AdSense Beta Council Invitation

Is this totally new?

[OptiRex]

Out of the blue I've just received a mail asking me to participate on the AdSense Beta Publisher Panel.

There is an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for the trial program specifying not to discuss features before the public launch which is perfectly understandable.

Has anyone else received such an invitation?

What wonderful ideas have they up their sleeves that they want to test on my sites?

Xmas present, New Year card and now this, what next, an all expenses paid trip to the plex?

[endomorph1]

Bagsie the window seat OptiRex!

[21_blue]

They haven't asked me :-(. I guess I shouldn't have sent them a report showing CPM Ads was deflating earnings on my site!

Actually, I probably wouldn't be too keen on taking part in beta tests - there is too much to lose!

[OptiRex]

Fortunately I can implement it across my sites how I, or Google for that matter, want to test and gauge reactions.

It sounds interesting however I'm not too sure if I want any of those floaty things going across my screen, they drive me barmy!

It should be interesting, I wonder how many others have received this invitation? It would be very strange if there were only to be a couple of us at WebmasterWorld.

[Rodney]

I talked to an Adsense rep on the phone last night and she mentioned the Beta program.

They probably only offer it to a very limited set of publishers.

[21_blue]

optirex wrote:

It would be very strange if there were only to be a couple of us at WebmasterWorld.

I was thinking the opposite:

• Google Adsense may have some selection criteria for websites, but they don't have access to WW account info.
  
• I think you estimated there are 50,000 publishers the last time we discussed it (?).
  
• How many contributors are there to WW Adsense forum - a couple of hundred?
  
• How many members of the beta council will there be - a couple of hundred?
  

Putting these guesstimates together suggests it is very likely that "a couple of WW contributors" is at the upper end of invite numbers. My guesstimates could be wrong, of course, but it still suggests we are only talking about a 'handful' at most.

[OptiRex]

21_blue

Apologies, I was away til late last night on "real" business:-)

How many contributors are there to WW Adsense forum - a couple of hundred?

That's an interesting question. I've no idea however I'd venture to bet that there are 5-10 times as many lurkers.

How many members of the beta council will there be - a couple of hundred?

Assuming my 50,000 is correct then I would have thought that to get a reasonable sample one would need at least 5%, 0.4% would be too open to wide fluctuations and discrepancies surely?

endomorph1 and I reckon that his and my very successful implementation of Adlinks on regular pages and forums may possibly be an influencing factor, but who really knows?

Were we purely chosen at random?

Yay, I've won a prize, pass go and collect £200:-)

[Jenstar]

The beta council requires an NDA so you cannot talk (or post!) about any of the new things they are testing out. AdSense tends to do many beta tests, and this will allow you to access some of the limited beta tests (or to one specific one they are doing). You also may only be allowed to test it on a single site in your account, rather than all your sites in your account, if you have more than one. You do have to provide feedback on whatever you are testing, too.

[OptiRex]

The beta council requires an NDA so you cannot talk (or post!) about any of the new things they are testing out.

Yep, I realised that when I posted which was why I carefully worded my original post:-)

I have no problem with an NDA, it's very common practice within my own industry and not many within the trade even know about such a stipulation.

I assume the beta council has been running for quite some time then?