Is it Worth it?

Would my site be likely to provide a worthwhile Adsense return?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

My apologies if this has been asked a hundred times before but this is my first visit to this particular forum. I am a consultant and I have site with about 85 pages that offers information on an engineering subject. This is a niche market and I am number one in the SERPs for the main KW. I also rank well for most of the other KWs.

As a niche market there is not a lot of traffic around for this. I get about 4K to 5K page impressions per month and about 60 visitors through my home page each day. Not a lot, but this is good traffic in my business. I also know that people pay big money, as much as $15 per click, for the Adwords and PPC for the KW. My questions are as follows.

1. Is it likely to be worth my while trying Adsense?

2. Could joining Adsense adversely affect my SERPs position?

3. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I could monetize this site?

[trillianjedi]

1. Is it likely to be worth my while trying Adsense?

Only one way to find out...

2. Could joining Adsense adversely affect my SERPs position?

Google would say "absolutely not", I would say "incredibly unlikely".

3. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I could monetize this site?

Are there many online stores offering affiliate arrangements in this keyword sector?

TJ

[Pibs]

Erm, if you're already very high in the search engines, ie free traffic, why pay to put a pricey advert next to your own result?

I don't really see the point?

Seems to me that yes, perhaps you could drive more traffic but if targetted traffic is finding you, then what you'll be getting is curious but untargetted traffic - perhaps OK to build brand recognition or something but I'm still unsure why you'd pay when you're already coming up high for the keywords?

Pibs

[trillianjedi]

I don't really see the point?

Not surprising - you completely missed it ;-)

AdSense is not AdWords.

TJ

[wonderboy]

Just try it for a week, and see what happens. I believe you will get good results from what you have said!
W.

[webwoman]

I think there is really no downside to trying it. It costs you nothing and you will know in the course of a few weeks whether it is viable.

[Rodney]

1) What exactly is "worth your while"? It takes maybe a few seconds (read: minutes) to actually implement Adsense.

Are those few minutes worth the *possibility* of extra income for your site?

I know I've personally wasted time for free. The time I spent clicking around trying to find my name referenced in google could be more productively spent adding adsense to a site.

So in that aspect, I don't see why you wouldn't *try* adsense.

If it doesn't work out, what have you lost?

2) Nope

3) If your traffic is in demand, you could always try selling direct to advertisers.

[rubenski]

Your site is what a lot of people here see as an excellent site for using Adsense. I'd say go for it. Do you have any idea how many advertisers use Adwords in your keyword sector? You can try the Adsense preview tool to see what ads will be placed on your site. It is freely downloadable at Google.com.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Many of the advertisers in my sector use Adwords. Does this have a bearing on it?

[nuevojefe]

Many of the advertisers in my sector use Adwords. Does this have a bearing on it?

Absolutely. More advertisers equals higher bids and increased likelihood that a good portion of them wont filter your site out.

At $15.00 a click I'd guess you could get anywhere from .85-2.00/click. If you get about 60 uniques/day at say 4%CTR you could end up with perhaps $61-$140/month from those alone, not counting repeat visits.

I'd give it a go if it wont effect other elements of the site too much. It may even allow you to invest more into the site to augment it. If there are $15.00 bids it's probably a nice industry to go after even further.

[david_uk]

My site is niche, and #3 on the specific keyword on Google etc. I can't say what I earn from Adsense except that I have had enough clicks to get a check monthly since I started in January 2004. It pays for the webhosting and site costs plus treats for the family.

The ads have been well targeted due to the content of the page, and it doesn't ruin the page design.

I'd say go fo it.

[ukgimp]

hide, sorry I mean integrate those ads well. Dont leave them standard, just adhere to the rules, no white on white etc

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

UKGimp can you explain further what you mean? I am a total novice at Adsense and I haven't even thought about how I will lay them out.

[ukgimp]

Say all your text is green and you stick the usaul advert format up, it will stick out like a sore thumb. Users may not click on it. Now, I am sure you have seen sites with adsesne on them where they look almost like part of the navigation. So users think, "part of the site, thats ok to click"

There may be other opinions on this, but you can dramatically increase your CTR by reformatting your ads and moving their position

[King of Bling]

BDW,

Say, if your text is black and you use blue links (suggested), make the AdSense ad format the same. Place the ads inline with your content. Remove the borders and background (can be done in the 'Ad Format' settings) - but delineate from the content with some type of header, such as "Our <Engineering KW> Sponsors". This approach works well for visitors as well as publishers.

Give it a shot. Monitor the results for a week or two.

Good luck,
KOB

PS - I would suggest staying away from spamming your users. Respect them, and they will reward you in the long run. Stay away from positioning AdSense Ads as navigation elements. IMHO

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

KOB I thought it may be worth pointing out that I think that what you are suggesting is illegal according to the Adsense conditions of service.

We therefore require that Web pages do not include incentives of any kind for users to click on ads. This includes encouraging users to click on the ads or to visit the advertisers' sites as well as labeling the ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements."

Incidentally I signed up last Saturday and let's just say that I am very pleased with the results so far :)

I now realise that I am in an area that big companies pay top dollar for Adwords so I get a good return for low traffic. My click through rate is currently 6.2%. Is this good?

[JuniorOptimizer]

Yes. You're doing well. Keep tweaking and you should have great results.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Update: I thought it would be worth mentioning that after about six weeks I am very pleased at the results I am getting from Adsense.

Thanks to those who convinced me to go for it!