Alternatives to Adsense

Lately I've been looking at alternatives to Google Adwords, because (and let's be blunt here) it tends not to work.

If your page impressions are in the thousands rather than the hundreds, or you are managing multiple blogs then it may be worth it, but for the rest of us. . .

So what are the alternatives? WidgetBucks is being lauded as a better paying alternative. The ads are more customisable than Google's (although I'm avoiding the "pop-under" ads), apparently they pay more, between $3 and $6 a click in fact, and you can earn money through referrals. The minimum payout is $50, and they'll pay direct into your PayPal account.

Another bonus is that unlike some other ad networks, this one is free to join - no credit card needed here.

Worth using? I'll let you know. In the meantime click the link above and give it a shot. I'd be interested to hear how things go.

Blogging, traffic and advertising

It has been a while since I posted about blogging, site traffic and ad revenue - so we are overdue an update.

Over the past year we have looked at various ways of increasing traffic, earning you a fortune in advertising revenue and so forth. The all have one thing in common - they don't work (at least, not for long).

So what can bring in the readers? Strangely enough - the content. Yes folks, that oft forgotten part of a blog - the articles themselves. An article that shows up near the top of a web search on a subject can bring in a large number of readers.

What else? Images. Yes, images can increase your readers. Google Image Search is the reason for this - and can help bring in a steady trickle of additional readers.

How about adverts? I'm going to go out on a limb here and state the bleeding obvious - don't bother. Really. They aren't worth the hassle unless you have a very large audience. Even with a couple of hundred hits a day the amount of revenue you get is minimal - we are talking anything from a couple of cents to a couple of dollars a month here.

Guys, there is no golden method here. Keep writing, hopefully some of your articles will show up on the radar, and the more you write, the more chance there is of this happening.

Dead and Dying

I was going to post something about the PIN for Google Adsense arriving in the post today, but, to be honest, I really don't feel up to it today.

I've got that wonderfully grotty feeling that my wife sympathetically refers to as "Man Flu". So with that in mind I'm off to take some more flu medicine and sniffle in a pathetic manner, whilst I wait for it to take effect.

Changes to Adsense - Part 2

This morning I received an email from Google regarding the Adsense changes. So here it is, in their own words (with some highlighting from me on some of the important points):

Hello,

We have recently sent you a Personal Identification Number (PIN) via standard mail. You should expect to receive it within about 2-4 weeks. Once you receive your PIN, you will need to enter it into your account in order to become eligible to receive AdSense payments. To enter your PIN, simply follow the instructions included with your PIN mailer.

Please note that publishers have 6 months from the original issue date to enter their PIN. If you have not entered your PIN within 4 months, we will start displaying Public Service Ads (PSAs) on your web pages. If you have not entered your PIN within 6 months, your account will be disabled and any unpaid earnings will be refunded to the appropriate advertisers. You can learn more about our PIN policy at http://www.google.com/adsense_pin_info .

For additional questions about getting paid, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense_payment_guide . If you prefer a video presentation of this information, we encourage you to watch our Payment demo (currently available in English only), located at http://www.google.com/adsense_payment_demo .

Yours sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

So if you are still waiting for your pin, don't delay when it turns up or you may end up loosing out on your pending payments.

Changes to Adsense

Like most of us I'll check my Adsense stats every day or so to see if a miracle has happened and someone has clicked on an advert (hey, stranger things have happened!). Today, however, I received this message when I logged on:

IMPORTANT: Your payments are currently on hold. Action is required to release payment.

There were two things that need to be done to "resolve" the issue. One is to verify my pin number (more on that later), the other is to verify my phone number. Yes, that's right, they want to be sure that your phone number is genuine. No phone number - no payments.

The verification process for this is pretty straight forward. A six digit pin number is generated and displayed on screen, then they phone you. Enter the pin on your phone keypad and thats it. All done.

The other issue is that they also want to verify your home address. This time, however, they put a pin number in the post to you. Once you receive it you'll need to enter it to unlock payments.

For me this isn't really much of an issue. I've yet to make enough though adsense to warrant a payout (the $100 limit is still quite a long way off) but if you were about to be paid then you may find that this will be delayed until everything has been verified.