Google”s Adsense program lets web site owners make money by inserting a little bit of Google-provided code, so that Google inserts pertinent ads. It is a great way to make a little money — or even a lot of money.

Joel Comm”s ebook Adsense Secrets tells the secrets of how to make money with Adsense, such as how and where to place the ads, colors that work best, how to get traffic and more. This ebook is sonly available via electronic download, not in paperback or hard back. Joel shows us how he makes over $10,000 per month from Adsense.

If they are already using Adsense and have Joel”s ebook, there is a super program to help keep track of which pages — and which ads — are the most productive. Adsense Gold includes Adsense Tracker, a script that you can install easily on your web site to monitor page visits and ad clicks.

Install Adsense Tracker on the web site and add a little code to your web page and now it”s done. Adsense Gold also includes keyword lists and bid values, so you can see prices for keywords and how often they appear in searches — valuable info to fine-tune a web site.

Another way they can make money on the web is via eBay. The Auction Mommies book isn”t just for Mommies! It is full of instructions and tips for anyone to start selling on eBay.

Still don”t have a web site? Get one — I recommend and use Powweb. They offer web hosting for your own web site, including a free domain name

See my Christmas Shopping Suggestions for more suggestions. Some of those are downloadable, some require shipping, and all are available over the Internet.

Christmas is almost here, and we are almost out of shopping time. For many of us, the hardest thing to do is to pick out a suitable gift.

Here are a few suggestions, from the Dream Toy of the Month section of my TerryStockdale.com web site:

• the hottest gift this Christmas, the new iPod Nano MP3 music player,
  in black or white, 4GB or 6GB;
• the Motorola Razr Cell Phone, also available in black for Cingular customers;
• a Parks Light Saber, high-quality Star Wars-type Replica Light Saber, machined from stainless steel or aircraft aluminum;
• a Star Wars Build Your Own Light Saber Kit;
• a 50-inch Plasma Television for the sports fan or movie fan of the house (including YOURSELF!);
• the Sony Playstation PSP portable game system that plays movies, too;
• Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine;
• the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP
  Digital SLR Camera;
• a Crucial 1GB CompactFlash, with Rebate, for digital cameras and MP3 players;

For a less-expensive gift for a friend, relative or business contact:

• all-natural toffee, covered with chocolate, from Greenmar Toffee;
• a downloadable anti-spyware program (CounterSpy) for your favorite computer novice or experienced computer user ;
• Click2PDF, a PDF file creator that lets you “print” a PDF file from any computer application that can print;
• web hosting for their own web site, including a free domain name;
• Systran WebTranslator 5.0, for browsing foreign language web sites;
• DELIGHT YOUR COFFEE LOVER- Receive illy’s catalog + special offers for coffee gifts, machines, and cup collections;
• Star Wars Movie Prop Replicas, Statues, Collectible Pins and More;

Don”t forget, if you are getting or giving a new computer for Christmas or for any other holiday, read my computer buying tips and computer security tips.

Chitika has been responding quickly to the dissatisfaction of their ad “publishers” (web site owners who have Chitika eMiniMalls ads on their sites) from October”s “audit.”

Chitika eMiniMall ads work on a similar economic model to Google”s Adsense ads — pay-per-click advertising. However, unlike Google, who audits and adjusts realtime for what they consider “invalid clicks,” Chitika does one audit a month.

The audit results were released on December 1st and nailed publishers for amounts from 10% to reportedly 70% of their preliminary daily reported earnings.

In this case, the audit for October was not released until after November was over, so there were a lot of upset publishers — after all, if you were really giving Chitika ads a lot of space because of their profitability, you would be rightfully upset over dramatic chops in earnings upon audit. Even more so, publishers were upset because it had taken a whole additional month for us to know about the audit issue (Chitika disclosed that it did monthly audits, but not that they could have this significant an impact.)

Continue reading “Chitika ads - new “Alt ad” function”

Google has announced to its Adsense publishers (like me — the people operating web sites that have Adsense text ads on our web sites) that it will now have optional seasonal images in the ads.

These will be standard text ads, but with a few background images scattered through the ads. The examples they have show us as examples are from Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I”ve already reset my “preferences” to pick up the seasonal images. Now, I”m waiting to see them! Their purpose, of course, is to draw more attention to the ads. I”m interested to see how that works out.

If you”re getting a new computer for christmas, or giving one, check out A Computer For Christmas for buying tips on computers and the anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software you will need.

For my Christmas list, not to say that I really expect to get these for Christmas this year, these are the items on my drooling at Christmas electronics list:

Alienware Area 51M Model 7700 notebook computer: This notebook is loaded with speed and power, including a full Pentium IV — no measly Pentium M here! After all, do you really use your computer on batteries? I don”t! My notebook is my primary computer, so I need speed here. Save $200 on Alienware Area 51M 7700
Of course, if you want, you can buy their Sentia Pentium M / Centrino system, with its 12″ wide screen. Smaller, lighter and easier for travel.

Sirius Satellite Radio: I”ve been thinking about satellite radio for a couple of years. At first, it seemed like a totally unnecessary item. However, routine traffic jams and a few long trips by car — and that attitude is changing. My pick for satellite radio is Sirius Satellite Radio, which would give me access to over 120 channels of satellite radio - all 100% commercial-free. Sirius Satellite Radio - Save $50 on select SIRIUS receivers with rebate and subscription

Stocking Stuffers: One of my favorite stores for computer goodies, ranging from T-shirts to electronics, is ThinkGeek. Their ThinkGeek Computing link has a bunch of goodies that I”d like. Of course, branching to the rest of their site, I can get anything ranging from T-shirts to electronic clocks to toy light saber replicas.

For the travelling man and woman: GotoMyPC is an award winning service that is receiving rave reviews from publishers, including Time, The Wall Street Journal and CNN. GoToMyPC lets you access and work on your computer from any Web browser.
Access Your PC from Anywhere - Free Trial plus 10% Off!

For my non-technical friends: The Museum Store Company.com offers an exquisite collection of art, artifacts, museum reproductions, and historic jewelry, sculptures, and tapestries.
Fixed Rate Shipping at the Museum Store Company

If you are getting a Computer for Christmas, or at any other time, for that matter, check out my computer buying tips and computer security tips.

I include suggestions for effective purchasing of additional memory and for anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs — all of which you need. You will probably want an anti-spam program, too, so I talk about those, too.

This will be good reading and guidance both before and after buying the new computer.