Suggestions for further reading on how to reel ‘em in

A few weeks back we published a guest column by search scenester and SEOmoz CEO, Rand Fishkin, about the art and science of “linkbait“—i.e., “content on a web site that targets link-friendly audiences such as bloggers, news sites and social media aggregation portals” in order to gain links, attract viewers and help improve in search rankings (and maybe even your CTR).

The piece turned out to be a pretty darn good example of linkbaiting itself, creating buzz across the blogosphere and gaining beaucoup trackbacks and in-links from enthusiastic publishers. One trackbacker, D-Blogged, even put together an “Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting Resources” that we thought might come in handy for those of you interested in further developing your own linkbaiting strategies.

Take me to the Ultimate Guide »

Props to D-Blog for all the hard work.

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor

Or, how not to annoy your readership!

Jennifer Slegg, of JenSense offers tips on how to help keep your blog neat and clean for a better user experience, longer-term readership and consistent revenues.

I have a huge number of blogs in my RSS reader. But while I may not read all of them daily, at the very least I’ll skim the headlines. But when it comes time to clean house, why do some blogs make the cut, while others I send to RSS exile?

Looks Count
Yes, call me vain, but looks count. You have to be writing some pretty spectacular blog entries for me to keep reading a blog that is supremely ugly, uses a design that breaks in certain browsers, uses a trendy but hard-to-read font face, or uses the “out-of-the-box” blog design with zero customization (if it still says “Just another WordPress blog,” you are on shaky ground). Jeremy Zawodny could change his background to migraine-inducing black, change the logo to some hideous dripping blood goth design, make the text lime green with hot pink links, and I’d still read it. But for some blogger who might post a single gem every other month? RSS exile it goes.

Don’t Hit Me Over the Head with Ads
Yes, we all want to monetize our blogs. But I get easily annoyed when I see the blog entry title, then one (or even two!) 336 x 280 ad units before I see a single word of the actual entry. True, a placement that is in your face may get more clicks initially, but the drop in traffic from annoyed readers dumping your blog will result in lower ad impressions and earnings. If you have your heart set on that placement, change it to a banner instead, and save the large rectangle for the juicy spot after the entry but before the comments.

Use RSS Ads Smartly
If you use RSS ads, give the entire entry in the RSS feed, and not just a snippet. Or better yet, offer me a choice of either an ad-supported full entry feed or an ad-free snippet-only feed.

Write Regularly
We are all guilty of allowing a week or two go between entries. Sometimes there is nothing newsworthy to report, or we are busy with clients (or vacations!) But once you allow a couple weeks to go by without an entry, people start to wonder if maybe your blog has joined the thousands of other defunct blogs cluttering the net. So have a few entries ready to go for times when life interferes. And if you know you are going to be busy, have a few entries set to future publish every few days while you are away to give the illusion of an active blog even if you are really at Disneyland.

While some of these tips seem obvious, trust me when I say that many a blog has gone to RSS exile because they commit one, two, or yes, even all of these faux pas. So do some housecleaning to get your blog ready for the holiday season, and ensure that your blog doesn’t get exiled the next time a reader decides which blogs are worthy enough to make the cut, and which ones will end up on the RSS cutting room floor.

—Jennifer Slegg

YahooSarah answers reader questions about compliance

Two weeks ago, we discussed how to stay compliant with the Yahoo! Publisher Network rules and regulations (What Not to Do: Tips from YahooSarah, July 19). Apparently that post was a big hit, drawing 30 comments. A number of you included questions among your comments, so we felt that we should further clarify a few things.

Several of you wrote to express thanks for articulating the rules, but you also reiterated the need for a system for reporting abuse. Well, we’ve got you covered: We announced a solution for that just a little while ago. To report abuse, use the link under “Network Feedback” link, at right.

There were a number of questions about Rule 4: “Don’t place images next to ads.” Some around the blogosphere speculate that if you put an image next to an Ad Unit that seems to have something to do with that ad, then it should be OK. For example, say you’ve targeted financial services and then place a dollar sign image next to the ad. Seems like that would be kosher, right? Nope! Our guidelines clearly state: Images or other media cannot be associated with the Ad Unit.

There are a number of reasons for this, but two stand out. One is traffic quality: Advertisers want their prospects to understand what they’re clicking on. Images can confuse the issue.

The second reason is brand control. Put yourself in the advertiser’s shoes: Would you want images associated with your brand that you had no control over?

With Regard to Rule 5, “Don’t block the crawler,” a reader noted that: “I do not [block the crawler], but sometimes they get trapped by my security routine… A while ago I asked for the IP ranges of the bots to protect them from being banned: someone replied to me that you do not disclose that kind of information. IMHO, spiders should obey robots.txt.”

It’s true: we don’t give that type of information out. We suggest, humbly, that you look into your security routine and try some different approaches to see what works best.

One reader asked about Rule 7: “Don’t manipulate our ad code.” This person asked if it were against our Terms of Service to change the ad code in order to, for example, get the background color from a variable as long as it doesn’t change the way the page renders.

The fact is, it’s part of your agreement with us that you won’t modify the Ad Unit in any way—Terms and Conditions, (4) (b) (i). Most publishers wouldn’t need to, as our Ad Setup offers every color of the rainbow and then some. I can see your issue, but rules are rules.

Rule 8, which addressed international traffic, drew this question: “We need to know if we still need to implement our own geotargeting or if Yahoo! Publisher Network will do it for us. On some SEO forums, someone says international clicks are not counted anymore. If we need to supply our own geo-targeting, then [you guys] should point publishers to geotargeting scripts or provide some.”

Rule 8 has more to do with who your audience is than about geotargeting solutions. If you target U.S. users with your content, you’ll find that U.S. users will come, and you, your users and our advertisers will mutually benefit. But if you feel you need a geotargeting solution, there are a number of third-party and open source geotargeting solutions out there. In fact, another reader made a suggestion about this in response to your comment. You can also do a quick search on Yahoo! Search to find more.

Inappropriate targeting, the subject of Rule 9, made one reader wonder why he sometimes sees ads for General Electric stocks on his cooking site, even though he uses appropriate targeting (food, appliances). The answer is that sometimes the ad inventory is not on hand to fill every niche, so we display what we call “run of network ads”.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and suggestions! Keep ’em coming!

—YahooSarah

Tips from YahooSarah

Accepting an invitation to be part of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta is a little like starting to date someone. We try to stay positive, encouraging our publishers to grow with the program and create better experiences for their users while helping them make more money for themselves. We don’t want to act the nag…

But a few very fresh publishers seem to want to take advantage just as we’re getting to know one another. Frankly, it leaves us feeling a little taken for granted. Yahoo! Publisher Network is very much a rules maven—we must abide by certain rules in order to keep up the quality of our Network. Naturally, we understand that Terms & Conditions, can seem lengthy and dull. But it’s vital that every publisher to make the commitment to read and understand them.

To help you out, here’s a little cheat sheet of what NOT to do:

1. Don’t sell beta keys in an online auction, message board or anywhere else (the opposite applies as well: don’t buy beta keys, they won’t work). We gave you that key and for you to go re-gifting it. No re-gifting!
2. Don’t put our ad code on sexually explicit sites. It’s very naughty.
3. Don’t duplicate (*cough* STEAL *cough*) content from other sites. We want to be with someone original.
4. Don’t place images next to ads. It’s dishonest and we want to be in a long term relationship with publishers everyone can trust. People will think those images have to do with the ads, and when they find that the site they’ve been directed to has nothing to do with them, they’ll be pretty miffed.
5. Don’t block the crawler. It keeps us from getting to know one another and is bad for both of us. Honestly, your blocking is not helping.
6. Don’t go nuts with the ads and place them all over every page like they’re your content or something. It looks like you are trying too hard.
7. Don’t manipulate our ad code. We’re flexible and already offer plenty of choices.
8. Don’t send us traffic from Zimbabwe or Ireland. Not that there’s anything wrong with Zimbawe or Ireland, but right now we’re just not ready to make that big, international commitment. We’re working on it, though, so be patient, and good things will come.
9. Don’t use inappropriate ad targeting. If your site is about flowers, it’s not cool to be targeting finance.

It’s OK to get a little frisky once we’ve gotten to know one another, but playing fast and loose with the rules is just not copasetic. So before you make any bold moves that could backfire, take a few minutes to think about it and settle down with a good book, like our Guidelines.

For more info see Product Guidelines for Ads Explained.

I’m glad we had this talk. 

—YahooSarah