Rebates – Reward or Rip Off?

Rebates have become increasingly popular in the last few years on a lot of items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 are not uncommon.

I’ve even seen items advertised as “free after rebate”. Do these rebates come under the heading of “too good to be true”? Some of them do and there are “catches” to watch out for but if you are careful, rebates can help you get some really good deals.

The way a rebate works is that you pay the listed price for an item then mail in a form and the bar code to the manufacturer and they send you a refund thus reducing the price of what you paid for the item except with a time delay of several weeks.

Rule #1. Rebates from reputable companies are usually just fine.

You can be pretty sure you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you should probably not count on getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If you really want the product and are OK with paying the price listed then buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.

Rule #2. Check rebate expiration dates.

Many times products will stay on the shelf of a retailer after the date for sending in the rebate offer has expired so check that date carefully.

Rule #3. Be sure you have all the forms required to file for the rebate before you leave the store.

Rebates will almost always require a form to be filled out, a receipt for the purchase and a bar code.

Rule #4. Back up your rebate claim.

Make copies of everything you send in to get your rebate including the bar code. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time and if the rebate is for $50 it’s worth the trouble to back up your claim.

Google’s Ad filtering mechanism.

Google’s filtering mechanism for Ads is based on a number of factors. Let’s take a look at some of these factors:

1. Relevance to content: This is the single most important Ad filtering criterion that is used by the Google AdSense program. In fact, it is this filtering concept that gives Google AdSense program an important edge over the other advertising programs. The Google AdSense program determines the main topics/subjects of the website content and serves the Ads that are relevant to the same. Since Google AdSense is a global program, the relevance of Ads is also checked with respect to geography and the language of the content on the website. Note that AdSense can actually be used in a number of languages not just English.

2. Appropriateness of content: Websites are based on varying themes. There are websites that are based strictly on Adult themes while the other sites are family friendly ones. Since Google’s AdSense program is open to all website owners and advertisers (who comply with the AdSense program policy), Google also controls the content of Ads to prevent Offense to anyone who sees the Ads. Google does this by using sensitive language filters and language experts. Google uses strict rules and guidelines for conducting an editorial review on the content of Ads. It also asks you to provide information about what kind of Ads (e.g. sexually-oriented, war oriented etc) you deem as inappropriate for your website.

3. Competition filter: Since Google serves Ads based on the content of the websites, it’s quite possible that the Ads of competitors get displayed on a website that sells a particular product or service. To avoid this, Google provides a facility to the website owners wherein they can specify competitors or advertisers whose Ads should not be displayed on the website.

4. Choose your own: You can also choose default Ads to be shown in case Google AdSense program is not able to serve Ads to your website (due to unavailability of suitable Ads, etc)

Tips for AdSense for feeds

AdSense for feeds is currently in beta testing phase and the content publishers are just waiting for the flood
gates to open in order to start earning revenue through the AdSense Ads in their feeds. Here are the top 3 tips
that will help you fully capitalize on this revenue earning opportunity:

Content quality: You will earn Google AdSense revenue only if people subscribe to your feed. The more
subscriptions you get, the better are your chances of success with AdSense for feeds. Since most people would
be looking for quality content, you need to make sure that your feed contains up-to-date quality information
that is presented to the users in an easy-to-understand language. Besides that, the feeds should be free from
grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Content quantity: Include as much content in your feeds as you possibly can. Again, the aim is prove that the
feed is useful and comprehensive (so that more users subscribe to it). If you feel that the complete article
cannot go into the feed, include a good summary of the article.

Limit the ad units: If the users find that your feeds contain too much Ads, they might not subscribe to your
feeds at all (and the whole purpose of feeds would get defeated). In order to ensure that you get good
subscription to your feeds, you should limit the ad units to one per feed. Another good way of ensuring that
your feeds don’t look like an advertising medium is to place the Ads either at the end of article or after
having sufficiently discussed the topic.

So, get ready for enhancing your ‘AdSense for feeds’ revenue with these tips. Your wait may soon be over.
Keep the tempo going and keep checking Google’s AdSense blog for updates about the launch of AdSense for feeds.