Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I have a question for all readers of this forum...
This question is the age old Style vs Function
- Do you use Adsense on your home page?
- Do you think it cheapens the page - but it makes money so what...
- Do you AVOID your home page but place ads on interior pages?
I have a site that is a year old. I built and let it go for a year with no tinkering.
It now places 3rd page and 4th page on most SERPs.
I have just added Adsense to the site and I am experimenting... over and over again until I get the right "formula"
What is everyone's take on this?
The home page does get traffic but it is the 2nd most requested page.
Thanks in advance
I truly appreciate everyone's help.
ARC
Onmy info site I have I have a single 234x60 adblock on the homepage right now. Earlier I've had a 250x250, 120x600, 125x125 etc, whatever fit in the space available at the time.
On an hobby oriented info site like mine I don't think it's a negative at all.
On a some info sites, adsense on the homepage might seem innappropriate.
On an ecom site, again I think it would depend on other factors.
Thanks for your help....
It's a "How To Site" - not large - 12 pages and packed with information.
The home page has the usual welcome, intro, links....
I am using the large leaderboard at the top... right below my header which has a logo and 2 pictures... the header is the same size as the leaderboard 728x90
Thank you!
ARC
Do you use Adsense on your home page?
Do you think it cheapens the page?
Do you avoid ads on your home page but place ads on interior pages?
You always have great insight...
I do believe that the home page sets the tone for all other pages, but it does get activity and the ads are well blended - not that you can't see them - but blended.
However having said all that - because it's packed with information on all other pages, I am really on the fence about how cheap it really looks - on some sites it looks good... but as a general rule.... I just don't know.
Since I have put the leaderboard on every page - it seems more consistent but the real issue is...
Should there be ads on the home page? Is this something that visitors have become accustomed to.
Lets put it this way - if it was a retail site - I definitely wouldn't do it but it's a HOW TO site....
Thanks
ARC
the first page sets the tone for their visit.
The last time I looked every major media site had advertising on its homepage. Prime advertising space, I'm sure.
I guess the poor, minor media sites need to live by a higher standard?
In that case, what's the opposite of noblesse oblige? Hoi polloi oblige?
I'm in. ;)
Another think to consider is that most visitors first visit to your site will likely be a deep page with ads anyway.
1) All but one of your indexed pages is a deep page (some deeper than others).
2) Most sites giving you a natural link are probably deep linking to specific information.
3) People that bookmark a page on your site typically create a deep link to a page or section of particular interest.
So... you really aren't accomplishing much by not including ads on the home page. On the other hand, it's just one page so it probably won't seriously impact your earnings.
If you can make them look good and get good results I say go for it.
Freq---
:-)
We may not always agree with everything or everyone, but it's all valuable.
Let's count off....
How many folks here use Adsense on their home page?
ARC
Sites that include those for TV networks and newspapers get away with having advertising all over them because they are very commercial sites that are open about the fact that they need all the revenue they can get.
If your site has a lot to offer and what you are providing your visitors with is spread among multiple pages, your site may well appear to have more authority if your visitors' initial impression is that the site exists to provide good information.
When you walk into a church, they usually wait awhile before they hand you the collection plate.
But the church also has collection boxes near all the doors....
Are those boxes for those exiting.... or those entering....
I think a clean - commercial free home page is what attracts vistors -but not everyone comes in from the home page.
But... how many WW members here have home pages with ads and still either make money, are seen as authority sites, look respectful...
And it earns very well. My home page is also my top entry page.
Feel free to check it out. My site is in my profile.
the home page sets the tone for all other pages
What webwork said, plus a practical consideration. Many websites have a surprising "bounce away" rate. This is the rate at which people land on your home page, take a quick look, and decide it's not for them.
The practical part comes into play when monetizing those who would otherwise bounce away. Remember, AdSense is like a unit of content. It's sales content. You can call it advertising, but it's still content, but it's sales content.
For every person coming through your page looking to BUY widgets and backs out, that's a click that got away from you.
I think a clean - commercial free home page is what attracts vistors -but not everyone comes in from the home page.
On my editorially diverse side of about 5,000 pages, probably no more than 5% of the visitors even see the home page on any given day.
But... how many WW members here have home pages with ads and still either make money, are seen as authority sites, look respectful...
I've had ads on my home page (and most of my pages) all along, and that hasn't kept it from getting favorable press coverage and unsolicited links from libraries, schools, magazines, etc.
Mind you, there's such a thing as too much advertising. I could name some major media sites whose advertising-to-editorial ratio is way out of whack, and I doubt if I'd ever link to any site (big-name or no-name) with three AdSense ad units unless I had an extremely compelling reason to do so.
Many websites have a surprising "bounce away" rate. This is the rate at which people land on your home page, take a quick look, and decide it's not for them.
Perhaps we should make the distinction between pages that look informative that happen to have a few well-targeted ads pointing to related sites with quality products, and pages with little useful content that are plastered with ads.
As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
Even in hard times, I don't think the priest will hand you the collection plate just for peeking your head in the front door.
On the other hand, some of my other sites, I find it very appropriate to place ads on the home page.
But as commercial as they are, hardly any magazines have advertising on the cover. They advertise the contents. They want you to be intrigued enough by the cover to buy it.
Paying advertisers graphics 468x60 most of the time.
Would love to know which AdSense "Images only" size is the most popular with advertisers and populated most to fill the gap when there are no advertisers.
Something new I'm trying is removing ads from homepage, but having menu on left and no ads... and all other pages have menu on right, ads on left.
I have a really high return-visitor rate, so many of my visitors do view the homepage to see what's new.
I ran ads on the homepage for a long time, but honestly it resulted in very little income... so I'm trying it ad-free to see how that goes.
If I'm not getting any clicks, no point in having the ads there, so if September's full data set confirms this, I'm going to yank them.
They would already have an established brand though, lots of people would go to their web address even if the front page had nothing but a photo of some cow dung on it. ;)
Smaller sites are at much more at risk of being ignored by new visitors, so like you say they have to adhere to higher standards in order to build confidence.
But it's also worth noting that Google deliberately avoids having adverts on their front page, and is hugely successful. Both Yahoo Search and Microsoft Search have copied this approach and now have barebones front pages very much like Google's has always been. Their adverts only appear on results pages, and show that even the biggest media companies are sometimes afraid to advertise on their front pages.
If one is playing for money from adSense, ads on home page are a must. The above example , I give, just to show that it is difficult to survive for websites with only adSense as income and ignore ads on home page.
All traffic is valuable and I feel it is important to try and monetise it. By ignoring ads on home page, there is no obvious way for an uninterested surfer to click out.
Recently the British Library linked to one of the internal menus, also with a above the fold adsense box. Its the value of the content that matters.
This is a pretty funny discussion. Right now the newspaper industry is all abuzz about putting ads on the front pages (WSJ just started) and on the front of the sections (NYT just started). Does it hurt the product, blah, blah, blah. In print, you never really know, do you? But, on the web you can test and figure it out. There is much less guessing.
You guys here are so lucky--not! I say that because in the ol' days, you could simply do what you wanted and make a case for it. Indeed, you could publish a magazine and sell ads in it that no one read, but who could prove it?
