Sources of Information of Advanced Bloggers

Here are some sites for advanced users:

Beta Blogger for Dummies - Tips and techniques for modifiying New Blogger templates. I currently use the three column template provided by this site.

Blogcrowds Custom Templates - This sites provides three column modifications to the Blogger Templates for New Blogger.

iMESSENGER.com - Here's how to put the adsense code inside your post in New Blogger.

I plan to convert My Wealth Builder to the Blogcrowds three column template in the next couple months.

My Google Traffic Disappeared

Last week, traffic from Google on My Wealth Builder declined to virtually zero by mid-week. This was concerning since about 25% of My Wealth Builder's reader traffic was coming from Google search. And I believe almost all the the advertising revenue was coming from Google directed traffic. Therefore, this change was a major disappointment.

Had I done something in my blog to cause this change? The only new activity was introducing members of a new network and hosting the Cavalcade of Risk carnival. I thought that the multiple links to other blogs might be penalized by Google.

However, after checking with a few resources, I learned that traffic reduction from Google was a common occurrence as Google periodically updates their search algorithms. ProBlogger had these articles about the issue:

What to Do when Your Google Traffic Disappears?

What to do when your Google Rank Falls and you lose all your traffic?

Coincidentally, November, the month of both posts, is when My Wealth Builder's traffic began to increase. So My Wealth Builder likely benefited from the initial Google changes.

I plan to take this change in stride:

1. I have done more reading on the issue and reacquainted myself with submitting blogs to different search engines.
   
2. I have re-evaluated my post content and blog design. I had become overly concerned with posting every day to maintain my Google Page rank.
   
3. I have taken some time to reconnect with the personal finance blog community by increasing my reading an commenting on other's blogs.
   
4. I will invest less time in monitoring Adsense and Site Visit results. I was monitoring these statistics mulitiple times each day, almost an obsession:-)

Over time, I expect that Google search traffic will return, especially if the initial ratings were correct.

Monetize Through Advertising

From the start, I intended to make money with My Wealth Builder. Google Adsense offers a simple and efficient way to use advertising. Once one registers for and is approved for Google Adsense, contextual advertising will be directed to your blog site. Contextual advertsing is advertising that is customized to your site based on content.

Here are some brief guidelines to consider with Google Adsense:

Do not click on your own ads. Or have anyone you know click on your ads. This violates one's agreement with Google and amounts to click fraud. To note, I believe that Google can track which IP addresses click on an ad and it is easy for them to identify pattern which are not "normal." If one does this, Google will ban your blog from Adsense. And Adsense is currently the best contextual advertising medium. In fact, if someone you know is aware of your blog, tell them " Do not click on the ads."

Use the largest ad blocks and place them at the end of a post. Several blogs on optimizing Adsense results recommend using the 336 X 280 rectangle with blended colors for the best results. I have had good result with this layout. I also like to use the 160 X 600 skyscraper with complementary colors in the sidebar.

Eliminate spam ads. There are many spam sites that have unrelated ads to your site. The ads take up room for the ones that may be more related to your site. A service called AdBlacklist.com can help you screen out these unrelated sites using the Adsense ad filter.

Increase the traffic from search. Regular readers usually do not click on ads, unless the purpose of our site is to evaluate or sell products. People who are the most interested in ads are those that are searching for information or products which they may be interested in purchasing.