Changing The Postion Of Your Adsense Ads

By Jeremy on April 30, 2010

Last year I started a little experiment with building small Adsense websites, I haven’t written anything about that little experiment in a while so I thought I would share whats happening with it now .

Originally the sites where very bland,  no sidebars, grey background, no images, just a headline block of ad code wrapped in text and very, very ugly.

If I remember correctly the sites didn’t perform at all. I may have made a few cents, but apart from getting indexed and receiving about a half dozen visitors a day without doing a single thing to the site, I pretty much considered the project a..(I don’t think failure is the right word), lets just say I was expecting to see better results than I got.

After about three months of using the original grey template I decided to improve the look of the site a little, So I added a nice header graphic, a sidebar, a nice tabbed clickbank widget, another adblock in the sidebar, an Amazon shopping cart in the sidebar as well and I changed the original 300 x 250 adblock for a 468 x 60 Banner inside the content area.

And guess what? Nothing, I didn’t see a single improvement, In fact the Adsense CTR actually got worse, So if I thought the project was bad before, now I was really starting to consider it a failure.

So I pretty much gave up on it, until about a month ago.

I decided to give it one more makeover to see if I could improve the income coming in from Adsense.

I pretty much left the look of the site alone, I didn’t change the colors, graphics, or anything except for the Ad placement and the location of the Amazon shop.

All I did was remove the Adsense ad from the sidebar and placed it just under the headline, I took out the banner, so my page has only got the one Ad block, and I put the Amazon products under the article.

After making these few small changes my results improved immediately. I think it was the very same day that I re-arranged the ad postioning that I saw the income improve.

The site is now making between $3 -$10 a week, with the same amount of traffic as it had before, when it was making less than $1 in a month.

So it just goes to show how important the ad placement is when putting ads on your sites.

Posted in | Tagged , , | 4 Responses

Making Code Look Like Code In Your WordPress Pages

By Jeremy on April 28, 2010

In my last post about styling text widgets using css I was trying to paste some code directly into the post but the problem I was having was the code was being displayed as you would see it in your browser and not how the actual code was written.

I did a quick search and after visiting about three sites I found this post on the blog herald. “Writing and Publishing Code in Your WordPress Blog Posts“

Basically the solution to my problem was, wherever an opening “<” is used within my code I needed to replace that with “&lt;”

So lets say I wanted to display the div tag, as in my last post, using the html editor for writing my post, every time the opening < bracket is used I simply changed that to &lt;div>

Works a treat.

Posted in | Tagged | Leave a response

How To Add Style To Your Text Widgets In WordPress

By Jeremy on April 27, 2010

I thought I would like to write a short post outlining how to add some style to a text widget.

Although I must point out that at this stage I am no expert in css, so there may, in all likely hood, be a better way of doing what I am about to show you.

Ok Lets Go…

The first thing I do is create my text widget, I usually just paste in some dummy text into the text area and I put a numbered title in the title area, something like “Lorem Ipsum 1″, this way when I look at the source code in the next step, I can easily recognize which widget I am wanting to work with. Save your widget.

Go to your site and open up the source code within your browser, simply right click on the page and click on the “View source code” option.

We need to get the widget ID, Look for the text you placed within your widget and you should see something like this code specific to your widget …

<div id=”text-4″ class=”widget widget_text widget-widget_text”>
<div class=”widget-inside”>
<h3 class=”widget-title”>Lorem Ipsum 1</h3>
<div class=”textwidget”>dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</div>

There is a couple of bits of information we are wanting, the first is the “div id” in this case it is “text-4” this will give us the exact positioning of the widget we are targeting.

The second piece of information we want is the “title area id“, which is next to the h3 tag, in most cases this should be “widget-title” and the last bit of info we want is the id of the text inside of our widget which is the div class=”textwidget“, once we have all of this information we can now go and add some style to them in our style.css.

Open up your style.css and add in your classes.

Depending on where you have added your text widget will depend on what you do here. I am using the utility after content widget area so my css would look something like this…

#utility-after-content #text-4 {
background: url(images/xxx.jpg);
no-repeat: xxx;
color:#xxx;
height: xxx;
}

Now getting down to our classes, my css for the title would then look something like this…

#utility-after-content #text-4 .widget-title {
Font-size: xxpt:
color: #xxx;
}

and finally the the text within my widget would go something like this…

#utility-after-content #text-4 .textwidget {
font-size: xxpt;
text-align: xxx;
color: #xxx;
font-weight: bold;
padding: xxpx;
}

If you are wanting to assign specific styling to a widget on a specific page simply add the page id at the front of your reference in the css, for example…

.page-5 #utility-after-content #text-4 {
background: url(images/xxx.jpg);
color:#xxx;
height:xxxpx;
}

This was a pretty basic look at styling a text widget but you should be able to get the idea from here, as I said earlier, I am no expert at css and I admit that I am still learning heaps when it comes to styling websites, but what I described here should work, well it works for me anyways.

Have fun with it and good luck.

Posted in | Tagged , , , | 4 Responses

A Brand New AAArticle Site

By Jeremy on April 14, 2010

Over the last month or so I have really been looking into article marketing for building backlinks to my Adsense sites, especially with http://ezinearticles.com/

I have not been overly happy with the results so far, but admittedly it is still very early in my development phase, so I shouldn’t really expect too much.

But the idea of creating a site for article marketing started to swell up in my head, So I thought why not build my own article directory.

This way I can build my own authority site and create revenue from it, and at the same time be building back links to my other sites.

Now I don’t expect to see the same results as I would from Ezine, but who knows?

The site is called www.aaarticle.com and for now I will be adding most of the content to it myself, but not necessarily writing it ;-) .

Over the next month or two I intend on inviting a few people to post some articles on it, but I want to take my time and set the site up fully before I go and get other people to start adding content to it.

I will need to do a fair amount of research on how to open the site up for public article submission, but that can wait until a little further down the track.

I don’t want to build a spammy site that is just a link farm, I want to create a quality site with real value.

To build the site I will be using WordPress, of course, and using the very Awesome Hybrid theme by Justin Tadlock.

If your interested in becoming a part of the site please let me know, just add a comment below and I will be in touch.

Posted in | Tagged , , , | Leave a response

How To Create A MySQL Database In Cpanel

By Jeremy on April 11, 2010

I needed to create a new MySQL database in cpanel…

for a caching script that I use for some of my Adsense websites, so I thought I would write down the process that is involved when setting up a new database in your cpanel.

The following process is quite simple, so follow along as we set up our new database…

Log into your cpanel, to do this simply type in your domain name followed by /cpanel – your url should look something like this…

“http://yourwebsite.com/cpanel”

Once logged in, click on the icon that says “MySQL Databases“, it is in the “Databases” section..

Once the page opens, type into the text box the name of your new database, I suggest you name it something that you will be able to easily associate with the script or other software that will be associated with the database.

Once you have done this simply click on the create database link.

You will then see the database has been created, while your on the page that shows you that your database has been created copy the name of the database and store it in a place where you can use for later reference when installing your script.

It should look something like this…

Added the database username_Database

Then click on the Go Back link, we now want to add a new user to our new database.

Ok, so now you should see a list of all your databases, scroll down past your list of databases and you will find the section where you can create your new user, type into the text box your database user name, again I like to associate the username with the database, so if my database was called Database, as in the example above, my user name would look something like this… Datuser, a maximum of seven letters is usually allowed.

Add your password then hit the create user link underneath.

Again you will see a page come up showing you that your user has been added. Click on the Go Back link to continue.

Now we need to assign our new user to our new database, scroll down past the “Add New User” section and you will see the “Add new user to Database” section.

In the dropdown section for the user, choose the new user that you want aligned with your new database.

Do the same with your database.

Click on the Add link.

In the  Manage User Privileges page you will want to assign the privileges that your user has, I usually assign all privileges to my users, this may have some security issues but so far I haven’t run into to any problems, simply check the All tick box and click on the Make changes link underneath.

And that is all there is to creating a new database in your cpanel, Just one suggestion when adding the user name and database info for your script installation, always use the full line when setting up your script to your database, example would be something like we mentioned above,

username_Database

username_Datuser

And, when connecting to your database the hostname you will almost always use is localhost.

Posted in | Tagged , | Leave a response

Lost My Zeal

By Jeremy on February 19, 2010

This is my first post on this site for quite some time. To be honest I totally lost my desire to do anything on the web for about three months now.

I have totally ignored all aspects of blogging and have taken a bit of a break from it, even my main site http://www.globalevangelists.com/ has become a stagnent site without any new posts for about three months now, and I have even managed to sell another one of my sites that I hav’nt touched in ages.

I gues over the Christmas period I really had to stop and focus on what was really important and that is my relationship with the lord.

I feel like i’m starting to get a bit of momentum again with being productive online.

I have decided to take a look at my little experiment that I was conducting with the adsense sites but with a twist.

To be honest I really am suprised to see some of my single page adsense sites ranking so well but unfortunately the traffic stats were obviously incorrect, Word of advice. Don’t rely on the acuracy of Googles free keyword tool for accurate traffic stats.

Anyways, I’m going flat out at trying to set up a couple of new projects while still trying to keep perspective with family time, my business and time with the lord.

Oh I can happily say that over the past three months I managed to complete the entire bible which is something that I hadn’t done previously

Posted in | Tagged , , | Leave a response

Adjusting The Reading Settings In WordPress

By Jeremy on November 13, 2009

One of the reasons I love using WordPress (and there are many) is the ability to use the software as a Blog, Website or combination of both.

So, depending on what you want from your site, will determine how you are going to adjust your Reading settings.

But first, lets Log into WordPress and check out what the Settings look like before we discuss how to set this up.

The link to access the Reading settings is in the left sidebar under Settings.

You will notice in the Reading Settings page there are five main settings, they are…

  1. Front page displays
  2. Blog pages show at most
  3. Syndication feeds show the most recent
  4. For each article in a feed, show
  5. Encoding for pages and feeds

In the example I am showing you here, I want to create a static Home page for my site and a separate Blog page where all of my latest posts will be displayed.

If we take a look at the steps outlined below, this is how it would look on the settings page.

Front page displays.

As you can see by looking at the dropdown menu, I have created several pages for my site, a Home page, Blog page and an About page.

To create a static front page in the Front page displays section I would simply click on the A static page (select below) radio button, and then choose the Home page option.

Then for the Post page option I would choose my Blog page.

Blog pages show at most

In the next section of our Settings page which is the Blog pages show at most section, you can decide on the number of posts you want to display on your blog page.

I personally think 10 is a lot and would normally choose to display 4 or 5 of my latest posts, but this is something you may want to test and see if the different number of posts displayed makes any difference to the number of people reading your posts.

Syndication feeds show the most recent.

I almost never adjust this setting, but again you may want to test this out for yourself. If your Syndication feed number is too high, it may bog down your site and be quite heavy on your database.

For each article in a feed, show.

I always set this option to Full text, so my RSS readers get the full article delivered to them, an important lesson I learned some time ago, was to never force your readers to do anything. If your readers like your content and want to consume it in there RSS reader then let them. They will always visit your site if they want to comment on your posts or browse for more information.

Encoding for pages and feeds.

I don’t think I have ever changed this setting so I just leave this section alone.

As always, whenever I adjust anything in my Settings I click on the Save button when I’m done.

In summary the two main settings I worry about on this page are my Pages for displaying content, and how my content is delivered through my RSS feed.

Posted in | Tagged , , , , | Leave a response

Check Your Privacy Settings

By Jeremy on November 11, 2009

This is only a short tutorial but a very important one, and unfortunately a mistake I made with one of my sites some time ago that cost me about two months worth of Free search engine traffic.

This is a very basic task but will make all of the difference between getting free search engine traffic or not.

After logging into your WordPress admin area click on the Privacy link under the Settings tab.

Once the Privacy Settings page is open, you will see there is only two choices for your Privacy Settings

  1. I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers.
  2. I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors.

Make sure the… I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers Option is checked and click on the Save Changes button.

Now your site is visible to the search engines and if you write good quality content with some basic on page optimizing you should expect to start seeing some free traffic coming your way.

Posted in | Tagged , , , | Leave a response

Managing The Discussion Settings In WordPress

By Jeremy on November 10, 2009

One of the main reasons for having a Blog is to receive feedback on your content through comments, It is my opinion that if your site does not allow comments, your blog is not a blog it’s just a website.

A one way conversation that consists only of the publisher of the content.

Have you ever had one of those conversations where you just can’t seem to get a word in, no matter how much you try to respond with the person your engaged with, they just don’t stop talking long enough for you to present your opinion, well your blog is no different.

If your blog isn’t receiving comments then what your telling your readers is, all your interested in is what you have to say and don’t care to much for the opinions and thought’s of them.

That being said, This tutorial will show you how to set up your Comments Settings in WordPress.

After logging into your WordPress site, click on the Discussion link under the Settings tab to get started.

The Discussion Settings page is basically in two sections, the top half being the Comments Settings section and the bottom being the Avatars section.

I have included in the image below the settings I use when setting up a blog, you may want to use different settings for your site, but I will explain why I use each of these settings below the image.

Default article settings – I almost always un-check anything that will slow down posting, usually If I want to notify another blog that I have linked to it I will use the trackback feature when writing a post.

Allowing Trackbacks and Comments by checking the associated check box’s will allow your readers to participate in the conversation of your blog, trackbacks are basically other articles that link to your article from another blog.

Other comment settings – The only two options I have checked are the Comment author must fill out name and e-mail and the Enable threaded (nested) comments options.

I like to choose the maximum of 10 for threaded comments but depending on your theme you may want to see how this looks, but by enabling this option your visitors can have comments within comments so the conversation stays relevant to the original comment.

E-mail me whenever - I leave both of these options checked so I can be notified of any comments made on my site.

Before a comment appears - This may be an option you want to try testing, currently my blog doesn’t get a lot of comments so it’s not an issue for me to approve every comment, but when a site starts getting 10 20 or 50+ comments per post then approving each comment may become a real drain on your time.

If your regular visitors are proven to post good Quality comments, you may want to automatically approve and allow there comments to publish without having to approve them individually.

Comment Moderation and Comment Blacklist - I usually leave these alone and let Akismet take care of Spam comments, There may be a couple of comments that get through, but on average Akismet is very good at filtering comment Spam on my sites.

In the second half of the Comments Settings page, which is the Avatars section I usually leave the default settings alone. More details below the image.

Avatar Display – In this section you can decide whether or not you want to display avatars next to your comments, I always check the Show Avatars option.

Maximum Rating – By default the maximum rating is set as G, I leave this as is. I like to keep the content on my site suitable for all ages.

Default Avatar – This will be what gets displayed if the commenter doesn’t have a Globally Recognized Avatar (GRAVATAR) set up, the two most popular settings I see on most blogs are Mystery Man and Blank.

If you don’t already have a Gravatar, read my post titled How To Show A Gravatar On Your Comments

Once you have configured your Comment Settings click on the Save Changes button and your done.

Posted in | Tagged , , , | Leave a response

How To Add Categories In WordPress

By Jeremy on November 9, 2009

Editing and adding new Categories in WordPress is a relatively basic task, but should only be done after you have spent some time in mapping out your site in the planning stages.

The first thing to do after logging into your WordPress Dashboard is to click on the Categories link under the Posts tab.

When the category page loads in your web browser you will notice the page is in two sections…

  1. Add Category and…
  2. The Existing Categories.

After a brand new installation of WordPress the first thing we need to do is edit the existing Uncategorized Category.

Hover your mouse over the category and click on the Edit link to continue.

On the Edit Category page there are text areas with the existing category names inserted, Simply change the text to your preferred category titles, I have included a more detailed description of each of the fields below the image.

  1. Category Name – As it suggests, this is basically what the name of the Category is and the text you see displayed on the website menu bar.
  2. Category Slug- The category slug is how your category is displayed in the URL, IMPORTANT – don’t leave any spaces or use Capital Letters in your slugs, lower case only and No Spaces.
  3. Category Parent – As this is our default category leave this set as is, only choose the option for Category Parent when adding a Sub Category. (More on this below)
  4. Description – The description is not prominent by default, however some themes may show it.. I like to keep the description as short as possible using the category title in the description.
  5. Update Category – Click this button to save your changes.

That’s basically all there is to editing your categories, to add new categories and sub categories read on.

On the Category page follow the same steps outlined above in editing the category, but make sure you decide on whether or not your new category will be a top level category or a sub level or child category of the top level category.(Sound Confusing?)

In the example below I am adding a Sub category with the title Sub Category.

  1. Category Name – Add Your Category name.
  2. Category Slug – Enter the Category name using lower case letters only and no spaces.
  3. Category Parent – Choose the parent category of your sub category. (My Parent category is called Top Category)
  4. Description – Add the Description of your category.
  5. Add Category – Click To Save Your Changes.

And that’s all there is to adding a new category to your WordPress site, very simple and extremely user friendly, the hardest part is coming up with the structure of your categories and what to call them.

One More Thing… You won’t see the categories on your blog unless you they have at least one post inside of them.

Posted in | Tagged , , , | Leave a response

« PreviousNext »