Build Traffic

BlogCatalog, a social network for bloggers which claims a membership of over 100,000 bloggers will partner with SezWho to provide for comment tracking and ranking platform for bloggers. This sounds like something new and will be good news for those bloggers who post useful comments, which I suppose will include their own blogs as well as others.

BlogCatalog also mentioned a network which offers a searchable directory to connect bloggers with a wider audience and provides a support group for discussion and collective action. This is another useful feature for bloggers, but it remain to be seen how useful when it is launched. Meanwhile, I am sure many bloggers are looking forward eagerly to see how it works.

A blogger, by joining blogger joins BlogCatalog, they will be able to create a personal profile for the network and this means additional exposure for bloggers who want exposure. Not only that, you can create an avatar for the profile and get a listing in the blog directory.

Screenshot titled "BlogCatalog SezWho Popup" belongs to FutureWorks PR

Partnership with SezWho have now given BlogCatalog members to download a plug-in for their blog. However, I cannot comment on how this plug-in works or how useful it can be as it will only be released after the launch (31st January 2008?).

With this Comment Ranking Platform, bloggers can provide comment ratings, comment filtering and the ability to view a contributor's commentary across the web. That can either be welcomed by bloggers who wants greater exposure but may be viewed as a sort of invasion of privacy by those bloggers who like to stay private. But it looks like it can help drive traffic to one's blog for those who look forward to getting more visitors to their blog.

This may be what you may see in the comment system:

Screenshot of BlogCatalog SezWho Integration by FutureWorks PR

For bloggers who have been providing good and useful content, here is your chance to enhance your reputation in the Blogosphere.

Add Adsense Products to Blogger Blogs : Recommended Method

This question crops up often:
when customizing my blog, I click on 'add a page element', then I click on 'adsense' and this is what comes up.....

Please correct the errors on this form.

Format: 300 x 250 Rectangle (drop down menu)

Blogger is not allowed to request ad code for your AdSense account. You must fix this by signing in again and allowing Blogger to manage your account.

My recommendation is, forget about adding AdSense products direct via Blogger except if you want to add AdSense ads between posts (click BACK button to get back to this page). Reasons: You have much limited options like being unable to add AdSense custom channels and Adsense text or button referral links, or even Google site search box.

Use this method: Adding Adsense products to Blogger blogs. No time to check what is inside there, but perhaps you can get more information from Blogger Beta: Adding advertisement and hit counters, etc (click BACK button to get back to this page). Feedback highly welcomed as some may need updating.

How to Get Your Competitor's Adsense Account to be Terminated

The point of this post is not to play dirty. The point is to expose a fatal flaw in the way Google Adsense does business in hopes that they will fix the problem.

Background

We already know there are a variety of blackhat tactics that can be used to get a competitor's site banned or penalized in Google’s search listings (e.g. spamming backlinks in bad neighborhoods, duplicate content on multiple domains, etc.). All of these methods are off-site, meaning the webmaster has no way of stopping anyone from setting up hundreds of domains scraping his content and plummeting his SERP ranking. But what about sabotaging your competitor's Adsense account?

There is always the obvious "go crazy clicking your competitor's ads" tactic, but at least Google makes some attempt to combat this problem by tracking IP addresses and cookies. Publishers are being banned from Adsense at a steadily increasing rate, but I tend to think that usually it is the publisher's own fault for encouraging clicks, providing adult content, or utilizing "shady" methods of driving traffic to their site.

When you signup for an Adsense account, you are approved based solely on the original domain you submit for review. Once you are approved, then you are allowed to instantly place your Adsense code on any number of sites that you own without having to have get them approved, or even put them on file with Adsense. As a publisher myself with hundreds of domains, I find this to be very convenient. But…

The Problem

Since you have never submitted any of your domains to Adsense (beyond the initial domain), Google just ASSUMES that you own all of the domains that display your Adsense code. Consequently, your account will be held responsible for the traffic sources, promotional methods, spammy content, illegal ad placement, or poor click-through rate of a site that you may not even own (as long as they display your code)! And no, its not that easy to just signup for another account (you need a new SSN/EIN).

The How-To List

So with that in mind, I present to you a step-by-step guide to getting your competitor’s Adsense account banned:

1. Identify your competitor's website.

2. View the source code of any page that displays his Adsense javascript code, and copy it to your clipboard. It will look something like this (the section that reads pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is his unique publisher ID):

3. Copy the javascript and paste it into any website that you own (I am assuming you know how to "replicate" your competitor's whois info for your site, or at least make it private). It should instantly display your competitor’s ads on your site without any problem.

4. Write a little note to your visitors: thank them for visiting and let them know that they should "check out our sponsored links." Bonus points if you can rig up an animated gif arrow pointing to the ads.

5. Blog about dildos or whatever sex toy you happen to fancy. Adsense loves adult content for sure!

6. Spam your site to Craigslist every single day in all 400 cities (though 30 will probably do just fine), or hire someone from India to do it for you (it will only cost you about 15 cents per post).

7. Buy bulk amounts of traffic on eBay! And I'm talking like a million hits to your site in a few weeks. If this shitty traffic doesn't kill his Adsense click-through rate, nothing will. And who knows what kind of zombie computers or sneaky redirects are conjuring up your mystery traffic. (The Adsense javascript can relay to Google the HTTP_REFERER attribute, which more or less reveals the source of your traffic.)

8. Optional: Advertise your site via unsolicited email. This is illegal in many countries and people will hate you for this. The wise ones may even report you to Adsense (let's hope!). Of course, they will probably report you to your host first, so I don't recommend this one.

9. Keep doing this for a month. Actually, you probably only have to do ONE of these methods for a month, but multiple ones won't hurt. Every month before payment, Adsense quality control reviews accounts for… quality. You can be sure your site now has an extreme LACK of quality and is ready to get banned.

10. Report your site to Google. Email adsense-abuse@google.com or click on the "Ads by Goooooogle" link to give them some helpful feedback on how their ad network is being abused.