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Part 1: Top 10 SEO Mistakes (1-5)

May 27th, 2009

Top 10 SEO Mistakes Series – Part 1

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

Have you ever wondered why your business does not show up in Google’s search results unless you actually type in the name of your business? Even then you may be halfway down the page, or not there at all! If you own a business or website that sells cars for instance, you know that it’s a highly competitive industry; so when someone types in “Cars in Moncton” or “Vehicles for sale in Toronto”, you want to be right there amongst the competitors. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Branding Tips

Last Weeks Twitter Updates for 2009-05-25

May 25th, 2009

Posted in Twitter Updates

Part 3: Contextual Advertising – Looking at the Options

May 20th, 2009

Contextual Advertising Series – Part 3

The Highest Degree of Relevancy between Content, Keywords and Ads

photo credit: Caveman 92223

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

Now that we’ve had a look at how the whole concept of contextual advertising meshes together, we’re going to take a peek at a couple of the alternatives to Google Adsense and what they have to offer, because each program does have its own unique features:

Yahoo! Publisher Network

Yahoo! Publisher Network is a solid alternative to the Adsense program. It’s a great starter package for your website or blog. The overall look of the ads themselves is also very similar to Adsense. Some of the features of YPN include:

  • Advanced ad targeting, and the ability to choose 2 primary categories
  • Ability to filter out up to 50 competitors ads, so that you don’t have competing ads on your site
  • Ability to choose ad colors, sizes and layout of ads for easy integration into your website
  • Tracking on up to 50 channels to see which are your best revenue generating ads

Kontera

Kontera is a little bit different than YPN and Google Adsense in that it does not use designated areas to display ads. Kontera creates links within the body of your text, which trigger pop-up ad ‘bubbles’ that users can click through to. While some users will find this annoying or obtrusive, others may welcome its integration with their content. Key features include:

  • Online advertising that integrates with your actual content
  • Cost-Per-Impression and Cost-Per-Click revenue streams
  • Ability to integrate with other suppliers, including AdSense
  • Negotiable Cost-Per-Impression with significant traffic

Clicksor

Clicksor differs from traditional Pay-Per-Click engines in that it’s primary function is to gather potential consumers rather than potential visitors. Clicksor’s Content Marketing Technology attempts to match visitors to the service or product you are offering making it more targeted traffic than other forms of PPC. Key features include:

  • 2 options for contextual PPC – keyword or channel matching
  • Online demos to further explain how the system works
  • Ability to begin and end campaigns at your leisure
  • Paypal option is available, making it a great option for international websites

The above three programs all have their own unique features, as well as some pros and cons, but to fully understand how contextual advertising can benefit your website the best, you’ll need to experiment. Here are some other Google Adsense alternatives you may want to explore:

  • All Feeds
  • Fast Click
  • Veoda
  • Tribal Fusion
  • Bidvertiser
  • Adtegrity
  • Chitika
  • Target Point
  • Revenue Pilot
  • ClickThruTraffic

These programs are just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless contextual advertising programs out there and you’ll want to find the right one that benefits you and your site and gives you the best return on investment possible. Google Adsense is probably the biggest and best service out there right now, but the biggest and best may not necessarily be the right fit for you. If you’re looking for additional alternatives to any of the programs listed here, try searching the web for “Google Adsense Alternatives”. There is always money to be made on the web – why wouldn’t you want a slice of the extra large contextual advertising pie?

This concludes the 3-part series on contextual advertising. Keep an eye on this blog for more contextual advertising and Adsense articles in the future. If you’d like help in choosing a Pay-Per-Click program for your website or if you’d like more information on the subject, contact Point.Click Media Productions and we’d be happy to help out.

Posted in Web Tools

Last Weeks Twitter Updates for 2009-05-18

May 18th, 2009

Posted in Twitter Updates

Copyright Launches

May 14th, 2009

With an updated identity and a new website Copyright Office Machines of Moncton is now live at www.copyrightcopiers.com

Copyright Office Machines

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Point.Click News, Projects

Part 2: Contextual Advertising – Examining the Google Adsense Model

May 13th, 2009

Contextual Advertising Series – Part 2

You've got Mail

photo credit: Bramus!

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

In the previous section of this series, we took a brief look at how the contextual advertising model works, but this time around, we’ll break it down piece-by-piece to show you exactly how the food chain shapes up.

For example purposes we’ll stick with the Google AdSense model, as it is still the most popular choice amongst internet marketers today.

First, it should be pointed out that Google actually has two separate programs that work together to generate their grand advertising system. It’s known as the “AdSense” system, but in reality there are two parts. There is one for the buyers and one for the sellers. Here’s what they are and how it works:

Google AdWords: This is where it begins. Not to be confused with AdSense, AdWords is it’s own separate system setup for buyers. What this means is that entrepreneurs can sign up for AdWords to buy advertising space. They do this by bidding on keywords. The AdWords program is very easy to use and highly advanced and allows you to research certain keywords, find out what works best for you and your budget, and implement it all at once.

The best part – you aren’t locked into any kind of monthly contract or anything of the sort. You can spend as much or as little as you like and the system allows you to start and end your advertising campaigns on the fly.  You can even choose what you would like your ad to say. You can monitor your campaign 24/7 to see how your ads are performing and find out what’s working with their highly detailed reports feature.

So now that Google has a flock of buyers in its AdWords program, they can now turn and resell those ads through its publisher program:

Google AdSense: This is where publishers make their money. You don’t necessarily NEED to sign up and buy AdWords to be an AdSense publisher either, but many publishers enjoy the integration of both systems and frequently use both to maximize their online marketing potential. That said, If you just want to display ads and collect some cash, you can do that without having to buy from AdWords.

How it works: Lets say an AdWords consumer has a store or website that sells baseball memorabilia. He or she has purchased the keywords “baseball cards” for 25 cents. The AdSense program will now in turn search for publishers who have sites about baseball or more specifically “baseball cards”, and display the store’s ad on this third-party site. Then, when someone comes along and clicks the ad, the publisher is entitled to a portion of that 25 cents that the AdWords consumer has bid on. Google is quite hush on the amount it charges as a commission on these transactions, but the AdSense publishers still get a fair shake. The great part about this is even if your site doesn’t generate a great deal of traffic, if you play your cards right as an AdSense publisher, you can still create a nice revenue stream from your website, and it’s completely handled by Google. They send out the cheques, and you keep collecting, and you never pay a cent as a publisher.

In Part 3 we’ll talk about and compare a few of the Google AdSense competitors.

Posted in Web Tools

Last Weeks Twitter Updates for 2009-05-11

May 11th, 2009

Posted in Twitter Updates

Part 1: What is contextual advertising and why all the hubbub?

May 6th, 2009

Contextual Advertising Series – Part 1

Adsense Screenshots to check for Allowed Websites

photo credit: gopal1035

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

During your internet marketing research travels, you may have come across such terms as “contextual advertising”, or “Pay-Per-Click” advertising. A more common term for these items is “Google Ads”. So the question arises, what are these things and why are they getting so much attention? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Web Tools

Last Weeks Twitter Updates for 2009-05-04

May 4th, 2009

Posted in Twitter Updates