There's a lot of buzz around about how you can make a quick and easy fortune using this AdSense course or that tool or this book.
And they show you their incomes from AdSense too (though not necessarily THIS month). Now, is it just me or is something a little odd in all this?
Say, I'm making $5000 - no make that $15,276 a month from AdSense on my sites. And now I'm going to sell all my secrets on how to do that for $67 or $97 or whatever.
So what happened, did I get all bored with my filthy riches and decide to become a philanthropist and sell stuff that makes me 15K a month for a pittance? Or is it something else?
Am I saying it's impossible? Certainly not. I know people who make that more.
But a little reality. Those people don't have 5 or 6 or 50 sites. They have maybe 500 or 3000 or more. Few sites make 20 or more a day. Very few. Average income is probably less than a dollar a day. So with 500 sites at a dollar a day, you've got your 15K a month.
Now the domain names cost you maybe $3500 to $4500. Then you need hosting and somehow you've got to build the sites and get traffic to them. There are excellent tools but the ones that will let you do this kind of thing in a reasonably short time are also very (very) expensive.
And you are continually dealing with sites that don't get indexed or get de-indexed or even get banned. Traffic today, gone tomorrow. Plus, if you're not real careful with those tools you may get an unpleasant letter from Google about a DMCA copyright infringement which could cost you your AdSense account.
You can make money, you can build an empire. But it isn't easy or quick no matter what you hear. And it really isn't a business. It's not a long run proposition, it's not stable. You need to keep creating more sites as older ones fail - or you need to be smart and use those AdSense revenues to build an enduring business.
You put up with this down to here, so here are the real 7 "secret" keys to AdSense.
1. The best performing AdSense type is the large rectangle. This has been tested over and over.
2. The best colors are blue for the link - surfers know that blue means click me. And darkish almost black and grey for the text and url. No borders. The same background as your page. Will it merge into your content? No, that's bogus. There are maybe 4 surfers in this galaxy who can't tell a Google ad when they see one. They are not going to believe it's part of the text. Wake up, OK?
3. Another format which is being reported to more or less work is the full wide banner type layout with text ads and images directly above the links. Try it and see if it works for you. Maybe it's a fad.
4. Keywords and related content are critical if you want targeted ads. If you want high paying clicks you need to target the costly keywords AND have content that supports the keywords.
5. You need traffic interested in the ads. Which means your traffic generation techniques have to be targeted not scattershot. You might hear that 1% or 1.5% clickthrough rate is OK and 3% is good. Nonsense. Really successful people get CTRs that are often well above 30%. Even with modest efforts you should be getting an average 6 to 15% CTR (per ad impression, not pages).
6. You have to track what you're doing and you have to test variations in ad layout, placement, color and related content to optimize your income. No one can tell you how to do it except the traffic coming to your site. If you don't test and track, you're flying blind.
7. You need to keep building new sites.
You are now a member of the AdSense Illuminati. Quite possibly you already knew all that. So why are you looking for something else? Really. This is all you need to start doing it.
Probably any course or book can help you if that's what it takes to get you moving and doing. Ultimately, no one can really show you exactly how to do it. You're going to have to learn the ropes and put in the time.
Like everything in life - the greatest traffic generator, the ultimate course or the super MLM opportunity, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. There's no magic bullet, no ultimate secret to buy. There's no easy, painless, work free, certain road to riches (except, maybe, inheriting it and that can be very hard on the heirs).
Whatever you do on the net, do it wide awake and with your brain actually functioning. The final un-numbered key is that a technique, a shortcut, an idea that will make what you do easier, faster, or more profitable - one single tiny thing - is worth more than any book or course costs. One useable idea and you've gotten a great deal. If you learned something you didn't know or had forgotten, then it's worth much more than you paid. There may not be any magic solution out there, but there are useful concepts, techniques and ideas. You just have to see them for what they are, and then get busy and really use them.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Stick 'em up!
If you're well versed in webspeak, you're probably familiar with the concept of stickiness -- the quality that entices web users to stick around a given site. Here at AdSense, we're down with the web version of stickiness, but we've got a different kind of adhesive in mind: the kind that lets you take the AdSense logo a-go-go.
That's right, we're talking stickers.
We've printed up a batch of AdSense stickers, and we'd be delighted to send one or two your way, wherever you are in the world. The stickers are designed for laptops, but they'll work just as well for placement on mugs, skateboards, or temporarily on a shirt. (Note: turning a pal into a walking Google ad without their knowledge is not recommended.)
So how do you get one of these glue-backed masterpieces? Easy: send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope with enough postage to return 1 oz of sticker goodness to you from our office in California via standard U.S. mail. (Sorry, we can't help you calculate the postage to your location). Send your envelope, along with a note if you'd like, to:
That's right, we're talking stickers.
We've printed up a batch of AdSense stickers, and we'd be delighted to send one or two your way, wherever you are in the world. The stickers are designed for laptops, but they'll work just as well for placement on mugs, skateboards, or temporarily on a shirt. (Note: turning a pal into a walking Google ad without their knowledge is not recommended.)
So how do you get one of these glue-backed masterpieces? Easy: send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope with enough postage to return 1 oz of sticker goodness to you from our office in California via standard U.S. mail. (Sorry, we can't help you calculate the postage to your location). Send your envelope, along with a note if you'd like, to:
Google AdSenseSupplies are limited, so send your envelope soon! Then you can stick with AdSense wherever you go. (And one last thing to keep in mind: while we're flattered that you might want a whole box, note that we're only able to provide one or two per publisher.)
c/o Arlene Lee
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA
Diagnosing and treating revenue fluctuations (Part II)
Welcome back to the second part of our series designed to help you better understand revenue fluctuations. If you're just joining us now, or if you'd just like to brush up on those reporting terms before we dive in again, feel free to visit our previous post from earlier in the week.
Choose the right treatment
You're finished investigating the cause of the revenue fluctuations, and it's time to take action. Find the symptom you identified below for suggested treatments.
Page impression changes
Where are the changes happening?
Many AdSense publishers run multiple websites or have site sections that perform very differently. For example, the article section of a cell phone review site may have a higher eCPM than the forums. Whenever you notice revenue changes at the account level, always determine which of your sites or sections is causing the change. You can set up URL and custom channels to track all the important parts of your account separately. Knowing exactly what is changing and where will allow you to make the smartest decisions about what to do.
Taking seasonal fluctuation into account
Take a broader view and look for historical fluctuations in the metrics described above. Over the same time period last month or last year, you may find similar volatility in your eCPM, revenue, or page impressions. For example, you can compare the Mother's Day performance of a flowers and gifts site for 2006 and 2007. Is your current account performance consistent with the previous time range? If so, the revenue change you're investigating might reflect a recurring pattern.
I hope this series will help you get the most out of AdSense, and the next time your revenue changes, I hope it's for the positive.
Choose the right treatment
You're finished investigating the cause of the revenue fluctuations, and it's time to take action. Find the symptom you identified below for suggested treatments.
Page impression changes
- Check for AdSense technical issues or public service ads (PSAs). If ads aren't being served on your site, we aren't registering page impressions.
- Don't miss out on search traffic. Use Webmaster Tools to make sure that Google is properly crawling and indexing your site.
- Consider the promotions you have running for your site. Did an ad campaign end, causing a drop in traffic? Has a popular site linked to you, causing a spike in page impressions?
- A drop in CTR can be caused by a user interface (UI) that's not optimized or by poor targeting. Readers won't click on ads they don't see or find irrelevant. To improve the relevance of your ads, you might want to try section targeting.
- Check for crawl problems. If our system can't crawl your page, we can't serve relevant ads.
- If you've implemented or changed your ad server, check that there are no new targeting problems.
- Have you changed the look and feel of your site? Follow our optimization best practices whenever launching a site redesign. An easy way to start is to match the ad colors to the design of your site and choose a top performing unit such as the 300x250 medium rectangle.
- If your CTR has been in a slow decline, your readers may be experiencing ad blindness. Try testing new ad formats, placements, or colors.
- CPCs are determined by advertiser bids and are not directly under publisher control. Most large CPC changes are seasonal. For example, certain ad verticals attract more spending during the holiday or back-to-school seasons.
- CPCs can also fluctuate as advertisers begin and end their advertising campaigns.
- You can always improve your CPCs by choosing ad formats that support all ad types: text, image, video, flash, and gadget ads. More competition means higher advertiser bids.
- If overall targeted revenue is changing, determine what your average placement-targeted revenue has been for the past few months. Your goal is to determine if the changes in your recent earnings are part of a trend or a short-term earnings fluctuation.
- Publishers can experience spikes in placement-targeted revenue when advertisers run limited-time campaigns. For example, an advertiser may run a large placement-targeted campaign only during the opening week of a summer blockbuster movie.
- If you want to increase placement targeting over the long term, set up ad placements. This will make it easier for advertisers to find and target your site.
Where are the changes happening?
Many AdSense publishers run multiple websites or have site sections that perform very differently. For example, the article section of a cell phone review site may have a higher eCPM than the forums. Whenever you notice revenue changes at the account level, always determine which of your sites or sections is causing the change. You can set up URL and custom channels to track all the important parts of your account separately. Knowing exactly what is changing and where will allow you to make the smartest decisions about what to do.
Taking seasonal fluctuation into account
Take a broader view and look for historical fluctuations in the metrics described above. Over the same time period last month or last year, you may find similar volatility in your eCPM, revenue, or page impressions. For example, you can compare the Mother's Day performance of a flowers and gifts site for 2006 and 2007. Is your current account performance consistent with the previous time range? If so, the revenue change you're investigating might reflect a recurring pattern.
I hope this series will help you get the most out of AdSense, and the next time your revenue changes, I hope it's for the positive.
Diagnosing and treating revenue fluctuations (Part I)
You love your website and you want it to thrive. You create content, manage your community, and keep an eye on your AdSense performance. If AdSense revenue is down, you're understandably concerned. If AdSense revenue is up, you're happy, but you want to know why. Revenue fluctuations are obvious enough when they occur, but the root cause isn't equally clear. It can be challenging for both new and experienced publishers alike to analyze their AdSense data and respond effectively to changes.
The goal of this post, and our follow-up later this week, is to help you understand the AdSense revenue model so you can diagnose and treat revenue fluctuations like an experienced MD.
Study up
The first step is knowing how the figures reported in your account (such as eCPM, CTR, and page impressions) interact to describe your total revenue. Think of each number as a variable in the revenue formula for your site. At the highest level, you can calculate revenue by multiplying your page impressions by the effective cost-per-thousand impressions (eCPM) and dividing by 1000.
Most AdSense ads pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, so eCPM is really a measure of your average ad performance. Breaking eCPM into the click-through-rate (CTR) and the average cost that advertisers pay per click (CPC) gives you a more accurate measure of performance.
Identify the symptoms
Now you're ready to diagnose any revenue fluctuation. Just like the revenue formulas above, let's start simple and gradually get more complex.
The first question to ask is: Did either your page impressions or your eCPM change? You can compare trends in both page impressions and eCPM using the Advanced Reports in your account.
If your AdSense page impressions have declined, you should determine if traffic to your entire site is declining as well. A web analytics tool such as Google Analytics can provide you with this information. In addition, you should check your pages for unpaid public service ads (PSAs).
If your eCPM is down, you'll need to dig one level deeper and find out if your contextual or placement targeted ad performance has dropped. You can also find this data in the Advanced Reports tab using the options shown below.
Let's consider your contextual ads first. The two key metrics to investigate are CTR and average CPC. CTR is given in your reports, but you'll need to calculate your average CPC using your favorite spreadsheet. (My favorite goes without saying). Please keep in mind that this is still an average CPC for your account and doesn't necessarily correspond with the price paid by any specific advertiser. Once you've narrowed the change to CTR or average CPC you're ready to start treatment.
For placement-targeted ads, you should analyze how much total placement-targeted revenue you are receiving and the average eCPM. Changes in either of these metrics usually indicate that advertisers are beginning or ending campaigns targeted to your site. Again, placement-targeted campaigns are more likely to be short-term than contextual campaigns.
That's all we have time for today -- now that you have a better understanding of what factors can affect revenue, don't forget to check back later this week for the second part of this series. We'll be discussing ways to treat revenue fluctuations based on the symptoms you've discovered.
The goal of this post, and our follow-up later this week, is to help you understand the AdSense revenue model so you can diagnose and treat revenue fluctuations like an experienced MD.
Study up
The first step is knowing how the figures reported in your account (such as eCPM, CTR, and page impressions) interact to describe your total revenue. Think of each number as a variable in the revenue formula for your site. At the highest level, you can calculate revenue by multiplying your page impressions by the effective cost-per-thousand impressions (eCPM) and dividing by 1000.
Revenue = Page Impressions * eCPM / 1000The eCPM metric provides an estimate of how much revenue you can expect to earn for every 1000 page impressions. For example, if you serve 10,000 page impressions and earn $40, your eCPM is $4. If page impressions increase to 30,000, you can predict that you'll earn $120 given the $4 eCPM.
eCPM = Revenue / Page Impressions * 1000
Most AdSense ads pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, so eCPM is really a measure of your average ad performance. Breaking eCPM into the click-through-rate (CTR) and the average cost that advertisers pay per click (CPC) gives you a more accurate measure of performance.
Revenue = Page Impressions * CTR * average CPCOnce you know your average CTR and your average CPC, you can predict how much revenue you'll earn for a given amount of page views. You can also analyze your revenue by looking at placement-targeted ads versus contextually-targeted ads.
Total Revenue = Revenue (contextual) + Revenue (placement-targeted)While contextually targeted ads always pay per click, advertisers can pay for placement-targeted ads by impression (CPM) or by click (CPC). To account for both of these bid types, you should look at the average eCPM for placement-targeted ads. More simply, you can just add placement-targeted revenue to your contextually targeted revenue.
Revenue = (Page Impressions (contextual) * CTR * average CPC) + (Page Impressions (placement-targeted) * eCPM (placement targeted) / 1000)Even though we're looking at contextual and placement-targeted revenue separately, don't forget that these two types of ads compete against each other in the auction. We'll always show the best performing ad, regardless of targeting type, so more competition creates higher winning bids.
Revenue = (Page Impressions (contextual) * CTR * average CPC ) + Revenue (placement-targeted)
Identify the symptoms
Now you're ready to diagnose any revenue fluctuation. Just like the revenue formulas above, let's start simple and gradually get more complex.
The first question to ask is: Did either your page impressions or your eCPM change? You can compare trends in both page impressions and eCPM using the Advanced Reports in your account.
If your AdSense page impressions have declined, you should determine if traffic to your entire site is declining as well. A web analytics tool such as Google Analytics can provide you with this information. In addition, you should check your pages for unpaid public service ads (PSAs).
If your eCPM is down, you'll need to dig one level deeper and find out if your contextual or placement targeted ad performance has dropped. You can also find this data in the Advanced Reports tab using the options shown below.
Let's consider your contextual ads first. The two key metrics to investigate are CTR and average CPC. CTR is given in your reports, but you'll need to calculate your average CPC using your favorite spreadsheet. (My favorite goes without saying). Please keep in mind that this is still an average CPC for your account and doesn't necessarily correspond with the price paid by any specific advertiser. Once you've narrowed the change to CTR or average CPC you're ready to start treatment.
For placement-targeted ads, you should analyze how much total placement-targeted revenue you are receiving and the average eCPM. Changes in either of these metrics usually indicate that advertisers are beginning or ending campaigns targeted to your site. Again, placement-targeted campaigns are more likely to be short-term than contextual campaigns.
That's all we have time for today -- now that you have a better understanding of what factors can affect revenue, don't forget to check back later this week for the second part of this series. We'll be discussing ways to treat revenue fluctuations based on the symptoms you've discovered.
Beyond ad performance optimization
When we talk about optimization in AdSense, we usually focus on testing different formats, colors, and locations for your ad units. But it's just as important, if not more so, to optimize your site's content to make it as user-friendly as possible. Which homepage design do your users respond most to? Which headline or graphic will entice your users to spend more time reading your articles? Knowing the answers can help you implement the most user-friendly elements, increasing user loyalty and engagement. And as we've noted, more engaged, more frequent users means more eyes on your AdSense ads.
You can determine the answers to the questions above (and more) by using Google Website Optimizer, a free tool available through Google AdWords. It lets you try out different layouts and content for your site and conduct either an A/B test or a multivariate test to track how different content affects your users. To learn more about Website Optimizer, just visit their informational site to find out everything you need to know before getting started. If you don't yet have an AdWords account, sign up here to access Website Optimizer.
Finally, we encourage you to attend a free online seminar about Website Optimizer. Your host will be Tom Leung, Product Manager for Website Optimizer, and the guest presenter will be Bryan Eisenberg from FutureNow, Inc. Tom and Bryan will introduce Website Optimizer, share best practices for testing, and discuss some of the top elements to test on any webpage. Here are all the details:
You can determine the answers to the questions above (and more) by using Google Website Optimizer, a free tool available through Google AdWords. It lets you try out different layouts and content for your site and conduct either an A/B test or a multivariate test to track how different content affects your users. To learn more about Website Optimizer, just visit their informational site to find out everything you need to know before getting started. If you don't yet have an AdWords account, sign up here to access Website Optimizer.
Finally, we encourage you to attend a free online seminar about Website Optimizer. Your host will be Tom Leung, Product Manager for Website Optimizer, and the guest presenter will be Bryan Eisenberg from FutureNow, Inc. Tom and Bryan will introduce Website Optimizer, share best practices for testing, and discuss some of the top elements to test on any webpage. Here are all the details:
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