AdSense Requires You To Have a Privacy Policy Now
If you’re a Google AdSense publisher, you’ve noticed that a few weeks ago the Terms and Conditions for this service have been updated.
Quite a few things changed, but one of the most important updates is that you are required now to have a privacy policy on each website of yours which uses Google AdSense.
From Inside AdSense blog:
We’ve also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers’ use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future.
To make your life easier, I’m going to share a useful tip: you don’t have to invent a policy yourself, cause it’s already done. In fact, there’s a WordPress plugin which creates a simple privacy policy you can then insert into any of your blog pages: Synclastic Privacy Policy Plugin.
Once you download the plugin, simply activate it and create a new WordPress page. Just insert this tag wherever you want your policy to appear:
<!– privacy-policy –>
That’s it! Really simple. Great plugin.
I’ve just done this here on PerfectBlogger, so my privacy policy is found under http://www.perfectblogger.com/privacy page.
See also:
- Jim Carter has a great overview of all the recent AdSense Terms & Conditions updates
- Synclastic Privacy Policy Plugin
Flickr Uploadr Proxy Configuration
Many of you have probably notice the recent update of a Flickr Uploadr – a great tool for bulk uploads of your new photos to Flickr. I’ve been a fan of Flickr for quite some time, and plan to use it for photo streams on some of my blogs in the near future.
I absolutely love the new interface and yet simpler and more effective interface of the 3.0.x beta, but was, like most of you, startled to find out the proxy unfriendliness of Flickr Uploadr 3.0.x.
There’s no mentioning about proxy configuration in the Settings dialogue, and that’s why you will have to fix it yourself. Luckily for all, it’s not a complex process. Read more
Adsense Notifier extension finally fixed!
Just when I have almost given up on the broken Adsense Notifier script, it got updated and fixed! You can download the latest version here: Adsense Notifier.
The current version is 0.9.6, and it once again shows all the Adsense earnings in the toolbar of my Firefox.
Adsense Notifier is one of the most useful extensions for me, because it saves me the effort of regularly checking the status of my Adsense account (which is a very bad habit – wastes a lot of time). Simply configure the settings to your likings, and all your vital Adsense stats will be automatically downloaded and delivered to your statusbar. Incredibly useful!
WPdesigner Launches the 5$ WordPress Themes Club
Finally, the 5$ themes club is up and running! Please have a look at the original announcement made on the WPdesigner blog for the full story, but just to get you interested enough I’ll tell you what this club is about: it’s a paid membership community where for just 5$ a year you’re guaranteed to have access to at least 12 unique WordPress themes. Sounds like a sweet deal!
Here are the highlights of the 5$ Themes Club:
- 5$ a year is all it takes to become a full member
- No copyrights in the footer (you’re not supposed to claim the authorship of any theme though)
- You can use any theme on an unlimited number of domains
- Great preview page listing all the best features (here’s a teaser: the Gossip theme)
- Free technical support (ticker system or forum)
A Free Multimedia Course on Blogging
In case you haven’t heard yet, Mark Joyner from Simpleology has compiled a brand new multi-media course on blogging, and you can snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
This blogging course covers:
- The best blogging techniques.
- How to get traffic to your blog.
- How to turn your blog into money.
I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.
Wordze – FREE 30-day trial
Just got an email from Wordze, announcing their next round of free 30-day trials.
The following link should work for the next 7 days, good chance for all of you who wanted to try keyword research with Wordze: Wordze – Free 30-day trial
Update the copyright year in footer sections of your blogs!
Now that we’re all in the new year of 2008, it is the perfect time for you to update the copyright year in footers of your blogs. This is something I used to neglect, but like any blogger, the more you write and the more you spend time maintaining and updating your posts, the better it is to have copyright years updated early into the new year.
I still remember the times when it took me almost half a year to notice that some of my blogs were still claiming the copyright period on them to cover everything up to the previous year, sometimes even the year before, but if you’re serious about protecting your intellectual property, better get into the habit of updating these copyright years early.
New AdSense feature: Manage Ads
Last week saw the appearance of new AdSense feature I’ve been waiting for: it’s now possible to manage ads!
The idea behind ads management is that most of parameters will now be stored on AdSense servers, not in ad code on your website. This means changing any parameter will be much easier, cause you simply edit it from your AdSense panel, without having to regenerate the ad unit code and integrating it into your website.
Manage new ads
Any AdSense units you’re going to create are automatically added to the list of managed ones, so by going to the AdSense Setup -> Manage Ads menu of your AdSense control panel you’ll be able to access the list of such ads. You can click and edit any one of them.
Manage old ads
Any existing ads of yours will continue to work, but if you want to simplify their management, you’ll have to convert them. Again, you do this once, and then enjoy the benefits every time you’re changing something about your ads.
See also:
AdSense Wisdom From ProBlogger
Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) has posted two great articles summarizing some of the best reasons to use or not to use Google AdSense:
WebHostingChoice: Beginner’s Guide For Web Hosting
I’ve been asked to have a look at the WebHostingChoice.com, and think it’s a website worth your visit.
This web hosting directory aims to make your search for the hosting a most complete venture. Most of the big hosting companies are represented, and each of them has a separate page with additional info.
The general feeling is that it’s a comprehensive website with users of all technical levels in mind. For beginners, there is an extensive Learning Center section with a great web hosting FAQ. There are explanations and definitions of hosting-related terminology, this will certainly help you ensure you understand everything about a particular hosting offer.
I also liked the section about most typical hosting scams you could come across. The general rule here is to double-check anything that looks too good to be true, like unlimited hosting, unlimited mailboxes, etc. While it is understood that the common assumption is that an average customer will never want to use the unlimited amount of any resource, it’s always good to verify the exact meaning of the “unlimited” word. In my time, I’ve seen too many examples of hosters which claim to provide unlimited bandwidth, but then cut you off after you go over 10Gb a month.
I wish there was some coverage on VPS hosting, but I guess it’s a pretty unique niche – and many people would simply jump from shared hosting to a dedicated server of their own. Apart from this, I found webhosting listings quite comprehensive – should definitely save your time when comparing different hosting plans or even different hosting companies.
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