Forum Moderators: skibum
Anyway, I figured I would see if adding some tasteful banner ads to the site could supplement the AdSense income. I joined Commission Junction, LinkShare, and a Canada based prescription drug affiliate program. We added 2 125x125 ads where I had previously had an AdLinks box. I also included 3 160x600 skyscraper ads to approx. 10,000 newsletters I sent out. AdSense continued to run this whole time.
The first day I replaced AdLinks with the banner ads my AdSense CTR dropped from 3.5% to 2.4%. My AdSense revenue dropped $50. My banner ad income - $0. Ok, not good, but I figured that my site users were perhaps just not used to seeing banner ads, and that they would catch on over time.
It has now been 10 days. While my CTR and daily earnings from AdSense have increased because I am in the midst of sending out bi-monthly newsletters, the banner ads have continued to languish. The astonishing total revenue from the banner ads from 10 days - $4.48! This is from one sale through a Commission Junction merchant. LinkShare has recorded 6,000 impressions, 13 click-throughs and produced $0. The Canadian online pharmacy has received 143 click-throughs, but no orders.
I suppose I could be more patient and give these banner ads more of a chance, but my gut feeling is that my site users obviously hate the things, and that the visual clutter and potential long-term reduced CTR for AdSense just make them a liability.
Only one site's experience of course, but I have found it quite enlightening. If my site is representative at all of the comparative value of AdSense / contextual advertising versus the old-school banner ads, I can't imagine that the outlook is very bright for affiliate management firms like CJ, LinkShare etc.. Of course it could just be me?
You can't just slap a few banners up and call it a day. [webmasterworld.com]
However, both are effective it all depends upon how you use your ad, and the message for proper targeting.
