14. How To Make AdSense Work With Internet Com mu n ities

Maximize your AdSense Revenue from Internet Forums, Message Boards and Discussion Groups!
Eariier in this book, i mentioned making revenue from biogs. But biogs certainiy aren’t the oniy types of content oniine or the oniy types that can use AdSense.
in an active internet Community, users generate most of the content. You cannot compieteiy controi the keywords or the topics, which means AdSense might spring some surprises with the ads that show up. (Just have some Aiternate Ads handy, in case AdSense puiis up a series of non-paying pubiic service ads.)
Uniike passive surfers who iike to expiore your website for reievant information, forum members are very focused on their messages and the responses they attract.
Many pubiishers that piay host to internet Communities compiain of negiigibie CTRs, scattered keywords (iow content reievance) and iow cost per ciick. What they don’t reaiize is that internet Communities are a hidden goidmine which inspire fanaticai ioyaity, repeat visits, unique content and a high
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level cf user involvement with the content.

Mega-brands such as Apple and Harley Davidson were built on the same foundation — a deep sense of personal bonding, high involvement with the product and strong referrals. You can achieve the same result with your website!
While ail Internet Communities are not the same, they do have the same key strengths. You just need to recognize them and find new ways to cash in on them — as some savvy web publishers are doing already!
14.1 Google’s Forum Heat Map
Just as Google produced a heat map for standard websites, they’ve done the exact same thing for forums. You can find that map, together with their suggestions at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2005/1O/six-adsense- optimization-tips-for.html.
On the whole, Google’s tips are quite sensible. They recommend that a skyscraper on the left is a good idea and that horizontal ads should be placed beneath each forum entry. They also suggest putting a leaderboard at the bottom of the page, but before the footer, and opting in to take image ads.
Fig. 14.1 Google’s Forum Heat Map.
l’m not sure about ail of those suggestions though. Here’s why:

Second Post

FIrst Post Li

Last Post

Prvious’flirsed I N.rIfl,r.ad.

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• Forum Members are very focused on their topic of discussion. Ads that appear on the top, bottom or side margins of the page may not distract them from their main objective — which is to read and write the posts!
• The best way to capture their attention is to put your ads at the end of the top posting on each page. Posts that appear on top are read more often, and usually set the tone for the rest of the discussion.
Many web publishers swear by Google’s 728x90 leaderboard ad with two ads trailing top-of-the-page posts.
• What gets the most clicks in any forum?
The forum buttons of course! Put your ads close to these useful buttons, sought out by users to search threads, create a new thread or post a reply. Check out this exam pie:

Fig. 14.2 Ad units on the DealofDay.com forum.
There are two kinds of ad units on this forum page at DealofDay.com.
First, l’ve placed a leaderboard immediately beneath the navigation bar. lt’s impossible to miss there. Users have to look at the navigation bar and when they do, they’ll see the ads.
But just look at the second ad unit. Can you see it? lt’s a horizontal link unit embedded in a space usually used to describe the thread.
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Do you see that littie titie above the ad unit, the one that says “Deal 0f D ay”?
Without ever asking users to click, the heading “Deal of Day” turns the Google Ads into a recommended resource for finding the day’s top deals.
Impressive forum stats, such as the number of members, threads and posts appear alongside the ads, making them look more legitimate. The sheer number of users creates a sense of urgency to check them out before other mem bers get their hands on the coveted deals!
• Make sure you apply the same text formatting as the usergenerated content. lt’s important to gain your users’ attention first
— then pitch your message when they’re ail ears!
• Try putting the ads at the bottom of each post. If users spot the pattern and your click-throughs start to drop, try putting the ads at the bottom of every alternate post. The key is to keep them guessing!
• Don’t break up a post by putting ads in the middle. Since forums have user-generated content, people are more sensitive to these intrusions and might be offended if you make it seem as if the ads are their personal recommendations.
• Don’t lump a bunch of ads together in the middle of the page. It works well with ‘passive’ visitors, but your forum mem bers will read right around them!
• Allow users to pull up targeted ads with a Google Search Box! How often has a forum posting piqued your interest enough to launch a Google search? Once? Twice? Ail the time? If you’re anything like me, the Google Search Box is an added convenience, welcomed by most users. It makes your visitors stay! And if they click an ad from the resu Its page, you make money!
Which of these strategies will work for your Forums?
Only time can telI — but don’t forget to track your resu Its with Google’s FREE AdSense Channels. There are publishers who have made a fortune with their community pages. It doesn’t take rocket science. But a little persistence goes a long way!
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