farmboy - 10:10 pm on Jun 15, 2007 (gmt 0)

I'm an AdSense publisher and I was excited when I heard about this program but have been underwhelmed since the actual implementation.

I visit the available ads about once per week to see what's available, what has changed, etc.

Usually, I pick out a few ads that are of interest. Then I look at the landing page where the person clicking on the ad will end up. I consider the quality of that page, whether the item offered in the ad is easily found on that page and whether there is a lot of other clutter on that page that might distract the visitor/customer.

Then I consider what the visitor has to do for me to earn the "commission". I figure it's much more likely a visitor will request more information (become a lead) than for the visitor to sign-up and pay for a $2,000 vacation package based on a random advertisement.

Next I compare the cost of the product/service to the commission offered. A merchant offering me a $5 commission on a $1,000 sale is not going to get my attention like a merchant offering me a $2 commission on a $20 sale.

Finally I consider the offers as to whether they are a good match for the typical visitors to any of my sites.

So far, based on the above, I'm not currently displaying any PPA ads. I'd rather get the guaranteed earnings from a click with a regular PPC ad as opposed to the might/maybe earnings with a PPA ad.

I expect this will improve over time as merchants learn what is necessary to attract publishers and after Google makes some much-needed improvements.

Here's a suggestion for those of you with current ads or considering ads. Come over the the AdSense forum and start a thread asking publishers what they look for in deciding whether to promote a PPA ad. My guess is you'll get some interesting and free insight.

FarmBoy