Chitika, the online advertising network that, at one time, was an alternative to Google Adsense for publishers such as myself, has shut down, effective immediately. In an email sent to publishers late last night (April 17, 2019), Chitika informed all of their publishers that they are “shutting down effective immediately”. [Read more…]

There is an ad floating around social media that everyone seems to be talking about. Here’s an image of the ad:

[Read more…]

Today, here in North Texas, it is a balmy 68 degrees. I realize that it’s much colder up north, and that you probably would need a ski mask or face mask when going outside for a considerable amount of time. However, here in Texas, while we have had some cold mornings, Texans just don’t wear face masks unless you’re going to do something illegal. [Read more…]

I consider LinkedIn one of those necessary evils. As a professional and especially an online marketer, you have to have a LinkedIn account. And sometimes you actually DO get legitimate emails there. However, unfortunately you have to typically wade through all of the spam that’s sent via the LinkedIn messaging system. It turns out, though, LinkedIn themselves will send you spam in your inbox there. Here’s how to opt out of that. [Read more…]

There are times when ad targeting just goes wrong, no matter how targeted you think you get. For example, a recent ad that I saw for a Brookstone, selling drones as Father’s Day gifts, showed up on a local Dallas news website. Brookstone was obviously targeting the keyword “drone” and since “drone” was in the headline of the news article, it was displayed. [Read more…]

Adnimation is a new Cost Per Click (CPC) ad network that uses animated ads and claims that there’s a significantly higher CTR. I’ve decided to try running the Adnimation ads here on my site as a test. You’ve probably already seen them running. I’ve also documented the signup process for publishers like me. First, a little bit about what Adnimation is, and how it works. [Read more…]

Just recently, Joe Hall spotted a Google search result that, according to him, looks weird. It appears to me as though it’s just a new version of a Google AdWords ad that is being used in this case. And Google appears to be testing this new ad format. But according to Mark Traphagen, it’s actually a version of the knowledge graph card that Google is testing.

Take a look at the search for “who is lookup” in Google.

Note that whois is misspelled in the search query: [Read more…]

Why are QR Codes important for websites? Why should your website have a QR Code? QR codes help make your websites mobile aware. With smart phones taking over online operations, it is imperative that you make your site as user friendly or mobile friendly as possible. QR codes in websites will let your mobile instantly access websites without encountering the cumbersome process of entering the URL in the tiny mobile web browser. [Read more…]

According to reports, The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Authority announced a deal to rename the home stadium of the Raiders and A’s as Overstock.com Coliseum. The agreement with the Internet retailer will run for six years at a cost of $7.2 million. But did you know that this deal also will include text links, which will ultimately help Overstock.com’s organic search engine rankings in Google? [Read more…]

Chitika has reached a settlement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) over online advertising. The complaint by the FTC was about behavioral ad targeting. Individuals could opt out of Chitika’s behavioral ad targeting. Apparently Chitika had mistakenly set the opt out to 10 days rather than 10 years. [Read more…]

As the effects of the global recession linger, consumers are changing the way they shop, becoming more budget-conscious, eco-aware and cause-oriented, while paying greater attention to what, why and from who they are buying. Arnold Worldwide has named the top ten public figures, across entertainment, business and politics, who are helping to promote the era of “mindful spending.” [Read more…]

WebVisible has recently launched a nationwide contest and a new original Web video series – both calling attention to the still-vast divide that separates consumers looking for local products or services and the very businesses they’re seeking. [Read more…]

VerticalResponse recently did a survey to find out how small businesses planned on spending their marketing dollars in 2010. Over 800 small businesses were surveyed, each business having less than 500 employees. There were some vast differences between how money will be spent on email marketing and social media versus spending on banner advertising and search engine marketing (SEM). [Read more…]

According to the results of a new survey conducted online within the USA by Harris Interactive on behalf of Ingenio, more than four out of five of those surveyed currently own a mobile phone compared to only about 7 in 10 that own “land lines” or home phones. Research conducted by Harris Interactive suggests that a “dominant advertising model” that caters to this growing demographic of cell phone users is emerging. [Read more…]

Yes, you’ve read the title of this post right. It looks to me like text ads are coming to a radio (most likely your car radio), sooner than you might think. In fact, I’ve spotted a text ad today on my own car radio while driving down the road. [Read more…]

MediaTrust has just announced the next generation of their Advario online ad platform–it is powered by a contextual matching engine that serves display and In-Text advertising for CPL, CPC, CPA and CPM campaigns. This provides real-time, relevant and “intelligent display”, as well as in-text advertising that delivers higher-performing ads. [Read more…]

Helping advertisers and broadcasters maximize revenue by reaching millions of new immigrants and other untapped markets, leading multicultural advertising agency Global Advertising Strategies has introduced its proprietary marketing and media platform called Multiplatform Multicultural Programmer Platform (MMPP). The platform was introduced at a roundtable hosted by Global Advertising Strategies and moderated by Tom Steinert-Threlkeld, editor-in-chief of Multichannel News. [Read more…]

First it was pixel ads that sold 1 million pixels at $1 dollar each. Then we had a lot of copycats that attempted to make money from the same idea. Apparently the creator of the million dollar home page sold all of the available pixels on the home page. [Read more…]