Spice Up Your Blog

How Much Advertising is too Much?

2010-03-03T21:30:00.001Z

Guest Post By : Stacey Cavanagh

Advertising is a great means of generating revenue from your blog. But whether you use AdSense, InfoLinks, Kontera or one of the other similar pay per click platforms or you even sell your own ad space, there’s a limit you should impose.

A blog with too much advertising on it is detrimental to your readers, your advertisers and you!

Excessive ads, particularly graphical ones, detract attention away from the content of the site, which is what your readers are interested in. If attention is deflected from the content, your readers aren’t getting what they came to your site for. Why, therefore, would they ever come back? This means you lose out on readers.

Advertisers suffer too. Take, as an example, an amazing blog about classic cars. Let’s say this blog has 1000 subscribers and a further couple of thousand daily readers. If this blog already has a clear layout, one ad on that site (providing the advertiser is in a related niche)is going to get attention. Two ads will get noticed and each has a reasonable chance of being clicked on. Put twenty on there, however, and not only does each of the advertisers have a far lower chance of being clicked on but your readers are also likely to be irritated by the over presence of material designed to try and get them to buy something.

But just where is the line? Is there a magic formula to this? No. There isn’t. How much advertising you can realistically use on your blog before it becomes too much depends on several factors. It depends on the type of advertising, location of the advertising and how it is located in relation to your content. Flashing banners ads, for example, are much more intrusive than the Adsense text ads. So where you can probably use 5 or even 6 text ads from Google in your side bar, six vertical blingy banners would be far, far too much.

Before deciding on how much advertising to use, consider how many posts you have too. A blog with three posts, for example, that is only updated once in a blue moon yet has thirty ads on it screams out to readers that it’s a blog specifically for revenue generation and not essentially about providing information to readers. If you have a new blog, advertising should be introduced slowly.

I suppose to key rule is that the focus of the blog should not be lost to advertising. Your readers read your blog because the content covers topics they are interested in. They don’t read your blog because they are looking for sponsored links by Google. And while most readers are perfectly understanding of the fact that bloggers putting time and effort into maintaining a site want to generate some sort of revenue, when advertising becomes the main focus, you lose the readers who are interested in content.

It’s a fine balancing act, that’s for sure. But if you’re not sure whether you have too much advertising or not, you can always ask for honest and brutal feedback from your readers.

This is a guest contribution from Stacey Cavanagh. Based in the UK, Stacey works in Internet Marketing for Tecmark: SEO London

If you would like to be a guest writer on Spice Up Your Blog it couldn't be easier.
To see how it works check out the info page : Guest Blogging On Spice Up Your Blog

Add A Full Lenght Gadget Or Adsense Leaderboard Below Your Blog Header

2010-02-24T22:41:00.004Z

At the time of writing i have a 728x90 AdSense leaderboard between the header and post area on the home page of the blog.Basically i have added a gadget that spans the entire with of the layout.The default settings for this template and for lots of custom templates do not allow you to place gadgets in this area.

If your in the same position you will be glad to know changing this setting is easy.I have opened up this area for an AdSense unit but once you have changed the code you can of course add any gadgets across the top of your blog.

You may also be thinking why cant you see the AdSense leader board on this page, i recently posted a hack showing How to show gadgets on only your blogger home page or post pages.With this hack in place the leaderboard is only visible on the homepage.

Cross Column Gadgets

Gadgets Not Allowed - This area is called the Cross Column and the screenshot below shows there is no option to place gadgets in the cross column :

Gadgets Allowed - Once we change the code you will have a brand new 'add a gadget' area :

Placing gadgets in the cross column

Step 1. In your dashboard Click 'Layout' > 'Edit Html' > Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box

Step 2. In your template find the following code :
(Click CTRL and F for a search bar to find the code - More Info)

<b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='no'/>

Step 3. Change Showaddelement='no' to Showaddelement='yes' as shown below :

<b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='yes'/>

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its a quick and easy service Provided for Free by Google.Just fill in the Email form below the post.
If you need extra help on this or any tutorial just leave a comment, I love comments and feedback so this Blog is Do-Follow - when you comment here it helps Your Blogs Google rank !

You can now save your template and return to the layout page where you will be greeted with the new 'add a gadget' option.

Allow Gadgets In All Available Areas

Break down the change you made - There may be other areas you can add gadgets to your layout that are blocked.The code i changed is 'showaddelement' which breaks into 'Show Add Element'.Search your template for every occurrence of 'showaddelement' and switch 'no' to 'yes'.

You may also want to see how to put AdSense above or below your header.

More Help Is Only A Comment Away.

How To Put Adsense Ads At The Top And Bottom Of Your Blog Posts

2010-01-21T00:50:00.000Z

AdSense ad units can be placed almost anywhere on your blog, from the top to the bottom of the Blog it's self to the top or bottom of the posts.I have in previous posts showed how to place AdSense ads in your header section and how to place AdSense inside your posts i will leave a link to those posts at the foot of this post.

Here i will show you how to have AdSense ads automatically fixed directly below the posts title and under the last line in every post.These positions are two of the highest best paying places to put ads.

You can use any size and any type of AdSense ads although you will have to consider what looks best and fits best on your template.

I am going to try and write this in a way everyone can follow just take your time if your a newbie.I will do this by breaking it into three sections, in the first two you will see were to put the code but make sure to look at the third section as AdSense code added directly to your template wont work.

Three Parts To Adding The Code.

1. I will show you were to place the code to have AdSense under the post title.

2. I will show you were to place the code to place AdSense directly below the post.

3. I will show you how to parse the code so it will work on your blog.

How to Place AdSense Below The Title.

Step 1. In your dashboard click 'Layout' ► 'Edit Html' ► Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box.

Step 2. Find the following code in your blogs html :

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

Step 3. Place the AdSense code Directly Below the code you found.

If you cannot find that code in your template leave a comment and i will find the code you need.

How to put AdSense directly below the posts.

Step 1. In your dashboard click 'Layout' ► 'Edit Html' ► Tick the 'Expand Widget Templates' box.

Step 2. Find the following code in your blogs html :

<data:post.body/>

Step 3. Place the AdSense code Directly Below the code you found.

Parse And Add the AdSense code.

Before you can add any AdSense code to your blogs template you must parse the code.Don't worry this is not hard and i have a tool on this site for you to parse the code.

Step 1. Click Here to go to your AdSense account in a new window.

Step 2. Log in and create the new AdSense ad unit you want to use for the top or bottom of your posts and generate then copy the code.

Step 3. Click Here to go to my AdSense Parse Tool.

Step 4. Paste the AdSense code into the Parse box and click convert, copy the converted code and place it in the positions shown above.

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Note : You can place banner ads or even text and pictures in these positions, you don't need to parse banner codes that is only for AdSense.

To see how to put AdSense ads in your header section Click Here.

To see how to put AdSense inside the middle of your posts Click Here.

If you have any trouble with any part of the post just leave a comment I'm glad to help, if it worked for you let us know.

Adsense Can Ban You For Not Having A Privacy Policy-How To Get One In 2 Clicks

2010-01-05T21:35:00.011Z

Adsense T.O.S. Contain Privacy Policy Requirement

Did you know that AdSense require you to have a privacy policy on your Blog or website if you display their ads? Failure to have a privacy policy could see you account being closed and all earnings forfeited.

To be honest i didn't know this until recently and have just added a privacy policy to my own blogs.Here is a quote from the AdSense T.O.S. :

"We've also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers' use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future."

As ever this was something i knew my readers needed to be informed of and as most people wouldn't know were to start when writing a privacy policy i looked for and easy form you could copy and add to your blog.I actually found something much better.

While browsing around i found a 'Privacy Policy Generator' all you need to do is add your blog address and your email one click and you privacy policy is ready to be added to your blog or website.

I will show you how to generate a privacy policy and how to add it to your blog.I will also show you how to Back-Date the post so it wont be on your home page or in your recent posts.

Generate your privacy policy.

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

Click Here you can see the Privacy Policy Generated for me.

How to get your Privacy Policy.

Click Here to go to the Serprank Generator Page.

You will be asked to provide 3 sections of information as shown in the image below :

Part 1 : Self explanatory add your Email and URL

Part 2 use of cookies : I clicked yes for this because although this blog does not collect cookies directly gadgets like hit counters and stat analyzers do.This shouldn't count but to be honest it makes no difference if you click yes or no.If you say you don't collect cookie info but you actually do it could spell trouble, If you say you do but you don't it means nothing.

Part 3 Advertiser Information : Just tick the boxes of the advertisers you use.If your reading this post i will presume you use AdSense.I added Amazon because i use them somtimes and i also use Clickbank.I also clicked Chitika, although i don't use their ads at the moment i intend to in the near future.So click the ones you use you can always go back if you sign up to another one.

Once this is filled up we click 'Create My Privacy Policy' and you will get your complete policy, copy the whole lot and you are ready to add it to your blog.

Adding it to your blog.

Create a new post for your blog and paste in the copied policy, title the post 'Privacy Policy'.

Back-Date the post.

You don't want the post showing up on your home page or in your recent posts so you can back-date the post.

To do this you click 'Post Options' under the post editor as seen below, here you can change the date.

You can set the date back a few months (I checked the date of my first ever post and set it to the day before so its the first post on the blog).

In the image you can see the date is 1/5/10 you could just change it to 1/5/09.

Once you have changed the date publish the post and your privacy policy is in place.

Please spread the word of this as i don't think many people know it's required an visitors to your blog will thank you for the information.

You can Re-tweet this post to your twitter with the button at the top of the post or share it on Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupn and others with the buttons below the post.

Here is a link you can copy and add to your blog it leads directly back to this post :

<a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2010/01/google-adsense-can-ban-you-for-not.html" target="_blank">Get A Privacy Policy Page</a>

If you want to copy this Entire post and publish it on your blog you have my permission.
(Please link back here.)

That's it i would like to know if you were aware of this AdSense requirement let me know in the comments.If you need more help you can also leave a comment i'm always glad to help.

How To Place Adsense Ads Inside Your Blogger Header Section

2009-12-29T06:40:00.005Z

The header section of a blog is one of the prime areas for AdSense and other ads so in this post i will show you an easy tip to place ads in your blogger header section.

This will help increase your earnings and hopefully help make you more money from your blog.

This image from Google displays the top positions for ads.

There are a number of ways to place AdSense ads in your header and i will cover other options in later posts.

In this post i will show you a nice clean and simple way to achieve this trick.

The ads will be placed differently to how i have them in my header to see a live demo of the ads in a header section click here

Here is how its done lets spice up your blog :

Getting your ad code ready.

Before you add AdSense code to your blog it must be parsed don't worry this is simple.

The first thing to do is go to your AdSense account choose the ad unit you want to use and get the code.

You now have the code copied Click Here to go to my AdSense parser .
Paste your AdSense code in to the gadget and click 'convert' now copy your new parsed code.

If the add you are adding is a simple html banner ad you don't need to parse it you can skip that step.
Placing the code in your template.

Remember you can get all these tips sent directly to your email and stay a step ahead.Its quick easy and of course a free service provided by Google just fill in the form below the post.

1.Click 'layout'-> 'Edit html' for your blog.
(Tick The 'Expand Widget Templates' Box)

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2.Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'Ctrl F' for a search box to find the code)

<p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p>

3.Paste the code for your AdSense unit directly Below the code above.

Example:

<div class='descriptionwrapper'> <p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p> <-----YOUR ADSENSE CODE GOES HERE-----> </div> </b:includable>

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.
To help you this is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank.

Once you have added the code click save.

The ad has now been added to your blogs header,Remember it can take up to 10 minutes for AdSense ads to show on your blog.

Have you implemented this trick and do you think it will increase your AdSense earnings? Let us know..

How To Put Google Custom Search Box In Your Blogs Header Section

2009-12-04T18:49:00.016Z

In this post I'm going to show you an easy trick to add a Google Custom Search Box to your Blogger header area.

I'm sure you have seen plenty of blogs (Including this one) with search boxes and other content in the header section.

I think it makes good use of the free space in your header area and gives your blog a more professional look.

If you dont have a Google Custom Search Box To Use,In a previous post i showed you how to get a Google Custom Search box for your blog Click Here for that post.

The search box will be positioned differently than it is in my header.
To see a Demonstration of how it will look Click Here.

Adding the search box is easy here's how its done :

1.Click 'layout'-> 'Edit html' for your blog.
(Tick The 'Expand Widget Templates' Box)

2.Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'Ctrl F' for a search box to find the code)

<p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p>

3.Paste the code for your search box directly Below the code above.

Before we finish : If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.
To help you this is a Do-Follow Blog leaving a comment will also help your blogs Google rank.
OK Back to business ....

Example:

<div class='descriptionwrapper'> <p class='description'><span><data:description/></span></p> <-----YOUR SEARCH BOX CODE GOES HERE-----> </div> </b:includable>

Thats it !

Once you have added the code click save and your done.

Has it worked well on your blog?

How To Get A Google Custom Search Box For Your Blog

2009-12-03T17:02:00.010Z

In this post i will show you how to add a Google Custom Search Box to your blog.
As you may know Google search is part of the Adsense programme but all this can be easily done Without having an Adsense account.

You can create the search box to just search your Blog / Blogs or the entire web, Customise the look and feel of the box and more.

In my next blog i will show you how to add the search box to your blogs header !

Heres the steps to get your Custom Google Search Box:

1.Go to Google Custom Search Beta
(You should be logged into your Google/Blogger/Gmail Account)

2 Click the 'Create a custom search engine' button.

3.You are now on the set up page heres a quick summery of what you need to do:

Name & Discription are not too important you could just use your blog name and discription

What do you want to search: You can choose to only let the search box search your, blog if you choose this option put your blog's URL in the box below this option:Example:(http://www.yourblog.blogspot.com).Otherwise you can choose to let the blog search the entire web.

Select an edition:Just choose the standerd edition.

Click the terms of service box and press Next.

We Are Nearly Finished - First A Quick Reminder:
If you need more help or have an opinion or suggestion Please leave a comment Below.It also really helps me to get feedback.
This is a Do-Follow Blog so leaving a comment will also help Your blogs Google rank.
OK Back to business....

4.Now you see a preview of your custom search box click finish.

You can now get the code for your search box and add it to your blog.

How to add the code to your blog?

Click 'Layout'>'Add a gadget'>Choose:'Html/Javascript'>Paste your code in to the area provided and save.

That's it a custom search box for your blog.

Check back for my next blog i will show you how to add the search box to your blogs header

How To Put Adsense Ads Inside Your Blog Posts

2009-12-01T17:00:00.009Z

In this post i will show you an AdSense trick which will allow you to place AdSense ads inside your blog posts not only that but in any part of your posts.Once Added you can place the ads anywhere in the post like after the first line of text, before the last line, in the middle..... and you can have the ads in different areas in every post.

Using AdSense inside blog posts can have a very positive effect on your earnings but try to make the ad units blend in with the rest of the content when your picking the colors.I have more posts on how to add your Adsense Directly Below the Title of your posts as well as placing AdSense in your header section, i will have a link to those posts at the bottom of this one.

There is a bit of extra work in this tutorial but if you follow step by step you should have no problems also make sure to Back up your template.

Here's the steps - lets go :

First you must get the code for the AdSense ad

1. Go to your AdSense account and Choose what type of ad you want inside your blog posts.

2. Follow the steps and Grab the code for the AdSense unit.

3. The AdSense code must be place in your blog templates html to do this we must use an adsense praser.

4. I just added a Html Praser to my blog so you don't have to leave this blog to prase the code.
Click here to prase your adsense code.

Paste the code in the box provided click 'prase it' and copy the new parsed code.

Your AdSense code is now ready.

Now we will add the code to your template

1.Click 'layout'--> 'Edit HTML' for your blog
(Tick The 'Expand widget templates' box)

2. Find the following piece of code in your blogs html:
(Click 'CTRL F' on your keyboard for a search box to find the code)

<data:post.body/>

3. Now REPLACE <data:post.body/> with the code below :

<div expr:id='"aim1" + data:post.id'></div> <div style="clear:both; margin:10px 0"> PUT YOUR PARSED ADSENSE CODE HERE </div> <div expr:id='"aim2" + data:post.id'> <data:post.body/> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var obj0=document.getElementById("aim1<data:post.id/>"); var obj1=document.getElementById("aim2<data:post.id/>"); var s=obj1.innerHTML; var r=s.search(/\x3C!-- adsense --\x3E/igm); if(r>0) {obj0.innerHTML=s.substr(0,r);obj1.innerHTML=s.substr(r+16);} </script>

4. Now include your Adsense code above were you see:
PUT YOUR PARSED ADSENSE CODE HERE

5. Save your template - Were not finished....

Now as promised you can make the Adsense Ad appear in any part of your blog post :

When you writing your post - Simply place the following piece of code in your post in the exact place you want the Ad to appear:

So if you place the  tag at the top of your post the ad will appear there ...half way down ...near the bottom ...at the bottom...werever you want it !

Tip:Add the  code to your 'post template'
Click 'settings' -->'Formatting' -->Scroll to bottom of page for this option.
(Google help-Whats post template?)

For more AdSense tips and tutorials for adding Adsense to your blog Header section And under the posts title Click Here.

I know this was a bit harder than most tutorials but just take you time I'm sure you will get it right if you need more help just leave a comment below i will be glad to help.

Html Parse Tool - Display Html Code In Your Blog

2009-11-30T15:11:00.029Z

Want to display some Html code or script on your Blog, website or webpage ? This tool can be used to display html code in your blog posts and Parse AdSense ads.
Once you Parse html code and place it in your blog it will not form but will show up as code.

Example:

If i wanted to show the code for a html link to this blog i would parse the code and it would display as below:

<a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com">www.Spiceupyourblog.com</a>

Somtimes you need to parse your adsense code, It can also be used to parse AdSense code.

Simply paste your code into the box below and click the 'Convert' Button
It's So Easy ! You Can Bookmark The Page In Case You Need To Display Code Or Parse Adsense In The Future.

If For Some Reason The Gadget Does Not Appear Just Refresh The Page

Once your code has been parsed paste it were you need it to appear.

If You Need More Help Just Ask In The Comments.