Adsense - 1% Inspiration - 99% Experimentation
By Arnab February 6, 2007 filed in Miscellaneous, Internet Marketing, PPC, Newsletter, Adsense
A few days ago Google declared its results for the last quarter Sep-Dec 06. Once again they have come out with stellar numbers - Google reported revenues of $3.21 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, an increase of 67% compared to the fourth quarter of 2005.
But here is the part that really interests me. Google paid its AdSense partners a total of $916 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. That’s almost a billion dollars in a quarter. That’s $3.5 billion a year. And growing ! A very small slice of a pie that big can make a lot of difference to our lives. My point is - Keep investing in those websites focused on generating revenue through Adsense, and you will see returns in the long run, returns that should make you smile.
While on the topic, let me also share this website that Suresh (who is on this list) sent me. It came across with a neat Adsense design - www(dot)karencheng(dot)com(dot)au - Loved the way the AdSense has been placed - neat design ! And the website has been around for some time, and also has a PR of 6…
However, let me also add that a neat looking Adsense Ad is not always the best converting Adsense Ad. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that this ad is not working well in this case and on this website. It probably is. But with Adsense, as with most other things on the Internet, there is only one thing you can be sure about - “You can’t be sure about anything !”
Sounds like such a cliché, I know. But having experimented with Adsense on over 200 websites, on different subjects, languages, designs, Ad Block Sizes and types, Color of Font, Text, URL and background, I know one thing for sure. You need to experiment a little !
For each site you set up place the ads where you think it will work, then change them around a little, and then a little more. Keep track of how much you are earning with each change. Make sure you give each change a week’s time to note the difference. Sometimes you will notice small changes. But sometimes, you will notice a significant increase when the Ads are placed in a certain location and with a particular design. Not only will you then make more money from the same traffic, you will also have learnt something significant for future websites.
Sometimes the results might get skewered a little by some advertiser jumping in and bidding high right in the middle of your experiment. So one layout gives you better results for some time and then tapers off. Tough luck - Known to Happen - Get used to it - That’s Life Online !
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February 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Hi Arnab,
Thanks for the blog post.
One note: why use Google Adsense? With a little bit more effort, most websites will do much better by placing affiliate links that pay per lead or per sale instead of per click.
I only use Google adsense when I can’t find enough high quality affiliates…
February 8th, 2007 at 5:15 am
Adsense has some inherent advantages which Affiliate Links don’t. Affiliate programs end from time to time, programs keep changing, there are down times, etc. all which are not issues with Adsense. Also, Adsense lets you enter the market for other languages right now. You will find it much tougher to get Affiliate Programs in Japanese & Chinese, and even if you did, you would need to understand the language to know what to pick.
However, here is the killer ! I am not propogating Adsense as the standalone. As per Adsense TOS, it is allowed to have Affiliate Banners on the same page on which you have Adsense Ads. With multiple sites I am finding a combination of Affiliate Banners + Adsense working wonders and making my campaigns profitable, while only Affiliate Banners was not doing so. One such website is http://www.cool-detective.com
Of course, the flip side is that if you are trying to drive traffic to the website using Adwords, you will be able to do this only if you have enough original content on the website. If you try with a simple page with not too much content on it, but having Aff Banners as well as Adsense, Google will consider it Adsense Arbitrage and increase your minimum click value to astronomical levels.
Try out using both Adsense and Aff Banners on some of your websites which has a decent amount of content. You might be surprised with the results !