So, you’ve got your blog / website, you’ve signed up for adsense, and you’re all ready to make money - but you keep getting weird, off-topic ads.
How Google Adsense Works
When you place adsense ads on your site, an automated software robot (called ‘mediapartners’) usually comes to look at the content of your new page within a few minutes. This content is then run through a rather complex algorithm. The algorithm looks at things like:-
* The textual content of your page.
* Keyword Density (ie, what words and phrases appear regularly on your page)
* What sites your page links to.
* Your pages header, and keywords in the url.
Once that’s been done, adsense tries to work out what your page is about, and then, according to Michael, it aims to display the ads that will maximise your income by a combination of these two factors:-
1. Presenting ads that are contextually relevant to the content of your page, and therefore likely to be clicked (called a high click through ratio, or CTR).
2. Presenting ads with the highest possible return per click (called effective Cost Per 1000 impressions, or eCPM).
When Adsense Gets it Wrong
Sometimes, however, adsense seems to get the whole show wrong. As an example, I recently wrote a story about getting pages out of Google’s supplemental index, in which I talked about ‘infant pages’.
Next time I looked, I had ads on that page about colic and baby products.
Does this mean that Google thinks my page is about infants? NO - the adsense robot is a completely seperate entity to the google indexing robot - and I don’t think it works quite as hard at times to work out the real context of a page.
So, probably what has happened is that the adsense robot has checked my whole page and figured out that serving ads for the keyword ‘infant’ would be great, because it is a lucrative keyword.
What’s a lucrative keyword? Well it’s like this - advertisers compete for keywords - in a kind of automated auction - so if I’m wanting to sell acme widgets, and I know I make $1000 per widget, I’m likely to pay more for ads to appear on pages with the keyword ‘widget’ than someone who sells less profitable ajax brand widgets.
It seems that ‘infant’ is probably a lucrative keyword, and in a perfect world, I’d get really high earnings from having ads about infants on my page.
That’s really clever, in a way, but really, it’s quite obvious to me as a human being that the technical types on my site are probably quite unlikely to be looking for baby products, so my CTR (number of clicks per 100 ‘views’) is going to be quite poor.
Adsense is a computer algorithm, not a human, so it’s ocassionally going to make slip-ups - that’s a given.
So, to get more contextually relevant ads on that page, I can either remove the keyword that’s confusing adsense, or I can use a relatively new tool from Adsense - enter, stage right, a little thing called Adsense Section Targeting.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Top Adsense Affiliate Earner Tricks
Here are some useful tips and tricks that many a top Adsense affiliate earners use to keep their monthly Adsense income high.
i) Top Adsense affiliate earners will always remember to make heir ads look as much a part of their site as possible. Text ads that look like just another text link on a site tend to score big in clicks while colorful, attractive banners that scream "Advertisement" will get the least response in terms of folks clicking on them. This is the sort of information that the top Adsense affiliate earner never forgets.
ii) The top Adsense affiliate earner will tend to concentrate on constantly building up their traffic as the most effective way of increasing their Adsense earnings.
iii) Yet another top Adsense affiliate earner trick is to place an image, photograph or illustration right next to their Adsense ad. This tends to attract attention to it and the result is always many more clicks than before. Some smart top Adsense affiliate earners kill two birds with one stone by placing an attractive banner ad that has a nice large photograph on it, right next to their Adsense ads.
iv) The other thing that top Adsense affiliate earners do is to carefully study the Adsense ads that are common at their site and then generate content that is closely related.
Top 10 AdSense Don'ts
1. Commit Google Don'ts
The first thing to avoid is any of the Google Don'ts. Cloaking, keyword stuffing, and title stacking are all ways to get banned from Google searches. They're also ways to get banned from AdSense.
When you place AdSense ads on your site, your site is far more visible to Google and it's much more likely that your rule breaking will be caught.
2. Click on Your Own Ads
No matter how tempting, never ever click on your own ads. This is probably the easiest way to get your site suspended or banned. It's a form of click fraud, and Google is very good at catching this, even if you think you're hiding your tracks.
Don't let anyone who uses any computer in your home click on your ads, either. Make sure your significant others and children are aware of the rules, or you could jeopardize your standing with Google.
3. Hide Your Ads
It might be tempting to hide your ads by making them the same color as your background or camouflaging them on areas with busy background images. You do still get paid for pageviews, so invisible ads would still pay, right? Don't even try it. This violates Google's Terms of Service, and it's easy to get caught.
Don't stuff your ads far below the rest of the content, either. Clicks pay better than pageviews, so it's to your advantage to have your ads prominent. Try to make the ads look like they belong on your page.
4. Beg for Clicks
Don't hold ad-click contests, beg, or even give big hints that people should click on your ads. They can ban you if they catch you begging for clicks anywhere on the Web, including pages that are totally unrelated to your AdSense pages.
Google also forbids labeling your ads with language stronger than "sponsored links." This is really for everyone's benefit. Pages that beg for clicks are usually not great reads, and pity clicks don't help the advertisers.
Note: It's fine to have contests on your Web site that aren't related to ad clicking or other rule breaking, such as "best photo" contests.
5. Alter the Code
AdSense generates javascript code that you can copy-and-paste directly into the HTML of your Web page. If you need to change the color or size of your ads, generate new code from AdSense. Don't make changes to the code from your Web page editing program or tweak it by hand.
If you put AdSense in Blogger, Google will generate the code for you from within Blogger.
6. Use Robots to Click on Your Site
Never use any sort of automated tool to inflate your page views or click on your ads. This is click fraud of the highest order, and Google is very sophisticated at catching this. This is a trick that can easily get you banned.
Likewise, don't use human-powered schemes to pay for clicks, either. No trading clicks with other AdSense users, and no pay-for-clicking schemes. If advertisers wanted to pay people for clicking, they would have signed up for it themselves.
7. Tell People How Much You Earn Per Click
Google is very picky about how much you disclose about how AdSense works. They don't let you tell people how much you were paid per keyword, because this could jeopardize revenue from AdWords advertisers. Beware of anyone who offers to sell you this information.
8. Make Pages Specifically to Display Ads
Google says you can't make pages simply to hang ads, "whether or not the page content is relevant." Many Web sites, including About.com, make money from ads. Google itself makes most of its money from advertising. What makes the difference between ad sponsored content and content for the sake of ads?
When you develop your site, your first thought should be about creating content, not ads. Avoid writing empty sentences for the sake of generating keywords, and avoid lengthy copy-and-pastes just to make more pages. Every page you publish should have a content-driven purpose.
9. Make Content About Taboo Topics
Google has a strict list of content standards, and they don't accept AdSense on pages that are violating them. These include, among other things, sites that promote or sell:
* alcohol
* certain weapons
* firearms
* tobacco
* drugs
* designer knock-offs
This is a silly rule to violate, because AdSense is keyword generated, so it's amazingly easy for you to get caught. If you do have content that violates these rules, such as a beer-making supply store, they may be legitimate sites, but AdSense is not for you.
10. Cheat in Any Other Way
This isn't by any means a comprehensive list.
I'm sure there are many ways to game the system that Google hasn't found out about... yet. There always are. AdSense is constantly changing to find new ways to detect click fraud, and eventually you will be caught.
The best way to generate income through AdSense is to create good content that is well optimized for search engines and to promote your site through legitimate channels.
That sounds like a lot of work, because it is a lot of work. However, it's a strategy that won't get you banned.
The first thing to avoid is any of the Google Don'ts. Cloaking, keyword stuffing, and title stacking are all ways to get banned from Google searches. They're also ways to get banned from AdSense.
When you place AdSense ads on your site, your site is far more visible to Google and it's much more likely that your rule breaking will be caught.
2. Click on Your Own Ads
No matter how tempting, never ever click on your own ads. This is probably the easiest way to get your site suspended or banned. It's a form of click fraud, and Google is very good at catching this, even if you think you're hiding your tracks.
Don't let anyone who uses any computer in your home click on your ads, either. Make sure your significant others and children are aware of the rules, or you could jeopardize your standing with Google.
3. Hide Your Ads
It might be tempting to hide your ads by making them the same color as your background or camouflaging them on areas with busy background images. You do still get paid for pageviews, so invisible ads would still pay, right? Don't even try it. This violates Google's Terms of Service, and it's easy to get caught.
Don't stuff your ads far below the rest of the content, either. Clicks pay better than pageviews, so it's to your advantage to have your ads prominent. Try to make the ads look like they belong on your page.
4. Beg for Clicks
Don't hold ad-click contests, beg, or even give big hints that people should click on your ads. They can ban you if they catch you begging for clicks anywhere on the Web, including pages that are totally unrelated to your AdSense pages.
Google also forbids labeling your ads with language stronger than "sponsored links." This is really for everyone's benefit. Pages that beg for clicks are usually not great reads, and pity clicks don't help the advertisers.
Note: It's fine to have contests on your Web site that aren't related to ad clicking or other rule breaking, such as "best photo" contests.
5. Alter the Code
AdSense generates javascript code that you can copy-and-paste directly into the HTML of your Web page. If you need to change the color or size of your ads, generate new code from AdSense. Don't make changes to the code from your Web page editing program or tweak it by hand.
If you put AdSense in Blogger, Google will generate the code for you from within Blogger.
6. Use Robots to Click on Your Site
Never use any sort of automated tool to inflate your page views or click on your ads. This is click fraud of the highest order, and Google is very sophisticated at catching this. This is a trick that can easily get you banned.
Likewise, don't use human-powered schemes to pay for clicks, either. No trading clicks with other AdSense users, and no pay-for-clicking schemes. If advertisers wanted to pay people for clicking, they would have signed up for it themselves.
7. Tell People How Much You Earn Per Click
Google is very picky about how much you disclose about how AdSense works. They don't let you tell people how much you were paid per keyword, because this could jeopardize revenue from AdWords advertisers. Beware of anyone who offers to sell you this information.
8. Make Pages Specifically to Display Ads
Google says you can't make pages simply to hang ads, "whether or not the page content is relevant." Many Web sites, including About.com, make money from ads. Google itself makes most of its money from advertising. What makes the difference between ad sponsored content and content for the sake of ads?
When you develop your site, your first thought should be about creating content, not ads. Avoid writing empty sentences for the sake of generating keywords, and avoid lengthy copy-and-pastes just to make more pages. Every page you publish should have a content-driven purpose.
9. Make Content About Taboo Topics
Google has a strict list of content standards, and they don't accept AdSense on pages that are violating them. These include, among other things, sites that promote or sell:
* alcohol
* certain weapons
* firearms
* tobacco
* drugs
* designer knock-offs
This is a silly rule to violate, because AdSense is keyword generated, so it's amazingly easy for you to get caught. If you do have content that violates these rules, such as a beer-making supply store, they may be legitimate sites, but AdSense is not for you.
10. Cheat in Any Other Way
This isn't by any means a comprehensive list.
I'm sure there are many ways to game the system that Google hasn't found out about... yet. There always are. AdSense is constantly changing to find new ways to detect click fraud, and eventually you will be caught.
The best way to generate income through AdSense is to create good content that is well optimized for search engines and to promote your site through legitimate channels.
That sounds like a lot of work, because it is a lot of work. However, it's a strategy that won't get you banned.
Tips for earning per clicks (EPC)
If you ever feel that your ads clicks are undervalued, it probably is! Make sure there is no junk advertisers advertising on your website. ban them, chase them away from your Google Adsense block list so that it wont appears again at your site. what you want is SERIOUS advertisers that are willing to pay for good money in the trade of your traffics - not some other stupid MFA junk sites. Google Adsense Preview Tool comes very handy when you need to identify those MFA sites.
Another issues with EPC is that is your site content in the high-demand sectors? get a niche content to start up in your website but not too niche until there’s no related advertisers on your websites. i once knew a webmaster that had hard time getting his ads showed as his website is all about poems. if you are starting up your adsense website now, you better do something that relates to expensive keyterms.
Another issues with EPC is that is your site content in the high-demand sectors? get a niche content to start up in your website but not too niche until there’s no related advertisers on your websites. i once knew a webmaster that had hard time getting his ads showed as his website is all about poems. if you are starting up your adsense website now, you better do something that relates to expensive keyterms.
Tips for click thru rate (CTR)
- Rule #1: Blend Adsense ads into your writings.
- Sometimes, going against rule # helps, try to make the ads stand out from the rest sometimes work. (it really depends)
- Visitors generally view website from top left to bottom left of the screen, try put ads into that zone.
- Test with different colors in background, title, and borders. there was once change of background colors help me to increase my revenue for 50%.
- Dont overpush your visitors with too much ads, it might work worse and push your visitors to close the window instead.
- Placing image at the side of adsense helps … however this might be performed carefully as it might goes against adsense policy. make sure you dont go against the rules to avoid bans.
- Generally a 336 x 286 Large square ads works the best for me in term of CTR ..this is however, very very particular experience and it might not work the same on your websites.
Tips for ads impressions
Increasing ads impressions sometimes simply means increasing the website traffics. while there are lots of ways to generate more traffics for your website, i will put on some basics here:
- Rule #1: Do proper SEO, make sure you follow the basics and do not fool around with the title tags, anchor text, and remember to build up your site link popularity always.
- Get active in forums that related to your industry, speak politely, give helps, and refer your own websites to the others whenever appropriates.
- Utilise digg, deli.cio.us, reddit, technorati… engines to bring in more traffics.
- Word of mouth strategy, have your friends and family to help up in promoting your websites.
- Offline advertisement - radio ads, tv ads (if you got loads of cash), local classifies ..use them whenever its appropriate.
- Write and submit articles to article directories.
- Get your site to be more sticky, toolbar, softwares, newsletter, etc etc…make sure you can have as much return traffics as you can.
How Blogs Can Be An Excellent Promotional Tool
Blogs as an online promotional strategy if done right could save you huge dollars in reaching out to people. This is also a medium where you need have absolutely no dependence whatsoever on any professional help and you can do everything yourself. That is money saved right from the beginning.
So what is a blog and how does it work? Blog is simply a web log or a diary which you maintain online posting various comments every day or even several times a day. In all aspects it is like a web page. With small differences. No more the fancy html pages, page links, graphics etc.
While you can have all these, the purpose is not show design excellence but to provide juicy information, news, and happenings from your specific industry. Each posting is like a web page technically atleast as the the Search Engines looks at it as a separate page. We will see more on search engines later. The posts also carry links to other similar pages where you can direct people who visit your blog. Your visitors too can post comments and you have the option of editing it or even deleting it.
How does one use a blog as an online promotional tool?
You are a specialist in the area of your business. You also have people working for you with specialized domain knowledge of that particular area. You make hundreds of observations during the course of a week, you come across useful news and articles, websites, all which if collected in one place could act as the source of information for your customers, your public and even the trade and competition.
All you need to do is write a couple of lines in a conversational tone as if you are speaking to someone close about what you feel and think about anything you come across and provide the links for more details.
There you got a web page rich in key words! Key words to put it simply are a lot of specific words about your trade which is how the search engines find you and list you.
Blogs offer features like linking, pinging, RSS feeds etc. which are very simple features about which you can learn as you build your blog. However the idea is not to get technical. Remember we are here to talk about promotional strategies that could save you money and explode your sales.
Blogs are a comparatively recent phenomenon. There are an estimated 5 million blogs growing by the thousands every hour. Don?t despair. 5 million is nothing compared to billions of web pages and website available on the www. You are still far ahead of your competition. And in your area of business or profession you may be the first. That means you just occupy the top slot in search engines.
So get in right away and post all the rants, ravings and all that you ever wanted to say but couldn?t.
How does a blog help you earn revenues or improve your sales?
Now let us say you have set up your blog. Ask yourself as a person of the trade or as a customer what all you would like to know everyday. Whatever is your answer is what you post every day. You also come across news or websites which you think might be useful to your customers. Simply make a mention of it with a link to the news or website. The idea is to make people come to your blogs every day seeking information. So you become famous as a specialist in that area. All your visitor are in a way interacting with you everyday and begin to accept your words and your recommendations if they see the benefits. But be sure to be very honest and transparent. It is like your personal or social relationships where any dishonesty would make people shy away from you.
You can always put in a few posts about your work, your employee who got a promotion or birth of a daughter or anything which also makes it a little warm and personal. You can post about your launches, your predictions, products which are running out, and even promote products not moving well but you feel can benefit the customer.
What you blog can reach millions globally within hours. As an illustration take the example of the recent Tsunami which hit parts of Asia. I am from the southern part of India which is one of the worst affected areas. While the conventional media was struggling to reach their reporters all over within the hour bloggers flashed the news including the details of the people lost and found, mobilized resources for the affected and the world wide web was abuzz with all the bloggers picking up and linking and connecting everything and everyone. This is an illustration of a social cause for which blog was put to good use.
Similarly there have been many instances when business news have been picked up by the industry and consumers through the RSS feeds.
The possibilities of using a blog is endless. The key to building a successful blog is listed below.
Remember to be focused on a topic that relates to your area of work.
Your entries must be in a conversational tone speaking directly to them as if you are sitting across with a friend in a restaurant or playing golf to add personalization to your marketing effort.
Post entries or comments which would benefit people.
Post as often or frequently and keep the blog updated.
Encourage visitor participation. Ask for comments and feedbacks.
Create a huge web of outside resources and other similar blogs to help you achieve both outgoing as well as incoming links to enhance search engine popularity. This also shows your customers that you are widely knowledgeable and clued in on your field of expertise.
While it may be a good idea to post a few photographs to break the monotony keep the blog simple and straight without too many graphics and photos.
Content is the key to making your blog successful and encourage repeat visits. In the beginning you may not have many visitors but as the content improves there would be a lot of traffic as well as inbound links.
So what is a blog and how does it work? Blog is simply a web log or a diary which you maintain online posting various comments every day or even several times a day. In all aspects it is like a web page. With small differences. No more the fancy html pages, page links, graphics etc.
While you can have all these, the purpose is not show design excellence but to provide juicy information, news, and happenings from your specific industry. Each posting is like a web page technically atleast as the the Search Engines looks at it as a separate page. We will see more on search engines later. The posts also carry links to other similar pages where you can direct people who visit your blog. Your visitors too can post comments and you have the option of editing it or even deleting it.
How does one use a blog as an online promotional tool?
You are a specialist in the area of your business. You also have people working for you with specialized domain knowledge of that particular area. You make hundreds of observations during the course of a week, you come across useful news and articles, websites, all which if collected in one place could act as the source of information for your customers, your public and even the trade and competition.
All you need to do is write a couple of lines in a conversational tone as if you are speaking to someone close about what you feel and think about anything you come across and provide the links for more details.
There you got a web page rich in key words! Key words to put it simply are a lot of specific words about your trade which is how the search engines find you and list you.
Blogs offer features like linking, pinging, RSS feeds etc. which are very simple features about which you can learn as you build your blog. However the idea is not to get technical. Remember we are here to talk about promotional strategies that could save you money and explode your sales.
Blogs are a comparatively recent phenomenon. There are an estimated 5 million blogs growing by the thousands every hour. Don?t despair. 5 million is nothing compared to billions of web pages and website available on the www. You are still far ahead of your competition. And in your area of business or profession you may be the first. That means you just occupy the top slot in search engines.
So get in right away and post all the rants, ravings and all that you ever wanted to say but couldn?t.
How does a blog help you earn revenues or improve your sales?
Now let us say you have set up your blog. Ask yourself as a person of the trade or as a customer what all you would like to know everyday. Whatever is your answer is what you post every day. You also come across news or websites which you think might be useful to your customers. Simply make a mention of it with a link to the news or website. The idea is to make people come to your blogs every day seeking information. So you become famous as a specialist in that area. All your visitor are in a way interacting with you everyday and begin to accept your words and your recommendations if they see the benefits. But be sure to be very honest and transparent. It is like your personal or social relationships where any dishonesty would make people shy away from you.
You can always put in a few posts about your work, your employee who got a promotion or birth of a daughter or anything which also makes it a little warm and personal. You can post about your launches, your predictions, products which are running out, and even promote products not moving well but you feel can benefit the customer.
What you blog can reach millions globally within hours. As an illustration take the example of the recent Tsunami which hit parts of Asia. I am from the southern part of India which is one of the worst affected areas. While the conventional media was struggling to reach their reporters all over within the hour bloggers flashed the news including the details of the people lost and found, mobilized resources for the affected and the world wide web was abuzz with all the bloggers picking up and linking and connecting everything and everyone. This is an illustration of a social cause for which blog was put to good use.
Similarly there have been many instances when business news have been picked up by the industry and consumers through the RSS feeds.
The possibilities of using a blog is endless. The key to building a successful blog is listed below.
Remember to be focused on a topic that relates to your area of work.
Your entries must be in a conversational tone speaking directly to them as if you are sitting across with a friend in a restaurant or playing golf to add personalization to your marketing effort.
Post entries or comments which would benefit people.
Post as often or frequently and keep the blog updated.
Encourage visitor participation. Ask for comments and feedbacks.
Create a huge web of outside resources and other similar blogs to help you achieve both outgoing as well as incoming links to enhance search engine popularity. This also shows your customers that you are widely knowledgeable and clued in on your field of expertise.
While it may be a good idea to post a few photographs to break the monotony keep the blog simple and straight without too many graphics and photos.
Content is the key to making your blog successful and encourage repeat visits. In the beginning you may not have many visitors but as the content improves there would be a lot of traffic as well as inbound links.
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