Pop-ups Versus Banner Ads: Which Is Better For Increased Website Traffic?

Everyone who uses the web knows that advertising is a huge part of the entire experience. The internet is full of advertising for every possible company and product you can imagine. Although many complain about the forms of advertising, there is not much difference in internet advertising and telemarketing phone calls to your home. The interesting thing is however that web users prefer to be annoyed by internet ads over unexpected phone calls. This acceptance of ads has created a breeding ground for millions of pop-ups and banner ads on the internet. Sites use them individually or together, but some still wonder which is better for increased website traffic. Consumers have offered a response, perhaps not verbally, but with statistics of effectiveness.

Pop-ups are typically seen as annoying advertisements. Those that include blinking lights can even be hazardous to some users with certain medical conditions. They have been considered the most hated form of web advertising available. With pop-ups being so annoying however, consumers may wonder why they are still being used so frequently. The truth is that pop-ups are terribly aggravating, but they are indeed effective overall. For some crazy reason, there are millions of people who actually utilize them when they appear on their screen. This is partially due to many sites using pop-up ads as an excuse and reason for offering free services to site users. They will state that they must use these forms of ads in order to offer the site for free. Users, who don't want to pay, but still want to use the site, will likely accept the excuse without question.

The trouble with pop-up ads these days are that there are many programs to install on a computer that will not allow pop-ups through. This means that when a pop-up is meant to appear on your screen, your installed "pop-up blocker" program does not allow it to happen and instead blocks the advertisement from reaching you, the user. These programs are very effective most of the time and can cost advertisers a great deal of money if the ad is not reaching the intended target. Advertisers are now coming up with newly programmed pop-ups however that can bypass these "blocker" programs and still deliver the ads to your screen, whether you like it or not.

Banner ads began to appear on websites in response to the annoyance consumers felt from pop-ups. Advertisers thought that if banner ads were not as bothersome, they may offer even better results than the pop-up ads. Sites began sticking banner ads in every free area of their site. Upon doing so, they soon realized that although banner ads are not typically as bothersome as pop-ups, they are also not as effective. Users were less likely to utilize banner ads for their purpose. Many of the banner ads were perhaps not as noticeable as an aggressive pop-up ad right in the user's line of vision. Some are off to the side of the screen and out of the direct eye contact.

Many users prefer banner ads when asked, because they claim they are easier on the eye and they are often unnoticeable. This may mean more comfortable use for the user, but it means something completely different to the advertiser. An advertiser wants their ad to be noticed, even at the user's expense. They would rather annoy the user and get the ads noticed than the ads simply sit being unnoticed. In whole, advertisers were not seeing a large turnout with banner ads, and therefore many sites no longer use them for advertising purposes.

The answer to whether or not pop-ups or banner ads are best really lies with who you speak with. Consumers will likely tell you banner ads are much better than troublesome pop-ups. Advertisers however would tell you the exact opposite. They both have a place on the internet and their own group of "fans". The conclusion is however that unless users completely boycott pop-ups in an extremely dramatic way, they will likely continue to replace banner ads. The power of the choice lies in the hands of the advertisers at this time and until users want to force them to change their ways, the advertisers will continue to support pop-ups over banner ads.

Does Pagerank Really Matter?

This is an eternal question. Search engine optimizers would remain glued to their computer screen to take in the first hint of any PageRank update as and when that occurs. And when it occurs, it will be an anxious wait till the dust settles, before scurrying off to rework ways to claw back in ranking in case the new PR reduces.

Why so much bother? Does PageRank really matter? The short answer is yes, PageRank does matter, but not as much as it is made out to be. Let us talk things over.

What we know

The first lesson on PageRank will be an unquestionable reference to what Google says. According to Google [http://www.google.com/technology/], "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value."

Elaborating, Google says 2 things. One, more the number of incoming links to a webpage, more is the 'number of votes' for that page. But then comes the second rider. According to Google, it also analyzes the page that sends links and attempts to figure out how 'important' or 'relevant' this page (rather its content) is vis-à-vis the page which it links to.

Broadly speaking, links between 2 travel-related webpages make much sense in the eyes of Google than that between a travel-related webpage and another concerning, say a watch manufacturing company.

A succinct yet clear explanation of PageRank Technology is provided by Google here [http://www.google.com/corporate/tech.html]. The underlying idea is to provide surfers as accurate search results as possible. The 'life of a Google query' though lasting barely a second, is a mind-boggling go-between through several stages before an answer is delivered.

What we do not know

Howsoever revealing may Google's explanations be, the bottom-line remains that for most of us, calculation of PR continues to be an enigma. Does any one know for sure how PR works? Ian Rogers of IPR Computing has in this essay [http://www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/] explained fairly well as to how PageRank is calculated by Google.

However, even if the mathematical equation to calculate PR is known, what is not known is which set of its data Google uses from its databank for finding out the PageRank of your webpage. This essentially translates to no more than second-guessing as to what the next PR would be. It would therefore be not wrong to say that most of the users (and indeed the so-called SEO experts) do not know what their PageRank would be next time. (Having said that, I must not consciously deny readers of this article to know what their supposedly Future PageRank [http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/future-pagerank/] will be.)

Why the hype

And herein lies a superb marketing strategy. Ever wondered why Google thought it pertinent to let PageRank displayed in its toolbar? On the face of it, there is no need really, except to 'stoke' the fire of chasing a mirage. You see a mirage as much as you know how PR is calculated. But try as best as you would, you cannot decide your PR.

In the process Google gains. An enormous volume of writings (like this one) centers around Google. Whatever Google does is news in an instant. There is a whole lot of 'pure' Google-watchers out there whose job it is to only report on the giant search company. Publicity sans cost, not bad that.

The link companies

Google's wish notwithstanding, there is no denying that PageRank mystery has given birth to thousands of link-related business. Since Google is explicit in explaining at how it looks at links, it has been easy for link-making companies to work out their preliminary business strategy. Beyond that it's purely rat race of garnering share of link-hungry websites. All the time, Google remains unfazed, except occasionally churning it topsy-turvy to keep PR mystery alive.

What would you do

You need not overly bother about PageRank. Do not get me wrong! PageRank is very real. What is not is your ability to alter it any sooner. There should not be any express-effort to 'acquire' links. Instead, maintain focus on adding and enriching your web content, for that and that only would create a permanence of interest among your viewers over a period of time.

Emphasis must be on creating value to your viewers' time, so that there is always something new to learn, something more to know. Along the way if you pick up a good link or two every now and then, that will be more than welcome.

What, if you are in hurry

Not everyone is destined to wait for a hike in PageRank. Then again, even a high PR may not instantly lead to bigger traffic. So pretty soon, you may ponder how long it will be to profit from your web venture. Profit may be to earn publicity (blogs for example), to make your readers giving consent to your paid newsletter, to sell your products or services (or even selling others' products or services), or suchlike.

If indeed you want to cut short your long wait so as to profit from your web venture, Google has a ready solution. It is about targeted keyword advertising program, called Google AdWords. In sharp contrast with PageRank, Google lets AdWords users to actually control their accounts in order to attain more visibility. But that is another story for another day.
SEO PAGERANK, SEO, Pagerank, jadi no 1 di google, SEARCH ENGINE

How cPanel will save you hassle and money...

If you got a quick minute or two, I would like to share with you how cPanel will save you and your online business both, hassle and money.

But let me first take a step back and assume you are not such a tech geek like I am. :)

You might be wondering...What is cPanel?

CPanel is a fully featured web-based control panel that allows you to manage your domain through a web interface. The idea is to transfer as much of the control and responsibility of managing your web site to you.

You have the ability to manage all aspects of e-mail, files, backup, FTP, CGI scripts, and web site statistics.

Before you now say... Wow, hold on Frank! That still sounds way too complicated to me!

Let me share with you what my good buddies Bob Jenkins (aka Bob the Teacher) and Chris Morris came up with.

Their new site is called discovercpanel "http://www.discovercpanel.com/easy/index.php" and their videos show you how to maximize your time and minimize your frustrations using cPanel.

You can even pick up one of their videos absolutely free at www.DiscoverCpanel.com

Now, you might still be wondering why cPanel?

I have been working online for years and installed my Add2it scripts on hundreds of web servers around the globe and I can tell you from my own experience that the cPanel interface is the best one out there.

If you web host doesn't have cPanel, you should seriously consider switching to a web host that does.

Speaking of web hosts I use now Kiosk web hosting... http://www.wwkiosk.com/members/add2you/ for over 4 years and can HIGHLY recommend them.

And of course... they offer the cPanel interface.

You can find them at: www.WebHostingSecret.com

But back to why you can save hassle and money with a web host that offers cPanel...

Compared to other web-based control panel interfaces out there, cPanel is the easiest one that offers you to most features.

And the combination of cPanel and the Discover cPanel "http://www.discovercpanel.com/easy/index.php " videos will save you over time thousands of dollars of outsourcing costs as you will be able to control your own hosting easily yourself instead of paying somebody else to do that for you.

Enough of the words... you know what to do. :)

1. If you are not already with a web host that offers cPanel, switch now... I highly recommend Kiosk... www.WebHostingSecret.com

2. If you don't understand cPanel 100% as of now, get your hands on Bob & Chris's Discover cPanel "http://www.discovercpanel.com/easy/index.php" Videos... www.DiscoverCpanel.com

5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings

The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.
Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings.
1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.
2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.
3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.
4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.


5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as "adsense text", and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.
These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites.  It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.
Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.
Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring. If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.
Interested readers are invited to click the links below for helpful ideas.