What’s Up With MEMWG?
I must apologize to my regular readers for this site’s inactivity this week. I’ve had some issues with the WordPress blog being too much of a resource hog and causing me problems with my hosting service. At this point I’ve enabled caching (via WP Super Cachemebeli) and I’ve updated the Redirection plugin to the latest version. The latter was doing way too many database queries…. if that doesn’t work then I’ll have to disable it and find another way to redirect those several hundred old pages to their new addresses.
I’m hoping things will settle down so I can get back to the real work of this blog!
Tags: AdSense
Heart Attacks Due To Google’s AdSense
I’m sure some AdSense publishers felt a bit sick today seeing their earnings. For some reason, the stats shown in the AdSense console stopped updating early this morning (Pacific time) and were static for most of the day. They’ve started updating, finally, but they’re still way behind where they should be. (Or else I’ve having a really bad day!)
According to an official post in the AdSense help group, Google’s working on it:
I’ve just received an update from our engineers: they’re still working
on resolving the issue, but they have confirmed that no statistics or
data have been lost from your accounts. I’ll let you know when I have
more info about when you might expect to see updated stats. Again, we
appreciate your patience.
Lots of buzz about this today, of course:
And on and on it goes.
There is some speculation that the integration of Google Custom Search with AdSense for Search is at the root of the problem.
Tags: AdSense
This Site Wouldn’t Harm A Flea…
Looks like Google’s flagged this site as harboring malware, for some reason. If you do a site:memwg.com search on Google you’ll see what I mean. All my pages are being shown in the SERPS with the warning “This site may harm your computer”. Let me assure you that there’s nothing bad on this site that I know of. It’s just a blog. I do distribute some software that I’ve written, but that stuff’s malware free. The only thing I can guess is that someone has either compromised the site somehow or else the site’s been flagged incorrectly. Unfortunately, there’s no way to determine what exactly is tripping up Google’s filters. I’ve submitted a review request to rectify the situation, maybe they’ll give me an idea of what’s wrong. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, I’m all ears…
Back In The Saddle
I’m back! It took me a good week to recover from that allergic reaction, but I’m off most of the drugs now. Still feeling a bit weak from my experience, but overall things are OK. The next big project is to finish my income taxes, which are due in a couple of days 
If you’ve sent me mail, please be patient, it’ll take a while to go through the overflowing inbox. The good news is that I had some time to think about what I want to do next with this blog and a nice little project came to mind — stay tuned!
Tags: AdSense
Allergic Reactions
If you were wondering why I dropped off the face of the earth suddenly, it’s because last Friday I had an allergic reaction to something I ingested either that day or the day before. It was a major reaction that entailed three visits to the hospital and intravenous medication. Luckily, it wasn’t a fatal reaction, but the next one could be. Meanwhile, I’m at home doped up on Benadryl and steroids wondering when this incredibly itchy all-over rash will go away… I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
Anyhow, things here will be quiet for a few more days, I think. If you’ve sent me mail over the last few days, please be patient, it will take me a while to answer things…
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Need A Tool?
I’m looking for some ideas for useful (or semi-useful) free online tools I could write as a way to garner some link love for this blog. Actually, I have several ideas in mind but who knows if anyone else would find them useful. So I thought I’d just ask my readers what they’d like to see and do a bit of market research that way…
Here’s the deal. Leave a comment telling me about an online tool you’d like to see developed. Could be anything, but it has to be something I can offer for free (or at least a free version). It can be a tool I place on one of my sites, a script I give away, a WordPress plugin, etc. The incentive? If I build the tool, I’ll give you a link back to a site of your choosing as your reward.
I have no idea if anyone will participate in this, but I hope a few (or many!) of you do…
6300 Copies of MEMWG Sold!
Speaking of AdSense books, today I coincidentally received a copy of the latest royalty report for Make Easy Money With Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program, the book that was the genesis for this blog. As of December 31, 2007, just over 6300 copies of MEMWG have been sold. This includes several hundred copies of Gagnez facilement de l’argent avec Google et AdSense, the French translation of the book. (No, I didn’t do the translation!)
6300 copies may sound like a lot, but it’s not. The book was published in 2005, after all, so it’s hardly a bestseller. I haven’t even earned out the advance yet, although it’s coming close now. But as I’ve stated before in The Uneconomics of Book Publishing, there’s so much work involved in writing a conventionally-published book for the money you get that I doubt I’ll write another one without first having ensured that it would be a bestseller.
Money aside, though, it’s nice to hear from the readers who enjoyed the book and learned from it. I’m still surprised it sells, to be honest, but the material still stands the test of time even if the screenshots are now wrong.
Feel free to pick up a copy to use as a gift. Or a doorstop 
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Joel Comm Releases AdSense Secrets 4.0
It’s been a while since AdSense publishers have heard from Joel Comm, but today Joel has released AdSense Secrets 4.0, the latest version of his bestselling AdSense ebook. I’m downloading it right now as I write this. It’s big — over 200 pages. I’ll post a detailed review later.
The new version costs only $9.95, which is a big price drop from the previous versions. However, some caveats:
- You can only purchase by credit card. (No PayPal.)
- You will be presented with some upsells. (Well, what did you expect?)
- You will be given a 1-month trial subscription to his new Internet marketing newsletter, “The Top 1% Report”. You’ll receive it in the mail (along with a bonus CD, apparently) within a few weeks of your purchase. (Hopefully less than 4!) The trial subscription will continue as a paid $29.95/month subscription unless you cancel.
So let’s call a spade a spade: this release of AdSense Secrets is really just a way to get people to subscribe to his new physical newsletter. I really dislike the negative billing option. Now I have to remind myself to cancel the subscription in a month. Be happy I took one for the team!
I’m sure the book is good. Too bad you can’t just buy it without the report.
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense, AdSense Secrets, ebook, Google, Internet marketing, Joel Comm
AdSense and Porn
AdSense publishers cannot use AdSense on adult-oriented sites. This has been a long-standing policy of Google’s. To quote the relevant part of the AdSense program policies:
Sites displaying Google ads may not include … pornography, adult, or mature content
In most cases it’s easy enough for publishers to know what qualifies as adult content and to refrain from showing ads in those situations. But what if you’re dealing with user-generated content?
User-generated content — comments, postings, searches, ratings, etc. — is a great way to get traffic and links, but it can also open up Pandora’s box. Because people talk about sex. They search for sex (literally and figuratively). They tell dirty jokes. They post nude pictures. They do all kinds of naughty things, things that might not be kosher with the AdSense program policies.
So what do you do about it?
The first step is to make sure that all the non-user-generated content on the site abides by the program policies. That shouldn’t be a problem.
The second step is to determine whether or not adult/mature user-generated content should be allowed on your site at all. For some sites it’s a no-brainer — family-oriented sites being a prime example. If you don’t want adult content, make sure your terms of service state that fact and put some mechanisms in place to moderate the content. (If you’re building communities, you’ll be surprised at how well the community itself can police its own members in this regard — that may be all that’s needed.)
Assuming you’re OK with adult content, the third step is to deal with it appropriately. You could, for example, create “adult-only” areas of a site where such content is acceptable. Or have a way for users to flag/vote on objectionable content and let visitors set their own “filtering levels”. Squidoo has this feature, for example.
But what do you do in place of AdSense if you have adult content? Because AdSense ads will not be displayed on adult-oriented pages once Google determines what’s on those pages. The alternatives aren’t hard to figure out:
- Don’t display anything at all.
- Join an adult ad network.
You’d be surprised at the number of affiliate programs available for adult material! Let’s face it, if big Web 2.0 players like Squidoo and StumbleUpon benefit from porn, there’s nothing that says you can’t, either. Unless you think all pornography is evil, of course.
But we’re not here to debate the pros and cons of pornography, just to discuss what to do about adult content on your AdSense sites. The safest approach is to avoid it altogether. If you can’t, or won’t, then try to segregate it. Then decide if you want to monetize it.
Yahoo Publishers Get It In The Rear
Lots of news today about how Yahoo’s going to be testing the use of Google’s AdSense program for the ads it displays in search results. My first thought was that YPN publishers wouldn’t be too happy about this, would they? It’s an admission from Yahoo that their own text advertising program just isn’t good enough to compete against AdSense — something that isn’t really a surprise to most AdSense publishers, but if you’re a YPN fan this must hurt.
Tags: AdSense
Reciprocal Linking gnikniL lacorpiceR
Any AdSense publisher who depends on organic search engine traffic is naturally very interested in their search engine results page (SERP) rankings. It’s not unusual (and it’s good practice) to monitor the rankings for key search phrases, especially for those lucky times when you’re in the top 10 results one one or more of the search engines. Anyone who’s been there can tell you there’s a drastic difference in the amount of traffic a #1 ranking gets versus a #10 ranking — you want to go as high as you can to maximize that traffic flow.
For competitive search terms, links to your site have a lot to do with those rankings. Obviously, on-page SEO (good title, use of headings, keywords sprinkled in text) plays an important part, as does the internal linking structure of the site (which are really the only links you can truly control, so you should use them to full effect), but ultimately it’s the links from external sites that are going to boost you up to the top. Getting those links isn’t always easy, but there’s a time-honored method that sometimes makes a lot of sense if you do it right: reciprocal linking.
You Scratch My Back And I’ll Scratch Yours
Reciprocal linking (sometimes misspelled as reciprical linking) occurs when two websites agree to link to each other in order to exchange traffic and/or increase search engine rankings. Back in the old days when pages got ranked almost literally based on how many links they had, reciprocal linking was de rigueur, because it was an easy way to get lots of links. Both sites benefited, so there was really no reason not to do it.
Search engines soon wised up to the fact the reciprocal linking was artificially boosting rankings for sites that really didn’t deserve high rankings, so they started discounting such links in their calculations. The reasoning, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it, is that non-reciprocal links (sometimes called one-way links, although of course all links are one-way) are more authoritative — the fact that you link to a site without requiring that site to link back to your site must mean that you really like that other site.
So reciprocal links now have a lot less worth than non-reciprocal links, especially if the links are between pages that don’t have a common theme.
So Scratch My Other Back
Of course, it didn’t take people long to realize what was happening and look for other ways to benefit from reciprocal linking without making it look like reciprocol linking. Thus the three-way link was born. A three-way link is a set of three links that are spread across three sites. Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A. Technically, there are no reciprocal links… but there is a path to and from any site. And there’s nothing that says it has to be three sites: you can do a cycle with four sites, five sites, six sites, and so on.
Can’t find anyone to link to in such a cycle? No problem, there are companies out there that will do it for you automatically and charge you a monthly fee for the privilege.
Are Reciprocal Links Worthless?
There’s a belief that reciprocal links are worthless. They’re not completely worthless. You can still get traffic from them (traffic and rankings are separate things). And you still get a small boost from all those links.
The best use of reciprocal links, though, has to be a technique called link laundering, which I suggest you read about. If you’d like to implement something similar, use a subdomain and install the free LinkEX script. Take some topically-related PLR you have sitting on your disk (c’mon, we all have some!) and create a site from it on that subdomain. Just a couple of pages will do, plus a link exchange directory. Insert a couple of links with good anchor text in the content. Then gather some links to the subdomain via the link exchange script. Then you’re laundering links using simple reciprocal linking.
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense, link exchange, link laundering, linking
Link to me…. pretty please?
My last post was an April Fool’s joke, of course (though not nearly as good as Google allows publishers to click ads, IMHO), but now time for something more serious. Readers, I need your help!
This blog contains nearly 1000 posts, almost all of which are in Google’s index, which is great… but hardly any of the rank well, even for their exact titles. It’s come to the point where I’m wondering if there’s a penalty attached to memwg.com. The site’s undergone two major upheavals: the first when I had to switch away from makeeasymoneywithgoogle.com (the original site) because Google stopped serving AdSense ads to it (because it had “google” in its name), the second when I moved from blojsom to WordPress and all the page URLs changed (though I handled most of them gracefully with proper 301 redirects). I know there’s something wrong with the site because a couple of months ago I got a warning in my Google Webmasters console that the site was marked in the index as being one that could cause harm to a visitor’s computer, i.e. it had spyware, although nothing of the sort has ever happened, of course. I think that’s been resolved, but what with that and the previous changes I really think the site’s not doing as well in the SERPs as it should be.
The point of all this: when I mentioned to my wife that I’d be doing an April Fool’s post, she wondered why I was bothering, I should be spending my time on the other, money-making sites in my network. Or on selling more software. And maybe she’s right.
Like many blogs, this one’s a labor of love. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about its rankings. An improvement in the SERPs would be great, so I need to overcome whatever penalty the memwg.com has slapped on it. I can plead with Google to remove it, but who knows what they’ll do. The best thing would be to get more links to the site.
So here’s my request: if you like this blog, please link to it. Ideally, find your favorite post (see the sitemap for the complete list) and link directly to it with some good anchor text (the title of the post is usually a good choice). Or just link straight to memwg.com with anchor text like The Unofficial AdSense blog or My favorite AdSense blog or even just AdSense — some variant involving “AdSense”. The more links I get, the easier it will be for me to outrank all the sites that do nothing but copy my content without my permission!
It’s seems silly to ask for links, but I think many of you don’t link to many other sites in the first place. So I’m making this selfish request. If my posts (or my software) has benefited you, a link back would be greatly appreciated.
And if you’re a StumbleUpon user, I’d also appreciate a stumble: 
Stumble it!
And, of course, feel free to bookmark the pages you like. The more, the merrier!
OK, that’s all. I hope I’m not out of line requesting these things, but sometimes bystanders need a little push!
Eric
The New AdSense Paid Links Program
This week Google is going to announce a number of new initiatives: AdSense For SEO, the “paid” extension to “nofollow”, and the Goggle adult web search program. Watch for official announcements on Inside AdSense and Matt Cutts’ blog, but here are some early details about the initiatives.
AdSense For SEO
AdSense For SEO is a new AdSense program that existing AdSense publishers can opt into. It’s a paid links program designed specifically for search engine optimization purposes. Unlike normal AdSense text ads, ads shown in the AdSense for SEO program will be normal links (marked with the new “paid” attribute — see below) embedded directly into the web page. The standard AdSense <iframe> is skipped entirely, making it possible for AdSense For SEO links to pass PageRank to the linked sites.
Instead of getting paid per click, AdSense publishers who participate in AdSense For SEO will get paid on a per-impression basis, similar to the way they’re paid for image ads in the AdSense For Content program. Payouts will vary but will be based in part on the page’s PageRank. AdWords advertisers will have the option of targeting specific sites or targeting sites by PageRank and/or topic. They will of course continue to bid against each other in order to be shown on the desired sites.
“Paid” and “Adult” NoFollow Variants
In conjunction with AdSense For SEO, Google will be announcing an extension of the “nofollow” system used by all the major search engines. To recap, a “nofollow” link is a link that isn’t as trustworthy as normal (”follow”) links. You create it like this:
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://konsiz.com">click here</a>
It’s a way of linking to an external site without “voting” for the site — search engines treat those links more cautiously. (Some people refer to “nofollow” as a link condom, but that analogy is imperfect. “Nofollow” is really more like the cowbells that lepers had to wear in the old days: a warning that something is amiss, not protection against it.)
Previously, Google required sites to use “nofollow” to mark paid links. Now, however, paid links will be marked with the new “paid” attribute:
<a rel="paid" href="http://pet-fence.ericgiguere.com">Invisible Fence</a>
You can combine “nofollow” and “paid” to denote paid links to dubious sites. Which brings us to the last initiative.
Goggle Adult Search Network
With advertising revenues down, Google is finally turning its eye to the adult content arena. Since the Google search network already contains a lot of adult material, they’ve decided to create a custom search engine dedicated to adult content. That search engine will be available through the Goggle.com domain. AdWords advertisers will be able to bid on search ad placement in Goggle results separately from those in the regular search results.
As well, Google is expanding “nofollow” to include a new “adult” attribute. This attribute will denote links to adult material, which will make it easier for Google to decide what sites to include in the Goggle searches. Adult webmasters are encouraged to mark their adult links in this way as soon as possible. The “adult” attribute can be combined with “paid” and “nofollow” as appropriate, or it can be used on its own.
I’ll post more details on all these initiatives later.
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
OPAD Winner: Gary Hendrickson
Time to announce another One Page A Day winner! Today’s winner is Gary Hendrickson, The Auction Rebel. Gary makes a full-time living selling on eBay and his blog is full of advice at how to be successful as an eBay seller, with great tips like 6 Tips For Part-Time eBay Sellers or Where Do I Put This Book?. Check out his great site!
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense, eBay, One Page A Day, opad, PLRSiteBuilder
Has Facebook Jumped the Shark?
As a university lecturer, my wife occasionally gets a glimpse of what today’s young adults are excited about, no matter how perplexing that excitement might be, and sometimes she passes those tidbits on to me. Something one of her students told her this week has left me wondering if Facebook has jumped the shark and is about to die a slow, lingering death.
The Facebook Phenomenon
By all accounts, Facebook is an Internet phenomenon. What started out as an exclusive site for university and college students (you needed a college email address to sign up) has grown into a global social networking site on the same scale as MySpace. According to Alexa, and I know Alexa’s numbers aren’t perfect, Facebook ranks #6 globally. (The top 5 as of today are: Yahoo!, YouTube, Windows Live, Google and MySpace. One could argue, though, that the Google and YouTube numbers should be combined, since they’re both owned by Google, which would make Google either #1 or #2. But I digress.) Here’s the latest traffic snapshot:
Looks great, doesn’t it? A steady upward growth that any site would be thrilled to have. Facebook’s even been in the news lately for nabbing two high-profile Google executives. So what makes me think that Facebook may have jumped the shark?
Facebook “isn’t interesting”
Back to my wife’s student. According to her, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Facebook isn’t interesting anymore to me and my friends.”
OK, that’s a sample size of 1. Or maybe more than one, since she implied it wasn’t just her. Do a bit of digging, though, and you find others expressing similar views:
- Quitting Facebook
- Are the cool kids leaving Facebook?
- Who will give students their Facebook back?
- Why I quit Facebook
If Facebook’s core constituency is slowly leaving, where does that leave Facebook?
More Numbers
Back to the Alexa numbers. Traffic is up, but it looks like the average page views per visitor are going down:
In fact, the average number of pages viewed per unique visitor this week was 23, down from 26 page views a few months ago. Looking at the graph, there was a definite dip at the beginning of February, although I’m not sure what caused that. I do know my wife’s students are concerned with the privacy issues around personalized advertising that Facebook introduced last fall to a lot of flack.
SocialAds: The Facebook Shark
Ten years from now, historians will try to define exactly when Facebook jumped the shark. There are two strong possibilities: when Facebook opened itself to everyone, or when it introduced the SocialAds advertising system.
My bet is on the latter, because of the negative publicity and privacy concerns it engendered. The aforementioned student referred to it, as have others in the commentaries I’ve followed online. While people rarely object to a shopping site making recommendations based on past purchases, having a social networking site passing along information about your preferences and purchases seems to cross an unwritten line in the sand. Too much like Big Brother, it would seem.
Of course, I have no idea if Facebook is in decline or not. This is all speculation on my part. Only the Facebook execs know for sure, and maybe that’s why they went out looking for talented individuals to help them beat back the shark and still make decent money (a problem for many social networking sites).
If I were them, though, I’d be worried.
P.S.: Eric Giguere on Facebook
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense, advertising, Facebook, Google, jumping the shark, MySpace, SocialAds
Google Bans Deceptive AdSense Ad Placements
It took them long enough, but Google has finally put the kabosh on deceptive ad placements. Specifically:
- You can’t place ads under misleading titles or headings; and
- You can’t blend the ads such that they’re indistinguishable from other content.
This is not a ban against ad blending in general — choosing ad colors to match the color scheme of the rest of the page — but a ban against ad placements that are specifically designed to fool the user into thinking the ads are not ads, but content.
I’ve seen some egregious placements over the years. I remember once reading an ebook that specifically recommended you use a heading like “Top 10 Methods To Stop Smoking” followed by a large rectangle ad unit and then a list of 6 stop-smoking tips. This made it seem like the ads (which would normally — but not always! — show 4 ads) were part of the list. That kind of reader duping is now specifically forbidden.
Google Improving the Content Network
These measures are part of Google’s overall strategy of improving the quality of the sites in the Google Content Network, which includes us AdSense publishers. AdWords advertisers can now use demographics to target the content network . Many of the recent messages from Google to its AdWords customers have been trying to encourage advertisers to try the Content Network.
It may be that Google is seeing slower growth in its core search advertising business and has therefore renewed focus on the contextual advertising business. It’s too bad it’s taken so long for these things to happen, though.
See also Search Engine Roundtable.
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Review: iContentRobot
Today I took iContentRobot for a spin. This monthly membership was hyped a lot late today and given my interest in traffic and content I thought it was worth looking at. So let’s see what’s inside this “robot”. Unlike Web Traffic Machines, this system actually works. You just have to understand its limitations and decide if the price is worth it.
iContentRobot
iContentRobot bills itself as a content generation system that will generate unique content for each and every member that uses it. (Like many IM products sold recently, it’s a membership-based service with a monthly or annual charge. When ClickBank made recurring payments an option for publishers, it sure turned on the floodgates for this kind of service… though I should point out this product’s not sold through ClickBank.)
Unique content sure sounds good, but how is it done? They assure us it’s not done by combining snippets of text pulled from other sources. Nor is it rehashing existing articles or PLR.
Here’s the trick: iContentRobot is not a general-purppose content generator. It only works with a limited set of topics at any given time. This month there are 50 or so topics to choose from: credit card debt, wedding favors, easy weight loss, etc. Basically you log into the service, choose your topic, and it generates a unique article for you about that topic. Press a button and it will regenerate another article on the same topic.
So how does the content get created? My guess is that’s it’s actually a very simple system at its core. For any given topic they write one article. Then they write multiple variants of each sentence or phrase, probably a large number of variants. The variants are all written so that any version can be combined with any other version and be perfectly readable and understandable by a human. “Generating” an article is then done by randomly selecting variants. if the pool of variants is large enough, this should yield a “unique” article. This is all speculation on my part, but I’m pretty sure I’m write.
Let’s take a look at a couple of samples. Here’s one on credit card debt:
It was only a matter of time before the number of people experiencing credit card debt would increase; many families are now experiencing severe financial problems. With the debts rising, it is not surprising that individuals have started to realize the financial problem they have created by the constant and indiscriminate spending they have carried out. Before the situation goes too far, seek a credit card debt relief solution to the problem.
The first step is to stop using the cards altogether as continued use will just compound the problem and make it harder to resolve. The reluctance to make a decision can create further delays to obtaining credit card debt relief. There are various debt consolidation alternatives available but the three most common options are detailed below.
Obviously, the easiest way to proceed is to apply for a credit card with a low interest rate on balance transfers where the debt can be consolidated where repayments can be made regularly within a specified budget. Another method is to arrange a consolidation loan to relieve the debt, then paying just one amount which is easier and within a budget.
The only problem here is that the debtor must be determined enough to stick to the plan they have made until the end. Whilst arranging a new low interest rate card or loan to consolidate debts is the easiest option to take, it is also only available if the person’s credit rating is in tact.
Where credit card debt relief as an option fails, do not give up hope as the next step is a debt negotiation company. Debt relief companies usually have a good track record at this type of negotiation with the usual arrangement of around half the outstanding debt will have to be paid and any balance can be dropped.
The final option is bankruptcy which should not be taken lightly but if the debt is totally out of control and there is no way to escape from the debt trap then filing for bankruptcy may be the only way out. This is the last resort for a debtor because once they declare bankruptcy, their credit standing fails and it will be difficult to get further loans; however, the positive aspect of filing for bankruptcy is it enables a fresh start. Once your debts have been cleared, hopefully you will learn to be more responsible and not require debt relief from your credit cards ever again.
Now here’s the same topic again:
Credit card debt is beginning to cripple many people who are finding themselves with huge debts; the industry may be flourishing but the ease with which credit is given is causing financial distress to many. With the debts rising, it is not surprising that individuals have started to realize the financial problem they have created by the constant and indiscriminate spending they have carried out. It now remains for each individual to realize what a position they are in and find some way to obtain credit card debt relief.
The first thing to do before opting for financial help is to stop using the card all together because if this doesn’t happen it will be almost impossible to devise a debt relief plan. The reluctance to make a decision can create further delays to obtaining credit card debt relief. Of the options available, three in particular come to mind as the best ways to approach the debt consolidation problem.
Obviously, the easiest way to proceed is to apply for a credit card with a low interest rate on balance transfers where the debt can be consolidated where repayments can be made regularly within a specified budget. If this method is not available then a consolidation loan may be a debt relief answer where a number of debts can be replaced with just one at a lower monthly installment.
This option does require a certain level of commitment on the debtor’s part as once the debts are clear there must be no temptation to use them again. Debt consolidation does require that the debtor is still able to access credit and that they will have sufficient funds to repay the loan.
At this point, debt negotiation is one option available, provided you decide to make a lump sum payment and if the debtor lets a credit card debt relief company negotiate with the creditors on their behalf. The company can negotiate with the creditors to accept some money, generally about 50 percent of the outstanding balance and then write off the rest.
Bankruptcy should always be viewed as a last resort when all other options have been tried as there are serious consequences to this course of action. This is the last resort for a debtor because once they declare bankruptcy, their credit standing fails and it will be difficult to get further loans; however, the positive aspect of filing for bankruptcy is it enables a fresh start. However, the debtor must remember that opting for debt relief from their credit cards cannot become a regular feature and must be careful not to get into such a situation again.
Look closely and you’ll see what I mean.
So while this system produces “unique” articles, they’re still articles on the same topic. Useful if you want to submit articles to different article directories, not so useful if you’re trying to build a niche content site — it’d be silly to publish what is essentially the same article over and over again on the same site.
Note that you can’t resell the content in any way, so you can’t go and build PLR bundles or anything like that. You can use them on blogs, websites and article directories. It’ll be interesting to see how many of these articles show up on EzineArticles and other IM hotspots over the next month.
If you’re looking for unique content over a fixed set of niches, iContentRobot may be for you. Introductory pricing is $67/month.
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense
Serge Giguere: Winner of Governor General’s Award
Once in a while I make a post that has absolutely nothing to do with AdSense or Internet marketing. Today I’m happy to announce that one of my (many) uncles, Serge Giguere, is a recipient of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts for 2008. This is a big deal — in Canada, the Governor General’s Awards are akin to the Pulitzer Prizes in the United States. Serge is a documentarist and cinematographer and he does all his work in French, of course, so it’s unlikely anyone here would have seen or heard of any of his films, but I thought it deserved a mention. The nomination for the award by a film critic is particularly interesting reading if you’re not familiar with Serge’s work. Congratulations to Serge!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.<
Tags: AdSense, General, awards, Canada, documentary, Governor General, Serge Giguere
The Wrong Kind of Traffic
Yesterday I mentioned that my fence had been hit, again. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean. The picture on the left was taken in December, 2004, and is featured on my Electronic Pet Fence Guide on the page describing what I had to do to repair our Invisible Fence system. The picture on the right is the latest crash. Both pictures feature my daughter making faces in the foreground, just to add the human touch…
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Anyhow, on to the topic at hand…
Bad Traffic
Traffic is the lifeblood of any website. No traffic, no visitors.... No visitors, no clicks... No clicks, no AdSense earnings! I was reminded of this recently when my AdSense earnings dropped because I lost a lot of traffic.
The quest for traffic sometimes leads people to sign up for "traffic exchange" programs. AdSense publishers should be careful, however, when doing so. The AdSense program policies state:
These prohibited methods include but are not limited to repeated manual clicks or impressions, using robots, automated click and impression generating tools, third-party services that generate clicks or impressions such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, autosurf, and click-exchange programs, or any deceptive software. (emphasis added)
As you can see, Google doesn’t like “autosurf” type programs. And in general they don’t like low-quality, non-converting traffic sources, which is what these traffic exchanges end up being. If you use such programs, you stand a good chance of either getting smart priced (very likely) or else getting kicked out of AdSense altogether.
In other words, stick to the usual means of traffic generation:
- Search engine optimization
- Submitting to article directories
- Web 2.0 techniques including videos
- Blogging and RSS feeds
- Signatures in forums posts, comments, and similar user-generated content sources
You can also use legitimate paid sources of traffic like AdWords. Just stay away from the programs that “guarantee traffic” or compensate you for visiting other sites. It’s just not worth the risk.
PLRSiteBuilder Customers: If for some reason you’re not on my customer mailing list, you’re missing out on updates and such. I’ve started a blog for the product, but you also need to be on my list. Contact me for details.
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.<
Keyword of the Day: forex, short for “foreign exchange currency trading”. Approximately 1700 searches per day.
OPAD Winner: Manuel Viloria
It’s hard to believe it’s Easter! It’s so early this year, apparently it won’t come this early again for another 200 years or so…. and someone just hit our wooden fence again with their truck, although this time they took out part of our neighbour’s fence, too. At least our Invisible Fence system wasn’t affected this time. And, thankfully, no pedestrian was hit on the sidewalk.
Today I want to feature another One Page A Day challenge winner, Manuel Viloria. Manuel runs a site providing tips on Internet marketing. He generated a bit of controversy during the whole AdSense Resurrected debacle by offering free AdSense coaching to purchasers of said book.
Anyhow, Manuel provides some great tips on SEO, AdSense, affiliate marketing and related topics in his blog, and he seemed quite happy to take part in the challenge. Be sure to check out his site.
More winners are coming!
Sponsored Link: PLRSiteBuilder is an easy way to create and maintain content-rich websites written by yours truly. Try it today!
Eric Giguere is the author of several printed books and knows a thing or two about content monetization. Subscribe to his AdSense blog today and never miss any of his insightful comments. And the not-so-insightful ones, for that matter.
Tags: AdSense, One Page A Day, opad