Q: Why Does The Adwords Minimum Bid Change?

If you are new to Google's Adwords program then don't be surprised if you notice that their minimum bids change quite often.

It seems that Google does an initial analysis of your site when you create the ads. This quick scan is used to determine your starting minimum bid. Later, once you have been given some impressions, Google will take a look at your click through ratio and determine whether or not your ads are truly relevant based upon viewer interest.

If you do not get good click through rates, in general, or as compared to other advertisers, then your minimum bid will be raised.

However, from time to time, Google may then drop the minimum bid again and give you a chance to get impressions once again. I'm not sure why this happens, but perhaps it has to do with the click through rates of other advertisers. If their rates fall, or if a successful advertiser runs into a spending limit, Google will do what it can to maximize their revenues.

Q: Should I Sell Links?

Shhh!

Selling links is a dangerous game these days. They are certainly one of the best ways to monetize a site with PR, but you risk that PR if you sell links. You see, it seems that Google will impose penalties on sites that they deem to be selling links for the purpose of PR instead of traffic.

So, what is the poor webmaster to do?

Obviously, how and why we sell advertising is a business decision that should be up to us, but just as obviously we cannot ignore Google's viewpoint as they are the site the currently determines PR.

My advice, go ahead and sell links. However, don't do it publicly! There are all kinds of link brokerages on the net -- though it is beyond the scope of this post for me to review them all for you.

Just do a search on Google and I'm sure you'll find them...

Q: Should I Use Adsense or Adbrite?

This is a no brainer.

In general, because Adbrite lets you default to another advertiser, such as Adsense, if they can't beat the eCPM you specify, you should use them. During setup you specify how much you need to make to show their ads while defining your default advertising by copying your Adsense code.

As your blog or site grows in reputation, and traffic, you'll find that every now and then someone will choose to advertise on your site using Adbrite.

However, if you start to raise your income via other advertisers, be sure to remember to update your minimal acceptable CPM on Adbrite.

Q: Should I Buy Links?

This is a question that gets a different answer every time it is asked.

To make a long story short, yes, but read on to see the ins and outs of this situation.

Yes, Google can penalize a site for selling links. This means that the selling site might lose PR and that the links may not pass PR to you. Obviously, if you are purchasing links for the purpose of acquiring PR, then this is something that will concern you.

However, don't forget, links were originally sold for traffic. Buying a link, a banner, a button or whatever is simply advertising. It is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site for whatever purpose you want them there.

Importantly, no, Google does not generally penalize a site for actions that somebody else could do to your site. If you think about it, if buying links caused a penalty to the buyer, then people would buy links for their competitors in order to have them be penalized.

The competitive nature of the net ads a lot of things to think about when determine how and why penalties might be applied.