Anyone that knows anything about S.E.M., Adsense, or “makin ‘mo money on the internet” knows who ShoeMoney is. But why is The Schoe so popular? What makes us all want to be like him? What makes us want to shave our heads, check his blog every day and take his posts at DP Forums as gospel?

After many minutes of research, I have put together a comprehensive list of what makes us all live and breathe Jeremy Schoemaker:

Number 10: He’s just a regular guy like you and me

He makes spelling and grammar errors in his blog (just like me!) and isn’t afraid to admit it; He loves to veg out in front of the TV watching Lost and he has A.D.D. and can’t hold a thought for more than a minute or two. Damn, just like me!

Number 9: He wears a lot of cool shirts and stuff
WTF, this guy gets more free T’s, polo shirts and other cool-gear than anybody I know!

Number 8: Hot chicks seem to flock to him
This might be worth more than that giant Adsense check.

Number 7: He’s got really hairy arms

…no doubt why the hot chicks flock to him.

Number 6: Hot chicks flock to him and his wife doesn’t get pissed
This is what makes ShoeMoney my own personal hero. If I so much as even look in the direction of a hot chick I catch hell from my wife for days. I guess this should really be titled “ShoeMoney is not PW’d like I am“

Number 5: He has a really cool pic of a giant Adsense paycheck

Who wouldn’t want one of those?!

Number 4: He drives a Hummer

Actually, maybe this is why the hot-chicks flock to him.

Number 3: He goes out of his way to help those less fortunate than him
Jeremy is all heart. Seriously though, he does help countless webmasters in the DP Forums.

Number 2: Despite his fame and fortune he has not lost his perspective
Mr. Schoe has not forgotten who he is, where he came from, or what is important in life. It would be very easy for someone as successful as ShoeMoney to become a Rich Jerk, but he seems to have kept his head about himself.

…And the NUMBER ONE REASON EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE LIKE SHOEMONEY:
I’ll leave this one open to readers. Please post your reason(s) why Shoemoney is so popular.

Whenever you read about “diversification” the discussion usually revolves around earnings. “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket” is one of my favorite lines, which basically means “make sure AdSense is not your sole source of earnings”. Most successful website owners agree that diversifying your website earnings with other income streams such as Yahoo Publisher Network, CJ, AzoogleAds, etc, is a wise way to run your Internet empire. Not only does it reduce your reliance on Google, it can also help in increase your total overall earnings.

Less often mentioned is diversification of your traffic sources.
Without traffic, there can be no earnings – this means that the traffic to your website is just as more valuable to a website owner than it’s advertising sources. Unfortunately many webmasters make the mistake of relying on Google Search as their sole source of traffic -putting them only one algo change away from disaster.

Take a good look at your traffic stats, and see where your traffic is coming from. If it’s like most sites, probably 75%-85% is coming from Google searches. Although this means all your SEO work has paid off, it also means that your traffic may not be well-balanced.

Other traffic sources:

• Direct Traffic: Loyal readers/members
• Backlinks from high-traffic sites
• Social Networking sites such as Myspace, Digg, Stumbleupon, etc
• Directories

There are probably many other traffic sources that I haven’t even thought of, but you get the idea. Just as it’s not wise to rely only on Google Adsense as your sole source of income, neither should you rely on Google Search for the majority of your traffic.

Today I noticed a new tab in the Google SiteMaps page labeled “Links”. This nifty new tool for Webmasters gives you a more accurate and easier to view count of your incoming links.

In the past Google seemed to keep your “real” number of backlinks a mystery – probably to protect the super-secret PR algo. I’m sure that this new tool still isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s sure a lot better than the previous “LINK:” command.

Compare the difference between the “Link:” command and the new “Links” feature in Google SiteMaps:

New Link tab in SiteMaps (click to enlarge)

Based on what I’ve read from the AdWords experts I decided to give AdCenter a try. From what I’ve learned the CPC is usually lower with AdCenter, so I wont be throwing my advertising budget down the toilet quite as fast as I have done with Adwords.

The signup process was simple, and quick. But when I came to the Terms Of Service page which I am required to read and agree to, I ran into a bit of a snag.
As you can see from the screenshot above (click it to enlarge), the MSN AdCenter TOS is enclosed in a small box, approximately 1-inch wide by about 1/2-inch tall! Maybe it’s because I was using Firefox and not Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but I still find it comical to the point of absurdity. I still signed up, but I wonder what Microsoft is hiding in that tiny box?