As if monetizing your PDFs weren’t enough, Yahoo! and Adobe are giving you another great reason to participate in the Ads for Adobe PDF powered by Yahoo! beta: great prizes.

The prizes are for a contest—our attempt to find the best publishers of ad-enabled PDFs out there. To enter, just sign up for the beta and start publishing your ad-enabled PDFs.  The winner will be determined by a combination of success metrics, such as the number of PDFs published, revenue, impressions, and other ingredients in the “secret sauce” we use in the beta. 

Did we mention the great prizes?  For the grand prize winner, we are offering the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection, which helps you to design across media—print, web, interactive, mobile, video, and film—in the most comprehensive, creative environment ever produced.  The grand prize is valued at $2499.  In addition, all publishers who participate will be entered into a raffle for $100 Yahoo! Search Advertising dollars, a great way to start publicizing your PDFs and increase your audience. 

To enter, click over to the sign up page and send us your Ads for Adobe PDF powered by Yahoo! beta application.  To see the official contest rules, click here. 

–Mike McCullough

You might already know that you can create some cool desktop applications with Yahoo! Widgets SDK. Well, the Yahoo! Flash Blog recently announced that these applications can now be built in Flash.

How many times have you published a blog article and then remembered you forgot something important to put into the entry? On her blog, Jennifer Slegg just published a helpful blogger’s pre- publishing checklist. Jen’s list includes practical and sometimes overlooked tips, such as spellchecking, making sure your links work, and sourcing your sources. I have a similar list before I leave the house, which I check exactly three times.

If you’re also a podcast publisher, Marketing Vox posted an article with ten tips for launching a solid podcast. Pointers include planning your podcast schedule, making it RSS-accessible and keeping it short.

So there you go, folks. Hope these blog posts help make your site more compelling.

— Roger Park, Marketing Communications Manager and blog corral captain

First off, the folks at MyBlogLog announced that they recently added a script for folks who want to use twitter with their MyBlogLog. Now folks can stay updated with you while you’re on the go!

Do you have a company blog that you have been ignoring? Well, stop ignoring it, and read Jennifer Slegg’s great article on why corporate blogs fail.

For folks who are feeling bombarded by all the information and content streams available today, you might want to read Publishing 2.0’s article on the web conservation movement. The basic premise is producing quality content and not just throwing up stuff on the web because you can.  As a publisher you want to make sure that visitors find your site information relevant and helpful.

Calling all you shutterbugs using Flickr on your sites! The Flickrblog has released this nifty “Share This” button.

Though not exactly a new announcement, it doesn’t hurt to remind you of all the many and powerful publisher tools available in your account.

– The YPN Team

As a publisher within our network, you probably want to make sure you get paid for participating. Which is definitely a good thing! Well, we want to tell you about some ways to make the payment process easier for you.

Currently you can choose to receive your payments via PayPal, direct deposit or check. Please note that you must select your payment method by the 19th of the month to be paid via that method in the current month. To select or update your payment preferences, go to the Account Information tab.

Here are some helpful tips to help you verify you have provided the correct information to be approved for payment.

By Check
Provide the mailing address so you can receive a payment by check. To add or change your mailing address, click on the Account Information tab and select the Payment Options page within your account. Then, simply update your mailing address in the appropriate fields. Your earnings from the Yahoo! Publisher Network will be sent to this mailing address if you elect to receive checks in the Payment Options page.

By Direct Deposit
To ensure that you receive your payment correctly using the direct deposit feature, we validate  your bank information based upon the information you entered. If you receive a notice that the information is not valid, please reenter your banking information from the Payment Options screen within your account. Once you have resubmitted your information, we will process the new information to ensure that it is correct. This processing will take approximately ten business days.

Please note that payment processing begins on the 24th of each month and payments are issued within approximately one to three business days after this time. If the ten-day processing period extends beyond the 24th of the month, you will receive your payment by check.

By PayPal
PayPal will verify your email address and Y!PN payee name before allowing the Yahoo! Publisher Network to transfer your earnings. It’s important that your PayPal account is up to date in order to avoid payment delays. Your PayPal name must match exactly the payee name in your Y!PN account. If they do not match, we recommend updating your Paypal account or create a new one to match the payee name in your Y!PN account, or creating a new PayPal account matching again matching the payee name in your Y!PN account.

Please note that your PayPal account type must also match your Y!PN account type. This means if you have selected a Y!PN account type of “Corporation,” then your PayPal account must be a business account. If you have selected a Y!PN account type of “Individual/Sole Proprietor” your Paypal account must be a personal account.

If PayPal is unable to verify your email address or Y!PN Payee name, we will default your Yahoo! Publisher Network payment to direct deposit if you have valid direct deposit information on file. Otherwise, we will default your payment to check.

Following the above tips should help you make sure payment reaches you.

- The Yahoo! Publisher Network Customer Solutions Team

Every so often, entire industries are transformed by innovation—and we at Yahoo! think we’re on the verge of transforming the advertising industry. It’s an industry ripe for transformation. Especially with display ads, everything from finding the right audience to booking inventory to testing ads is decidedly old school, and not in the good way. With AMP! from Yahoo!, our forthcoming advertising management platform, we plan to change forever the way you interact with everyone in your advertising world—and help you to get the most from your pages. Read about it, and see a video of it in action, in this post by Yahoo! President Sue Decker.

—The Team

We like lists — five reasons to use display, seven linkbait tips, and lots more — so Jen Slegg’s 52 easy ways optimize your blog while on your coffee break makes us positively giddy. So many tips! Now we just have to go check the ways we’re not optimized. On our coffee breaks, of course.

MyBlogLog has some nifty new widgets that make it easier to let your readers know what’s happening with you. The idea is that even if you’re too busy to update your “about me” section, the widgets will look at what you’re posting or bookmarking across the web and update your information for you.

Speaking of widgets, you might already be using some of the applications that pop up all over the social media world. Yahoo! has joined forces with Google and MySpace to form the OpenSocial Foundation, which wants to provide “common ‘plumbing’ that lets social applications run on many different websites.”

And we couldn’t leave you without some pop-culture proof that Yahoos are smart: Dave Sikula, one of the “surfers”who built the Yahoo! directory, has won a slot on Jeopardy  — and $15,000 in his first night there. Needless to say, Dave will be buying lunch in the Yahoo! cafeteria for a while.

– The Team

Linkbait has nothing to do with hot dog “links” or fish “bait,” but it has everything to do with catching folks’ attention, which can make you shout with glee: “Hot dog!” (Probably not “Fish!”)

Linkbait refers to content or a feature on a website that entices users to place links to it on other websites. Previously, Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz.org, wrote about linkbaiting on our YPN blog. We thought it would be a great idea to recap Rand’s informative and practical article, in case you missed it.

Linkbaiting is often seen as a form of viral marketing, which encourages users to pass along a message. When using linkbaiting, you may want to consider targeting link-friendly audiences such as bloggers, news sites and social media portals such as Flickr, Facebook and MySpace.

What Can You Use as Linkbait?
Rand explains that linkbait can be anything from a photo to an interactive web-based application to a “Top 10” list. In a nutshell, if your content sparks someone to link to it, it can be defined as linkbait.

The How and Why of Linkbait
Successful linkbait content generates buzz. As it is linked and passed on from site to site, the content gains traction and visibility. For example, let’s say you have a funny video of a dramatic and cute chipmunk on your site. Folks online will want to share this clip, and the next thing you know, it’s a world-wide internet phenomenon. (It’s actually a prairie dog from a Japanese telly show, but it’s still pretty darn funny.)

Rand explains that “Even after the initial buzz from your successful linkbaiting campaign dies down, your site’s traffic may stay on a slight increase due to a “linkbait bump” that keeps users circling back to your site.”

Rand’s Seven Tips for Linkbaiting:
1.  Find appropriate linkbait portals
2.  Understand your audience
3.  Brainstorm effectively
4.  Build beautiful bait
5.  Create a reputation
6.  Grab their attention
7.  Don’t be manipulative—and DON’T SPAM!

You can find more details on each step in Rand’s article.  Then…hot dog!

– Roger Park, Manager, Marketing Communications and office snacker

Lots of new publishers turn to contextual advertising when they first start advertising on their web sites, because it seems like the easiest way to start. But if you ignore display, you’re ignoring a way to make money with your sites.

Contextual advertising is an easy way to start, but using display advertising can be just as easy. Here are five reasons why display could be right for you.

1. Variety is the Spice of Life

 Publishers sometimes make the mistake of looking at advertising too one-dimensionally. For example, some publishers only use text ads to monetize their pages. Their rationale is that text ads won’t “distract” their users from web page content.

However, using display ads along with those text ads provides variety, which can improve a user’s overall experience on a web site.

2. Display Can Handle What Text Can’t

Text ad services can’t read a flash game that’s running on a page, can’t create relevant ads from a social network profile (where the comments and content are really mixed), and can’t “listen” to an internet radio site and determine relevant text ads to show. These kinds of publishers are ready to put display ads into the mix, as they’re likely to monetize better.

3. If it’s Guaranteed, it Will Be Display

What can you do if your site is growing, gaining traction, and you want to have the option of selling a guaranteed ad campaign to Company XYZ? Guaranteed campaigns are usually made up of display ads—so your site is more likely to attract advertisers if you’re already running display ads than if the site only has contextual ads.

4. Being Discreet

With most contextual ad systems, people usually know exactly who is providing your ads; with display it’s not as clear. Some publishers would prefer to keep their ad providers to themselves.

5. Channel Conflicts, Competitors and Contextual

Contextual relevancy can sometimes work against you. An example: if you’re a site that features a directory of different plumbers, your text ads on the sidebar will most likely be about “plumbing” or “plumbers.” But what if plumbing companies (who paid to be advertised high up on your directory page) have to compete with those text ads? The conflict is real. This is another example where ad variety works for you.

Fortunately, there is an easy solution for addressing these issues: It’s a free ad-server/ad management system called Direct Media Exchange. It provides a variety of ads, less channel conflicts, and can lead you to higher ad revenue opportunities. Using DMX, ad networks bid for your ad spaces, and the highest bidding ad is served every time…so you can maximize your ad revenue.

It’s that simple. DMX can provide you with a more effective way to monetize your web sites.

If you think you’re ready for display ads— or merely want more competition between your current display ad networks to help maximize your revenue—it may be time to check out DMX. Ads can be hard work to handle on your own. But we make it easy.

—Vince Panero, Community Education Manager/Blogger, Right Media’s DMX

Try the new Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo! service

The Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo! service that we first mentioned in November is up and running. This beta program offers publishers a great opportunity to monetize PDFs with contextual, text-based ads next to your content.

So just how do you get an ad in a PDF? Ads will be displayed in a panel adjacent to your content, so that they don’t disrupt the viewing experience. Every time the PDF is viewed, we’ll match contextual ads from our extensive network of advertisers to the content of the document.

This program solves one of the problems of loading content into PDFs, which is that they use up bandwidth and storage in hosting them, but they don’t bring any additional payment unless you charge for them. So the more people download them, the more they potentially end up costing you.

It’s That Word, Again: Monetize

By signing up for this service, you get paid every time someone clicks on an ad displayed next to your PDF documents. So the more your document gets downloaded, the more potential it has to make you money. Wired, Pearson’s Education, Meredith Corporation and many other publishers are already active in the program.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today and start generating revenue from your PDFs. If your application is accepted, you’ll just need to upload your PDFs so that we can ad-enable them. Then simply distribute them to your audience, just like you do today.

For more info, check out the Adobe blog.

–Mike McCullough

 

Presidential candidates are turning to social media because that’s where many potential voters are. For publishers, these social media users are your potential site visitors, so it’s good to know how the candidates are reaching them.

Augmenting their traditional media efforts, candidates for the 2008 Presidential election are also using various forms of social media, from blogs, message boards, podcasts, user-generated videos, photo-sharing sites and more. Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton each have YouTube, Facebook and MySpace pages, which are updated frequently. This doesn’t count the scores of Facebook groups and MySpace pages maintained by their supporters.

Senator John McCain’s Facebook page is a good example of connecting and interacting with online users. The McCain campaign makes good use of online video and posts frequent updates on that site. The “Wall” section of Facebook allows folks to post their comments while the calendar section shows upcoming campaign events. the McCain campaign engages with the online user through different media: online video, comments section, sharing photos and an events calendar. McCain’s daughter, Meghan, has been drumming up interest in her father’s campaign with behind-the-scenes photos and video posts from the campaign trail.

Given the success of grassroots video for Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, it’s no surprise that part of his social media effort is a channel on YouTube. The channel also features a subscribe link, which is a great “pull” tactic. If you’re going to use online social media, consider the media as a pull tactic which draws interested persons to you and your site.

Senator Hillary Clinton’s Friendster site is a good example of establishing an online community.  On this social networking page, the Clinton campaign connects supporters to each other and becomes a centralized place for them to congregate online. Senator Clinton uses her blog to speak directly to her supporters, giving her message more of a personalized voice. If you’re an online publisher considering a way to personalize your company, blogs can provide such a path.

Social media can help the candidates—and you, too—but only if you follow some ground rules. Consider these guidelines laid out by the Social Media blog, and our interpretation of them:

1. Communication is conversation, not a monologue. Social media implies that you facilitate a two-way discussion, rather than a one-way bombardment of marketing messages. In short, this means that you stay engaged and in a discussion with visitors. Sometimes this dialogue will open you up for attacks, but that’s the part of the freedom that this discourse involves.

2. Participants are people, not organizations. Don’t hide behind a mask of anonymity; let readers know who you are and speak to them on the same level.

3. Honesty and transparency are vital. Folks know when you are enhancing the conversation with a sales pitch, and they’ll gladly ignore you if carry on this way. The more honest and transparent you are, the more readers will trust you. So don’t try to spin or manipulate the conversation; keep it honest and simple.

4. It’s pull, not push. Don’t try to force your message on folks in social media, because in this world, users are in control. Respect the ebb and flow in your dialogue.

It’s easy to see how these principles are applicable to political discourse. But they also can serve as the winning ticket for those of you considering casting a vote for online social media.

— Roger Park, Manager, Marketing Communications

Stay updated on the Election 2008 with the Yahoo! Political Dashboard