AdesBlog.com

The long awaited PageRank update is in process now. After many blogs being penalized by Google (most probably manually), now the real PageRank update is on the way. So far, up to now, we have only seen PageRank downgrades, last being the worst, which took the whole internet by storm. Now everybody is talking about PageRank only. Darren has a confirmation (from 2 sources at Google) on reasons for the latest PageRank penalty, it’s all about text-link selling.

The Real Update

Many blogs have seen different PageRanks in their toolbars over the last few days. In order to know if the real PageRank update is in process, do look at the PR0 sites of your own. Many PR0 blogs have seen updates, one of my own project www.web2bookmarks.com was a new site launched few months back with PR0, today it received PR4. That means the long awaited PR update is here.

Should you submit your blog for reconsideration?

Now that we know the penalization was for purely text-selling. If you have been penalized, should you submit your blog for reconsideration? That’s totally up to you, if you want to get your PageRank back. You can go to Google Webmaster Tools and click on Request reconsideration link (see below).

You need to be signed in, to be able to see above Google Webmaster Tools dashboard.

As for me I don’t think I will apply for reconsideration. If I do, what I will get back? My PR7 and almost zero income from this blog. Because almost all my income from AdesBlog comes from text-links. So, no thanks Google! I will pass…

How about you? Have you experienced a new PR? For those who have been penalized, will you apply for reconsideration?

First, Google went for the longest delay in PageRank update. And then it came out and started slashing eveybody’s PageRanks left and right. Luckily AdesBlog was spared for the first one… but it was not to last long…

I had enjoyed my PR7 for 1 year and 20 days exactly ;) Yes I am speaking in the past tense, because today I noticed that the Google servers are being updated with a new PageRank for my blog, and it’s not a good news. My new PR is 5.

Other sites which had PR7…

• Engadget (from 7 to 5)
• Search Engine Journal (from 7 to 4)
• Search Engine Roundtable (from 7 to 4)
• Washington Post (from 7 to 5)
• Forbes.com (from 7 to 5)
• SFGate.com (from 7 to 5)
• Sun Times (from 7 to 5)
• New Scientist (from 7 to 5)

Luckily my new PR is not PR4. Even Darren’s blog was not spared, his problogger.net went from PR6 to PR4. Here is a list of more sites who lost their PRs.

Possible reasons for the downgrade

I had anticipated that soon or later Google will catch up with my blog’s PR. Because, I was selling text links on my blog openly. I really think that it was because of this - selling links, my PR was lowered. My other site AdesHost.com which does not have paid links on it, still has a strong PR6.

Second but less probable reason is my unfortunate link exchange with JohnChow (he got another downgrade this time, now he has PR4). It’s possible that by exchanging links with such a popular blogger like JC, my blog might have been exposed to Matt Cutts of Google… But as I said, that’s less probable.

Downgrade effects and my future plans

At the moment PageRank is a strong determinant for an ad price (but might not be in the future), and therefore my ad prices, the ones from Text-Link-Ads will probably decrease. However my own prices won’t be changing, at least for the time being.

Also, I see that the traffic from Google to my blog has not been affected. But it’s too early to say… let’s wait at least one or two weeks and see if lesser PR will affect the traffic. If it doesn’t then having PR5 won’t really matter.

At the moment, my mood is not too bad, maybe it’s because I was ready to accept it… As for my blogging, I will still be doing what I do everyday, that is providing you with quality posts. So you can expect no change from AdesBlog, posting frequency and quality of the posts will still stay the same.

How is your PageRank?

Has your blog been affected with the latest downgrade? If yes, will it affect you and your blogging experience after this? Why do you think Google is behaving in such manner?

I think that will be a great feature, in few weeks time you will be able to change the look and feel of your ads, remotely from your AdSense account. You just select the new colors and ad types then press “save” and all your ads which use the same “channel” will be automatically updated.

This new ad management feature means that your ad unit settings (such as colors and channels) for new AdSense for content ad units will be saved in your AdSense account every time you generate ad code. Then, if you’d like to change any of these settings in the future, all you do is make the update within your account — you’ll no longer need to manually replace the ad code on all of your pages. AdSense Blog

This feature might not be a big deal for bloggers, because blogs use themes and it’s quite easy to change pretty much anything in the themes. However it will be a big welcome feature for websites, especially websites that are running on static pages.

Here is a preview (and here) on how this feature will look like.

If you can’t find a book in Amazon then this should be your next alternative. Because it has over 125 million books registered in the system. You can search for new, used, rare, out of print, international, and textbooks. But unlike Amazon when you find the book, this website will send you to the publisher’s site. So it’s not an online bookstore but merely search engine to find books.

Ships internationally, even used books

The good thing about this site is that it works in US and internationally, for international users it detects your origin of country and can search for books that can be shipped to your country. Because most of the time Amazon won’t ship used books internationally.

Find a cheaper book

Since it has many sources to search for books, it can also compare you prices and find you the cheapest book available in the network. I think this is the best feature. Because if you buy from Amazon you will get one price only (for new books).

www.bookfinder.com (not a paid review)

AdSense has introduced video units today. Currently this feature is open only to publishers located in the United States with English-language websites. It will be live for the ROTW (rest of the world) later today.

How to activate video units? (watch the movie below)

Now that the youtube videos are monetized, there will be even more junk videos in youtube network. On the other hand, it’s a great opportunity to those genuine, popular youtube directors.

How it looks?

Here is how the video will look like. There will be a skin around the youtube video, which I think looks awful. It will contain a banner on top. I am not sure if the banner can be removed. There will also be one text ad on the video footer, sometimes it’s just one line and sometimes it is few lines.

This will be a very ugly looking AdSense YouTubes… I thought the ads will be inserted at the beginning of the video and not around it ;) Because it takes up so much space… But the disadvantage of ads before the video would be the waiting, it would make really bad experience too. Either way, it’s not about usability here, it’s about making money. So I guess that makes usability out the window!

Your share

Now that the youtube has adsense, will you be jumping in the bandwagon and start producing your own videos? As for me, I don’t think I will be producing any videos in the near future yet. Maybe really really later…

The post titled “Malaysians can get their AdSense money with WesternUnion now” has been updated and the title has now been changed to “Guide: How to withdraw your AdSense earnings through WesternUnion.”

Since I posted that post, many people were asking me questions and I have been receiving emails every since. So I decided to update the post and make it a guide (with screenshots) on WesternUnion withdrawal for AdSense earnings.

If you have any questions please ask them in the comments and I will update the post.

Many people were asking if the WesternUnion payments will be free or if they will deduct any amount from the earnings. Google officially announced it today and said “it will be free”. It’s a great news too, because WU service charges are quite high. Up to 15% in some cases, so if you get $100, they could take $15. I guess Google will be absorbing that cost for some time.

Also this payment option is available to these countries only: Argentina, Chile, China (Mainland), Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, or Romania.

Tip: For those who have never used WesternUnion, when you go to bank, ask for WesternUnion and fill up the yellow form (to receive) and not the green one (to send). Sender will be, First Name: Google Inc. Last name: empty

P.S I have been getting my AdSense payments for the past one year through WesternUnion. I was one of the bloggers who was in the AdSense WU beta.

If you are selling only few products on your site and you would like to use PayPal and Google Checkout as the payment gateway, then FatFreeCart.com is for you. It’s free and it does not need any registration. You just need to cut and paste the code to your site, put in your product details and you are done!

Full Features

1. Handles shipping, handling, tax.
2. Handles up-to 3 option variables.
3. Can handle all currencies supported by PayPal (16) and Google Checkout (2).
4. Passed your site’s Google Analytics data to Google Checkout
5. Simply set the product price to 0.00 to let buyer enter her own amount!

Thanks to Robin for the heads up. www.fatfreecart.com

Malaysians (and maybe other countries too), another good news for you. Now you can get paid through WesternUnion for your Google AdSense earnings. What does that mean? That means, when Google releases the payments you can get your payments immediately, no need to wait for 10 days for your checks to arrive. And another 30 days for them to be cleared anymore.

In Malaysia, WesternUnion services are available at most of the CIMB Bank branches and in some Pos Malaysia branches (here is the list of branches with WU).

Here is how you set your payment options, go to:

My Account > Account Settings > Payment Details [edit]

After you click [edit] you will be displayed the following screen. On this page, choose Setup WesternUnion Quick Cash option, as shown below.

How much they charge for this?

It’s FREE.

Will the local bank charge anything?

No, they won’t.

What are the steps for getting paid with WU?

After you have chosen, Western Union as the option for your payment. At the end of the month, you will be given MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number). MTCN is a 10 digit number that you need to show when you are picking up your payment from CIMB Bank. You will also need to bring your IC or Passport, and of course you need to know how much money you are withdrawing. Finally, you need to know Google Address.

Again, you need to have these for picking up your payment:

• MTCN
• IC or Passport
• Amount to be received
• Sender’s Address (it’s Google here)

Google Address:
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA

Can you withdraw from any CIMB Branch?

Yes you can, as long as you are inside the territory of Malaysia, you can withdraw from any branch of CIMB or Post Office (only some post offices have this, so please check).

Where to get your MTCN?

In the beginning Google used to send it through email. But now it does not. So don’t wait for the email. Just make sure to login to your AdSense account at the end of the month. Go to My Account > Payments History page as shown below.

Then click on the payment details. Make sure you click on the correct month:

Then you will be displayed your payment details like this:

So, good luck! By the way, your money will be available for 30 days in WU system. After which, if you do not withdraw it will be credited back to your Google AdSense account.

Tip: For those who have never used WesternUnion, when you go to bank, ask for WesternUnion and fill up the yellow form (to receive) and not the green one (to send). Sender will be, First Name: Google Inc. Last name: empty

I believe there will be an official PR from Google about this shortly. Update: they did check here.

If you have a website that is optimized for mobile browsers, then you can now make money from your website content. AdSense is now available for mobile phone sites.

To get started:
1) Sign in to your account.
2) Select the AdSense Setup tab and click on AdSense for mobile.
3) Follow the instructions to customize your ad unit for AdSense for mobile.

One restriction: You can have only one ad per page. Still it’s better than nothing.

www.google.com/adsense