It’s game over for AGLOCO
December 11, 2007
We knew it was coming, and now it’s official: pay-to-surf program AGLOCO is dead.
The same guys who owned and ran a similar program called AllAdvantage in early 2000 reinvented the business and launched AGLOCO.com late last year. They thought they already learned the makings of a successful “get-paid-to-surf-the-net,” but, from the looks of it, they did not.
It’s now the end of the road for AGLOCO, but unlike AllAdvantage where members were paid more than $160 million before going under, AGLOCO’s members did not see even a single cent.
Earn more money online with Google Adsense Referral ads
November 29, 2007
The enhanced Referrals 2.0 program of Google Adsense now gives publishers more flexibility in offering a variety of products and services that match a site’s niche, ranging from, say, Computers & Electronics to Cars & Automotive to Beauty & Personal Care.
But one particular thing that webmasters like the most about this program is the fact that they can actually endorse products and even direct site visitors to click on the ads and try the products.
That’s what we have been doing with Adsense’s Referral ads on this site. Last week, we optimized our referral ads and conspicuously placed them at the Top-Center portion of the page, also adding the come-on title “Google’s Freebies.”
The result? Today, our referral income alone has already fetched $71.00++, beating the $23-in -one-day record registered in October — and the day’s not over yet.
Here are some tips to optimize referral ads on your site to help you earn more money.
Expect ad earnings to drop as Adsense, WidgetBucks revise rules
November 15, 2007
Online earners, especially those from the Philippines, are about to take a hit as two online earning opportunities Google Adsense and WidgetBucks recently changed rules that could possibly decrease a site publisher’s earnings from online advertising.
Adsense shrinks clickable zones
ProBlogger.net broke a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Google this week to announce that Adsense’s ad units will soon have smaller clickable areas. Until now, ad clicks occur when a person clicks anywhere on the Adsense unit. But with the change, clicks only happen if a person clicks on the actual title or URL of the ad unit.
See below a comparison of the old and new clickable zones (highlighted in light pink) in Adsense ad units.
Google’s reason for the change:
This new format will match the changes we’ve implemented on Google.com to help decrease the number of accidental clicks and increase the number of ad conversions. A reduction in accidental clicks will keep users on your pages, interacting with your content until they choose to click on an ad. This change will enhance the user’s overall experience with your websites and improve advertiser campaign value, but it’s likely that your click-through rate will decrease.
In the short term, this will surely affect publishers who receive additional earnings from accidental clicks. Google theorizes, however, that in the long run publishers still benefit because advertisers will decide to spend more on online advertising supposedly because of higher ad conversion. That remains to be seen though.
WidgetBucks to credit clicks from Canada and US only
In a similar attempt to increase ad conversion, WidgetBucks will no longer credit ad clicks originating from outside US and Canada starting today, November 15.
Make more money offline using money earned online
November 14, 2007
So you’ve managed to earn money online? Good for you!
What did you do with it? Bought a car? Got a laptop computer? Or treated your family and friends to Jollibee? In my case, I used my $1,000+ Google Adsense earnings in October to buy an LCD TV.
Nothing wrong with that, but do you know that if you defer gratifying yourself with luxuries, you’ll end up with something more?
I’ll show you how I used the money I earned online to make more money offline.
$4,500 Adsense check
In the article How to track Adsense checks sent via DHL, I wrote about using DHL to receive my Google Adsense’s Secured Express Delivery check sent in October.
Here’s a copy of that check, if you’re interested.
The total peso amount of P204,311.30 represents the $4,500+ earnings from Adsense (converted using P44.97 exchange rate) that I accumulated in 3 months.
MyBlogLog starts ProBlogger contest
November 11, 2007
Blog networking community MyBlogLog.com is currently running a contest that rewards its communities that grow the most from November 8 to 30.
If you own a MyBlogLog community and your community grew the biggest (that is, got more community members than the rest) until the end of November, then you stand to win more than $2,600 worth of prizes that include the following:
- One Year Pro MyBlogLog Subscription
- $500 worth of Yahoo! Search Marketing credit
- 1-year Premium Membership at SEOmoz
- Complete blog redesign package from www.designsbyrs.com
- One Year Subscription to www.blogmastermind.com
- A Featured Community for the month of December at MyBlogLog
- An invitation to the invite-only blog gathering, SOBCon 2008, in Chicago
More details in MyBlogLog’s “Become a ProBlogger Contest” page.
The catch?
The contest is open only to US residents. Awww… Tough luck to MyBlogLog community owners in the Philippines.
The LCD TV that blogging bought
November 7, 2007
In the tradition of “The xxx that blogging (or Adsense) bought” articles popularized by other bloggers such as Darren Rowse (who bought a house), Abe (Mitsubishi Lancer ‘97), J. Racoma (Toyota Corolla GLi ‘97), Marghil (Acer laptop), and Markku (Asus laptop) here comes my own story: The LCD TV that blogging bought.
I’m not usually the type who immediately spends what I earn. I prefer to reinvest the earnings I get from Adsense, stocks, and mutual funds into other income opportunities so as to further maximize the return.
But this time, I decided to pamper myself and give myself an early birthday and Christmas gift. After encashing my $1,000+ earnings from Google Adsense via Western Union last week, I headed off to Abenson’s in Market! Market! at The Fort and bought this 32-inch LCD TV.
WidgetBucks denies ban in Google search results
October 31, 2007
Last week, we wrote about WidgetBucks not appearing in the Google search results and hinted that www.widgetbucks.com might be banned by Google because of hidden text links.
A representative from WidgetBucks, Greg Harrison, responded and posted a comment in our article WidgetBucks is banned in Google and they know why denying our “conspiracy theory.”
Mr. Harrison explains that the Widgetbucks site had “page content issues that were causing the page not to be indexed properly.”
WidgetBucks is banned in Google and they know why
October 26, 2007
Google is at war again.
Yesterday, it slapped a lot of websites with a PageRank (PR) downgrade to send a signal that it hates paid text link ads. Now, it has been discovered that Google is also against WidgetBucks, a recently launched widget advertising program, apparently because of hidden text links.
Go to Google.com and try searching for “WidgetBucks” or “widgetbucks.com”. Chances are you won’t see its official site (www.widgetbucks.com) on the first page of the results. In fact, you won’t see it even on the next 10 pages.
Why?
Because Google has banned the site from appearing in the search results.
But why?
WidgetBucks Terms of Use and Program Policies
October 12, 2007
Just like Google Adsense, WidgetBucks has a set of Terms of Use and Program Policies that publishers need to adhere to in order to be properly credited for their earnings.
We have summarized below the highlights of those rules. Be reminded of the following so that you will not lose your earnings or, worse, your WidgetBucks account.
Invalid Clicks
WidgetBucks disallows any method that artificially and/or fraudulently generates clicks. These prohibited methods include but are not limited to: repeated manual clicks, using robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software. You are also not allowed to click on your own Paid Listings to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs.
Incentives to Click
The site must not require or prompt an end user to download a dialer in order to view content of the site. Incentives of any kind for users to click on ads are also prohibited. This includes encouraging users to click on the Paid Listings or to visit the advertisers' sites as well as labeling the Paid Listings with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements."
Use your PayPal account in Text Link Ads
October 11, 2007
Now that your PayPal Philippines account can accept payments, why not use it in Text Link Ads (TLA) — an advertising system that pays you to place advertisers' links in your sites?
Previously if you opted to be paid via check in TLA, it may take more than a month after the payout date before you actually receive the check. But with PayPal, funds are credited to your account on the payment date itself, every first day of the month. No more waiting period!
How does Text Link Ads (TLA) work?
Once you have signed up, TLA will provide you with a small ad code that you have to place on your site. TLA then sells the ad space to advertisers. TLA splits with you the final sale price of any ads sold 50/50. Ads on a site are priced based on an algorithm that factors in the traffic of a website, site theme, and link popularity.
What are the ways to earn from TLA?
