Some search engines still use meta tags to determine the content of your pages and posts - even in wordpress. Your wordpress blog meta tags can be changed in the header.php file, but what if you want to ad meta tags to each wordpress post.

How to use xfish_meta wordpress plugin

xfish_meta is a wordpress plugin that does just that. Simply upload the file to your plug-ins directory and activate as per usual. Then when adding a post simply ad 2 custom fields - description and keywords and Bob’s your uncle. Check page source and there are your meta tags. xfish_meta is a cool tool.

This should help with SEO for your Wordpress blog.

Chitika is a fairly new contextual search engine, with a pay per click mode. Unlike the Google Adsense Select program, it’s displayed ads are more interactive and graphical, but also packed with the guts of information that stimulate interested parties to click.

They must have been designed by some marketing expert because Chitika Ads are fun to play with.

Anyway, back to my original question - does Chitika pay as much or more than Adsense?

Well, it’s one of those loaded questions, isn’t it? How much traffic? What content? Side by side with the same content there would be different results. One thing is for sure - chitika currently pays 60% per genuine click for the same ad anywhere- whereas adsense ’smart pricing’ means the same ad could attract a lower payment per click depending up factors that adsense determines. As a made up example I could have an ad for the category - blue widgets - on my site I may be paid $1 for the click but on another site the click may only worth $0.20.

Chitika is gathering momentum and will be a strong contender. On this site I run no adsense at all due to lessening revenues in adsense personally. In October my personal adsense earnings halved. Sad yes, but also honest. My travels around various forums have seen others in the same boat. My own personal opinion on this is that adsense has reached a mature level with enough publishers. The forces of supply and demand are at work. More publishers - then lessen publisher income and retain the cream of the crop - the big sites. It’s the old 80/20 rule.

Chitika being the relatively new kid on the block - as a name - the people behind it are obviously a very experienced internet management team - is hungry for new publishers - hence the publishers will get a great deal in the growth phase and this will persist until maturity develops. Chitika has not locked themselves in to saying that they will never bring out a ’smart pricing’ model and this could be years away.

Can I use Chitika and Adsense on the same page

Other data - it does not violate google TOS - place them both on the same page - no problems. If using Google search you must disable Chitika Search functionality. Additionally you must leave the Chitika ads on the default setting (which is non-contextual) and specify your own keywords if you will be using adsense on the same page.

Chitika can be run in contextual mode which means ads will match to your content. Testing your advertisements in the areas of position on your page to maximise clickthrus is recommended. I recommend you also read the Chitika FAQs on the Chitika site - it is packed with great information.

SIGN UP FOR CHITIKA HERE (free for webmasters)

More information on Chitika Eminimalls here

I’ve just installed another wordpress plugin on this blog. It’s called searchmeter. It’s pretty nifty. And definitely - you guessed it - a cool tool.

What does search-meter do?

Search-meter keeps track of all searches from your wordpress blogs search function. It records exactly which search terms your visitors are searching for on your wordpress blog. This wordpress plugin is exactly what you need if you want to track visitors and provide your visitors what they are looking for.

For example you may search this site for a particular wordpress plug-in or blogging tool or other piece of cool software and you may not find it. But I will respond to that request and research it and do a review or write something on it so next time you come back there it will be.

If it’s cool - it will be here. My hope is that search-meter will assist me to respond to my readers needs and give them want they want. Time will tell, but this is a good test of a wordpress plug-in. If it passes the test it only becomes cooler.

Be cool.