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Friday, March 10
Fri, Mar 10 Morning Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Fri 10 Mar 2006 07:59 AM EST
Google Adsense - Source of Revenue at no Cost
By Sanjay Johari
Google AdSense is easy to install on a web
page or blog and constitutes additional source of income without spending anything. You have to apply on-line for
Google AdSense Program and generally approval comes from Google within two days. Those having AdWord account can use
AdWord e-mail address and password for AdSense account also. After acceptance of application, Google confirms
creation of your Adsense account thru e-mail. You get a code for AdSense text ads and another code for AdSense search.
These codes are to be installed on web page or blog and within minutes the page will start displaying ads from
Google, and a Google search bar. AdSense is available in dozen languages worldwide.The code for AdSense can be placed
on any of your web pages. I think placing it on your blog will give you distinct advantage because blogs have several
points in their favor. They are easily indexed by search engines. Recently two of my simple blogs were indexed by
Google within 2-3 days of submission of URL's which I think is quite fast. With Yahoo! it is even easier - just add
the URL of your blog to your My Yahoo page and Yahoo! will start accessing it immediately. GoogleAlert is a free tool
that can be used to know when your blog is indexed by Google.You can have your blog up and running in minutes free of
cost from several sites that provide this service. I personally use blogger.com. With blogs you do not need to worry
about designing websites, registering domain name or hiring web site hosting service. You simply write your content
on the blog and it is ready for publication.An excellent article by John Taylor on creating blog is re-published
here:http://sanjay-j.com/art1ab33.htmlWith AdSense wide range of options is available - number of ads for display,
shape and size of display, color schemes. More than 200 colors are available from which you can choose color for
border, background and text. 24 pre-set color palettes are readily available; in addition you can have your own
custom-palette to match with the appearance of your web page. Similarly, color schemes are available for Google
search bar.When the web page is opened, Google ads are placed which match with the content of the page and are highly
relevant. Google finds right ads for the web page from 100,000 AdWord advertisers.Several options are available for
the ads that you would like to be displayed on your page. Ad filters can be activated which will block up to 200
URL's of your choice which you do not want to show on your page. You may like to filter away ads from your
competitors. You can even choose your own default ads for display. Google uses sensitive content filters to prevent
display of sensitive material. If you find that your page is not really getting relevant ads, it may be time to look
critically at the content of the page, particularly the keywords used in text, links and tags. Little SE optimization
of the page should resolve this problem.Sometimes Google places public service ads when no target ads are available.
To suppress public service ad, it is possible to specify your own image ad or HTML page ad which will appear in place
of public service ad. This ensures that some ad is always present there. Or, if you like, the space reserved for
Adsense ads can be made to collapse.AdSense tracker is another useful feature which tracks the ads on your pages and
generates report for you. The reports can be customized based on requirement. Typically reports can give page
impressions displayed, number of clicks and click-thru rates. It is also possible to check earnings any time.Web page
owner can make use of all these facilities and try to get best results. With the help of Ad tracker lot of useful
information can be obtained - which ads are doing well, which color combination gets better results, which location
of the web page is best for showing ads and so on. This analysis can be used to improve traffic as well as click-thru
rates.With AdSense you have virtually nothing to lose. If you have not yet installed AdSense on your website you can
perhaps give it a thought. Any free space which can be created on your website to accommodate AdSense can be used to
generate additional income.
Sanjay Johari contributes articles regularly to various ezines. His website
contains information, articles, resources, opportunities and more for small business owners and home based business
owners. http://www.sanjay-j.comJoin the longest running internet business opportunity - because it works!http://www.
sanjay-j.com/empowerism.html
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Thu, Mar 9 Evening Featured Article
by
tecHead
on Thu 09 Mar 2006 12:59 PM EST
Googleopoly: The Motivation Behind Gmail
By Mark Daoust
Just before the close of business on Wednesday, Google announced that it will be launching Gmail, its new free e-mail
service set to offer 1000 megabytes of free space to its users. This announcement comes after a flurry of changes at
Google, all of which are geared to securing their place as the dominant search engine in light of recent competition
offered by Yahoo! and soon MSN. The search engine wars have been predicted for some time now by search engine
insiders, and the launch of Gmail is GoogleÂ’s attempt to win the war before it gets fully started. But is Google
really ready to take on the big portals?
It is very unlikely that Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page had any idea exactly how big their original search
engine (then called BackRub) would actually become. Google was an innocent project through Standford University. It
was a project started in the days of optimism about a free Internet not supported by ads or corporate revenues, but
rather the free exchange of ideas. As a result, they focused solely on product. There were no worries about creating
a flashy interface, hiring a sharp marketing team, or launching an IPO. They were worried about good search results.
The result is that Google is now synonymous with searching the Internet.
Today, Google stands with a much different outlook. The success of the launch of AdWords propelled Google into a class
all their own. Almost overnight, Google entered the PPC industry and dethroned Overture as the untouchable kings of
PPC. Although other search engines such as Lycos, FindWhat, Kanoodle, and Sprinks had been competing with Overture,
none of these engines were able to bring the reach and brand power of Google.
The success of AdWords was a notice to every other Internet giant. Companies such as Yahoo! and AOL – who were
providing Google’s results to their users – took notice to the fact that Google had an incredible influence on the
Internet, and if they desired, they could leverage that influence into a variety of new markets. Worse yet, Yahoo!
and AOL helped Google gain such influence by providing Google results to their users. These giants became nervous,
and with good reason. Google started to show signs that they were expanding into new markets. Dictionaries,
glossaries, news services, Froogle, Catalog search, maps, blogging, and other services were all emerging from the
Google labs and news rooms. If Google was able to instantaneously compete and lead in the highly competitive PPC
market, what would happen if they moved in on the territory of Yahoo!, AOL, or MSN? These Internet giants helped make
Google powerful, possibly more powerful than they were themselves.
The battle for web searches had begun. Yahoo! has taken the most notable steps by replacing their results provided by
Google with their newly acquired Inktomi division based results. To fight Google on the advertising revenue level,
Yahoo swooped up Overture, still all-star in the paid search market. Overture, now playing catch-up in an industry
which they practically founded, launched their own site content match system which rivals Google AdWords.
MSN has vowed to refine their search algorithms to become more relevant. Most of the work being done by MSN has been
fairly quiet, but rest assured, there will be a lot of talk about MSN search when they are ready to release their new
product to the Internet. And, with every new PC you buy, donÂ’t be surprised if it comes with a host of web searching
tools built in.
There have even been rumors over at AOL that they are going to be abandoning their Google based results. The fact is,
AOL is scared of Google. As it stands right now, Froogle already steps on their shopping market, and Google News is
taking away from AOLÂ’s news delivery service.
By abandoning Google provided results, these Internet giants are attempting to limit GoogleÂ’s reach. The fact is
simple: users still use Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL. They use these services because they offer a host of unique
information, updated news, financial reports, maps, phone directories, etc. Most importantly, users visit MSN, Yahoo,
and AOL for their free e-mail. While they have these users attention, Yahoo! and MSN will now try to sell these users
on their new and improved search results not provided by Google in order to steal a bit of that search engine market.
Just as Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN realized how powerful Google was in the search engine market (and subsequently the danger
that posed to them), Google is realizing the real threat that these portals present. If these portals are able to
offer suitable search results, users will have less reason to utilize GoogleÂ’s search. Google has also recognized the
main advantage these portals have: free e-mail. Free e-mail is what makes Yahoo! and MSN such popular destinations.
People who have e-mail accounts at these locations find themselves visiting these sites multiple times every day just
to check their e-mail. While they are there, they have the opportunity to be grabbed by a headline or service offered
through these portals. The free e-mail is what brings the users back time and again.
Gmail is a direct attempt by Google to destroy any competition before it arises. With 10 times the amount of storage
and what appears to be a superior interface for viewing and organizing mail messages, Gmail is not simply a nice
thing to offer to web surfers. Gmail is an attempt to put an arrow through the heart of Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. The
services will not be comparable in quality, and that is the way Google wants it. The goal of Gmail is to make Hotmail
and Yahoo! Mail look like laughable solutions to web based e-mail.
If Gmail is successful in converting Yahoo! Mail users and Hotmail users, the search engine wars will most likely be
much ado about nothing. The battle and war will be won, and the victor will be Google. But donÂ’t expect MSN, AOL, or
Yahoo! to simply watch Gmail launch without developing a plan to strike back hard. Yahoo! alone has invested
incredible amounts of money to acquire Inktomi and Overture just so they can compete head to head with Google. It
would be uncharacteristic of them to simply fold. And do not forget about the power MSN has with their search.
Remember that Microsoft controls what search engine is used by default on most every computer around the world. That
is a competitive advantage that Google will have a very hard time overcoming.
Gmail will not be the last new service offered by Google. It certainly will not go unanswered by Yahoo! or another
portal. It will, however, mark a fundamental point in this search engine war that appears to now be in full swing.
Copyright 2004 Mark Daoust
Mark Daoust is the owner of Site-Reference.com (http://www.site-reference.com (http://www.site-reference.com)) and
TowerSearch (http://www.towersearch.com (http://www.towersearch.com)). Signup for a free TowerSearch account and
receive guaranteed top rankings for all of your chosen keywords.
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