Forum Moderators: martinibuster
1- Day one years back I inserted 2 ads in each and every page on my site and watched the single digit cents roll in.
2- I used Referral ads for a while as alternate ads and later found out it was a nono!
What's yours?
Like sliding your wallet down a razor blade.
Hobbs, is it because you think it contributes to ad blindness? Just wondering because I've seen quite a few posts suggesting to add them to all pages.
Wouldn't varying ad layouts offset this problem somewhat?
[edited by: djulien at 4:09 pm (utc) on July 28, 2006]
starting off with ads on each and every page
True, you need to discover first how your site performs BUT:
- Use channels on different sections form day one
- Run the test for no more than a few weeks
- Do not start off with lots of ad units per page
contributes to ad blindness?
A few hours later checked my site again and found a 728x90 banner instead of a skyscraper... to say my site looked strange would be an understatement
Unless you are absolutely sure of yourself, it's always safest to get new code from the AdSense control panel--I've found that even doing find and replaces for ads can cause problems, as the system is set up to block changes to the code, which includes changes to white space.
For the most part, things average out. Life goes on.
Once your site and its ads are all set up, if you just accept that there will be ups and downs beyond your control and stop worrying about things you can't change, life (and AdSense revenue) can actually be kinda fun.
That's the theory, anyway.
Well, I once uploaded a site, ad screenshots and all and forgot to replace the photos with actual adsense code.
I discovered my blunder about a week later when someone emailed me complaining they couldn't click on my links.
And the whole time I was wondering why that site wasn't getting any impressions.
-P-
Well, I once uploaded a site, ad screenshots and all and forgot to replace the photos with actual adsense code.I discovered my blunder about a week later when someone emailed me complaining they couldn't click on my links.
What... you mean there are more than one of us?
I was even more Duh than Hobbs. My first six months on Adsense, I had 3 skyscrapers on the right column + one adlink unit. The reasoning in my newbie mind at that time was "hey that gives me MORE ads and MORE chances someone will find something that appeals to them". That brought me about two 1-cent clicks daily...
Now, I'm at 35 - 50 cents per click. Getting smarter me thinks.
Thanks
I was even more Duh than Hobbs. My first six months on Adsense, I had 3 skyscrapers on the right column + one adlink unit. The reasoning in my newbie mind at that time was "hey that gives me MORE ads and MORE chances someone will find something that appeals to them". That brought me about two 1-cent clicks daily...
Wait! Explain this one, please. Is it that you went over the 3-ad limit or is there something wrong with stacking skyscrapers?
P.S. I do have 3 wide skyscraper ads stacked on top of one another.
Remember that having three ad blocks on one page Google will count as three impressions. Go to advanced reports and tick individual ad unit. Therefore if you get 100 page views and 10 clicks your ctr is NOT 10%, but 3%. Smart pricing may well take ctr into account when making decisions, and that is partly why people report less earnings with multiple blocks.
Besides, if you have multiple blocks the chances of showing low paying MFA's increase dramatically. You don't have to have people click on an MFA to reduce your earnings. Merely showing them will because they are taking the place of a proper ad that will pay better. It's a good idea to read some of 21_blue's posts on the topic. He explains better than anyone the theory behind allowing MFA's to invade the site.
Showing visitors a wall of ads isn't going to earn you more money - it will p**s them off though.
give me a link to some discussion
51 links here [google.com]
[edited by: Hobbs at 7:09 am (utc) on July 29, 2006]
Showing visitors a wall of ads isn't going to earn you more money - it will p**s them off though.
... and yes, each skyscraper does count as an impression.
What I finally realized AFTER I started my next site, was that ad placement and blahblahblah wouldn't have made any difference at all. That niche didn't return good ads and they were low paying clicks not matter how much I optimized. So I took Adsense off the whole site. My other site is doing very well....
Just go with the heat map amd do a borderless blend.
WWW tips and especially Cognac's advice easily tripled my CTR. Thanks, everyone!
51 links here
Just go with the heat map amd do a borderless blend.
To be absolutely frank, I really don't like the borderless blend idea, no matter how much Google themselves promote it.
The thing is, despite what they say, tons of people STILL don't see the difference between a link on the site and an ad. Believe me, I've talked to many educated (non-CS-majors) people and they really, honestly can't see where is what. Removing frames around ads will simply increase this percentage significantly. Sure, your clickthroughs may go up - but specifically because of the confused visitors.
May be that's what Google wants- reduce all of us to the role of mere "suppliers of content" and turn the entire web into a soup of HTML pages where links are indistinguishable from ads - all, of course, courtesy of Google. No site will stand out and all will be effectively controlled by Google - from getting you traffic (comes from Google!) to picking advertisers for you to sending you your paycheck.
But if you're thinking about building a long-term audience that MIGHT just one day bookmark your site, I'd suggest that you make it very clear where your site ends and ads begin. It may make the ads perform worse in the short-term, but at least your visitors will know exactly who you are what you offer.
This is just an opinion, of course, I realize many people feel otherwise.
Showing visitors a wall of ads isn't going to earn you more money - it will p**s them off though.
An email snippet from a visitor who commented on my site awhile back...
The site is cluttered with ads, which are distracting, but the information given is useful, interesting, and to me, valuable.
Translation: ad quantity is not much of a factor(to a degree) to those who see them as a <i> resource. </i>
You are bordering though on the ethics of advertising, I have settled that with myself a long time ago in that without advertising that pays well (blended and all) my projects would not have gown as much as they did, I wouldn't have been able to do it full time, and for sure my traffic (translated: number of people served) would have not been what they are today.
As for Google's monopoly it's only a matter of time before other sources of traffic and ads emerge, so don't worry too much.
I agree with you that blending could be overdone
Yes, yes very true. I was on a site yesterday that was so cluttered with links and info, it took me awhile to spot the adlinks in line with a horizontal bar, which made it appear like it was the navigation. Plus there wasn't a link back to the home page, except the logo.
I thought that was pretty sneaky, but I'm sure it's working out quite well for this webmaster, but I wouldn't link to him if he paid me.
So, no, when I said blending I wasn't talking about the sneaky underhanded stuff.
