B³H³ Blog Network

In case you hadn’t noticed … CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Hopefully you’re already seeing an increase in AdSense revenue driven by people who are looking for gifts and who generally feel in the mood to spend money (being in the mood to spend money puts them in the mood to click on relevant ads). 

You can make your ads more “Holiday themed” and thus increase the likelihood that they are noticed and clicked on by choosing Holiday themes.

Here’s how:

• Login to your AdSense account
• Click on “My Account”
• Scroll to ”Ad Type Preference” and click “Edit”
• Now check the box “Enable themed ad units when available”

You should start to see Christmas related ads appearing on your site.  At other times of year you’ll see different themed ads (Halloween and so on).  The themes are usually subtle and just help draw the eye to the ad that little bit more.

If you make the change, then keep an eye on your earnings.  If you see a decline in CTR (Click Through Rate) then the themes might be having a negative effect instead of the desired positive one - that’s a sign that it might be a good idea to switch back to normal ads.

Philipp Lenssen puts this SEO urban legend to rest.

I had a lil’ bet going with Googler Matt Cutts. The premise? I figured that once you installed the Google Toolbar, every URL you’d visit would slowly be added to the Google web search index… even otherwise unlinked URLs, as long as they’re public (and not excluded via robots.txt).

…

Well, it turns out my suspicion was dead-wrong.

I never seriously believed that this was the case anyway - it would have been a privacy violation if nothing else.

Problogger Darren Rowse (a guy that I admire greatly for his experience, wisdom and level-headedness) lists his 10 favorite blogging books.

• The Story Factor
• Ogilvy on Advertising
• Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
• The E-Myth Revisited
• Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands
• Unleashing the Idea Virus
• Tipping Point
• Join Me
• Don’t Make Me Think
• 1000 Most Important Words

These are all good books - and Darren is giving you a chance to win them all.  All you need to do to have a chance of wining is post a comment (not a spammy comment) on his blog between now and Dec 25th!

What are you waiting for!