What am I doing wrong?

[quikfire]

I run a blog site and get a daily average of 40,000 impressions, 1700 uniques.

I run a 468x60 banner at the top of each page in my site, but how is it that I'm getting only a CTR of 0.0% - 0.1% and earning $1 - $5 a day? Is this the standard fare?

Thanks in advance!

[hyperkik]

There are some subjects that seemingly don't do well with AdSense. It may not be you - it may be your subject matter.

[alika]

Plus try changing the banners to leaderboards. With banners, you only show 2 ads whereas leaderboards give the option of up to 4 ads. Maybe the additional 2 ads will interest the user more.

Also experiment on the color. If CTR is low, it means your color may not be working enough.

The key to Adsense is experiment, experiment and more experiment.

[europeforvisitors]

I'd guess that you've got two problems:

1) You have a lot of regular visitors, and they're often seeing ads they've already seen.

2) More important, your visitors aren't researching ways to spend their money, so there's no reason for them to click on the ads.

Some sites work better with AdSense than others do. I do very well with a travel-planning site, but that's because people who are planning vacations are actively looking for travel services. Similarly, a site that reviews cameras, vacuum cleaners, networking gear, etc. may have a good clickthrough rate because users are researching purchases. On the other hand, a news site like Washingtonpost.com probably has a fairly low clickthrough rate because people who are reading about the war in Iraq, a Redskins football game, or tomorrow's weather aren't likely to notice or click on ads.

Have you tried banner-ad networks like Fastclick or Burst Media? It's possible that you'd make more money with CPM ads (ads that are sold for $X per 1,000 impressions) than with contextual text ads like AdSense that require clicks to earn revenue.

[filmfodder]

I second the CPM angle -- I've found better results with CPM branding campaigns on my broad-based content sites.

[loanuniverse]

1- The regular banner is not a good performer IMHO.

2- Do you have a default setup? I think that you are probably getting an unusual amount of PSAs.

3- It could be the subject of the blog, as alluded earlier some topics are just not good for making money in advertising or changing topics might give adbot trouble with its targeting.

[ownerrim]

Originally adsense didn't allow blogs. When did this change?

[wonderboy]

Integrate the banners into your content. Always works.

W.

[loanuniverse]

Originally adsense didn't allow blogs. When did this change?

I think highly technical and desirable demographic blogs have always been let in. I just don't think they let in personal blogs.

[richmondsteve]

quikfire, that's a tough question to answer without knowing more about the topic(s) your site is focused on (if any focus), length of your pages, variety of ads across pages, repeat traffic, etc.

Worst case scenario - most of your users are repeat visitors, the ads aren't of interest to them, the same ads show on most of your pages, users have seem them over and over, your pages are long (spanning the fold) and by the time a user is done reading page content the ads are no longer on screen and they're unlikely to remember them and scroll up, review them and click.

If you're not paranoid, add your URL to your profile and/or stickymail it to me and/or others who'd be glad to review it and advise or provide a lot more detail.

[quikfire]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I'm ready to learn more.

Here's my site: snipped

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! =)

[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 3:29 am (utc) on July 29, 2004]

[edited by: quikfire at 3:46 am (utc) on July 29, 2004]

[quikfire]

Ok since I can't post URLs, I'll PM whoever that wants to review my site.

[quikfire]

Btw, what's PSAs?