April Earnings Posted This Week; Payments Coming Soon

WidgetBucks publishers can now view April earnings on their MyBucks pages. We apologize for the delay in posting these and thank you for your patience. Also, April earnings payments will be made by June 11.

- Dean

Have You Got Your iPhone on WidgetBucks Yet?

Apple recently halted the online sale of the iPhone, indicating they were out of stock companywide, but publishers can still get theirs on WidgetBucks. Ok, well, these iPhones don't exactly make calls or snap photos -- these are iPhone widget skins and they look very cool on your site or blog.

What's a skin, you ask? Skins simply change the way your ad widget looks. More technical types call this "user interface." The benefit is the ability to make the widget either grab more attention by standing out or blending with editorial content -- depending on the desire of the publisher.

The iPhone skin widget is currently offered in two sizes -- 160x300 (iPhone, pictured to right) and 160x600 (a slider phone, see right sidebar if you are based in the U.S.). A significant number are using these already, including this publisher ebookee.com.

These styles are found within the "Choose a Size" pull-down menu. After selecting, just "update" your code and the iPhone skin will automatically populate on your site -- no need to repaste code.

We Want Your Vote
Over the coming weeks we'll be offering a gallery of various pre-made skins, as well as the ability to fully customize your widgets (think Winamp meets widgets). For the gallery options, we'd love your input on what you'd like to see, so please vote below.

- Dean

WidgetBucks, AdSense: Living in Harmony

Pop-unders have been running just under a week now through the WidgetBucks network, and over that time, we have had some inquiries that we hope to clarify in this post:

1. Compatibility with Google AdSense
Below is an excerpt pulled from the AdSense Terms of Service to clarify that there is, in fact, no conflict with running WidgetBucks ads (that offer a pop-under) and AdSense ads on the same page:

Site and Ad Behavior Sites showing Google ads should be easy for users to navigate and should not contain excessive pop-ups. AdSense code may not be altered, nor may standard ad behavior be manipulated in any way that is not explicitly permitted by Google.

• Sites showing Google ads may not contain pop-ups or pop-unders that interfere with site navigation, change user preferences, or initiate downloads. [Editor Note: WidgetBucks does none of these] Read the rest of the Google AdSense TOS here.
  

2. Opting-In/Out
Those opting-out of these ads need to be sure to select "Update" on their code once they uncheck the box. Note, these ads do NOT require repasting code into your blog or site -- just hit "Update" to apply.

3. Display Ad Reporting
Today we've rolled out changes to the MyWidgets reporting page to make it easier for publishers to differentiate revenue and impressions from U.S.-based display and international CPM ads. All Display Ad reporting -- including impressions and revenue from pop-unders -- is now broken down separately from International figures. Previously, these had been one. While both are still found under the CPM Ads tab, having them in separate columns should make distinguishing this information much easier and informative. Incidentally, the roll-up figures and pie-charts continue to reflect the aggregation of the tabbed sections. Click on the image below for a snapshot of the new columns or checkout your own MyWidgets page.


Thanks for the continued input and for using WidgetBucks!

- Dean

Reminder: WidgetBucks Rolling Out New Ad Type

As indicated in a recent newsletter to publishers, WidgetBucks publishers should soon begin seeing an increase in display CPM rates due to the introduction of pop-under ads. These are ads that display in a new browser window behind the current browser window, and will appear to both U.S. and international viewers. Revenue and impressions from these ads will be rolled into the existing "CPM Display Ads" buckets, and as a reminder, log-in to your active widgets and confirm if you would like to opt-in or opt-out of this revenue opportunity. This opt-in/opt-out option is also provided when creating new widgets. Currently the pop-under frequency is set to one display for each visitor per day (24 hours).

- Dean