Google has recently extended the functionality of its Adsense programme with "Referrals". They have a selection of banners available for products which you can refer to your users.

The initial product available for referral was the Adsense programme itself. Google are paying $100USD for every sign up you generate who then goes on to earn $100USD of revenue themselves.

And now a new product is available for referral - Firefox Browser plus Google Toolbar. They are paying $1USD for every download of the product you can generate. This shouldn't actually be too difficult as Firefox is a great product that is very popular anyway.

These are both welcome additions to Adsense, as far as I'm concerned.

Things to note:

• You are only allowed to place one referral unit on a webpage.
• You can not use in conjunction with your Adsense channels yet. So you can't tell from your reports where the clicks are coming from.

There's some great new merchants available on the Affiliate networks to report on.

First up, in a previous posting I said how Netklix wasn't very good but at least it had Ann Summers, which is a powerful brand in its market (of adult lingerie and toys). Well now Ann Summers is available also on TradeDoubler which is a network I much prefer to work with.

Another fantastic brand that's new to TradeDoubler is Blockbuster. This is the biggest name in movie rental, so being able to promote them to your users should be a real boon. As a service, I actually like Screenselect but I'm sure Blockbuster will give great conversions because of the brand recognition.

On Affiliate Future, we have Jermyn Shirts - an online retailer for fine shirts offering up to 13% commission. Also, and perfect for Xmas, is FindMeAGift.com with a 15% commission.

If you're anything like me, you'll be checking Google Adsense constantly throughout the day to see how you're earnings are going. Spending your time like that can start to get counter productive (and time is money, as the old maxim says).

So when I saw the Google Adsense Revenue checker, I was really quite impressed. I was initially concerned about using any application that required me to enter my Adsense credentials, but I saw the positive testimonials and decided to give it a go.

And I've been really happy with it. The application has two main parts: a small System Tray uility that keeps track of your earnings and a full blown application where you can get lots of great information and reports to help you analyse your Adsense data.

The application is made by a company called 74 Technlogies and has been a real boon to my desktop since I installed it. It costs $39.99 and there's a trial version available.

Download Adsense Revenue Checker now.

For a long time, I was under the impression that if you had to make a choice between Google Adsense and Affiliate Banners on a webpage.

The Google Adsense program policies say:

"We do not permit Google ads or search boxes accessing Google search services to be published on web pages that also contain what could be considered competing ads or services"

But also go on to say:

"We do allow affiliate or limited-text links"

I was a little confused as a banner from an affiliate network like TradeDoubler might be considered a competing ad, but it is also an affiliate link. I'm a real stickler for playing by the rules with Google Adsense, as its such a good scheme to use, so decided to check it out.

I emailed Google Customer Support who replied and said:

"I can confirm that According to our programme policies TradeDoubler ads are not considered competing ads."

So I think when they talk about competing ads, they probably mean similar contextual text based advert services mainly.

What I have learnt through my time so far in affiliate marketing is that trial and error is a key part of success. Tinkering with ad text and placement can result in a massive difference. So, success comes from experience, and experience can be a time consuming affair.

But what if you're in a hurry to make some serious money? Then learn from the wisdom and experience of others thanks to a great new e-Book called "Affiliate Insider: Insider Secrets From The Industry Experts".

The book has been written by Gordon Penza, the Online Partner Manager for Uniblue Software - the top ranking software creator on RegNow.com - the network I have often praised before on this blog as a great money making program for internet marketers.

Across 264 pages, the author goes into great details about how to make money online, explaining background information about how affiliate marketing works, discussing the terminology and weighing up affiliate marketing vs traditional advertising before then delving into nitty gritty of getting stuck in yourself. He explains, in very clear language, under the chapter heading "Getting Started":

• Choosing a website subject
• Choosing your domain name
• Checking the availability of a domain name and
  purchasing it
• Choosing a good host for your website
• Building your website
• Designing the layout of your website
• Ways to maximize traffic to your website
• Are you attracting the right audience?
• Start Joining Affiliate Programs
• Deciding which product category to promote
• Finding a specific product to promote
• Distinguish between profitable/unprofitable affiliate
  programs
• Start Promoting through Affiliate Marketing
• Choosing the best method of promotion
• Choosing the best place to add affiliate promotion
• Testing your promotion
• Your First Sales!

In addition to that, and in what must be this book's killer edge, Gordon Penza interviews some of the leading affiliate marketers online to discover the secrets of their success. One thing I always ensure is that I'm never too proud to take advice from fellow professionals and these guys have some great advice - a lot of which was new to me and I can't wait to start implementing to see if it makes a difference to my sales.

The writing style is clear, informative and knowledgeable. So, in short, a great new e-book from a very respected name in Affiliate Marketing that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Find out more about Affiliate Insider: Insider Secrets From The Industry Experts

Popup advertising works to some extent, but it is loathed by users and risks damaging your brand and reputation. It also isn't as effective as it once was since everybody now gives away popup blockers. In fact, so many people are trying to give you popup blockers, you now need to block the popup blockers.

Anyway, with that in mind, I was really impressed by a product from InstantAttention.com. It generates a cool looking note that floats on the users screen. You can put your advert or message on it, and best of all, it beats the popup blockers. It's slightly intrustive but can me made to feel like it complements your site content rather than being an annoying window that you need to close. I've implemented it on my Spyware Removal site, as you can see from the screenshot on the left.

You subscribe to the service for $10 a month (less if you pay for a year), log into the website and just complete the form to generate your ad. Then just put a line of Javascript code into your webpage and away you go. What's great is that the Javascript code remains the same, so you can log back into Instant Attention and change the advert and don't need to do anything extra on your site.

Definitely recommended by me - check out InstantAttention.com