Top 5 WidgetBucks Support Questions

While WidgetBucks transitions to a new and improved customer support ticketing system, we thought we'd provide a summary of top issues coming into our customer support team:

1. Why are my eCPMs fluctuating?
We're seeing a combination of things happening, not just across the WidgetBucks network but the industry as a whole: First, simply put, Q1 is not Q4. Each year, during the holiday season, price premiums are built into Q4 ad spends, and as the shopping season passes and enters the new year, those premiums tend to go away. This year is no exception and is a trend we also saw last year on the WidgetBucks network. History has shown that this tends to rebound as the quarter continues.

Second, as the economy has impacted brand budgets, we're seeing more movement, both coming and going, of advertisers across our network. We're working with existing ad partners, as well as pursuing new relationships, to maintain eCPM (effective cost-per-thousand impressions) as things stabilize after the holiday. Nonetheless, see this report on TechCrunch around the trending of eCPMs industry wide.

Our No. 1 goal is to make you, the publisher, more money than on any other network -- and that's what we're committed to. If you are experiencing issues with eCPM, we encourage you to contact Tue Pham (pronounced 'Tray'), Senior Publisher Network Manager, at tue.pham [at] widgetbucks [dot] com (pictured).

2. Why is my application being denied?
WidgetBucks is focused on securing advertiser relationships to create the most revenue for our publishers. As a result, our advertisers need assurances from our team that content on sites containing WidgetBucks ads is conducive to their brand values, and meets our Terms of Use. Applications from sites that contain adult and gambling content, or those with offensive language, get denied. Also, sites that are not completed, still in development or have just a single blog post on them will also get denied. This is consistent across the industry when it comes to approvals (BlogCatalog is another example).

3. Why has my account been suspended?
We are finding that a majority of sites that get suspended are a result of miscategorized or misrepresented content. When this is determined by our content review team, standard protocol is that we email the publisher to alert them of the issue. Frankly, when the content is grossly misrepresented, suspension typically happens immediately. When the misrepresentation is borderline, we contact the publisher and provide them 24 hours to make any adjustments, and if those aren't made or there is not response from the publisher, the account is suspended. Note those that do respond and/or we connect with regarding issue -- and it's resolved -- we can get reactivated quickly and back on the road to top-notch earnings.

We also have sophisticated and proprietary click fraud and impression fraud filter systems in place, and track these systems continually. Refer to WidgetBucks Terms of Use for more details on what content is allowed and restricted.

4. Why is my widget not appearing?
In July, WidgetBucks provided CPC and CPM Country lists, meaning that site traffic from those countries earns revenue based on its designation. For example, visitors from the U.S. and U.K. represent CPC earnings, whereas visitors from India and Ireland represent CPM earnings. If you have installed WidgetBucks ads on your site but they are not appearing, you may be viewing the ads from a non-CPC or CPM country, and therefore no ad would appear for you but WILL appear for people viewing your site from a CPC or CPM country. If you are from a CPC or CPM country, and your WidgetBucks ads aren't appearing for you, please contact tue.pham [at] widgetbucks [dot] com

5. How are payments calculated and paid?
WidgetBucks distributes payments, earnings and commissions to publishers up to 45 days following the month your account balance reaches $50 or more. These are sent primarily via PayPal, with some also receiving checks. WidgetBucks generally does not send checks to countries outside of the U.S.; however, if you are approaching the $50 theshold (and you can't receive PayPal in your country), contact WBHelp [at] widgetbucks [dot] com to make special arrangements.

If you have other questions that weren't addressed here, contact WBHelp [at] widgetbucks [dot] com

Thanks again for using WidgetBucks on your site or blog!

- Dean

WidgetBucks Introduces New Domain/URL Approval Process

Within WidgetBucks, we're constantly looking for ways to increase value to publishers and provide better targeting for advertisers. To that end, WidgetBucks has put in place a new system to more effectively verify web addresses/URLs where publishers and bloggers are placing WidgetBucks ad widgets.

We have now implemented a process where new publishers will be able to submit multiple URLs/domains at the time of registration. For existing publishers, the immediate and longer-term impact is also detailed below. Again, this process will enable us to provide better targeted advertising that will, in turn, create better value for you as a publisher:

New publishers: When signing up with WidgetBucks, new publishers can now submit between one and five URLs/domains, each of which WidgetBucks support team will approve or decline. So it is quite possible that a publisher would be approved by WidgetBucks, but particular domains would not.

When publishers are notified via email of their approval as a WidgetBucks' publisher, they will also be told which domains were approved and/or denied. They will then be able use the pull-down menu of the approved URLs they entered on the registration page.

Existing publishers: By and large, existing publishers should not have to take immediate action -- only to the extent that you want to place more WidgetBucks ad widgets on
additional URLs. Those publishers already signed up and approved by WidgetBucks will see one of two things as they want to edit and create new widgets:
1) Create new/edit widgets: Publishers will have a pre-populated pull-down of URLs that they have already associated with the widgets they've created (see screen shot above)
2) New URL(s)/domain(s): existing users who want to add URLs to their list can do so by submitting them for approval via the “My Account” tab. Once URLs have been vetted, publishers will be notified via email as to whether the submissions were approved or declined. At this time, there is no cap on the number of URLs for existing publishers. (see screen shot below)

Over time, we will be reviewing all existing publishers' URLs. If particular sites or domains are questionable based on our Terms of Service, we may be in contacting you directly about it.

If you experience issues with this process, the WidgetBucks support url is support [at] widgetbucks [dot] com.

- Dean

Germany, France, Italy and Others Join WidgetBucks' 'European Union'; Strong UK Results to Date

After expanding its CPC (cost-per-click) network into the UK on July 15, WidgetBucks has continued its roll across Western Europe as previously announced. Today, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Denmark joined the UK. This means that site visitors from those countries will now see the double-revenue ad widgets -- a CPM display ad followed by a CPC widget of country-specific products from in-country merchants in local currency. Click here to see a UK example.

This extended list of countries will be activated by 3:00PM Pacific time today.

Strong UK Results
Over the first two weeks of offering CPC ads in the UK, we're seeing a very strong response from visitors, meaning publishers' eCPMs are going up. In fact, our data shows a 2.5 times increase in eCPM (combining CPM and CPC earnings) for the UK over this time.

Terms of Use Change
As WidgetBucks goes about its CPC network expansion into Europe, we have also modified our Terms of Use to carry fewer restrictions on the use of non-English language sites and blogs. While we have loosened the terms in this area, it should be noted that we are not yet allowing any and all language sites into our network.

Similar to focusing on Western European countries due to the ability to target merchants and products by country to audiences, we are taking a similar approach with languages we are approving for WidgetBucks. We are now accepting non-English language sites that are native to the countries on the CPC list, including French, German, Italian, Swedish and so forth.

UPDATE 8/21/08: Spain has now been added to the CPC Country List.


- 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

WidgetBucks Updates International CPM Country List

Over the past few weeks, WidgetBucks' international advertisers have been concerned about traffic originating in certain countries. Even with fraud-protection, advertisers can deem traffic from certain regions non-valuable. As such, when advertisers no longer wish to pay for traffic to certain regions, WidgetBucks has to adapt and no longer offer traffic monetization to those regions.

Effective immediately, WidgetBucks is shortening the list of countries that pay on a CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) basis, meaning only traffic from the list of countries below will earn CPM revenue. Site visitors originating from countries not on the list will result in zero payout. Revenue earned through visitors from countries no longer on the list will still be paid through today, March 7.

If a WidgetBucks ad widget is placed on a site that is visited by a user in a non-paying country, that user will not see any ad content. And this does not involve or impact the recent roll-out of the "hybrid" widgets, which include a CPM display ad for U.S. and Canada traffic.

List of countries whose traffic continues to pay on a CPM basis:

• Australia (AU)
• Austria (AT)
• Belgium (BE)
• Denmark (DK)
• France (FR)
• Germany (DE)
• India (IN)
• Ireland (IE)
• Italy (IT)
• Netherlands (NL)
• New Zealand (NZ)
• Portugal (PT)
• Puerto Rico (PR)
• Singapore (SG)
• South Africa (ZA)
• Spain (ES)
• Switzerland (CH)
• United Arab Emirates (AE)
• United Kingdom (GB)

Over time, additional countries may return to the "approved" list, but only after ad partners become increasingly comfortable with the traffic trends and are willing to pay for ad content in those regions.

Thanks for your understanding.

-- Dean

WidgetBucks' Terms Changes Start Today

This post is a reminder that a few of WidgetBucks' Terms of Service points change today. This was originally blogged about on Jan. 3. We are discontinuing the $25 sign-up bonus on new accounts, so any publishers who have referenced the $25 bonus in custom links will need to change code. Those publishers using unmodified code and tools provided on the WidgetBucks Referral Tools page will NOT require a code update -- we're updating that code on our end.

Also starting today, our referral structure for new accounts is moving from 10 to 5 percent. Again, this is only for accounts that are opened after today and does NOT impact existing accounts.

One important piece of payment news coming in the next week or two is that new accounts outside the U.S. and Canada will require PayPal as their payment method. Existing non-U.S. and Canada accounts will be "grandfathered" and can still receive checks; however, we are noticing a number of unusual mailing addresses within existing publishers' MySettings pages. One common issue we're finding is publishers listing their local address but indicate it's within the United States, when this is obviously not the case. Our bank records also show a number of uncashed checks sent outside the U.S. and Canada. As a result, we'll continue to work with existing publishers where needed, but are making the full switch for new accounts. PayPal, which obviously gets you your money faster compared to snail mail, can be received in 65 countries and regions so should cover most publisher's needs.

And finally, later today MyBucks will reflect both November payment information and audited December earnings.

- Dean

WidgetBucks Updates Policy on Non-English Language Sites

As we've continued to evaluate impression, click and conversion data during WidgetBucks' first 3+ weeks, we've observed that a majority of non-English language sites are delivering a consistently low conversion rate. With our merchants and advertisers predominantly based in the U.S., this is not a surprising phenomenon. And as an advertising network, we have a responsibility to our merchants to deliver quality traffic that has the highest likelihood of conversion to sale.

As a result, we've updated our program policies to no longer approve or accept non-English language sites into the WidgetBucks ad network. See our Program Policies here.

This policy change enables us to consistently provide high-quality clicks and traffic to our merchants, and in turn, continue offering our competitive revenue-per-click (RPC) to our publishers.

Thank you for your continued efforts and input.

- Dean