Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I think one of the problems is that people don't come to my site to buy widgets; they just want to read about them. They can do this without clicking any ads, so as content has improved and increased my visitors have also increased. The problem is that my earnings have flat lined (possibly going down a bit depending on the timeline you look at)
I assume this is an issue that affects many smarter people that I, so I'm asking for general advise.
I know that I can get more money by making larger ads, putting them in more noticeable locations, making the color stand out, etc... But I don't it to look like a spam site.
If I provide free in-depth technical widget content that’s hard to find anywhere else, can I afford to have more noticeable ads? Or will viewers hate it as much as an Adsense spam site that has no content?
Thanks in advance.
Mitchell
More content = more traffic. So, your CTR might go down a little bit, but you'll more than make up for it in volume.
He may also see higher EPC (and ultimately a higher effective CPM) if the clicks lead to higher conversions for advertisers.
Most of this content is 10-20 pages long (PDF equivalent) Which is whey I think that viewers are just ignoring the ads. In fact my own (very suspect) studies using guinea pigs (friends) seems to show the following.
People arrive at the content. They look at the title. They quickly scroll down through it without reading, looking at pictures paragraphs, seeing if there are any comments at the bottom. Sometimes they may read sections that they think are relevant.
Rarely do people start at the top of the article (where the ad is) and read down. I've tried a 250x250 square floating to the right top, but didn't see a large change in a week or so.
I have a few ads direct from companies to the left, but these are marginalized on the actual content pages.
If I provide free in-depth technical widget content that’s hard to find anywhere else, can I afford to have more noticeable ads?
The answer will vary from site-to-site, but our experience has been that you can afford to have your AdSense ad very conspicuous on the page.
We also have a very in-depth content site (over 2,000 pages) on a narrow niche subject. People come to the site looking for information and answers to questions. We don’t sell anything and use the 300x250 ad format placed in the page content above the fold. We are careful about keeping ads at a minimum using only one AdSense ad per page.
Our CTR ranges from three to five percent. No negative feedback from our 4,000 to 6,000 daily users. I think most people understand that in order to provide good in-depth content, some advertising is to be expected.
My main site has a HUGE lot of contents (19.000 contents pages, it's the web edition of a large reference book), wonderfully spidered by Google, 1st page in Google for hndreds of keywords but.... it's not making me rich.
Yet.
I am thinking to start selling directly banners on selected, good positioned pages.
Will the extra work pay for itself?
Never_again:
> Our CTR ranges from three to five percent
I would love that!
Most of this content is 10-20 pages long (PDF equivalent) Which is whey I think that viewers are just ignoring the ads. In fact my own (very suspect) studies using guinea pigs (friends) seems to show the following.
Don't use 468x60, but use 300x250 above your articles.
That's what prompted this question, I'd like to go with something like a 300x250, but this pushes the content down quite a bit.
Just make your ad look as much as content, it will less disturb the visitor.
I second what Never_again said. It's okay to use a big, square block at the top of the page, with fat white space on both sides. It doesn't need to blend in, it needs to stick out. You'll get a really nice CTR and zero complaints.
Really? I'd like to do this, but I'm not so sure about it...
You just let the content start next to the 300x250 adblock.
So putting a square ad on left floating with the top of the content?
Ads can be in a prominant positions and still not be "in your face" if you choose layouts and colors that blend in with the rest of the pages.
Making ads blend in with your pages is spammier than making them stand out, and it's a disservice to advertisers who want "qualified leads" and not accidental clicks.
For what it's worth, my CTR increased when I switched from the default AdSense color scheme to rotating color blocks that made the ads stand out even more. If your pages attract targeted ads, it makes sense to have the ads stand out, and a rotating color background helps to fight "ad blindness" with a subliminal message that says, "This isn't the same ad block that you saw on the page you just came from."
I don't think you can do both. You can certainly go "over the top" with mutiple banners and dynamic ads which will drive users away, but if you're mainly depending on AdSense you'll get more revenue by increasing your ad visibility. I'm not talking about lime green backgrounds and red text, just sticking more ad units in and around the text and structuring your pages so that users get exposed to more ads at points where they are likely to be thinking of buying something.
I think you have to make a choice between a nice, clean, low visisbility ad which makes your site look more "professional" and a high visibility ad which makes your site look less "professional" but makes more money.
I don't think you can do both. You can certainly go "over the top" with mutiple banners and dynamic ads which will drive users away, but if you're mainly depending on AdSense you'll get more revenue by increasing your ad visibility. I'm not talking about lime green backgrounds and red text, just sticking more ad units in and around the text and structuring your pages so that users get exposed to more ads at points where they are likely to be thinking of buying something.
It is possible.
I trippled my CTR and my site still looks professionel.
GF
Experiment with a large rectangle floating in the text, e.g. after the 2nd or 3rd paragraph, left aligned.
Works for me.
From what you've said, it sounds like you've got some good content. If that's the case, I'd urge you to be cautious with how you run ads on your pages.
It's entirely possible to get very high CTR on discretely placed ads.
A 120x600 or 160x600 skyscraper placed in the left hand column so the end of the ad block and the end of the content (in the right hand column) are at the same point on the page can have great results.
Professional content deserves respect, don't dimish it by loading the page with ads that scream at readers, that's just not necessary.
Definitely break up the pages and use teasers to keep readers clicking.
Readers probably will complain about the ads, but that doesn't mean they'll stop reading.
Have you thought of offering full-length articles as PDF files only to those who register and/or subscribe? Getting a few dollars as a subscription fee can't hurt. Free registration gives you an opportunity to gather demographic content on your readers, which could help you get into TribalFusion or one of the other high-quality banner ad programs.
Have you thought of offering full-length articles as PDF files only to those who register and/or subscribe?
We currently offer full length PDFs and printer friendly copies to all visitors. That's one of my favorite marketing points with this site "no registration required" We do have a membership system, but its only used to subscribe to topics, content updates, etc..
I'd rather not use membership to restrict anything.
Although I didn't initially want to split the content up, I see now that I should probably do so. That’s the one point that everyone here seems to have agreed on.
I'm adding the multiple pages support into my CMS and templates now. So far I've got it so that when people search or look through my different categories of widgets, they only see page 1. You can only get to page 2,3,4,.. from the bottom of that particular page of content (not from any normal navigation) Is that enough of a link to get spidered on a fairly active PR6 site?
Bad question, I'll find out by looking at my logs. I'll re-phrase, do you point to the multiple pages from anywhere other than the article itself?
Also, I'm going to try the 160x600 ad on the left with alternating colors. I like that idea.
Thanks so much everyone!
I've been floating 336x280 rectangles to the right at the beginning of the articles. I like the larger rectangle as the ads are more spread out and people can see at a glance if there is an ad that interests them. Also I make the borders the same color as the background. It brings out the titles of the ads better. Be sure the title is the darkest text color.
On long articles I put a second ad floated at the end of the text to catch people who actually read the article. That pays less but still appears to be worthwhile.
I really don't think text ads that are well matched to the colors on the page look that spammy. Even news articles have them now so people are used to finding them on an informative page.
And I agree, you need to break up the articles into sub articles and put them on separate pages.
I second what Never_again said. It's okay to use a big, square block at the top of the page, with fat white space on both sides.
Our content wraps around the 300x250 ads which are right justified on the page.
