Blog To Great

Advertising in CAPTCHA Replacement With Type-in Ads

Startup Solve Media  has been getting good attention with a compelling idea; replace the boring, distorted sequence of letters or digits you often have to type to enter a site with an advertisement.  Rather than trying to decipher and copy the string of wavy text known as a captcha, Solve's "Type-In" unit allows Web users to retype a tagline or other phrase within a display ad to gain access to a site or other content.

Since the normal text in Solve's ads are easier for people to read; but still difficult for bots to read as the company pixelates the image differently each time, the process becomes easier and users remember the brand messages better since they've typed in the info. That's what Solve is saying at least!  The company's CEO and co-founder Ari Jacoby says that message recall with their Type-In ad is 12 times higher than typical banners,  a rate of about 40% compared to 3%.

What do you think?

More @ MediaPost.com

GOOGLE Adwords Resource Center

BLOG TIPS - Social media and best blog site design practices has helped you and your blog already, but have you taken the full advantage of web advertising for you blog / small business?  On line advertising is typically the most mis-understood and under-utilized area that you should use to grow your business.  Well now Google has launched an improved effort to help small business owners with paid advertising to make it more effective for you.

Recently Google announced the kick off of their AdWords Small Business Center.  It's designed to be a resource and knowledge center that you can utilize to learn and understand AdWords best practices and obtain key information about what you need to know to run a successful AdWords account. The information is provided in various levels; beginner, intermediate and advanced, so that you can get the maximum benefit no matter what your experience level.

GOOGLE AdWords Expands its Mobile Reach

     BLOG NEWS- This week, Google unveiled a new feature for AdSense mobile that enables you to tap into the smartphone mobile browsing experience by allowing them to run larger AdSense ads that are readable on more expensive mobile phones. When consumers use a Palm Pre, iPhones and "Android" running phones (no Blackberries yet), or those will full HTML browers the feature will display.

So take note when you activate you AdWords campaigns to check the box in Step # 3.  This will activate the feature to run the ads will on the higher-end mobile phones. It says-: "iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers."

Before this, AdSense mobile for publishers only allowed you to get smaller text and image ads on their Web site content.

Google hopes that the new feature will help advertisers reach with consumers on the 177+ million mobile units that are estimated to ship out this year, says Google Software Engineer Danielle VanDyke. VanDyke posted on the official Google blog, citing Gartner's global smartphone sales estimates as rising 27% in 2009.  And what blogger wouldn't want their blog ads to reach a percent of that market? 

Looks Like BRIGHTCOVE is NOT For Sale, This Year

     BLOG NEWS- It appears that video content and ad platform Brightcove will not be sold to Google or anyone else in the near future. In a recent interview with PaidContent, Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire said "We're not for sale."

The news end the rumor that started last week when Mark Glaser of PBS MediaShift tweeted that a deal was likely and Brightcove had a $500 to $700 million selling price. The deal would have given Google added credibility with major media firms as it and broaden its video offerings to business.  

Allaire also said to PaidContent:

We don't comment on rumor and speculation. All I can say is, we're focused on building a global, independent company, and that's the path that we're on... We're in a fortunate place in that we've got a business that we've shown can be a sustainable business, it's in a market that is growing, we have a lot of cash on our balance sheet. We don't need capital. That puts us in a place to continue to be independent.

Google Unveils Its DoubleClick Ad Exchange

     BLOG TIPS- The much discussed Google Ad Exchange is launching.  Their Ad Exchange is their latest, and biggest tool, so far, in the on-going struggle over the $15 billion display ad market (banner ad and video ads that are on most blogs / websites).  Google launched its new DoubleClick advertising exchange today, it's the open "ad marketplace" that it's been working on since early 2008.

"Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved," Neal Mohan, Google's vice president of product management, said in a statement. "We're focused on growing the display advertising pie for everyone. The DoubleClick Ad Exchange is a major part of that goal."

Google's exchange lets bloggers and Web site operators offer space to ad agencies and ad networks to enticing them to bid on the space in a live, automated auction system.  This way, advertisers can get a wider choice of ad space and be able to target ads more accurately to the most appropriate prospects. With this system, publishers look for increased ad revenue rather than the low $$$ you get from most ad networks 

More @ GoogleBlog

Village Voice Media Starts Up Ad Network

      BLOG TIPS- Village Voice Media, publisher of 15 alternative weekly newspapers across the USA (including, of course,  the Village Voice in NYC), has annouced the launch a niche online ad network that will be made up of local blogs and content sites, each that will align with VVM's demographics and indie philosphy.   Under the Voice Local Network brand, VLN has already started selling advertising over the last few weeks on behalf of several NYC blogs, including the foodie-aimed Eater.com, the real estate–centric Curbed.com and the shopping-focused Racked.com.

Also, the network includes the vintage music hub Wolfgangsvault.com  and LikeMe.net, which helps users find music, restaurants and entertainment s based on recommendations of others. Voice Local Network can handle all ad sales for its blogs/websites, or they will look to work with their partners ad efforts. VLN feels it has a good opportunity here, by leveraging its storng regional presence by bringing more local advertisers to these sites, while it provides its own advertisers with greater reach. “With this network, we can align ourselves with good quality sites with similar demographics by plugging in and becoming their sales force,” said Village Voice Media president Scott Tobias. “This allows us to extend our coverage into certain verticals and maintain high CPMs.”

Read more at Adweek.  As the online ad market continues to be "challenged", all good ad opportunities should be investigated.  To learn more about VLN, or to submit your blog, contact VoiceLocalNetwork.com.  

Google Adwords Network to Get Updates

     Blog Tips - One of the easiest blog ad systems is changing ! Google has just announced improvements for Adwords advertisers that use the Google Adwords Starter Edition.  They've developed a new interface that makes it easier for you to manage your campaigns, with changes to the new interface occuring over the next few months. 

The basics of AdWords won't change; quick access to your keywords, ads, and settings, plus graphs to help you measure performance, and it won't cost you any more. When Google's finished updating, the look and feel of your account may be a little differnet, so they've published more info so you can familarize yourself.

Key differences after the Google Adwords update-

Just one edition
The new AdWords interface can be used by all advertisers -- there will be no more separate Standard and Starter editions. You'll no longer need to graduate to Standard Edition to expand your account. You'll still have a clear view of your performance, but you'll have access to advanced AdWords features if and when you want to use them.

Many products
Advertise a single product or business with one set of keywords and one or more ads. Or, create different campaigns with separate budgets to advertise additional products or businesses. You can even divide campaigns into sub-sections (called ad groups) each with many sets of keywords and ads. Learn more.

Many ad formats
Use text ads, image ads, and other formats as you wish.

Understanding Basic Blog Advertising Terms

    Blog Tips - New bloggers must understand basic advertising "lingo" to be able to properly get your blog monetized.  A recent post at AdOnion.com quickly explains the terminology you'll need as you set up advertising and metrics for your blog. Blog advertising is easy and necessary if you want to make money blogging,  but you need to know your "CPC" from your "CPM". Take your time and set up ads through networks with care so you don't overwhelm your reader.  And stay with ads that are appropriate for your blog's theme and niche!  There are also many choices for blog advertising, learn about Affiliate Future and  WidgetBucks too!  See full post at adonion.com and Blog to Great !

Ad Network VIDEO EGG Announces Twig, A New AdFrames Unit

     BLOG TIPS -   VideoEgg, the rich media ad network, today announced Twig, their new AdFrames unit that's designed to optimize advertising on long Web pages, such as blogs and other social sites where comments and content increase page length.  The new Twig is an extension of VideoEgg's AdFrames platform offering rich media display units of varying sizes that expand to screen-size when rolled over to show a video. Advertisers pay on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) basis, only when users interact with ads by watching a video, playing a game or taking some other action.

Stretching the full width of the browser window, Twig is the ad network biz first ad unit that is always at the top or bottom of the frame and has an opt-in full page expansion, allowing you to bring a rich interactive environment directly to your readers/users.

It's known that blogs represent a vital component to new media environment and are often an undervalued opportunity for advertisers. Usually, the page format on blogs runs long and readers too frequently scroll past your ads, creating a missed opportunity for you & your advertisers to engage with your blog's readers. Twig is designed to provide a solution by affixing to the top or bottom of a page and staying within view as the user scrolls up or down.   Over the next several weeks, VideoEgg will be rolling out Twig across more than 1,000 blogs and sites in key advertising and publishing categories  (you might consider a new blog in one of these niches, do a domain name search and get blogging!).   You should check out Video Egg and Twig for your blog, it's a vastly improved method to monetize a blog with quality advertising .

Check out a demo of Twig in action: VideoEgg.com, or watch a video of Twig at YouTube.com

Adsense Tips For Increasing Blog Revenue

     BLOG TIPS - Despite the interest in newer ad networks (Performancing Ads, AffilliateFuture, Widget Bucks, etc)   for blogs and in selling your own ads, most bloggers still seem to devote some space to Adsense.  It's easy to use and any revenue gained is from very little effort.  So, if you still have Adsense ads on your block, try this simple tips to get as much ad money as possible-

1. Ad Positioning- Many AdSense publishers use the heat map that AdSense has produced.  It will show where ads work best on your blog.  It works well and is a great starting point for your Adsense experience.  Just make sure you test new positions for ads to see what works best for your blog.

2. Number of Ads- More ads earn more than less ads. Right?  Well, not necessarily it isn't always the case.   Test different combos and numbers of ad units on your blog. There's usually a maximum number where you hit a max amount of how many ads your readers will interact with; go beyond that and you lose readers/viewers, reduce traffic, and cause you earners to decline.

3. Ad Design- Readers are sophisticated and aware of all types of ads.  Don't alienate your blog readers with crazy colors.  Make sure the overall look of your blog is engaging, wild colors make blogs look cheap and in existence only to publish ads.  Instead,  test different colors and designs of ads to see which work best and use the Adsense rotating ad tool to rotate different designs to fight "ad blindness".

4. Ad Sizes - AdSense offers us a range of different ad sizes, so experiment  to see which works best. And don't fall into the "bigger the ad, the better it performs" syndrome.  It's not always true, and depends on the blog.

5. Ad Formats- The right choice in image and text ads performs better than choosing text ads alone.  AdSense allows you to run link units, AdSense for search, etc.  These different formats adds to the readers' experience and may work differently depending on the blog.  Find what's best for your blog/s by experimenting!

6. What Content Converts? - AdSense use without integrating with Google Analytics is a missed opportunity by bloggers. Get into and learn about metrics to know your blog and it's revenue potentional and activitity better.  The knowledge that it will give you has the potential to increase earnings.

What are your advertising and Adsense success stories?  Comment below and share with other Blog to Great readers!  Thanks!

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