I’m happy to share that the new book is out!  The Hidden Treasure in Your Website: The First Professional Guide to Monetizing Your Website with In-Text Advertising (the link goes to Amazon).

Humbly, author Tomer Treves is me, the same person behind this Online Siesta blog, so I can’t review the book objectively. But I think it’s only reasonable that I would recommend it…

Well, friends, I recommend the book – please buy one copy for yourself and 10 other copies for your family and friends

In Text Ads on Your Website Explained

Most bloggers and Web publishers need to make money from their websites but they struggle with keeping their readers happy and uninterrupted while visiting. There is a delicate balance between noisy jumpy display banners and clean focused content. In-text ads are a very good solution and alongside Google AdSense ads, they are the best monetization solution for many websites.

Yes, those double underline links that upon mouse hover open a bubble with a contextual ad within it are a great source of ad revenues for websites. But more important, they do so without interrupting with the reading flow. In fact, 90% (!) of the visitors read along without hovering, do not get exposed to the ad and enjoy the content.

The remaining 10% of the visitors do something wonderful – they express interest in the advertisement. This is like gold for advertisers because they get willing attention. This form of permission advertising yields high conversion rates and results to advertisers who are therefore willing to devote big online advertising budgets.

So the pay per click is relatively high and in text ads turn out to be an important source of earnings. This is why in-text ads are a hidden treasure. And this is why I recommend the book: it would help you earn more advertising revenues from your blog or website without covering your content with animated banners. Oh, and there’s a coupon…

$1,000 Coupon from Infolinks

The book includes a very nice coupon from Infolinks - double your first month earnings up to $1,000! Not bad as a start… Want the coupon? Click on the cover image below – it would take you directly to Amazon.

I would be happy and looking forward to receiving any feedback. Thanks!

So much has been said and written about the importance of your website for your business efforts that it seems pointless. Yes, we all know by now that optimizing your landing page with multi-variant tests to reach the highest conversion rate is basics for online marketing ans sales. But do we actually execute? I have to admit that at least in my case, it took some time. In fact, it took a lot of time to realize that our company’s website is actually our storefront and it can’t be neglected. And I’m talking about an Internet company so I can imagine that in other fields the situation may be even worse.

The Initial Website

Every big development project has stage one and stage two. In real life, stage one is other words for what we’re going to develop and get stuck with, while stage two stands for our dreams never to be reached. This is also true about the company’s website. Our initial website was developed by genius developers who wrote the core of our in-text advertising algorithms. But let’s face it, Web user experience and graphic design do not interest them and the initial site reflected that.

The copy? We wrote the content of the website as we went along adding patch upon patch. Then came SEO requirements that changed everything. And then new features. And then Facebook. Patches.

And this initial website became our Stage One of the website project and stayed with us for three long years.

The New Infolinks Website

Online Siesta is my professional blog. I try hard to leave Infolinks out of it, but I can’t always help it. Also, since Infolinks has become a major player in the in-text advertising world, I think big news from Infolinks is of interest to the wider industry. So here it comes… we finally launched the new Infolinks website. Today. We proved – especially to ourselves – that Stage Two is not a myth and we managed to turn it into a reality.

Many people were involved. User experience experts, Web specialists, graphic designers, brand consultants, copy writers, developers, quality assurance teams, product managers, marketing people, translators. We’re going to thank them all separately in the Infolinks Blog (which also has a new look). It wasn’t an easy project, but it’s finally done. Well, at least stage one of it… we did leave many issues for stage two.

In Text Advertising: Publishers and Advertisers

Was the effort worth it? Time will tell. The new website finally addresses both publishers and advertisers. For a long time our focus was on recruiting publishers online while reaching out to advertisers offline. We assumed that while publishers could get to love in-text ads and join the network interdependently online – which happened and happens every minute of the day now – we assumed that for advertisers it’s going to be more difficult. But time has passed. By now, most online advertisers know the benefits of In-Text ads and want to include them in their media mix. It was time for us to offer self managed services to in-text online advertisers and we included this in the new website… check it out yourself or wait for the next update to come.

For now, I’m just happy with the newest website in the In-Text advertising industry. Congrats!

Does Microsoft have an answer to Google AdSense? The two New World giants have open fronts in almost any field they operate in. From mobile phones through browsers and on to office applications. It’s a battle. But the golden egg is still online advertising and Google’s ability to grow fast and fight Microsoft on so many fronts is based on advertising revenues coming from the Google AdWords platform and its distribution through Google AdSense. If Microsoft wants to stand a chance in this battle of giants, it’s the online advertising distribution that needs to be targeted. And there’s no doubt that it’s on Microsoft’s map, but the focus on Search through Bing is not the only possible answer. There is another one.

Google still controls about 80% of the global search market. This is a major distribution channel for advertising and it’s Google’s main source of revenues. Microsoft has invested tremendous efforts in establishing and promoting Bing, with hopes to gain search market share, but this is and will continue to be a tough front. Changing the way people search is not easy. Google’s second distribution channel for online advertising is AdSense and it is there that it stands relatively alone as the leading contextual advertising platform. It is also exactly where Microsoft can fight back.

AdSense Alternatives Fail

There are quite a few AdSense alternatives that also offer contextual advertising units for website publishers to include on the verge of the actual content. None of them comes close to AdSense. In fact, in 2010 Yahoo has shut down the Yahoo Publisher Network which was a direct competitor to AdSense. Why do all AdSense alternatives either fail or suffice with meager leftovers? It is because they are not real alternatives. From the publishers’ point of view, the AdSense unit yields the highest advertising revenues (except for complicated direct sales). Publishers would only consider alternatives when their Google accounts are suspended, which means they have low quality or fraudulent traffic, or as additional units where Google wouldn’t allow them to run AdSense. No wonder then that they fail to gain market share.

This mountain would be too high to climb, even for Microsoft. It doesn’t seem reasonable for Microsoft to run a direct competitor to AdSense where many failed before.

Fight Back with In-Text Adertising

And yet, there is a real way for Microsoft to fight back – In-Text advertising. The rapidly growing method of double underline links that open an ad bubble upon mouse hover is unique in its positioning within websites and alongside AdSense. While Google dominates contextual advertising surrounding the content, In-Text ads run within the content where the readers focus their attention. And since these In-Text ads do not interfere with the reading flow they are much less intrusive than animated jumpy banners within the AdSense units. Publishers love them as an additional source of revenues on top of Google AdSense.

If Microsoft would have leveraged its advertising marketplace with flexible In-Text advertising technology, it could have placed ads within each and every website that has Google AdSense today. And guess what, In-Text ads have a much higher click through rate (CTR) than AdSense, which means they will be in position to present real competition. At Infolinks, the fastest growing In-Text advertising network where I work, we’ve managed to engage many thousands of websites placing billions of ads with many millions of clicks in multiple languages across the globe utilizing the newest In-Text advertising technology. Combined with a major advertising marketplace like Microsoft’s, it could do wonders.

Now, personally, I have nothing against Google. I’m a big fan. Also I don’t have any interest in Microsoft. But as a citizen of the world I’m looking forward to seeing a competitive market shaping a free and fast Web not dominated by one giant. If not Microsoft, there are a few other candidates that could also fight back and challenge the online advertising services to become even better. I know we’re trying.

How complex has it become? The once rather simple online media plan has now become a monster. And considering the fact that it is just a fraction of the largest all encompassing advertising plan, it’s simply mind blowing.

After the competitive research, campaign goals discovery, audience targeting, geographic distribution, and all the other necessary steps… Only then comes the media mix which in all template plans includes sponsored links, sponsored search and SEM, banners, rich media advertising… And then each of these is further analyzed according to the ad delivery method, be it direct placement, online ad networks, ad exchanges, and so many more. By the time I’m writing this new terms are being added to the ever growing glossary.

Does Your Media Mix has In-Text?

So this is a rather simple question – have you remembered to add in-text advertising to your media mix?

I can’t detail here a full online media plan and I don’t plan on lecturing about its desired structure. However, I believe I can safely say that if you’ve forgotten in-text ads, you’ve made a mistake and harmed your campaign.

While sponsored search leads to highly interested clickers but in low volumes, traditional display ads yield very low click levels with varying interests, and social media ads initiate demand but usually do not bring potential customers with specific needs, in-text advertising has a unique contribution to any advertising mix.

The In-Text Ads Advantage

In-text ads only display their content upon an active interest display by a potential customer who hovered over a double underline link. At this stage they already support branding efforts. Then, visitors to the advertiser’s landing page arrive only upon a click, which means interest has been shown twice – the visitor has given permission, twice, to be exposed to the advertiser’s message. Clearly this should lead to higher conversion levels.

In addition, the click through levels on in-text ads are 10 times higher and more than the CTR of display ads. When building your media mix, in-text ads blend the branding efforts with actual click based traffic.

Millions of Clicks

I’ve recently discussed in-text advertising with a major advertising agency and was amazed to learn that not all media plans include in-text advertising; at least not knowingly (some get it indirectly).

From my experience at Infolinks I can tell you that there are many many millions of clicks on in-text ads just waiting. The prices are still relatively lower than other ad delivery methods and the potential is huge. Drop me a note if you need more details and at any case – let me know how it worked for you.

Good news for in-text advertising: Website Magazine has ranked in-text advertising networks among the Top 50 viable advertising and affiliate networks to consider using in 2011. It seems that the double-underlined links have finally become standard for Web content monetization. I was personally happy to find Infolinks (#39) as the highest ranked pure in-text advertising network. I take this opportunity to post here an article I wrote for Website Magazine (originally published in July 2010) hoping to start the New Year with a good vibe. I would be looking forward to feedback and in the meantime I wish you all Happy New Year!

Hidden Treasure in Every Website: In-text Advertising

By Tomer Treves

Websites like Squidoo and Britannica already monetize with in-text ads, earning effective CPM measured in whole dollars, not cents. It is time to reconsider in-text advertising.

When contextual ads first appeared and were placed on early adopters’ websites, they were frowned upon. According to detractors, the delicate borders between editorial content and advertising were at stake. Several years later, Google AdSense seems to be an integral part of any website where the publisher seeks to keep quality content available for free. Just like any advertising method before it, contextual ads have gone through the typical cycle — from absence, through protest and on to legitimacy. In-text ads (also called inline ads) are now going through the same cycle and on the verge of becoming standard practice.

In-text ads can now be found all over the Web – those double-underlined links that, upon a mouse hover, open a small bubble holding an advertisement. The leading in-text advertising networks now rank high in all relevant lists and together cover billions of page views and generate millions of dollars in revenue.

Making the Case for In-text Advertising

Typically, advertisers are in a quest to win the attention of potential customers. But in a noisy world, this task has become very difficult. In the online realm, advertisers have been forced to increase the amount and level of interruptions to get the same level of attention. As a result, advertising units become louder — with Flash animation, video and sound, taking over large parts of websites and disturbing the balance between good content and advertising.

The secret to the success of in-text ads is found in what Seth Godin coined a decade ago as “Permission Marketing.” In essence, in-text ads fulfill the circumstances in which potential customers willingly choose to be exposed to advertising messages. As such, they yield high return on advertising campaign investments and offer website publishers strong monetization opportunities.

With in-text ads, visitors to a website are not interrupted in their reading. There are no animated banners or video characters walking across the screen. The double underline links merely signal to readers: there’s more here. But the ad will not appear unless called for. When an interested reader actively hovers over a double-underlined link, he independently decides to be exposed to an advertisement. If the permission stops there, the reader can move the mouse away and the bubble will disappear. Only if the reader is interested enough to click on the ad is he redirected to the advertiser’s landing page and a charge to the campaign is made. At this point, the website publisher also gets paid.

This double-action process means that the potential customer has given his permission, twice, to pay with his attention. Advertisers find that such visitors are good candidates for their messages and many publishers have found that readers are much less frustrated with these ads over their traditional counterparts.

In the last two years, online advertising and monetization experts have seen in-text ads start as a means for bloggers to cover their costs. But soon after, these ads were also placed on major publishers’ websites, such as Squidoo. Furthermore, despite initial concerns, well-established brands have incorporated in-text ads in their business models; including traditional publishers such as Encyclopedia Britannica. Remarkably, in-text ads are now served to an estimated number of more than 500 million unique users every month – and this number is growing rapidly.

Why Not In-text Advertising?

Questions still linger about placing ads on top of content. Some publishers argue that the underlined links can be mistaken for regular links – content usually endorsed by the author. Other objections come in the form of usability. One argument is that a wayward mouse hover interrupts reading and causes distractions. Some even argue that in-text ads disrupt navigation.

One major publisher told me that his editors were reluctant to use in-text ads because they disrespect their writers. I immediately sent him a screenshot of his homepage featuring a display banner with a naked woman inviting readers to find “intimate opportunities” in their local neighborhood. This was disrespectful.

Should you decide to utilize in-text advertising, most providers make the process of integration quite simple — usually a simple copy and paste of a short JavaScript. Within 24 hours the publisher has access to his earnings; which can be significant and much higher than many popular display ads. To make the introduction of the new ads easier and mitigate any backlash, publishers can offer visitors the ability opt-out of these ads, and control the number of links and their graphic appearance.

The online publishing business is mostly an ongoing struggle of providing good content, which carries real costs, while keeping it available for free. We don’t put ads on our websites for their beauty. We use them to finance operations and keep our visitors happy with free content. In-text ads are subtle and less intrusive than many other formats of ads that are frequently used across the Web.

Do you remember the time when you considered adding Google AdSense or an equivalent program to your website? It’s time to give the same consideration to in-text ads. You might just find a hidden treasure.

***

Tomer Treves is the CMO of Infolinks, an ad network that specializes in contextual in-text advertising. He also writes a blog about in-text ads at http://OnlinseSiesta.com.

Lucky for me, I attended BlogWorld Expo Las Vegas last month and had great time with the Infolinks team. During the event I had the pleasure of speaking personally with many bloggers – mostly about monetizing blogs with In Text ads – and I thought the bottom line of these conversations was interesting enough to share here: In Text ads are much more subtle than the current Google AdSense ads. And this is a major shift in perception so I would want to explore this a little further.

Contextual Advertising: Google AdSense becomes Jumpy

When it comes to contextual advertising as a monetization method Google AdSense still rules as the top option. With Google’s vast AdWords marketplace their coverage plays a strong part in the ability to help bloggers and publishers monetize their content. However, with time, the once-subtle and quite text ads have been replaced by a growing number of display ads. And these display ads have turned mostly into animated banners. Therefore, the AdSense units display more and more jumpy ads.

The transformation from text ads to flashy banners was a response to the drop in clicks on the AdSense ads. Advertisers had to fight harder for the attention of web dwellers who disregard the ads entirely. But in this ongoing fight, it’s the actual website’s content that loses every time. The balance between content and noise has been pushed towards noise and this leads to user experience deterioration.

In Text Ads as the Quiet Alternative

Then came In Text ads. The double underline links are highlighted within existing content but they do not present any advertising to the regular reader. People are invited to read the text without interference and there’s no noise to distract their attention. In fact, now that online dwellers are used to these links, they keep reading just as they do when there are standard singe underline hyperlinks within the text. Only if a user is specifically interested in learning more about the highlighted term will he hover over with the mouse. Then, and only then, the small bubble will open up presenting a message from an advertiser. If interested, the user can click on it and proceed to the advertiser’s landing page, and if not – the cursor is moved away and the bubble disappears.

Most Readers Focus on Content

The shocking truth is that 90% of readers are not even exposed to the advertiser’s message and they get to focus on the content. This is also good for the advertiser who doesn’t have to pay for unwilling readers and doesn’t have to annoy people with the risk of negative emotions towards his message. Among the remaining 10% who do choose to hover and read the message, the openness to the advertised message is high due to the permission they granted for the bubble to open.

For the blogger or publisher the monetization works well and In Text ads generate a new source of revenues in addition to any other form of online advertising. But even more important, the blogger or publisher gets to keep the content much cleaner of advertising and push the content to noise balance back towards the content. Instead of flashy banners, readers simply see double underline links.

Bloggers Regard In Text Ads as Quiet

During my conversations with bloggers at BlogWorld Las Vegas, I clearly identified a shift in the way In Text advertising was perceived. If in the past In Text ads were sometimes frowned upon as being a little intrusive, now with Google AdSense ads being so jumpy and noisy, In Text ads suddenly appear as the sane alternative. Now, I don’t necessarily like calling In Text ads an AdSense Alternative, but rather I prefer to view them as an AdSense Supplement. But this new approach to In Text ads seems to predict an even wider adoption by bloggers, en route to becoming a standard monetization method.

Oh, and I also had time to have some fun in Las Vegas, when Infolinks took several VIP bloggers to a fun night out including a stretch Limo and a helicopter ride over the Las Vegas Strip… check out this video:

New Feature: Related Tags

The Infolinks Related Tags feature adds a unique In Text cloud within the content of a web page with carefully selected informational tags. These related tags are the most powerful keywords on the page and they perform similarly to In Text ads. When a visitor hovers over a tag, an Infolinks advertisement bubble appears and each click awards the publisher with additional revenues. Like with In Text ads, no space is required for this feature and no changes are made to the website layout. Here’s a first glimpse… (this image is taken from another website; to see it live, visit the In Text Ads Example Page)

Pilot Results: 30% Higher Revenues

Before offering Related Tags to its publishers, Infolinks ran it as a pilot on 200 websites selected to represent a general but varied population. Selection criteria included size, geographical area and site category. To ensure consistency, only websites with 6 months of stable earnings were allowed to participate. Data was collected and analyzed over a two month period. Comparisons were made between earnings before and after adding the Related Tags as well as the placement of the Related Tags on the web pages.

The results were surprising: not only did the Related Tags positively affect publisher earnings, it did so considerably. On average publishers who used the Related Tags feature increased their overall earnings by 30%.



In Text Position Matters

The position of the Related Tags clouds within the pages also had a substantial impact on earnings.  When the Related Tags were placed at the top part of the web page earnings increased by 35%, when placed in the middle a 20% increase and finally at the footer, a 15% increase.

A word from Infolinks: “By simply adding a small informational cloud to a website, online publishers can significantly improve the overall results. A small tweak can make a big difference. The Infolinks Related Tags feature has proven itself, it dramatically increased In Text advertising earnings and therefore we recommend In Text users to give it a try.”

A word from me: Well, it looks promising…!

Bloggers’ Concerns about In text Ads

By now, you already know what In Text ads are. Simply put, they are double underline links on your blog that upon a mouse hover open a bubble with an ad inside. When the mouse is moved away, the bubble disappears. Only upon a click, the reader is redirected to the advertiser’s landing page and you get paid. You should also know – by a quick Google search – that they can add on top of your Google AdSense earnings anywhere between 50% to 150%, depending on several factors. In Text ads are not merely an AdSense Alternative, they are an AdSense Supplement. If your blog is monetized well, you know this can be a lot of money. Then, what’s stopping you? From my experience, it can be one of the following reasons: (1) community objections; (2) poor past experience; or (3) emotional attachment to content. Let’s review them one by one.

Your Community will Not be Affected

“My returning readers and community are very sensitive to ads on my blog and I’m afraid they will object to in-text ads.” This is the most common concern among big bloggers and it can easily be mitigated. First, keeping the integration transparent and sharing with your readers the importance of the new ads for supporting your blog as a business should be enough. Second, from my past experience you will soon learn that only a tiny minority of readers would actually be bothered by the new links on the text; the double underline links don’t interfere with reading more than regular hyperlinks. Third, and most important, you can remove the ads for your sensitive community by either letting them opt-out through the ad network (this would place a cookie on their computer), or by setting the ads to appear only for search engine traffic or for users who are not logged-in. In Text ads are placed on numerous blogs and your readers are probably used to them, and for the few who are not, you can still offer the same content without the ads.

In Text Ads are Now Better. Much Better

“I tried in-text ads two years ago and was disappointed by low revenues and a script that slowed down my blog.” Well, Google AdSense wasn’t perfect on day one as well. Every new technology has to mature and in-text advertising has done so during the past two years. If you choose correctly among the leading in-text ads networks, you would be amazed by the improvements. Higher revenues, no slowing down, flexible control over the ads. You can easily set your ads to a minimal number of links, customize their graphic appearance, and even get 70% revenue share to guarantee significant earnings. If you tried in-text before, I recommend that you try it again to see the difference yourself.

Content and In Text Ads are Not Mixed

“I keep a strict dividing line between my content and paid-for ads.” This can be understood and it’s even important for the integrity of your content. But let’s face it, the contextual ads surrounding your content today are very tightly related to the content. Google AdSense is doing a remarkable job in making sure that the ads match the text. Why doesn’t this bother you? Because your readers know the difference between ads and content. This is also true about in-text ads, which are now served to over 500 million users every month, and online dwellers have grown to recognize them as ads. It could be that you’ve just worked so hard to produce your content, that you can’t bear the thought of external links on it. You’ve become emotionally attached to it. If this is the case, you can also set the ads to appear only on posts that are a few days old, and thus let the time difference heal your feelings.

Let’s Talk about In Text Ads on your Blog

I wrote before on how much you can earn with your blog. I tried answering objections to In Text ads. The past year has yielded amazing results with many thousands of bloggers integrating In Text ads. And yet, some big blogs haven’t joined yet. What’s stopping them? If you have additional ideas, please comment below. If you have a big blog yourself and you’re still not convinced, drop me a line through the About page – I’m looking for insightful discussions to learn more about this. If you take my invitation to talk about this, I’m willing to guarantee you a no-risk trial with thousands of dollars guaranteed in return. If you have a big blog, with 2 million page-views monthly, that number of $50,000 for your first year is a done deal. What do you say, can we talk about it?

WordCamp Chicago Speech

Good morning. I feel right at home here at WordCamp Chicago. My brother and his family live nearby, so I get to Chicago often. I have been using WordPress for my own blog OnlineSiesta.com, which celebrates its first anniversary this week. In fact, I fell in love with WordPress, and when my father asked me for help in setting up his own website about regenerative medicine, we did it with WordPress as well. It took my father less than a couple of hours to get the idea and his WordPress site now flourishes.

I’m here with a small team of two from Infolinks to celebrate the launch of our new WordPress Plugin. As part of this launch we will offer all of this weekend’s participants a small gift plus a special bonus worth $40, so please be sure to visit the booth outside to get yours. You can easily find us – simply follow the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

In one sentence, the Infolinks WordPress Plugin places In Text Ads on your website –– those double underline links that upon a mouse hover open a small bubble with an ad inside. Now, I know, nobody likes ads on websites, but we don’t put them there for their mere beauty… these ads cover the costs of the website and can add an additional profitable stream of revenues.

If you have Google AdSense ads or any other contextual advertising solution on your site, then you’ve already acknowledged the need to monetize your content. But these flashy banners can be noisy and also, they may not pay enough. In Text links are harmless – very much like regular links on your content, they don’t interrupt the flow of reading – and they only open ads when your visitors actively express genuine interest.

Trying In Text ads used to be free. Now, we actually pay you $40 to give them a try. Also, if you’re offering a service to WordPress users, we have an attractive affiliate program. It took me less than a minute to install the new Infolinks Plugin on my blog and on my father’s website, and within a single day I could see my earnings accumulate. I invite you all to try it as well.

So, again, we’re here for the weekend and we’ll be happy to continue the discussion about In Text advertising. Please don’t forget to stop by the Infolinks booth with the cookies to collect your gift and bonus. Have a great WordCamp weekend!

Related Links to WordCamp Chicago

WordCamp Chicago Website

Infolinks In Text Ads WordPress Plugin

Regenerative Medicine at MyNewTherapy.com

Well, after several months of writing from my experience about In Text advertising, you can finally find double underline link ads on my site as well, and not only on the In Text Ads Example page. I will be looking forward to hearing any feedback you may have.

The In Text Ads Integration: Easy!

How easy or difficult was the integration? I was amazed. It took me less than a single minute to set it up and since the website was already approved (for the Example Page), the double underline links appeared immediately. I know, I sell such ads for a living and promote them… I told many people how fast and simple the integration is. But, having experienced it here myself, it was a very nice surprise to find out that the sales pitch is real.

The New WordPress Plugin

This blog runs on WordPress and to integrate the new In Text ads I have used the new WordPress Plugin from Infolinks. While it can be downloaded from the Infolinks website, I took an easier path. From the Plugins section on the WordPress dashboard I clicked on Add New, searched from Infolinks, and clicked there on The Official Infolinks Plugin. Then, I clicked on Install Now and after a few seconds, went to Infolinks Settings under the regular Settings area (on my dashboard it’s on the bottom left part). There, I entered my Publisher ID from Infolinks and the Website ID, and… well, that was it! I reload the blog and presto – In Text ads are live… within 24 hours, I will already have access to my earnings report. I will update