Aug 03
Increasing AdSense Revenues
You know that a little while ago I said I was I was going to be trying to increase my AdSense earnings. I wish I could say that I had been trying to do so for a while, but in all honesty it was more like “I was thinking about trying” but that just wasn’t the case. Thankfully, I was smart enough to ask an Adsense Guru, (Everton over at Connected Internet), why he was so successful with AdSense and he gave me more than a complete answer.
What A Response
Not only did he respond to my private message, he also wrote the previously linked post (a true gem), and then went a step further as to come to my site and completely break down my obvious shortcomings! Here are highlights from his suggestions and how I’m trying to address them:
- Traffic From Search Engines – This is probably the biggest one I’m currently focusing on. As Everton so casually says, “Search engine visitors are more likely to click on contextual ads than bloggers who probably don’t even see ads.” Up ’till now, my search engine visitors have been really low. Why? One reason is probably that my keywords and description meta tags weren’t being used. Case in point, check out my site in the big G:
RECTIFICATION – I downloaded the All In One SEO Pack plugin for WordPress which allows me to specify a title, description and keywords for all my posts. Over the next week, I went back and added a unique title, description and keywords to every post. - Add Section Targeting – I had never heard about this before Everton told me. Basically, by adding two comments, you can tell AdSense which text to look at it when pulling up ads. This is CRUCIAL because you certainly want your ads to match the text you’re writing about right?
RECTIFICATION – Added section targeting per the big G’s specifications. - Lose the Sidebar Ad – I was told to do this because it’s probably not netting me many clicks but almost definietely lowering my overall CTR which reduces how much I’m paid on my AdSense ads because of Google’s smart pricing.
RECTIFICATION – This may not be the ONLY place where I’m hurting myself. But of course, everything’s tagged and while it looks like (even this early) that Everton is right, I’m going to wait just a a while longer ’till I have some more data on all my ads so I can pull off/change all the ones that aren’t performing. - My Theme – This one hurt to read. Black text on a white background is easier to read and blue links are saying “click me” to all those search visitors I’m going after. Of course, my site is the complete opposite of that AND worse since I don’t even know which color people are seeing when looking at my site. AY YI YI. Add on top of that that I’ve been advised to lose my left sidebar and you can see my face just getting ALL befuddled.
RECTIFICATION - Wish I knew. The problem is I REALLY like my theme. It’s dynamic and I love the colors. So I think for now I’m going to leave things where they are but maybe when I have some time this month I’ll look into taking out a sidebar and fooling with some of the colors. Who knows, maybe I could change the look of the site to an inverse of what it is now and rock that out. Hey! It doesn’t look half bad!!!
There are plenty of more tips that Everton was so kind to give, but I just wanted to hit the ones that I think I NEED to focus on now. But that might be different for you so make sure you check out the post on his site, and his comments on mine!
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:33 am
Yo, Bro.
Ya know, is the old “to be or not to be” quest with changed words.
You are to blog for people, community, friends > then you`re building, estabilishing and enforce your prestige; or maybe you`re blog for adsense revenue.
Wanna bet ANY adsense (specially designed for) site have a life no longer than months, let`s say 12-15 ?
I know you have read about “section targeting” for adsense.
I also know you didn`t ask me about
Yet, re-re-read this (from google site) :
However, please be aware that we can’t guarantee results, and that it may take up to 2 weeks before our crawlers take into account any changes you’ve made to your site.
In order to properly implement this feature, you’ll need to include a significant amount of content within the section targeting tags. Including insufficient content may result in less relevant ads or PSAs. In addition, please keep in mind that this feature should only be used to emphasize significant sections of your site’s relevant content. It is against our program policies to manipulate the ad targeting to result in ads that are not relevant to the content of your pages.
Comming (advice to use that targeting blabla) from people you trust or respect (as I first time hear about it from J. Chow some time a go) sound like something you should do.
Me, I wont do that.
Becouse, after reading the lines above quoted, I think all is experimental, unreliable and more a reason to raise adwords betting than releasing adsense revenues.
I may be wrong.
I may be right.
(-:
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:00 am
@Valentin – Thanks for your comments as always but I’m going to have to disagree with you on some points here or maybe I’m just going to have to better explain myself.
“Wanna bet ANY adsense (specially designed for) site have a life no longer than months, let`s say 12-15 ?”
I think what you’re referring to is MFA sites which aren’t too cool in the sense where they don’t serve quality content but instead try to cut corners to get easy clicks on their ads. What I’m talking about this article is optimzing the adSense ads you use to maximize profit like Connected Internet does.
“I know you have read about “section targeting†for adsense.”
Nope, never heard about it before. (Crazy huh?)
“I also know you didn`t ask me about
”
I probably would have if you published your earnings and they were spectacular like Everton’s…
“However, please be aware that we can’t guarantee results, and that it may take up to 2 weeks before our crawlers take into account any changes you’ve made to your site.”
Adding two lines of comments is enough for me to say, “It’s not going to hurt.”
“Comming (advice to use that targeting blabla) from people you trust or respect…”
In Everton I trust.
“Becouse, after reading the lines above quoted, I think all is experimental, unreliable and more a reason to raise adwords betting than releasing adsense revenues.”
They say that you should listen who you take advice from and Everton over at Connected Internet seems to not only be respected by prominent bloggers such as ProBlogger, but he has been overly helpful PLUS he publishes his earnings. Say it’s experimental and unreliable if you wish, but I’ll DEFINITELY take everything Everton has to say to heart.
And as always, thanks for the comments!
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 am
I have that SEO plugin but I really should focus on my descriptions. I’m too lazy to go through all my posts.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:32 am
@Angela – Well Google will pay attention to descriptions. I guess it depends what you want to get out of your blog. *nod* BTW, sorry I haven’t been around in a while. Life has a giant boot on my throat. (#):)
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
You got me wrong for now, but hopefully once you`ll understand my way ..
For me, adsense is just a way to say to my 1.5 readers
) that I`m not scared of any competition.
I had a long talk with my only neuron and I was agree with him that 70% of promotions on my sites are useless. Actually, on romanian sites I “manage” I have allready cut off allmost anything, starting with adsense. Soon will dissapear from my five4all too (which is only site I have in english
)
“MFA sites” – you talk about sites using what is usually called “adsense templates” ? If yes, I agree, but I was not speaking about those ones. I was speaking about “maximize adsense revenue” on any site. Which actually lead to .. adsense optimized template.
A site builded and/or optimized for adsense revenue isn`t a made for adsense site ?
Well, really i`m not against that, is what you think is best for your plans. Is your option.
And actually you were sharing with us, your readers, some important stuff about an intersting subject.
Keep up the good work.
ps : I like this blog template as is now.
August 3rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
No No, please don’t’ remove the trippy navigation. What will I have to play with than? I like the mouseover effect! If you like your website design, try to implement some of his ideas without totally changing your website. Honestly I’m not having a hard time with this color scheme. Plus I like Bruce Lee (that is bruce lee right? LOL).
Good post here with some ideas. I’m going to be diving into that pool soon with adsense. Since I feel the same way he does about adsense as far as search engine visitors clicking on ads the most, I’m going to try a delay on adding adsense to my older posts. That way they aren’t in the way for the newer content. I’m going to keep reading his site. Good to keep learning from others!
I think you should totally remove the sidebar ad, are you tracking it? Is anybody clicking on it? Basically the more adsense ads you have per page, you will get more ads shown overall which means you could get some lowballing ads that don’t give you much cents per click. If you have just one ad on your page in a prime spot, if it happens to get clicked you will get big payouts because only good top ads are being shown. Overall you need less clicks because the payout is better. Anyhow thats how I see it!
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
He gave you some good tips. I think the black theme can work, but it requires some extra work (I love the theme btw).
I would also recommend de-ad targeting, which tells Google Adsense to avoid certain areas such as your sidebars and such.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Great post man. Increasing AdSense earnings is definitely a continual process. Those are some good tips. I hope they work out well for you. Btw, I love your theme as well.
Shine on,
Aaron
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:19 pm
So are you going to be playing around with this theme or changing the theme completely?
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:30 pm
That’s too bad Bush, I feel truly sorry for you. I know how excited you were when you got your new theme up. And you put considerable work into ironing out the bugs you were having too. But ya know what? I think you you should stick with this theme too. It is very easy to read and you aren’t a commerce site so let your flair show. IMHO you should stick with the orange only though. Just my personal preference and the adsense looks wonky in the other colours. Maybe in the grand scheme of things you will be sacrificing a few adsense dollars, but when that is the last thing inhibiting your earnings you can make a decision on it then. Until that time keep churning out the quality content you have been spoiling us with. And don’t forget, your RSS subsribers see it all in black and white anyway.
Take care,
Greg
August 4th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
For what it’s worth. I like your blog theme the way it currently is.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
@Valentin – Thanks as always for the comments. If I agree with you or I don’t, you always spur conversation because of the interesting things you have to say. And thanks for explaining yourself a bit more too! (#):)
@Gnomey – It IS the immortal Bruce Lee. (#):) And like Everton, I’m thinking you two are right in regards to the sidebar ad. I haven’t looked at the exact %, but I’m def tracking it, and it will probably be getting the ax soonish.
@Kyle – Thanks for the confirmation on the tips. (#):)
@Aaron – Thanks Aaron! Yeah, it certainly IS a process. But like most things on my site, it’s a fun game I will gladly pay. *nod*
@Grace – Um…See below. (#):)
@Greg – Ha. You remember that do you? It really put a smile on my face when I read that part of your comment, so thanks. (#):) Yeah, it was a pain and a half to get this theme the way I wanted it.
And I think what I’ve concluded is right up with what you were suggesting. I’m going to make all the changes I can with this theme to maximize AdSense, w/o making a complete overhaul on the colors. I want to take a serious look at my sidebars and presentation, but I really do LOVE this theme. And apparently, all of you guys do too!
But I think after I get some more traffic and am making some decent coin on AdSense (hopefully that day WILL come), I think I may toggle on another theme for a little while and compare the earnings between the themes and make a decision then. (But that won’t be for a while).
BTW, thanks for all the great support and comments guys. It was great to hear from so many of you. (#):)
August 4th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
@car news – For what it’s worth, it means everything. *nod*
August 6th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
The tip on Adsense section targetting was great! I didn’t know about it until today. Thanks
August 6th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
@Alex – What’s that quote from Charles Manson on Family Guy?…
“If I haven’t seen it, it’s new to me!”
August 14th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
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