Early this year many webmasters noticed some changes and additional options in the Google AdSense setup. Google has started testing the waters with a cost per action model for their publishers through AdSense Referrals.

Google has been offering publishers the opportunity to earn revenue by referring Google products for some time. For example, publishers could promote AdSense, AdWords, Firefox, Google Checkout, Google Apps, and Google Pack. The Google Referral model did revolve around cost per action. If a referral downloaded software or signed up for a service, the publisher was paid a set amount.

AdSense Referrals takes the concept to a new level by giving publishers the opportunity to promote products and services offered through a wide variety of advertisers. Unlike traditional AdSense for content, the publisher can choose which advertiser’s product and service they wish to promote. Additionally, a publisher can get a better idea of their potential earnings since the Cost-per-Action for a specific advertiser is shown to them whereas with traditional AdSense for Content the Cost-Per-Click is unknown.

Below is an Example of what the referral display looks like:

The above ad was created using several different advertisers bundled into one ad. Google will rotate the ads and display the best performing ads to visitors.

Currently Google is offering a few thousand referral options across 247 categories. To learn more about Google Referrals visit: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=1449

The webmaster world seems to revolve around link building for Seach Engine Optimization.  Everyone wants to buy links, trade links, or get free links.  I think there are more web directories, text link marketplaces, and tags sites, than we know what to do with.  Internet marketers spend hour searching for sites they can get there link on.  I cannot tell you how much comment spam this site gets with people trying to get a backlink.

Well, backlinks are not the only way to optimize for the Search Engines.  Granted, the SEs, especially Google does give quite a bit of weight to backlinks.  However, with the recent slashing of Page Rank across the index and seriously discounting the link juice passed buy many types of links maybe it is a good time to get back to fundamental on page optimizing as well.  While this is not a replacement to link building, it is certainly a viable addition.

Here are a few of the basics of on page optimizations:

Meta Tags: Few people forget to include these and most scripts and Content Managment Systems help you by automatically placing them.  However, it is always best to analyze your meta tags to make sure they contain the best key words and phrases.  The most common tags for SEO use are META NAME=”DESCRIPTION”,  META NAME=”KEYWORDS” but use META NAME=”COPYRIGHT” and META NAME=”AUTHOR”, to include a few extra key terms.  But most importantly, always have a good <title> tag.  The <title> tag is probably one of the most important on page SEO techniques.

Alt Img: I am always shocked at how many webmasters do not include alt tags for their images.  The alt tags are a great way to increase keyword density with getting flagged for keyword spamming.  Best of all it is very easy to do.

URLs: Obviously having a keyword related domain name helps.  However, always consider search engine friendly URLs as part of your strategy.   www.domain.com/configuration.modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2  does not work with the search engines as well as www.domain.com/downloads/antivirus/free_antivirus_software.html

Header Tags (Hx):  Proper Use of <h1> <h2> etc certainly helps the search engines determine the overall theme of your site.  A lot more emphasis and importance is placed on text contained in these tags over normal page text.  Use these header tags to increase the importance of your keywords.

Internal Linking: Most of us know the importance of using key words to link to internal sites.  It is also important to maintain an efficient treelike structute with no more than 3 clicks to any page on your site from the home page.  Also, don’t forget to include title tags for your links.  This is another good way to increase keyword density.

 Hopefully, these steps will help you move forward with your On-Page Optimization techniques.

A collective moan rumbled through many of the webmaster forums earlier this month when the Big G started slashing page rank.  It seemed for most websites the trend was toward lower PR ranther than any bumps.  A lot of prominent PR7 and PR6 sites tumbles 2 or 3 notches.

To me it seemed like a natural realignment.  Prior to spring of 2006 PageRank seemed a lot harder to come by.  Earning a PR4 really gave a webmaster a sense of pride and accomplishment.  Then in the spring of 2006 a major PR update pushed many sites to new highs, some without merit.  I know because I had a few sites that made PR5 with very few backlinks.  The value of PR really dropped then.

Well, just when we thought the aftermath was over, here comes another PR adjustment in the same month!  Many sites, including this one, took a second dip in their PageRank.  Where will it end?

 The trend for Google here really seems to be aimed at paid links.  It has been a while that they have been asking us to report instances of paid link via their webmasters control panel.  Now their algorithym is squarely targeted at discounting paid links.

Having started in web design prior to the popularity of CSS, I have always be a “tables guy.”  Using Dreamweaver hooked me on tables early on for structual site layouts. 

Of course it did no take me long to abandon Dreamweaver for a large portion of my desing work in favor of editing the html code directly.  When setting up new structual area of my site it seemed so much easier to just log on to cPanel and enter in the little <td>’s  and <tr>’s directly, especially if the main structual elements were in place with a template.

 When CSS (Cascading Style Sheets for you true newbies) started gaining popularity I took an initial look at it.  My first reaction was “Great! I can set up a site wide standard for how I want certain text to display.”  Setting up a standard for hyperlinks, various headers (<h1> <h2> etc.), hovers, and paragraphs, really help give my sites more consistancy and made it easy to change color schemes without search through the entire site looking for all the <text color=red>.

Jumping on board with CSS for color schemes seemed like a natural.  But there I stayed, mired in my own limitations by with the way I used CSS.  I continue to design my sties with structual layouts with tables.  As more webmasters began touting the benefits of using CSS for structual compontents, I decided to take an intial took at it. 

At first glance I was confused by the some of the terms and codes CSS used for structual components.  I thought, “tables seem so much easier, ” and quickly abandoned the idea of using CSS in place of my tables.  My theory was “go with what your know.”  For years I stuck with my precious tables.

With the expolosion of web 2.0, a lot of the designed seemed to revolve around CSS strucually.  So when I decided to redesign this site I took another look at CSS.  I quickly realized that even though CSS took a little longer to learn than tables, the power of it was unmatched.  I had so much greater control over the layout display with CSS than with tables.  I could control exact page positioning and perfect layouts much easier once I got the hand of it.  Additionally, it made changing the site a breeze.

So I call out a challenge to all webmasters still using tables for your primary site layouts.  CSS is a powerful alternative that you should definately take a look at. 

As some of you may have noticed, Bindexed.com has a new look.  We have completely scrapped the old layout and transformed into a new web 2.0 custom design.  And to settle any fears that might arise, we have not changed anything in the directory database.  So if your site was listed there is no reason to resubmit it.  All listing and featured listings remain intact.

 Along with the facelift we have added many new features as well, this blog being one of them.  The creators of Bindexed.com, and many other successful websites, will use this blog as a platform to share our wisdom with those of you struggling to succeed in the Internet business.  Topics will include SEO (Search Engine Optimization), affiliate marketing, monetization of websites, Internet trends and news, and many other exciting topics.  Please check back often or subcribe to our RSS feeds.

Along with the blog we have added and extensive area for acquiring quality web templates, including flash templates, wordpress themess, phBBB skins, logos, and other great designs.  We also implemented two great affiliate programs to help you make money as well.  Bindexed is offering a cost per impression program as well as an affiliate program promoting our templates.  In addition, our Newsletter is now up and running.  Sign up for the latest tips and tricks or view back issues.

We did not loose site of our success either.  We still maintained all of our previous features that you enjoyed including our news feeds, free logos, directory, SEO tools, and our hosted marketing pages.

 If you have any questions or feedback, we would love to here from you.  Feel free to contact us anytime.