AdMoolah News and Views

Google is hosting another AdSense Webinar, this time to go over the new features they have recently introduced. If you are an AdSense publisher, you will receive an email with the details:

Dear Publisher,

Want to learn about new AdSense features?

Join our AdSense publisher webinar. Our experts will take you
through AdSense referrals, Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, new reporting
features and more. We’ll also leave time for members of our team to
answer your AdSense questions.

ADSENSE NEW FEATURES WEBINAR

Date and time
——————————

Wednesday December 21st
9:00 A.M. PST/ 12:00 PM EST/ 5:00 P.M. GMT

Registration
———————————————–

Unfortunately, space is limited and registration will be taken on a
first come basis. Please note that participation is by invitation only.

To register, click on the link below or paste it into a new browser
window:

http://googleonline.webex.com/googleonline/onstage/g.php?d=571525365&Rnd=2014821605

Once you register, instructions for participation will be sent to you
via email.

The last webinar, which I blogged about, was back in August. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attend this one, but if I do, I’ll blog about it again.

There is a WebmasterWorld Thread about Google sending out Christmas gifts to some of their publishers, the gift includes:

- marooon carrying case with embossed google logo. zipper closure
- wireless mini mouse, with scroll wheel
- usb charger for mouse with retractable cord
- usb 4 port hub
- usb gooseneck led light
- 128mb usb flash drive with wrist strap
- headset with retractable cord. has two plugs (one for mic and one for earbud) so it is for a computer, not a mobile phone.

It would be interesting to see how much you have to earn before Google sends a gift.

Update: Darren at ProBlogger has posted a picture of the gift.

It looks like Google is trying to make sure AdSense publishers get their payments a little early this month so that they arrive by Christmas. I spotted the following tip when I logged into my AdSense account:

If you haven’t received last month’s payment by the 25th of this month, please contact us using your login email address and include the check details of your payment.

JenSense is reporting that AdSense has added colored referral buttons. The referral setting page on the AdSense console now includes buttons with green and blue backgrounds.

I still wish they allowed publishers to make their own graphics, or use text links, but I guess this is a step in the right direction.

Another AdSense improvement from Google is new AdSense for Search designs.

With several new formats available for the AdSense for search box, you can integrate AdSense for search into your site even better. Visit the ‘Search code’ page, under the AdSense for search tab, to view the new designs and see which is the best fit for your site.

If I remember correctly, the differences I can see is that the Google Logo is optional, you can specify the background color, and the length of the search box can be modified. (It’s been a while since I looked at the Search code page, so correct me if I am wrong). These are good changes for blending the search boxes into you site better. I like these changes.

Another recent improvement to AdSense.

We’ve optimized the landing page users reach when they click on a topic in any link unit. By providing users with more relevant ads and topics, we’ve seen improved link unit performance – and you’ll see improved monetization.

They didn’t specifiy what the changes are, but anything that improves performance sounds good to me. I’ll have to try to remember to check the revenue from my link units in a week or two to see if I notice any difference.

Another new feature just announced by Google is themed, seasonal ad units.

We’re always striving to provide designs for text and image ads that will have the best results for advertisers and publishers. As part of this effort, we’re now offering themed ad units. These ad units will display themed colors and graphics during holidays and special events – you can view examples on our Ad Formats page.

You can enable or disable themed ad units on an account-wide basis by visiting the Account Settings page, or by following the instructions in our FAQ.

I really don’t like these account-wide features. Themed ads might be nice on some of my sites, but not all of them. It would be nice to be able to turn these on or off on a site-by-site basis, or even better, on an ad-by-ad basis.

It would be interesting to see the CTR differences between themed and non-themed ads. If you do any experimentation with this, let us know!

Google has rolled out Christmas presents for publishers. I’ll post each of these individually.

Now, new emailable reports offer you even more freedom: the ability to have your AdSense earnings reports sent straight to you. You select where and when you want your reports sent. Up to ten custom reports can be delivered daily, weekly, or monthly to the inbox of your choice.

To set up an emailable report today, visit the new ‘Report Manager’ page, under your Reports tab. Or, visit our AdSense Help Center for step-by-step instructions to guide you through the set-up process.

This will be great for all those statistic obsessed publishers out there.

DoubleClick has published their Search Trend Report for Q3 2005 (PDF). The report shows some good news for web publishers, the average Cost Per Click rose during the third quarter.

I think the most interesting data in the report was contained in this chart:

As it says in the report: “We see here that the relative proportion of keywords priced at more than $1.00 has nearly doubled in Q3 over Q2.” This is great for publisher, more higher paying keywords are always good!

Found via ProBlogger and eMarketer.

I have not been able to blog for the past two weeks for a variety of reason: a crashed hard drive, a vacation and some business travel. This post will highlight some of the interesting things that happened in the AdSense world and beyond.

Some animated backgrounds were spotted on AdSense ads. These ads had some animated arrows on them. See JenSense and ProBlogger for more coverage.

The AdSense Firefox referral program is now available to international publishers. See JenSense and ProBlogger for more coverage.

Google is testing Click-To-Call ads. Ads are appearing in search results that have a small phone icon beside them. When you click it you can enter your phone number and be directly connected to the advertiser. The feature is not available to publishers yet, but it will be interesting to see the payouts for this when they do. See ProBlogger for more coverage.

Chitika made some publishers very unhappy by slashing revenue in audited reports. Chitika seemed to be on their way to becoming a major player in the small publisher advertising space, but this knocked a lot of wind out of their sails. People were very upset that the revenue they will actually receive is much less than they thought it was going to be. See JenSense, Eric Giguere and ProBlogger for more coverage.

New background colors for Firefox referral buttons were released. Some of the buttons are now available with blue and orange backgrounds. See JenSense for more coverage.