New to this w/ 2 Questions: Site Design from the Ground Up...

Design to Maximize Revs and 1 more Question

[izizi009]

I am brand new to the AdSense world... I am building a content site from scratch with the idea of maximizing adsense dollars along with selling two of my own (not-cheesy!) digital products through a text ad on my site.

I don't want to buy any of the "be a billionaire overnight with Ad$ense!" e-books because they all look really lame. But I want to know, since I am building my site from the ground up right now, what you grizzled veterans think is important in terms of design. Are there bg colors that help click throughs or other important layout recomendations?

If you were going to rebuild your site from scratch what would you be sure to do no matter what from a graphic design standpoint to get your adsense program rolling big, fast :-)

One more question.... Is there anywhere to go to get an idea of what various keywords go for? I have heard some people get 20 cents per and other $2. How can I get a clue as to what the market I am targetting goes for or learn about other keyword click through pay rates (I know it changes, but I am just trying to get a ballpark idea)?

Thanks for the input, this forum is great!

[ann]

I kind of go for the Kiss principle in design (keep it simple, stupid)

Of course the keywords should be associated with the subject/theme of your topic. Making a site geared toward google adsense is against the TOS. Your site would best be geared toward your visitors and that will probable net you higher paying ads.

New webmasters seems to be chasing the 'high paying keywords' while forgetting there are just so many keywords/phrases that fit your site.

Making different pages targeting keywords unrelated to your total site theme just for high payers will usually result in low pay.

Ann

[TheDonster]

Welcome to WW izizi009! The first thing I recommend you check is the Google heat map. It displays where on a web page the visitor is more likely to be attracted to the ads and will result in (hopefully) a higher clickthrough rate. If you're planning a redesign of your site, this will be an excellent guide. As for keywords, everyone always wants to try to incorporate higher paying words into their site as soon as they start AS. The problem is many will not fit every site. If you plan to sell blue widgets on your site, ads on tort lawsuits will not appeal to your visitors very much. If you want an idea how much keywords sell for, do a search using "overture bid tool". This is Yahoo's estimator for advertisers and it provides a reasonable guide. Keep in mind it only gives the maximum bid an advertiser will pay. Build a site with quality content and they will come. Build a site that YOU would want to advertise your hard paid advertisements on, and they will pay.

[david_uk]

Find a topic you know something about, and write a website that people interested in that topic will want to visit. Simple, clean design, fast loading and don't be tempted to put on lots of flashing applets/flash stuff!

Don't be so concerned about keywords. Everybody who wants to make a fast buck is making sites based on high paying keywords. There was a recent thread started by one guy who started his site on the basis he thought the keyword was worth $80 and was surprised he got %0.07 per click. Advertisers are willing to pay large amounts for quality leads, but that sort of money is targetted at specific websites that historically work for the advertiser.

Bear in mind that at some point you might get bored with the design and want to change it. Design the site so that if you do have a change of theme, you don't need to start all over again. My site design has undergone several complete makeovers, and the design is the simplest it's ever been. Guess what - it's also the most profitable too!

You can get good money out of tight niche sites - I do. Mine is not a top keyword site, but I do very well out of adsense simply because quality content attracts advertisers that want to advertise on my site. The are obviously willing to pay for this, as I don't earn 5c per click :) :)

The main concern is to get a quality site online. Once you are online and getting visitors you can tweak what adsense banners you want to use, and where to use them to maximise income.

[izizi009]

Thanks for all the great info everyone. What a great forum this is. It isn't often you find a place where people are so helpful and generous with insights to newbies. I appreciate it, and feel like I am off and running :-) Good clickthroughs to you all!