So we’ve talked about text ads, image ads, link units and search boxes.
There is one more way of making money with AdSense: referral programs.
1 Referring For AdSense
When Google first rolled out its AdSense referral program, it looked good.
The program paid $100 each time a sign-up earned $100 in revenue. If ten
of your users clicked, signed up for AdSense and earned $100, you would
have made an easy thousand dollars.
And it sounded possible. The product is good, the company is reputable and
the referral buttons are very attractive. In fact, they look like they were
inspired by the iPod and that’s been eye-catching enough!
2 Firing Up Firefox And Unpacking Google Pack
The same is true of your Firefox and Google Pack referral ads. The Firefox
ads pay up to $1 for every user who downloads the Firefox Web browser with
an attached Google toolbar, and the Pack ads pay all of $2.
These ads can’t be formatted or changed, so you can only play with
placement. But at least you know exactly how much money you’re going to
receive when someone downloads...
3 Referring AdWords
The AdWords referral program is better, and closer to the AdSense program.
You’ll earn $5 if an advertiser spends $5 (in addition to the sign-up fee)
within 90 days.
If the advertiser spends $100 within 90 days, you’ll receive another $40. And
if 20 advertisers do that, you’ll receive a $600 bonus.
4 Referral Strategies
The first thing that you can do to maximize earnings is to recommend the
programs you’re offering. You can’t say anything about the contents of
your AdSense units. But you can encourage people to sign up to AdSense or
start using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.
Even a simple line like: “Viewing this site in Explorer? The Web looks better
in Firefox” or “We recommend AdSense — It pays publishers” could do the
trick. (Of course, Google won’t like you telling people to click so that you’ll
get paid—or telling them that if they click, they’ll get paid—but they don’t
mind you talking up the services the buttons offer.)
source : www.joelcomm.com
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Controlling Your Ads
1 Attracting Relevant Ads
Getting the color and placement right will help improve your click-through
rate. But neither of those will affect which ads your site serves.
In theory, Google controls the ads that appear on your site. You don’t get to
choose them at all. In practice, there are a few things that you can do to
stop irrelevant ads from appearing and ensure that you get the ads that give
you cash.
2 Keep The Title, Directory And Headlines Relevant
How exactly the crawlers read pages is a secret guarded about as closely as
Coca Cola’s special syrup formula. One thing that does seem to have an
effect though is the title of your URLs and files.
When you create your pages and view them on your computer before
uploading them to the server, you should find that AdSense serves up ads
related to the name of the directory that holds the page. That gives a pretty
big clue as to at least one of the things that Google is looking at: the name of
the directory.
3 Finding Keywords
We know that Google’s crawlers search websites for keywords, then reports
back and tells the company what kind of ads to send to the site. If your site
is about pension plans for example, then your keywords would be things like
“retirement”, “401k” and “pension”.
Getting the right keywords on your site won’t just make your ads relevant; it
will also help you to make sure that the ads you get are the ones that pay
the most.
4 Keyword Density
You’ll need the right keywords to get the right ads. But you’ll also need the
right amount of keywords.
There’s no golden rule for putting the right number of keywords on a page to
get the ads you want. You’ll just have to experiment. It also seems to be the
case that keyword density is counted across pages, especially for high-paying
keywords. If you have a site that's generally about cars and you write a page
for car rental, a higher-paying keyword, you might find that you need to
produce several pages about car rental before you get the ads.
In general though, if you find that your ads are missing the point of your
page and that your titles are all correct, then the next step would be to try
mentioning your keywords more often and make sure that they’re all finely
focused. For example, talking about “fire extinguishers” is likely to get you
better results than talking generally about “safety equipment.”
5 Keyword Placement
It shouldn’t really matter where you put your keywords, should it? As long as
the right words are on the right page in the right amount of numbers, that
should be enough to get you relevant ads, right?
Wrong.
One of the strangest results that people have had using AdSense is that
putting keywords in particular places on the page can have an effect on the
ads the site gets.
The most important place on your webpage is directly beneath the
AdSense box. The keywords you place there could influence your ads.
6 Keyword Frames
One of the reasons that websites don’t always receive relevant ads may be
that all the navigation and other non-content words affect the way Google
reads the page. If your links and other words take up lots of space, it could
well skew your results.
One way to avoid your navigation affecting your ads is simply to create
frames. You put all of your content in your main frame and the navigation
material in a separate frame. Only the “content frame” has the Google code
(google_page_url = document.location), so your keywords won’t be diluted
by non-relevant words.
7 Section Targeting
Probably the most effective way to ensure the crawlers read the keywords
you want to emphasize though is to use Section Targeting. This is a fantastic
technique. By simply inserting a couple of lines of HTML code into your Web
page, you can tell the crawler which parts of your site are the most important
and ensure that you get ads relevant to that content.
8 No 'Baiting'!
Often I've clicked through a 'promising' website, only to find reams of
keyword spam, interspersed with AdSense. Websites like these make
AdSense look bad.
Keyword spam may trick search spiders, but your human visitors will leave
disappointed.
People hate being 'baited' by a web marketer. Offer content that makes
their visit worthwhile. Address the needs and concerns of your visitors
with original content.
9 Changing Metatags
Metatags certainly aren’t what they used to be, and in AdSense they’re
barely anything at all. There’s a good chance that when it comes to deciding
ad relevance, your metatags have no effect whatsoever.
I’ve already mentioned that the title of your page will have an effect. It’s also
very likely that the description does too.
But that doesn’t mean that your metatags are completely irrelevant when it
comes to AdSense. They aren’t. They’re only seem to be irrelevant when it
comes to serving ads; they still play a role in search engine optimization and
getting your site indexed faster.
10 Inviting The Robot
So far in this chapter, I’ve explained some of the ways that you can tweak
your page to keep your ads relevant. But the changes you make won’t have
any effect until Google’s robot stops by and re-indexes your page. What will
generally happen is that once you upload your new page, you’ll still get the
old ads and you might have to wait some time before the robot visits it again
and you can find out whether your changes have the right result.
source : www.joelcomm.com
Getting the color and placement right will help improve your click-through
rate. But neither of those will affect which ads your site serves.
In theory, Google controls the ads that appear on your site. You don’t get to
choose them at all. In practice, there are a few things that you can do to
stop irrelevant ads from appearing and ensure that you get the ads that give
you cash.
2 Keep The Title, Directory And Headlines Relevant
How exactly the crawlers read pages is a secret guarded about as closely as
Coca Cola’s special syrup formula. One thing that does seem to have an
effect though is the title of your URLs and files.
When you create your pages and view them on your computer before
uploading them to the server, you should find that AdSense serves up ads
related to the name of the directory that holds the page. That gives a pretty
big clue as to at least one of the things that Google is looking at: the name of
the directory.
3 Finding Keywords
We know that Google’s crawlers search websites for keywords, then reports
back and tells the company what kind of ads to send to the site. If your site
is about pension plans for example, then your keywords would be things like
“retirement”, “401k” and “pension”.
Getting the right keywords on your site won’t just make your ads relevant; it
will also help you to make sure that the ads you get are the ones that pay
the most.
4 Keyword Density
You’ll need the right keywords to get the right ads. But you’ll also need the
right amount of keywords.
There’s no golden rule for putting the right number of keywords on a page to
get the ads you want. You’ll just have to experiment. It also seems to be the
case that keyword density is counted across pages, especially for high-paying
keywords. If you have a site that's generally about cars and you write a page
for car rental, a higher-paying keyword, you might find that you need to
produce several pages about car rental before you get the ads.
In general though, if you find that your ads are missing the point of your
page and that your titles are all correct, then the next step would be to try
mentioning your keywords more often and make sure that they’re all finely
focused. For example, talking about “fire extinguishers” is likely to get you
better results than talking generally about “safety equipment.”
5 Keyword Placement
It shouldn’t really matter where you put your keywords, should it? As long as
the right words are on the right page in the right amount of numbers, that
should be enough to get you relevant ads, right?
Wrong.
One of the strangest results that people have had using AdSense is that
putting keywords in particular places on the page can have an effect on the
ads the site gets.
The most important place on your webpage is directly beneath the
AdSense box. The keywords you place there could influence your ads.
6 Keyword Frames
One of the reasons that websites don’t always receive relevant ads may be
that all the navigation and other non-content words affect the way Google
reads the page. If your links and other words take up lots of space, it could
well skew your results.
One way to avoid your navigation affecting your ads is simply to create
frames. You put all of your content in your main frame and the navigation
material in a separate frame. Only the “content frame” has the Google code
(google_page_url = document.location), so your keywords won’t be diluted
by non-relevant words.
7 Section Targeting
Probably the most effective way to ensure the crawlers read the keywords
you want to emphasize though is to use Section Targeting. This is a fantastic
technique. By simply inserting a couple of lines of HTML code into your Web
page, you can tell the crawler which parts of your site are the most important
and ensure that you get ads relevant to that content.
8 No 'Baiting'!
Often I've clicked through a 'promising' website, only to find reams of
keyword spam, interspersed with AdSense. Websites like these make
AdSense look bad.
Keyword spam may trick search spiders, but your human visitors will leave
disappointed.
People hate being 'baited' by a web marketer. Offer content that makes
their visit worthwhile. Address the needs and concerns of your visitors
with original content.
9 Changing Metatags
Metatags certainly aren’t what they used to be, and in AdSense they’re
barely anything at all. There’s a good chance that when it comes to deciding
ad relevance, your metatags have no effect whatsoever.
I’ve already mentioned that the title of your page will have an effect. It’s also
very likely that the description does too.
But that doesn’t mean that your metatags are completely irrelevant when it
comes to AdSense. They aren’t. They’re only seem to be irrelevant when it
comes to serving ads; they still play a role in search engine optimization and
getting your site indexed faster.
10 Inviting The Robot
So far in this chapter, I’ve explained some of the ways that you can tweak
your page to keep your ads relevant. But the changes you make won’t have
any effect until Google’s robot stops by and re-indexes your page. What will
generally happen is that once you upload your new page, you’ll still get the
old ads and you might have to wait some time before the robot visits it again
and you can find out whether your changes have the right result.
source : www.joelcomm.com
How To Maximize Visibility And Response
1 Ad Placement: Where To Put Your Ads?
Location is everything. The world's best ad won't deliver if it isn't visible in
the first place. But after much experimentation with Google AdSense, I know
that the most visible ads aren't always the most effective. In fact, they're
likely to get ignored as 'blatant advertising'.
What does work is wise placement. Put them where your content is most
likely to interest and engage your visitors.
2 Go With The 'Flow'
Identify the reading patterns of your visitors. What draws their attention
first? What makes them 'click'?
Like I said, you want to put your ads in areas that draw your visitors in with
interesting content. There’s no point in putting your ads in some out of the
way place where no one ever looks.
Your users will follow your content, so you need to make sure that your ads
follow that content too.
Look at the design and layout of your webpage, identify the places that you
think most of your users look — and mark each of them as a likely spot to
put your ads.
3 Above The Fold
One general rule on the Internet is that people spend most of their time on a
site “above the fold.”
The first thing people do when they reach a website is to absorb as much
information as possible before they start scrolling. The part of the page that
they can see without scrolling is called “above the fold.”
That’s where you want your ads.
The number of links that appear above the fold affect how likely people are
to click on your AdSense ads. That’s why more ads doesn't always mean
more money!
Google always puts the top-paying ads on the top and the lowest-paying
ones at the bottom.
If you have a stack with three or more ads, the cheaper ads might steal
attention away from high-paying ads and clutter up your website.
You don’t want ads and links competing against each other. If you want to
increase your earnings per click, remember: Less is More! And that’s
particularly true above the fold.
4 Using Tables
I’ve already mentioned that one of the principles of a high click-through rate
is to make your sites blend into the page. The more you position your sites to
blend into the page, the better your click-through rate will be.
One very neat way to help your ads blend into the site is to place them in
tables.
In the example below, Chris Pirillo again skillfully dropped his AdSense into a
< table > for a clean and attractive look that turns AdSense into a new focal
point.
5 Complementing Your Ads
Everything I’ve discussed so far has been about placing your ads where your
users will be looking. That’s pretty easy. But there’s an alternative strategy,
which can be very powerful: bringing your users to your ads.
You have to be careful here though. Google forbids you from saying to users
“Look over here and click on the ads... I want the money.” And that’s
reasonable. But with some clever design work, you can still guide
your users to look in that direction.
The rule to remember here is that elements attract eyes. When a user loads a Web page,
he’s always going to look at various things on the page, not just the text. That’s especially
true of images, which is why one popular strategy was to place pictures related to the
content of the ad right next to the ad unit.
source : www.joelcomm.com
Location is everything. The world's best ad won't deliver if it isn't visible in
the first place. But after much experimentation with Google AdSense, I know
that the most visible ads aren't always the most effective. In fact, they're
likely to get ignored as 'blatant advertising'.
What does work is wise placement. Put them where your content is most
likely to interest and engage your visitors.
2 Go With The 'Flow'
Identify the reading patterns of your visitors. What draws their attention
first? What makes them 'click'?
Like I said, you want to put your ads in areas that draw your visitors in with
interesting content. There’s no point in putting your ads in some out of the
way place where no one ever looks.
Your users will follow your content, so you need to make sure that your ads
follow that content too.
Look at the design and layout of your webpage, identify the places that you
think most of your users look — and mark each of them as a likely spot to
put your ads.
3 Above The Fold
One general rule on the Internet is that people spend most of their time on a
site “above the fold.”
The first thing people do when they reach a website is to absorb as much
information as possible before they start scrolling. The part of the page that
they can see without scrolling is called “above the fold.”
That’s where you want your ads.
The number of links that appear above the fold affect how likely people are
to click on your AdSense ads. That’s why more ads doesn't always mean
more money!
Google always puts the top-paying ads on the top and the lowest-paying
ones at the bottom.
If you have a stack with three or more ads, the cheaper ads might steal
attention away from high-paying ads and clutter up your website.
You don’t want ads and links competing against each other. If you want to
increase your earnings per click, remember: Less is More! And that’s
particularly true above the fold.
4 Using Tables
I’ve already mentioned that one of the principles of a high click-through rate
is to make your sites blend into the page. The more you position your sites to
blend into the page, the better your click-through rate will be.
One very neat way to help your ads blend into the site is to place them in
tables.
In the example below, Chris Pirillo again skillfully dropped his AdSense into a
< table > for a clean and attractive look that turns AdSense into a new focal
point.
5 Complementing Your Ads
Everything I’ve discussed so far has been about placing your ads where your
users will be looking. That’s pretty easy. But there’s an alternative strategy,
which can be very powerful: bringing your users to your ads.
You have to be careful here though. Google forbids you from saying to users
“Look over here and click on the ads... I want the money.” And that’s
reasonable. But with some clever design work, you can still guide
your users to look in that direction.
The rule to remember here is that elements attract eyes. When a user loads a Web page,
he’s always going to look at various things on the page, not just the text. That’s especially
true of images, which is why one popular strategy was to place pictures related to the
content of the ad right next to the ad unit.
source : www.joelcomm.com
Using Colors To Increase Your Clicks
1 Design Your Website To Highlight Adsense
I once went to a fashion show where each model wore the exact same black
outfit for the entire duration of the show. Boring? Hardly! The show was
intended to showcase platinum jewelry, and the outfits were designed to
enhance the jewelry — instead of distracting the audience.
You don’t have to make all the pages on your website identical (or black).
But you do want to make sure that the look of your page draws attention to
the ads — and makes them appear as attractive and as valuable as platinum
jewelry.
2 Make The Border Go!
You can more than DOUBLE your click-throughs with this one simple
tweak!
Even before the Internet, ads in newspapers and magazines were marked off
with a thick, heavy border. No wonder borders and boxes have come to
symbolize advertising messages.
Ads with prominent borders make your pages look cluttered. They distract
the eye from the ad text, while marking off the ad blocks from the rest of the
content.
3 Text Is Design Too!
That's right: the text size, font, color and the color of your ads must match
the other text elements. If the text color of the ads is the same as the text in
the body of your page, it’ll help the ads blend into the site and make the
reader feel that you’ve endorsed them.
And if the size of the font in the ads is the same as the size of the main body
of the content, it will have the same effect: they’ll look like part of your site
and not something brought in by Google.
4 Blue Is Best
So you want to get rid of the border. You want to get your ads the same
color as the text on the rest of your page and the background matching the
background color of your Web page.
But what about the link itself, the line the user is actually going to click?
What color should that be?
That’s an easy one: blue.
I used to say that all the text in the ad should match the text on your page,
including the link. After seeing an article about the benefits of keeping the
links blue — and testing extensively — I don’t say that any more.
The logic is that users have come to expect links on websites to be blue. Just
as they expect stop signs to be red and warning signs to be yellow, so they
expect their links to blue.
That means people are more likely to click on a blue link than a link
in any other color.
The line in your AdSense code that sets the color of your link is the one that
says:
Google_color_link = “#color”;
“#color” is the hexadecimal number for the color you want to use. You
should make sure that number is #0000FF.
Keep your link blue and you can experience an increase in click-throughs as
high as 25 percent!
5 Where Did My URL Go?
You can change the color of your text and you can make sure that your links
scream, “I’m a FREE road to where you want to go!”
But you still have to display the URL. It’s one of Google’s rules. But you don’t
have to display it in a way that people can see it.
One legitimate trick to make the click-through link less obtrusive is to change
the URL display color to match the text description color. Now the link will
blend in with the text description and the eye will be drawn to the hyperlink
instead of the URL. Google provides these tools for you. Why not use them?
Note that the 728 x 90 leaderboard and the 468 x 60 banner do not display
the URL line by Google’s design. It is not a mistake and you will not get in
trouble for the URL not appearing with these ad blocks. It’s just the way it
is.
6 Deliberate Mismatching
When it comes to choosing colors, I recommend 3-way matching and using
blue for the links. But there is another strategy that you can use.
You can deliberately mismatch your ad colors and styles, provided you keep
it to the top of your page.
This distinction generates two powerful 'zones' and therefore two types of
experience for the visitor.
The first zone is always at the top of the first page, above the main site
banner. The titles and text colors match colors found in the banner graphic
heading. (Important — the URL links are hidden, so only certain text ads will
allow you to do this.)
The end result is that these ads, placed above the banner graphic look like
key control points for your site and are just more likely to be clicked. The
visitor feels that they are visiting another major area of that site.
source : www.joelcomm.com
I once went to a fashion show where each model wore the exact same black
outfit for the entire duration of the show. Boring? Hardly! The show was
intended to showcase platinum jewelry, and the outfits were designed to
enhance the jewelry — instead of distracting the audience.
You don’t have to make all the pages on your website identical (or black).
But you do want to make sure that the look of your page draws attention to
the ads — and makes them appear as attractive and as valuable as platinum
jewelry.
2 Make The Border Go!
You can more than DOUBLE your click-throughs with this one simple
tweak!
Even before the Internet, ads in newspapers and magazines were marked off
with a thick, heavy border. No wonder borders and boxes have come to
symbolize advertising messages.
Ads with prominent borders make your pages look cluttered. They distract
the eye from the ad text, while marking off the ad blocks from the rest of the
content.
3 Text Is Design Too!
That's right: the text size, font, color and the color of your ads must match
the other text elements. If the text color of the ads is the same as the text in
the body of your page, it’ll help the ads blend into the site and make the
reader feel that you’ve endorsed them.
And if the size of the font in the ads is the same as the size of the main body
of the content, it will have the same effect: they’ll look like part of your site
and not something brought in by Google.
4 Blue Is Best
So you want to get rid of the border. You want to get your ads the same
color as the text on the rest of your page and the background matching the
background color of your Web page.
But what about the link itself, the line the user is actually going to click?
What color should that be?
That’s an easy one: blue.
I used to say that all the text in the ad should match the text on your page,
including the link. After seeing an article about the benefits of keeping the
links blue — and testing extensively — I don’t say that any more.
The logic is that users have come to expect links on websites to be blue. Just
as they expect stop signs to be red and warning signs to be yellow, so they
expect their links to blue.
That means people are more likely to click on a blue link than a link
in any other color.
The line in your AdSense code that sets the color of your link is the one that
says:
Google_color_link = “#color”;
“#color” is the hexadecimal number for the color you want to use. You
should make sure that number is #0000FF.
Keep your link blue and you can experience an increase in click-throughs as
high as 25 percent!
5 Where Did My URL Go?
You can change the color of your text and you can make sure that your links
scream, “I’m a FREE road to where you want to go!”
But you still have to display the URL. It’s one of Google’s rules. But you don’t
have to display it in a way that people can see it.
One legitimate trick to make the click-through link less obtrusive is to change
the URL display color to match the text description color. Now the link will
blend in with the text description and the eye will be drawn to the hyperlink
instead of the URL. Google provides these tools for you. Why not use them?
Note that the 728 x 90 leaderboard and the 468 x 60 banner do not display
the URL line by Google’s design. It is not a mistake and you will not get in
trouble for the URL not appearing with these ad blocks. It’s just the way it
is.
6 Deliberate Mismatching
When it comes to choosing colors, I recommend 3-way matching and using
blue for the links. But there is another strategy that you can use.
You can deliberately mismatch your ad colors and styles, provided you keep
it to the top of your page.
This distinction generates two powerful 'zones' and therefore two types of
experience for the visitor.
The first zone is always at the top of the first page, above the main site
banner. The titles and text colors match colors found in the banner graphic
heading. (Important — the URL links are hidden, so only certain text ads will
allow you to do this.)
The end result is that these ads, placed above the banner graphic look like
key control points for your site and are just more likely to be clicked. The
visitor feels that they are visiting another major area of that site.
source : www.joelcomm.com
How To "Tweak" Your Ads To Make Them "Click"!
1.1 Ad Formats: “Dress” your ads for success!
How would you like your ads served? Banners? Skyscrapers? Rectangles?
Squares? What about borders and background colors?
The choices can be overwhelming. Many people let Google decide for them-
preferring to stick with the default settings. Big mistake! From my own
experience I can tell you that it’s like swapping a hundred-dollar bill for a
ten-dollar one.
For almost one year I settled for just a tenth of what I could have been
making — just because I didn’t bother to control the looks and placement of
my AdSense ads.
The various ad formats, colors and their placement on the web page can be
done in thousands of combinations. You can literally spend hours every day
experimenting with every possible combination. But you don’t want to, do
you?
Let me give you a few ‘ground rules’ that have sky-rocketed the CTRs on my
top-grossing pages:
1.2 Don't "Look" Like An Ad
People don't visit your website for ads. They want good content.
If you make the ads stick out with eye-popping colors, images or borders,
that makes them easy to recognize as ads — and people work extra hard to
avoid them.
The same goes for ads that are tucked away in the top, bottom or some
other far corner of the page. So easy to ignore!
If you want people to click, make the ads look like an integral part of your
content.
Today's visitors are blind to banners, mad at pop-ups, weary of ads and
skeptical of contests and giveaways. So how do you win their confidence?
Simple. Don't make your ads look like ads!
Let’s begin by reviewing each of the different types of ad available from
AdSense and explaining their uses... then I’ll introduce you to a few simple
choices that zoomed my CTRs to incredible heights.
1.3 Meet the AdSense Family
Google serves its ads in several flavors, with each of those flavors coming in
a range of different shapes and sizes. It is very important to understand the
differences between each of these ads. Some are ideal for particular
locations. Some should never be used in certain locations. And some should
be used very rarely—if at all.
The sample page at www.google.com/adsense/adformats lets you see all of
the different kinds of ads at once. It even has links to sample placements
that demonstrate how the ads can be used.
For the most part, I’d recommend that you ignore those sample placements.
I’ll talk about location in more detail later in the book, but for now just bear
in mind that many of the ads in the samples are just too out of the way to be
noticed.
You can use them as a starting point if you want but you’ll save yourself a lot
of time — and money — by taking advantage of the experience of myself and
others, and following the recommendations here.
1.4 Text Ads — Google’s Finest
Text ads are probably the types of ad that you’re most familiar with. You get
a box containing one or a number of ads with a linked headline, a brief
description and a URL. You also get the “Ads by Google” notice that appears
on all AdSense ads. (Google changed this notice recently and it now blends in
much better than it used to.)
source : www.joelcomm.com
How would you like your ads served? Banners? Skyscrapers? Rectangles?
Squares? What about borders and background colors?
The choices can be overwhelming. Many people let Google decide for them-
preferring to stick with the default settings. Big mistake! From my own
experience I can tell you that it’s like swapping a hundred-dollar bill for a
ten-dollar one.
For almost one year I settled for just a tenth of what I could have been
making — just because I didn’t bother to control the looks and placement of
my AdSense ads.
The various ad formats, colors and their placement on the web page can be
done in thousands of combinations. You can literally spend hours every day
experimenting with every possible combination. But you don’t want to, do
you?
Let me give you a few ‘ground rules’ that have sky-rocketed the CTRs on my
top-grossing pages:
1.2 Don't "Look" Like An Ad
People don't visit your website for ads. They want good content.
If you make the ads stick out with eye-popping colors, images or borders,
that makes them easy to recognize as ads — and people work extra hard to
avoid them.
The same goes for ads that are tucked away in the top, bottom or some
other far corner of the page. So easy to ignore!
If you want people to click, make the ads look like an integral part of your
content.
Today's visitors are blind to banners, mad at pop-ups, weary of ads and
skeptical of contests and giveaways. So how do you win their confidence?
Simple. Don't make your ads look like ads!
Let’s begin by reviewing each of the different types of ad available from
AdSense and explaining their uses... then I’ll introduce you to a few simple
choices that zoomed my CTRs to incredible heights.
1.3 Meet the AdSense Family
Google serves its ads in several flavors, with each of those flavors coming in
a range of different shapes and sizes. It is very important to understand the
differences between each of these ads. Some are ideal for particular
locations. Some should never be used in certain locations. And some should
be used very rarely—if at all.
The sample page at www.google.com/adsense/adformats lets you see all of
the different kinds of ads at once. It even has links to sample placements
that demonstrate how the ads can be used.
For the most part, I’d recommend that you ignore those sample placements.
I’ll talk about location in more detail later in the book, but for now just bear
in mind that many of the ads in the samples are just too out of the way to be
noticed.
You can use them as a starting point if you want but you’ll save yourself a lot
of time — and money — by taking advantage of the experience of myself and
others, and following the recommendations here.
1.4 Text Ads — Google’s Finest
Text ads are probably the types of ad that you’re most familiar with. You get
a box containing one or a number of ads with a linked headline, a brief
description and a URL. You also get the “Ads by Google” notice that appears
on all AdSense ads. (Google changed this notice recently and it now blends in
much better than it used to.)
source : www.joelcomm.com
Google Policies
AdSense works. I know it works because I’ve got the stats, the checks and
the bank balance to prove it. And all of the methods that I used to increase
my AdSense revenues were completely legitimate and in line with Google’s
policies.
That’s important. It is possible to cheat AdSense. But you’d have to be crazy
to do it. You can make so much money working within Google’s rules that to
risk getting thrown out by putting ads on pages without content or by
persuading users to click on the ads is just plain crazy.
I’ve put a detailed list of Google’s “do’s and don’ts” at the back of this book.
The things to look out for in particular are:
Code Modification
You have to paste the AdSense code onto your site as is. And you don’t need
to do anything else! Your AdSense account will let you play with colors and
placements (and getting those right is what will really rocket your income) so
why bother playing with Google’s HTML? It’s not necessary and it could get
you a lifetime ban.
Incentives
When the ads appear on your page, you have to leave them completely
alone. You might be tempted to tell your users to “click here” or support your
sponsors but if Google catches you, they could well cut you off. They want
people to click because they’re genuinely interested in the ad. Get your
strategy right and they’ll do just that.
You can encourage your users to download the products your referral buttons
promote or to use your search bar, but never encourage your users to click
your ads.
Content
Google is pretty picky about where the ads are displayed. They don’t want
advertisers complaining to them that their services were being promoted on
a site that supports gambling or is filled with profanity or contains more ads
than content. If your content doesn’t come up to scratch, you’ll need a site
that does.
Prohibited Clicks
And nastiest of all are the people who either click on their own ads or create
programs to do it for them.
The bottom line is that you don’t need any of this stuff. Maximizing your
revenue within the rules is a breeze!
source : www.joelcomm.com
the bank balance to prove it. And all of the methods that I used to increase
my AdSense revenues were completely legitimate and in line with Google’s
policies.
That’s important. It is possible to cheat AdSense. But you’d have to be crazy
to do it. You can make so much money working within Google’s rules that to
risk getting thrown out by putting ads on pages without content or by
persuading users to click on the ads is just plain crazy.
I’ve put a detailed list of Google’s “do’s and don’ts” at the back of this book.
The things to look out for in particular are:
Code Modification
You have to paste the AdSense code onto your site as is. And you don’t need
to do anything else! Your AdSense account will let you play with colors and
placements (and getting those right is what will really rocket your income) so
why bother playing with Google’s HTML? It’s not necessary and it could get
you a lifetime ban.
Incentives
When the ads appear on your page, you have to leave them completely
alone. You might be tempted to tell your users to “click here” or support your
sponsors but if Google catches you, they could well cut you off. They want
people to click because they’re genuinely interested in the ad. Get your
strategy right and they’ll do just that.
You can encourage your users to download the products your referral buttons
promote or to use your search bar, but never encourage your users to click
your ads.
Content
Google is pretty picky about where the ads are displayed. They don’t want
advertisers complaining to them that their services were being promoted on
a site that supports gambling or is filled with profanity or contains more ads
than content. If your content doesn’t come up to scratch, you’ll need a site
that does.
Prohibited Clicks
And nastiest of all are the people who either click on their own ads or create
programs to do it for them.
The bottom line is that you don’t need any of this stuff. Maximizing your
revenue within the rules is a breeze!
source : www.joelcomm.com
Signing Up Made Easy
First though, you have to sign up. Here’s how you do it.
The sign-up page asks for a relatively small amount of information, not all of
which is as obvious as you might like.
First, you’ll have to tell Google whether you want an “individual” account or a
“company” account — whether you’re a company with more than twenty
employees or practically a one-man show that’s just you and up to nineteen
others. That’s important for just one reason: it tells Google where to send
the money. Take a business account and the payments will be made in the
name of your company; take an individual account, and they’ll be paid
directly to you.
You’ll also be able to choose between three different ways of receiving your
money: Electronic Funds Transfer, local currency check or Secured Express
Delivery. In general, it’s better to get your money by direct deposit
using the Electronic Funds Transfer; Google charges for express mail
checks.
(What you won’t be able to choose is whether you’re paid per click—on a
“CPC” basis—or for every thousand times you show an ad—on a “CPM” basis.
Google decides that for you. Some ads will be CPC and others will be CPM.)
The next piece of information that Google demands is your URL. There’s only
room for one URL, which can be confusing if you have more than one site
and want to put AdSense on all of them. Don’t worry about it. It won’t affect
how you use AdSense at all, so just submit your biggest site for now.
The next question is about whether you want content-based ads — the type
of small text ads I’ve been discussing so far, search ads or both. (Content-
based ads are better but I’ll tell you how to benefit from each so I
recommend that you choose both.)
Once you’re approved, you’ll just have to copy and paste a small piece of
code into your website and you’re done!
source : www.joelcomm.com
The sign-up page asks for a relatively small amount of information, not all of
which is as obvious as you might like.
First, you’ll have to tell Google whether you want an “individual” account or a
“company” account — whether you’re a company with more than twenty
employees or practically a one-man show that’s just you and up to nineteen
others. That’s important for just one reason: it tells Google where to send
the money. Take a business account and the payments will be made in the
name of your company; take an individual account, and they’ll be paid
directly to you.
You’ll also be able to choose between three different ways of receiving your
money: Electronic Funds Transfer, local currency check or Secured Express
Delivery. In general, it’s better to get your money by direct deposit
using the Electronic Funds Transfer; Google charges for express mail
checks.
(What you won’t be able to choose is whether you’re paid per click—on a
“CPC” basis—or for every thousand times you show an ad—on a “CPM” basis.
Google decides that for you. Some ads will be CPC and others will be CPM.)
The next piece of information that Google demands is your URL. There’s only
room for one URL, which can be confusing if you have more than one site
and want to put AdSense on all of them. Don’t worry about it. It won’t affect
how you use AdSense at all, so just submit your biggest site for now.
The next question is about whether you want content-based ads — the type
of small text ads I’ve been discussing so far, search ads or both. (Content-
based ads are better but I’ll tell you how to benefit from each so I
recommend that you choose both.)
Once you’re approved, you’ll just have to copy and paste a small piece of
code into your website and you’re done!
source : www.joelcomm.com
GETTING STARTED WITH GOOGLE ADSENSE (Part 3)
1.1 Search Engine Optimization
However you decide to build your first site, people have to know you’re
there. One of the most important ways to do that is get yourself a high-
ranking in a search engine.
There are lots of different search engines, but only three are really
important: Google, Yahoo! and MSN. In Chapter 21, I’ll talk in more detail
about improving your search engine rankings.
If you want to take a shortcut, there are plenty of companies which will make
the submissions for you and they’ll even optimize your site to get you as high
on the rankings as possible.
1.2 Links
Your search engine ranking will depend on a number of factors. One of those
factors is the number of sites that link to yours. As far as Google is
concerned if lots of sites about model railways link to your model railway
site, that must be a pretty good sign that people who like model railways
think your site is good. So they’ll want to offer it to people who search for
model railways, bringing you lots of free traffic.
Once you’ve got your site up and running you’ll want to persuade other sites
to give you links. You could offer to exchange links and you could even set
up a page that contains recommended links so that you’ll have somewhere to
put them.
There’s a range of other strategies and services that you can use. You can
find out about those in Chapter 20.
source : www.joelcomm.com
However you decide to build your first site, people have to know you’re
there. One of the most important ways to do that is get yourself a high-
ranking in a search engine.
There are lots of different search engines, but only three are really
important: Google, Yahoo! and MSN. In Chapter 21, I’ll talk in more detail
about improving your search engine rankings.
If you want to take a shortcut, there are plenty of companies which will make
the submissions for you and they’ll even optimize your site to get you as high
on the rankings as possible.
1.2 Links
Your search engine ranking will depend on a number of factors. One of those
factors is the number of sites that link to yours. As far as Google is
concerned if lots of sites about model railways link to your model railway
site, that must be a pretty good sign that people who like model railways
think your site is good. So they’ll want to offer it to people who search for
model railways, bringing you lots of free traffic.
Once you’ve got your site up and running you’ll want to persuade other sites
to give you links. You could offer to exchange links and you could even set
up a page that contains recommended links so that you’ll have somewhere to
put them.
There’s a range of other strategies and services that you can use. You can
find out about those in Chapter 20.
source : www.joelcomm.com
GETTING STARTED WITH GOOGLE ADSENSE (Part 2)
1.1 Getting Started With Blogger.com...
Want to get up and running with AdSense really fast? One way is to open an
account at Blogger.com.
Blogger is like those old free websites that you could set up in a flash but
which looked like they’d been cobbled together from bits of left-over graphics
that no one else wanted. Except that the blog you create at Blogger.com is
the real McCoy. It’s professional, it looks great… and it takes just seconds to
put together.
All you have to do is choose a name and title for your blog, take your pick of
the good range of templates available and get writing.
You don’t have to worry about coding or design work or images or anything
else. If you change your mind about the way your blog looks, you can just
pick a different template. All that’s left for you to do is write… and add
AdSense.
Even that’s been made easy for you.
Blogger.com lets you apply for AdSense directly from its site. It even gives
you a preview of where your ad will appear (at the top of the page) and how
it will look. While you’re waiting for your approval, you can play with fonts
and colors so that you’re all set up and ready to start earning.
Want to get up and running with AdSense really fast? One way is to open an
account at Blogger.com.
Blogger is like those old free websites that you could set up in a flash but
which looked like they’d been cobbled together from bits of left-over graphics
that no one else wanted. Except that the blog you create at Blogger.com is
the real McCoy. It’s professional, it looks great… and it takes just seconds to
put together.
All you have to do is choose a name and title for your blog, take your pick of
the good range of templates available and get writing.
You don’t have to worry about coding or design work or images or anything
else. If you change your mind about the way your blog looks, you can just
pick a different template. All that’s left for you to do is write… and add
AdSense.
Even that’s been made easy for you.
Blogger.com lets you apply for AdSense directly from its site. It even gives
you a preview of where your ad will appear (at the top of the page) and how
it will look. While you’re waiting for your approval, you can play with fonts
and colors so that you’re all set up and ready to start earning.
With Blogger.com, you can do that in seconds.
1.2 ... Or Google’s Page Creator
But blogs aren’t for everyone. Although they’re now one of the easiest ways
to get online, they have to be updated regularly and aren’t the best option
for static content.
Fortunately Blogger isn’t the only way to get online fast. Google’s
Page Creator makes building a website as simple as point, click
and type.
Again, you get a template that you can edit freely, and you can
also break into the HTML to paste the AdSense code. Check to see
how it looks, publish, and all you’ll have to do next is let people know
where you are.
And that’s where the disadvantages of creating a website using a free tool
like Page Creator kicks in.
With a website created through Page Creator, Search Engine Optimization
becomes difficult. Your URL will be [yourname].googlepages.com, which is
about as catchy a ball of slush. It’s unlikely to get very far in search engines
and when you try to spread it around, it will simply make you look
unprofessional.
Page Creator can be a useful place to get started but it’s really designed to
help people like teachers display information to a closed audience. It’s not a
good way to earn a lot of money.
If you’re keen to get started though, if you have an audience already set
up... or if you just want to see your stuff online fast — and with ads — then
it’s a fun toy to play with.
And you can always move your content onto your own URL when you’re
ready.
source : www.joelcomm.com
1.2 ... Or Google’s Page Creator
But blogs aren’t for everyone. Although they’re now one of the easiest ways
to get online, they have to be updated regularly and aren’t the best option
for static content.
Fortunately Blogger isn’t the only way to get online fast. Google’s
Page Creator makes building a website as simple as point, click
and type.
Again, you get a template that you can edit freely, and you can
also break into the HTML to paste the AdSense code. Check to see
how it looks, publish, and all you’ll have to do next is let people know
where you are.
And that’s where the disadvantages of creating a website using a free tool
like Page Creator kicks in.
With a website created through Page Creator, Search Engine Optimization
becomes difficult. Your URL will be [yourname].googlepages.com, which is
about as catchy a ball of slush. It’s unlikely to get very far in search engines
and when you try to spread it around, it will simply make you look
unprofessional.
Page Creator can be a useful place to get started but it’s really designed to
help people like teachers display information to a closed audience. It’s not a
good way to earn a lot of money.
If you’re keen to get started though, if you have an audience already set
up... or if you just want to see your stuff online fast — and with ads — then
it’s a fun toy to play with.
And you can always move your content onto your own URL when you’re
ready.
source : www.joelcomm.com
Saturday, August 23, 2008
GETTING STARTED WITH GOOGLE ADSENSE (Part 1)
1.1 The Basics: Building Your Site )
I’m going to give a brief introduction here to creating a website from the
ground up. You can find plenty more information online and I’ll tell you where
to look. A good place to start is my own book How To Build Profitable
Websites Fast, available at www.buildawebsitefast.com.
If you already have a site up and running, you can just skip this bit, head
down to 1.10 and begin reading about how to improve your AdSense
revenues.
1.2 Naming Your Site
The first thing your site will need is a name. That’s easier said than done
these days. All the best words in the dictionary have either already been
bought and built by developers or they’ve been bought and offered by
speculators.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a good name and buy it for a song.
Putting two words together with a hyphen can work (like
http://www.adsense-secrets.com) and there are plenty of good names
available if you’re prepared to move outside the world of .coms into .net and
.biz etc.
Your first stop should be http://www.DomainAnything.com. This is a nuts
and bolts service that lets you hunt and buy names, order hosting plans and
even submit your site to the search engines. When you’re looking for a
name, you can just toss in ten options and the site will tell you which (if any)
are available. Find a good one, and you can either buy it there or pick it up at
http://www.godaddy.com (they can be a bit cheaper). All in, buying a name
from one of these service won’t cost you more than about $9 a year.
If you can’t find a name you like and that hasn’t already been grabbed, you
can take a look at sites like moderndomains.com and bestnames.net. These
are companies that buy domain names and sell them for a profit. There’s a
good chance you’ll find some good names here but they can cost you
anything from $50 to $50,000. Before you part with a penny, think about the
advantage that a good name can bring and ask yourself if you can’t get the
extra traffic a cheaper way. Often, you can.
1.3 Choosing A Hosting Service
Your site is going to be stored on a hosting company’s server. (You didn’t
want thousands of people dialing into your computer every hour, did you?)
Again, there are lots of different options available depending on how much
you want to pay and what you need.
In general, you’ll want to make sure that you have about 50 megabytes of
space (that’s enough for 100 pages!), full statistics reporting and most
importantly, 24 hour service. If your site goes down, you’ll be losing money
every hour it’s offline. If there’s a problem with the server, you want to make
sure it’s fixed right away.
You get what you pay for with Web hosting. “Free” services will cost you
more than you save in lost revenue, and you can pay up to $200 a month for
dedicated servers. Twenty bucks a month is a reasonable price to pay and
GoDaddy.com and NetworkSolutions.com both offer good programs.
1.4 Designing The Site
It used to be said that absolutely anyone could create a website. That was
true: absolutely anyone who knew HTML. Today, you don’t even need to
know that. Programs like Microsoft’s FrontPage or NVU (which is free; you
can download it at www.nvu.com) let you create sites without you needing to
know your tags from your tables. If you can use Word, you can create a
website.
You can either have fun playing with the programs and designing the site
yourself or you can hire a professional designer to do it for you.
Freelance sites like www.elance.com and www.guru.com are good places to
advertise. You can invite designers to give you quotes and pick the best
based on price and talent. Be sure to check feedback and portfolios though; a
low bid is often low for a good reason.
1.5 Creating Content
In Chapter 11, I talk in detail about building content and optimizing what you
write to attract traffic and maximize your AdSense revenues. There are all
sorts of ways to do that but for the moment just bear in mind that the ads
that appear on your site will depend on the content on your pages. That’s
how AdSense works: users click on the ads because they’re relevant.
And that’s why it’s not worth putting up a site just to cash in on particular
keywords. Google doesn’t like it and neither do users. If your site doesn’t
genuinely interest your visitors, you’ll find it hard to get traffic, links and
clicks on your ads.
But there are still a lot of different ways to create content very easily that
improves your income. I’ll tell you all about them in Chapter 11.
It’s also worth remembering that Google doesn’t place ads on particular
types of sites, so if you’re thinking of building a casino site stuffed with
AdSense ads, you can forget about it; it’s not going to happen.
Before you build a site that contains any content that’s remotely
controversial, check out the AdSense Terms of Service (TOS) to make sure
that it’s allowed. It will tell whether your idea is sound or whether you need
to think again.
source : www.joelcomm.com
I’m going to give a brief introduction here to creating a website from the
ground up. You can find plenty more information online and I’ll tell you where
to look. A good place to start is my own book How To Build Profitable
Websites Fast, available at www.buildawebsitefast.com.
If you already have a site up and running, you can just skip this bit, head
down to 1.10 and begin reading about how to improve your AdSense
revenues.
1.2 Naming Your Site
The first thing your site will need is a name. That’s easier said than done
these days. All the best words in the dictionary have either already been
bought and built by developers or they’ve been bought and offered by
speculators.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a good name and buy it for a song.
Putting two words together with a hyphen can work (like
http://www.adsense-secrets.com) and there are plenty of good names
available if you’re prepared to move outside the world of .coms into .net and
.biz etc.
Your first stop should be http://www.DomainAnything.com. This is a nuts
and bolts service that lets you hunt and buy names, order hosting plans and
even submit your site to the search engines. When you’re looking for a
name, you can just toss in ten options and the site will tell you which (if any)
are available. Find a good one, and you can either buy it there or pick it up at
http://www.godaddy.com (they can be a bit cheaper). All in, buying a name
from one of these service won’t cost you more than about $9 a year.
If you can’t find a name you like and that hasn’t already been grabbed, you
can take a look at sites like moderndomains.com and bestnames.net. These
are companies that buy domain names and sell them for a profit. There’s a
good chance you’ll find some good names here but they can cost you
anything from $50 to $50,000. Before you part with a penny, think about the
advantage that a good name can bring and ask yourself if you can’t get the
extra traffic a cheaper way. Often, you can.
1.3 Choosing A Hosting Service
Your site is going to be stored on a hosting company’s server. (You didn’t
want thousands of people dialing into your computer every hour, did you?)
Again, there are lots of different options available depending on how much
you want to pay and what you need.
In general, you’ll want to make sure that you have about 50 megabytes of
space (that’s enough for 100 pages!), full statistics reporting and most
importantly, 24 hour service. If your site goes down, you’ll be losing money
every hour it’s offline. If there’s a problem with the server, you want to make
sure it’s fixed right away.
You get what you pay for with Web hosting. “Free” services will cost you
more than you save in lost revenue, and you can pay up to $200 a month for
dedicated servers. Twenty bucks a month is a reasonable price to pay and
GoDaddy.com and NetworkSolutions.com both offer good programs.
1.4 Designing The Site
It used to be said that absolutely anyone could create a website. That was
true: absolutely anyone who knew HTML. Today, you don’t even need to
know that. Programs like Microsoft’s FrontPage or NVU (which is free; you
can download it at www.nvu.com) let you create sites without you needing to
know your tags from your tables. If you can use Word, you can create a
website.
You can either have fun playing with the programs and designing the site
yourself or you can hire a professional designer to do it for you.
Freelance sites like www.elance.com and www.guru.com are good places to
advertise. You can invite designers to give you quotes and pick the best
based on price and talent. Be sure to check feedback and portfolios though; a
low bid is often low for a good reason.
1.5 Creating Content
In Chapter 11, I talk in detail about building content and optimizing what you
write to attract traffic and maximize your AdSense revenues. There are all
sorts of ways to do that but for the moment just bear in mind that the ads
that appear on your site will depend on the content on your pages. That’s
how AdSense works: users click on the ads because they’re relevant.
And that’s why it’s not worth putting up a site just to cash in on particular
keywords. Google doesn’t like it and neither do users. If your site doesn’t
genuinely interest your visitors, you’ll find it hard to get traffic, links and
clicks on your ads.
But there are still a lot of different ways to create content very easily that
improves your income. I’ll tell you all about them in Chapter 11.
It’s also worth remembering that Google doesn’t place ads on particular
types of sites, so if you’re thinking of building a casino site stuffed with
AdSense ads, you can forget about it; it’s not going to happen.
Before you build a site that contains any content that’s remotely
controversial, check out the AdSense Terms of Service (TOS) to make sure
that it’s allowed. It will tell whether your idea is sound or whether you need
to think again.
source : www.joelcomm.com
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