link ads

good idea - yes, no, maybe?

[level80]

After not having link ads on my site for a long time, I decided to put them back on. Although they seem to increase CTR, eCPM goes down. I think this is because of the nature of them (eg the user has to click on an ad on the page the ad links links to for it to count - when it's entirely probably they'd just click the back button instead). Has anyone else noticed similar effects? What is the best configuration of the regular ads you have found? Personally I use a 336x280 before the main content, an Adsense for search box at the top right, beneath that a non-Google 160x600 ad and below that two Google 160x600 ads stacked vertically. This leads to a two digit CTR and an average this month of ~ $4 eCPM. I think I've tweaked ad placement/colours/position to the point where any changes decrease revenue.

[swa66]

ad overkill IMHO.

Sounds like you're building an infomercial.

[level80]

Just because I don't mention the content doesn't mean it isn't there. When you start getting ~ 5,000 visitors a day the site has to start paying for itself unless you're going to support it some other way. Hosting (~12Gb/month), domain name renewals, labour costs associated from answering email, phone, keeping it updated (broadband connection, costs of running a computer), accounting/bookeeping, submitting income details to no less than three different government departments each year with different requirements etc - it gets to the point where you need at least about $0.75 eCPM just to cover overheads if it's being run as a business. Businesses that don't make money either go bust or are not called businesses they're called charities.

The users get the content for free unlike say a newsaper - where the users pay for it and the advertisers pay. If you can suggest a way I could monetise the site without advertising that's relatively hastle free I'd jump at it. Any user that wants to view the site without about 95% of the ads only has to turn off javascript.

[OptiRex]

beneath that a non-Google 160x600 ad

This doesn't seem to be displaying anything consequently the righthand side of the page looks broken at times and looks untidy thus your page does not look "tight" with a lot of white space on most pages mainly because of the empty ad.

My AdLinks provide about 54% or so over my overall earnings. They're well-targeted and used, your mileage may vary.

[level80]

Thanks for pointing that out. It was part of my A/B testing into figuring out whether the white space there affects user behaviour or not. Having something in the white space seems to make people look there, and then more likely to click on the Google ad below whereas if the white space is there they merely think that's the edge of the page. The alternative is that the ad that is there is being blocked by a custom HOSTS file, hasn't loaded yet (it's an external HTML file called in an iframe - something that isn't supported by all browsers). However testing showed that rather counter-intuitively having a non-Google image ad above the Google ads increased CTR for the ads below. You might well say, well why not have the Google ads at the top and the non-Google one below? The reason being is the third ad - way below the fold on a page gets the least clicks and there are some ads I'm testing out the CTR and eCPM of.

My AdLinks provide about 54% or so over my overall earnings. They're well-targeted and used, your mileage may vary.

What size and number of other ads do you have on the page? Where on the page are the AdLinks eg above the fold, below the fold, horizontal orvertical? It's possible you're in a much more commercial category than me - which size of AdLinks do you use?

Personally I'd love to have Adlinks if I thought they'd make me any extra money, however the CPC for video games is low enough already without having to chance that the user will click twice.

[edited by: level80 at 7:15 pm (utc) on Oct. 20, 2006]

[swa66]

What I'm trying to say is that using e.g. a leaderboard under a navigation menu and an adlinks single line in the footer will yield:

- less ads
- more chance for the better paying ads to be clicked
- better image with your visitors
- same or better eCPM

Anyway I run my site above $4 eCPM with just the above.

[level80]

I'd class using a leaderboard under a navigation menu as in the realm of confusing my visitors though. :) I'd prefer they click ads they know are ads through choice rather than merely thinking they are navigating the site.

I suppose it all depends on how much of a line you want to draw between content and ads. I understand the whole "less ads is more" arguments, however for "more chance for the better paying ads to be clicked " - there actually have to be decent paying ads in your category!

Example you are in a category with on average $0.02 CPC ads. You show one ad block with 4 ads. Showing more ads increases the chance that a user will find one relevant and click on it. A click on a 2nd or 3rd ad is still money.

The better image with your visitors is a rather difficult thing to judge though. It also depends on whether you rely on repeat visitors or not. How do you define it? By the emails you get? By whether they email their friends with a link to your site or link to it?

"Better image" is very subjective - one person will like your site, another will hate it. You can't be all things to all people unless you go minimalist like Google Search. :)

P.S. Which area is your site in?

[Pengi]

I think that link ads can provide a good service to my visitors who don't find what they're looking for on my site or any of the single Ads. I find the link topics tend to be well targeted and offer a set of good sponsored links for visitors to choose from.

Maybe the return from link ads is lower - but I see it as extra rather than an alternative income for my page - it all adds to the bottom line.