Google Finance:
John Battelle has lots of yummy stats about Google's finances...

• nearly 17% of visitors click on ads.

• Google makes an average of 54 cents a click.
• Google makes on average nearly a dime from the average US search

Though Danny Sullivan makes a guest appearance in the comments to say the figures may be off (if they did not take in account for contextual ads).

Rob Frankel:
My favorite branding guru has a great rant blog. His view of Paxil and Prozac for children...

Trellian Seasonal Keyword Research:
Out of touch with the season?

Malcolm Gladwell:
One of my favorite authors gives a speech (about a month old, but his stuff is always good)

Contextual Ads:
Chitika is a new contextual ad network (their parent company has also been powering eBay's keyword driven banners)...rumor has it they might be writing some quality PR stuff too.

Laptops & Porn:
always a bad idea...

Mobile Search:
How it will change everything...or will it? I think there is a ton more to the world than just registering a name. Sure people will easily be able to link up regular publications and products to web locations, but the reason Amazon is successful is not just its product offering or customer service, but the rich feedback past consumers have left in their system. I think our social interactions and the trails we leave on the web are worth a ton more than this article seems to believe.

Mobile People Search:
US to use electronic passports.

Eventual RSS Doom:
Will its popularity destroy it?
Should People Run RSS Ads?

I think the links and attention you get from RSS subscribers will have more longterm value than their cost. If hosting costs are killing you go with Blogger or find a host who wants some cheap marketing (a hosted by link on your site).

Its not uncommon for businesses to have loss liters. If many of your readers / RSS subscribers also provide you tons of links then maybe you should look at the bandwidth as an advertising expense.

Those Random Late Night Purchases:
Internet Accelerator may help you download pages rack up credit card bills quicker.

Learn About Google AdWords Contextual Ads

Free 9 minute video offering tips on how to use Google AdWords contextual advertising. The video describes briefly some of the technology behind how the Google AdWords contextual ad network works.

A couple of the more interesting ideas covered in this video:

• the Contextual ads are not based on a single keyword, but the keyword list associated with a specific adgroup.

• In addition the adgroup creatives play are also used to help understand what ads to display.
• Max PPC and clickthrough rate also play into the order of the ads displayed.
• You want to use well themed keyword adgroups to help ensure your ads are delivered properly. Including generic words like laptop can make it harder for Google to understand what your adgroup is trying to sell.
• Using appropriate campaign negative keywords can also help further target your ads.
• Smart pricing helps reduce the cost of the ad based on Google's predicted value of the click.

Good ideas that were not covered:

• While many people find smart pricing to be effective you may also want to manually ensure proper price discounting by disabling content syndication on your search adgroups and then create lower priced adgroups with content syndication enabled.

Google AdWords contextual advertisingfrequently asked questions
Mo Money (via Google AdWords Contextual Ads)...
Between Aug. 4, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2004 Google is offering selected Google AdWords subscribers (I don't know how exclusive it is) a discount for participating in the Google AdWords contextual ads program.

You need to create new contextual ad groups or enable contextual ads on current ad groups not participating in contextual advertising. Based on the amount you spend on those contextual ads you will get a rebate coupon code.

Spend $6000 or more, get $1500 credit
Spend $4000-$5999, get $1000 credit
Spend $3000-$3999, get $750 credit
Spend $4000-$2999, get $500 credit
Spend $1000-$1999, get $250 credit
Spend $500-$999, get $125 credit
Spend $300-$499, get $75 credit
Spend $200-$299, get $50 credit
Spend $100-$199, get $25 credit
Spend $10-$99, get $10 credit

source: Google AdWords contextual advertising ad

Google launches keyword based contextual based banner advertising.

Effect on Other Companies:

• If Google can get many of their AdSense publishers to sign up for this then they will have access to one of the largest, most targeted contextual based banner programs on the web.

• Interactive media agencies and webmasters may be able to do nearly all of their advertising at Google. Exceptions:
  • Overture still will be used by many due to it's large distribution network.

  • Link buyers will obviously not be able to buy links through Google...
• Google can no longer in any way shape or form claim to be "just a technology company." This move cements their position as a large media company.
• DoubleClick's stock is down 1% on the day (last I checked...this move by Google has to make their CEO cringe!).

Google AdWords Images:
Google Images AdWords FAQ's Here.
Google AdSense: What's New

Google AdWords Sizes: You may choose from four standard ad sizes: Banner (468 x 60), Leaderboard (728 x 90), Inline Rectangle (300 x 250), and Skyscraper (120 x 600). Sizes may be adjusted slightly to display the "Ads by Google" tagline.

Example Google Ads

Placing Image Ads on Google:
"At this time, we won't show image ads on Google. The initial launch of image ads is focused on sites already showing graphical ads. Because Google image ads are targeted specifically to a page's content, advertisers showing ads on these sites would realize the greatest benefit. (Please note that a content site publisher must opt in to the image ads program before your image ads may appear on his or her site.)"

How Does Google Know When to Display Image Ads?
If your image ad is more relevant, it will appear. If not, your text ad may appear in its place. This targeting model ensures you're reaching your prospects with the most effective ads.

Will Google Put Image Ads on My Site?
Google AdSense publishers can chose to opt in to graphic ads. Graphic ads will not automatically appear on AdSense publishers websites. You can choose to run image ads by simply selecting the image ads checkbox from the Ad Preference page of your AdSense account. Or, set your preference at a page level by selecting the type of ads you'd like to show when generating your ad code.

When Google recently updated the AdSense TOS they included the following statement:

multiple ad units may be displayed on each Web site page, but no ad unit shall contain any advertisement in common with any other ad unit.

Currently there is no guarantee that repeat ads will not appear on a given page though. Part of the ambiguous nature of the language is that Google does not want to revise the terms of service more than once per quarter. Look for Google to add the new multiple ad feature soon.

The muti AdSense ad topic is being discussed over at WebmasterWorld. Also, Google working on voice activated search.
(thanks Garrett)

Kanoodle to Factor in Click Through Rate Contextual Ad Placement
Kanoodle is to improve the value of their contextual advertising product by factoring click through rate into ad positioning. Kanoodle is the first search engine to offer exclusively contextual advertising. They are extending their lead in this market by adding many value added features that other search engines have not yet added.

The company's new proprietary system, ClickFactor, has an approach similar to Google's in that ads move higher or lower on the list based on how many users click on them. However, it's different in that advertisers can learn their rank, the factored index and the bid needed to get the desired placement, according to Lance Podell, Kanoodle's president.

source Clickz