Google Adsense Tips, Tricks, and Secrets

I’ve been reading a few forums and blogs about Google Adsense tips lately, and thought it would be helpful to consolidate as many as possible in one place without the comments. I’ve also thrown in a few tips of my own. We start out with some of the basic general stuff and move to the more specific topics later on.

Build an Empire?

When you’re deciding to become a website publisher you will fall into one of two broad categories:

• Publish 100 websites that each earn $1 a day profit
• Publish 1 website that earns $100 a day profit

The reality of it is, most people end up somewhere in between. Having 100 websites leaves you with maintenance, management and content issues. Having one website leaves you open to all sort of fluctuations (search engines algorithm’s, market trends, etc). You can adapt your plan on the way, but you’ll have an easier time if you start out going in the direction of where you want to end up.

General or Niche

You can build your website around general topics or niche ones. Generally speaking niche websites work better with adsense. First off the ad targeting is much better. Secondly as you have a narrow focus your writing naturally becomes more expert in nature. Hopefully this makes you more authority in your field.

If this is your first try at building an adsense website, make it about something you enjoy. It will make the process much easier and less painful to accomplish. You should however make sure that your topic has enough of an ad inventory and the payout is at a level you are comfortable with. You may love medieval folk dancing, but the pool of advertisers for that subject is very small (in fact it’s currently zero).

Once you’ve gotten the hang of how Adsense works on a website, you are going to want to dabble in some high paying keywords, you may even be tempted to buy a high paying keyword list. This does come with some dangers. First off the level of fraud is much higher on the big money terms. Secondly there is a distortion of the supply and demand relationship for these terms. Everyone wants ads on their website that make $35 or more a click, however the number of advertisers who are willing to pay that much is pretty limited. Additionally the competition for that traffic is going to be stiff. So, don’t try to run with the big dogs if you can’t keep up. If you have to ask if you’re a big dog, then chances are, you’re not. I have used a high dollar keywords report fromcashkeywords.com and was pleased with my results (see cash keywords free offer recap).

New Sites, Files and Maintenance

When you’re building a new site don’t put adsense on it until it’s finished. In fact I’d go even farther and say don’t put adsense on it until you have built inbound links and started getting traffic. If you put up a website with “lorem ipsum” dummy or placeholder text, your adsense ads will almost certainly be off topic. This is often true for new files on existing websites, especially if the topic is new or different. It may take days or weeks for google’s media bot to come back to your page and get the ads properly targeted. TIP: If you start getting lots of traffic from a variety of IP’s you will speed this process up dramatically.

I like to build my sites using include files. I put the header, footer and navigation in common files. It makes it much easier to maintain and manage. I also like to put my adsense code in include files. If I want/need to change my adsense code, it’s only one file I have to work with. TIP: I also use programming to turn the adsense on or off. I can change one global variable to true or false and my adsense ads will appear or disappear.

Managing URL’s and channels

Adsense channels is one area where it’s really easy to go overboard with stats. You can set up URL channels to compare how one website is doing to another. You can also set up sub channels for each URL. If you wanted to you do something channels like this:

• domain1.com - 728 banner
• domain1.com - 336 block
• domain1.com - text link
• domain2.com - 728 banner
• domain2.com - image banner
• domain2.com - 336 block
• domain3.com - 300 block

While this is great for testing and knowing who clicks where and why, it makes your reporting a little wonky. Your total number will always be correct but when you look at your reports with a channel break down things will get displayed multiple times and not add up to correct total. Makes things pretty confusing, so decide if you really need/want that level of reporting detail. TIP: At the very least you want to know what URL is generating the income so be sure to enter distinct URL channels.

Site Design and Integration

Once you know you are going to put adsense on your website you’re going to have to consider where to put it. If this is new site it’s easier, if it’s an existing site it’s more difficult. While there are some people who will be able to do it, in most cases I’d say if you just slap the adsense code in, you’ll end up with a frankensite monster (props to Tedster of WMW for the buzzword). While every website is different, Google has published some heat maps showing the optimal locations. No surprise that the best spots are middle of the page and left hand side. Now I’ve done really well by placing it on the right, but you should know why you’re doing it that way before hand, and be prepared to change it if it doesn’t work out.

Google has also has published a list of the highest performing ad sizes:

• 336×280 large rectangle
• 300×250 inline rectangle
• 160×600 wide skyscraper

From the sites that I run, I do really well with the 336 rectangle and 160 skyscraper. My next best performing ad size is the 728 leaderboard, I don’t really use the 300 inline rectangle too often. So really it depends on how well you integrate these into your site. Placement can have a dramatic effect on performance. TIP: When working on a new site or new layout you may want to give each location it’s own channel for a little while until you understand the users behavior.

Another ‘trick’ that can increase your CTR is by blending your adsense into your body copy. For example if your body copy is black, remove the adsense border and make the title, text, and URL black.TIP: Try changing all of your page hyperlinks to a high contrast color (like dark red or a bold blue) then change the adsense title to the same color.

The one area where I’ve found blended ads don’t perform as well is forums, especially ones with a high volume of repeat members. Regular visitors develop banner blindness pretty quickly. One ‘trick’ to keep the ads from being ignored is to randomize the color and even the placement. As with any of the decisions about location, placement and color it’s a trade off. How much do you emphasize the ads without annoying your visitors. Remember it’s better to have a 1% CTR with 500 regular visitors as opposed to a 5% CTR with 50 visitors. TIP: For forums try placing the adsense ads directly above or below the the first forum thread.

Using Images

One of the latest ’secrets’ to make the rounds is using images placed directly above or below an adsense leaderboard. This has been used for a while but came out in a digital point forum thread where a member talked about quadrupling their CTR. Basically you set up the adsense code in a table with four images that line up directly with the ads. Whether or not this is deceptive is fuzzy and very subjective. Obviously four blinking arrows would be ‘enticing people to click’ and be against the adsense TOS. However placing pictures of 4 laptops over laptops ads isn’t, so use your best judgment here and look at it from the advertiser or Google’s perspective. If you have a question as to your implementation being ‘over the line’ write to adsense and ask them to take a look.

As far as using the images, I’ve done it and can tell you it definitely works. You get the best results when the images ‘complete the story the ads are telling’. For example if you have ads about apple pies, use pictures of freshly baked apple pies, instead of granny smith, Macintosh, pink lady, and braeburn apples.TIP: Don’t limit yourself to using images only on that size ad unit, it works just as well with the other sizes, like the 336 rectangle.

Added:
I got a little criticizm for this and rightly so, as I wasn’t specific as I could have been. Do not use very identifiable brand name or products for your images. Use generic non-specific stock images whenever possible and appropriate.

Multiple Ad Units

Another way to increase ad revenue is to use multiple ad units. According to Google’s TOS you are allowed to post up to three ad units per page. Similar to standard search results the highest paying ad units will be served first and the lowest being served last. If there is enough of an ad inventory, place all three ad units. However you should pay attention to the payouts. Current assumption is you get 60% of the revenue (on a $0.05 click you get $0.03). So if a click from the third ad unit is only paying between 3 to 5 cents you may want to omit it from your page. This is one are where giving your ad units channels does have value. If one ad unit is getting a higher percentage of click throughs you’ll want to make sure the highest paying ads are being served there. TIP:Use CSS positioning to get your highest paying ads serving in the location with the highest CTR.

Adsense in RSS

With the growth of blogs and RSS feeds you’re starting to see adsense included in the feeds now. IMHO this doesn’t work, and here’s why:

• You only get to place one ad unit.
• You have no control over finding the ’sweet spot’ for the ad unit.
• The ads are usually poorly targeted (this is getting better).
• People develop ‘banner blindness’.

I know people like being able to read full postings in their feed reader, and there are at least a dozen other reasons for full posts from pleasing your users to mobile offline computing, all of which are completely valid. However if your website depends on generating adsense revenue to survive, then bring them to the site and show them the ads there.

Affiliate Sites

Placing Adsense on affiliate sites is tricky. Are you giving up a $10, $20, or $30 sale for a $1 click? This is something you have to test on your own to figure out. If you aren’t converting now it’s definitely worth a try. I like to use adsense on my article pages. For example let’s say you had an affiliate website where you sold shoes. You’re going to need some related articles to ‘flesh out’ the site. Things like ‘getting a shoe shine’ or ‘finding a shoe repair shop’ these are excellent spots for adsense. While you won’t get rich, they will usually provide a small steady income and cover things like hosting costs.TIP: If you find you have pages getting more than 50 clicks per month add more pages about this topic, and link the pages together. Mine you logs for the search terms used.

PPC Arbitrage

This is a dicey subject so I’m going to steer clear of precise examples. Basically you bid on low volume uber niche terms at a very low cost. You set up landing page that contains high payout ads for the related general topic. You are looking for terms with a large gap between the price you are bidding on adwords and the price you are getting on Adsense. If you pay $0.10 a click and get $1.00 a click you make $0.90 each click. To get your adsense ad approved you will need to ‘add some value’ along the way. You can make a killing or get taken to the cleaners with this one, so make sure you know what you are doing before you try it.

Have any other adsense tips, tricks or secrets? Drop me an email and let me know, I’ll give you credit.

Added
728 leaderboard works very well if it is just above the end of the
“above the fold” area on what would be considered your viewers average
resolution/browser window size if there are few other enticing links
above the fold. Makes for an interesting layout but if you’re building
a site for AdSense it may be worth it. We consistently receive very
high CTRs from doing this.

Try to build sites that allow you to quickly try any and all of
those locations outlined in the heatmap guide or at least allow you a
wide degree of freedom to easily change ad/content locations.
via:nuevojefe

The Great Google Adsense Side Effect

By Rich Ord 

The Internet is now built for Adsense

If the Internet consisted of real brick and mortar buildings there would be a construction boom going on right now like the world has never seen. The Internet is not in a recession or on the road to a depression, rather it is experiencing an economic and social explosion of activity.

The reason ... Google Adsense.

Most people think of Google Adsense as being a game-changer for advertising, but what Google Adsense has also done is to create a huge incentive to build sites around topics to place Google Adwords on. Where this seems to work best is with gadgets. There is no topic left untouched by the Adsense content builders, but gadgets are at the heart of this new Internet construction boom. 

The Gadget Content Explosion...

On November 5th, 2007 Google announced the name of its Google phone project ...Android.

Name announcements are where it all starts because domaining is at the heart of SEO which is important to getting free traffic which is critical to new Internet projects getting Adsense funding. Literally, hundreds of domains have been registered since this announcement with the Android name and other variations that mean the same. 

A few examples ....

helloandroid.com 
justanotherandroidblog.com
phandroid.com

All of those domains now rank in the top ten results when searching for "android blog" in Google!

Trademark Infringement? Nope! 

A more schooled business person might wonder about all of this trademark infringement and think cease and desist letters will be flying to all of these new sites. Think again my old school friend! The legal community may not be aware, but trademarking is no longer enforced by a large army of corporations on the Internet. The reason is because companies have finally figured out that Internet content centered around their brands is rather GOOD for their brands! 

The majority of the content I am talking about is of the good kind where these newly constructed websites become the hub for discussion, commenting, reviewing, supporting and in general getting down to the nitty-gritty of every new gadget (or every new anything) introduced to the world.  Google and the other search engines then crawl this content and in effect help turn these new web construction sites into thriving neighborhood hangouts where thousands of real people actually go. 

These people become the first drivers of new products and are the early adopters who will wait in line to buy. An example of this is the recently launched Blackberry Storm available for Verizon customers. Lines were out the door at Verizon stores and most locations sold out. The word of mouth on this product spawned from thousands of websites, many of which were created to focus exclusively on the Blackberry Storm. 

Search Google for "blackberry storm forum" (without quotations) and you will see these sites in the top listings:

blackberrystormforum.com
everythingberry.com
storm-blackberry.com (with Yahoo ads)

These sites were produced to build a community that clicks Adwords ads. They were created because of the Adsense program, but they still do serve a greater good in my opinion, which is to be an independent source of information and Q&A. 

The two most common types of sites created for Adsense are blogs and forums. Others include software downloads, niche directories and news headline type sites. Over time, domains with the product name followed by generic words that are typically searched for such as ...  forum, forums, blog, video and news tend to rise to the top of search results. Website builders around the world know this and build accordingly. 

Is the content of bad quality? 

Yes and no. There are of course many spammy scraper sites that steal content from others and then automatically update the sites. However, those are not the ones usually showing up in the top search results. The site winning the search result wars for "android blog", for instance, isgoogleandroidblog. blogspot.com which is the number one result. The site appears to be a real hub for Google Android content and reader comments and also contains a column of Google Adwords ads! 

Search for any popular gadget and you will see quality blogs, forums and news sites in top results that were created to cash in from Google Asense:

>> "Amazon Kindle blog" - amazonkindleblog.com
>> "iPhone news" - iphonestalk.com, iphonealley.com, iphone-ipod.org
>> "Wii blog" - wiiblog.net, wiispin.com (both created for Adsense)

The How-To...

1. Follow the announcements on the tech news gadget sites and grab domains as soon as names are announced.

2. Build a blog or forum ASAP on the topic. It is important to build first so that Google crawls you first.

3. Create quality content written by you or experts (your friends :). It is important to not plagorize other content on the Internet. Be distinct with your voice by using humor or technical savvyness. Do not use paid writers that write $20 articles unless you know they write quality. Quality is king, even when building for Adsense!

4. Participate in related forums and comment on blogs and news articles that relate to your topic. Be real though, do not be a comment spammer. This will get your site linked so that Google crawls it.

5. Update your site a couple times a day and make your content unique.

What Actually You Got to Know Before Setting Up Adwords A/C

Before we embark on the actual workings of Google AdWords I shall tell you in

brief what affiliate programs are and what will be your role in this setup as an affiliate.

An affiliate or reseller, is an independent party that promotes products and services of an advertiser in exchange for a commission on leads or sales. An affiliate displays an advertiser's ads, text links, or product links on their web site, in e-mail campaigns, newsletters, blogs or in search listings. The affiliate is paid a commission by the respective advertiser when a visitor takes a specific action such as filling out a form, subscribing to a service (both lead examples) or making a purchase (a sale).

YOUR ROLE:

1. Entire networks like Amazon , Commission Junction , Clickbank , eBay and Linkshare have been built solely to administer online merchants' affiliate marketing programs on the internet. They are third-party organisations that brings together both merchants and affiliates (you). They track and report on every ad or placement in their network, send monthly payments to affiliates, and provide services and tools that help merchants and affiliates optimize their performance. These are the places you can search for and manage your affiliate programs.

Or visit http://www.lifetimecommissions.com/directories.shtml for a large directory of affiliate

programs. Registrations with these web sites are easy and simple. You will have to fill in the blanks

www.i-fact.blogspot.com

providing basic inputs such as your complete name, full address where you would want your

cheques delivered, contact number, email ID etc. You can also sign up with Google AdSense.

You will be given a script with your tracking code in it by all the companies you have registred

with, which you or any web designer can insert in prominent places of each web page on your web site.

2. When you register with a company as an affiliate through any of the networks mentioned above, your affiliate company will provide you a unique URL (The address/location of a webpage or file on the Internet, also called Uniform Resource Locator or URL) to use as your ad's destination URL (the landing page or that page where the surfer is taken after he/she clicks the link you create and park at Google.com). One important thing to remember is that there is stiff competition amongst affiliate advertisers.

You can optionally use blogs , e-mails or newsletters for your promotional work, although these

might not be as effective. Or, another way would be is to build your own website to direct Google

surfers to your website containing promotional links of your affiliate companies.

3. You will receive a free readymade website along with this kit which has over 100 pages of quality content. If you would like to use this website you will be required to buy web space and a domain name. If you do not want to invest in your own domain name and web hosting there are several companies online who offer both for free. Visit www.freewebservices.net for free web space, domain name and web content. Another option would be to use Google Sites.(Google Sites is a free tool that lets you create web pages right in your browser and publish them to the web with one click. There's no software to download and no web designer to hire. The pages you create are hosted on Google servers and are available at http://www.sites.google.com/site/yoursitename for the world to see.).

4. You will need quality content for your site. If you have decided on the content for your web site, good. If not, and you are in need of more content for your web site, visit http://www.freesticky.com/ stickyweb/ . Here you'll find a huge database of free content for your web site. Choose content wisely, as a web site with poor content will not attract many visitors.

5. Once your web site is ready you will have to register with Google AdWords.  Registration with AdWords is easy and simple. You will have to fill in the blanks providing basic inputs such as your complete name, full address where you wouldwant your cheques delivered, contact number, email ID etc. You will have to direct your Google ads to your web site. Once you get visitors to your web site who click on the banners or text links of the various companies you have signed up with, you begin earning.

6. Visit http://www.startranking.com/ or http://www.freewebsubmission.com/ to submit your web site to all major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. for free. You'll need to do this once a month for your web site to remain with these search engines.

Optionally download " Web CEO ". This is a search engine software program that submits web sites to search engines worldwide, and tracks search engine rankings. Take note, multiple submissions of the same URL to some search engines could be considered spamming and therefore may ban you from being listed.

7. Visit http://www.bruceclay.com/ or http://www.seocompany.ca/ for free search engine

optimization (SEO) tools. It is imperative to use these tools to get your web site high rankings in

search engines so that you get a high number of visitors to your web site. Optionally download " Web CEO ". It is a search engine software program that optimizes web

pages.

8. Regularly check your online accounts page provided by Google and all the companies you are

promoting to see how much money you are making. Companies pays cheques on a monthly/fortnightly.

9. Finally, you will have to increase the volume of your web site and update it from time to time

depending on your content. Now, having briefed you about affiliate programs and on what all you need to do as an affiliate let's get started with Google AdWords.

Google AdWords!

Click the links below to get the complete picture about Google AdWords. You will require

Macromedia® Flash to view some presentations. How much time it takes for them to load will

depend on your internet connection speed. So please be patient if you do not have a

broadband connection.

1. Lets go to the AdWords Learning Center.

AdWords Learning Center

2.A look at the AdWords Demos and Guides

AdWords Demos and Guides

3. A visit to the AdWords Help Center.

AdWords Help Center

Click here to go to the Google Adwords web page.

I wish you all the best and I'll leave you with that. The rest is up to you. Good luck!

Copyright © 2008 by www.i-fact.blogspot.com. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

"What Google Never Told You About Adsense"

Q. Why have you decided to write a blog about Google's Adsense program where you detail your secrets to making large commissions-without this hurting your own business at the same time?

A. When I realized how much money I was leaving on the table, I began sharing my tips with my friends. When their Adsense took-off like wildfire, they suggested that I compile my tips together and put them in blog form. They believed it was an investment that smart site owners would want to make, and they have been proven correct! The blog really has little to do with my existing business model, which is producing quality content for our visitors. The only thing that has "hurt" my business is that due to the popularity of my blog, I don't have as much time to work on my other sites. But that's a good problem to have.

Q. Is there a general group that can benefit from Google’s Adsense more than others or is this wide open to everyone?

A. It's wide open to anyone with a web site. There are very few sites that would not benefit from placing Adsense into the mix. Whether someone has a well-established site, or if they are new to web publishing, my tips are good for everyone. If someone is starting a new site today, I believe it is better to get Adsense "right" from the beginning. Better to starter sooner than later!

Q. What makes the information you provide in your Adsense Blog different than any other Adsense Blog's out there?

A. Truthfully, I haven't READ the other Adsense blogs on the web because I didn't want to be influenced by their content. I wanted to take my own discoveries and show people how to apply them. All I know is the testimonies that are coming in for my Blog confirm that this information is valuable and much-needed.

Q. Can you tell anyone reading this how as little as 5 & 10 cents per click can make Adsense mount up into big money?

A. It's all about volume! To coin a phrase of "nickle and diming" someone to death. Isn't that what the banks do with their interest plans? And THEY are making out like bandits!

The truth is that every click adds up. Every visitor to your site is another opportunity to generate revenue.

Q. How many sites running Adsense does one need to begin to see Adsense commissions adding up?

A.It depends on what your definition of "adding up" is. Some people display as few as 250 page impressions/day. But If they are making $1/day, why not increase it to $2, $3 or more each day? Of course, that number only increases in scale as the number of impressions increases.

Q. Is to best to create several Adsense sites on various topics or should you focus on one big content site with a main topic?

A. This is a matter of personal preference. I always tell people to build sites that they are excited about. Some people use Traffic Equalizer or other programs designed to build instant mega-sites. Those sites will come and go. But people who build a site centered around their interest or passion will be building an annuity that can pay off for many years to come. I have many sites, but I am excited about many things! For me, having several sites has been effective. However, my friend Tim Carter (AsktheBuilder.com) does one thing, and he EXCELS at it. He has no reason to distract his attention from his main business model.

Q. Do you recommend competing in major competitive keyword markets or can less competitive smaller niches bring home the Adsense commissions too?

A. Google doesn't share all their secrets, and some people suspect that larger sites get preferential treatment in terms of the ads they display and the commissions they are paid. However, I think the playing field is fairly level, so that even the "little guy" has a chance at striking it big.

Q. What is a good approach to using website content that can be most profitable with Google Adsense?

A. Since Google uses a bidding process to determine value of keywords, there are certainly keywords that pay significantly more than others. For example, sites whose content revolves around the Vioxx controversy may display ads with a substantial value. I know these keywords were bid as high as $50 at one time. More typical keywords, such as "online chat" will pay only pennies. Note that it is against Google's terms of service to build pages just to display Adsense. However, Google is a supporter of quality content. So if you can build useful content that would pull high-paying keywords, I believe that is very acceptable.

My Blog lists an indispensable tool that keeps track of high-paying keywords. It details thousands of keywords ranked by price, google searches and more. I highly recommend that people get their hands on it.

Q. What are some of the ways website owners can acquire targeted content perfectly suited for Google Adsense pages?

A. Many site owners are syndicating content in order to get greater exposure. With the rise of the blog, RSS feeds are freely available from hundreds of sites. Exploring options for displaying other site's feeds on your site is a great way to build content. Yahoo makes a variety of their news feeds available at: http://news.yahoo.com/rss This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Q. What kind of traffic does it take to start seeing money with the Adsense program?

A. Any money? Even if you have 100 impressions/day, you are likely to get SOME clicks. Sure, it's pocket change, but it is a start. However, once you start displaying 1000 impressions daily, you will be encouraged to build more quality content so that you have more pages to displayAdsense code.

Q. What is are the successful signs to be aware of to know if you are on the right steps to building a successful Adsense marketing plan?

A. Increased CPM, CTR and revenue are the true signs of success. If your stats don't say it, it's not happening.

Q. Is it hard to get accepted by Google's Adsense program?

A. I rarely hear of sites getting rejected. Their terms are very simple and straightforward. They want content sites that aren't poorly designed. They have a few other stipulations related to adult sites, gambling, alcohol, etc, but that doesn't concern the vast majority of web masters.

Q. Can the small marketer as well as more advanced marketers really do well with the Google Adsense program?

A. Absolutely. And Google loves the small marketer. After all , those nickels and dimes add up. :-)

Q. Could you reveal your first 90 days AdSense earnings?

A. As I said before, the beginnings were difficult. There were days in which I

earned just $0.50, $1.62 and even $5, but as I got to know the program more

and combining the TopPayingWords.com with the content, there were days that

I made more than $200. More and more I started to realize that keywords

were essential to increasing revenues. As I started understanding the use of

keywords and developed a keyword list rank, revenues started increasing

incredibly.

AdSense Information Websites and Tutorials

• AssociatePrograms.com - AdSense Forum
  
• Digital Point - AdSense Forum
  
• Google AdSense Charts & Graphs
  
• Google AdSense Preview Tool
  
• Google AdSense Sandbox Tool
  
• GoogleRankings.com
  
• How to Boost Your AdSense Revenue
  
• JenSense - Making Sense of Contextual Advertising
  
• Search Engine Forums - Contextual Advertising Forums
  
• Search Engine Watch - AdSense Forum
  
• V7N Web Development Community - Google Forum
  
• Web Pro World - AdSense Forum
  
• Webmaster World - AdSense Forum
  
• Googlest
  

Further AdSense Resources

Whether you have one website or 100, RSS feeds or no, blogs or no, below is a list of great tools, software, scripts, and other resources that can help you win in your Google AdSense campaign.

Tools and Scripts

These are tools that would help you in a variety of areas such as seeing what ads appear for specific keywords, tracking and analyzing clickthroughs and revenue, scripts and much more.

AdSense Preview tool from Google - Preview your AdSense Ads

AdSense Desktop - Tool for analyzing Google AdSense statistics

AdSenseLog - Another tool for analyzing AdSense stats

AdSenseCharts - Chart generator for your statistics

Revenue Checker for Google AdSense - Checks and monitors revenue

Google AdSense Sandbox Tool - shows what Ads would appear for specific keywords or content

AdSense Web Tool - similar to the one above

AdSense Tracker - Statistical Analysis and tracking

AdSense Monitor - AdSense tracking script

SysSense - A utility that puts your AdSense information in the Windows system tray

AdSense Notifier - Places AdSense information in a status bar

AdSense™ Tracker - Another good tracking tool 

Google AdSense Tracking Script - Another tracking script

AdSenseMasterFlex 2.0 - Script

asRep: Google AdSense tracking script 

 

Part 3: Summary and Additional Resources

AdSense Do’s and Don’ts

Now that you know what AdSense is all about, we can offer the following do’s and don’ts – which more or less summarizes everything we’ve said so far.

Do’s

>The first rule of using AdSense is to follow their terms of service. Google has exceptional monitoring ability, and if they find any violation of their TOS, your account will be suspended, rendering all your efforts moot.

>Consider having a number of informative pages about varying topics but with a consistent theme for your website. That way you will have more ads to choose from and can possibly maximize your CTR.

>Use keywords to your advantage. Higher paying keywords will usually but not always yield more rewards. Think relevance. Also use variations of keywords for added advantage.

>Provide unique information on your web pages. The more specific the content of your website is, the more targeted your ads will be, and the more effective. Always focus on providing good quality information!

>Experiment with various ad formats on your web page and choose those that suite your website. You can choose to display ads with different formats on one page.

>Position your ad block in such a way that the ad is visible and yet it does not put off the readers. Ideally, place your ad in the top section of your webpage which can be viewed without scrolling down.

>Use the Google AdSense preview toolbar to your advantage and see how the ads will appear on your website. Get a hands-on feel of how the visitor to your website will view your web page.

>Use Google channels and other external tracking software to evaluate your performance on a routine basis.

Don’ts

Do not resort to fraudulent or deceptive means for generating clicks on the ads that are on your page. Some of the methods that are prohibited by Google AdSense are:

• Automated clicking programs

• Repeated manual clicks

• Using robots to generate clicks

• Clicking your own ads

• Tricking your visitors into clicking on your ads by using fraudulent means

Don’t have confusing layers of content. Content on your web page should not hide the ad text and URL. At the same time, it is advisable that you use same font type, size and color (background and font) for both the ads and the content on your web pages so that your ad does not announce itself as an outside ad. Ideally, your ad should look and feel like a part of your website.

Don’t have broken links on your site. Your website should not contain any broken links and should be easily navigable. Also, the content on your web pages should be informative, of high quality and the ads should be relevant to the content.

Don’t have old or illegal information on your site. Be careful about outdated information, plagiarized text and obscene or offensive material. Avoid using any of these on your web pages.

Two More AdSense Opportunities: RSS and Blogs

Adding Google Ads to your RSS feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) has gained huge popularity on the Internet. RSS is an XML document format that organizes and stores news-like content from various sources into one source. Think of it like a newswire service, the kind of stuff that scrolls along the bottom of cable channels. A large percentage of the “news” items you find on any website that is not a major news portal got there through an RSS feed.

Google has introduced a specific program known as AdSense for RSS. You can join this program now and start making money with it. RSS offers a variety of interesting content options that most websites themselves can’t match.

Google AdSense for feeds has its own set of policies. These can be accessed at:

http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=20134 Like the AdSense program, you must follow all guidelines in order to be accepted for the AdSense for feeds program.

Placing AdSense ads on your Blogs

Blogs are similar to RSS feeds in concept except they usually have one author rather than an aggregate of sources of the material they contain. Blogs (short for Web logs) are simple webpages where you can write articles and other content on a variety of topics, and both the famous and the unknown use these online diaries to share their thoughts, post pictures, and so on. The public can view this content and even comment on it in most cases.

Due to the considerable amount – and unlimited range – of content on Blogs, it may make sense to place AdSense ads on them. In fact, it is much easier to generate revenue from Blogs as compared to other web pages, at least in theory.

• First, blogs are full of content, most of which is original most of the time. The content may not be “good” from a human reader perspective but it is usually “good” according to Google’s scans. Thus, getting approved by Google AdSense may be easier.

• The content presented on the blog, in many cases, is quite diverse which, unlike a website that needs to be “about something” can be excused by the “everything and nothing” nature of most blogs. Consequently, the possibility of Google finding targeted ads that are relevant may increase.

• Google AdSense works only with those websites that are already indexed by Google. Blogs get indexed far more easily than regular webpages. Some blogs get indexed in as few as two to three days of submission. Thus, the chances of getting approved by Google AdSense increases.

• Blogs can be created at practically no cost – much cheaper than commercial websites.

Summary

There are no “magic bullets” or “get rich quick” schemes that work. As an experienced Web marketer or publisher, you already know that. But there are some ways to make really significant “passive” money on the Internet, and especially with Internet advertising. Of these, one of the best, and most legitimate, is Google AdSense, which you now know all about.

When you’re ready to get started with your AdSense program, the preceding information, combined with the following additional resources, will help you make the most of it!

Part 2: The 5-Step Plan to Success

Once you’re accepted, you want to maximize the opportunity. In this section, we look at some of the most effective strategies for generating optimum revenue from the Google AdSense program.

Step 1 - Formatting Ad Blocks:

You can let Google decide for you the type of ads that will be displayed on your webpage, but as the website publisher, you may be in a better position to decide what ads suit the content of your website and how you would like them displayed. To the extent possible, whether chosen by Google or you, make the ads seem like part of the site itself.

Most internet marketing experts believe that the ads on your website have a high probability of getting clicked if they blend in with the rest of the content of your web page. Factors such as color scheme, font size and type, and the appearance of your ad should match your web page. Borders are optional and we think often you should opt out – why put a box around the ad that says “Hi! I’m an ad!”?

Also, regardless of other design choices, text links should be blue. Why are text links blue? For the same reason Henry Ford said of the Model-T “They can have any color they want so long as it’s black.” They just are.

Though we think text ads are generally better than graphic ads, also known as image ads, Google does offer them with the program.

Actually, you don’t need to struggle much with whether graphic ads or text will be better on your pages, as Google’s technology will suggest whether an image ad or a text ad will be more suitable and which will earn you maximum revenues (since you earn part of they earn, they have motives to get this mix right).

However, it remains totally up to you whether you wish to run image ads or text-based ads. You can select only image ads, or text ads or a combination of both these formats on your entire AdSense account or on one page at a time based on your discretion.

Step 2 - Ad Placement:

“Location, location, location.” It is true in real estate and true in advertising, including web advertising. Since the “location” of the user is your site already, the “location” of the ad in this context means on which pages, where on the pages, and so on. As noted, the less an ad looks like an ad, the more effective it is likely to be.

Then there are general design and usability factors to consider.

If your webpage is cluttered and you can’t dispense with any content, you may want to break it down further into sections or more pages to provide easier reading. This also gives you the potential benefit of placing additional ads.

As noted, we generally recommend text-based ads. However, text-dense sites may actually do better with image ads. If your site has very few graphics, you may want to balance it out by putting image-based ads. In the monotony of a lot of dense written information, image-based ads and graphics provide what’s called visual relief. This can also prompt clicks.

Where should you put the ads? The chances of your ad getting noticed by the visitors to your site increases greatly if you place ads as close to the top of your webpage as possible.

If you choose to place so-called ‘skyscraper’ ads – in magazines these would be called columns – on the sidebars of your webpage, it would be wise to place them on the right side of your principal content areas. The reason for this is the visitor to your page (in most languages) will read from left to right, he or she will chance upon the ad ultimately, if not consciously then at least out of habit. Their eyes will go there. From the left, they can visually “skip” the ad when they start reading next to it.

Your ads should be placed in such a way that it matches the links to other websites on your site. If you already have a links section on your site, put the AdSense links in that section or list. This is not dishonest – if it were Google would not allow it.

Obviously if you have a “most popular” area on your website, such as a page that is updated daily with some kind of material that people bookmark to revisit often, place your ad(s) there instead of somewhere else that may get less traffic. For many websites the home page is not actually the most accessed area. If you don’t know what the traffic pattern is on your sites, it’s easy to find out – ask your hosting provider about usage logs.

One more thing: While some affiliate marketing programs encourage host sites to encourage clicks directly, it is not appropriate to expressly ask your readers to click on the ads served by the Google programs. Not only is it unprofessional and arguably unethical, it also annoys people and moreover Google AdSense actually prohibits any such activity. You can neither directly solicit clicks nor can you do anything considered deceptive to encourage clicks.

In conclusion, the emphasis is always on quality of content on your web pages.

Good and interesting content makes your site better, more acceptable to Google, more likely to win with AdSense, and therefore more profitable for you!

Step 3 - Researching Keywords:

After you are done choosing the right format and location for your AdSense ads, don’t sit back and wait for the money to roll in just yet. The next important step is to choose the right keywords for your web pages. These will influence both who visits your site, and how AdSense assigns ads to you.

The number one mistake most website publishers make is to constantly choose high-paying (i.e. expensive!) keywords assuming that it will yield them more income. While it is tempting to choose such keywords to get higher rankings on search engines, be prudent when it comes to selecting the right keywords that go with the AdSense ads that are to be displayed.. Remember the goal here is clicks, not SEO rankings. This is a case where you often do not get what you pay for.

Consider this scenario. Your webpage talks about wine tasting courses. You review search phrases and keywords with “wine” in it and you find “wine rack” is in the top three and available, so you buy it. The corresponding ads also focus on buying wine racks online, wine storage and building your own wine racks. After a week when you check on the statistics of your webpage and AdSense account, you see that you are losing visitors and your income is dipping! The keyword selection is faulty in this case even though it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Why? The visitors to your webpage were actually looking for wine racks and have landed on your webpage talking about wine tasting courses instead. The wine course types want to sign up for the courses, maybe buy a book on wine, or a wine of the month club. They don’t want to build a wine rack. Think strategically, not tactically.

Just because a keyword is high paying and is seemingly related, does not mean it is totally relevant and you need something relevant. Relevance is more important than value! In the above case, you could have – and should have – chosen wine tasting tour, wine tasting party, wine tasting event, wine tasting class, wine tasting school, course tasting wine and so on. You are interested in relevance more than popularity. Tasting is a match. Racks are not.

Let’s look at some of the ways in which you can research your keywords for AdSense ads:

• You can check out the popularity of various keywords if you already have an account with Google AdWords. This way you will get an idea of the popularity of various keywords as well as the cost and returns that entail.

• Google AdWords also has a tool known as the AdWords Keywords Tool which can sometimes help you search for alternate keywords and variations.

• Another tool known as Keyword Analyzer can generate numerous key phrases that are typed by Internet users in different search engines.

• Consider getting a WordTracker account. They have an excellent tool that suggests top 1,000 most popular keywords. This tool can also help you create a list of relevant keywords for your webpage. You can learn a lot from a small investment here.

• Another great idea is to search for top 100 keywords on 7search which will give you an idea of high-paying keywords.

Your clickthrough rate will be boosted tremendously by including the right keywords in your web copy, of course. Keywords occurring in your ads are usually highlighted on the search engine results page. This also helps in drawing additional attention to your ad.

The URL of your webpage is also an integral part of achieving success on Google AdSense program, as it is on the Web generally. Current wisdom holds that the keywords in the URL are equally if not more important than the ones featured in the actual webpage content or in metatags. If you change your ordinary URL to a keyword rich URL relevant to your market, it is possible to raise your CTR as much as 200% or more without doing anything else.

Obvious domain names with the keywords that you want might be expensive to purchase from a broker, but you can also buy used domain names that are no longer active, often for just a few dollars per year.

Step 4 - Developing Content:

Let’s assume you have good ads, good placement, and good traffic.

This step is all about how to tweak your pre-existing content to support the most effective profitability from your new AdSense program.

One major mistake many web publishers make now is to lard up their pages with a bazillion keywords for so-called “search engine optimization.” Do not fall into that trap and clutter your webpage with high-profile buzzwords that do not contribute to the value of your webpage or the experience of your intended audience. Remember, we’re focused here on clicks, which means bringing relevant readers to your site and giving them a good experience that puts them in an inquisitive or buying frame of mind.

As a general rule, all content shifts should make some kind of sense. You may well be able to make connections between articles on sports, to articles on sports medicine, to articles on herbal supplements which feature ads for those products. On the other, a web page on bicycles should not have ads for other kinds of pumps, if you know what we mean.

Before you decide to add that magic Google AdSense code on any page of your website, you should have dealt with the following two important steps:

• High quality textual content

Ensure that your web pages have enough textual content so that the AdSense program can set up ads that are relevant to the content on your pages. If you have very little content, it will be difficult for Google to determine the focus of your page and end up displaying only public service ads that do not earn any revenue.

• Use different page titles for different pages

Have unique page titles based on the specific content of each page. Avoid generic or vague page titles such as ‘Untitled Document’ or ‘Page 1’. Be crisp and precise and avoid using long phrases and difficult words in the page titles. If your page has a very long title, it might get banned from some search engines, so be pithy.

Step 5 - Tracking and Reports:

Tracking the results of your marketing efforts can help you focus your efforts and make adjustments to win.

Google offers a great free tracking feature known as ‘Channels’. You can use these channels to track ads on specific URLs or to categorize ads based on their formats, keywords, location on web page and so on.

You can choose from two channel types offered by Google.

URL Channels

This will help you track the performance of your web pages without altering your ad code. All you need to do to track your performance is to enter a full or partial URL in the channel and you’re done. A full page URL will track the performance of the specific page having that address. If you want to track all the pages on a specific domain, you need to enter a top-level domain name.

Custom Channels

Custom channels are used to track the performance of your webpage based on the criteria that you specify. You can choose what specific factor you would like to track and customize the channel according to your requirements.

As the name suggests, custom channels are very flexible, and if you have ever used any kind of data reporting tool you will find setting them up easy and logical. You can have up to 50 custom channels!

You can compare the performance of different ad formats and the relevancy of ads. You can also compare how ads on one page are performing when compared with ads on other pages. You can do so by assigning each group of pages to a specific channel and eventually comparing results in your customized channel reports. You can also see where your clicks are coming from by assigning a channel to each of your separate pages. Also, it is a good idea to name your channel in such a way that it is easy to identify different channels in reports, especially if you are using a dozen or more.

Server Logs

In addition to the ‘channel’ program offered by Google to track your AdSense ads on your web pages, you can also use any of the various high quality external AdSense tracking software packages to track your performance in greater detail (except actual revenues – you need to get that from Google). One major advantage of such software is that it runs locally, which enables you to access specific information that Google doesn’t track. Be aware that none of these third-party software solutions are “endorsed” by Google currently but most of them guarantee to operate within AdSense guidelines. Just make sure they do, because you don’t want to lose your account status over a technical violation by a third party.

Some of the information you can obtain by using tracking software:

• Referring website of all your visitors

• The type of web browser they are using

• Where the actual ad-clickers are coming from

• Search keywords typed in by the visitors to your website that eventually brought them to you

You should use a combination of Google channels and a reliable AdSense tracking program so as to get comprehensive information about your AdSense account.