How To Block The Spam on Your Cricket Phone

Since the new Privacy Policy change at Cricket , they have allowed us to opt out of the advertisement types. Such as; web browser spam, and text message notifications.
We here at TruXter Tech decided to run through them all and opt ourselves out of them all. Here’s how we did it.

To opt out of “Relevant advertising” Click here

To opt out of advertisements on your phone based on your usage and locations Click Here

Phone Spam Opt Out

Phone Spam Opt Out

More Addvertisers to opt out from Click Here

You have opted out of relevant advertising on your mobile device.

You have opted out of relevant advertising on your mobile device.

To unsubscribe from Cricket’s Email spam Click Here

Federal Do Not Call list Click Here

To stop getting mail from Cricket and their affiliates Click Here

To Opt out of Cricket Text Messages Click Here

Opt Out Cricket Text Messages

Opt Out Cricket Text Messages

Should You Make Videos of Your Products?

You have your products and you have your storefront. Be it brick and mortar  or a website with a shopping cart, or both. You have been paying for advertisements and the ads have been paying off. You want to sell more of your products. You want to know if making a video of your products would be beneficial for your business.
Well it can be. and that would all depend on what you put into your video.
You can’t just hold a camera in front of an object and upload the video and expect the product to sell. You have to give the viewers what they came to see.

Examples:
You are selling a remote control car.
You can’t just aim your camera at the car while it sits on the counter or floor and does nothing.
Inform the potential customers about your product
Tell the viewers how easy to turn the car on and off can be. Show it’s take off speed, show it’s stopping speed. Show how the car can turn.  Show how long the batteries last.
The majority of the searches for video content about your product is them wanting to see it do things, and do them well.

Lighting
Use good lighting. at all times make sure your product is visible. No need in driving a toy car around in the dark. No one will see it.

Did I say be informative?
Be informative. people looking to see how long the battery lasts, want to know how long the battery lasts. If they do not find that information in your video they will scoot along for the next similar product.

Yes, making a video of your product can get you more sells.
Should You Make Videos of Your Products? Some products a video might not help. what products would that be? i haven’t a clue. I can see myself looking up a video to how good a brand of paper is. For the sake odds, there has to be some products that won’t do so well in video form, what they are I haven’t a clue.

Google Adsense Goes Social

Google adsense will be rolling out new features. They will be adding a +1 for adsense for content Here is a letter from the adsense team.

Hello,

In the next month, we’ll introduce the +1 button and personal recommendations to display ads. The +1 button will begin to appear on AdSense for Content and AdSense for Mobile Content display ad formats — image, animated gif, and Flash. +1s will be one additional signal to help determine an ad’s relevance and we’ll continue to show the ads that will generate the most revenue for you.

We previously launched the +1 button on Google search and for publisher sites to make it easier for people to share and discover content across the web. Soon, your users will be able to endorse specific ads and make the ads more likely to appear to their social connections. We believe that these recommendations could help your readers notice ads on your site more, leading to higher returns for you over time.

If you prefer not to show the +1 buttons on display ads on your pages, you can opt out in your account. For more information please visit the Inside AdSense blog.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense team

Will this be in the ads? will this be in the menu area? are they incorporating the affiliate network to the adsense? (I kind of hope so) . If not will they be adding the +1 button to the affiliate network so we the site owners have an easier selection of ads?
Will the adsense team knock penalties to content owners who +1 their own products?
Not much to tell from that one email but are great things to consider.
Great idea to a point then it falls short when you realize how people can be.
I hope it goes well.

Automated Advertisement Fail

I was searching online for some batteries for the back up power-supply we have on the server. These batteries are huge, like 3 inches buy 6 inches by 4 inches.

server back up batteries

psu bats


Much like those.
While in the search for the batteries I also looked up a battery tray, because well, our battery back up psu tray has a faulty wire, which explains the dead batteries. Right?
Well Here is the add I looked at. Note that the price is perfect for the power-supply. But look at the suggested add below.
sALES FAIL

ADVERTISEMENT FAIL


This kind of disappoints me a bit. Considering these guys advertise on my site, and I hand selected this company because I respect their products and prices.
Ehh such is life.. So what, superman wears his underwear on the outside. No one’s perfect

Something Is Wrong With My Adsense

These Adsense Results do not add up.

Does that not look funny to you?
The average estimate is Every one in every 200 will click. For me it seems it’s one in every 360 users will click an ad.
Out of 93 user who did searches, only 9 of them actually clicked with in the search. I mean really??? how can 93 people do searches and 84 of those people doing the searches say to themselves “oh, my finger is tired, I have clicked to many times, I don’t care what the results gave me, I’m going to bed now” ?????
It seems that not one single person found an interesting advertisement in my feeds. Of 298 readers who’s feed reader could see an ad, none said ” oh heck, that’s what I am looking for”. None.

I have a suspicious feeling that my adsense account is broke. Look at the pay our ratio of the searches. That’s chicken feed actually a Chicken would starve on that.

Do people not know that the Google search on websites are customized to pull better results for related content to the website they are currently on? Do people not know that Google protects their users and will not allow a bad link in their advertising system? A tech site with a Google search on it will have better results for tech related searches than regular Google and Bing put together. Why? because the site owner set their custom search for specific searches.

See Google does not respond to your questions. Google does not have an actual contact. The best you get is a forum full of other people guessing. Typically they  all have the belief that a few people have a more holy guess. usually I ask why my pay is the way it is, 3 days go by and I finally get a response’ you are looking at it wrong” and that becomes the belief amongst everyone. Really how I lookin at it wrong, what part of that, is saying I am getting checks like crazy for some stuff I don’t notice? Haven’t been paid since 2008.

affiliate results

What have I done wrong? If you tilt your head to the left do you see it different than I?

Giving Adbrite another Try

A while back I wrote “Adbrite Vs Adsense” took a year to gather the information for that review.
one thing that makes that post unfair, is I was not using an advantage that Adbrite has over Adsense. Adbrite uses inline ads, and adsense no longer does that. Or at least my account does not. I am not going to use the full page pop-up pop-under ads that Adbrite uses, since that annoys me even more than inline ads.
I took some time to read other reviews of Adbrite affiliates and they all use the inline ads and make a ton more money than what I made.
One downside is I know that Adbrite ads are not very “on topic” which means I could be talking about computers and Ipads, while the Adbrite ads will be about a laxative.
I have used inline ads before and saw a drastic drop in my site traffic when I did so. My return visits nearly stopped completely. But i have to do it. I need the money.

I will turn off my ad blocking (modified hosts file), and check my posts individually and see how well I am holding with my ads. See if my ads offend me. if they do then i will have to remove them. If I can’t stand it, then I am sure my readers can’t stand the ads.

If you have any idea how Adbrite pays, let me know. i am still not impressed and need some positive comments from experienced users. Or negitive if it’s really needed.

Are Google Ads Safe To Click

Are Google Ads Safe To Click

I have received a few emails lately, (I guess because of the upcoming holidays and all of the online shopping to be expected) and people are asking me if it is ok or safe to click on Google advertisements. Also I have been asked if it is safe to purchase items advertised through Google advertisements. As much I rant about about Google not being what I expected in many ways, I have to say that Google advertisements are safe. 90% of their reports on the Better Business Bureau have been positive. Considering how huge Google is, and knowing that the only people to typically leave a review or a comment would be angry people. This is great news.
There are other advertisement companies that have just the opposite in scoring.
See at this time of the year, and knowing how sales people are, knowing the salesman might jack the price up a bit to sweeten his pocket, would lead you into paying even more for an item that this little snot had no responsibility in the making of, shipping of or even the concept of the product, I can easily see why you would prefer to shop online for your products. Why pay the middleman who works for the middle man? By straight from the source.

So I have been looking online to find angry posts from people who shopped by, like lets say clicking an advertisement on a website somewhere because the advertisement was relevant to their query. I have yet to find someone complaining about a Google advertisement misleading them.

Now there are tons of rants about how people feel they are not being compensated well enough for their efforts. but that is complete not relevant to theis topic. But yes it will come up while you search for complaints about google advertisement results.

In the past, we have been burned by many crooked advertisers and lazy advertisement agents who do not scan/screen/ filter their advertisements. So of course people are curious and cautious about clicking any advertisement. I can whole heartedly assure you that you have less than a 5% chance of getting harmed by an advertisement you click from Google. Even if you are in that five percent, it is still better than what the salespeople do to you. Jacking prices 35% higher because you look like you are able to afford more than the last guy, this is just wrong. Wrong , Wrong, Wrong!

I trust Google advertisements and have yet to be burned by Google when I click an ad.

a way to  be sure it is a google ad, look in the corner of the advertisement, you should see the word “Google”. If you do not see the word “Google” then that is not a google advertisement.

If I am on a website about black Friday sales, or Christmas sales or any kind of Holiday deals or Holiday Sales and I want to understand them and then I see an advertisement that shows the perfect holiday deal I am looking for and I see the Google logo, I feel 95% safe (plenty enough) clicking that advertisement to get the product or sales or deals that I want.  but any other advertisement, I’m not so comfortable with. I may click to look but if it takes me to site that looks funny or not right, I will shut my browser and begin my search in Google again.

Try it for yourself. Most of the sites you find in google advertisements are reputable sites. If you have no idea who they are, check the company name at  ripoff report, search bbb (Better Business Bureau). Try it with other advertisers also. You will be very satisfied with the results you find in Google advertisements.

Is Adwords Dying?

Is Adwords Dying?

Rumor is that Adwords is losing it’s power. and the number of users are diminishing. Also another rumor is that the Adwords team knows this.
To me, this completely nuts. unless it’s just the current Economy. If so, then it’s kind of to late for that to be the cause. If for some reason, another company is offering their advertisement spots at a lower cost, cool. but the ads will not be seen by nearly as many people as they would be seen on Adwords. Google Adsense is the way that Adwords get seen on other websites. more sites are signed to Adsense, than any other 4 affiliate companies, together.
Maybe this is true. Maybe Google has been nipping and skimping here and there over the years on Adwords just as they had done with Adsense over the years. I do not know this. I don’t use Adwords, because I have nothing to sell. but I do use Adsense, and I have seen a huge decrease in payout. Maybe less people are using Adwords because of changes. I do not know.

But I do know what would help Google, or another Affiliate company out there that wants to try it.

A mix of adsense for search and adsense affiliate ads. with selective phrases. What this means is if google would let you have a user code like your typical affiliate code, (ok here’s a fake code for examples) like “x-011-0-11truxter” and say someone asked em to help them locate a specific item and item such as  duck food. So to help that person I would type “http://www.google.com/x-011-0-11truxter/duck+food+feed+mallard”. When a person clicks that link, the user would be directed to a search result page that shows food and feed for ducks and mallards. I then would be helping that user locate their item, I would in turn be helping Google send their ads out to users, and I would be helping the person who is in the most attractive link the user decides to click, and the best part, I would be paid by Google for my efforts. since  normally I would just search Google and send the user a link.. if i knew that much about ducks =-\ .

but as of now, there a bunch of sites stating that Google is not making  any money from Adwords.

Adbrite Vs Adsense 1 Year

Well all. It has been a year since our post about switching to Adbrite and dropping Adsense. ( We dropped Widget bucks fast)
We didn’t drop Adsense because shortly after that claim, our revenue dropped traumatically.
It is true, you never let people know you are being taken advantage of.
We took some tips from a site about Adsense and posted them.

Adsense report for one year

Adsense Results 1 year

And now the comparison

Adbrite report for one year

Adbrite Results 1 yr

It seems there is no pay out for people doing searches on the Google searcher. Or at least the pay out is not what we expected.

Google’s pay has dropped (from the way this looks). A Website that made just over $100 a year, split into 7 websites and took on 5 more writers, now only makes $17 year. We have to assume that the current crunch is also on Google. That $100 Was paying for the domain storage. but now, it does not look like this will be much fun any longer.
We are considering a bit of a change though. We are looking of stripping Adbrite from all of the sites except for one, and putting another Adsense ad code in their spot. It will have to be a bit of a slow change so we can monitor the activity. If the change does not go fast enough, then the opportunity of Google Adsense having contextual related ads could be missed. That’s one thing for certain about Adsense. Is the contextual advertisements are spot on. Adbrite is only close if you select the ads yourself. and well, close is not good enough. Close ads are not showing the readers what they may be interested in.
So now we will see what adsense alone does in 6 out of seven website.

See you all next year.

Oh and fyi, the $17 you see in ads revenue was just one site with 1 adsense ad on it. And the adbrite $4.5 is across 5 websites in three spots. per site. Clearly adsense is the better choice here.

Here’s an update to what my adsense account is doing. I think it’s just broke. I know I’m broke.

Comparing Two Affiliate Programs To Adsense.

WidgetBucks – I gave the company a go to see what they can do for my income. I have to say. Not much. After two months of having them on my site, it showed no traffic, no clicks. Nothing. So I left it alone for a month or so longer. I increased the rate of my content, increased the value of my content. Waited the whole month and did not log in to watch my income there flat-line. after that month had passed I tried to log in, and it refused my email address and my password. Now i don’t want to make the assumption that they finally made a profit from me and banned my account or something, because the ads surely continued to update.

But after that I had to do a search in my self  constructed toolbar and found some scary results for the word “scam” So to be fair I had to do an alternative search in hopes of positive results. Seems there are plenty of results for both, so I am indecisive enough to say, I will not bother signing up again.

Crazy enough, I never got an email telling me I was banned or kicked out.

Google Adsense – for two years straight I made really amazing fantastic money. Adsense was the place for the little guy to go and make money doing online the things he loves doing. Exactly what I do. I was making a really good average. Never once would I game the system because the money was to good. I did them a favor by getting their ads out to the targeted public, and they did me great for making good ads that were relevant to the content I was writing about. Their contextual content is most reliable, and so correct in targetting markets related to site content.

They decide they are going to take over some buggy company that no virus scanner liked (no names sorry, check your history lol) and post some claim about the value of a click, and suddenly on I am seeing 1 cent for every ten dollars I used to see. I am seeing 1 person crawl my page in their tools area, while in my administration area of my website hosting service I am seeing over 200 people. They remind me of another advertising company that was sold a couple years ago, to some obscure brand, just before they got sued for  gaming their customers.

So i used google to see what that is all about . Here are the pros and here are the cons.  Probably not smart that I used google to do that search, maybe I should have used bing.

I think these final days of Google being top, has gone to their heads, they forgot the little guy. I have since removed myself from their services. It seems a tad bit fishy to me.

AdBrite– These people are everything  that adsense used to be. These people are everything that we used to wish Google was. They have page view counts identical to what my webhost shows. I love these guys and I do recommend you use them. They have a fair pay rate and they do what you need them to do.

Of all the companies I have tried through the past 16 years of internet content, adBrite is the number one choice for me today. Down side is it is a manual content set up, it’s not going to magically scan your page and know what ads to display, you have to select the topics. So a ranting website may change topics so often that the ads might not work well. One topic and it’s easy and aces.

but hey if you know something that compares or have an opinion on the subject that I or other readers of this site need to know, let us know, post it to us in the reply section down lower. it’s free and you do not have to create an account. I welcome comments and a difference of opinion.
Example of an Ad (ok it’s a real ad):