Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Would it be worthwhile to bring in traffic to my new website via Adwords and if so how much should I bid for traffic and basically how would you do the calculation?
Here is a rough estimate from the beginning of the month: (on average)
My CTR is %10, eCPM is $11 ,
does that imply that I should bid less than 10%*$11/1000= 1.1 cent on Google Adwords to make a profit?
For the ones who invest money to bring in visitors via Google Adwords my question is: How do you know when you should start advertising with Google Adwords in order to make a profit through Google Adsense?
[google.com...]
[edited by: rocker at 7:15 pm (utc) on Jan. 12, 2007]
4/1($4 in for $1 spent) is what I use but I also add my organic into that.
3/1 if you are counting straight across that is good.
2/1 is the lowest I would say to go. If you can't maintain that you have to shift your ads/bids around until you can.
Less than that is just not worth it unless you are dealing in large sums of money.
But (arguably) Google does not like click arbitrage. There are two main "hits":
Firstly, the Adwords Quality Score algorithm can kick in and start significantly increasing your minimum bids - effectivly turning off AdWords traffic.
Secondly, smartpricing can start reducing you earning per click.
Either of these can turn you profit into a loss if you are not careful.
I noticed some keywords on my website that generates G.ads that are worth 10-20 cent per/click. I plan to bid on some very cheap keywords and see if I can make a decent profit. I dont think the quality of my traffic is that important. (I may be wrong) I think ill start with $50 for now and see where it goes. I will let you know.
If you have any other suggestions please let me know.
Whats interesting is that I spent about 2 years on a well developed website which has a descent amount of traffic but earns less than my new website in terms of clicks (I only spent a few days on the new website).
My CTR is %10, eCPM is $11, does that imply that I should bid less than 10%*$11/1000= 1.1 cent on Google Adwords to make a profit?
Multiply that by your pageviews per visitor.
Also, the comment above that your CTR may be different (probably higher) on AdWords traffic needs to be taken into account.
[edited by: SiteChemistry at 8:07 pm (utc) on Jan. 12, 2007]
this new site is an MadeForAdsense (MFA website)
[google.com...]
"No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant."
Are these compatible?
Whats interesting is that I spent about 2 years on a well developed website which has a descent amount of traffic but earns less than my new website in terms of clicks (I only spent a few days on the new website).
This is the sole reason people make as many MFAs as ever. If Google is successful at changing this reality, it will be all the better for contextual advertising in the content network.
Not to say that the Empire didn't rule a good part the Galaxy for some time but the Force has a way of changing things in the end.
You want to somehow get some additional value out of the traffic on top of the pure click arbitrage.
Paying USD 100 per day to get USD 110 back is doable, even doubling your money or more. If it is sustainable is another question...
But even if your USD 100 is just bringing you USD 100 back on 1000 clicks is might still make a lot of sense to do it.
The traffic you are pulling through you site could be tweaked to give you:
Content
Critical mass
Blog posts
AdSense history of significant reveneue
Inbound links
Network traffic
etc.
All stuff you need/want to build that killer site you want.
PENGI: My page has context and it is not solely Google Ads. What I was trying to say is that I dont sell things on my website and my revenue comes only from Google Adsense.
Although I have been in the arbitrage business for more than a year, I always wrote my own content and designed my own sites. Arbitrage comes in different ways you see.
I know there are some of us who are still capable of playing the arbitrage game and making a good profit out of it. But I guess many arbitrageurs have learned that the quick arbitrage wins are mostly over. At least, that is the case with me and with many folks I have spoken to.
No worries, there are enough games left and new games will emerge giving all of us opportunities to make good cash online. Just never stop trying, be creative and most of all, act now, not tomorrow...
I'll give you one important reason: Google has changed the Adwords/Adsense algo's. If you attempt to buy Adwords clicks leading to landingpages with Adsense ads on them, you simply do not get the Adwords clicks anymore. Unless you pay $1 for them. Or unless your landingpage and ad have a very high "quality score". But most of us still haven't found out what that quality score thing exactly implies.
So your maths are correct, but that don't help you if Google doesn't sell you Adwords clicks...
I think you should focus on getting more value out of the traffic you buy on AdWords. More value than just the one click this whole reasoning leads up to.
One simple strategy is to offer some interesting information and have the click on that link open a new browser with new ads (many do not like that, but that is a different issue). At least then you have more page impressions and more likelyhood that they will click one of your ads.
Other ways to monetize:
- Offer free newsletter and signup for newsletter.
Offer something free just to sign up.
- New browser window on link, possibly with an aditional pop up window.
You want to think sequentially, first they should do A then B.
FIST click the link high up on the page for the FREE REPORT (that opens in a new window with an additional POP Up window).
THEN They click on the ad you have futher down.
Be greative, it is your creativity that may lead you to be able to offer that one cent extra that gets you most of the AdWords traffic.
When the math works arbritage works - no doubt about it.
I don't think so. The math could be:
1) I am going to buy Adwords clicks for 1 cent.
2) I bring the visitor to a page with ads that make 10 cents a click.
3) That page has a 50% CTR.
So for every cent I spend, I get 5 cents in return.
Hence a 4 cent profit on 1 cent investment, making this a Return of investment of 400%.
I think the maths are ok, but arbitrage itself still don't work if Google just won't give me those 1 cent clicks.
At least, if Google only gives me 10 of these clicks a day, I make 40 cents a day out of arbitrage. Then both the maths and arbitrage work, but with these numbers they are obviously not very relevant.
BTW Sunshine, perhaps I do not fullly understand your advice, but are you suggesting to put Adsense on pop-ups? Sorry if I am mistaken.
I wonder if there are still many folks out there making serious cash with Adwords/Adsense arbitrage. That would really surprise me.
[edited by: humblebeginnings at 7:32 pm (utc) on Jan. 17, 2007]
If you bring in visitors for 4 cents/click via Adwords and make 12cents/click on your own website using Adsense why wont it work when 40% of your visitors click on Google ads?
What if 40% of your visitors don't click on Google ads?
At best, an MFA site is a shortsighted business strategy. At worst, it could hurt you down the line, depending on how aggressively AdSense and/or Google Search respond to the MFA scourge to protect their own business model(s).
I feel that this technique should work :
1)Google Adwords (max 4 cents/click) >> more traffic for website A that no longer has Google Ads
2)Website B receives 40% referrals from .gif banner on website A
3)40% click generating minimum 12cents/click and sometimes over 33 cents
Although these numbers arent that accurate and are a rough estimate I am hoping it works.
At best, an MFA site is a shortsighted business strategy
EFV, I think what we are discussing here is using Adwords/Adsense arbitrage in order to monetize websites. That doesn't mean that the website itself is made for Adsense. I have websites that have been around before Google even existed. However, I have been monetizing them with the arbitrage model later on. Of course MFA sites mostly rely on arbitrage but MFA and arbitrage are definitely not the same.
What if I use adwords to increase traffic on website A and then advertise website B with Google Adsense on website A?
I have been trying that too. But only few visitors acutally made the jump from A to B. I didn't succeed in making a profit out of this model. But perhaps you will be more succesful. I guess all of us are interested in the results!
I put a huge banner of website B on A's front page and also a small text link of A on website B (which I plan to remove since site A doesnt have any google ads, therefore no $).
EFV, I think what we are discussing here is using Adwords/Adsense arbitrage in order to monetize websites. That doesn't mean that the website itself is made for Adsense
DailyPress said it was a Made-for-AdSense (MFA) site, so I just took him (her?) at his (her?) word.
In any case, I do think AdWords/AdSense arbitrage is a shortsighted business strategy regardless of whether one chooses to use the term "MFA." Unless the arbitrageur is extremely knowledgeable (unlikely, if the person has come to this forum for basic advice), then it's likely that he or she will go the way of the affiliate marketers who had to reinvent themselves--or get day jobs--when their boilerplate pages disappeared from Google's SERPs.
Is that considered an MFA website?
Is that considered an MFA website?
MFA = Made For AdSense. I.e. a site that only exists because of the AdSense programme, is created around the AdSense programme and has no other real purpose other than displaying AdSense - it may well also have relevant content, but this only exists to support the AdSense.
