Friday, October 28, 2005

Use Clicksor with Adsense

Today, I received an email from Clicksor announcing their new real time keyword optimization tool for all the CPC ads (text banner and text link). Publishers can get to choose the keywords/phrases (up to 5) manually for the ads they want to appear on their site/blog. Once the 'Clicksor_search' line is inserted, the system will deliver ads based on these keyword(s) that's being entered.

This definitely has implications. We can now start using Clicksor along with Adsense, though you need to check this out and confirm with Adsense support. Isn't this what Chitika did? We now use Chitika along with Adsense.

Here's a sample code -

clicksor_banner_link_color = '#0000CC';
clicksor_banner_text_color = '#000000';
clicksor_search = ["music", "classical music", "jazz", "rock", "pop"];
...

Replace the five keywords above with what you want.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Blog Comment Disclaimer

Dave Taylor mentions in his blog that SEO Book's Aaron Wall was sued earlier by Traffic-Power.com for alleged inaccuracies and lies appearing in comments other people have left on his blog. Dave suggests that anyone in the blogosphere who is worried about potential liability issues should use this disclaimer or a variant thereof - "Because I value your thoughtful opinions, I encourage you to add a comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if I edit your comments for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and I may even delete off-topic comments." For those of you using Blogger/Blogspot, you could add this disclaimer after <$BlogItemControl$> in your template.
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AdGenta

Qumana Software has just released AdGenta, an advertising network focused on inserting ads into blog posts. They claim that their ad network is based on gathering the best of other ad networks, and invidual partners, into one central location. This would give you the best inventory, the best CTR, and the greatest opportunity to earn money.

Some features:
  • The ads are images, so they flow from blog to RSS to e-mail seamlessly
  • The ads are keyword-driven, so they don't conflict with contextual ad programs. I can use them along with Adsense
  • You choose the keywords, so you can decide which ads are best for your readers - not some computer algorithm
  • You can track the clicks by ad - that's right, you can watch to see which keywords are working out for you simply by tagging your ads with a title you can then see in your stats
  • You can preview your ad before you insert it - and we tell you if your keyword does not match any ads
and many more.

Sign up for an account at AdGenta. Approval is automatic, so you can be putting ads into your posts in minutes.

A Test Advertisement

Ads by AdGenta.com


I have signed up and would be experimenting with AdGenta.

Update (7.40 am):
  • Currently AdGenta can be used along with Qumana only
  • I downloaded Qumana, generated the AdGenta code and manually inserted it in this blog. It does not work, so far
(6.35 pm):
  • Tris Hussey of Adgenta wrote back saying that the above ad was visible to him. I have checked the same on IE 6.0.2 and Firefox 1.0.7, but I do not see the ad. I asked my friend in a different part of the city (using IE 6) and he too said there was no ad. What's wrong?
14th Oct. (6.35 am):
  • Qumana sent me an email that says that there could be some IP filtering going on and that they are working to get around that.
(9.35 am):
  • Tris just replied - "We suspect there is IP filtering occurring, but it is not likely that it is coming from us. The ad provider could be blocking ads from being delivered to certain IP address ranges. We are investigating this now."
25th Oct. (4.35 am):
  • Tris wrote back saying - "Well Satish, as I suspected it isn't AdGenta blocking the ads, but our ad partner. We are working on a process where if a user requests an ad and it can't be served by our partner we have some ads that we will serve ourselves. We are also expanding our partner network so that this will be less of an issue in the future." I guess, I will have to wait till they do this.
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Saturday, October 22, 2005

Customizable background colors for eMiniMalls

The Chitika eMiniMalls background color can now be changed. The option for that is now in the control. But if existing users want to hack the code, they can do use using a line like this:

ch_color_bg = "#CCCCCC";

If you get to Chitika.com by clicking this link your earnings remain unaffected but Chitika pays us a commission.
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Friday, October 21, 2005

New Adsense Tool

SitePoint talks about a great new Adsense Tool that scans the page you're thinking of inserting Adsense on. Adsense Preview shows you what ads will most likely be placed on the page in question - it gives you a good idea of what to expect from the Adsense service ahead of time. Adsense also offers a 'Competitive Ad Filter', which you can use to block domains, sub-domains or specific pages. Adsense can be a viable source of additional income.
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Saturday, October 08, 2005

Web CEO

I have been experimenting with Web CEO for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), for my Chess Online Blog. I have been using it for sometime now and the results are encouraging. For example, if you search for "Chess Blogs", you will find that my blog is listed 2nd on MSN search and 15th on Yahoo search. Not bad at all. This was possible by the various suggestions made by Web CEO. I know that I can improve this further.

With Web CEO you can:
  • Research your keywords

  • Optimize your site for high rankings in search engines

  • Submit your URLs to search engines

  • Check your rankings with search engines

  • Know who links to your site and competition

and much more. Why don't you give it a try and it's free too.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

The Kid's Programming Language, or KPL

Alexander Wolfe writes that Microsoft has signed on to promote a new programming language - The Kid's Programming Language, or KPL, intended to replace BASIC as the first step students take towards learning how to code. Indeed, KPL's affinity for .NET, and the fact that it runs only on Windows, may be the big reason Microsoft is supporting the new language. KPL, was developed under the direction of Jonah Stagner, and his colleagues, ex-Microsoft program manager Jon Schwartz and former NCR engineer Walt Morrison. The three run the software consultancy Morrison-Schwartz Inc. KPL can be downloaded for free.

The original catalyst for the development of language, Morrison said, was Stagner's desire to give his 10-year-old son and kids like him a worthwhile language with which to get started. "The idea for us was, let's get them going. Let's give them lots of examples of how games are written that are sound and audio and visually interesting to them, so they'll stay interested," Morrison said. "We think learning is best when learning is fun, that's our most important reason for the game and sound approach in KPL."

I had requested Jason Darrow to write about KPL and he has kindly obliged.

Byte has covered KPL too.
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Saturday, October 01, 2005

Free Excel sheet to monitor your Mutual Fund Portfolio

I have been slow in investing in Indian Mutual Funds but have realised that in today's context this is the best option. Value Research Online has helped me in this effort.

To monitor my portfolio, I have built an Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of my Mutual Fund investments and also automatically pulls the latest NAVs from the Value Research Online site. Those interested, can comment to this post with your email id and I shall send this sheet to you, for free. I would appreciate your comments/suggestions on this sheet.
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10:37 AM 21 comments
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