Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Let's say you reach a max click through of x% after testing testing and testing different things for several months. You just can't seem to get much higher than x% on a consistent basis and all those tests don't deviate too far from x% anyway.
At what point do you say testing is now just a waste of time? When can you say "this type of traffic on this type of site will never convert higher than this percentage."
Maybe it's time to leave it be and use the time to focus on other things like traffic generation or other sites.
Any 'testers' find themselves in that situation before? When is it okay to give up on testing?
Has anyone found themselves in a lengthy stagnant period and then one last magical test doubled your CTR? Or is it ok to accept/settle for x% and use that time for other things?
I think the last change I made was when people here reported good results with adlinks. I tried them briefly when they first appeared, and the recent addition of them has been sucessfull. Other than that I've tried putting a banner on the top of the page in preparation to selling ads direct just to see if it affects adsense earnings (doesn't appear to).
Basically I agree that there is only so far you can go with experimentation, but where that point is has to be down to the individual. I would suggest the odd foray into new layouts occasionally though, but once you have found what works you can concentrate on other things.
As regards minor changes that have made a big difference, in the last year or so I would have to say that the following three were my big ones.
1, blocking MFA's and Ebay
2, adding adlinks units on selected pages
3, moving my webhost from a slow UK providor to a fast one in the US, where most of my visitors are from.
I also tried adlinks when it came out and it looked like it did poorly. Later after reading about successes here I tried them again and find they have really added to earnings.
I'd avoided putting ads at the bottom of pages because the click through rate is so poor. For a while there was a lot of phobia on this forum about putting too many ads on a page.
I was reading some of the adsense info a couple of weeks ago and they seemed to be encouraging putting an ad at the bottom of long pages so I tried it. Putting a short banner at the end of each article has brought a nice little increase in earnings. That little increase will add up over a year.
How do you define a "long" page? By words. by the amount of scrolling one has to do to reach the bottom, or?
I also want to chime in that I have also found that one does reach a point beyond which further tweaking is useless. As the OP suggested, if you've tried a few things that you thought might increase CTR or earnings, and nothing happened, you're at or near that point. But do keep your eyes open for new ideas or new AdSense features, and don't be afraid to go back and revisit a page or set of pages you'd given up on.
I have never had a problem getting enough ads though. Since my site is hobby related I get ads on both materials to make the objects and ads selling the finished objects.
When smart pricing first came out there was discussion here that ads with low CTR could hurt you in terms of your smart pricing level. After giving it some thought it seems to me what they are interested in there is conversions not click through rates. Obviously anything at the bottom of a page will get lower CTR yet they still recommended putting ads there.
Maybe the results are different though if you have a topic that is short on ads. But why not try on a couple of pages and see if you get enough ads.
I was disapointed. Stopped experimenting and
after 2 month discovered that my earnigs skyroketed.
Now my policiy - "touch nothing"
But of course everything already optimized at maximum.
I stoped when I thought there is nothing more to improve.
It's very much like sitting in the doorway of the plane before the jump master shouts "GO..." in your ear! Not quite the same adrenaline rush, but scary all the same.
Noticed in the post David_uk suggests blocking eBay as well as MFA's. I know its slightly off topic, but anyone care to comment on that?
Noticed in the post David_uk suggests blocking eBay as well as MFA's. I know its slightly off topic, but anyone care to comment on that?
P.S. Not trying to be a smartypants - just trying to be helpful while I'm sitting here reading and learning.
[webmasterworld.com...]
To be at the leading edge, you have to ride the wave. Tomorrow is a new customer and a new sales option.
But then again tomorrow is another great day at the beach .
Testing is finished when you think it is, not when someone else may think it is. It's your site.
JB
