Small changes sometimes do make a big difference!

[DaStarBuG]

Hi

I am running several forums based on vBulletin and I am
monetizing my Forums with Google AdSense. One of my ADs
is placed inside the first post of ever thread on the right.

Until 3 weeks ago the text of the first post started on the left
side of the AD like this:

TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextTextTextTextT
TextTextTextTextTextTextT

I then changed that by utilizing a neat little CSS "trick" to
make the text flow around the Ad like this:

TextTextTextTextTextTextT
TextTextTextTextTextTextT
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextText Ad Ad Ad
TextTextTextTextTextTextT
TextTextTextTextTextTextT

This small change increased my CTR over 300% and my eCPM over 350%.

So the lesson is that you never should stop optimizing your Ads
and that even small changes can make a big difference.

StarBuG

[johnmoose]

You could even try to put the ad on the left side in the text.
I tried them on both sides and the left position turned out to be the highest in ctr and ecpm on my site.

[DaStarBuG]

I know that but this change would be to intrusive for my visitors
and would most likely repel them due to my other AD placements.
It would be just a notch to much for my taste.

But you are right, the left side definitely works better then the right side

[ken_b]

That's an interesting deal DaStarBug. Thanks for the post, and especially for the before nad after visual layout descriptions.

May you success continue to increase!

[farmboy]

I've made little changes like that before and experienced an uptick in numbers.

I've also noticed those upticks to settle down after a while.


FarmBoy

[DaStarBuG]

Not if your sites traffic consists of 92% new visitors each month.
There is no accustoming effect :)

[eniac]

to DaStarBuG,
which ad format do you use?

[DaStarBuG]

Large Rectangle.

I tried the medium rectangle but earnings dropped significantly.
Large rectangles are much better for CTR where medium rectangle
is better if you want to attract CPM Ads.

[eniac]

What is CPM ads

[DaStarBuG]

where you get payed per thousand impressions and not per click

[alika]

I tried those iterations - left and right - but the one that worked best for us is

TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText

(advertisement)
LARGE AD BLOCK

TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText

Instead of trying to blend the ads in the text, we break the content and insert the ad after the first paragraph. Our CTRs fell when we blended the ad in the content. With the format we are using, I suppose it makes the ad more visible to the user, especially since we give ample white space above and below the ads. Users know they are ads because they are labeled as such.

With Adsense, it is important to test the best placement that will work for you. What works for one may not work for you. Test, test and test.

[DaStarBuG]

What I do is that I lable my Ads as Advertisments.
They also have a distance to the content.

Here is a screenshot:

[adsenseexperts.com...]

[farmboy]

I tried those iterations - left and right - but the one that worked best for us is

TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText

(advertisement)
LARGE AD BLOCK

TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextText

Alika,

If the text below the ad is a continuation of the text above the ad, do you include a line something like "continued below..." or do you think that would cause people to ignore the ad?

FarmBoy

[alika]

We do use

(article continued below...)

and CTR is quite ok (3-5%).

When we wrapped the ads like the OP, our CTR was in the 2-3% range. I was hoping that it would be higher when we wrapped the ads, but our tests showed no improvement so we reverted back to our original placement.

[netmeg]

It's true of AdSense, it's true of AdWords, it's true of landing pages, it's true of everything - if you're not testing, you're leaving money on the table.

[Rodney]

DaStarBug - can you share the CSS code that you used to position it slightly lower and make your ads look like that (border/spacing)?

[DaStarBuG]

.float_spacer_right { float:right; width: 1px; height: 60px; }
.AdInline { float:right; clear:right;}

<div class="float_spacer_right"></div>
<div class="AdInline">YOUR IMAGE OR ADSENSE CODE</div>
YOUR TEXT

The hight defines how much text appears above your AD

[eniac]

what color do you use for text,title and url?

[DaStarBuG]

all black or links dark blue, depends

[Sally Stitts]

"Small changes sometimes do make a big difference."

OH MY GOODNESS!

I heard you. I thought it was a good idea.
So I wrapped the text around my top, center rectangles, on 2 of my popular pages, which were getting a low CTR.

Big change, you say? Absolutely.

NO CLICKS WHATSOEVER! UNBELIEVABLE. I honestly believed in your suggestion, and I thought it was a great idea. So strongly did I believe in your advice, I have STILL not changed them back, after 3 days. Why not? Because I just can't believe it! I simply have to test for a few more days.

My takeaway? YMMV, YMMV, YMMV, YMMV, YMMV, about 100 more times.
You should challenge EVERY one of your long-held assumptions.
This has caused me to not believe anything. There are things going on that are EXTREMELY difficult to understand. I am working on a whole new theory that is very counter-intuitive, and relates mostly to things we never discuss here.

[alika]

LOL Sally ... you made me laugh so hard.

But so true, what may be the eureka moment of one will be the downfall of the other.

Test test test. Just because someone said it worked for them doesn't mean that it will work for you :o)

[DaStarBuG]

@Sally Stitts

Did you mark your Ads as Advertisment
for the user to distinguish it from the content?
Do you use a margin so that the Ad still has a
little distance to your content?

What I am doing is to blend in the Ads but still
keep them visible as Ads. I don't want to trick
my visitors into clicking, the clicking should
always be a choice.

So maybe you blended the Ad to much?
If you want me to have a look on your implementation
PM me an example URL and I'll have a look.

Other then that alika is right. Always test, every website is different.

[Sally Stitts]

I did not put any markings, other than the one that is produced by the ad, at the bottom right of the ad, "Ads by Google".

I left a nice bit of white space all the way around the ad, of about 1/2 inch (about 36 pixels).

My title is blue 0000FF, my text is brown 660000 (both body and ad), the ad URL is green 008000, and my background and border are white FFFFFF (which translates no border).

I think it looks d@mn fine, but it sure doesn't draw any clicks.

[tangor]

I've played with this several ways on various sites over the years.

Blended.
Marked.
Blatant.

Surprisingly the last seems to work better (YMMV) in some niche markets. When I say "blatant" I mean not only is the ad marked as an ad, it has a bright colored border and white space offset to make dang sure Joe User knows it is NOT part of the website but is an ADVERTISEMENT.

[sid786]

Last year, I did the same, but I had placed the after-content ads on the bottom right while the ad block after the title was the same.

|(advertisement)|
| LARGE AD BLOCK|
TextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextText
TextTextTextText |(advertisement)|
TextTextTextText |LARGE AD BLOCK |
TextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextTextText

The result? CPM of the bottom right ad improved—but CPM of the top ad decreased. It's not the CTR that matters, it's the overall earnings. They were, of course, off the chart. Now I use an ad block after and before content, that has been paying off from past one year.

[netmeg]

I have a bunch of sites, and I will say this - on over 80% of them, the best paying ad blocks are what I consider to be either the ugliest or the most counter intuitive.

What this tells me is that I'm a lousy judge of ad block styles.

Next year, I think I'm going to just let Google serve them randomly instead of trying to micromanage it myself.

[Sally Stitts]

Still nary a click on the 2 pages mentioned above.

You know how folks are always doing this, and doing that, to achieve the maximum possible CTR?

Guess what? I believe that I have discovered the MINIMUM CTR possible for my pages - the perfect combination of parameters that will always guarantee the least possible revenue. If there is an award for this, I should have it, hands down.

Still up. I am not changing them, at this point, for the sheer entertainment value of seeing this unwavering result. I still can't believe it.

Maybe it is time to go with a yellow-red combo, the most eyeball-jarring combo I believe to exist, as tangor and netmeg suggest.

A Theory - Have you ever noticed that a certain page always gets the same CTR, pretty much regardless of changing ad factors? I have a page that always gets over 10% - in spite of most everything else. I have another page that always gets less than 2%, even with changing ads. I am suggesting that there exists a nominal? CTR for every search phrase and/or subject, which results from the personality, experience, age, sex, and interest of a "searcher type". Am I nuts?

This relates to this post, because both of the 2 pages I mentioned above get consistently low CTRs - that's why I tried to fix-em-up.

[Bewenched]

Very interesting read... Salty, you're a hoot! Keep us posted with your progress.

[cien]

I have a bunch of sites, and I will say this - on over 80% of them, the best paying ad blocks are what I consider to be either the ugliest or the most counter intuitive.

What this tells me is that I'm a lousy judge of ad block styles.

Next year, I think I'm going to just let Google serve them randomly instead of trying to micromanage it myself.

So true, if you see the ads on my site... they'd hurt your eyes.. they look really phosphorescent type bright. Who would click that you'd ask. Everybody but me. They are my best performing ads. That was as a result of testing my "para gusto los colores - the world doesn't revolve around you or live in your cardboard box" common sense theory. Sometimes we are like flies flying into the glass window over and over trying to get out of the house when there is an open window a couple inches away.

DSB, my killer setup is:

<adsense section targeting> TITLE </adsense section targeting>

- AD -
- AD -
- AD -

{Tex here}

10-25% CTR

I'm in to make money though, not to retain visitors. They come to my sites looking for answers and the first thing they see is ads. I don't use GA though. Bery Bery bad for your sites' health in my opinion.

[eniac]

Cien,
do you use 3 ad blocks just after title?