Getting Your News Into Google (Again)
In Getting Your News Into Google I showed the basic steps involved in getting your news (via an RSS feed) into the Google search engine. I forgot to mention another way to do it, however, and that’s to use Google’s blogsearch ping feature. It’s something they added a few months ago — until that point they relied on pings from third-party ping aggregators. Now you can ping Google directly whenever you have new content. This information is buried here, though, so I’m not sure how many people know about it.
It’s been two days since the ferry travel site I mentioned submitted its feed to Google, so what are the results? As you can see from this query, Google’s blog search now incorporates results from the FerryTravel.com feed, which is exactly what my reader wanted to happen.
Now that the site’s listed, though, there’s some more work to be done. The titles of all the pages need to be reworked. Ideally each page should have a unique and descriptive title that includes relevant keywords. Don’t just repeat the site title over and over. Here’s some reading about the proper use of titles for SEO:
AdSense publishers, take note: the title is also used by the ad selection algorithms (along with the page URL, headings, etc.). So it’s not just for SEO purposes that you want to do this.
Then there’s the sitemap issue. Whenever possible, provide a sitemap for your site. Actually, two sitemaps: one for the humans (so they can find their way around) and one for the search engines (so they can find their way around). See my previous post Google Sitemaps 101 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.
AdSense Notifier Goes Crazy
Heart attacks among AdSense publishers may have spiked yesterday as Google changed something in its management console that caused the AdSense Notifier to show bogus data. Here, for example, is what mine is showing this very minute:
The earnings shown are way lower than they should be for the reporting period in question. (Since the data is bogus, I can safely display the stats here.)
As you can see, though, Allen Holman (the plugin’s creator) is aware of the situation and will have a fix out for us soon.
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.
Getting Your News Into Google
There was an interesting discussion yesterday in Shoemoney’s blog about learning money-making secrets from the “gurus” where he nicely plugged my first AdSense book. (Wish he’d plugged the second, though, because I make 40 times more per copy with that one!) The discussion revolved around whether ebook writers were actually selling their “secrets”: if they were, why were they so stupid to do so, and if they weren’t then they’re just fraudsters. Read the post and the comments, they all make good reading.
Today I’m going to talk about something more mundane, which is getting your blog listed in Google. One of my readers runs a ferry travel site that specializes in ferries operating in the Washington, British Columbia and Alaska regions. The site is actually the online extension of an offline business, one that seems very useful to me. They’ve got a great keyword-based domain name, they’ve got decent PageRank (3 or 4) on the important pages. They seem to be doing everything right. So what’s wrong?
One of the unique features of the site is the ferry news section, which features newsworthy and usually time-sensitive ferry travel information. But you can’t find that information in Google. So what should they do?
When you have news you’d like to get into Google, the best thing you can do is get listed in Google News. But you have to be a news organization for this to happen. So what’s the second best thing to do? Getting your feed into Google.
A feed is a resource list stored in a special format. Most feeds are associated with blogs nowadays, but that’s not how they started. Feeds can list pretty much anything. If you have news, you can build a feed out of it.
Luckily, the ferry news site already has a ferry travel news feed up and running. That’s the hard part. All they have to do now is get it into Google.
Here’s what you do: create a personalized Google homepage. Click the “Add Stuff” link on the right side of the page, then click “Add RSS feed” on the left side of the resulting page. Enter the feed address. Your feed will now show up on your personalized home page. Google will eventually start indexing it, which is what you want. It usually happens pretty quickly, too.
Oh, and get a link or two from someone else’s blog. That helps, too.
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.
MEMWG is now… MEMWG
As of today I’ve officially changed the name of this blog from Make Easy Money With Google and AdSense to simply MEMWG, with the tagline The Unofficial AdSense Blog. Many companies do this kind of name change as they evolve, witness how the National Cash Register Company eventually changed its name to NCR Corporation.
We’ll see how this goes. MEMWG isn’t very pronounceable, but neither is my last name (to English speakers — think jee-gair) and it did have a spammy quality to it that probably turned off some potential readers. It was named that way because of my first AdSense book, of course, whose name was actually chosen by the publisher’s marketing department (and I couldn’t come up with anything better). This blog has gone way beyond that book and many people were already referring to it as “MEMWG” anyhow, so going forward this should be an improvement.
Most of the adjustments have been made, I’m sure there will be things to tweak over the days to come, let me know if you see anything really bad. No URL change is required, thankfully, since I’ve had to suffer the ill effects of that twice now.
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.
25 AdSense Alternatives
As everyone surely knows by now, I’m an AdSense fan. In some ways this blog is the “unofficial AdSense blog”. Or at least, I’d like to think so…
I do get asked on occasion about alternatives to AdSense, either from people who are dissatisfied with the payouts (and the payouts definitely vary a lot) or people who’ve been banned or suspended from the program. I can’t say I’ve researched the topic much. I did list a few programs in Uncommon AdSense based on things I’d tried myself (Chitika in particular, which seems to work quite well for product-based sites and blogs) and things others had recommended to me (such as the Yahoo! Publisher Network, which I’d love to try but can’t because I’m not a US resident). But except for the occasional affiliate link here and there, the majority of my focus is on generating AdSense income.
If you are interested in AdSense alternatives, Ben Shaffer has a new ebook out called AdSense Alternatives that lists 25 AdSense alternatives, including:
- AdBrite
- BidClix
- Kanoodle
- Nixxie
- Revenue Pilot
I don’t think it would be fair for me to list all 25 here. Pros and cons of the various programs are listed, but you’ll have to look closely at each program to determine which ones are or aren’t for you.
The book is about 50 pages long, only about half of which is devoted to the list of AdSense alternatives. At $27 it’s a bit pricey for what you get unless you count the bonuses, which are:
- IM Safety: The Legal Side of Internet Marketing (ebook)
- Kontera ContentLink Secrets (ebook)
- Conversion Grabber (software)
The latter looks interesting, it’s a PHP script to put up “buy now because there are only XXX left” type offers on a page.
That’s my nutshell review. If AdSense isn’t your cup of tea, or you’re looking to diversify, AdSense Alternatives might be a good resource for you.
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.
Notebook Keyword Bid Prices (Part 1)
In the US, the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season and one of the biggest shopping days of the year — “Black Friday” is what they call it. I thought we could do some keyword analysis in the month before Christmas and see what’s happening from an advertiser’s viewpoint.
As it happens, I need to buy a new notebook computer, so I’ve been looking at various prices and such online. So let’s start with notebooks. I generated a fairly long list of keywords using the AdWords keyword tool and then ran those keywords through AdSenseAccelerator to get a list of keyword bid values. This is what I came up with:
| Keyword | Bid 1 | Bid 3 | Bid 4 | Bid 6 | Bid 7 | Bid 10 |
| computer forensics | $7.59 | $5.06 | $1.46 | $0.95 | $0.17 | $0.08 |
| laptop security | $4.48 | $3.19 | $1.53 | $1.03 | $0.34 | $0.19 |
| laptop notebook computers | $4.04 | $2.89 | $0.64 | $0.44 | n/a | n/a |
| computer repair | $4.03 | $2.88 | $1.07 | $0.69 | $0.20 | n/a |
| laptop computers | $3.93 | $2.84 | $0.64 | $0.43 | n/a | n/a |
| buy laptops | $3.90 | $2.82 | $0.70 | $0.48 | $0.35 | $0.20 |
| gaming laptops | $3.89 | $2.79 | $0.44 | $0.26 | n/a | n/a |
| buy laptop | $3.84 | $2.60 | $0.57 | $0.36 | $0.20 | n/a |
| computer security | $3.83 | $2.70 | $0.51 | $0.30 | $0.18 | $0.09 |
| bargain laptop | $3.82 | $2.74 | $0.52 | $0.33 | n/a | n/a |
| computer help | $3.82 | $2.72 | $0.81 | $0.52 | $0.26 | n/a |
| business laptops | $3.81 | $2.69 | $0.43 | $0.26 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop pcs | $3.73 | $2.67 | $0.61 | $0.38 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop pc | $3.67 | $2.59 | $0.39 | $0.22 | $0.14 | $0.07 |
| notebook computers | $3.58 | $2.56 | $0.47 | $0.30 | n/a | n/a |
| buy notebook computer | $3.53 | $2.36 | $0.42 | $0.25 | n/a | n/a |
| deals on laptops | $3.43 | $2.47 | $0.62 | $0.40 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| cheap notebook computer | $3.37 | $2.44 | $0.61 | $0.39 | $0.11 | $0.06 |
| wireless laptops | $3.26 | $2.35 | $0.61 | $0.38 | $0.10 | $0.05 |
| buy notebook | $3.14 | $2.09 | $0.19 | $0.09 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| cheap notebook | $3.08 | $2.26 | $0.38 | $0.24 | n/a | n/a |
| laptops deals | $3.05 | $2.20 | $0.45 | $0.26 | n/a | n/a |
| small laptop | $3.05 | $2.20 | $0.52 | $0.33 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| cheap laptop computers | $3.04 | $2.23 | $0.31 | $0.19 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| laptop sale | $2.97 | $2.19 | $0.37 | $0.23 | n/a | n/a |
| cheap new laptops | $2.95 | $2.12 | $0.90 | $0.62 | $0.52 | $0.31 |
| laptops deal | $2.95 | $2.14 | $0.45 | $0.30 | n/a | n/a |
| small laptops | $2.94 | $2.10 | $0.44 | $0.28 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop deal | $2.92 | $2.12 | $0.48 | $0.34 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop memory | $2.91 | $1.94 | $0.46 | $0.28 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop sales | $2.90 | $2.06 | $0.38 | $0.22 | n/a | n/a |
| gaming laptop | $2.88 | $2.09 | $0.60 | $0.37 | $0.10 | n/a |
| laptops | $2.86 | $2.03 | $0.36 | $0.20 | $0.10 | $0.05 |
| used laptop computers | $2.82 | $2.08 | $0.50 | $0.33 | n/a | n/a |
| smallest laptop | $2.81 | $1.99 | $0.37 | $0.22 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| cheap laptop | $2.80 | $2.01 | $0.41 | $0.25 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop computer sale | $2.80 | $2.07 | $0.47 | $0.31 | n/a | n/a |
| cheap notebooks | $2.79 | $2.05 | $0.41 | $0.26 | n/a | n/a |
| portable laptops | $2.76 | $1.97 | $0.43 | $0.25 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| lenovo laptop | $2.75 | $1.98 | $0.15 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| laptops notebooks | $2.75 | $2.00 | $0.62 | $0.41 | $0.22 | n/a |
| thinkpad laptops | $2.75 | $1.97 | $0.12 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop batteries | $2.72 | $2.03 | $0.71 | $0.62 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop repair | $2.68 | $1.92 | $0.42 | $0.24 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| tablet notebook | $2.66 | $1.93 | $0.31 | $0.17 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop deals | $2.64 | $1.92 | $0.47 | $0.29 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| laptops for sale | $2.61 | $1.91 | $0.34 | $0.21 | n/a | n/a |
| discount laptops | $2.58 | $1.88 | $0.36 | $0.23 | n/a | n/a |
| computer deals | $2.56 | $1.79 | $0.34 | $0.20 | n/a | n/a |
| notebook sale | $2.55 | $1.86 | $0.32 | $0.18 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| notebook deals | $2.51 | $1.83 | $0.59 | $0.38 | n/a | n/a |
| low cost laptops | $2.49 | $1.83 | $0.46 | $0.28 | n/a | n/a |
| lap tops | $2.49 | $1.81 | $0.27 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |
| computer recycling | $2.48 | $1.79 | $0.42 | $0.25 | $0.10 | n/a |
| computer training | $2.47 | $1.76 | $0.29 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |
| discount notebook | $2.39 | $1.74 | $0.31 | $0.19 | n/a | n/a |
| computer desks | $2.38 | $1.73 | $0.51 | $0.34 | $0.06 | $0.05 |
| new laptops | $2.37 | $1.72 | $0.28 | $0.16 | n/a | n/a |
| computer monitors | $2.37 | $1.69 | $0.40 | $0.25 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| gaming notebooks | $2.35 | $1.71 | $0.40 | $0.23 | n/a | n/a |
| refurbished laptops | $2.33 | $1.72 | $0.40 | $0.24 | n/a | n/a |
| computer desk | $2.32 | $1.69 | $0.47 | $0.29 | $0.06 | $0.05 |
| cheap laptops | $2.30 | $1.66 | $0.34 | $0.21 | n/a | n/a |
| discount laptop | $2.30 | $1.66 | $0.31 | $0.19 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| new laptop | $2.29 | $1.66 | $0.30 | $0.17 | n/a | n/a |
| lenovo thinkpad | $2.25 | $1.60 | $0.14 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop prices | $2.25 | $1.66 | $0.31 | $0.19 | n/a | n/a |
| best buy laptops | $2.20 | $1.59 | $0.32 | $0.19 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop power supply | $2.18 | $1.58 | $0.45 | $0.29 | $0.18 | n/a |
| bargain laptops | $2.17 | $1.59 | $0.31 | $0.20 | n/a | n/a |
| free laptop computer | $2.10 | $1.54 | $0.46 | $0.34 | n/a | n/a |
| laptops uk | $2.10 | $1.50 | $0.35 | $0.21 | n/a | n/a |
| wireless laptop | $2.08 | $1.50 | $0.28 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop stands | $2.02 | $1.50 | $0.75 | $0.52 | $0.19 | $0.11 |
| laptop mount | $2.00 | $1.46 | $0.63 | $0.41 | $0.16 | $0.08 |
| best notebook | $2.00 | $1.47 | $0.30 | $0.17 | n/a | n/a |
| refurbished laptop | $1.99 | $1.47 | $0.39 | $0.23 | $0.08 | $0.05 |
| laptop hard drives | $1.99 | $1.44 | $0.37 | $0.23 | n/a | n/a |
| best laptop | $1.99 | $1.46 | $0.34 | $0.19 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| hp computer | $1.97 | $1.42 | $0.14 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop computer | $1.96 | $1.40 | $0.28 | $0.15 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| purchase laptops | $1.96 | $1.42 | $0.34 | $0.19 | $0.06 | $0.05 |
| laptop harddrive | $1.92 | $1.36 | $0.35 | $0.21 | n/a | n/a |
| wholesale laptops | $1.91 | $1.40 | $0.42 | $0.27 | $0.10 | n/a |
| cheap computer | $1.91 | $1.39 | $0.37 | $0.23 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| laptop ram | $1.89 | $1.38 | $0.32 | $0.18 | n/a | n/a |
| computer lab | $1.89 | $1.38 | $0.21 | $0.10 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| computer jobs | $1.88 | $1.33 | $0.38 | $0.23 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| computer animation | $1.87 | $1.36 | $0.40 | $0.21 | $0.15 | $0.06 |
| notebook hard drives | $1.86 | $1.35 | $0.36 | $0.21 | n/a | n/a |
| slow computer | $1.85 | $1.34 | $0.55 | $0.35 | $0.18 | n/a |
| computer geeks | $1.84 | $1.33 | $0.43 | $0.25 | $0.13 | $0.07 |
| refurbished notebooks | $1.83 | $1.37 | $0.37 | $0.23 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| laptop accessories | $1.82 | $1.30 | $0.23 | $0.13 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop parts | $1.81 | $1.33 | $0.41 | $0.27 | $0.12 | $0.06 |
| thinkpad t40 | $1.80 | $1.30 | $0.21 | $0.10 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| hp laptops | $1.79 | $1.28 | $0.09 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop table | $1.79 | $1.34 | $0.48 | $0.33 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop cart | $1.77 | $1.29 | $0.46 | $0.28 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| compare laptops | $1.77 | $1.29 | $0.27 | $0.16 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop covers | $1.76 | $1.28 | $0.35 | $0.22 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| best laptops | $1.74 | $1.26 | $0.29 | $0.16 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| hp computers | $1.72 | $1.24 | $0.06 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| computer sales | $1.72 | $1.24 | $0.34 | $0.19 | $0.08 | $0.05 |
| laptop desk | $1.71 | $1.24 | $0.31 | $0.18 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop hard drive | $1.70 | $1.24 | $0.29 | $0.16 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| shop laptop | $1.70 | $1.24 | $0.28 | $0.18 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop notebook | $1.68 | $1.12 | $0.09 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| budget laptops | $1.66 | $1.16 | $0.06 | $0.00 | n/a | n/a |
| computer armoire | $1.65 | $1.23 | $0.69 | $0.49 | $0.23 | $0.12 |
| free laptops | $1.64 | $1.20 | $0.25 | $0.14 | n/a | n/a |
| notebook cases | $1.63 | $1.19 | $0.34 | $0.20 | $0.08 | $0.05 |
| second hand laptops | $1.62 | $1.22 | $0.36 | $0.25 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop notebooks | $1.62 | $1.14 | $0.06 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| refurbished notebook | $1.61 | $1.18 | $0.27 | $0.16 | n/a | n/a |
| computer bags | $1.61 | $1.18 | $0.35 | $0.22 | n/a | n/a |
| computer networking | $1.59 | $1.12 | $0.17 | $0.08 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| thinkpad x60 | $1.59 | $1.13 | $0.11 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| notebook pcs | $1.59 | $1.12 | $0.14 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| compaq laptops | $1.58 | $1.12 | $0.10 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| buy a laptop | $1.56 | $1.10 | $0.14 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| notebook pc | $1.54 | $1.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| computer programming | $1.53 | $1.10 | $0.23 | $0.11 | $0.07 | $0.05 |
| thinkpad t60 | $1.53 | $1.09 | $0.13 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop notebook computer | $1.49 | $1.04 | $0.08 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| computer virus | $1.47 | $1.05 | $0.20 | $0.09 | n/a | n/a |
| thinkpad t43 | $1.45 | $1.03 | $0.12 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| thinkpad | $1.45 | $1.03 | $0.15 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| thinkpad t30 | $1.44 | $1.02 | $0.16 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| notebooks | $1.44 | $1.01 | $0.12 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| computer stores | $1.41 | $1.01 | $0.29 | $0.15 | $0.08 | $0.05 |
| laptops computers | $1.40 | $0.98 | $0.09 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop backpacks | $1.40 | $1.03 | $0.56 | $0.40 | $0.15 | $0.08 |
| laptop stand | $1.40 | $1.02 | $0.38 | $0.23 | $0.06 | $0.05 |
| pink laptop | $1.39 | $0.99 | $0.29 | $0.17 | $0.08 | $0.05 |
| laptop sleeves | $1.38 | $1.03 | $0.38 | $0.24 | $0.12 | n/a |
| laptop cases | $1.37 | $1.00 | $0.48 | $0.32 | $0.13 | n/a |
| computer store | $1.36 | $0.98 | $0.18 | $0.08 | n/a | n/a |
| thinkpad t42 | $1.36 | $0.96 | $0.14 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| free laptop | $1.34 | $0.99 | $0.31 | $0.17 | n/a | n/a |
| computer programs | $1.33 | $0.94 | $0.25 | $0.13 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| notebook computer | $1.32 | $0.93 | $0.12 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop | $1.32 | $0.92 | $0.16 | $0.07 | n/a | n/a |
| gaming computer | $1.32 | $0.93 | $0.25 | $0.13 | n/a | n/a |
| computer laptops | $1.31 | $0.92 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| compaq laptop | $1.31 | $0.92 | $0.10 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop bags | $1.29 | $0.94 | $0.42 | $0.27 | $0.11 | n/a |
| quotes from the notebook | $1.29 | $1.24 | $0.10 | $0.00 | n/a | n/a |
| hp notebooks | $1.28 | $0.91 | $0.09 | $0.05 | n/a | n/a |
| lap top | $1.27 | $0.88 | $0.11 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| computer monitor | $1.25 | $0.88 | $0.25 | $0.14 | $0.09 | $0.05 |
| laptops online | $1.25 | $0.88 | $0.16 | $0.08 | n/a | n/a |
| computer cases | $1.24 | $0.91 | $0.31 | $0.19 | $0.05 | $0.00 |
| 17 laptop | $1.20 | $0.86 | $0.27 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |
| laptop screens | $1.17 | $0.83 | $0.27 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |
| computer science | $1.16 | $0.82 | $0.12 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| computer software | $1.16 | $0.81 | $0.12 | $0.06 | n/a | n/a |
| notebook hard drive | $1.15 | $0.84 | $0.26 | $0.15 | n/a | n/a |