The IE8 InPrivate mode doesn’t prevent Google AdSense ads from being displayed

Have you downloaded InternetExplorer 8, yet?

As Microsoft introduces Windows 7, that’ll be the default browser so if you don’t do it by yourself on your current XP or Vista setup now, it’ll be done for you, in the next OS release.

Microsoft’s new web browser is packed with features and one of them has been quite a cause for concern, for the online advertising industry which heavily relies on external JavaScript calls to display ads.

Publishers displaying Google AdSense ads have been quite vocal about the possibility for a new feature, among many others, called InPrivate [browsing] mode (also called the “porn mode“) where the browser doesn’t record anything, may it be history, cookies or cache that’ll be wiped out at the end of the session (so you don’t get slowed down during that session), because it was feared that the ads, originating from Google, would cease to be visible.

If that were to happen, as is the case with AdBlock Plus for Firefox, it would have the potential to destroy large parts of the online advertising industry because IE8 is promising to become the browser of choice, over time.

But although things might change, right now, it looks like the InPrivate mode won’t prevent Google AdSense ads from displaying.

Millions of AdSense publishers might let go a long sight of relief, when looking at the following proof that AdSense ads display normally, even when using the InPrivate mode…

By the way, it should be noted that we used IE8′s “express settings”…

…and we also had InPrivate filtering turned on in such a way that IE8 would block content for us (with its own “default” settings)…

…with these settings “enforced” (none that we determined, actually)…

So that was pretty much as far as the typical web user would go, when using such settings. Assuming a “typical user” would be using them, in the first place.

In all fairness, it might be a while before this type of “filtering” reaches mainstream.

The AdBlock Plus extension, however, has prevented publishers from collecting untold amounts of advertising revenue, since it’s been released to the Firefox user base so the idea of seeing IE8 come out with a similar feature, not activated by default but easily available to all, has made honest and hard working —ad supported— publishers very nervous.

Fortunately, it doesn’t look like Microsoft will wage war with Google on that front. Perhaps the Redmond giant has a slight idea of what kind of “blogger-storm” it would attract upon itself by doing so or maybe it’s just common sense (yes, that too can happen at Microsoft, according to certains rumors).

Whatever the reason, Microsoft’s IE8 InPrivate mode seems to play nice with Google AdSense ads on all publisher web sites that we checked (and we checked many of them, from all over the world, in several languages) so for now, it’s all good.

Let’s hope —and perhaps lobby— for things to stay this way.

And for AdBlock Plus to grow up and stop hurting honest web publishers.

Tags: ie8, internetexplorer 8, microsoft, adsense, google adsense, google, online advertising, online ads, web ads, ppc ads, pay-per-click, ad zones, display ads, hide ads, prevent ads from displaying, adblock plus, inprivate, filtering, web browser, internet users, advertising revenue, money, finance, common sense

Google Maps will help AdWords… and AdSense!

There’s been a lot of talk about the lower eCPM numbers affecting AdSense publishers since mid-February of 2009.

Some people believe the revenue shortfall is mainly due to the financial crisis, others think Google is keeping more for themselves. Since nothing filters from Google, it might be a bit of both, or not.

In all fairness and because so little relevant information is published by Google on this particular matter, it’s anyone’s guess why so many publishers’ revenues seem to be hitting record lows.

But…

In these harsh times, there might be a glimmer of light and it could be coming from an unexpected angle: Google Maps!

Yes, for those of you who have discover (or re-discovered) the planet using Google Earth, it’s no secret that businesses can now be easily located (and spotted) almost everywhere. The businesses that stand out the most are those who have registered with Google’s Local Busines Center (based in Mountain View, CA).

Business that register with Google must prove the authenticity of the information they post so that insures that visitors only see up to date information (which is very important, for any business directory).

So…

When businesses register to (eventually) show up in Google Maps (and Google Earth), they’re presented with a catchy little pitch regarding Google AdWords — now, that’s interesting.

Imagine, millions upon millions of smaller businesses being introduced to AdWords. It’s awesome because it’ll likely translate into a much more diverse advertiser base, more bids for a wide range of keywords and ultimately, higher and hopefully more stable revenues for publishers.

Here’s what Google writes:

Reach More Customers

If you have a website and want to reach more local customers, give Google AdWords a try. In just a few minutes, you can create ads that appear only to people in your target cities. (You can also have an AdWords specialist build your campaign for you) The best part? You chose the cost of your ads, and you only pay if these ads bring people to your website. Learn more at http://www.google.ca/local/promo

By the way, the link is for Canada because the author is based… in Canada.

Online advertising is still a fragile ecosystem but by helping millions of smaller businesses join the AdWords action, Google is helping itself, of course but it’s also helping its AdSense publishers who should, in turn, prep up their web destinations to be somewhat “local friendly” because that might just be the angle through which ad growth will occur.

If you know businesses looking for free visibility, invite them to list their contact data with Google Maps. It’s fast, free and surprisingly effective (yes, your phone will ring and you’ll get email messages with serious inquiries).

This is good news because amidst a sea of bad economic news, here’s living proof that Google is steaming ahead and building what could well be one of the upcoming paradigms in online visibility… and advertising.

Tags: online advertising, google maps, google earth, google adwords, google adsense, advertisers, publishers, local content, local listings, local businesses, small businesses, ppc, pay-per-click, lead generation, keywords, web publisher revenues, money, wealth

Duplicate content isn’t good for your AdSense earnings

If you visit online marketplaces (like ebay) or web advertising communities, you’re likely to come across downloadable packs of ready-made, Google AdSense-optimized, context-specific templates which are packed with thousands of articles on a wide range of subjects.

For AdSense newbies who balk at all the hard work necessary to build up a fine web destination, such an opportunity to “get rich quick” is too tempting to ignore — so they download, tweak and install these packages, filled with articles ranging from acne to sports cars, waiting for the “passive money” to come in.

And since whoever was selling (or giving out) these template probably lured their “public” with (usually) fake daily revenue “proofs”, the hope for these AdSense newbies can be quite high, sometimes ranging as high as over US$1,000 a day… for basically just waiting for the money to arrive by mail, once a month.

But even though this entire fairy tale sounds exciting and somewhat “possible”, it’s not.

In fact, trying to rise up in the online world using this pre-made content is nothing short of impossible ��� unless you completely change its nature and mix and match it in such a way that it’s unrecognizable from its original form and provides much more value than the initial offering. But hey, this is “real life” we’re talking about and that means roughly 99% of webmasters won’t bother going through so much trouble so, at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of them will just upload everything up on their server, using FTP and wait for the clicks to happen.

Several problems may arise, at this point. Let’s go over some of them, briefly…

• Natural traffic to your “new web resources” will likely be anemic or non-existent, which means no revenue;
• Major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN will probably link to you in sandbox mode but will likely tag you,within a matter of hours or days, as “duplicate content” which guarantees you won’t list in the top 10… ever, maybe not even the top 1,000, or worse;
• Eventually, your worse nightmare will happen: a Google “search quality agent” —a real human being— will visit your site and award you a good or not-so-good score that, in some instances, may threaten your AdSense membership;
• Smaller directories, forums and bloggers will not be interested in linking to your web site because they too will see it’s duplicate content available eslewhere (way before you came around).

And because of this impossibility to properly (and organically) market your new treasure chest of information, you won’t be part of those who enjoy several hundreds of dollars per day, in Google AdSense PPC advertising.

You probably wanted to read that “it works” for some people (and maybe it does) but judgeing from what hundreds of frustrated webmasters have posted in various forums, this “strategy” doesn’t deliver on its promises.

But there’s an upside to all of this.

Looking at these templates and the mountains of content they convey might fire up your imagination. If that’s the case, anything is possible. You might decide to embark on the long-term, self-made and highly targeted road to riches, after all. That would be the sensible thing to do as the value of your work is therefore likely to stay pretty steady over time or, depending on what kind of content you produce, even increase (sometimes, significantly).

Newbie AdSense Publishers should aim to generate more realistic amounts of money, on a daily basis than “$1,000 per day, in less than a month”. Perhaps $10, $20 or even $50 would be a nice start. And within a year, how about $100 a day. That sounds feasible enough.

Simply pick a topic you genuinely like and fire up a blog. Post unique content on a regular basis and that’ll take you one step closer to becoming a valuable publishing-ally for Google (or any other advertising services provider, for that matter).

It’s possible to make a living off Google AdSense (this blog helps me do just that) but the winning approach is the one you know “in your heart” is the right one. It’s also the path less traveled and not too surprisingly, the hardest one.

But hey, as long as you know it’s possible, that should be enough to keep you going.

Tags: adsense, google adsense revenues, ppc revenues, online advertising, pre-made templates, adsense templates, passive adsense money, google checks, thousands of dollars per day, search quality, search engines, adsense publishers

Why OpenX is still “king” of the proverbial online advertising mountain

If you’ve been busy building up your forum, blog, wiki or social networking service lately, you’ll probably get to the point where you need to generate some revenue to keep the ball rolling.

Managing online advertising can be a royal pain but if you happen to be running OpenX, you already know how much fun it is.

In fact, the word “fun” is a gross understatement.

Exhilirating might be more like it.

For starters, OpenX is made available for free as a rock solid open source release which, for version 2.6.3, weighs a cool 10.5 MB of PHP coding muscle which banks on MySQL‘s awesome data management power to take you —and your advertisers— on a wonderfully enjoyable and productive e-ride.

The fundamental setup in OpenX is built around the logic of having “Advertisers” on one side, feeding banners and clickable slogans and “Websites” at the other end, displaying them. This very logical approach makes this script a breeze to get your head around… and the rest just goes from there.

For every banner you program OpenX to handle, you’ll find a wide range of preferences you can toy with like, for instance, when that particular banner should display and when it shouldn’t — and for who. The whole nine yards, really. And the same can be said about the many ways said banner can be made visible in the web site since, on that end too, the choices should make integration especially easy.

Then come “the statistics” featuring a balanced dose of numbers that’ll help you understand what’s going on without burrying you under a pile of useless metrics. As an added bonus, such statistical clarity is bound to make your advertisers love your choice for such a straightforward advertising script. Advertisers demand answers regarding the way their ads have been delivered and OpenX will prove to be a dependable ally to achieve this, time and again.

Theoretically, the script accepts an unlimited number of… everything! Advertisers, banners, web sites, you name it. OpenX doesn’t appear to be “limited” in any significant way, unlike so many other online advertising scripts. I say theoretically because I’m not aware of anybody who’s taken the time to test the limits of this open source script. As a rule of thumb, if you run an OpenX ad server on a web server featuring unlimited hard disk space, sky is probably going to be the limit, for you.

Over and above all that’s already been said, the installation procedure takes just a few minutes and goes so smoothly, you barely notice that you’ve just installed the hottest open source online advertising solution, on Earth! It’s -that- smooth, people.

If you enjoy participating in vibrant open source communities, you’ll see that OpenX’s is precisely one of those. Their blog is a living testament to the vitality of their movement but also, their originality.

So if getting your very own “twin-turbo, V10 engine-inspired” ad server sounds like a plan, download the latest OpenX release, install it and see for yourself how RIGHT ON THE MONEY we are about this fine piece of open source code.

Tags: openx, ad server, php, mysql, open source, online advertising, ad script, advertisers, publishers, ad stats, statistics, banners, text links, clickable slogans, adsense boxes, fast ad serving, free, fast, fun, efficient

Revenue Pilot’s new features

According to Salomon Smith Barney, the Internet search and related services has been estimated to be around $2.6 billion back in 2004 with an annual growth rate of over 20% through 2008.

We’re almost halfway through 2007 and according to U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray‚Äôs Senior Analyst, Safa Rashtchy, the paid search market has already reached nearly $7 billion in worldwide revenues, growing at a compounded annual rate of 35 percent.

As you can see, as more online advertisers are turning to performance-based online advertising solutions to fulfill their cyber-marketing objectives, pay-per-click search is quickly growing as -the- marketing solution of choice.

Revenue Pilot, based in Brooklyn, NY has earned itself a solid reputation over time, namely because of their respectable array of serious advertisers and on-time payouts to the publishers.

To make their pay-per-click ads even more convenient to display, for the publishers, Revenue Pilot has recently added new linking methods, such as:

• JavaScript Array
• TextFeed
• Dynamic Popouts
• Popouts
• Dynamic Layer Ads
• Floating Ads
• Interstitials
• Error Pages

Getting the codes to technically display Revenue Pilot’s ads through these methods (and others) is really easy but if you’re looking to seamlessly blend RP’s ads in your pages, the most efficient way to do it is through the “XML feeds” since they allow for virtually limitless visual customization.

Some keywords appear to be more lucrative than others. For instance, the “casino“-related paid search results seem to deliver the highest payout, for the publisher. Other competitive keywords inlude “mortgages“, “credit“, “finance“, “gaming“, “insurance“, “security” and “travel“.

In fact, if you deal in any industry where those keywords are applicable, it might be a good thing to sign-up for your very own publisher account where you get a healthy 60% from every “valid” click.

From my experience, dealing with the Business Development people at RP has been a very positive experience and for anyone with the need to monetize their good ideas, it may just be what the “doctor” ordered ; )

Tags: revenue pilot, pay-per-click, online advertising, tech, web