One of my Adsense sites has suddenly stopped producing This site was consistently on the front page of MSN for a very popular search term. It appears that they have drastically changed their algorithm which results in very different sites attaining these top search engine placements.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any idea what the new algorithm takes into account? To most of you this is a non-issue as your site is optimized for Google, but I have had great success in MSN and found it easier to attain higher rankings. I guess those days are gone! This is a great lesson in remembering to diversify and not obtain all of your traffic from one source.

As I posted a few days ago, I am starting to take some steps to learning the affiliate marketing game inside and out. What I have started doing is promoting ClickBank products using Adwords ( ). Currently, I am not using a landing page and simply sending traffic directly to the vendors sales page until I get some landing pages set up.

I have read numerous accounts that this method is not as effective as using landing pages, but I will stick with it for now in hopes to turn a profit.

By using this method I have come across a hurdle. That being tracking which keywords are sending traffic and converting to sales. I had learned of a manual method using what is called the TID (tracking ID) parameter. This can be effective, but is very time consuming to set up a new URL for each keyword. Plus the TID is only 8 characters long.

In my searches of trying to make this easier, I came across a wonderful free tool from WLMCamp which will generate these URL’s for you dynamically. I downloaded and am using this tool today and am very happy with the time it saves!

Read more about this free tool.

One of the new programs on the market that I have decided to try out is AuctionAds. As I explained in my previous post, AuctionAds is a way to dynamically show eBay listings on your site.

Well, I implemented it on 3 or 4 sites and quickly learned that it was only going to perform on one site. This program is not for every type of site, but if you find the right one it is worth implementing.

In my first month I earned $55.96!

Ok, that is a little skewed since they game me $25 just for signing up So really I earned $30.96 I am very pleased with that result and may try it out on some other sites. Anyone else out there using it with results?

In a follow up to my post Quick Tip to Increase Your Adsense Earnings, I went ahead and implemented an Adsense search box on my best performing Adsense site. Since I put it in an area near the bottom, the only people that would be using it is probably ready to leave the site anyway, so why not get a click or two from them?

So how is it performing? Take a look at the screenshot and you will see:

Since I have put it on, I am averaging $.27 per day. I know it’s not a lot, but I’ll take an extra $8.10 per month for a simple 5 minute change any day!

Here are my favorite keyword tools to use when starting any online campaign. There are also some great paid tools, but I will cover them in a later post. For now, enjoy these:

Free Keyword Tools

Google Keyword Tool
The Google keyword tool is great because it is free. It shows you historical trends on selected keywords over the last 12 months. It also has the ability to analyze a particular site or page and tell you what the best keyword combination would be. You can also get estimated costs per click when using Adwords.

Overture Keyword Selector Tool
This is the original keyword research tool. It does provide lots of valuable information and variations on the term you provide, however it is so widely used that it makes it hard to use as an advantage over your competition.

Digital Point Keyword Tool
This tool uses both Overture data as well as free Wordtracker data and compares them side by side for you.

Microsoft Labs Keyword Forecast Tool
This tool displays trends on a particular keyword as well as shows you demographics on who is searching for these words.

Keyword Map
An interesting tool to use to see how keywords are related

SEO Company Keyword Tool
A simple interface to show you search queries volume and related information

SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
Quite possibly the most comprehensive free tool available. Try it out and you will see!

Do you have any other suggestions for free keyword tools? If so, please leave your favorites in a comment

Yesterday I decided to start a campaign promoting a product from Clickbank. Clickbank is an affiliate network that specialized in digital products such as e-books and software downloads.

If done right, you can make a lot of money marketing these products. BUT, it’s not easy! You have to learn the in’s and out’s which can take months. I have been reading and reading and decided it was time to take action.

I basically followed the plan laid out in Google Profits. This is a great comprehensive step by step guide as to how to use Adwords to drive traffic to a Clickbank product. The great part of this system is that you don’t need a website to start. So basically, anyone can do this. But like anything else it takes patience and time to become successful.

My plan is to try out 3-5 products until I find one that is working for me. I picked one yesterday and started promoting it. I got some great keywords and a good click through, but did not get a sale I have concluded based on my campaign that this product is not converting.

I ended up spending $29.72 and received 172 clicks with no conversions. Tomorrow, I will move on to another product! Typically 6-8 out of 10 will not be profitable, but once you find the profitable one it can be very lucrative. Stay tuned for more updates!

Just so you know, I am not just talking about making money online, I am making money online. I have been dabbling with Google Adsense now for about a year and a half with Adsense earning sites like these. Some become successful, and others make me just a few pennies.

Well yesterday I posted my best day ever with earnings of $48.32. While this does not make me rich (yet) it is motivating enough to make me want to continue to push forward. If I kept this up, it would equate to $1500 per month. Not too bad. I know there are plenty of people out there that are becoming Gazillionaires with Google Adsense that might think this is peanuts, but I am pretty happy.

What happened yesterday that made my earnings increase? Well, from what I can tell a network of sites that I have about a particular topic is simply paying more. There is about the same traffic, but the eCPM has more than doubled. Up until 2 days ago the eCPM was averaging somewhere around $7.00 for this topic, but yesterday it capped out at $19.09. Will it continue? I sure hope so!

Meanwhile, why don’t you sign up for Adsense and start making sites of your own?

Building an effective landing page is one of the keys to success in PPC affiliate marketing. You can have the best campaign in the world, but if your landing page is ineffective, you will not convert your sales.

In the next week or two I am going to build a complete campaign using Adwords to drive traffic to a site with effective landing pages. I will chronicle the steps I am taking along the way to let you know how successful I am. Meanwhile, step one in the process is to build the pages that will sell my product.

Here are a few essential steps you should take when building your landing page to ensure the highest conversion and ROI (Return on Investment).

Page Layout

• Make sure your page is laid out to show the most relevant information above the fold. This means it should be in the viewable area you see immediately without having to scroll down.
• It is also good to use lots of graphics. Graphics and pictures sell products!
• Branding is important too. Place your company (or affiliate) logo to ensure the customer they are making a safe purchase.
• Be sure to have a Privacy Policy linked in the footer.

Content and Writing Style

• Use keywords that are relevant to your campaign. Place these near the top to further comfort the customer that they are getting exactly what they are searching for. It is a bad idea to use deceptive keywords just to get people to click on the ad and come to your site. These people will just leave anyways and not complete a sale which inflates your cost per click.
• Make forms easy to fill out. Do not add unnecessary fields. Try to capture the least amount of information possible to get your customer to continue.
• The headline is the single most important piece of copy on the page. It should correspond exactly to the offer you are driving.

Call to Action

• Use persuasive copy to encourage your visitors to complete your offer.
• Create buttons that have direct instructions. Instead of saying “Click Here”, try to say “Get Your Free Ringtone Now!”

These are just a few of the most important essential tips for your landing page. Creating a landing page is a continual process. The best thing you can do is test, test, test! Sometimes changing one word or one color can make a huge difference.

Here are a few more resources to getting you on your way to a great converting landing page:

Article on SEOmoz

20 Guide lines to create successful landing pages

How to create a Landing Page that complies to the Google AdWords guidelines

Here is a quick tip to increase your Adsense earnings. Add a Google Search box! One of the types of advertisements Google offers is called Adsense for Search.

To place a search box within your site:

• Log into your Adsense account and click on Adsense Setup
• Select Adsense for Search
• Select the options of how you want the search box to look and whether you want it to search just google, or your site, or both.
• Copy and paste the code into your site!

Here is a search box that I created. I prefer not to use the Google logo as to make it appear blended in the site better.

The best place to use this would be somewhere below the fold of the page. If users get down that far in the page and are ready to leave your site, why not have them give you a little revenue on the way out?

Beginners are overwhelmed at where to start when making money online. I hope my blog eases that anxiety a little bit by providing tips and tricks to help you take your ideas to fruition. However, I cannot possibly cover every topic in the book and there are way more successful people out there than me.

If you want to learn from the best, then I suggest you frequent these site:

John Chow dot com - John is self proclaimed Dot Com Mogul, and he has the stats to back it up! He earned $17,828.61 last month alone just from his blog. But that doesn’t even take into account his other ventures like The Tech Zone. John provides great resources and insights into making money online.

Shoemoney - If you don’t know who Shoemoney is, it’s time to start reading his blog! He is the affiliate king. He has been capitalizing on ringtones since he started and recently created and sold off AuctionAds. His blog is a great mix of information, humor, and personal thoughts.

Digital Point Forums - The authoritative site for everything to do with the web. Have a question? Ask it here and you will be sure to get answers. They have great resources for affiliate marketers, Adsense experts, web design, business and more.

These are a few of the essential sites to get you started and motivated on your way to making money online. I read these websites daily.