No sermon here today, folks, but thanks to one of the "Top Contributors" (Dan) over on the AdSense Help forums, we're going to shoot for taking a news article and video the "viral" route.
What that means is, grab the link for the article, and post to your blogs - everybody. This will help get the word out that not every website who talks about Google or AdSense is on the "up and up".
You know all those "almost scams" and "google scams" we've been talking about? Well, here in this article at the link Fox News tells it like it is. Let your friends know there are places they need to be careful of- especially if they are thinking about signing up for AdSense.
Remind your friends, if they want to apply for AdSense, then they should do it right at the Google AdSense homepage and not anywhere else.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Getting Started with AdSense and Blogger
Everyday on the Google AdSense forums you'll see lots of questions about using AdSense with Blogger blogs. Today's post will help you get started using AdSense on Blogger. More complex questions will come later, and of course you can always post a specific question to the comments, or use Google's AdSense Help Forum.
1. Can I use AdSense with Blogger?
- yes, Blogger blogs accept AdSense code very easily.
2. What's the best way to sign up with my blog?
- Blogger has a "monetize" link which many people use to get an AdSense account, and currently, if you try to apply for adsense without using this monetize link, you'll get rejected for "domain ownership issues.
- Adsense does not accept "subdomains" for their applications, so signing up at the Adsense home page with a blogger URL will get your application rejected because a blogger URL is a subdomain. To avoid that, you need to apply using the monetize link.
- Using the monetize link in blogger lets Adsense know that this is a blogger URL, which is acceptable to use for Adsense, so please do not try to sign up at the Adsense homepage for your blog.
- There are different options for adding AdSense code to your blogger. You can use the monetize link to place the ads, you can use the Adsense Gadget in Blogger, or you can use a Text Gadget and add code you generate from your AdSense Account.
- See this step-by-step tutorial (includes snapshots and text) for the ways you can place your code on blogger blogs.
- The main reason for this is that you probably have too many of the same kind of ad on one page.
- AdSense only allows for 3 ad units, 3 link units and 2 AdSense for search boxes on one page.
- When you choose to have the AdSense ads display below each post, the number of posts
allowed to display on a page has something to do with this problem. Many people leave the "posts per page" set at the default, wich I think is 5. That means there may already be three ads on the page (one ad after every 2nd post). What happens is that any other ads of the same type you put on your page won't display. - There are two ways to remedy this. Set your post count per page to 1, 2 or 3 posts per page. This will result in one or two ads being displayed leaving you one ad of the same type for another spot. Or you can change the add type. You can use ad units between your posts, and ad links in your sidebar, or vice versa. This allows you to display 3 ads between your posts, and 3 ads in your sidebar (or below your header if you choose).
- Nothing. Google provides both services freely. If anyone asks you pay anything for a Blogger blog or an AdSense account, then you are in the wrong place.
- There are many websites on the internet that ask you for money in exchange for providing information about earning money with AdSense, and they trade on the Google name, but they aren't associated with Google, and their practice is not condoned by Google.
- Information about AdSense or Blogger is available freely from their respective home pages at Google. You should never pay for something that is offered free. Any payments you might make to these other sites go to them, not to Google and Google cannot help you get your money back, nor will they refund you something they didn't charge you for.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Using "No Right Click" Codes - For Those Who Think They Need It
Lots of people seem to want to use the "no right click" on their web pages. The code is simple, but for the most part, it's a fairly useless protection against image thieves. Anybody who really wants the image will know how to get it (even I can do it) even if the code is present.
About the only people it will deter are those casual surfers who might happen upon your site and think "oh, pretty pic" and hit the right click - they'll get the "right click not available" and move on to somewhere else. Even then, if they want to use it in a blog or something else bad enough, they'll try a screen capture, and there's not much that will stop that.
For those who just have to use it (be aware that "no right click" also means that none of the functions in the right click menu work - none - when you use this you disable all of the right click functions, not just the copy).
So here's a code provided by WebmasterTools 3 (the free version - rather old, but still useful) which they also provided online (last check I couldn't find the site). The part that says "Right Click Not Available" is the part the viewer sees when they try to right click on the images on that page - that text can be changed to anything you want to use.
The script below gets inserted between the head tags of your webpage.
For those asking for instructions on using the code - it's as I mentioned above - place the entire code as shown between the head tags on your web page (the head tags look like this: <> (the beginning of the header section and < /head > (the end of the header section) ). To see the tags you need to be able to access the html portion (the code) of your web page.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Don't Let Your Work Become "Duplicate Content"
In at least one of my recent endeavours I've come to realize that taking time to protect your work online can be pretty important for some things.
Not just images, graphics and photos, but your written work, like blog posts and articles, stories and poetry. Pretty much anything you put on the net.
Some folks won't worry much about whether someone has copied their blog post or photos, but for those who are concerned, there are some steps you can take that help. While there is no real protection for anything you put out on the internet, making the effort can do two things - offer protection from those who just don't know any better, and help to educate them about copyright and plagiarism.
Anyone who follows any of my free blogs will already know that I'm pretty happy to share much of what I do with others. That's just my nature. What I'm not happy to see is other people claiming my work as their own. While none of these methods shown here will really stop anyone who is out to copy your work and put their name on it, some of them will help you find any work of yours that's been used elsewhere.
Copyscape is a service that will search the internet for written work. They offer a free service (limited, but it works) and paid programs for greater coverage. You simply put in the url of the page where your work is displayed (a blog page or website page), hit enter and wait. It will search around the net looking for whatever article or written work is on your page and then list places it found it, if any.
CopyrightSpot works essentially the same as Copyscape, though the service is at present, completely free. It is, however, still in "alpha testing", but it does seem to work reasonably well. Like copyscape, it is designed for the written word. You can also use their logo to show that you check your work against their service on a regular basis. While this won't stop someone out to purposely copy your stuff, it might give them pause if they realize you will eventually find them.
For images, the same folks who put out CopyrightSpot have MyFree Copyright. Here, you can upload a small version of any image or graphic and create a footprint for it, then get a registration number to place on your images, along with the logo if you want. This service also works to protect a file of written work, or text whether it's a web page or pdf or other form of written work. It too is provided freely. Each item you register generates an email to your account, showing the date of registration and registration number. While this is not the same as registering work with the Registry Office, it can provide a "time stamp" for your work, so if it's necessary to provide proof that someone else copied the work from you, this can be helpful. Like any other service, it doesn't stop unauthorized uses (nothing really does), but it has it's uses.
TinEye doesn't actually offer protection, but it can help you find your images on the internet. It's still in beta, and has a ways to go before it will become really useful, but it too works if images are used in a lot of different places. TinEye is essentially a "reverse lookup tool" for images - you can upload a low res version of your image and it will search around the net and list places where it's found. If you prefer not to upload an image, you can use the Firefox browser plugin, where you simply right click on your image, and it will search from that. Note that with the browser plugin, this won't work if you are using the clear gif method of protecting your image, because all TinEye will see is no image and a clear gif. There is also a version for macs.
The image bank TinEye uses to search is still somewhat limited, so if it doesn't find your image, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't in use somewhere else, it just means that wherever the image is, TinEye hasn't indexed that particular site or space yet. The more people who use TinEye and submit sites for indexing, the better it will get.
Get the TinEye Plugin for Firefox here.
Get the mac version here.
While there are other similar services for protecting your copyrights, many are paid services. If you earn your living with imaging or writing, you might want to invest in a paid service, and/or register your work at the Registry Office for your country or state. But for the average blogger who might have a need to prove the work belongs to them, these free services should be sufficient.
(originally posted by the writer, me, on another of my blogs)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
How to Add A Privacy Policy to Blogger, and Privacy Policy Text
NOTE: post updated November 30 2016 because of the multitude of changes to both AdSense and Blogger functionality.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve made of the Google help forums and discovered that there is a never-ending stream of questions coming into the help centers. Some quite simple, but others much more complex. What I also discovered is that help can sometimes be as simple as pointing someone to the right link in the vast network of Google help links.
I don't consider myself an "expert" on all Google's help systems, but for the most part I have learned how and where to find help when I need it. What you’ll find though, is that getting a direct answer from any person who actually works for Google is difficult, at best. And only those who qualify for direct email support can have it. The rest need to use the help forum to get answers, and the help forum has volunteers who have been using AdSense for a long time (some have been using AdSense since it first was acquired by Google, so that's a lot of knowledge just waiting for you to ask for it).
While not related to all the Google categories where you can find help, one of the issues that cropped up a lot when Privacy Policies were first a requirement was how to add it to Blogger, without having it be your first post.
Adding A Privacy Policy to A Blogger Blog
This can be done quite simply by adding the pages gadget to your blog. Pages are static (not like a blog post) and can be added as tabs across the top of your blog (the same as you see above in my menu), or can be added as a link in your sidebar.
Create your page, and copy and paste the sample privacy policy from below. Be sure you use your own blog's URL (or your website link) in the body of the privacy policy, and provide your own contact information.
If you don't want to use the pages gadget, or have too many pages already, you can create a post and "backdate" the post (use a date that is before the very first post on your blog) using the "published on" option in the post settings. When you publish that post, it will not appear in your current posts, but will be the first post on your blog ... hidden away from recent posts.
Grab the URL for that post, and then add it as a link in your sidebar, or your blog's footer, or in your own menu section. When anyone clicks on the link they'll be able to access your Privacy policy.
Either of these methods are fine, and it doesn't matter if you are using a custom domain with your blog, or if you are using a blogspot URL.
SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY TEXT(you can copy the text below and paste it into your blog to create your own privacy policy)
Start of policy text:
Privacy Policy
We take your privacy seriously. This policy describes what personal information we collect and how we use it. (This privacy policy is applicable to websites falling under the primary holder fill in your website(s) and urls here.)
Routine Information Collection
All web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. The information is tracked for routine administration and maintenance purposes, and lets me know what pages and information are useful and helpful to visitors.
Cookies and Web Beacons
Where necessary, this site uses cookies to store information about a visitor's preferences and history in order to better serve the visitor and/or present the visitor with customized content.
Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies.
Controlling Your Privacy
Note that you can change your browser settings to disable cookies if you have privacy concerns. Disabling cookies for all sites is not recommended as it may interfere with your use of some sites. The best option is to disable or enable cookies on a per-site basis. Consult your browser documentation for instructions on how to block cookies and other tracking mechanisms.
Special Note About Google Advertising
Any advertisements served by Google, Inc., and affiliated companies may be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Google to display ads based on your visits to this site and other sites that use Google advertising services. Learn how to opt out of Google's cookie usage. As mentioned above, any tracking done by Google through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Google's own privacy policies.
About Google advertising: What is the DoubleClick DART cookie? The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers better serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
Contact Information
Concerns or questions about this privacy policy can be directed to fill in your contact information here for further clarification.
End of policy text.
-----------------------------------------------
On my own privacy policy, I include other useful information for my readers. The above text is required by AdSense, but if you want to take it a step further you can also add this information, or include other information related to controlling ads or privacy concerns.
I like to this that the information I included on my privacy policy is actually of some help to people - not everyone will read it, or even look at it, but there are people who want to know how their information is used, and while I may not have cookies or login requirements, Blogger and AdSense both do use cookies, and we are responsible for letting people know that.
(note that for Amendment 3, if you do receive paid promotions like free items to review, you must not claim that you aren't receiving compensation/payment when you are).
Whether or not you want to add any of these amendments to your privacy policy is up to you (in terms of what AdSense requires), but do note that the FTC requires bloggers and writers to disclose whether or not they are being paid for links on their sites.
Amendment 1:
Amendment 2:
Amendment 3:
Amendment 4:
On some of my other websites, I also include links to helpful online security, and local laws. If you wanted to include something like this, make sure to include links to any local websites (ie: for your own country) where they list privacy, security, or copyright laws for your country.
EPIC.org
Privacy.org
CIPPIC Cdn.
Children's Online Privacy Act
Internet Privacy Laws Canada
US Privacy Laws
UK Privacy Laws
EU Privacy Laws
Over the last 10 years, I’ve made of the Google help forums and discovered that there is a never-ending stream of questions coming into the help centers. Some quite simple, but others much more complex. What I also discovered is that help can sometimes be as simple as pointing someone to the right link in the vast network of Google help links.
I don't consider myself an "expert" on all Google's help systems, but for the most part I have learned how and where to find help when I need it. What you’ll find though, is that getting a direct answer from any person who actually works for Google is difficult, at best. And only those who qualify for direct email support can have it. The rest need to use the help forum to get answers, and the help forum has volunteers who have been using AdSense for a long time (some have been using AdSense since it first was acquired by Google, so that's a lot of knowledge just waiting for you to ask for it).
While not related to all the Google categories where you can find help, one of the issues that cropped up a lot when Privacy Policies were first a requirement was how to add it to Blogger, without having it be your first post.
Adding A Privacy Policy to A Blogger Blog
This can be done quite simply by adding the pages gadget to your blog. Pages are static (not like a blog post) and can be added as tabs across the top of your blog (the same as you see above in my menu), or can be added as a link in your sidebar.
Create your page, and copy and paste the sample privacy policy from below. Be sure you use your own blog's URL (or your website link) in the body of the privacy policy, and provide your own contact information.
If you don't want to use the pages gadget, or have too many pages already, you can create a post and "backdate" the post (use a date that is before the very first post on your blog) using the "published on" option in the post settings. When you publish that post, it will not appear in your current posts, but will be the first post on your blog ... hidden away from recent posts.
Grab the URL for that post, and then add it as a link in your sidebar, or your blog's footer, or in your own menu section. When anyone clicks on the link they'll be able to access your Privacy policy.
Either of these methods are fine, and it doesn't matter if you are using a custom domain with your blog, or if you are using a blogspot URL.
SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY TEXT(you can copy the text below and paste it into your blog to create your own privacy policy)
Start of policy text:
Privacy Policy
We take your privacy seriously. This policy describes what personal information we collect and how we use it. (This privacy policy is applicable to websites falling under the primary holder fill in your website(s) and urls here.)
Routine Information Collection
All web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. The information is tracked for routine administration and maintenance purposes, and lets me know what pages and information are useful and helpful to visitors.
Cookies and Web Beacons
Where necessary, this site uses cookies to store information about a visitor's preferences and history in order to better serve the visitor and/or present the visitor with customized content.
Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies.
Controlling Your Privacy
Note that you can change your browser settings to disable cookies if you have privacy concerns. Disabling cookies for all sites is not recommended as it may interfere with your use of some sites. The best option is to disable or enable cookies on a per-site basis. Consult your browser documentation for instructions on how to block cookies and other tracking mechanisms.
Special Note About Google Advertising
Any advertisements served by Google, Inc., and affiliated companies may be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Google to display ads based on your visits to this site and other sites that use Google advertising services. Learn how to opt out of Google's cookie usage. As mentioned above, any tracking done by Google through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Google's own privacy policies.
About Google advertising: What is the DoubleClick DART cookie? The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers better serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
Contact Information
Concerns or questions about this privacy policy can be directed to fill in your contact information here for further clarification.
End of policy text.
-----------------------------------------------
I like to this that the information I included on my privacy policy is actually of some help to people - not everyone will read it, or even look at it, but there are people who want to know how their information is used, and while I may not have cookies or login requirements, Blogger and AdSense both do use cookies, and we are responsible for letting people know that.
(note that for Amendment 3, if you do receive paid promotions like free items to review, you must not claim that you aren't receiving compensation/payment when you are).
Whether or not you want to add any of these amendments to your privacy policy is up to you (in terms of what AdSense requires), but do note that the FTC requires bloggers and writers to disclose whether or not they are being paid for links on their sites.
Amendment 1:
Some third-party advertisers used by Google may use a different cookie. You may opt out of most third-party advertising cookies by following this link and visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page, or by visiting this Consumers page to opt out of all advertising cookies.
Amendment 2:
PLEASE NOTE:
Some advertisers may use cookies to serve interest based ads. You may choose to opt out of the cookies as noted in the policy below.
You may also set your browser preferences to be asked to opt in to cookies, rather than having to opt out. Each browser may have specific options available to opt out of cookies all together, to be asked first if you want to accept the cookies, or to allow cookies. To find the instructions for your own browser, please visit "About Cookies" and select your browser for instructions.
Amendment 3:
DISCLAIMER
This website is a personal endeavour to provide useful help/information for others. This site may from time-to-time display advertising or sponsorship, both paid and free. Any product endorsements which have paid compensation will be identified as such.
All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Advertisements are identified by the advertising network and where available, links are shown in the privacy policy to opt out of advertising cookies.
The owner of this site is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Products used in tutorials or listed here are products used by the site owner and/or have been purchased by the site owner. No endorsement fees have been paid. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.
Amendment 4:
On some of my other websites, I also include links to helpful online security, and local laws. If you wanted to include something like this, make sure to include links to any local websites (ie: for your own country) where they list privacy, security, or copyright laws for your country.
EPIC.org
Privacy.org
CIPPIC Cdn.
Children's Online Privacy Act
Internet Privacy Laws Canada
US Privacy Laws
UK Privacy Laws
EU Privacy Laws
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