Google recently annouced an improved AdSense for search.

After reading it on the AdSense blog I went and checked it out in my AdSense account. You have a had time believing this is not Photoshopped. It is a screen capture I made when it happened.

It is nice to know even someone that defines quality websites like Google can have problems too.

I’m not sure why the sample was messed up. Could it have been a browser glitch? I was using FireFox. Was Google’s CSS messed up?

I know the improvement was in the way Search works not the look.

I still think it was pretty funny. Anyone else notice this happen when they announced it a while ago? I am sure it is fixed by now.

I am bringing AdSense back to this blog.

Most readers should never see them!

One of the many features of the Semiologic Pro theme is that is comes with the Who Sees Ads plugin built in. I am setting it up so AdSense only shows for readers who come from search engines. I’ll first show you a bit about the Who Sees Ads pluging then I will explain why, after no AdSense ads for over a year, I would bring them back.

Here is a screenshot of the Who Sees Ads plugin in the Semiologic theme.

The Who Sees Ads plugin allows you to control when an ad shows and who it shows to.

You can set an ad to show to a reader only the first time they visit or show for a particular number of times a visitor visits and then not again. The plugin allows you to have an ad not show until a post is older.

One other feature of the Semiologic Pro theme is that nearly everything on the blog is widgetized.

This makes arranging just about everything related to your blog as easy as arranging the widgets in your sidebar. It’s pretty cool.

Here is a screenshot of the widget admin screen in Semiologic Pro

Now, about the return of AdSense.

First, I do not feel that AdSense is something that would be appropriate for most of my readers. Let’s face it, most bloggers that would regularly read this blog avoid clicking AdSense ads out of habit. Also, for social network visitors, an AdSense block right at the top is a bit of a turn off.

AdSense does have an advantage for search engine visitors.

Often, a vistor from a search engine is looking for something related to what is on a page, but the information is not quite what they are looking for. These are the types of vistors that AdSense is good for. AdSense will serve up ads related to the post that may be closer to what the visitor is really looking for. I have posts that get search engine traffic that is probably not related to the main theme of this blog (making money, in case it is not too obvious). The normal ads that I have on this blog are not related to many of the searches that I get.

I am hoping that AdSense will monetize some of this traffic.

Otherwise, it is wasted traffic. At the same time, I want to keep the number of ads for my regular readers to a minimum. I also like to keep some control over ads to regular readers since there is an implied endorsment since they are on my site.

So, if you are a regular reader, no AdSense for you.

Christmas themes too!

ScratchBack has announced it’s new marketplace blog directory.

This will aid both publishers showing the widget and advertisers. The marketplace should provide a single location and increase the usefulness of the ScratchBack widget.

If you are using the ScratchBack widget on your site or blog make sure you sign up on the marketplace!

This will help advertisers looking for a place to advertise find you. I think most of my Text Link Ads advertisers came from the TLA marketplace. I think eventually many advertisers will be using the ScratchBack directory to find blogs and sites to advertise on.

If you are an advertiser, this directory will provide a great place to find places to advertise you site or product.

Right now, the list is small. I think this is because not too many publishers know about the site. I think this will fill up quickly with some very good advertising options. Don’t forget, links are just $1.00 on this site.

For more information about the directory or to get your site listed, take a look at the post on the ScratchBack blog.

Visit the directory and make sure your site gets on it.

We’ve sorta quietly launched our new directory, or marketplace, the other day. Check it out at www.scratchback.com/directory.

Are you a ScratchBack widget user? Feel free to add your blog or website to the free directory. Adding your site or blog allows advertisers/tippers to easily find your blog based on categories, so they can tip you.

ScratchBack Marketplace Blog Directory Now Open! | ScratchBack

The directory is a bit rough yet.

It seem like they have taken some kind of directory script and adapted it. It was not obvious to me where the URL was for the sites. But, it is a great start. It would be nice to see a specific place for the cost of an ad as well as some kind of traffic ranking for sites. Right now, you would have to visit the site and check everything out yourself.

ScratchBack announces Christmas themes for the widget.

If you would like to add a little Holiday spirit to your ScratchBack widget they have a few Christmas themes now. I like them. My only complaint is that they are still to wide to go in the column I wish to place it in here. I have been told that thinner widgets are in the works – I wish these were available in a thin version.

You do not need to change the code on your blog or site.

Just go to the ScratchBack admin and select the widget manager link. You only need to go through the steps. Once you get to the point it gives you the code you are done. No need to copy the code to your blog.

5 ways to make money with ScratchBack on your site and 4 ways to make money using ScratchBack on other sites.

What in the world is ScratchBack?

Maybe you have seen the widgets like mine around inviting you to be a Top Link or TopSpot?

That is the ScratchBack widget. It works a bit like a PayPal donate button. In this case, whoever tips you also gets a link on your site. That is what separates this from a typical donation to your site. I think it is a good idea.

The links are nofollow.

That should keep Google off your case. You do not have to worry about linking to a "bad neighborhood" as far as the search engines are concerned. You also keep complete editorial control over the links. You set it to let you approve links first or you can cancel links after they are up.

You can also offer small banner-like image links.

It would be nice to be able offer both,but you have to decide which you will have. I think that if you want to offer images this could discourage someone that does not have an image from buying a link. It would be nice to have a text only option for this.

My understanding is that a marketplace is in the works for ScratchBack users.

This should really help blogs sell a few links. I am hoping that it will work a bit like Text Link Ads system. I think TLA is missing a chance by not offering a nofollow option with them. They already have a huge market and I think many would welcome the options they could offer even with nofollow links.

I feel a little more comfortable knowing the links are nofollow versus the links with TLA.

I don’t have to worry about the quality of the site. While I would encourage anyone that might think their link would be controversial to check with me first. I don’t have to be too concerned. As long as the link does not lead to something obscene or a scam, I am most likely to let it stay.

Five ways for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

1. Keep the cost low and let it bump off, using it as a tip.

The lowest you can set ScratchBack is $1.00. After PayPal fees and ScratchBack’s cut, you get about $.60. That will be a bit less when ScratchBack raises it’s percentage after the Beta.

2. Use it as a moderately priced tip.

Raise the price of a link as they get bought. In a way, you will be auctioning the links off till you find a bit higher price that still seems low enough for others to pay for. The more traffic your site has, the higher this will be. In this case, you may still want to allow newer links to bump off older ones as long as the price is not too high.

3. Use as a replacement for Text Link Ads.

With ScratchBack, you can also set the links to expire after 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. In this case you will need to set your price accordingly. Right now, it is unreasonable to expect the same amount for a nofollow link that you would have gotten for one that passed PR. Still, if you have good traffic, it should be as useful as CPC text ad on your site to an advertiser.

4. Sell image link ads for higher prices.

I mentioned the trouble with the image ads above. Right now, if you offer image ads, they are all image ads and someone who just wants to tip you will need to make and image that is the correct size first. Still, for the right market, this is a nice option. In graphic niche it should do better. Still it does limit your market. I would go with the monthly expiration for the advertisers. So I came up with a fifth way for making money online with ScratchBack on your site.

5. Offer image ads with a free graphic designed by you.

If you have any graphic experience, it is easy to make a graphic. You can do this very easily with Photoshop Elements. A free option is Gimp. The image size is very small so there really is no need for anything too fancy. I am planning to offer this service with ScratchBack advertisers for a while at www.photographybyjet.com.

4 ways of making money online with ScratchBack when it is on other sites.

1. Advertise your site!

There are many good deals right now since it is new. Find a site with some traffic that still has a low ScratchBack price. If the site is set to bump, you could have a link to your site for several weeks. The trick is finding a site with traffic. Manuel Viloria was the first blogger to buy a link here to his blog.

2. Advertise your spammy site.

Actually, my first advertiser with ScratchBack was a bit on the spammy side. It is a link to a page of different home-based businesses labeled Top Work At Home. While I would not want a full link to a site like this, it is no different than an AdSense ad for a home-based-business. If you have some type of site that would normally not be indexed by Google, this is a good option for getting traffic. Always check with the owner of the page first since they may not approve your link if they do not like it and you will be out your tip.

3. Advertise a product.

Almost like the previous way to make money online with ScratchBack, this is another case where you would not normally get a link from a website or blogger. Jim Kukral (who is behind this whole ScratchBack thing) is the first one I saw using this. Think of it as running an AdWords campaign without a CPC. Jim used a link ad here to send readers to a site selling a cool flip digital video camera that plugs right into your USB port to send the video to your computer.

4. Set up a business creating ScratchBack graphics for advertisers.

Similar to method number 5 of making money online with ScratchBack on your site. In this case set up a page with fees and some design ideas for designing graphics for others who need buttons to advertise on ScratchBack. Yep, you need a little know how and software, but it could be handy. You may be able to work out a deal for a discounted ad with sites using ScratchBack with images. It will help them get more advertisers too. I may start to do this myself.

I hope I have given you some ideas on how you can be making money online with ScratchBack.

There are so many ways to make money online. This is an exciting time to be a blogger. Those who are successful are the ones who will take advantage of opportunities as they come along and use them to full advantage.

Blogging Zoom and ScratchBack, the wave of the future?

After several weeks with BlogRush, I am going to let it go in a couple days.

BlogRush has actually done better for me than I thought it would. However, that is not good enough. It has been a net positive gain in visitors versus those leaving by the widget. I have not complaints. It has brought a few visitors.

I seem to be getting less traffic even though I am giving more pageviews to the widget.

BlogRush actually seemed to work better for me before the quality improvement a bit ago.

I wonder if it was because visitors on poor quality sites were looking for somewhere else to visit? Either way, visitors from BlogRush since have been even less. Very few visitors that I know of have left here through BlogRush.

Would I recommend BlogRush to others?

Maybe. It does add another method to getting visitors to your site. It does not require any effort on your part. It is free. You can even leverage your traffic when other blogs sign up under you. It is not a bad deal.

The reason I am removing it is I want to use the space for something else.

There are more productive uses of the space. Even a larger MyBlogLog widget seems would be more productive. I do get more traffic from MyBlogLog than BlogRush. I am contemplating another widget and I think it is getting a bit crowded. So, BlogRush goes because it has not proven to be a performer.

3 Readers with over 14,000 syndications?

If you really want traffic, spend a bit of time with Blogging Zoom.

Blogging Zoom takes more work, but sends infinitely more traffic. Don’t forget to Zoom this post if you find it useful. *Update-Blogging Zoom is no longer and the domain is used for something else.*

What About Text Link Ads?

I am going to be telling them I do not want new TLA ads after the currently paid ones have ended.

As opposed to BlogRush, Text Link Ads has been a performer.

I have made many times more money with Text Link Ads on this site than I have with AdSense. I really hate to say goodbye to them. I have nothing but good things to say about TLA as a source of income. It is every bit as good as it claims to be for the blogger.

Everyone knows the situation with Google and paid links.

I really feel the situation is unfair. Not only to TLA but to bloggers. I do not like the idea of being told what to do with my site. I sincerely hope TLA continues to create new services that bloggers can work with.

I am replacing Text Link Ads with ScratchBack.

The widget in the sidebar that says Top Links is the ScratchBack ad. This system uses nofollow so Google can’t complain. I also realize that a nofollow link is not as valuable as one that does not have nofollow tagged to it. In other words, I won’t make as much money because the links are not worth as much.

Right now, the cost of a ScratchBack ad on this blog is $1.00.

When the 10 link spots are filled, they begin to bump off the older links. Once the 10 spots are close to being filled, I will raising the price. Once filled, I will raise the price again. I will be doing this to give value to those who have already paid for a link. When (not if) the cost of a link gets close to the price that TLA charged for a link, I will switch from bump off to a monthly or bi-weekly pay for the links.

Why would you want to pay for a nofollow link?

Because I will be working hard to have good content that brings traffic to the site. That traffic should bring traffic to your link.

Why use Scratchback instead of doing it myself?

It would be easy to set up something like this just by doing the links myself. ScratchBack does take care of the maintenance end of it. They will also make you a custom widget if you want them to right now. I am using them mostly because it looks nice. They are working on a marketplace that should help get more buyers.

Note that ScratchBack considers it a tip and I retain editorial control.

If I reject your link, you still pay. If there is any question about if your link might be rejected, contact me before you pay. I will let you know if I would reject the link before you pay. But hey, it’s only a $1.00 anyways right now. You can get your own widget at the ScratchBack site.

I can honestly say PageRank is not the reason I am not going to be using Text Link Ads.

If it were just the PageRank from Google, I would probably stay with TLA. It is profitable.

The real reason I will stop having paid links on the site will be the subject of my next post.

If you are not subscribed to my feed, subscribe now. My next post may surprise you. It may scare you. You do not want to miss it.

I just converted my How To Take Better Photos site to WordPress.

Originally, I created the site in Dreamweaver.

It was a bit of a chore learning how to do it. Additionally, whenever I wanted to add content, it took a lot of time.

This is what it used to look like.

Clicking on the image will take you to the new page.

With a static site, adding a page has some extra work to it.

Once you write the content, you add it to a page template. Then, you must change the links on the rest of the pages on the site to point to it. For me, this is enough to make me not add much in the way of content since the site was built.

The conversion from static site to WordPress took a while to accomplish.

The first task was to enter the content into the blog. I created a WordPress blog offline on my computer to do this. I used some free software called XAMMPLite to create the server to run WordPress.

The trick was to keep the content and pages with the same addresses they had in the static site.

You do not want to lose any links your site has built up already. You want to take advantage of any traffic you are already getting.

I used the permalinks feature in WordPress to reproduce the link structure of the original site.

One problem I had was I used subfolders for the various articles originally.

This was a problem. I was able to create a permalink structure that gave nearly every page the same URL as it had before. At least I think so. There are a few pages I was not able to keep with the same URL. These pages are not important anyway and should not have any links to them.

Once I had entered the content, it was time to convert the site.

I used the WordPress export feature to export the content and categories to a file.

I deleted the original site on the host.

I created the MYSQL database for WordPress. I edited the wp_config file to show the database, user, and password before I uploaded. I then uploaded the WordPress files to the server. I am using the Semiologic Pro for the theme and content manager on the site, so I had all the files I needed.

Only two major steps left

First, recreate the permalink structure I has used offline. Next, import the content file I had exported. All the pages were there in the right categories. Just a little fine tuning to do.

A few things needed to be fixed.

Links in the content from the static site no longer worked. I needed to find these and point them to the right pages. For a photography site, I have had (still have) very few images, but they needed to be uploaded to WordPress and replaced. Also, I needed to put the ads back on the site.

Semiologic has an ad managing system.

I want to take advantage of this so I did not keep the ads that were on the original pages. The next version of Semiologic has even better ad management that I think will be an asset, not only to me, but to regular readers.

I will be able to show AdSense to search engine traffic and new viewers and show fewer or different ads to regular readers.

I will be updating this site to Semiologic Pro soon also. I think my regular readers here will really appreciate it also. I should be making the switch within the next couple weeks.

In all, I have managed to keep much of the original look of the site.

I now have a 3 column layout. Right now, I have a mostly white theme where it was white and grey. I am planning to change this later.

Most importantly, it is now fast and easy to add content.

I am hoping to get an article up tonight. It will be about ghosts in pictures.

I hope you will check my photography site at http://www.photographybyjet.com.

Let me know what you think about it. If you have any questions about converting to WordPress from a static site, let me know here.

AdSense announced new features coming soon.

You will soon not need to paste new AdSense code to do things like change color.

Ever paste AdSense code into your site and discover it was the wrong color? Then you would have to go through and do it again?

You will be able to change things like color and border without having to repaste the code in your site. You will be able to do it directly from the site the AdSense manager.

Visit the Adsense blog and read for yourself.

This new ad management feature means that your ad unit settings (such as colors and channels) for new AdSense for content ad units will be saved in your AdSense account every time you generate ad code. Then, if you’d like to change any of these settings in the future, all you do is make the update within your account — you’ll no longer need to manually replace the ad code on all of your pages. For instance, you can quickly change the borders of all your 300×250 medium rectangles from red to blue with just a few mouse clicks. Fancy! We hope that this new feature will help you save time and will simplify the process of optimizing your ad units.

Inside AdSense: Coming soon: Make ad changes without replacing code

After reading it once, my first question was what if I only want to change the ads on one site?

After reading again, it looks like you will be able to use channels to specify which ads are changed.

I still wonder if it will possible to change the entire ad size.

Or maybe, switch to text only ads from picture ads.

I guess we’ll have to wait till it is released to find out.

Do you think this will be an important improvement for your ads?

Not just mobile Adsense

Google has a Adsense Ad for you.

They are calling them Gadget Ads. To me they look just like the flash banners and ads you may find from an affiliate.

You can read more at the Adsense Blog.

I you are into Internet Marketing or trying to make money you should be subscribed to their blog. You should subscribe even if you are not using Adsense. Google is the big player in the IM game and keeping an eye on what they do is important.

Introducing Google Gadget Ads

Today we launched Google Gadget Ads, customized "mini-sites" that run as ads on AdSense publisher websites. These ads are interactive, engaging, and will appeal to your users, simultaneously providing value to advertisers while getting visitors to stick around your site. The end result is that advertisers get more engaged users, users have a richer ad experience, and publishers opted in to image ads may see increased competition for their ad space.

Inside AdSense: Introducing Google Gadget Ads

You can see some examples of what Gadget Ads will look like here:

 http://www.google.com/adwords/gadgetads/gallery.html

What do you need to do to get Gadget Ads on your site?

Just say "Go, Go, Gadget Ads."

Actually, you just have to have the option for image as well as text ads when you place your Adsense code. This does not mean you will get them, it just makes it possible.

I think the new ads will help improve response.

For a while at least. I’m not sure that will really mean more money to publishers. That still relies mostly on your site and the market. After a while, the response will probably be no better than it started.

Several Weeks ago there were rumors about a bad Adsense check being sent to a publisher.

Today, at the Adsense blog, Google seems to be telling publishers not to cash those checks too quick. I could not pass up a headline to go with the following post.

After counting the days till your AdSense check arrives in the mail, you might plan to sprint straight to the bank. But before you try to achieve a land speed record getting to your local financial institution, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Bank on it?
Because bank policies vary throughout the world, we can’t say whether a specific bank will be able to accept your AdSense checks. Since all AdSense checks are issued by Citibank, a correspondent relationship between your bank and Citibank is required to process our US Dollar checks. We recommend that you check with your bank to find out if this relationship exists.

Source: Inside AdSense: Check up on it

I do not think Google in any financial trouble – at least not that I have heard of.

They seem to have taken the same attitude that many large corporations do with smaller companies and individuals. They pay you when and how they want. They seem to be taking extra long sending me my last check. Doesn’t really matter to me either.

I am somewhat taking this out of context, but…

Are the companies you are relying on for you income making you wait for the money you earned? Do they make you jump through hoops to get paid? Do they seem do put off your check or payment a little long once in a while? Maybe an extra day once in a while?

That is definitely something you need to worry about!

You deserve to be paid on time at the time they agreed to pay you, for the work you do. Late payments are a sign of a company that may be going out of business soon. It could be a sign that they are stiffing you out of the interest that you would get if you had the money on time. Also, are you really getting the money, or did they decide to pay you in merchandise or something other than a check you can get real cash for?

There are some companies out there that do this.

There are some home-based businesses that like to give bonuses in merchandise instead of cash. There are some online business that pay in forms that are useless as payment. Sometimes, you can only use the money you are supposed to get to by more of the same product you are selling. Not a great deal if you want to make a living at it. Some candles are edible, but that does not mean candles are a meal replacement.

If you are looking at a business, these are some things that can be easy to overlook.

Pay attention, find out where the money is.

Google is changing the look of Adsense ads.

Google’s new format for Adsense ads looks much cleaner thanthe old format. Although the actual ads are till the same the look is still different.

According to the quote below, the fonts are the same, but I think there is a difference between them. If you look at the display URLs they seem a bit smaller in the new style. It is a little hard to tell since they did not use the same ads in the comparison.

I noticed that the Google logo is now at the bottom right away.

If you do not use a border, the ads will resemble normal links a little more. Readers will not have the "Ads by Google" staring them in the face at the top of the block. Instead it is a bit less noticable at the bottom. This could include CPC a bit-some publishers have tried to hide the logo against Google’s TOS. 

After extensive testing and research, we’ve found that the new formats are not only visually appealing to users, but they also perform even better for publishers and advertisers. We’re in the process of rolling out this change to all ad units, and you should see that your ad units are automatically updated over the next few days. But, before you rush to make sure all of your ad units still match your site, please be assured that the fonts and colors of your ads won’t be changed.

Source: Inside AdSense: A fresh, new look for AdSense ads

So far, I have not seen any difference in the link bars.

They would much more effective if the logo is moved.

I usually do not use borders. The new ads are showing up on my sites already. While the logo is larger, it is less obvious. I like the new look myself.