Beside Google AdSense, now you can make money with your blogs using Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger by promoting relevant products in your posts.

Get started

First of all, you need an AdSense account. If you don’t, sign up here.

1. Write a new post on Blogger
2. If your blog matches available ad categories, the ‘Advertise Products’ gadget
   will appear in the Post Settings panel
3. Select an affiliate ad from the ‘Advertise Products’ gadget
4. Publish your post

You can type in a product, retailer or brand name into the “Advertise products” widget to get a list of products. then you can insert the affiliate ad as a link, image, or full ad.

How do you earn money?

When your blog visitor clicks on the ads and makes a purchase on the advertiser’s site, then you will earn commission. The payment will be paid through your AdSense account.

My two cents

Affiliate ads is “payment by action”. You don’t get commission if your visitor clicks but no purchase. However, the commission is usually much higher than “payment by click”. It’s good to have more ways to monetize your blog.

I wish the Google Affiliate Ads widget will be available to non-Blogger bloggers too (read: WordPress plugin!).

via Blogger Buzz

Make Money with Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Dear all Google Adsense publishers, have you updated your ad unit codes to take the advantages of new AdSense features?

With the new ad unit code, you can get ads performance report for ad units, ad sizes, and more. Plus, you don’t need to update the code when you want to change the styles of your AdSense ad units.

The following InsideAdSense’s video shows you the new ad unit code features and how to create them:

(via InsideAdSense – YouTube)

AdSense: Update New Ad Unit Code and Gain Performance Insights [VIDEO] is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

WordPress.com partner with Federated Media (FM) and introduce WordAds to WordPress.com bloggers who want to make money.

WordPress.COM (not WordPress.org) is one of the most popular free blog hosting site. Previously, you are not allowed to have advertisements on free WordPress.com blogs to make money online.

Now, WordPress.com partner with Federated Media (FM) and introduce WordAds (don’t confuse with Google’s “AdWords”) to WordPress.com bloggers who want to make money.

WordAds is 100% optional and is designed for bloggers who would like to earn money from their blogs by showing high quality ads from brand advertisers. FM is well known for representing top blogs with high quality ads for sites like AppleInsider, Bakerella, and BoingBoing.

You need to have a WordPress.com blog with custom domain ($12-$24/yr) before you can apply for WordAds.

Keep in mind that signing up for WordAds doesn’t necessary mean your blog will be accepted. The selection will be based on level of traffic and engagement, type of content, and language of your blog. In short, you need a quality blog.

WordAds Allows WordPress.com Bloggers to Make Money Online is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Whether they want to make and save more money for special vacations or need extra income to pay their bills, more people look to the Internet for opportunities before they search their local newspaper’s Want ads.

Unfortunately, too many of them fall victim to unscrupulous scams and “get rich quick” schemes. While ample opportunity to make money online exists, it often doesn’t come via a spam email.

Freelance Work

If you know how to put words together coherently and learn a few different punctuation schemes, you might be able to earn extra money by becoming a freelance writer.

There are three overall types of freelance writing sites—pay-per-word sites, revenue sharing sites and pay-per-article sites.

The first type of site acts primarily as a brokerage that links client needing content with freelancers who write to client specifications. Communication between clients and writers are either closely monitored or prohibited altogether.

The second type, revenue sharing, requires you to choose your keywords carefully and write for a target audience, hoping to get traffic that will click the paid advertising that someone else places on the article page. Payment for these entries is generally low, erratic and unreliable.

The last type of site is either a bid site where an order is placed publicly, and writers bid on it or an article is posted to the site archives and is paid if a website owner uses it. You might eventually earn reasonable amounts of cash on this type of site, but it often takes a long time to build up your portfolio and your reputation.

Another areas of freelance work are in web development and transcription or typing services. Both can generate respectable incomes, although it may take longer than overnight to see progress.

Blogging

Blogging is the content rage, especially after Google’s Panda updates earlier this year. Original content rules ranking credit with search engines, and if you blog regularly to an avid target market, you can envelope paid advertising on your blog, affiliate marketing and site sponsorships, all of which can generate increasing income for the blog owner.

Blogging is one of the most reliable methods to build an income independent from an employer’s paycheck, although no one recommends you quit your “day job” and risk your financial future on this endeavor which can admittedly take time to come to fruition.

However, when the money starts arriving, it can build quite quickly with persistence and dedication, especially with effective affiliate links within your blog text.

General Recommendations

Remember to report your income to your tax authorities. You may qualify for legitimate tax deductions if you obtain a business license and operate as a business. The US Internal Revenue Service, for example, disallows any expenses as deductions if the income-earner does not have a business license, for they consider the endeavor a hobby otherwise.

Start on a part-time basis until you reach an income level that you find comfortable. If you can fully and consistently replace your employer-based income with your endeavor, it might be time to shake yourself free from the chains of a time clock.

It’s your financial future, though, and it’s your decision to make.

This article’s author is Holly Adams, who writes for Coupon Croc, the best source for savings and discounts on all of your online shopping and purchases.

Image credit: LiewCF – Flickr.com

Two Realistic Internet Income Opportunities is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

I have received TWO AdWords coupon codes from last week’s conferences: The New Media Asia and WordConf Asia. The AdWords coupons worth RM120 each. I am giving away both AdWords codes to you. Read on to find out how to claim them.

How to claim free AdWords coupon code

It is simple. No form to fill. No lucky draw.

Simply goto LiewCF Tech Blog‘s facebook page and goto Giveaway section. The AdWords coupon codes are there. First come, first served. You can claim the code at http://adwords.google.com/. Invalid code means the code has been claimed.

Note:

• You need to have a working website (or a blog).
• The AdWords coupon code is for NEW activated AdWords account only.
• To complete the registration and billing details, you will need to provide your credit card information.
• The coupons EXPIRED AFTER 31/07/2011

Giveaway: Google AdWords Coupon Codes is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

AdSense publishers who wish to help Japan can now donate their AdSense earnings accrued through March 31, 2011 directly to the Japanese Red Cross.

Simply complete the form on AdSense Help with your payee name, email address, AdSense publisher ID and the donation amount in USD.

Please note that donation will be processed via the Tides Foundation, and 1.5% of your donation amount will be used by their administration fees.

Donate now to help Japan

Now You Can Donate AdSense Revenue for Japanese Earthquake Relief is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Yesterday I saw a new AdSense ads style on my own blog. The large rectangle text ads is showing center aligned text, instead of normal left aligned text.

This is the first time I saw the new AdSense ads style and I do not see it on other websites yet. Is it new? Have you see the center aligned AdSense ads on other sites before?

Do you think the center aligned ads text will increase the Click-Thru-Rate (CTR)?

Google AdSense Ads With Center Aligned Text is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

The goal of any online shop site is to sell. The goal for any online shop store owner is to sell more and the goal of the marketing department is get to get more people to the site. So that is all pretty straight forward so far, everybody knows what they have to do and everybody knows what the end goal is–sell more.

This is where things prove to get a little more difficult, a very small percentage of your traffic will buy from you on their first visit to your site, and some reports claim that online shop sites need to interact with potential clients anything up to seven times before they can secure a sale. This can prove very difficult for an online shop that is selling merchandise that is available on countless other sites and has nothing new and interesting to offer. How can we make people interested enough to keep them coming back to our sites?

The Stickiness of your online shop can prove vital if you want to continue to drive sales both from new and old customers. How can you make your online shop compelling and attractive enough so that customers will continue to return time and time again?

Emails, Newsletters, E-zines

This is probably the oldest trick in the book, when someone check out online you can collect their email address and the send them promotions, product updates, newly added product lines the list here is endless. This method has proven its importance in driving sales for many years now. But what is slightly worrying about this method; is that many site owners only use emails when they want to offer their mailing list a discount. I’m convinced this is a bad idea, because if you do it regularly enough you mailing list will begin to realize that a discount will be coming soon so the will hold off buying that new item until they get a discount for it.

Blogs

This isn’t a new trick, but a lot of the blogs that are attached to an online shop site do pretty much the same thing, highlight new products and possible discounts, but a blog can be a great way not only to brand your site but to also help put a real face and a personal touch to a site, a blog is where you can give your views not only on the products you stock but you can also comment on a wider variety of topics that may interest both you and your customer base. If people are interested in what you have to say as well as what you sell, a blog is a great way to get the word out and keep your customers coming back.

Social Media, Web 2.0

If you can’t find potential customers on Facebook or Twitter, then maybe an online shop site isn’t the best way to sell your products. As you already have your customers email addresses why not see how many of them are on Twitter and Facebook, if you customer base is between 18 and 35 there is a good chance they are probably on both platforms. Both are not only a great way of connecting with your customers but they can also prove an effective way to get you and your site in front of a group of potential new customers that hadn’t heard of you before, remember people with the same interests usually tend to stick together and if you can get your site in front of one of that group there is a good chance that the others may take notice as well. I would again look at these social media sites as a way to put a real face behind your business. If potential customers can put their faith in a real person instead of a website it can help to drive more sales.

With all this said there are a couple of important things that I think need to be highlighted, the end goal will always remain the same, you need to sell more and using these channels is really just a means to and end. Never get too personal, the last thing you want is your customers thinking they can rely on you to fix any problems they are having with your products. If any of customers have received a poor service from your company there is always the possibility they will vent their anger in these channels, be prepared for this and if any issues do arise deal with them as professionally as possible, show that you are doing everything you can to rectify the issues and make things right in the eyes of the customer. People will see this and hopefully realize that you are willing to go the extra mile.

This is a guest post by Neil from eMobileScan, who are one of the UK leading online retail specialists of handheld computers and barcode scanner. Including the full range of Wireless barcode scanners.

[Image credit: By Maximum PC [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons]

HOW TO: Keep Your Customers Coming Back To Your Online Shop is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Fellow Malaysian bloggers are earning up to RM1 million annually and their revenue are taxable income.

The first news in this morning that caught my eyes is about “Malaysian bloggers earn up $1 million Ringgit (~USD$327,500) annually”.

“Wow! Who is that?”

According to the daily [Berita Harian], bloggers, who post their personal accounts are now exploiting their blogs for business transactions or advertisement placements, earning an average monthly income of RM70,000.

The daily highlighted blogger Mira Abu Bakar, whose highest monthly income revenue through advertising revenue was RM12,000 in 2008.

Mira, who has been operating her blog Redmummy.com since 2005, earns an average monthly revenue of RM2,000.

She admitted that she had to declare her side income with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) as she was unaware about it until she received an audit.

An IRB spokesman said online businesses including via Facebook were bound by the Income Tax Act 1967 and their income were taxable just like fixed income.

[via TheStar Online]

Apparently, Mira is NOT the millionaire blogger. The RM1 million revenue is for fellow Malaysian bloggerS. No idea what are their source, anyway.

My two cents

Mira who made RM12000 in a month is now earn an average RM2000 each month. That’s a huge income drop! By the way, I am not surprised that a Malaysian blogger can earn over RM10,000 per month.

The total earning of Malaysian bloggers should be more than 1 million annually, I think.

One thing worth to highlight in the news is that Inland Revenue Board (IRB) Malaysia offciially announced (also on facebook) that all online income are taxable and need to be declared, which I told fellow Malaysians in 2009.

P.S. I would not tell how much revenue I made from full-time blogging.

Related book: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Malaysian Bloggers Earn Up to $1 Million MYR Annually? is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.

Malaysian Pro-blogger, Liew Cheon Fong (a.k.a LiewCF, yours truly) got Google AdSense disabled ad serving on his tech blog. How did he get it re-enabled in 14 hours? Also, the AdSense alternatives he used and the lessons he learned.

Read on for the details.

Last week afternoon (Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 1:35 PM), I suddenly received an email from Google AdSense with subject title “Google AdSense ad serving has been disabled to your site”

Hello,

While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as http://www.liewcf.com/crack-mac-app-store-6859/. Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may exist on other pages of your website.

As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers are not permitted to place Google ads on sites with content related to hacking or cracking. For example, sites showing ads may not provide instructions or equipment to illegally access or tamper with software, servers, or websites.

As a result, we have disabled ad serving to the site.

Your AdSense account remains active. However, we strongly suggest that you take the time to review our program policies (https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-2pp-en) to ensure that all of your remaining pages are in compliance.

Please note that we may disable your account if further violations are found in the future.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Issue ID# 0000000

My first reaction was “Another scam email!” but after reading it thoroughly… Hey, it is genuine! Google disabled AdSense ads on my site!

OMG! This is the WORST nightmare for AdSense publishers!

Why Google AdSense disable ads serving on LiewCF.com?

It is caused by my blog post “HOW TO: Crack Mac App Store and Download Free Angry Birds for Mac [ILLEGAL]” (article has been deleted, more details below)

Though I had already put warning messages in title and in the article body… but the blog post ranked No.1 for the search keywords “Mac App Store Crack”, ranked better than the popular Mac blog – 9to5Mac.com.

Image: LiewCF.com ranked No.1 for “mac app store crack”

(Thanks to my SEO optimization and Twitter ReTweets)

My site received many traffic for the keywords but, at the same time, it is a significant target if anyone wants to hunt down websites that spread the Mac App Store crack news.

Getting AdSense re-enable on site

The email was sent from no-reply email account. I must find a way to contact Google AdSense team.

A google search for the email subject “Google AdSense ad serving has been disabled to your site” and leaded me to Google AdSense forum. There are also many other publishers received the same email before but most of them did not have second chance…

Bad news.

On Google AdSense Help:

In many cases, our decision is final, and this will be mentioned in your notification email. However, in some cases, if you are able to make appropriate changes to bring your site into compliance, we may re-enable ad serving to your site. Please keep in mind that this is not possible for all cases.

There is a Google AdSense Policy Violation Appeal form where you can request for re-enabled ad serving to your site.

Immediately, I deleted the affected blog post and submit my details using the Policy Violation Appeal form. I wrote:

“I have deleted the affected web page immediately after received your email notification. Thank you.”

After that, all I could do is WAIT and PRAY.

Google AdSense alternatives?

Then, I checked my site and the AdSense ads are still serving normally. So, I thought only the related web page is affected. “Lucky!”

I was wrong!

In the midnight, I noticed ALL the AdSense ads on my site were gone and left only white spaces!

OMG! Google AdSense disabled the ad serving for the whole website, instead of the affected page only!

While I am still waiting reply from Google AdSense team for my appeal, I immediately replaced all Google AdSense ads spaces with other alternative advertising networks, such as Chitika, CPM-based ads, local ads, etc.

The alternative networks revenue would not match the Google AdSense income, but it is better than wasting the ads spaces.

Google AdSense ad serving re-enabled!

Just as soon as I done switching AdSense ads spaces to alternative ads, I received an email from Google AdSense again (Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:33 AM).

This time, is a good news.

Hello,

Thank you for making the requested changes to your site in order to comply with our policies. We have now re-enabled ad serving to your site.

Please note that because ad serving to your site was temporarily disabled, there may be a delay of up to 48 hours or more before ads begin appearing on your site again. We appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Phew~ What a relieve! Ad-serving is back to normal after 24 hours.

Lessons learned

I felt like a bungee jump – jump off from a high bridge then bounced and at last landed safely. Certainly, I did not feel good but it was a good experience.

I shall not write anything about cracking and hacking (even with loud and clear warning message). I could not afford to risk my house, car, living. etc for popular but questionable articles.

Glad that Google AdSense team resolved my case in 14 hours. Many publishers complain that Google AdSense ignore them or slow response, which is false in my case.

Also, the incident make me to re-think the dependents on Google AdSense as a blogger. I shall reducing the portion of AdSense revenue in my total income. I said the same at years before and I am still working on it.

While I could survive without Google AdSense, but I never want to do that. Darn! I love AdSense!

Related book: Google AdSense For Dummies

[image courtesy of Jon Ovington]

How Did Malaysian Pro-Blogger Get Google AdSense Ad Serving Disabled (and Re-enabled) on His Blog? is an article from: LiewCF Tech Blog. For more updates, please follow @liewcf on Twitter, join Facebook page and subscribe free newsletter.