Free Web Money

Google Adsense introduces... Tell A Friend!

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 01:49:59 +0000

Here's an unusually fun update from Google that's oh, so reminiscent of the Google-sponsored Orkut friends networking tool: Tell A Friend! Yes, that's right, if you're finding that Adsense is a good thing - and you certainly should be if you're building your sites properly - then you can now use Google to send your friends some information about the program

What do I need to know about the new MSN Search Engine?

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 03:24:33 +0000

Now that MSN has removed the wraps on its new search engine (beta.search.msn.com), intended to compete with both Google and Yahoo, the obvious question on the minds of SEO people everywhere is: what algorithm is MSN going to use for their pagerank calculations?

Microsoft is being predictably coy: their FAQ states: "The MSN Search ranking algorithm analyzes factors such as page contents, the number and quality of sites that link to your pages, and the relevance of your site�s content to keywords. The algorithm is complex and never human-mediated."

Why You Should Avoid 'Page Swap' Link Exchange Proposals

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 16:29:23 +0000

As is fairly common, I recently received an email from someone seeking to crosslink our two sites. It is always a wee bit of a surprise when these messages arrive, though, given my article How not to build traffic: respond to email solicitations of Link Exchanges. You'd think they'd at least reference the points made in that article in their email!

Okay, I said in my response, tell me how you would propose we accomplish this. Well, his second message with the details of the proposed exchange - to build traffic on both our sites and increase our mutual page ranks, of course - quite startled me...

Smart Tips on Maximizing Click-Thru on your Affiliate Links & Ads

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:02:37 +0000

I bumped into the following tips and ideas about maximizing your placement of affiliate / pay-per-click advertisements on your page and thought they were some very sensible suggestions. The source of this material is the Equifax Affiliate Newsletter, which highlights a valuable, if rarely considered, additional upside to joining some of the major affiliate programs too: it's in their best interest to help you identify how best to position and present your affiliate links, so they'll often help you create the best possible pages for their products.

The Future of Online Advertising

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 23:58:46 +0000

If you were lucky enough to be with me here at Gnomedex in Lake Tahoe, California, then you already know that Paypal's Dave McClure moderated a panel entitled "The Future of Online Advertising".

Explore an example of an SEO-designed site

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 05:29:26 +0000

I've recently introduced a new Web site called College Finances.com and I'd encourage everyone to spend some time really looking at the layout of the site, the links between the pages, and much more: college-finances.com.

Optimal placement of ads on your Web pages

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 05:30:50 +0000

While many of the conclusions in the recent research released by the Poynter Institute where they analyzed how people view Web pages based on tracking eye movement are so painfully obvious that it's embarrassing to read the article, the overall set of tips are well worth considering nonetheless.

Before we get to the tips, though, take a step back and think about the English language. It's a left-to-right, top-to-bottom language, so after a lifetime of learning how to read and process information, it should be no surprise to you that Web pages are assimilated top left to bottom right, and that people only view the page until they ascertain the gist of the content and/or the information they were hoping to glean from the page. Therefore, it should be obvious that the top left corner of a page is viewed the most, while the bottom right corner is, you guessed it, viewed the least.

Interesting new Google Adsense Capabilities

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 16:25:33 +0000

In case you haven't already signed up for Google's Adsense program (see Partner with Google and Make Money! for some great reasons why you should), you might not know that the company has just expanded the program and added some useful new features that make Adsense even more desirable: multiple ads on a page, collapsing advert space, multiple domain support for SiteSearch (see Monetizing Site Searches with Google Websearch for more details on that Adsense capability), and some tips on an interesting experiment that Google's running and you might have already noticed.

How not to build traffic: respond to email solicitations of Link Exchanges

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:00:51 +0000

Here's an email message that I received today, quite similar to email messages I receive at least a half-dozen times each day:

I am contacting you about cross linking. I am interested in real life debt because it looks like it's relevant to a site for which I am seeking links.

Not too bad, so far. But read on...

What's Acceptable Search Engine "Spam" Technique?

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 04:08:32 +0000

After hearing a lot about it, I went over to SitePoint and read an interesting article by a "search engine optimization expert" wherein he enumerates his list of fifteen of the most egregious techniques by which companies and individuals "spam" the search engines. What's search engine spam, you ask? It's using inappropriate and deceitful methods of manipulating the HTML or other elements of a site to generate a higher ranking than the site would otherwise be granted by a typical search engine relevance calculation.

Monetizing site searches with Google WebSearch

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 06:45:53 +0000

If you've already signed up for Google Adsense, congrats. You're smart and you're probably finding out that pages and sites that have just been sitting around doing nothing are now generating a revenue stream for you. It's possible that it's enough for a latte every few days, but it might be more. Quite a bit more. I have colleagues who see "four figure days" with Adsense.

if you haven't yet plugged in, then you'll want to immediately read the article Partner with Google and Make Money!. Back? Good. Let's talk about a whole new facet of Adsense that you can utilize to generate additional revenue from your site: search.

The one page all sites should have: a sitemap

Sat, 29 Jan 2005 05:54:21 +0000

I admit it, a few years ago I was of the mindset that sitemaps were for Web sites that weren't well designed: after all, I reasoned, if the information layout made sense and the content was organized in a coherent and thoughtful way, you'd never need to visit a sitemap because you'd always be able to find what you were seeking directly through the site navigation.

The Right Way to Link To Pages On Your Site

Sat, 25 Dec 2004 03:45:06 +0000

Here's a topic that should be obvious, but isn't: how should you best code links on your site from page to page? Should you use something like "page two" or "continued..." or "more" with the page filenames as the links? Should you use absolute links that always begin with a leading / (as in "/reviews.html"), should you always use relative links (as in "../reviews.html") or should you use fully qualified links (as in "http://www.free-web-money.com/reviews.html")?

You can sell ad space on your Web site!

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:44:52 +0000

In previous articles, I've written about the terrific Google Adsense program (see Partner with Google and make money! for a good starter on the subject), but after the Internet bust of the late 1990's, I never realized that I could be actually selling advertising space on my Web sites, and making a tidy revenue stream off the deal. But I am, and here's how...

Maximizing your affiliate revenue with Amazon.com

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 06:30:26 +0000

If there's one affiliate program that seems to have more members than any other, it must be Amazon.com. I've heard that they have over 900,000 affiliates, and the payout isn't too bad if you have any click thru sales at all. Even better, it's fairly straightforward to sign up -- do so by clicking here -- and you can even be paid in Amazon gift certificates if you have a book, DVD or music habit that needs constant attention.