This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.

You might notice something a little different about Bitmob today. It's called Bitmob 2.0 — and it wasn't supposed to go live for another week!

Due to some mix-up, what you're seeing now is an unfinished, only partially tested update to our site with a much cooler profile section (login and click on the Profile tab to see for yourself!), improvements (we hope…like I said, we weren't quite done yet) all over the place, and most importantly: the ability for you to add your own advertising to your posts.

At this point, it'd be way more of a hassle to revert back to Bitmob 1.1, and things seem pretty stable so far (oh please oh please oh please — fingers quadruple crossed). So we decided to roll with this unfinished 2.0 for the time being.

Two important notes:

1. If you find any problems, can you do us a huge favor and let us know in the comments below? Our developers will be watching this thread closely and tackling any major issues as they come up.

2. We are working on making this new advertising system more intuitive, but for now, you can follow the instructions below (after the jump). AGAIN: We're not finished here, so you guys are essentially our beta testers now! Let us know if everything's working for you, please.

Thanks very much,

A very nervous Bitmob staff

p.s. If you need a primer on how to post stories here, check out our guided tour.

 

I can actually make money on Bitmob?

Absolutely. Google operates a nifty free service called AdSense, which allows content producers (i.e., you) to earn money using targeted ads. By linking your Google AdSense account to your Bitmob profile, any revenue coming from the AdSense ad at the bottom of each story you post will go directly to you. Score one for Internet capitalism!

If you have a Google AdSense account:

  1. Create an ad that fits Bitmob's template by going to google.com/adsense, clicking on AdSense Setup, then "AdSense for Content."
  2. Select "Ad Unit" and then "Image ads only" from the drop-down menu. On the next two pages, leave all values as their default and click "Continue."
  3. Give your ad a name and click "Submit and Get Code."
  4. Now get the Slot ID for this ad by clicking on "Manage Ads" from the top menu bar and finding the gray number below your ad's name (don't include the # symbol). You'll also need your AdSense ID, which follows "Publisher ID" in the top right corner of every page.
  5. Head over to the Profile link (after you've logged in) and click the "Edit" button next to "[Your Name] Sponsor." Input your AdSense ID and Slot ID numbers.
  6. Start posting stories on Bitmob!

If you don't have a Google AdSense account:

What are you waiting for? Head over to google.com/adsense now and sign up. (Note: If you don't have a personal website, use "bitmob.com" for the Website URL field.) Then follow the instructions above.

Important: Don't abuse the system!

Once you've set up your account with AdSense and Bitmob, don't abuse the system. Don't use bots to net you extra clicks. Don't ask your friends to click for you. Don't clickity-click on your own ad until you've earned a princely sum. Google will sniff you out and ban you faster than you can say, "Hey, where'd my money go?"