Merry Christmas from PayPal!
December 19, 2007
Just sharing this holiday greeting email sent by PayPal’s Asia Pacific Team which I found really cool.
(I just hope earning money is as easy as picking those hanging currencies… LOL)
Anyway…
Happy Holidays, everyone!
- From PayPal and from us here at Pinoy Money Talk too!
Widgetbucks’ advertisers don’t like traffic from the Philippines
December 19, 2007
It’s official. Traffic and clicks on Widgetbucks ads coming from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Egypt, and Romania are not credited and will not be paid.
That’s according to a post in the official blog of Widgetbucks:
What are the non-paying countries or regions?
We are finding that advertisers are not willing to buy traffic from Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Egypt, and Romania.
It’s really important to mention this is an advertiser decision regarding the value of that traffic, NOT WidgetBucks’ decision. We repeat: this is an advertiser decision regarding the value of that traffic, NOT WidgetBucks’ decision. I emphasize this because publishers, for whatever reason, will undoubtedly and incorrectly draw the conclusion it is solely WidgetBucks’ decision.
Goldilocks’ website uses Blackhat SEO?
December 18, 2007
Jericho from the PMT Forum noticed last week that when he Googled the bakeshop “Red Ribbon,” what appeared at the top of the search results was, surprisingly, the website of Red Ribbon’s competitor, Goldilocks.
I did the same search but to narrow down the results, I used the keywords “Red Ribbon Bakeshop” and, indeed, the website of Goldilocks Bakeshop appears as the #3 result.
This surely is a rewarding online tactic for the Goldilocks website. Any visitor searching for Red Ribbon in Google might, upon finding Goldilocks’ site on top of the results, decide to buy from Goldilocks instead of Red Ribbon. It’s like wanting to eat a McDonald’s burger but discovering that a Jollibee store is just a few steps away while the closest McDonald’s outlet is a kilometer away.
Now, you ask, how come the Goldilocks website was on top of the search results for “Red Ribbon” and “Red Ribbon Bakeshop?”
Blame it on Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
(Videos) Charice Pempengco on Ellen, Star King and E!
December 18, 2007
The latest online sensation today is Charice Pempengco, a 14-year-old Filipino singer who is currently gaining popularity worldwide thanks to her YouTube videos.
Charice first joined a Philippine TV network’s singing contest called Little Big Star in 2005 where she placed 3rd. Her renditions of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls were posted on the video site YouTube and became instant hits.
The videos were instrumental for her to be recognized by a recording company in Sweden, who invited Charice in June 2007 to record and launch an album in that country.
She was then invited in October to join a talent show called Star King in South Korea where she wowed Korean audiences with her performance.
The video was picked up by US entertainment show E!’s The Daily 10 and was also featured on Ellen in November 2007, where host Ellen deGeneres showed web videos of different people she wanted to guest on her show.
On December 19, Charice appeared on Ellen and received a standing ovation — twice! — when she sang And I am Telling You I’m Not Going and I Will Always Love You. Host Ellen deGeneres, during the show’s Christmas special, described her as the “most incredible gift” she is giving her viewers.
Watch her Ellen guesting video below and other video performances after the jump.
Join the Charice Pempengco discussion in the PMT Forum.
(Pics) Singapore Idol wins 1st Asian Idol
December 17, 2007
Singapore Idol Hady Mirza bested 5 other idols from Asia to bag the crown as the 1st Asian Idol.
The Asian Idol competition featured winners of the American Idol spinoffs from six Asian countries consisting of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The competition followed a different voting procedure wherein voters from the participating countries were required to send SMS votes for two favorite Idols. The winner was determined through 50% viewers’ votes and 50% judges’ scores.
New Adsense ad format spotted again
December 17, 2007
It was just a few days ago when we spotted a new format for ad units that Google Adsense was testing. It included a new feature called the ad scroller or ad slider that lets site users navigate through the ads using the Up, Down, Left, or Right arrows (screenshot in the link above).
A few minutes ago, we spotted again here on our site a new ad format that Adsense might be testing. This latest format includes four (4) units of Button ads (125 x 125) — two (2) units placed side by side and two (2) more below it.
Pic of the new ad format below.
The new format is a welcome deviation from the traditional ad formats that Adsense has long been using. But the question is, can it increase the click-through-rate (CTR) of the ads?
Headlines of Philippine newspapers yesterday
December 17, 2007
Ah, the things that matter.
I skimmed through four Philippine dailies yesterday and was amused to see the varying front pages each newspaper had.
While the Philippine Daily Inquirer headlined the reversal of the United States position on a global warming pact at the end of a United Nations climate conference in Indonesia, the Philippine Star reported that convicted child rapist and former congressman Romeo Jalosjos was to be released from prison yesterday. The Manila Times, on the other hand, published a feature on poverty in the Philippines.
And what was the headline of the Manila Bulletin?
That the “Simbang Gabi,” a Filipino tradition of attending 9-day masses at dawn, has kicked off.
Pepsi to IPO shares in January 2008
December 15, 2007
Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI), local bottler for global softdrinks giant Pepsi-Cola, will offer up to 1.31 billion shares in an initial public offering (IPO) set in January next year.
More than 70% of the total shares will be made available to foreign investors. Proceeds from the IPO will be used to finance expansion in the country.
The shares currently have an indicative price of P6.04. The final offer price will be determined through an international book-building process and will be known by January 19.
The international book-building exercise will run from January 8 to 18, and the domestic offer period will be from January 21 to 28.
The stock will be listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and will start secondary trading from February 1.
Premium Adsense publishers get larger clickable ads, more ad units, other perks
December 14, 2007
Most Google Adsense publishers are not aware that Adsense has a Premium Publisher Program for the elite few — called such because not all websites can apply or be invited to the program.
The Premium Publisher Program is exclusive to websites that receive more than 5 million search queries or 20 million page views per month. When a site hits that mark, Google normally sends an invitation to the site to become a Premium Publisher.
What do Premium Publishers get? Apparently, a lot of the good stuff not available to “normal” Adsense publishers.
Take a look at how Google pampers their Premium Publishers.
w00t! 2007 Word of the Year is ‘w00t’
December 13, 2007
Dictionary maker Merriam-Webster this week crowned the word “w00t” as 2007 Word of the Year.
“w00t” — typically spelled with two zeros — is like saying “Yay!” and is used as an expression of joy by online users.
Visitors to Merriam-Webster’s Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers.
The Word of the Year runner-up is “facebook,” a new verb which means “to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site.”
Kudos to the word w00t! W00t!
