Thursday, July 30, 2015

Google Adsense

 
My Experience with Being Rejected from Google AdSense - and How I Finally got Accepted.

reapplying for google adsense
 
 
I had a lot of trouble applying for Google Adsense - and was rejected twice in the past.
 
I started a blog about eight years ago, and got a little ahead of myself applying for Google AdSense with only three posts under my belt. Needless to say I was rejected.
 
Three years ago I started a blog which was seeing quite a bit of success and my page views grew to 30,000 + a month. So I applied again, and was rejected this time for having copyrighted information (I believe that's how they phrased it) on my site. I don't know why they classified it that way - all the work was my own. And I featured 101 things to do in various American and Canadian cities, as well as holidays. Maybe because I had a lot of round-ups ? However I believe I cited the source every time.
 
Unfortunately Google does not have any way for you to contest the decision or re-apply, as far as I know.
 
I used PulsePoint and Media.net as alternatives. And had some mild success with them, any income is appreciated but just felt like they weren't paying out enough.
 
And I kept seeing Google AdSense as the best paying advertising network in other bloggers income reports.

google adsense tips

So I tried to re-apply but was unable to change the website associated with my Google account. I googled how to change the url address, looked through their help centre - without finding the answer, and finally found on a forum the only way to change your website is to re-apply with a new email account. (What a pain)
 
I don't know if they do this to prevent being bombarded with applications every time someone starts a new blog but, wish they had a simpler method for people wanting to re submit their application.

But finally I was excepted to AdSense.
 
I googled the best placement and found several different opinions. But know ads above the folds usually perform better. So I placed a banner ad above my header (using the tutorial I found from Helplogger) but shortly after moved it right below my header and page tabs and found my click through rate increase. After adding the code you just have to re-arrange the order of the gadgets.

google adsense placement

 
 
I also places a square ad (large square 336 x 280) above the fold or you could also use a responsive size ad and I placed a leader banner at the end of the posts, I am currently trying to move my last add above the comments so people do not have to scroll through all the comments on my popular posts to see it but, all the tutorials I have tried haven't worked yet if you had any suggestions???

I would also suggest choosing at least one or two ads that are also shown on mobile devices, it shows you which sizes are mobile friendly when you chose the ad size through Google AdSense itself.
 
You are only allowed three ad placements, so I want to see how these perform before I change anything.
 
The first day I made 72 cents, so I was ecstatic but on average made 3 to 12 cents the following days, I think this is because of my low RPM (revenue per Thousand Impressions). I did have one high day where I made $4.21 in the last month but this hasn't occurred often.
 
I am currently working on repositioning the last ad, and looking into ways to raise my RPM and click through rate, so I will let you know how this works for me in a future post... If you had any suggestions I would love to hear about them in the comments. Thank you!

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop #134

Welcome to our party!!!
 
Have you noticed that bloggers are great teachers?
We are! We teach others how to cook, bake, sew, craft, shop, save money, raise kids. We are teachers. And, one of the biggest areas we cover is teaching others how to blog and make money doing it!

This week's most viewed post is a lesson in making money online - making BIG money on a site that is oh so familiar to all of us - Amazon! Saira Perl shares how she made $45,000 in one year selling on Amazon ... and she gives lots of details so YOU can do it, too!


Most Viewed
make money online; earn money with Amazon



And here are some other fabulous posts that were oh, so popular with our guests last week...
Very Popular


Editor's Picks
 

 
I love this free back to School Checklist from Carrie Elle - my daughter's starting her first year of school this September Eeep! and I can use all the help I can get.

Follow our Pinterest board!

Follow CD's Country Living's board Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop Favorites! on Pinterest. test


Thank you to our awesome party hosts!


Simple guidelines...

  • Please follow our host and co-hosts in as many ways possible (social media links below) ♥
  • PLEASE TWEET THIS PARTY !!!!  We want everyone to know about it!
  • Add as many of your family-friendly posts as you would like, no giveaways or Etsy shops please. You are welcome to share them in the comments, though.
  • You can add your LINK PARTIES to my LINK PARTY DIRECTORY here
  • Visit three or more others. Let them know you've been there! 
  • Visit our FEATURES and comment, pin or share -- do what you can to bless them!
  • When you are PINNING, please remember to do it from the original post. ♥
  • Follow our Wonderful Wednesday PINTEREST board, if you'd like (below) 
  • If you are new,  let us know in the comments so that we can follow you back. ♥
  • And, thanks for joining us!
Kristen of Musings Of An Average Mom
Blog / Facebook / Google+ / Pinterest / Twitter

Erica of eLeMeNO-P Kids

Heather of Real -The Kitchen and Beyond    

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade

Heidi Jo of Simplee Thrifty

Kim of 2JustByou

Nicole and Susan of Flavors By Four

Sinea of Ducks 'n a Row

Diane of Recipes For Our Daily Bread

Carrie of A Mother’s Shadow

CD of CD's Country Living

Cathy of A Peek Into My Paradise

Tammy of My Life Abundant

Brittany of Mommy On Demand

Jaimi of The Stay At Home Mom Survival Guide

Saira from Mom Resource




BloggersHelping Bloggers #9

Welcome to the eighth week of Bloggers Helping Bloggers - a link party of sorts where you review the blog of the week and get your blog reviewed in return.

If you have been here before you know how it works. If not everyone who links up spends10 minutes of your time to review the blog of the week and in return gets numerous reviews back by a collection of your peers instead of spending money to get your blog reviewed with only one opinion.





I was trying to think of a fair way to choose which site gets reviewed each week and decided to choose the blog based on a points system:

1. You will be given 5 points for linking up each week.

2. You will be rewarded 15 points for reviewing the blog of the week. (People who don't put in any effort will receive less points)

3. And a bonus 3 points for sharing on each different social media platforms every week. Please tag me so I can reward the points. Tag me @101thingstodo1, and +1 or share and comment on G+, share and comment on  facebook or leave a comment on Pinterest. A tie will be given to the first one in the link up.

So for example if someone links up, reviews the weeks blog and shares on Google+ and Pinterest they will receive - 5 + 15 + 3 + 3 =26 points for the week which will be added to last weeks points. 


Let me know if you have any questions???

And even if you had your blog reviewed don't forget to come back every week and link up: to be featured for social media boosts: where everyone who links up is required to follow you, getting specific blogging questions answered, or get another blog review after you implemented all the suggested changes.

One site will be chosen each week, and the review will be posted on my site Monday's beginning at 7:30 am EST. Because the review is so long I will be switching the link-up to Tuesdays at 7:30 am and the review will be posted Mondays at 7:30 am.

You can read last week`s review:  Fun Money Mom. You might gain some helpful tips that you can apply to your own blog.  






Please review sites on:

- header
- sidebar (appearance and arrangement)
- how easy it is to follow on social media
- content
- how easy it is to read (fonts, etc.)
- how easy it is to navigate, and find what you are looking for.
- overall appearance
- other comments or suggestions

And the winner week is... Randi from Beautifully Bohemian




Please e-mail your review to kristenstevens@live.ca and I will review and organize/summarize them and post them next week. Along with the next blog to review.

And although it's not necessary I would love it if you followed me (I always follow back):

You can follow me on Pinterest, Google+, Facebook or Twitter 

And I would really appreciate it, if you could share this party on your sidebar or link party page. It will be better to get more reviews and opinions on your own blogs.


Musings of an Average Mom




Please link up your main blog - and make sure you're email is correct as I will use this to contact the winner. And I will try to get to everyone in a fair and timely manner.

And please don't forget to review the blog of the week (this week is Beautifully Bohemian
) and bonus points are rewarded for promoting on social media. tag me on twitter @101thingstodo1,

Please subscribe to our Bloggers Helping Bloggers Link Party Reminders.

* indicates required






Disclaimer: Musings of an Average Mom will use screenshots of your blog if you are chosen as the blog to be reviewed. And your comments will be copied and posted anonymously in the blog review.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Fun Money Mom Review

Header:


The pink and green reminds me of a popular sorority, but I like the loud colors on the white background. Definitely says, "Wake up, you're here!" 

Clear and easy to read

It's a nice, orderly, readable blog.  Nicely colorful, but not garish.  I like the header graphic.




I like the header - it's fun and cute but might make the subheader: ""Fun, family, & frugal Finds..." a little larger and easier to read.


Sidebar (appearance and arrangement):


Nice to see her photo at the top! I think her ad for namecheap seems misaligned with the others, but the sidebar is pretty simple. I expected to see a search bar, but maybe that is placed elsewhere.

I would like to see a list of recent posts on the side bar, I see the more button at the bottom but then I have to scroll through pages to see a good list of the posts.


There are a lot of ads, but they are well placed and don't seem to get in the way.

Two things I would recommend adding to the sidebar:  a search function and a list of popular posts.  I looked for both, and either they are not there, or they are too hard to find.

The first ting I noticed though, was too many ads in the sidebar- I got distracted, instead of looking at the content. My suggestion would be to place some of your popular posts in the sidebar, helping people navigate your site vs. click away to an ad. Also, some of the ads were off putting- I really don't like the ads about burning belly fat (they seem so tacky). You can log into your google ads and choose which categories you want to display. Given that this is a 'shopping' blog, I would aim your google ads towards that direction instead of weight loss."


How easy it is to follow on social media:


Easy! SOcial media icons on sidebar and at the top of the header. I followed her as I typed this sentence!

social media buttons are right up top, and easy to see

The social media buttons are easy to find and work well.


Content:


like the big clear pictures and the way some of the posts are side by side, I guess that’s the theme that allows that.  I really like the layout.


I found it easy to scroll down through the first several posts, but then it seemed to get repetitive, showing the same posts again.

Her posts have good graphics and interesting titles.  Definitely make me want to click and read more.

For some reason I had the idea that this blog was about frugality and saving money.  After clicking around and reading some posts here and there, I feel like it's more of a shopping blog.  So I wonder if she is targeting the "wrong" audience?

I enjoyed the articles I read.  They were positive and upbeat.  And relate-able.


How easy it is to read (fonts, etc.):


Very clear and basic font for easy on the eyes. The vibrant pictures are eye catching.


easy enough to read, even though I do like the side by side on the front pages it does seem to get a little jumbled on the next page


How easy it is to navigate, and find what you are looking for:


I didn't find a search bar and usually that is my #1 go-to if I am looking for something specific. Other than that, I would weed through the archives or if its' a recent post I would go back by date. 

 The set up for Fun Money Mom was pretty simple and easy to navigate.


Overall appearance:


Fun, bold, and bright are words that I thin of when looking at Fun Money Mom!



Other comments or suggestions:

 Seems like some of the content is repeated on several pages but clicked around quite a bit so I may be mistaken about that


I have to admit I'm familiar with this blog because of the weekly Share the Wealth blog hop party.  I never miss it!  Thanks, Lisa, for hosting such a great party!


 

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Free Printable Jake Party

My son absolutely loves Jake it's his favourite tv show and when he gets the rare chance to pick a show against my strong willed 4 year old daughter who usually picks Lalaloopsy he chooses Jake - so I decided to search for some Jake and the Neverland Pirate ideas for his upcoming second birthday.



Print your own Jake and the Neverland party invitations from Disney Family and fill in your own information.

Or you can use this digital version for a quick Online Invitation


Check out this printable 'Happy Birthday Matey' Banner for some quick and piratey decorations from Disney Family

These fantastic Jake Cupcake Toppers can be downloaded and printed for free from the Cupcake Diaries

Free printable Jake name tags - which I think you could also use as food labels from Birthday Printable

Get the directions for these amazing Jake Brownies from Party City

jake and the neverland pirates food




Print out this Jakes and the Neverland Pirates activity book for all your guests from Disney Family

Knock the Pirates Over or Treasure Dig Party Game Labels from that Cute Little Cake

And I created these free printable Bingo cards, with calling cards and printable doubloons for markers.



And don't forget about the Thank You Cards for all those wonderful presents!

And I am sure your little one wants their own Jake Costume

 including accessories


Or maybe your daughter's favourite is an Izzy Costume with her magic pixie dust.


And you can get your own free printable pirate hats in blue or pink from Sweeps 4 Bloggers

You can download the Jake font: Creaky Frank and make your own printables.
jake and the neverland pirates font
Or to simplify your life you can but the Complete party kit which includes, plates, napkins, cups, decorations, balloons and more.


Make your own goodie or 'booty' bags with a square piece of suede or felt, a ribbon or string,  and free printable coin template

And you can buy a Jake and the Never Land Pirates Party favour kit to fill up those goodie bags.


 And please let me know if you found any awesome Jake and the Never Land Pirates printables I forgot to include in this round-up.
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