optimisation efforts will be eventually successful. Content cannot be underestimated in the design stage and should form a large part of your efforts early on. While there are many factors to consider including off page elements that will fall under the control of your SEO specialist, by dedicating yourself to the content you give your specialist the building blocks of a great site that tops the rankings.

About the Author

Internet marketing expert Thomas Pretty looks into the importance of quality content in the search engine optmisation process.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Tips to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

It is really worth cataloguing the very basic principles that should be enforced to increase the traffic to your very own website and improve your search engine rankings.

a) Create a site with valuable content, products or services.

b) Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.

c) Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.

d) Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags Headers, etc.

e) Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.

f) Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.

g) Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.

h) Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.

i) Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.

j) Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.

k) Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.

l) When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer 's experience fast and easy.

m) When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.

n) Don't look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization is a process of choosing the most appropriate targeted keyword phrases related to your site and ensuring that this ranks your site highly in search engines so that when someone searches for specific phrases it returns your site on tops. It basically involves fine tuning the content of your site along with the HTML and Meta tags and also involves appropriate link building process.

The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, AOL and Ask Jeeves. Search engines keep their methods and ranking algorithms secret, to get credit for finding the most valuable search-results and to deter spam pages from clogging those results. A search engine may use hundreds of factors while ranking the listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries may change continually.

Algorithms can differ so widely that a webpage that ranks #1 in a particular search engine could rank #200 in another search engine. New sites need not be "submitted" to search engines to be listed. A simple link from a well established site will get the search engines to visit the new site and begin to spider its contents. It can take a few days to even weeks from the referring of a link from such an established site for all the main search engine spiders to commence visiting and indexing the new site.

If you are unable to research and choose keywords and work on your own search engine ranking, you may want to hire someone to work with you on these issues.

Search engine marketing and promotion companies, will look at the plan for your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. If you wish, they will also provide ongoing consultation and reporting to monitor your website and make recommendations for editing and improvements to keep your site traffic flow and your search engine ranking high.

Normally your search engine optimization experts work with your web designer to build an integrated plan right away so that all aspects of design are considered at the same time.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Free Affiliate Programs

For more information and resource links on site promotion visit: Search Engine Marketing Specialist

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Google AdSense: How to Explain the Google AdSense Program to Others

We're not talking about strangers here. For the strangers that visit your site, your content will have to do all the talking for you. But for the people in your daily life, the ones you want to click on your referral button, and the ones you want to read and comment on your blog; these are the ones you want to be able to enlighten about the Google AdSense program.

First, excitement breeds excitement. Get excited about your new venture and others will too. Learn everything you can about the Google AdSense program, not only will this increase your earnings, but you'll be better equipped to explain the mechanics of the program to others.

Show them the money. There 's nothing like a little proof to make a believer out of someone. You don't have to wait until you're making thousands per month, although that 's a healthy goal. But even a small deposit in your piggy bank is enough to intrigue most people. Can't you just count those referrals now?

Google AdSense: Computer Knowledge and Direct Deposit

Do I Need to be Computer Savvy to Use Google Adsense?

You don't have to be a techno-geek to use Google Adsense. In fact, you don't need any more technical knowledge than you do to surf the web. Google Adsense is very user-friendly with a comprehensive support site to answer any question you might have.

You are first walked through the sign-up process where you are prompted for any and all information needed. You will then have a couple of days while you are waiting for your account to be approved. This would be a good time to familiarize yourself with the program policies, which of course you read before you signed up. But look again. Make sure the site you are registering doesn't have any of the no-no 's listed. For instance, some profanity is allowed, but nothing excessive. What is excessive? That could be a gray area, but if you're in doubt, don't register that site. There are plenty of sites with little or no profanity.

Look at the support site while you are waiting on Google Adsense and see what other 's are saying and doing. Most of all have fun. Your Google Adsense dollars are just waiting to be counted.

Does Google Adsense Offer Direct Deposit?

Google AdSense offers various payment options for publishers.

Electronic Funds Transfer (ETF) is offered in 16 countries whereby your payments are deposited directly into your bank account in your local currency. Check Google Adsense support to see which countries participate in this option. You will need to sign up for this option after your application is approved by signing into your account. You then click the edit link adjacent to the payment header. After you fill out the bank information, Google Adsense will make a small test deposit into your account. This is for security purposes to assure the account is really your own.

Watch your account for the test deposit to post, usually within just a few days. After you have received the deposit from Google, log back in to your account and in the Payment Details section, click Verify Account. You then will need to enter the amount of the test deposit. If you do not complete this step, your payments will be on hold. Once you enter the test deposit amount correctly, your bank will be approved and selected as your form of payment.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Free Affiliate Programs

For more information and resource links on AdSense visit: Adsense Adwords Google

Article Source: Content for Reprint