Ad and image placement: a policy clarification

We've recently received a number of emails from publishers asking how we feel about the placement of images near Google ad units. There's been some confusion on this issue, and so we turned to our policy team to set the record straight.

Can I place small images next to my Google ads?

We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn't actually being offered. That's not a good experience for users or advertisers.

Publishers should also be careful to avoid similar implementations that people could find misleading. For instance, if your site contains a directory of Flash games, you should not format the ads to mimic the game descriptions.

What if I place a space or a line between my images and my ads? Would that work?

No. If the ads and the images appear to be associated, inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads will not make the implementation compliant.

Does this mean I can't place ads on pages with images?

You can definitely place Google ads on pages containing images -- just make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors. For example, if you run a stock photography site with a catalog of thumbnail images, don't line the ads up with the thumbnails in a way that could be misleading. Consider using a full border around your ads or changing your ad colors, for example.

What do unacceptable implementations look like?

Here are some examples that wouldn't comply with our policies.



Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support
source:www.adsense.blogspot.com

Keeping your account alive and well

(Program policies)

Occasionally, we get emails from publishers who are worried about having their AdSense accounts disabled. And recently, we've seen that others have been talking about it too. While we do take our program policies seriously, no one should lose any sleep over their AdSense account -- after all, there's a person behind every one of them. And a big part of maintaining a positive experience is working with publishers to understand the policies. In every possible case we first try to work with the publisher over email to remedy the issue -- and in nearly every case there is a quick and easy solution. (You might want to add adsense-support@google.com to your email contacts list to make sure any email messages about your account make it past your spam filters.)

We know you care about your AdSense account and we do too. As long as you're familiar with our simple guidelines, we're positive we can continue to work together for a very long time.

Ben, AdSense Publisher Support

22 Questions to Ask Before You Use Any Shopping Cart System

Many seasoned professional speakers agree that you can make more money selling your knowledge in the form of products than you can speaking.

You can use traditional methods to sell products such as direct mail, catalogs and advertising. However, if you have a great online presence, the entire world is your marketplace at a fraction of the cost of most traditional methods. To easily sell to this worldwide marketplace, you need a great shopping cart system.

Choosing a shopping cart system is perhaps the most important single decision you'll make in your online marketing career.

This is because:

You're stuck with the decision for a long time.

If you buy into a system that isn't adequate, it can cost you money--big money- because it won't maximize the amount of money spent by each visitor.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of off-the-shelf, free and alternative products out there vying for your money, time or both. And most of them are junk.

Don't suffer like I did I learned the hard way. When I started on the Internet I couldn't find a decent shopping cart program, so I took one that was highly recommended by my ISP (I now know the only reason they suggested it was because it made them the most money. They didn't care if it was the best one for me or not). What a headache! The system wouldn't do anything but take the order, but you had to have a PhD in computer science to work on it.

Here are 21 questions you absolutely, unfailingly must ask anyone trying to sell you a shopping cart. If you don't hear positive answers to the majority of these questions, put your wallet back into your pocket and evaluate the next option. Don't get stuck with a crappy shopping cart, even if they give it to you free.

If you have a poor shopping cart, get rid of it. I know that hurts, because you may have spent lots of time and money getting it going, but a bad one will cost you many thousands of dollars by waiting to replace it later rather than sooner.

Oh, and one more thing: if you hear the shopping cart programmer answer one of the questions below by saying, "Well, we could make it do that," run away even faster, because you're going to get stuck with a big custom programming bill with no guarantees that the cart is going to work the way you expected.

Every question below is very important when it comes to having a quality shopping cart system that gets more money out of the same number of visitors.

1. Will it calculate shipping and tax?

2. Does it handle specialized shipping like FedEx and UPS?

3. Will it automatically deliver hard goods and soft goods (e- books and other digital products) in the same transaction?

4. Does it offer customizable "Return to Shopping" pages without needing custom programming? This is important so you can send your customers to the most likely product they will buy next. Standard carts just send customers back to the main catalog, which forces them to search for related products. This is both irritating and time-consuming. Any delays in finding what they want could mean a lost sale, when they finally throw their hands up in disgust and move on to your competitor's site.

5. Does it offer customizable "Thank You" pages based on what the customer just bought? These are pages where savvy marketers put affiliate links and other offers specifically related to the customer's interests. When a customer clicks on one of these links and buys something from someone else, you get a commission.

6. Does it deliver receipt and confirmation e-mails automatically? The customer wants to know immediately that the order went through. If he or she is unsure, you are going to have to field many wasted e-mails and phone calls letting the customer know everything is OK.

7. Does it allow multiple order and dropship e-mails? In many cases, several different people in your organization and/or outside your organization need notice of an order. Again, you don't want to have to do this manually.

8. Does it have a Web-based administration page so you can work on your cart from any computer that has Internet access?

9. Does it include encryption technology and a secure server? Many companies make a fortune by sucking you in with a cheap or free cart and then make money on selling you an overpriced secure server.

10. Does it deliver easy output to your accounting software? You want to be able to import and export data easily between the cart and whatever programs you have that need to share the customer and sales information.

11. Does it have its own associate/affiliate program or is it easily compatible with other major brands of associate software? An affiliate program lets other people promote and sell your products on their Web sites. You don't pay them unless they sell something. When I tried to get an associate/affiliate program to work with my old cart, it cost me six months of down time and untold amounts of money lost because it wouldn't work. The associate program people blamed the shopping cart people and vice versa. But ultimately I was left holding the bag.

12. Does it have integrated up-sell modules? The ability to offer more related products to customers making a purchase makes me a small fortune each month. We call it, "Do you want fries with that?" If you don't have this ability, you are leaving many thousands of dollars on the table from people who would have spent more if your cart just gave them the chance.

13. Does it have an integrated sales and prospect database? In the old days I would have to print out orders and then retype them into ACT or some other database program. A good shopping cart system eliminates all this hassle and potential for error and gives you instant access to your sales reports and clients.

14. Does it have broadcast e-mail capability? Good shopping cart systems are able to manipulate your customer database instantly and send e-mails to any segment or sub-segment of your clients and handle unlimited e-mail magazines. Again, in the old days I would have to be genius enough to pick out segments of the database, export them to a file, import them into a mail program and then an hour later send the darn e-mail. Now this is all done in a few seconds.

15. Does it have mail merge capability? The e-mails sent are personalized to the recipients in any number of ways. Their names can be popped in to the subject line and in various portions of the body of the e-mail. You can merge "what they bought," "when they bought," "where they live" or just about anything that will make them feel the e-mail was just for them. Virtually all studies show that mail merge gets a much higher response than plain broadcast e-mail.

16. Can it handle coupons and other discounts? You can make a deal with Joe Blow that everyone coming from his Web site gets an automatic discount -- either a percentage or dollar amount. This makes Joe look great to his visitors and makes more sales for you. Here's a secret: Joe is your affiliate and makes money on the sale too, so he's got a great incentive to keep your discounts and coupons in front of his visitors. Good shopping cart systems can automate all of this and also handle any quantity discounts you offer.

17. Can it work for multiple Web sites with no extra fees? When I first started I had to get a separate (and expensive) license for each site and a separate merchant account too. Not only was this a great deal of expense, the hassle with installation every time you wanted a new site to go up was enormous. Modern carts can sell bras on one site and bibles on another, and no one knows the difference. The carts run on their own servers so there is no expensive installation and set-up is immediate.

18. Does it have unlimited and fully integrated "sequential" autoresponders? This is one of the most powerful features when it comes to Internet marketing. This feature follows up automatically over and over again to your clients and prospects to provide them customer care and to sell them more products and services. You can even provide free or paid e-mail courses, and each part of the course is delivered automatically.

19. Does it have ad tracking tied into actual sales? Simple ad tracking can be had all over the 'Net, but it is pretty much worthless unless it is tied to actual sales. This is called the "conversion ratio." Your cart system should be able to tell you how many people clicked on a particular promotion and how many people bought. This is the only way you can determine if an ad paid off. Good carts will also automatically split test one of your sales pages against another and tell you which page sells more. You keep the page that sells more and get rid of the page that sells less.

20. Does it have a pop-up box builder? Even though many people hate popup boxes, they work. I use them judiciously to make all kinds of offers, and I have the sales figures to prove they get more money out of the same number of people. If you know how to use them properly, no one gets upset.

21. Does it have a printable off-line order form? Believe it or not, many people are still afraid to put their credit card numbers into a Web site. I still get lots of fax orders and phone orders. If you want to maximize your sales, your cart must take these kinds of orders easily.

22. Does it provide free training? You'll need training in both the basic set up of using your shopping cart and determining your online sales strategy, so that you maximize the amount of money spent by each customer.

You may not understand what all the above questions mean right now, but I can assure you they are important in putting more money into your bank account. If you want to know even more about this subject, you can download a free e-book, How to Pick a Shopping Cart System That Makes You Money at www.public- speaking.org/ebook.htm.

What shopping cart system do I use? I have my own private label called www.KickStartCart.com.

www.netaim.info

http://www.netaim.info/bios/tom.htm

Web-savvy campaigning

Sen. Hillary Clinton signaled that hers would be an Internet-savvy presidential campaign by announcing her candidacy with a video posted on her Web site and e-mails to supporters. Throughout the week, she has been hosting live video chats. And on Thursday, Clinton held her first town hall meeting in cyberspace.

Clinton, a New York Democrat, used the Yahoo Answers service to ask voters: “Based on your own family’s experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?'’

By 5 p.m. Pacific time, Clinton had gotten more than 33,000 answers, making her question the second-most popular in the history of Yahoo Answers, a place where users can ask questions and get other users to answer them. Clinton is trumped by Oprah, who received 37,000 answers over several days to the question: “If you were given $1,000 to change the life of a perfect stranger, what would you do?'’

Clinton’s moves put her in the company of a cadre of politicians and interest groups who have successfully harnessed the power of the Internet as a political tool. In 1998 Jesse Ventura effectively used e-mail; in 2000 Sen. John McCain taught his colleagues a lesson in online fundraising; in 2002 MoveOn.org showed how the Internet could be used to mobilize voters; and Howard Dean showed how it could be used to connect with them.

“This is the great era of experimentation of politics and the Internet,'’ said Lee Rainie, founding director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In a recent study, Pew found that 15 percent of all American adults said they got most of their campaign news during the 2006 election from the Internet, up from 7 percent in the midterm election of 2002.

“It’s a chance to reach out to as many voters as we can and to try to continue the conversation that the senator wants to have with them,'’ said Blake Zeff, a campaign spokesman.

Zeff said Clinton has had an ongoing relationship with Yahoo that has included contributing to a blog on Yahoo Health. In September, Clinton asked Yahoo if she could pose a question on the Answer service.

On Oct. 1, Clinton asked: “How can we help to prevent and someday eradicate breast cancer, which has touched the lives of so many people?'’ She got 4,890 responses — enough for her to say yes when Yahoo asked if she wanted to try again.

Yahoo stresses that the invitation was not an endorsement, and it would be happy to give equal time to any candidate. In an introduction to Clinton’s question, the company wrote: “We are not siding with any candidate or party — in general or for the 2008 U.S. elections. We’re hopeful that people from all perspectives will realize the great insights that the Answers community can have, and will turn to us for future discussions.'’

Melissa Rische, a Yahoo spokeswoman, said the service has become increasingly popular with celebrities and politicians. Since Al Gore participated in its “Ask the Planet'’ promotion in June, questions have been posed by Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks, Maria Shriver, Martha Stewart, William Shatner and Leonardo DiCaprio.

“It’s a very smart move,'’ said Dan Schnur, McCain’s former communications director who helped run McCain’s online campaign.

Julie Barko-Germany, deputy director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University, said Clinton is showing that the Internet is the new town hall.

“So many people are used to politicians telling them what they think,'’ Barko-Germany said. “In this case, it’s the politician asking voters what they think and actually listening to the answers.'’

Langdon’s Digital Marketing Group buys Cheeze agency

Digital Marketing Group, the company headed up by former chairman of Euro RSCG London Ben Langdon, has acquired digital media planning and buying agency Cheeze.

The company has also acquired data network Alphanumeric Group, which trades as Jaywing, in a deal priced at £24m in cash and shares for both firms. It adds the acquisitons to existing marketing firms it already owns Dig for Fire and HSM.

Langdon, chief executive of Digital Marketing Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome two such high quality and fast growing businesses as Jaywing and Cheeze into Digital Marketing Group. With these acquisitions, we have expanded our integrated digital marketing platform quicker than forecast.

“We are now able to offer digital marketing, digital media, direct marketing and data services within a highly focused, specialist group, and will proactively build on the enormous cross-selling opportunities this offers.”

Digital media planning and buying agency Cheeze, founded by Katherine Jerman and Jamie Riddell in 1999. The company is based in Ipswich, with offices in London and Leeds. The company recorded a turnover of £10.5m last year and a profit before tax of £768,000.

All of the share capital of Cheeze has been acquired for a total of £9.5m, comprising £6m in cash and 6,140,351 shares in DMG.

In addition, Cheeze will receive a maximum of a further 1,754,386 contingent consideration shares in DMG in March 2008, subject to business performance.

Jaywing is an independent marketing, credit and fraud consultancy company, specialising in data interrogation and analysis and the designing of data-driven marketing initiatives. The company was set up in 1999 by Martin Boddy and Andy Gardner, and has offices in Derby, Harrow, Wakefield and Witney. Jaywing has an annual turnover of £10.8m and profits of £1.3m. The company was acquired for an initial £14.5m, comprising £8.6m in cash and 9,833,333 shares in DMG.

Landon added that the company was looking for further acquisition targets: “We will also consider opportunities to acquire businesses that further enhance our offering, either in web design and build, mobile, B2B or digital media and entertainment. We are determined to leverage our skills to become the pre-eminent digital direct marketing group in the UK and we now have the core businesses to make this happen.”

Langdon left Euro RSCG in September 2005 along with Marc Lepere, Euro RSCG Worldwide’s chief marketing officer, as part of changes made by the network’s new chief executive David Jones.

Source: www.revolutionmagazine.com

Web site reports tapes may link Bush to agent

Web site reports tapes may link Bush to agent
The existence of taped conversations between Reggie Bush or members of his family and an investor in a failed sports marketing agency could confirm the New Orleans Saints’ running back received cash and gifts while playing for Southern California, a Web site reported Wednesday.

A federal investigation into extortion claims by Bush and his family revealed the existence of the taped conversations, according to the Yahoo.com report.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego has issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple witnesses in the probe, Yahoo.com reported. According to a copy of a subpoena obtained by Yahoo, at least one of the witnesses was asked to hand over “any recordings in your possession of conversations between Lloyd Lake and Reggie Bush, Denise Griffin, or LaMar Griffin.”

Lloyd Lake, who founded a sports marketing agency in hopes of landing Bush as its first client, is the subject of a grand jury probe into the extortion claims. Denise Griffin is Bush’s mother, and LaMar Griffin is Bush’s stepfather.

Yahoo.com, citing unidentified sources, reported LaMar Griffin spoke with federal investigators in the spring of 2006 and acknowledged the existence of the tapes.

When asked in the past about the allegations of receiving inappropriate extra benefits, Bush has insisted that he and his family did nothing wrong.

Medallion Partners with Fast-Growing Online Home Improvement Web Marketing Firm

Medallion Doors, Windows and Patio Rooms, based out of Forestville, MD announced today that they will be partnering with the fast growing web marketing firm All Around The Home (http://www.allaroundthehome.com). All Around The Home (AATH) is a web marketing, PR and on-line lead generation company that focuses on business growth and lead generation for home service contractors. Medallion is a contracting company that specializes in Window Installation, Doors, Patio Rooms, Siding, Decks and Fencing. Medallion services the residential community in Maryland, DC and Virginia and also has an office to service much of New York.

Medallion realized the need for the partnership because they were seeking a wider solution to grow business on the internet. The company receives many referrals from their own website (http://www.medallionsecurity.com) but saw that the internet is growing and evolving in so many ways. An On-line Marketing and PR firm like All Around The Home offers Medallion an affordable and hands-off way to stay abreast of the evolution of the internet so that they can better provide the customer focused services that has made them successful. All Around The Home owner Ryan J. Corey said of the partnership, “ Medallion is one of the companies who realizes that an increasing percentage of a company’s revenue will come from the internet. The internet gains more new users every day, and our company can provide the tools that keep a home service firm on top of the changes, so that they never miss a beat. The day is coming where the internet is not only on our computer screens, but also on our televisions and more. All Around The Home will be there to make marketing and PR affordable and easy to Medallion and all of our home service business clients, when that time comes.”

All Around The Home is an On-line Lead Generation and PR company that develops a stronger internet presence and one to one direct request leads for home service contractors all across the country. All Around The Home is headquartered out of the Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD area.

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All Around The Home’s owners live in the Maryland, Virginia, DC metro area. Their business model currently serves homeowners and home improvement contractors in the Mid-Atlantic region by matching the two parties through a one-to-one estimate request service. Visit http://www.allaroundthehome.com/windows.asp to find a Window Installation company.

Current home service categories featured include: Windows, Siding, Roofing, Heating & Air Conditioning (HVAC); Plumbing; Electrical; Basement Waterproofing; Kitchen Remodeling; Painting and Cleaning Services (among others). Interested contractors can sign up to begin receiving leads at http://www.allaroundthehome.com/advertise/.

Contact: All Around The Home
http://www.allaroundthehome.com MD, US
Ryan Corey - Owner, 301-466-8959
Keywords: Web Marketing
Category: Catholic Organizations