Google’s general philosophy surrounding AdSense ad placement is to make them blend with the rest of a site’s content, so it’s always struck me as a little strange that publishers have had no control over the fonts displayed.

That’s just changed, with Google announcing an update which allow ads to be rendered in a number of fonts. Don’t get too excited, though, because there’s a small selection — Arial, Times and Verdana.

You don’t get much control beyond that. Obviously, you can’t alter the size of the fonts because the ad blocks are specific sizes and you’d end up clipping ads (this often happens if a user manually increases the font size on their browser). It only works on ads displaying Latin-based characters, and it won’t affect image-based adverts. read more

Bloggers who are looking for a way to generate revenue for their blogs might be interested in a new service that launched today. Coined InLinks, the ad network sells spots within your posts to paying advertisers. As a content owner, you have the right to accept or reject any campaign.

The nice part is that the ads are pop-up free and relatively easy on the eyes.

There are of course ethical issues that must be tackled when it comes to notifying your readers what these ‘InLinks’ are all about. Plus, you might awaken the mighty Google giant, and as someone who has been spanked by them before, I would do your homework before you sign up.

I will say that in this economic climate, this blogger, and many that I know, are looking for new revenue streams.

Here’s more info directly from the source.

(We) pay 10% of all revenue earned by publishers that you refer to us! This 10% of revenue earned from publishers you refer is good for a full two years after the publisher joins inLinks. We also offer you the ability to earn up to 15% of all revenue publishers you refer earn us, check out the tiered system below:

6. 15% if blogger refers over $5,000 per month of revenue.

If anyone gives this a whirl, let us know!

The U.S. and Canada are going through hard economic times. You knew that, right?

And you probably knew that blog networks, like all businesses, thrive or perish according to their ability to respond to changes in the economies in which they operate.

But what you maybe didn’t know is the extent to which the current economic struggles of Canada and the U.S. are affecting the blog networks you visit on a daily basis – Gawker, b5media, Federated Media, Splashpress (which owns this blog) and Weblogs, Inc., to name a few. read more

Always hungry for new revenue streams, bloggers might be interested in a new widget launched by AnswerCo.com, an office and computer supply company.

If you have a product-focused blog or Web site that centers around printers, copiers, fax machines, projectors and digital cameras, the widget adds a price comparison tool to your content.

If you’re not technically-inclined, this is an easy way to add over 10,000 Amazon products to your blog along with info on over 75,000 models from AnswerCo’s database.

“More people are turning to independent sources like blogs for honest product opinions and information,” stated Bruce Capper, president. “This cross-reference widget gives bloggers the capability to have thousands of products on their websites, thereby increasing commission to them personally.”

You can sign up by visiting Answerco.com, or go old school and give them a shout at 214/ANSWERS for more information.