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Replacing AdSense Defaults With Paid Ads
By Bruce Whitehead (c) 2005

If you use Google's AdSense program to earn money from your
website, you could be missing out on additional income by not
replacing unpaid PSA ads.

Many online ad programs, including AdSense, will sometimes show
default ads, or public service announcement (PSA) ads, when they
have no paying ads to show. This can happen for many reasons,
especially when their spiders crawl your pages for content.

What many webmasters do not realize, however, is that you can
easily replace those unpaid ads and earn bonus revenue from your
website. All you need to do is make a simple change to your ad
codes.

In the case of Google's AdSense program, this is done by adding
an alternate URL to your code. It is a very simple process that
will typically take you less than five minutes. Using the
AdSense online wizard, you simply add an alternate ad URL to
your code, then copy and paste the new code into your pages.

You can view a sample of an AdSense alternate URL integration
here:

http://www.alternateurl.com/demo.php

Once you have made the change to your ad codes, you will show an
alternate ad of your choice in place of the PSA ad that would
normally have appeared. Alternatively, you may also select to
show a simple background color in place of your PSA ads, but be
aware that won't earn you a dime and it can look strange to
display a blank space on your pages, whatever the color.

So you've decided to add an alternate URL to replace those
unpaid ads. That's smart. It's actually amazing that so many
AdSense users do not take advantage of this process. Google
makes it very easy to do, but for whatever reason, most
webmasters simply ignore this option and forego additional
profits from their hard-earned traffic.

You should also understand that there is really no down side to
replacing PSA ads, and in my opinion, you'd be foolish not to.
Indeed, other ad networks, such as FastClick, now also allow you
to incorporate alternate ads when their systems fire blanks,
although in true Google style, AdSense provides the easiest
method with their online code wizard.

Judging from online forum posts on the subject, as well as
considering the incredible number of sites that do not use
Alternate ads, it appears that many webmasters believe Google or
other ad networks will punish you for replacing their defaults
ads. This is of course ridiculous. Why would they give you the
tools and instructions on how to do this if they were going to
penalize you? Now that you know how to earn extra revenue from
your site, the challenge for many webmasters is how to make a
"URL" actually appear as an ad. It's really not that difficult,
and there are a couple of ways to go about it.

One new program that was recently created to address this issue
is AlternateURL.com, where you can create an alternate URL ad in
just a few easy steps in any of the standard AdSense supported
sizes to your ad code.

Once created, you can embed the AlternateURL into your AdSense
code. It's a simple solution that relieves webmasters from
having to tinker with iFrames, CPA networks, or other systems to
create an alternate ad for their Google ad codes.

Other options include adding "house ads" or ads that link to
internal areas of your site. Remember, since you are adding a
URL, you have to ensure that the page that opens will fill the
correct size of the PSA ad you are replacing. Thus, if you are
showing a 468x60 banner, you create a page that has a div or an
image in that size. Be sure to left and top align the elements
on the page, and ensure there are no margins or borders, etc.

Alternatively, you can create a page that displays an iFrame,
which will fill the ad slot to be replaced. In either case, the
question arises about what to actually place. Ideally, you'll
want rotating ads, and stats on how many you are showing, and
what return in effective CPM revenue you are generating.

Some sites show Clickbank or other CPA network offers as their
alternate ads. You can play around with various solutions to
find the one that best suits your site and creates maximum
revenue as well.

There's really nothing to lose by using an alternate URL, and a
lot to gain. For more information, login to your AdSense account
and review the procedure to add an alternate ad URL to your ad
code. Or visit the AdSense Support site here:

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/topic.py?topic=153

You could be wasting a lot of adviews - and a lot of money - by
not replacing AdSense PSA ads with an alternate URL. The method
you use is up to you. For further information, please visit our
website:

http://www.alternateurl.com

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Bruce Whitehead is an experienced Internet marketer, based in
Canada, who owns and operates a variety of ventures, including
advertising, digital ecommerce, and mail order businesses.
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