Monetize Pro

The odds of you losing money due to a scheme with Google’s name attached to it are decreasing.  Earlier this month, the search giant started cracking down on payout scams that cite its brand.

Here, as the AdWords Help Experts reported, is the text of the email Google’s contacting certain advertisers with: “It’s come to our attention that you have submitted ads that promote Google Money Tree or ads that promote a misrepresented affiliation with Google.  Due to multiple complaints from our users and publishers, we’ve made the decision not to accept these ads.”

The email then continues, “This is a notification that your account has been suspended due to the submission of these ads and your ads will no longer run on Google.  Please note that future accounts you open will also be suspended.”

So Google’s taking the matter quite seriously, which is nice.  Google’s actually scored high in a number of “brand trust” surveys, so scams in its name are especially dangerous.

With all due respect, we’d just offer the tip that you avoid doing anything the least bit suspicious-looking.

Imagine, if you will, the first time a billboard went up.  People must have stopped and stared at the enormous advertisement, regardless of what shoddy or excellent product it featured.  And now, Google’s giving you the opportunity to do the same sort of thing with AdSense ad units.

Font sizes labeled “small,” “medium,” and “large” are all available for advertisers to use as they see fit.  The default size is medium, which is actually a bit bigger than what most people are used to seeing, and may therefore yield better results.

Or you can opt for the small size and make users feel a little less pressured to click.  Or just throw caution to the wind and see how users react to the large size.  Google won’t hold you to whatever adjustments you make, so it’s always possible to switch things back or micromanage.

In fact, a post on the Inside AdSense blog points out to readers that they can make changes “on an account-wide basis or by individual ad unit — just follow the instructions listed in our Help Center. . . .  [W]e recommend testing these new font size options with your existing customizations to determine which combinations perform best on your pages.”

So see if you can make people stop and gawk at (and click on) any ads on your site.  At least until the novelty wears off, there’s likely some extra money to be made.

If you’re pressed for time, here’s the takeaway point of this article: Don’t put all of your figurative eggs in the mobile commerce basket just yet.  Information gathered by eMarketer indicates that growth in this field is painfully slow.

An eMarketer article states, “A 2008 Nielsen Mobile poll found that only 9.2 million US mobile subscribers purchased goods or services with their handset - a low figure when compared with a JPMorgan projection of 233 million total subscribers.  Even lower next to eMarketer’s estimate of 270 million US mobile phone subscribers in 2008.”

And although 2009 might be better - the iPhone, the Palm Pre, and the Android operating system are liable to help - stats suggesting that any sort of huge surge has taken place haven’t appeared.

Plus, even if people do start to make purchases using their phones, a Harris Interactive poll found that individuals generally aren’t willing to go for expensive items, opting instead for cheap stuff like pizza, movie tickets, and music.  Admittedly, hotel rooms count as a pricey, high-ranking item, but you have to figure the overlap of need and convenience is a huge factor there.

So if your blog or site isn’t optimized for viewing on a cell phone, well, don’t sweat it.  This might be a fine option to pursue if you have the time, but otherwise, your energy can probably be put to better use.

Timing can be everything, and the saying is especially likely to apply when you’re asking a favor.  So if you decide to ask for links - hey, it happens, right? - it’s important to consider when exactly you should starting sending some nicely worded emails.

Barry Schwartz recently ran a poll on this issue, and 160 people responded.  The absolute worst day to send link request emails, according to these folks, is Saturday.  You’ve got to figure everyone will spend most of the day away from their computers, and be pretty quick with the “delete” button when they do check their email.

Next up in terms of bad ideas is Thursday.  How or why it appeared here is anybody’s guess.  But then come Friday and Sunday, and it’s likely that some of the same I-don’t-want-to-be-bothered attitude that people adopt on Saturdays will be present here.

Wednesday’s next, followed by Monday.  Monday’s presence this high on the list seems a bit odd, considering that people will have all sorts of stuff to catch up with and probably be in a bad mood from the weekend ending, besides.  You’re on your own with it.

Finally, though, is Tuesday.  A full 28 percent of Schwartz’s respondents identified this as the best day to send link request emails.  Why?  Well, it’s a good bet that everyone will be a little settled into the pattern of the week at this point and ready to accomplish some stuff.

As for the best time to send link request emails, we’ll cut to the chase and reveal that 40 percent of the survey’s participants favored the 8 AM to noon chunk of time.  Then 1 PM to 6 PM is popular with another 30 percent of the crowd.

Plan your schedule accordingly if you decide to seek out any links.

Six weeks ago I started my first Ecommerce site with a business partner. It was a Xbox Live Subscription site. After six weeks I can conclude it failed. Maybe I expected to much of this, but after all, it was my first attempt in the ecommerce world.

What went wrong?

The site started out with 25 live cards in stock. After 3 weeks they were all sold. But I only received payment for like 10 cards. The other cards were gone without my knowledge. I still don’t know how this happened. But, to keep this story short, this site will not continue selling live cards like the way it did. It does get some search engine traffic so maybe we will put up some other xbox affiliate offers.

I am also starting a new site, called new movie rentals. The plan is to earn money through affiliates to rent movies online. This is a fresh start up, I will blog about it later when it gets some results (in the search engines or revenue wise).

This site is only a few months old, and I am going to promote it in February! The site has to get at least 30 themes before it will be promoted! Sony Ericsson Themes is a good search term, but it has good competition to! Hope I can SEO this site to the top