This year is going to be my third Christmas as an AdSense publisher since I joined the program in August of 2003, so I'm curious to see what my earnings are going to be like over the next few days. I suspect, though, that the day of the week on which Christmas falls has more to do with changes in earnings than the holiday itself.

Last year, for example, Christmas was on a Saturday and I had good earnings that day but piddly earnings the day before (Friday the 24th) or the day after (Sunday the 26th).

In 2003, on the other hand, earnings were flat on December 24 and 25 (Wednesday and Thursday) but robust on Friday the 26th.

It's actually hard to conclude much from this data — there are only two samples — but I'm thinking that if Christmas Day or Boxing Day (the 26th is a traditional holiday up here in Canada) fall on a Friday or Saturday, earnings will be good for those days. Maybe because people are generally at home and have lots of time to surf the net.

Or maybe it's just coincidence. I'll report back next week on what I see this weekend, because neither day falls on a Friday or Saturday this year.

PS: Vote for the Best AdSense Resources of 2005.

Eric Giguere is the AdSense expert who wrote Make Easy Money with Google. Subscribe to his AdSense newsletter for more tips and advice on AdSense and content monetization.

A replay of Google's recent AdSense webinar is now available, though you need Internet Explorer to properly view it.

I'm always telling AdSense publishers to pay attention to what Google is doing with AdWords. AdWords is, after all, where your earnings as an AdSense publisher ultimately come from.

When you have some spare time, take a close look at the new Google Content Network overview, which defines more precisely what the “content network” (as opposed to the “search network”) is all about. Interesting reading, for sure, and it should clarify many of the questions you might have about smart pricing, the ad auction process, and other important AdWords program details.

The resource center was announced in the Inside AdWords blog, another great resource that AdSense publishers should monitor on a regular basis.

PS: Don't forget to vote for the Best AdSense Resources of 2005! The list of nominees is still kind of sparse, so feel free to nominate new resources in each category. In the personality category, JenSense's Jennifer Sleg (aka Jenstar) is neck-and-neck with ProBlogger's Darren Rowse. Their blogs are also running neck-and-neck, which I guess makes sense given that blogs are often intimately tied to their creators. Jennifer's blog just won the Search Engine Journal award for best Search Engine Marketing and Contextual Advertising blog ahead of Darren, but maybe Darren will win this round.