Monetize Your Site

The ad network Chitika seems to take the business of serving ads very seriously. Not only that but they share some of their research information. In looking over the Chitika site I noticed a sidebar link for Research. One of the articles caught my eye.

They recently looked at search term length from a couple of different points of view. They looked at the number of search terms used in searches and the number of terms used in searches that resulted in a click through. Their ad network keys off of search terms for many of the ads displayed, so their information is strong and relevant.

To determine the optimal word count, Chitika looked at a sample of 41,103,403 impressions of search traffic coming into their network between June 13th and 19th.  Within the sample, 10,710,579 impressions – some 26% of all search traffic – came from three-word searches.  The next top word counts were two-word (19%), four-word (17%), and finally one-word (14%).  Any query beyond five words will see dramatically lower traffic, throwing into perspective just how fragmented traffic from long queries really is.

Three word domain names are often recommended by IM pros. This data supports the value of the three word domain name, as an exact match of the domain name can often achieve a number one SERP. Their further research supports the value of the long tail in Internet Marketing:

Additionally, Chitika looked at the advertising click rate by word count to see how visitors’ intent was reflected by how many words they searched for. The highest ad click rates were for queries of 5, 6 and 4 words. The implication is that a more complex search is more likely to convert into revenue for a publisher, up to a point.

The long tail terms are shown to convert better. This gives some additional insight into your SEO efforts.

To read the full article and see the graphs that they include with the report see the article: SEO Sweet Spot – Three-Word Searches

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.