Monetize Your Site

There is a theory that to optimize the value per click on Google AdSense advertising only one ad unit per page should be displayed. You might have an ad unit and a link unit on a page, but the theory states only one ad unit. The rational for the theory is that Google serves the higher cost per click ads first.

If you have but one ad unit the ads displayed will be the cream of the crop. If you put multiple ad units on a page the lower cost per click ads will also be displayed giving more opportunity for your visitors to click on an ad that will give you a lower income. This could be a two edged sword. Is it better to get a low value click, but a click, or to hold out for only the higher value clicks.

In addition there may be two sides to this coin. It appears that low click through rates can also affect the quality of ads displayed on your site. I suspect that it is more a function of click quality than quantity. My guess would be that a low click through rate that leads to the advertiser’s most wanted action would not cause a problem. If your visitors click on ads and then only glance at the advertiser’s landing page then the click may be considered low value. With the better quality ads your visitor is more likely to spend some time on the advertiser’s page and you may get extra points for that.

Basically the theory makes sense to me. I have wanted to have the larger number of opportunities to click available but I also want to maximize the value of a click. I decided to add another ad network to my arsenal. NetKlix was mentioned in a blog post as an alternative to AdSense. I looked up the NetKlix site and signed up for an account. I received my account approval email this morning.

Some of the things that were attractive to me about the NetKlix program were the ability to control the colors of the ads and the ability to select categories of ads to match the content of the site. Google does a great job of targeting AdSense ads to the content of the page, but Google has the infrastructure to do this realtime. Smaller networks might not be able to target the ads so well, but the capability to select ad categories should be a big advantage.

The sign-up process was relatively quick and painless. The most time consuming part was reading the full Terms & Conditions document. That along took far longer than the 5 minutes that they talk about, but if you read that first the rest of the steps would probably fall within the time frame for most people.

After I signed up and got my codes and installed them on a couple of sites, I thought that I should check NetKlix a bit further. I used the usual Google search terms to dig up a little dirt. Most of what I found was not too current (2007-2008), but there were a few complaints.

Some of these complaints appear to have been addressed, but there is still a major problem from my perspective. It appears that the NetKlix ad inventories are non-existent for the categories that I selected. Before my approval there were some generic ads displayed on my sites. These were not very high quality, but they showed that the ad code was working.

Today, when I checked the sites after my approval, there were no ( as in zero ) ads displayed on either site. I looked at the page source code and my ad script does show up, but there is nothing displayed. I suspect that the categories that I selected for these sites have no ad inventory.

These sites are two of my highest traffic sites. I will need to do some further testing, but that will need to be done on some less important sites. I really need to maximize my income from these sites that have the most potential.

The other network that I have heard about and went on to investigate a bit is Chitika. The positives that I saw with Chitika were a low payment threshold and the demo did return good quality ads for keywords that I tried. I was not particularly enthused about the thumbnail images displayed with each ad, and no mention of color options was made in the material at which I looked.

None the less, I think it is time that I revisit the Chitika site. I don’t want to put affiliate banners up on the sites, but I do want to offer the opportunity for my visitors to pay me a bit more. Testimonials on the Chitika site say that these ads have provided an additional income stream without negative effect on their AdSense income.

What other ad networks have you tried, if any? Have you had experience with either NetKlix or Chitika? Please leave a comment! Thanks!

I have added an ad network in addition to AdSense to my arsenal. I have seen the theory postulated that one Google ad unit can be more effective than multiple AdSense units on a page. The theory is that with multiple units you dig deeper into the ad barrel.

In order to maximize their revenue Google displays the relevant ads that have the highest cost per click first. If you have only one ad unit on a page you get the cream of the crop. To fill additional ad units with unique ads you get down to the lower tiers. The first ad in the first ad unit may be worth a dollar a click while the last ad in the last ad unit may be worth a nickel. By using less ad units per page you are more likely to display high value ads.

With the new ad set-up I can display just one Google ad unit on each page. The theme that I use, and probably most WordPress themes, presents some information on the front page that they do not present on post pages. On post pages I have a large rectangle Google ad unit between the post title and post content. There was also a wide tower unit in the sidebar. By positioning the tower unit in the section that is only displayed on the front page I can now display only one Google ad unit per page. I do not use the large rectangle on the front page.

I replaced the Google tower unit with another networks tower unit, and moved the Google unit down to just before the meta section. This falls between my category links and my external links sections. Then after the external links is the Google tower unit on the home page. On post pages I have my large rectangle and the tower unit from my second network, but the Google tower unit does not display because it is located within the sidebar content that only shows on the home page. My visitors will see two ad units on each page, but only one Google ad unit on any page.

I went with NetKlix as my second ad network partner. They were the first that I found when I began my search. Perhaps I should have researched a bit further, but there was a recommendation from a blogger and the program seems to fit with the site, so I filled out the application and now have NetKlix ads on my most active site. I will probably put some of their units on a couple of other sites soon, and then I will see how they perform.

The possible down side that I see from this is that now there are two payment thresholds to meet. If the Google ads are really of more value than it may not make a difference as far as payment frequency. On the post pages the Google ad has the prime territory. On the home page the NetKlix unit is above the Google unit, but if a user scrolls the entries they will be exposed to both. Most search traffic is sent directly to a post page, so this will be an interesting experiment.

Have you tried other ad networks on your sites? What have the results been?

There is a strong indication from the performance of my site, Web PickUps, that the position on the page of the ad block does have a significant effect on the number of clicks you will see. This is a confirmation of information that I have found on the web. What works for others seems to be working for me with this site.

Web PickUps is a viral email archive site. It has been amazing to me to see how many of these emails are searched for by subject. Since I started using the WordPress blogging software and the email subject line as a post title I have seen increasing traffic to the site. When I set up WordPress I followed the general thinking that I had gleaned from my research on the best ad location for this type of site. This site I have always expected to produce little in the way of ad revenue. That has been the case since I put up the site. Now the click rate has improved enough that my overall click rate including junk pages is nearly double my historic rate. And this is from a site where the visitors are not even shopping, they are looking for humor.

I have two other sites that get steady daily traffic. I will be moving the ad blocks on at least one of those sites  soon to see if the change makes a difference there. If the test proves successful I will move the position on the other site.

The ad block and position that are working on this site is a large rectangle located between the post title and post content on post pages. There is one other recommendation that I should implement here. I have a second ad block on the post pages in the right column. The recommendation is to only have one ad block and perhaps a link unit on a page. The theory is that the more ad blocks the lower the mean price of the ads presented will be. Google serves the higher priced ads first and then fills in with decending value ads. The more ad units on the page the more opportunities for a visitor to click on a lower value ad.

At first I thought that there was a direct correlation between visitors that arrived by search and click rate. It appears that the ad positioning is the defining factor. Those arriving by search for a subject line are sent to a post page rather than the front page of the blog. The front page has only the right column ad block. I should redo the ads using channel identifiers to determine which ad position is actually doing the job.

Of course, without traffic there are no clicks. My main objective must be to build traffic, but my recent experience shows that optimizing the monetization scheme can significantly improve the results.

The more information that you have about what is working for you the more successful you can be at monetizing your websites. Using AdSense for content ads is a popular method of monetization. Using AdSense channels can give you information that you need to optimize your sites.

When you go into the AdSense set-up section along the way you are offered the opportunity to identify the ad with an ad channel. You can use this feature to discover which ad placement and the type of ad that works best for you with your content and lay-out.

To do this you would need a unique identifier for each ad unit. I would suggest adding a suffix to the name to identify the type and placement of ads. You might start with the site name or some variation of the name. The suffix might include a number for various positions on the page and you might add a letter to identify a link unit or an ad unit. You might divide the page into sections like:

1. header
2. left column
3. center column
4. right column
5. footer

Using a letter like ‘l’ for link unit and ‘a’ for ad unit would complete your ad channel designation. For an ad unit in the center column your ad channel identifier might look like:

mysite-3a

When you check your AdSense Report you would immediately know which ad is producing your income. You may find that a particular ad position works best with your content. You may also find that what works best on one type of page does not work as well as some other position on a different type of page. Using the ad placement that works best for the type of page can improve your income.

If you have several sections on your site like content pages, a blog, or a forum you may wish to add an additional identifier for the various sections. This would tell you which sections of your site are producing the most income with what ad position. The more information that you collect the better you are able to optimize your site.

When first starting out with AdSense you may not realize the value of the information that Google makes available to you. I used the same ad units and link units across several sites for too long. I have just begun to update these units to provide more information. I am enjoying improving AdSense income as a result.  You may be able to improve your potential as well.

Internet Marketer Brian Johnson has just announced in an email to his list that several of his many sites have been hit by a Google Slap. The sites, mostly on one dedicated server, have been De-Indexed.

Brian gives his analysis of the situation and some hints to avoid the same problem in a YouTube video (see below). Brian has several highly acclaimed IM products on the market. As an ethical business man, Brian wanted the people on his list to know exactly what the situation was. Many of these sites are used as examples in his products. I suspect an element of damage control also entered the picture.

The fact that Brian sent the notification shows that he cares about the people who have purchased his products. He is to be applauded for this action. He mentions that he has been through this before and that it is one of the dangers of Internet Marketing. He does make some suggestions of ways to minimize the danger.

Here is Brian’s YouTube Video on this situation:

The world is not always a kind place, but all you can do is follow the rules and do the best that you can.

Killer Landing Pages that Sell – Landing Page Quick Reference Guide

By: Michael Cordova

A landing page is a special purpose website workhorse page that is produced for one goal – to persuade the website visitor to convert into a customer by converting into a lead. It is the most powerful tool for Pay Per Click advertising campaigns.

This landing page quick reference guide ensures that your landing pages convert at the highest level. It is divided into 4 sections and is intended to be an all-inclusive white paper.

Most importantly, consider that you have eight seconds or maybe less than that to convince your visitor to act. If you haven’t convinced the visitor in this time then your mark will leave to another site to find their solution, since the web has created the most fussy buyer in sales history.

PAGE LAYOUT

• Your logo should be at the top-left of the page. Visitors expect your logo in this position so exhibit your company branding where it counts.
• If the visitor came from a search engine keyword search or a Pay Per Click ad then place the keyword words in bold at the top of the page. This reinforces to the visitor that they are at the right place.
• Always keep the Golden Triangle in mind. It is the most important and scanned part of the page. The Golden Triangle is the area of the web page from the top left of the page to the top-right of the page then moves down to the bottom-left diagonally just above the fold. The fold is the area of a website page that the visitor sees without scrolling down. You should never force a visitor to scroll horizontally to see your message. This means that your landing pages must ideally be able to be seen completely on a 1024 x 768 screen resolution. Place your most important messageM in the middle of the Golden Triangle.
• Contrast your Calls to Action with respect to the rest of the page – use different colors, use round vs. rectangular shapes, straight vs. slanted, cold color vs. warm color, big vs. little. Make sure you can spot the Call to Action from 6 feet away.
• Place assurances, testimonials and guarantees in the far-right column.
• Place the logos from proper associations or online companies on the side or at the bottom of the page to show credibility – BBB Online Reliability, certified by…, Alexa rank (if your Alexa ranking is low), powerseller, 24 hour support, live support, credit cards supported, open 24 hours a day, Hacker Safe, Truste, Verisign, Chamber of Commerce, as seen in Entrepreneur Magazine, etc.
• Don’t place external links on a landing page except for the following – links to your home page, contact us and privacy policy pages. Links to your contact us and privacy policy pages will increase your Adwords quality score.
• Having said the above, always place your privacy policies or a link to the privacy policies page on the landing page. This instills confidence.
• Think of Amazon.com. Their Call to Action is the hotspot at the top-right of all pages – add to cart, one click ordering, etc. Consider a similar tactic.

WRITING STYLE AND CONTENT

• Results of many tests have shown that the most effective tool on a landing page is your offer. Ensure you have a powerful offer that speaks to your visitors benefits – and make sure you test different offers for effectiveness.
• Spend time on your strong points – A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) and set is the core differentiator of a company’s product or service from those of its competitors. Put it into the heart of the Golden Triangle. A perfect one will describe your market and the key difference between your competitors and your own company.
• Write in scannable sections without long paragraphs. Visitors scan pages instead of reading all of the text on them.
• Write with section headers and sub-headers summarizing the text that follows.
• Use bullet points as much as possible so visitors can scan them quickly. Search engines prioritize bullets instead of extended paragraph text.
• If you want to add a picture then ensure that the picture is going to reinforce your message. You can easily lose significant conversions by having the wrong image on the landing page.
• If the landing page purpose is to publish an article or white paper then make an image of the article or paper with large, readable text and place it on the page.

THE FORM

• Keep the number of form fields as small as possible. This is important to getting them to complete the form.
• Add a Comments textbox asking for visitor input. It is key to qualifying leads. Those that describe the services they need should be contacted as soon as possible. Here are some titles you can use for this Comments box:
• What problem can we solve for you?
• What is your projects purpose?
• Please list your goals for this project.
• How can we help you?
• In case your site visitor doesn’t fill-in the Comments box on the first page, add a 2nd page with only a Comments textbox on it requesting visitor comments again. Tell them that if they fill in the Comments box now they will receive an extra free article that is germane to their visit. These visitor comments are important.
• Present the visitor with a checkbox that says something like “YES! Send me the free gift that will change my life.” It is the psychological method of coercing them into completing and submitting the form.
• Prominently list the valuable purpose of completing and submitting the form. Make sure to write in terms of user benefits instead of your service features.
• Ensure you save the form information into a database then send the visitor an email as soon as the form is completed so you can immediately contact the web site visitor. The lead’s effectiveness drops significantly with the passing of time. You should contact your lead within minutes.

LANDING PAGE BLUNDERS

• Text that presses the sale too much
• Landing pages that aren’t optimized for keywords
• Using your website home page as a landing page
• Graphics or text not relevant to the landing page – limit copy to only the point of the landing page
• Long forms with unneeded fields – limit your form to what is completely essential
• Fonts that are difficult to read
• Unnecessary navigation leading off of the landing page
• Placing important persuasive copy below the fold

Author Resource:-> Michael Cordova writes about technology and builds SEO optimized WordPress websites. He has been doing Internet marketing, search engine optimization since the beginning of the Internet. BEFORE YOU GO call Michael at (303) 744-2178 for a free initial SEO website evaluation or contact him from the 21stsoft.com links above.
Article Provided By: Published-Articles.com Article Directory

I have had two recent experiences that point out the value of WordPress in getting things indexed in Google.

I put up a research blog on sub-domain space. While I have owned the domain name for a couple of years, the sub-domain was created specifically for the WordPress installation. From the time that the sub-domain space was created until I was posting to the blog was no more than a couple of hours.

The idea with the blog is to go to Google trends and pick a current hot topic and produce a post. One of the very first posts that I made was indexed and I saw traffic from an international Google site, that turned out to be from Poland, in less than 24 hours. I was checking the traffic log to see if there was bot activity on the space when I saw the referrer link to the Google search. I thought that it was amazing and told a couple of people about the experience, as well as making a blog post on another blog.

I have just been snooping in the traffic logs again. This one comes from a different blog that I have had in operation for a few months. I was checking around Ezine Articles site today. I noticed an article using the same keyword that had brought traffic to the new blog. The article was a good fit for my other blog, on topic and all. I published the article. I logged in to the blog at 9:46 AM to post the article. At 12:25 Google returned search results with my post in the number 4 position and the Ezine original article in the number 6 position. Less than two hours and my reprint of the article was ranked higher than the original.

Looking at the results it is apparent that the reason the reprinted article returned higher than the original was because I had the exact search term as one of the tags for the article. The title and every word in the article was the same, but having the tag that matched the search term made the difference. Never underestimate the value of the tags that you apply to your posts. Think of good keywords that relate to the article or post. Us several long tail tags for the post. Add the tags to your thinking for on page SEO.

It has occurred to me that there may be other things at foot in the observed (subjective) speedup of the Deep Link Engine. At about the same time I noticed that this was happening I also noticed that my blogs seemed to load faster overall. I suspect that HostMonster (my affiliate link) has either upgraded my server or tweaked the database performance. This may be the root cause of my perceived performance increase for the Deep Link Engine. If the server performance is improved it may also improve the performance of programs run on the server.

I have a couple of new observations on the Deep Link Engine.

There have been several updates along the way. The latest update seems to operate a bit faster than earlier versions. I noticed this after the last update, but have not written it up on this blog. It is only an incremental speed up that I perceive subjectively so I did not think that it was worth a whole post.

The observation that inspires this post is something that I have noticed without taking note of what was going on in the past. I was just looking at the referrer search results and the revelation came to me. What I have seen in the search description box is some seemingly unrelated text. These were things that I did not recall having in the post but were showing up in the search results.

This evening I was looking through the referrer results on one of the blogs on which I am using the Deep Link Engine. The search term included words that I did not recall from the post. Then the light bulb lite. Part of the Keyword phrase was in one of the links that the Deep Link Engine had appended to the post, and the rest was in the post title. Google is indexing those links as part of the post. I had seen this before but not made the connection.

This had put the post at #5 on the first page of results. It is an unexpected benefit of using the Deep Link Engine. I don’t know that this plus outweighs some of the minuses from the DLE, but it is one of the first positive things that I have been able to say about the plug-in. I do see the small bump in traffic from the curious blogmasters when I make a post, and there are a few, mostly no-follow, links that appear on blogs that either have a benevolent blogger or the setting allows all comments and trackbacks.

The other side of the coin, as I have previously mentioned, is that the server address will end up on the Akismet black list. In confirmation of that I had linked from one of my blogs to another earlier today. I was telling the story of a page that has been hit with a Google slap on my Hobby Webmaster Blog. When I checked in on the linked blog I found my own trackback in the spam comments folder. Now that I have linked it here I will have to sort out this trackback from the spam comment folder on that site.

So, in this case, a post showed up high on a search result page because of a link that was placed with the post by the Deep Link Engine. This is really an accidental side effect of the DLE, but I had a visitor because of it.

I had mentioned that I suspected that using the Deep Link Engine had landed my server IP address on the Akismet blacklist. I recently made a post on one blog and, since the topic was such that it fit with another of my blogs, I made the same post on a second blog. The second blog found my identical post and identified it as the most relevant. The Deep Link Engine sent a ping to my other blog. I found it in my spam queue the next time that I looked. This confirms the information from my server logs that indicated the pings from the Deep Link Engine were going into spam queues. A few people are either curious or conscientious about checking their spam queues, but I am sure that most of these trackbacks are flushed either manually or through inaction.

In this post:  http://raygen.info/blog/2010/03/24/deep-link-engine-the-new-wordpress-trackbackpingback-spam/ on the RayGen.info site the blogger says that the product of the Deep Link Engine is ping/trackback spam and recommends that people not use this product. With my experience with the DLE I agree with all of his points.

I only used the DLE engine on this blog briefly and then discontinued using it as I saw how it worked. I have not installed it on my real blogs that are at all important to me. I have used it on what are basically hoped to be WordPress sales pages. I will probably discontinue use even on those sites. Initially there was a bump in traffic with each post. Lately the traffic boost has been insignificant.

I have also seen complaints about the time involved with completely removing the DLE and its tracks from a blog. I may gain experience in this in the not too distant future. If so I will report on my experience for the benefit of my readers.

Have you discontinued use of the DLE? Did you remove all traces of the links that it produced? Tell us in a comment!