Forum Moderators: martinibuster
[edited by: engine at 1:42 pm (utc) on Nov. 1, 2005]
[edit reason] no self promo, thanks [/edit]
I am a seo'er, so I'm used to targeting sites to deliver relevent content for a visitor, so in effect, I now have to change what I'm doing to deliver visitors for my adverts.
Sounds like a very wierd concept when you think about it.
Is this what advert optimisation is? any tips on tying in this chicita or indeed - I'm toying with the idea of joing a few of the affiliates out there....
Any experience with those? Does affiliate advertising f&ck your SERPS?
I am a seo'er, so I'm used to targeting sites to deliver relevent content for a visitor, so in effect, I now have to change what I'm doing to deliver visitors for my adverts.
Hmmm...so, you're an seo'er who is considering changing content to suit the Adwords which are going to be served?
This smacks of a Constructed For Adsense site...!...be careful.
If you are so good at seoing then why not construct a site about a subject which you know and develop from there? Adsense will serve the relevant ads...
Of course I'm building the site for revenue.
1. Revenue from my main subject, which I do know about and hope will become a useful resource, but will only generate a limited amount of (albeit high yeild in each case) interest over the year.
2. Adverts for people (ideally) leaving my site.
Now - the question is, how far do you go to get people to click your adverts? I want these two revenue streams for my site but I obviously do not want to fall foul of the TOS.
I appreciate, however, the heads up about watching my content. I've never spammed the search engines but I know something about them I want to exploit - not without delivering content to visitors that isnt relevent of course - that's the basic rule I won't break.
the question is, how far do you go to get people to click your adverts?
You don't take any steps to get people to click ... you only take steps to put the ads in front of them ;)
That is an individual decision but there may be a connection between too many ads and SERPs position if Google, for example, tracks clicks from SERPS and uses that info in the algo.
[edited by: oddsod at 2:59 pm (utc) on Nov. 1, 2005]
Of course I'm building the site for revenue.
Bear in mind much of the advice given here at WebmasterWorld may be from people who built sites up to 10-12 years ago and have created authoratative resources. None of these sites were built with Adsense revenue in mind...
That's not to say we haven't learnt from constructing those sites and seeing what does and does not work with Adsense:-)
which I do know about and hope will become a useful resource
Adverts for people (ideally) leaving my site.
I tell you the problem with this, similarly these are the niche widget sites I have, and that is if you provide too much resource information, then once the visitor is finished they just leave without clicking ads, if you provide too little resource information you may not get high enough in the SERPs and therefore not get the traffic.
It's a fine balancing act being a resource information site!
Now - the question is, how far do you go to get people to click your adverts?
Once the ads are correctly placed, usually as per the hot spot advice, complementary or blended colours, then there's not a lot you can do.
Some say that placing images strategically can help. I think every successful site has its own little subtelty which would never work on another site as an "open tip" but seen in context for that specific site, it works well.
For instance recently I had Adsense approve a byline directly below my leaderboard, note below not above which is against the TOS, blended to the same colour as the ad.
This has improved click thrus on those pages incredibly and the Adworders seem to be able to actually specify this position...perhaps someone can clarify that?
Anyway, the income for that specific site has risen 33% this month.
Good luck!
I started with AdSense as well and quickly found that many others exist. I have been using these:
1. Google AdSense
2. Yahoo! Publisher (or YPN)
3. Amazon Associates
4. Kanoodle Brightads
5. Ad Brite (havent tried)
6. Chitika (havent tried)
Go with AdSense first, but watch the ad targeting closely on a page-by-page basis. Use channels!
Replace with Yahoo Publisher Network those pages that get low CTR and/or low EPC with AdSense after tracking for at least a month. This assumes you're in the US and can get into YPN. I've found that I virtually always make more from a page that was getting low CTR / EPC with Google's ads by replacing with Yahoo ads. In fact, so far it's 100% after tracking about 150 pages.
After tweaking AS and YPN to find the best combo and ad placements, sizes, etc., slowly work in Chitika ads. Be SURE to use their default non-contextual setting and pick specific keywords for each page so you do not run afoul of Google and Yahoo T&C. Also, track your stats closely after adding Chitika to be sure you're not replacing higher paying clicks from Google or Yahoo with lower paying ones from Chitika. It can be tricky.
I also recommend Revenue Pilot, which on some of my sites that don't get tightly targeted Google or Yahoo ads has been a bonus to the bottom line. The clicks pay crap, but it didn't take away from the other revenue streams, so it's all good.
Other services may have for some themes in English enough advertisiers to make sense.
But with the idea to be a publishing house and to have a partner selling all the ads, AdSense is the best solution.
is there any others and are they worth it?
There is also one which I'm not allowed to name, which is similar but more configurable (it's a competitor so I guess that's why I'm not allowed to name it, even though I have no personal inetrest).
And also Linkworth which is not contextual.
Matt
