If you are starting a blog or already using one advertiser, here’s a list of some options that you have as a publisher. The fact is that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Having a publisher account with one provider is great but there are several reasons you should have a fall back. At times you may find that one advertiser doesn’t have any products to advertise on your site. At other times you may see one advertiser temporarily stop advertising since they have exhausted their budget. Also, (though rare and unfortunate) just in case you are declined by one advertiser you must have an alternative at hand. Here’s a short list of the most popular ones out there. Personally I use Google AdSense on my several sites and blogs that I run, the fact is that one size doesn’t fit all. One may work better on site that review products while the other on sites that carry news or technology forums.

1. Chitika

   Chitika is one popular monetization option for bloggers these days. Chitika serves more ads raleted to products than services. Thus it works best if you have a site pertaining to products or product reviews. One constraint is that though Chitika supports contextual advertising, it must not be placed along Google Adsense in the contextual mode. This is because of certain AdSense policies. Now Chitika code serves ads in a non-contextual mode by default. Chitika has been releasing a lot of various products and programs for publishers lately and is also a popular alternative to Google AdSense.

2. Google AdSense

   Google AdSense is a clear cut above the rest. That’s because of the brand image, defined processes, support and functionality. AdSense serves contextual ads. Thus only those advertisements are served which directly or indirectly relate to the content of your site. Google AdSense is a popolar choice of bloggers and even several organisations.

3. Amazon Associates

   Amazon Associates is more or less like Chitika Ads. The advertisements pertain to products. You can even create an online store to showcase Amazon products.

4. Text Link Ads

   Text Link Ads are not the most userfriendly ads out there. Another example of contextual advertisements, text link ads link themeselves to certain keywords in your content. When a visitor hovers over them, advertisements are shown in an inline popup. This sometimes tends to irritate visitors or mislead them.

What is that one thing you could add to this list?

Image Courtesy: Slaff

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StumbleUpon is a social media site which allows you to share your bookmarks. It’s one social media site with a difference, it lets you share your favorite sites. Thus it allows a different kind of leaverage for your blog if you want to tap into it. Here’s a short list of how you can benefit from StumbleUpon.

• A bookmarking site is different from a news site or a blog. The listing remains there instead of scrolling down the list of days hottest hits. I relate to it as the “Digg phenomenon”. Thus bookmarks at StumbleUpon provide a constant visitors to the bookmarks. In this case this bookmark is your site. So you get constant traffic.
• It’s different also in the effect it has on your site traffic. Unlike the “Digg effect” which can burry your web servers for a popular hit, StumbleUpon sends reasonable traffic for less “thumbs” (the equivalent of a “Digg”). Thus you don’t need to speculate and wait for Diggs to happen and the post to reach the top. You share a site and leave it there. Traffic builds over a period and stays.
• You can find more sites like yours. The term is “networking” and “linking”. You are finding content that is relevant to your domain. You can build you information, use that information and of course link. That’s called a “Stumble” - you Stumble upon sites as per your preference.
• It’s all about sharing and what better way of sharing content than to do it from within StumbleUpon - you can choose your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail and AOL. So it’s a short process and an easy one at that. This is a powerful tool that allows you to “pitch” your bookmarks to other users. Few sites allow this. (I really miss this kind of thing on Digg)
• Site reviews really make a difference. They carry the explaination of why the site is popular and you get to hear how others liked it. A review is more than a number. It is a reason why you would or wouldn’t want to visit a site. So a review has more chances of building up the popularity of a site (and thus the numbers) than the numbers alone.

Did I miss something? Have your say.

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Now is this what you would call innovation? They keep doing the same thing over and over again and yet they some how make news? i call it luck and Gods blessings. One reason why I believe in God. How else can you explain Microsoft’s survival. Well this is the second time Microsoft has repeated the act. Last time they did this was on the launch on Firefox 2. And yes someone did comment “…no it was not poisoned…”. So what? Microsoft has had a history of having committed such acts. They dumped a giant metal IE logo on Netscape’s front lawn. They then placed a statue of Netscape’s green Mozilla mascot.

But finally Firefox has its cake and is eating it too Take a look at the cake.

Microsoft Internet Explorer Team Sends New Cake for Mozilla Firefox 3 Launch - MozillaZine Talkback

Image courtsey:Manassas Cakery

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