Sample Website Privacy Policy You Can Use (AdSense-friendly)

A Sample Website Privacy Policy You Can Use

(AdSense-friendly!)

Howdy friends! As promised in my last blog post, New AdSense Policies - Are You Fully Compliant?, here's a sample website privacy policy that you are free to use on your own website or blog.

This free website privacy policy sample template is yours to use as you wish!

- All I ask is that you be kind and link back to this site if you decide to use it. ;)

Note: It doesn't matter how you link back. Adding me to your blogroll or whatever is totally fine. Also, feel free to make any changes to this sample website privacy policy that you feel are necessary for your own site or blog.

Also, if you think that I've left out anything important in this privacy policy sample, please leave a comment below to let me know about it!
  
Free Sample Website Privacy Policy

Here's a free sample privacy policy you can use for your own website or blog. Please be kind and link back to me if you decide to use it. Also, be sure to make changes wherever necessary!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure that the link to your privacy policy is in a place where your readers can easily see it. Don't try to hide it anywhere! Your privacy policy link should be visible (and clickable) on all pages. But at the very least, make sure that it's easily seen (and clickable) somewhere on your home page.

Remember, your website privacy policy is there to protect YOU!

(BEGINNING)

Our Privacy Policy

As a fellow Internet user myself, I totally respect your online privacy. So it goes without saying that I'm fully committed to safeguarding your online privacy while you're here at the (insert website URL here) website.

And that's precisely why I've decided to include the following, which discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for this website.

Log Files

Like most standard websites, this website uses log files. These include: Internet Protocol addresses (IP addresses), browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and the number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement in the aggregate, and to gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc., are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Web Cookies and Beacons

Web cookies (also known as HTTP cookies, or just cookies) are parcels of text that are sent by a server to a Web browser, and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. In other words, a cookie is a piece of data stored on a user’s computer that is tied to information about the user.

Web beacons are objects that are embedded in a webpage or email that are invisible to the user, but allow checking that a user has viewed the page or email. Other names are web bug, tracking bug, tag or page tag.

This website does use cookies. Additionally, some of my business partners (for example, advertisers) may use cookies and web beacons as well. This site has no access to, or control of advertisers' web cookies or web beacons.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. Please check your browser's help section for instructions on how to do this.

Links

This website contains links to other websites. Please be aware that I am not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. I encourage you, when you leave this website, to read the privacy policy (or privacy statement) of each and every website you visit, as this particular privacy policy applies solely to this particular website.

Advertisers

I use outside advertising networks and companies in order to display ads on this site. These ads may contain cookies and/or web beacons in order to collect data in the ad serving process. These such cookies and/or web beacons are collected by the companies and/or advertising networks, themselves. I do not have any access to this information.

I currently work with several advertising networks and companies, such as: (list them here if you wish). If you have any questions, please check their websites for their respective privacy policies.

Webmaster Contact Information

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the (insert website URL or website name here) privacy policy, please feel free to contact me at (insert proper contact info. here).

(END)

Anyway, I hope that's helpful! Having a good website privacy policy is very important. Be sure to be honest in everything that you do, and don't try to trick or fool your visitors, as it very well may come back to haunt you.

Like the old saying goes, "Honesty is best policy." And that's a fact, Jack.

Note: This is just a sample website privacy policy. You, as a website and/or blog owner, are solely responsible for your own website privacy policy. I've merely supplied this sample website privacy policy as an easy guide for you to use for free.While it should suffice for most sites, you should obviously make sure that all your own bases are covered properly in your privacy policy statement (privacy policy notice).

Related Blog Posts

• Multiply Ways To Increase Your AdSense Earnings - Part I
• Make Money - Online Money Makers That Work
• New AdSense Policies - Are You Fully Compliant?
• Shareapic - Make Money With Your Pictures!

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New AdSense Policies - Are You Fully Compliant?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Yes, indeedy doody! As some of you may already know, Google has recently updated the AdSense Terms and Conditions.

It's updating in a rolling release, so if you haven't seen it in your AdSense account just yet, don't worry; you will. It'll be the first page you see when you log in, and you definitely can't miss it!

New AdSense Terms and Conditions

At the very bottom of the Google AdSense™ Online Standard Terms and Conditions agreement you'll see three choices:

• Yes, I have read and accept the above Terms and Conditions.
• Remind the the next time I log in.
• No, I do not accept the above Terms and Conditions.

Obviously, you must accept the new AdSense Terms and Conditions in order to continue using AdSense on your blog or website, but for now you can just choose the second option in order to bypass the AdSense agreement page and view your AdSense earnings and account information - so long as you accept the new AdSense Terms and Conditions by March 25, 2008.

So...Beware the Ides of March! And then just add 10 days. :P

The AdSense Agreement Changes

So what's changed? Well, a lot of things. But probably the most significant change to the AdSense Terms and Conditions is that now you must:

"have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management."

Yes, you read that correctly. The new AdSense Terms and Conditions now require you to have a privacy policy on your blog/website that discloses the placement and readerment (as George Bush might say :P) of HTTP cookies (also known as web cookies, or just cookies), the usage of web beacons, and what have you.

Now, if writing a such a privacy policy seems a bit daunting, or if you just plain old don't have time to do so, don't worry. I'll be posting a sample website privacy policy here soon that you'll be free to use and amend in any way you see fit.

UPDATE: Here's that sample website privacy policy.

As for the changes, themselves, most fall into two broad categories:

• Future products and features
• Privacy requirements

From the Google AdSense blog:

"Specifically, one of the main changes is that the terms anticipate future products that may become available in other advertising formats and mediums, for example Gadget Ads. As we look forward to monetizing more online and offline content, we've re-worded some portions of the terms to make them applicable across a broader array of media and formats -- anticipating, for example, that future products may be priced, paid, or managed differently than current ones."

and...

"We've also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers' use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future."

Thou Shalt Not Badmouth Google

I can't for the life of me remember whether or not this was included in the previous AdSense Terms and Conditions agreement, though I'm quite sure that it must have been. I mean, I can't imagine a company of such magnitude forgetting to include such a thing, so at the risk of being an "ass" I'm just going assume that it was always there.

Nonetheless, I feel that it's quite important to highlight this portion of the agreement since many AdSense users are not in compliance with it...

Under the "Prohibited Uses" section it states that you shall not:

"engage in any action or practice that reflects poorly on Google or otherwise disparages or devalues Google’s reputation or goodwill."

Translation: Do not speak ill of Google. Do not badmouth Google...at all. Bottom line, if you have any issue or problem that is at all related to Google, then take it up with Google. Do not publish (blog about, post about, or comment about) any woes you may have regarding anything related to Google, for it is against the AdSense Terms and Conditions.

And that's a good policy, though some may not wholeheartedly agree with it. But every company has the right to require this of its users, and to take appropriate action if they don't follow it. It's called "information control." We live it every day. And whether or not you agree with it per se, is another matter entirely.

But the bottom line is this: If you agree to the new AdSense agreement, then you are agreeing not to engage in any action or practice that reflects poorly on Google, its reputation, or its goodwill.

So be fully aware that any and all Google badmouthing is not in accordance with the Google AdSense agreement, and could result in your AdSense account being banned indefinitely. Consider yourself warned. :P

What Else Has Changed With AdSense?

Quite a lot, actually. I had originally planned to write a lenghty blog post that would outline and dissect each and every change, omission and addition to the AdSense Terms and Conditions - that is, until I checked out Jennifer Slegg's blog, JenSense.

After carefully reading her post on the recent AdSense Terms and Conditions update, I concluded that there really isn't much of a need for me to construct such a blog post, for she's done quite a stellar job of it, herself. So a little link love here is in order. :)

In her post, Jennifer has carefully outlined and explained each of the AdSense agreement changes - and in great detail, I might add. So before you hurriedly click to accept the new AdSense Terms and Conditions agreement in order to "just get it over with," be absolutely sure that you know and understand everything to which you are agreeing.

See, I've been to many of the webmaster forums lately, and as silly as it sounds, that's exactly what many bloggers and website owners are doing. Unfortunately, they're the ones who may one day be alerted to the fact that their AdSense accounts have been banned for noncompliance. And that's never a good thing.

So be sure to check out Jennifer's post if you're at all in wonderment regarding Google's new AdSense Terms and Conditions update. It could be the difference between making money with AdSense, or not making any at all.

Related Blog Posts

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New Scrolling Ads in Google AdSense!

I just saw the following two Google AdSense ads displayed here on my blog. The ads themselves appear the same as any other AdSense ad, except for one tiny difference - two colored arrows that your site visitors can click in order to actually scroll their way through the ads. Pretty nifty!

Here's the first version (with small arrows):


And here's the second version (with larger arrows):


You'll notice that each AdSense ad has a set of arrows located at the bottom, on left-hand side of the ad. By clicking these arrows, your site visitors can "actively scroll" back-and-forth through the ads to see more AdSense ads that they may be interested in.

Obviously, no word yet on how this actually affects AdSense CTR (click-through rate), but I must say that it's an enhancement that may very well help to increase your AdSense earnings. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

*Join Yuwie, the social network that pays you for using it!*

Multiple Ways To Increase Your AdSense Earnings - Part I

Like most bloggers out there, I've been monitoring the performance of my AdSense ads like a hawk...like a hawk with nonlinear laser vision, and the unlimited super power ability to make money where other feathered "tweeties" have fallen into a vast and ever-deadly tailspin. Yowsers!

OK, so enough with the colorful word play. For this blog post I'm simply outlining the different ways in which I was able to triple my AdSense earnings for the last three months in a row. Granted, I'm not making a fortune with AdSense, but it's still a nice additional stream of income for this blog.

Increased AdSense Earnings

All in all, I was able to increase my overall AdSense earnings by about 320%. My AdSense CTR (Click-through Rate) increased by about 197%, and my earnings "per click" more than doubled.

Important: Do not share your actual AdSense click-through rates, or other statistical information relating to your site performance with anyone, as it's against section 7 of Google's Terms & Conditions to do so. You can disclose the amount of Google’s gross payments to you, but no other actual statistics can be disclosed. So please, play it safe, my friends!

AdSense Ad Placement

One of the easiest and most effective ways to increase your AdSense earnings is to place your AdSense ads in locations that will yield the best CTR (Click-through Rate). While the best ad placement varies from page to page and from website to website, there are a few things that pretty much remain a constant:

1. Keep your pages looking clean, uncluttered and inviting. Common sense, I know, but you'd be surprised how many people still seem to forget about this when it comes to filling thier webspace with ads.

2. Place your AdSense ads above the fold (on the upper half of a page). Yes, you can also place your ads below the fold (on the bottom half of a page), but AdSense ads placed above the fold tend to have a much higher CTR, simply because more people see them there.

3. Be sure to place your AdSense ads near rich website content. Ads that are place near rich site content and navigational aids tend to perform much better than those that are not - simply because readers are focussed on that specific area of a page. Again, the more people that see your ads, the better chance you have of getting click-throughs for those ads.

For short articles and blog posts, place your AdSense ads above your content, as CTR tends to be the highest there.

For long articles and blog posts, CTR tends to be highest when ads are placed near the middle or the end of your content. This is because, as readers are reading and engaged in your content, they're also on the lookout for more information and resources on the subject matter at hand.

AdSense Ad Appearance

If your website's text color is black, set the AdSense ad unit URL (not the ad unit title) and the ad unit text color to black. In most cases, ads will perform much better this way. Dark gray is also another good option.

As for the ad's overall appearance, there are three basic ways to go about it:

• Blend
  
• Compliment
  
• Contrast
  

Utilizing any of these three strategies can greatly help to reduce "ad blindness" (the tendency for readers to ignore anything that's not truly part of your site's content) and therefore, increase your overall CTR and AdSense earnings.


Blend - To blend your AdSense ads with your website's design, simply make the background and borders of your ads the same color as the background of your webpage where the ad is placed.

If you need help matching the colors, then be sure to check out Color Schemer, which allows you match HTML colors with the simple click of a button.

If your website has a white background, and you don't want to spend a whole lot of time choosing ad colors, Google recommends that you use the pre-designed Open Air palette. Since I've never personally used it, I can't honestly vouch for it. BUT, I do know that when it comes to maximizing AdSense revenue, Google obviously knows better than anyone else!

Compliment - To compliment your site with your AdSense ad's appearance, simply use the colors that already exist on your site. Just don't match the background and borders of the ads exactly with the colors of the location where the ads are located.

Contrast -To contrast the appearance of your AdSense ads with that of your website, simply choose colors that stand out against the background of your site.

Google recommends "contrasting" only for sites that have a dark background. Further, they suggest using a color palette with white background, white borders and blue titles.

If your site has a lot of repeat readers, it also helps to switch things up a bit from time to time in order to further reduce ad blindness and to maintain the highest possible CTR. So every once in a while, change the colors of your AdSense ads, as well as their location on your site.

Maximizing Your Ad Space

You can maximize your website's ad space by placing multiple AdSense ads on your webpages. Google allows up to three AdSense ad units to be displayed on each webpage, a maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes per page, up to three link units per page, and up to three AdSense referral units per page.

According to Google, "Multiple ad units can help optimize your performance by leveraging our large inventory of ads." The best way to measure the overall effect and performance of multiple ad units is to constantly monitor and examine the impact on your overall earnings. Having multiple AdSense ad units per page may prove successful for:

• Pages with lots of text (like blogs), wherein users scroll down the page.
• Forums or message boards, particularly within threads.
• Pages where only small ad formats (like the 125 x125 button) will fit.

Hot tip for maximizing multiple ad units: This AdSense tip comes straight from Google:

"Make sure that the ad unit with the best placement on the page is the ad unit that appears first in your HTML code. This will help ensure that your prime ad real estate is occupied by the ads that place highest in the auction and will generate the most revenue for you"

Note: If you have a Google Adsense for search search box implemented on your blog or website, be sure that you've set it to open the search results on Google in a new browser window. This way, you won't lose your visitors whenever they do a Google search from your website.

To set your Google AdSense for search search box this way, make sure that you've selected the "Open results on Google in a new window" option when setting up the AdSense for search search box on your site.

Monitor Your Keyword Density

When it comes to increasing your AdSense earnings, I cannot say enough about monitoring your keyword density. Paying attention to your keywords and your keyword density is absolutely crucial if you want to make the most amount of money per click from the AdSense ads that appear on your site.

What is keyword density? Quite simply, keyword density is the percentage of words on a webpage that match a specified set of keywords. When it comes to AdSense, advertisers "bid" on keywords for their advertising campaigns. By "bidding" they set the amount that they're willing to pay "per click" for a specific keyword or keywords.

Some keywords cost/pay very little per click, and some keywords cost/pay a lot per click. By monitoring which keywords you use in your website content, you can effectively increase your AdSense earnings quite easily.

Be sure to check out my post entitled, Increase AdSense Earnings - Monitor Keyword Density, and further, be absolutely sure that you add the Keyword Density and Prominence Tool to your online marketing arsenal.

Filtering Your AdSense Ads

Google AdSense allows you to filter the AdSense ads that appear on your website via their Competitive Ad Filter. You can use this option to filter (stop) ads from your competitors from appearing on your site. You can also use this ad filter option to filter ads from the sites you don't like or approve of.

BUT, you can also be smart and creative with it and use the Competitive Ad Filter to block advertisers who tend to advertise with less-competitive, lower-paying keywords. How? Simple. Just use the Google Adwords Keywords Tool to discover which keywords are the least competitive (which means they'll pay less per click) and work from there.

Block Those Filthy MFA Sites

You'll want to be absolutely sure that you use the Competitive Ad Filter to block out any MFA (Made For AdSense) sites that could be showing up in the AdSense ads on your site.

What are MFA sites? MFA sites are sites that have almost no content, whatsoever. The only reason they exist is to make money off of Google AdSense and other online ad programs. And they totally suck! Why? Because they'll cost you a lot of money in AdSense earnings simply because they offer an extremely low cost per click (LCPC) payout.

For example, if you've ever noticed AdSense earnings in your account that were around 1 to 3 cents per click, then there's a good chance that those clicks were from an MFA site.

Bottom line, MFA site owners are nothing more than no-good, rogue advertisers, capitalizing on keyword arbitrage. They will steal your web traffic and cost you a lot of money in the long run!

How can you block MFA sites? Thankfully, the answer is easy. One of the best tools I've come across for blocking MFA sites is AdsBlackList. The AdsBlackList site will help you reduce the amount of MFA and LCPC sites that appear in your Adsense ads by providing you with a list known MFA sites that you can filter out. So use it!

I cannot stress this enough. Use AdsBlackList in conjunction with Google's Competitive Ad Filter and you'll be able to increase your monthly AdSense earnings much easier than you think.

Bottom line, why to lose your site visitors for 1¢ per click when you could do it for 50¢ or more a click instead?!

Sharing And Syndicating Your Content

When it comes to syndicating your content, one of the easiest ways to make more money with AdSense is by NOT syndicating your content in full. Why? Well, think of it this way...If people can read everything in their newsreaders, why would they visit your website..where your ads are? Chances are, and as most online polls show, they will not.

The answer? Simple. Set your site feed to offer only a short summary of your content, and direct your feed subscribers to your website for the rest of your post. Trust me, it works. Plus, it'll not only increase your AdSense earnings, it'll also increase your Alexa rank as well, because more of your subscribers will actually visit your site to read your blog posts in full.

The how to: If you use FeedBurner for your site feed:

• Sign in to your FeedBurner account.
• Select your site feed.
• Click on the "Optimize" tab.
• Click on the "Summary Burner" link.
• Set the parameters to your liking, and click Save.
  

Personally, I recommend setting the "Maximum length" field to at least 500 characters. This way, it gives your readers a decent summary of your content, without giving away the farm.

Note: One thing to keep in mind is that not everyone likes to use a feed reader. Beyond that, most people don't even know what a feed reader is in the first place. Yes, it's true!

So be sure that you offer your content for subscription via other online formats as well. It can only be of benefit to you. My personal favorite, and one that I highly recommend is FeedBlitz.

FeedBlitz not only helps you to increase your blog readership, it also allows you to monetize your FeedBlitz subscription page with your very own AdSense code! 'Tis true! You simply enter your Google AdSense publisher ID number, and in turn, you'll get credit for every click of the AdSense ads that are displayed on your FeedBlitz subscription page. Very cool.

I've been using FeedBlitz for several months now, and am thoroughly pleased with it. If you haven't tried it yet, then I suggest you give it a go, for it can only help to widen your audience of regular readers and site visitors. And for those that don't use feed readers, it's the perfect alternative.

Anyway, this marks the end of this blog post. Thanks again for reading! :)

PS: I'm not a "self-proclaimed" AdSense expert. So, if you have any AdSense tips and tricks that have worked well for you, please be sure to comment and share them with all of us! Trust me, we'll love you for it!:)

New AdSense Ad Units Spotted!

Today I noticed a new type of AdSense ad showing up on my blog, so I took some screenshots. They're regular ad units, but they've got some extra links in them.

Here's what the ad looked like on my blog.


And here's the actual ad itself. As you can see, it's got some additional links below the black text.


Now the question, is what will this do for our CTR? And what kind of ads are they? For example, when I hovered my mouse over "RSS Feed" I saw this:

javascript:gurl('ChBGtsWPAAvTQo4U1MgRmVlZBvxCfEgtDigBSLTkrw4')

Apparently, when they're clicked on, a new ad displays in the same ad block. But I don't know this for certain. It was stated in a comment I had read on another blog and I'm about to click on my own ads to find out.

AdSense Referrals Beta - Are You In?

Have you signed up for Google AdSense Referrals Beta? If you haven't, then you might just want to. AdSense Referrals Beta will allow you to choose referral ads from hundreds of AdWords advertisers, customize those referral ads, and show multiple referrals in just one ad unit.

If you're already using ad serving programs like Google AdSense as a form of blog monetization, then AdSense Referrals Beta should be a really good fit. It'll allow you to further expand your earning potential by connecting your readers with more products and services that appeal to them. And best of all, it gives you 100% the control over what ads will be shown on your blog.


AdSense Referrals Beta lets you do some real picking and choosing with the ads so you can be sure to feature the products and services that most appeal to your audience. The referral units themselves also allow for customization, so you can easily set them to match to the look and feel of your blog or website.

Getting Paid - One thing to note is that AdSense Referrals Beta does not pay commissions on a pay-per-click basis like AdSense does. It's a CPA setup (Cost Per Acquisition/Action), so it pays you whenever your site visitors click through to an advertiser's site and complete an action that's been defined by the advertiser. For example, a defined action could be a sale, or it could simply be something like a lead or a sign up. It just depends on how the advertiser has chosen to pay commissions.

Maximizing Your Earnings - AdSense Referrals Beta will also allow you to choose the highest-paying referrals to place in your ad space. It does this by letting you see expected earnings as well as the overall performance of a particular advertiser ahead of time. In addition, it lets you target specific keywords for your referral ads. This will allow you to maximize your earnings and keep ads relevant to your site. Good stuff.

Conclusion - All in all, I expect Google AdSense Referrals to do very well. From the outset, it looks to be a very strong program that is carefully designed to benefit both publishers and advertisers in numerous ways. And that, my friends, is the recipe for a winner.

Die Google AdSense?

"Die Google AdSense"

Was Google AdSense Hacked?

Here's something kinda funny. The other day a colleague of mine called me in somewhat of a panic after she had logged into her Google AdSense account in order to check her stats.

But when she had logged in, instead of reaching her account like usual, her browser was redirected to a different page. And on that page she quickly read the three words, "Die Google AdSense."

So naturally, she thought Google AdSense had been hacked into and pretty much freaked out. OK, I know, so you're probably thinking what's funny about that?

Well, to give you a clue, here's what the page actually said:

"Die Google AdSense-Website ist vorübergehend nicht verfügbar. Bitte versuchen Sie es später noch einmal. Wir entschuldigen uns für eventuell enstandene Unannehmlichkeiten."

Translation? "The Google AdSense website is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later. We apologize for any inconvenience."

You see, Google was simply down for a bit. Her eyes only caught the German words, "Die Google AdSense," totally missing the English message that was right above it! Go figure.

So, I guess the lesson learned here is: No matter if you're in a fire, in an accident, or simply checking your Google AdSense account... DO NOT PANIC! ;)