Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I was contemplating putting adsense on my travel site. Any idea of the kind of EPC that travel sites generally pay, can it average around 1 USD? Or this time around the year travel sites dont pay much in Adsense?
Maybe some travel site peers can advise.
If you are in the travel sector, then visitors pretty much expect there to be targetted ads on the pages for their convenience.
What I'd do is to sign up and place the code on your pages. If it doesn't work for you then simply take the code off again. Nothing to lose.
A number of factors will go into determining EPC, such as:
1) The number of advertisers who are bidding on a given keyword or keyphrase.
2) How much profit an advertiser stands to make from a lead or sale.
In any case, EPC isn't a very important metric for publishers. (It is important for advertisers.) To a publisher, the important numbers to know are effective CPM (which allows comparison between results for different types of ads, affiliate sales, etc.) and total revenues. CPM is determined not only by EPC, but also by clickthrough rate, which will vary according by topic and audience. And total revenues will be determined, in large part, by traffic: You could have a page on Elbonian luxury yak excursions that has an EPC of $1 and a CTR of 5%, but if it attracted only two readers on a typical day, it wouldn't earn as much as a page on Manhattan hotels that had a much lower EPC and CTR but attracted 50 or 100 users per day.
My advice: Don't obsess about EPC, and don't even worry too much about CPM or other metrics for specific pages. Instead, concentrate on developing a site with "evergreen" content that will be recognized as an authority on its topic. If your overall topic is reasonably commercial (e.g., cruising or luxury tours as opposed to backpacking or hitchhiking), so much the better. Remember, too, that diversity is a good thing: If your site has a good variety of subtopics, it won't be hurt if advertising demand disappears for certain keyphrases or keywords.
big-ticket items... with very little margins.
I have no proof, but I always thought travel sites would be a more profitable site than, say, a general site (or a movie site like mine) because almost everything associated with traveling (especially abroad) are big-ticket items, so they're more willing to offer a higher rate to advertise.
Well, not if you're running a website on low budget backpacking like me ;)
I have no proof, but I always thought travel sites would be a more profitable site than, say, a general site (or a movie site like mine) because almost everything associated with traveling (especially abroad) are big-ticket items, so they're more willing to offer a higher rate to advertise.
Depends on the topic and subtopic. As Goldfish points out, backpacking might be a toughie (except possibly for reviews of equipment), but articles on five-star hotels, luxury cruises, upscale tours, etc. should generate very healthy CPMs. Of course, CPM isn't everything; even a site with a low overall EPC and CPM can make good money if it has enough traffic.
Revenue is not about keyword value, but keyword value times traffic. Getting traffic is a function of competition. And competition is fierce for websites with high-traffic keywords.
Anyway, it seems to me that a lot of people are chasing high-value keywords, making it harder to get your site into SERPs and thus into money. I'm not sure what the worst keyword is. I'm thinking "gruel." The keyword wouldn't be worth much, but I bet I could be the web's top gruel site in a few weeks! :)
Incidentally, EuropeForVisitors, your site is a real model. It's not a parlor-trick, but excellent content which will--as your put it--be evergreen.
Another factor to consider if you run a travel site is the 'season'. example : a travelsite for a classic european summer-holiday-country will have lots of visitors from January until August.
That's mostly true, although some destinations are less seasonal than others: Major cities like Paris, London, and New York attract visitors (and produce revenues for travel publishers) throughout the year.
Also, I've noticed that AdSense revenues are more stable than affiliate revenues are, at least on my site. That's probably because, on an editorially diverse travel site, AdSense ads cover a wide range of topics: e.g, not just things like hotels or rail passes that travelers may book or buy at the last minute, but also things like tours and cruises that may be researched and booked months before travel. AdSense doesn't just help to monetize pages that otherwise wouldn't produce revenues; it also helps to smooth out seasonal variations in income.
I'd be interested to hear more about the shape of the curve. Is the peak in the summer or before?
I'd be interested to hear more about the shape of the curve. Is the peak in the summer or before?
It varies a bit from year to year, and for some destinations there may be more than peak; e.g., a peak at the beginning of the summer season and another in early fall. Also, reported AdSense earnings and affiliate revenues may peak at different times, because readers who check out the offerings of AdSense advertisers generate revenue immediately, while readers who make affiliate bookings don't generate revenue until they make a purchase decision and stay at the hotel, pick up the car, take the tour, etc.
I'd be interested to hear more about the shape of the curve. Is the peak in the summer or before?
I guess my quest to balance educational with travel is doomed to failure. What do people think about in summer, sun-burn? :)
where the visitor is coming from.agreed... other PPC companies tell you upfront that you are going to get $0.00 for each click not from the US or UK
