Adsense: How to cancel your account, and get your money back

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Many bloggers are so disillusioned with the changes in PR ranking and the changes in Adsense. To recap briefly, Google has felled many kinds of blogs PR rankings and Adsense changes are meaning that (in the short term) income is likely to go down even further. Many bloggers are now planning a boycott of Google, including me.

The TOS of many agreements allow the agreements to be cancelled by both parties without cause (I presume that means you cancel without having to provide a reason). In other words, I believe you can write them, and cancel the agreement, remove the ads and receive all monies owed to you at the time provided that the amount is greater than $10. I’d be happy to be corrected if that were not the case. So, don’t just blow that amount and don’t let Google keep it… You really can ask Google to close your Adsense account and remit your earnings. It’s in their TOS. According to their TOS, they will send you the earnings.

Quote:
In the event the Agreement is terminated, Google shall pay Your earned balance to You within approximately ninety (90) days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated by You (following Google’s receipt of Your written request, including by email, to terminate the Agreement) or by Google. In no event, however, shall Google make payments for any earned balance less than $10 .

Also, if you have written Google to cancel your contract, let me know the results. Were you successful or not? Share your experience.

I’d be in less of a hurry to throw in the towel with Google, though. My own plan is to keep Adsense until it gets to $100 (which wouldn’t have been that long without Google messing the formats!). So yes, I know, my Adsense is still there, but that’s not for much longer! …

PR Going, going, gone: What now?

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googlesucksqz5I was filled with horror yesterday when I discovered that my potentially PR4 blog had had its PR reduced to zero, yes, that’s a ‘0’, a big fat ‘oh’. Nothing, nada… 875 posts, Tech, Alexa, and traffic all good, with 2 or 3K unique page views a month… And it’s worth nothing in Google’s eyes…

At first, I thought it was a glitch in the PR tools I was using but then I began to discover that many, many bloggers even those who’d had PR3s, 4s, and 5s, had simultaneously had their ranking reduced to ZERO by Google. Even big name bloggers have had their PR ranks reduced by upwards of 2 points.

Many other bloggers are just seriously p***ed off at Google for doing this. And why? Because it seems that Google want to be the only game in town for ranking, searching and monetizing websites. And that’s just not right. Google’s search engine is good, but Adsense is not, PageRank is now worthless, and competition is increasing…

Meanwhile, here are some of the reactions from others:

The thing about that thing, From Table4five blogger Elizabeth who writes…

But … I hate to tell them this, but they do not OWN THE INTERNET. The Internet was invented as a way to share information, plain and simple. “Oogle” might have it’s fingers in a lot of pies, but it is not the only game in town. There are other search engines, other RSS readers, other email systems. And I for one intend to give those other companies more of my business. …

The Community Izea Blog writes:

The problem with Google PageRank is that it is both self serving and irrelevant to actual traffic and influence. The arbitrary and unpredictable nature of this ranking system has left both bloggers and advertisers longing for accurate statistical data since long before PayPerPost. Unfortunately, there are few options out there when it comes to determining the value of a blog. While sites like Alexa attempt to estimate traffic they are inaccurate and do a terrible job when it comes to blogs with smaller niche audiences.

One of my favorite bloggers, Skeet has written about this, too. Skeet writes in colorful language:

I’m here to tell you folks, it doesn’t matter. At least not to me, and probably not to you if you see which way the wind is blowing. By using their new criteria for ranking blogs (whatever that might be) the Big G has shafted, not the bloggers, but themselves.

Other more well-known bloggers, too. AndyBeard, John Chow, etc… The list is getting longer by the minute, too… There are many excellent posts, too many to mention.

As you can guess, I’m angry, too. Google may own the index for Google, but I own my own blog. They can rank it any way they like, but I’ll be damned if they can tell me how to run my blog. Really, so I’m beginning my own campaign of action. I’m no David, but Google is a Goliath… I won’t be able to knock it down with a lucky strike of my sling, but… I’m going to chip away at it with the chisel of my words, supported by the hammer of my actions… It won’t be an easy victory, but it will be sweet.

I’ll outline my own plan of action against Google in the next few days… I don’t expect anyone to follow me, but I’ve had enough with this aggressive bullying behavior by a monopolistic company whose primary goal is now to eliminate competition in an illegal and uncompetitive manner. Is it time for us to be suing Google? Perhaps.

How has your blog been affected? Do you think it’s important or not? What are your plans now?

Seven ways you THROW good money away.

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I was going through the bills received and payments made today and I discovered that I had made a huge error in one bill. I hadn’t recorded the transaction properly, so I couldn’t account for the money (its receipt, its whereabouts, or anything)… And this is despite using Technology to make things ‘easier’.

This set me thinking about some of the mistakes I have made, and how these mistakes can cost unexpected dollars and sense. Since this is post is about money mistakes, and some of the problems that follow, I started listing the ways I have made money mistakes (I don’t even mean the big stuff):

1. late paying bills: I neglected to pay a credit card bill on time, and received a surcharge. Recently, I neglected to pay the electricity bills for the home and business. That netted the power company an extra surcharge of about $25 in late payment fees.

2. losing track of money: there are times when I simply dropped the money in the street or left my money in the ticket machine at the subway machine… I’ve lost over a $75 in the past year this way.

3. assuming receipts and change are correct: I found more than once when I got home that there was a problem. The most difficult problem to solve is overcharging: either incorrect pricing or duplicate items on the receipt.

4. making snap decisions: more than once I’ve made a snap decision to pay something earlier or buy an item that I could have waited for. The result was that I completely blew through my budget… Nightmare.

5. lending money: more than once I’ve been asked to lend money to a friend. This wasn’t always good timing as we had our own financial pressures to deal with, and finding myself short of money to do what I wanted BECAUSE I had agreed to lend money. Worse, the money came back late, short, or never!

6. buying duplicates: often I buy a lot of things for the school or the home or myself. More than once I’ve ended up buying duplicates of items that I already had. Once on Amazon, I bought a duplicate of a Seinfeld DVD that I had bought and watched. I often buy additional pens, books, and other items this way.

7. unexpected events: the unexpected wedding invitation or birthday part. Even a works outing. All of these can trigger additional spending that is unbudgeted, and easily cascades to quite a bit more than you intended.

These mistakes can really add up over the year. And some of them can break your budget leaving you short of cash, especially if you are running a tight budget with little or no room to spare.

What kind of mistakes have you made with your money? I’m not talking about the ‘big stuff’… I’m more interested in the little stuff that comes up daily or regularly! Can you add any to the list? I’m sure you can!