Bryan Phelps - Utah Search Engine Optimization

I recently gave a VERY quick 5 minute presentation on SEO at Crunch Lunch. It was a really cool event where there were 10 presenters, given 5 minutes each to discuss their topic.

You can view my SEO presentation and check out 9 others about various business topics.

This was the first Crunch Lunch event but there was a great turn out.  I hope to attend or speak at more in the future and would definitely recommend it to others.

Thanks to Cary and all other other great presenters.

I occassionally check my spam filter (even though GMail is the most accurate email service I’ve ever used) and was surprised to find spam from Google itself.

Stop spamming me Google!

Just added my Google User Profile - should be interesting to see how they use these in the future.

Bryan Phelps on Google

I’ve usually found Google’s webmaster tools to be fairly accurate.  However, I have a site that shows I rank for some pretty competitive terms.

I don’t even need to show you my analytics to prove that I don’t rank in the top 10 for [cell phone].  But if anyone trusts these rankings and would be interested in purchasing a site that ranks for [cell phone], contact me for my paypal info.

I’m a little behind in my feed reader so I don’t know if this is old news but this is the first time I have seen localized search results when i am not logged in or there is no geo-qualifier in my search term.

Notice the local search results in the middle:

In addition to that, it appears Google is recognizing search terms that people might also need locally and offering to search by location:

There is an explanation included:

Local Search is going to be incredibly important for businesses with physical locations. A recent YOUmoz entry from SEOmoz indicates that a good chunk of clicks go to those local search results. With local search on mobile devices growing and Google placing a greater emphasis on local search (even on non-local searches), being in those coveted top results for local could make or break your business.

***Just to clarify, the marriage counseling search is client related, not personal

Automattic released a free WordPress app for the iPhone that im testing out. So far it looks pretty slick! Now I just need copy and paste…

Maybe modesty is in the eye of the beholder?

Click to enlarge

If this doesn’t convince you to put customer reviews on your ecommerce site, I don’t know what will.

Chitika is another Ad network that I use regularly on some of my product related websites. Chitika has been around quite a bit longer and is more widely used than Widgetbucks (previously reviewed here). Many top bloggers like Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net and Digital Photography School have made hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chitika.

Chitika Review

Chitika has a lot of options when it comes to displaying ads on your website. Their most popular (and the one I most frequently use) are eMiniMalls.

The eMiniMalls are great because they are very customizable. You can change all the color, borders, tabs, etc. Blending these into your content definitely increase CTR but also don’t stick out and look like you over-did it on ads.

The other Chitika product I have been using are Related Product Units (RPU). At one time, these were only available to certain publishers but have since been released to anyone. They can be styled via CSS to match your site exactly. They typically go at the end of a post and look a lot like the Related Post plugin.

I started using Chitika because I read that it was great for product related sites like mine. The ads are easy to use and customize. If I’m talking about a particular model of electronics, I can usually easily create an ad for that specific model. In addition to the 2 types of ads above they also have Linx (in-text link ads), Facebook Advertising, Whitespace Ads, ShopClouds and several others.

In the last year, Chitika has really expanded their line up of ads to make it a great fit for almost any website. They now have Premium Ads that are similar to Adsense and Chitika for Parked Domains so you can use them to advertise just about anywhere.

Overall:

Chitika started out really awesome for me. Just like Widgetbucks, the average CPC dropped quite a bit over time. I’m not involved in the Make Money Online community much but I’m starting to wonder if this is common practice for ad networks; reel people in and get them hooked with nice CPC averages and then slowly drop them.

Things I like about Chitika:

• Easy to use. I use them primarily on WordPress and plugins make including and customizing ads very simple.
• Paypal Payments. Don’t have to worry about getting checks in the mail, everyone should use Paypal.
• Decent CPC Averages. Based on my experience, the average CPC is lower than Widgetbucks but I’m sure your website topic has a lot to do with this.
• Support/Company. I’ve spoken to a few different people at Chitika and they are very nice and helpful.

Things I Dislike:

• Audited vs. Unaudited Revenue. Your income is audited monthly for invalid clicks. I know they gotta do it but other networks only show you audited revenue which would make me much less depressed when I get paid.
• Declined CPC Averages. As mentioned above, the average CPC was great for a few months and then mysteriously declined.
• Reporting/Website. Not horrible but not great either. I’ve seen much better from other ad networks.

If Chitika could increase their average CPC for me, it would be my dream ad network. They currently come in 2nd or 3rd each month for my top earners. With their ad units and functionality, I think they could easily be 1st. I haven’t used the non-product related ads much but if you are working with a product related site, I’d definitely recommend testing Chitika out. Based on your category, you might see even better CPC averages.

Chitika: 8/10

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Disclaimer: Links above may contain affiliate codes but the review is my honest opinion!

I originally began learning SEO because I wanted to be able to make some extra income through the Internet. As a result, I’ve used several CPC ad networks and a few affiliate programs. Jumping into a new ad network can be a little scary if you already have an established website that is making money. You’re not always sure what kind of CTR and CPC averages you can expect so mixing up your current setup can cost you money.

The first Ad network up on the block: Widgetbucks

Widgetbucks Review

Widgetbucks is a fairly new ad network but is a product from Mpire Corporation. Their ads are pretty unique and a nice change of pace from many of the other ad networks. Here’s one sample of about a dozen or so different sizes and styles:

Widgetbucks really started out great for me. Their CPC for my category was much better than I was receiving with other ad networks. I think their rotating, colorful ads really interested people in clicking on them. My CTR with Widgetbucks was bordering on suspicious it was so high.

But as most things go, Widgetbucks took a turn for the worse.

Bad Move #1: The average CPC dropped substantially. The Widgetbucks Team worked to improve it and it eventually settled somewhere in between awesome and crummy. For the past couple months, it has held steady and a pretty decent rate.

Bad Move #2: Widgetbucks started showing ridiculous banner ads before the products. They were the classic and horrible fake “windows alert” box and smiley face emoticons. I believe these banner ads pay at an impression rate but it definitely took a cut into my earnings since my website is product based and the regular Widgetbucks ads were perfect for my site.

Bad Move #3: Pop-unders. Seriously? Fortunately, you can opt out of these. This was another attempt to improve earnings but it just comes off as over-kill and spammy to me.

Bad Move #4: Strange data issues. My impressions and clicks are pretty steady. However, there are days when Widgetbucks reporting shows 0 clicks. I’m not buying it. Another anomaly occurred on a day where my traffic really increased as did my clicks. I had earned the exact same average CPC for the previous 2 months, then the one day where my clicks double, my CPC magically cuts in half so my earnings stay the same. The next day my traffic returns to normal and my CPC increases to its normal, steady rate. Strange, eh?

Overall:

Widgetbucks is still a fairly new ad network so you can expect some bugs and glitches which we have seen. Overall, it is still a pretty decent network and my #1 earner for most of my websites. They pay via PayPal which is awesome and when I had a major technical glitch, I was eventually contacted by their CTO to resolve it (after some failed attempts with their difficult to use support system).

If you have a product related website, I’d definitely recommend testing them out and see what kind of CPC you get. Feel free to leave your opinion of Widgetbucks in the comments or contact me if you have any questions about my run with them.

Widgetbucks: 7/10

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Disclaimer: Links above may contain affiliate codes but the review is my honest opinion!