5.1 Ad Placement: Where To Put Your Ads?
Location is everything. The world’s best ad won’t deliver if it isn’t visible in the first place. But after much experimentation with Google AdSense, I know that the most visible ads aren’t always the most effective. In fact, they’re likely to get ignored as ‘blatant advertising’.
What does work is wise placement. Put them where your content is most likely to interest and engage your visitors.
You can create several ‘points cf interest’ with the wise use cf graphics, tables and other layout techniques.
Once you have your visitor’s attention with engaging and meaningful content, they are most likely to read and click on relevant ads. And that is
51
Location is everything. The world’s best ad won’t deliver if it isn’t visible in the first place. But after much experimentation with Google AdSense, I know that the most visible ads aren’t always the most effective. In fact, they’re likely to get ignored as ‘blatant advertising’.
What does work is wise placement. Put them where your content is most likely to interest and engage your visitors.
You can create several ‘points cf interest’ with the wise use cf graphics, tables and other layout techniques.
Once you have your visitor’s attention with engaging and meaningful content, they are most likely to read and click on relevant ads. And that is
51
precisely what Google wants — “educated” clicks from real prospects, flot random visits from bored people.
Here are a few simple tips to make your ads ‘click’!
5.2 Go With The ‘FIow’
ldentify the reading patterns of your visitors. What draws their attention first? What makes them ‘click’?
Like I said, you want to put your ads in areas that draw your visitors in with interesting content. There’s no point in putting your ads in some out of the way place where no one ever looks.
Your users will follow your content, so you need to make sure that your ads follow that content too.
Look at the design and layout of your webpage, identify the places that you think most of your users look — and mark each of them as a likely spot to put your ads.
Google actually offers a pretty neat tool to help you identify where your users are most likely to look. Their heat map at
https://www.google.com/support/adsense!bin/static.py?page= tips.html sums up the options pretty well:
Fig. 5.1 Google’s Heat Map shows an “average” site’s hot spots. The darker areas are the reg ions where people look most frequently. But remem ber, no site is average. Where do your visitors look most?
Like I said, you want to put your ads in areas that draw your visitors in with interesting content. There’s no point in putting your ads in some out of the way place where no one ever looks.
Your users will follow your content, so you need to make sure that your ads follow that content too.
Look at the design and layout of your webpage, identify the places that you think most of your users look — and mark each of them as a likely spot to put your ads.
Google actually offers a pretty neat tool to help you identify where your users are most likely to look. Their heat map at
https://www.google.com/support/adsense!bin/static.py?page= tips.html sums up the options pretty well:
Fig. 5.1 Google’s Heat Map shows an “average” site’s hot spots. The darker areas are the reg ions where people look most frequently. But remem ber, no site is average. Where do your visitors look most?
TOP LEVEI. NAViGATION
PRIMARV
CONTENT
GL
CONTENT
GL
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Google says that certain areas are more effective than others. Researchers have also found that when people look at a website, their eyes start in the top left hand corner and then travel down the page from left to right.
AIl of this is true but the hottest areas can vary from site to site. You will need to experiment to find the very best places for you.
5.3 Above The FoId
One general rule on the Internet is that people spend most of their time on a site “above the fold.”
The first thing people do when they reach a website is to absorb as much information as possible before they start scrolling. The part of the page that they can see without scrolling is called “above the fold.”
That’s where you want your ads.
The number of links that appear above the fold affect how likely people are to click on your AdSense ads. That’s why more ads doesn’t aiways mean more money!
Google always puts the top-paying ads on the top and the lowest-paying ones at the bottom.
If you have a stack with three or more ads, the cheaper ads might steal attention away from high-paying ads and clutter up your website.
You dont want ads and links competing against each other. If you want to increase your earnings per click, remember: Less is More! And that’s particularly true above the fold.
Let’s take a look at two sample pages:
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AIl of this is true but the hottest areas can vary from site to site. You will need to experiment to find the very best places for you.
5.3 Above The FoId
One general rule on the Internet is that people spend most of their time on a site “above the fold.”
The first thing people do when they reach a website is to absorb as much information as possible before they start scrolling. The part of the page that they can see without scrolling is called “above the fold.”
That’s where you want your ads.
The number of links that appear above the fold affect how likely people are to click on your AdSense ads. That’s why more ads doesn’t aiways mean more money!
Google always puts the top-paying ads on the top and the lowest-paying ones at the bottom.
If you have a stack with three or more ads, the cheaper ads might steal attention away from high-paying ads and clutter up your website.
You dont want ads and links competing against each other. If you want to increase your earnings per click, remember: Less is More! And that’s particularly true above the fold.
Let’s take a look at two sample pages:
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Shseoina On Ton Stores
troirs. Clrthieg. llroes, tags, Gits US, 5K stores Quakp & decaurted
05w isOm œrriirrppirsoniiro
troirs. Clrthieg. llroes, tags, Gits US, 5K stores Quakp & decaurted
05w isOm œrriirrppirsoniiro
tookFinder,com
7G rdior brrko for sole 0cc, used, rare, ouf ot port
icuwhsrôrrfl
Bostsolling Sort
laoiagnostic and Statistical Manual cf Mestal Aiuazon.roans Fifre: S64.00 I Disorders DSM-tV-TR (Tord Revision)
(Diagnostic and Statrstical Manoal et Mental ‘
A Psychiatric Association
TimeflflflfL_
Fig. 5.2 MegaBookshop.com has a search form, a featured product, category Iinks and AdSense ads, ail above the fold.
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Fig. 5.3 SafetySurf.com is flot the most attractive site, but ONLY has AdSense ads above the fold.
7G rdior brrko for sole 0cc, used, rare, ouf ot port
icuwhsrôrrfl
Bostsolling Sort
laoiagnostic and Statistical Manual cf Mestal Aiuazon.roans Fifre: S64.00 I Disorders DSM-tV-TR (Tord Revision)
(Diagnostic and Statrstical Manoal et Mental ‘
A Psychiatric Association
TimeflflflfL_
Fig. 5.2 MegaBookshop.com has a search form, a featured product, category Iinks and AdSense ads, ail above the fold.
¼
Fig. 5.3 SafetySurf.com is flot the most attractive site, but ONLY has AdSense ads above the fold.
Welcome to Megatsobshop.crm, pour complote bssk store wittr mithons 0f tilles available. Vrew the best-sellers belrw, select n categcry hom the lets srde, or use sur senrch tsrm to find don boslr tille pou cent.
eatured Product
800ko> Metliciiie
The Complete Far Side _____________
19GO- 1994(2 vol set)
$89.05
eatured Product
800ko> Metliciiie
The Complete Far Side _____________
19GO- 1994(2 vol set)
$89.05
Ads ho Gooorrrsle
Cotise BosS Store
0cm 70 rsller borts troc 15,050 hrekstrres are caret lobe tsurid
ors uhecrola mir
Bibliophile Barriarn Boots
trrkselers stre 1975 3000 up-morknt)0es by mal ordre .rrea.criispriloss000 mm
Cotise BosS Store
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Bibliophile Barriarn Boots
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Now, which cf these sites’ ads dc ycu think brings a higher click-through rate? You guessed it. The second site has triple the click-through rate of the first site. The moral of the story? If you want to maximize your AdSense clicks, give your visitors fewer choices above the fold!
5.4 Using Tables
Ive already menticned that cne cf the principles cf a high click-through rate is to make your sites blend into the page. The more you position your sites to blend into the page, the better your click-through rate will be.
One very neat way to help your ads blend into the site is to place them in tables.
In the example below, Chris Pirillo again skillfully dropped his AdSense into afor a clean and attractive look that turns AdSense into a new focal point.
The rest of the page won’t be ignored, but those particular unes will receive a heavier weighting. If you want to teli the crawiers to ignore particular sections, you can use these unes:
Section text.
You can highlight (and de-emphasize) as many or as few sections as you wish, but what you can’t do is use these instructions solely to highlight keywords. So you can’t put them around particular single words or phrases on your page and hope to see ads that relate only to those terms.
In fact, Google recommends that you highlight a sizeable portion of text — as much as 20 percent — for the targeting to be most effective. The result of targeting small amounts of text could be irrelevant ads, public service ads... or even a banning if you deliberately tried to bring up ads that have nothing to do with your site.
Section Targeting is probably most useful if you have a Web page that covers lots of different topics. So if you had a blog about MP3 players but had written an article about rap music for example, you cou Id use Section Targeting to ensure that you didn’t lose ads about the music players to ads about rap music. Or you cou Id telI the crawlers to ignore your readers’ comments and focus on your own entries.
And presumably, there’s nothing wrong with stuffing a paragraph with keywords related to your subject and telling the crawlers to focus on that section to ensure that your ads stay targeted.
lt’s definitely something that you want to play with.
If there’s one problem with Section Targeting though, it’s that it can take up to two weeks before you see the results — the time it can take for the crawler to re-visit your page. So it’s not a fast process and that can make it a bit of a blunt tool. But it’s not blunt enough to be ignored.
6.8 No ‘Baiting’!
Often l’ve clicked through a ‘promising’ website, only to find reams of
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So if you were thinking, “Great! III encourage click-throughs above the fold and get paid per impression with an expanded text ad at the bottom of the page...” think again.
Google daims that CPM campaigns have to bid for space on publishers’ websites in the same marketplace as CPC ads, and that therefore you would only receive a CPM ad if it’s the highest paying option. If advertisers are paying less for a CPM ad at the bottom of a page, it’s less likely then that you’re going to get one down there.
Now, how Google is figuring out where on the page you’re putting your ads beats me. Their love of Smart Pricing (see Chapter 13) though, suggests that they could be comparing advertisers’ sales results with the number of impressions and assuming that sites with high impressions and low sales have put the ads in out-of-the-way places.
Whichever method they’re using, the end result is that you’re still going to see higher revenues from ads in the best locations and less from the worst spots.
5.4 Using Tables
Ive already menticned that cne cf the principles cf a high click-through rate is to make your sites blend into the page. The more you position your sites to blend into the page, the better your click-through rate will be.
One very neat way to help your ads blend into the site is to place them in tables.
In the example below, Chris Pirillo again skillfully dropped his AdSense into a
| ‘nhI:rnn1rinr | Pod Shuffle |
5.5 Complementing Your Ads
Everything l’ve discussed so far has been about placing your ads where your users will be looking. That’s pretty easy. But there’s an alternative strategy, which can be very powerful: bringing your users to your ads.
You have to be careful here though. Google forbids you from saying to users “Look over here and click
reasonable. But with
some clever design
work, you can still guide ___________
your users to look in
that direction.
The rule to remember
here is that elements
attract eyes. When a _________
user loads a Web page,
he’s always going to
look at various things on
the page, not just the
text. That’s especially
true of images, which is
why one popular
strategy was to place
pictures related to the
Everything l’ve discussed so far has been about placing your ads where your users will be looking. That’s pretty easy. But there’s an alternative strategy, which can be very powerful: bringing your users to your ads.
You have to be careful here though. Google forbids you from saying to users “Look over here and click
reasonable. But with
some clever design
work, you can still guide ___________
your users to look in
that direction.
The rule to remember
here is that elements
attract eyes. When a _________
user loads a Web page,
he’s always going to
look at various things on
the page, not just the
text. That’s especially
true of images, which is
why one popular
strategy was to place
pictures related to the
Want to get the same resu Its with your web page?
Dave Taylor (www.intuitive.com) shares this simple code to create a leftaligned table containing AdSense. Just paste this code where you want
AdSense to appear.
Easy!
Left-aligned table with AdSense:
< tr>
Right-aligned table with AdSense:
Dave Taylor (www.intuitive.com) shares this simple code to create a leftaligned table containing AdSense. Just paste this code where you want
AdSense to appear.
Easy!
Left-aligned table with AdSense:
| Google adsense code goes here |
Right-aligned table with AdSense:
| Google adsense code goes here |
on the ads... I want the money.” And that’s
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This s an exarnple advertisement that rnight appear on a site www.example.com
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content of the ad right next to the ad unit.
Fig. 5.5 Google says: “Dont try this at home...”
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Google has now got wise to that. lt’s changed its terms to forbid that practice specifically.
Not surprisingly, when Google brought out that rule, it created a mild panic among publishers who rushed to change their page layouts. It didn’t help that Google doesn’t specify how far images should be from the ad units. The company just says that the images and the ads should not be lined up “in a way that suggests a relationship” between them.
That’s vague enough to give Google plenty of latitude to ban publishers who think they’re doing nothing wrong.
Fortunately, I haven’t heard of anyone being banned for failing to move their ads, and I suspect that you’d get a warning letter before any action was taken.
Not surprisingly, when Google brought out that rule, it created a mild panic among publishers who rushed to change their page layouts. It didn’t help that Google doesn’t specify how far images should be from the ad units. The company just says that the images and the ads should not be lined up “in a way that suggests a relationship” between them.
That’s vague enough to give Google plenty of latitude to ban publishers who think they’re doing nothing wrong.
Fortunately, I haven’t heard of anyone being banned for failing to move their ads, and I suspect that you’d get a warning letter before any action was taken.
So if you can’t put related images next to ads to what can you do?
draw attention to them,
Ive already talked about placing a text ad unit next to an image ad unit. That’s one strategy you could use.
You cou Id also place an unrelated image next to an ad unit. Again, as long as there’s no suggestion of a relationship between the image and the ad unit, you’ll be sage.
For exam pie, at SafetySurf.com, I put a link unit at the top of the page. lt’s above the side bar, which is where many people put link units, but it’s also directly beneath the icon.
You cou Id also place an unrelated image next to an ad unit. Again, as long as there’s no suggestion of a relationship between the image and the ad unit, you’ll be sage.
For exam pie, at SafetySurf.com, I put a link unit at the top of the page. lt’s above the side bar, which is where many people put link units, but it’s also directly beneath the icon.
Fig. 5.6 One way to place an image next to an ad SafetvSurf.com.
People are always going to look at the icon. When they look at the icon,
Fig. 5.7 A new use for a search box at FamilvFirst.com.
they’ll see the ads.
There are ail sorts of ways you can do this, but probably the best method is to first place your ads and then think about which images you can place near them.
0f course, you don’t just have to use images. You could also use a “Submit” button, a “next” link or anything else that users will have to look at on your page.
There are ail sorts of ways you can do this, but probably the best method is to first place your ads and then think about which images you can place near them.
0f course, you don’t just have to use images. You could also use a “Submit” button, a “next” link or anything else that users will have to look at on your page.
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A search box for exam pie is an excellent spot. You know your u sers are about to look for something and click away. Why not offer them some of your own options.
There’s a good chance that pulling your users’ eyes in this way will increase your click-through rates.
6. Controlling Your Ads
6.1 Attracting Relevant Ads
Getting the color and placement right will help improve your click-through rate. But neither of those will affect which ads your site serves.
I n theory, Google controls the ads that appear on your site. You don’t get to choose them at ail. In practice, there are a few things that you can do to stop irrelevant ads from appearing and ensure that you get the ads that give you cash.
The more relevant the ads, the greater the chance that a user will click and you’ll earn money.
The most important factor is obviously going to be your content. Google’s crawlers will check your site and serve up ads based on the keywords and the content on your page.
Bear in mmd that Google’s crawlers can’t read graphics or Flash or pretty much anything that isn’t text. III talk about content in detail in Chapter 11 but for now, remember that if you want to keep your ads relevant, you’ve got to have the sort of page that Google can understand and use to give you the ads you want.
6.2 Keep The Title, Directory And Headlines Relevant
How exactly the crawlers read pages is a secret guarded about as closely as Coca Colas special syrup formula. One thing that does seem to have an effect though is the title of your URLs and files.
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There’s a good chance that pulling your users’ eyes in this way will increase your click-through rates.
6. Controlling Your Ads
6.1 Attracting Relevant Ads
Getting the color and placement right will help improve your click-through rate. But neither of those will affect which ads your site serves.
I n theory, Google controls the ads that appear on your site. You don’t get to choose them at ail. In practice, there are a few things that you can do to stop irrelevant ads from appearing and ensure that you get the ads that give you cash.
The more relevant the ads, the greater the chance that a user will click and you’ll earn money.
The most important factor is obviously going to be your content. Google’s crawlers will check your site and serve up ads based on the keywords and the content on your page.
Bear in mmd that Google’s crawlers can’t read graphics or Flash or pretty much anything that isn’t text. III talk about content in detail in Chapter 11 but for now, remember that if you want to keep your ads relevant, you’ve got to have the sort of page that Google can understand and use to give you the ads you want.
6.2 Keep The Title, Directory And Headlines Relevant
How exactly the crawlers read pages is a secret guarded about as closely as Coca Colas special syrup formula. One thing that does seem to have an effect though is the title of your URLs and files.
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When you create your pages and view them on your computer before uploading them to the server, you should find that AdSense serves up ads related to the name of the directory that holds the page. That gives a pretty big due as to at least one of the things that Google is looking at: the name of the directory.
Actually, it’s not just the name 0f the directory that’s important. The name 0f the file plays a big part too.
If you have a website about wedding trains and the title of one of your pages is trains.php for example, there’s a good chance that you’ll get ads about Amtrak and Caltrain. That wouldn’t give you many clicks. Change the name of the file to weddingtrains.php and there’s a much better chance that you’ll see ads related to weddings.
If you find that the ads that are appearing on your site have nothing to do with your content, the first places to look are your directory and your title. Make them more relevant to your content and you should find that you get better ads.
Another place to look is your headlines. lnstead of using a tag for your heading, try using the
And if you don’t have any headlines at ail, try adding some.
6.3 Finding Keywords
We know that Google’s crawlers search websites for keywords, then reports back and tells the company what kind of ads to send to the site. If your site is about pension plans for example, then your keywords would be things like “retirement”, “401 k” and “pension”.
Getting the right keywords on your site won’t just make your ads relevant; it will also help you to make sure that the ads you get are the ones that pay the most.
There are ail sorts of tools available on the Web that telI you how much people are prepared to pay for keywords. www.overture.com and www.googlest.com let you see how much people are prepared to pay, and keywords.clickhereforit.com also has a list of keywords with their prices.
Again, you don’t want to build a site just to cash in on a high paying keyword but if you know that “401k” pays more than “retirement” for example, then it
59
Actually, it’s not just the name 0f the directory that’s important. The name 0f the file plays a big part too.
If you have a website about wedding trains and the title of one of your pages is trains.php for example, there’s a good chance that you’ll get ads about Amtrak and Caltrain. That wouldn’t give you many clicks. Change the name of the file to weddingtrains.php and there’s a much better chance that you’ll see ads related to weddings.
If you find that the ads that are appearing on your site have nothing to do with your content, the first places to look are your directory and your title. Make them more relevant to your content and you should find that you get better ads.
Another place to look is your headlines. lnstead of using a tag for your heading, try using the
tag with headings that contain your keywords. That should help them to stand out to the crawlers.And if you don’t have any headlines at ail, try adding some.
6.3 Finding Keywords
We know that Google’s crawlers search websites for keywords, then reports back and tells the company what kind of ads to send to the site. If your site is about pension plans for example, then your keywords would be things like “retirement”, “401 k” and “pension”.
Getting the right keywords on your site won’t just make your ads relevant; it will also help you to make sure that the ads you get are the ones that pay the most.
There are ail sorts of tools available on the Web that telI you how much people are prepared to pay for keywords. www.overture.com and www.googlest.com let you see how much people are prepared to pay, and keywords.clickhereforit.com also has a list of keywords with their prices.
Again, you don’t want to build a site just to cash in on a high paying keyword but if you know that “401k” pays more than “retirement” for example, then it
59
makes sense to use the higher paying keywords more than the Iower paying on es.
See Chapter 17 for more on finding the most up-to-date high paying keywords.
6.4 Keyword Density
You’ii need the right keywords to get the right ads. But you’ii aiso need the right amount of keywords.
There’s no golden rule for putting the right number of keywords on a page to get the ads you want. You’ii just have to experiment. it aiso seems to be the case that keyword density is cou nted across pages, especiaiiy for high-paying keywords. if you have a site that’s generaiiy about cars and you write a page for car rentai, a higher-paying keyword, you might find that you need to produce severai pages about car rentai before you get the ads.
in generai though, if you find that your ads are missing the point of your page and that your tities are ail correct, then the next step wouid be to try mentioning your keywords more often and make sure that they’re ail fineiy focused. For exam pie, taiking about “fire extinguishers” is iikeiy to get you better resuits than taiking generaiiy about “safety equipment.”
6.5 Keyword Placement
it shouidn’t reaiiy matter where you put your keywords, shouid it? As long as the right words are on the right page in the right amount of numbers, that shouid be enough to get you relevant ads, right?
Wrong.
One of the strangest resuits that peopie have had using AdSense is that putting keywords in particular places on the page can have an effect on the ads the site gets.
The most important place on your webpage is directly beneath the AdSense box. The keywords you place there couid influence your ads.
For exam pie, mentioning clowns in the space directiy beneath the AdSense box couid give you ads about circuses and red noses!
Keeping that in mi, you cou Id play with your ads in ail sorts of ways. if you had a site about camping for exampie, you might find that you’re getting lots
60
See Chapter 17 for more on finding the most up-to-date high paying keywords.
6.4 Keyword Density
You’ii need the right keywords to get the right ads. But you’ii aiso need the right amount of keywords.
There’s no golden rule for putting the right number of keywords on a page to get the ads you want. You’ii just have to experiment. it aiso seems to be the case that keyword density is cou nted across pages, especiaiiy for high-paying keywords. if you have a site that’s generaiiy about cars and you write a page for car rentai, a higher-paying keyword, you might find that you need to produce severai pages about car rentai before you get the ads.
in generai though, if you find that your ads are missing the point of your page and that your tities are ail correct, then the next step wouid be to try mentioning your keywords more often and make sure that they’re ail fineiy focused. For exam pie, taiking about “fire extinguishers” is iikeiy to get you better resuits than taiking generaiiy about “safety equipment.”
6.5 Keyword Placement
it shouidn’t reaiiy matter where you put your keywords, shouid it? As long as the right words are on the right page in the right amount of numbers, that shouid be enough to get you relevant ads, right?
Wrong.
One of the strangest resuits that peopie have had using AdSense is that putting keywords in particular places on the page can have an effect on the ads the site gets.
The most important place on your webpage is directly beneath the AdSense box. The keywords you place there couid influence your ads.
For exam pie, mentioning clowns in the space directiy beneath the AdSense box couid give you ads about circuses and red noses!
Keeping that in mi, you cou Id play with your ads in ail sorts of ways. if you had a site about camping for exampie, you might find that you’re getting lots
60
of ads about tents and sleeping bags, which would be fine. But if you also wanted to make sure that one or two of your ads were about Yosemite or mobile homes, then mentioning those keywords once or twice on the page directly below the AdSense box could give you ads for sites with that sort of content too.
Bear in mmd though that you’ll often find that you get ads that try to combine the main thrust of your site with the words in that keyword space below the ad box. So if you had a site about gardening and you mentioned “cabbages” beneath the ad box, you’re more likely to get ads about growing cabbages than ads about cabbage recipes.
Experimenting with the placement of the keywords could allow you to control at least one or two of the ads you receive and help keep them varied. That’s definitely something to try.
6.6 Keyword Frames
One of the reasons that websites don’t always receive relevant ads may be that ail the navigation and other non-content words affect the way Google reads the page. If your links and other words take up lots of space, it could well skew your results.
One way to avoid your navigation affecting your ads is simply to create frames. You put ail of your content in your main frame and the navigation material in a separate frame. Only the “content frame” has the Google code (google_page_url = document.location), SO your keywords won’t be diluted by non-relevant words.
6.7 Section Targeting
Probably the most effective way to ensure the crawlers read the keywords you want to emphasize though is to use Section Targeting. This is a fantastic technique. By simply inserting a couple of unes of HTML code into your Web page, you can telI the crawler which parts of your site are the most important and ensure that you get ads relevant to that content.
The unes you want to use to emphasize particular sections of your Web page are:
Section text.
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Bear in mmd though that you’ll often find that you get ads that try to combine the main thrust of your site with the words in that keyword space below the ad box. So if you had a site about gardening and you mentioned “cabbages” beneath the ad box, you’re more likely to get ads about growing cabbages than ads about cabbage recipes.
Experimenting with the placement of the keywords could allow you to control at least one or two of the ads you receive and help keep them varied. That’s definitely something to try.
6.6 Keyword Frames
One of the reasons that websites don’t always receive relevant ads may be that ail the navigation and other non-content words affect the way Google reads the page. If your links and other words take up lots of space, it could well skew your results.
One way to avoid your navigation affecting your ads is simply to create frames. You put ail of your content in your main frame and the navigation material in a separate frame. Only the “content frame” has the Google code (google_page_url = document.location), SO your keywords won’t be diluted by non-relevant words.
6.7 Section Targeting
Probably the most effective way to ensure the crawlers read the keywords you want to emphasize though is to use Section Targeting. This is a fantastic technique. By simply inserting a couple of unes of HTML code into your Web page, you can telI the crawler which parts of your site are the most important and ensure that you get ads relevant to that content.
The unes you want to use to emphasize particular sections of your Web page are:
Section text.
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The rest of the page won’t be ignored, but those particular unes will receive a heavier weighting. If you want to teli the crawiers to ignore particular sections, you can use these unes:
Section text.
You can highlight (and de-emphasize) as many or as few sections as you wish, but what you can’t do is use these instructions solely to highlight keywords. So you can’t put them around particular single words or phrases on your page and hope to see ads that relate only to those terms.
In fact, Google recommends that you highlight a sizeable portion of text — as much as 20 percent — for the targeting to be most effective. The result of targeting small amounts of text could be irrelevant ads, public service ads... or even a banning if you deliberately tried to bring up ads that have nothing to do with your site.
Section Targeting is probably most useful if you have a Web page that covers lots of different topics. So if you had a blog about MP3 players but had written an article about rap music for example, you cou Id use Section Targeting to ensure that you didn’t lose ads about the music players to ads about rap music. Or you cou Id telI the crawlers to ignore your readers’ comments and focus on your own entries.
And presumably, there’s nothing wrong with stuffing a paragraph with keywords related to your subject and telling the crawlers to focus on that section to ensure that your ads stay targeted.
lt’s definitely something that you want to play with.
If there’s one problem with Section Targeting though, it’s that it can take up to two weeks before you see the results — the time it can take for the crawler to re-visit your page. So it’s not a fast process and that can make it a bit of a blunt tool. But it’s not blunt enough to be ignored.
6.8 No ‘Baiting’!
Often l’ve clicked through a ‘promising’ website, only to find reams of
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keyword spam, interspersed with AdSense. Websites like these make AdSense look bad.
Keyword spam may trick search spiders, but your human visitors will leave disappointed.
People hate being ‘baited’ by a web marketer. Offer content that makes their visit worthwhile. Address the needs and concerns of your visitors with original content.
Quality content builds trust and loyalty — and that, in turn, makes people want to click. Search rankings may change, but loyal visitors keep coming back for more!
6.9 Changing Metatags
Metatags certainly aren’t what they used to be, and in AdSense they’re barely anything at ail. There’s a good chance that when it cornes to deciding ad relevance, your metatags have no effect whatsoever.
Ive already rnentioned that the title 0f your page will have an effect. lt’s also very likely that the description does too.
But that doesn’t rnean that your rnetatags are cornpletely irrelevant when it cornes to AdSense. They aren’t. They’re only seem to be irrelevant when it comes to serving ads; they still play a role in search engine optimization and getting your site indexed faster.
6.10 Inviting The Robot
So far in this chapter, l’ve explained sorne 0f the ways that you can tweak your page to keep your ads relevant. But the changes you rnake won’t have any effect until Google’s robot stops by and re-indexes your page. What will generally happen is that once you upload your new page, you’ll still get the old ads and you might have to wait some time before the robot visits it again and you can find out whether your changes have the right result.
To get the robot to stop by earlier, reload the page in your browser, and then again a few minutes later. Do not click on any of the ads just reload and wait a few minutes before attempts.
This doesn’t always work but with a bit of luck, you should find that you receive new ads within a few minutes.
63
Keyword spam may trick search spiders, but your human visitors will leave disappointed.
People hate being ‘baited’ by a web marketer. Offer content that makes their visit worthwhile. Address the needs and concerns of your visitors with original content.
Quality content builds trust and loyalty — and that, in turn, makes people want to click. Search rankings may change, but loyal visitors keep coming back for more!
6.9 Changing Metatags
Metatags certainly aren’t what they used to be, and in AdSense they’re barely anything at ail. There’s a good chance that when it cornes to deciding ad relevance, your metatags have no effect whatsoever.
Ive already rnentioned that the title 0f your page will have an effect. lt’s also very likely that the description does too.
But that doesn’t rnean that your rnetatags are cornpletely irrelevant when it cornes to AdSense. They aren’t. They’re only seem to be irrelevant when it comes to serving ads; they still play a role in search engine optimization and getting your site indexed faster.
6.10 Inviting The Robot
So far in this chapter, l’ve explained sorne 0f the ways that you can tweak your page to keep your ads relevant. But the changes you rnake won’t have any effect until Google’s robot stops by and re-indexes your page. What will generally happen is that once you upload your new page, you’ll still get the old ads and you might have to wait some time before the robot visits it again and you can find out whether your changes have the right result.
To get the robot to stop by earlier, reload the page in your browser, and then again a few minutes later. Do not click on any of the ads just reload and wait a few minutes before attempts.
This doesn’t always work but with a bit of luck, you should find that you receive new ads within a few minutes.
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6.11 Google Ads Preview
Don’t want to wait for the robot? No problem. The Google Ads Preview tool at http://googleadspreview.blogspot.com/ lets you see the ads your site is likely to receive right away.
Google has its own tool for this, but this program by Digital Inspiration is much better. That’s not just because it also works with Firefox (Google’s preview tool only works in Internet Explorer) but mostly because it lets you compare different programs and formats side by side.
When you’re just starting out, that’s not really important. But when you’re combining AdSense with Chitika eMiniMalls it’s useful to see what effect a single change can have across the different ads you’re displaying.
You can also compare the AdSense ads with those served by Yahoo! Publishers Network.
And here’s the real kicker: the Google Ads Preview Tool also lets you toss in keywords and see which ads turn up.
Try it! Surf over to the site, toss in a keyword relevant to your site and see what ads you’re likely to receive.
Note that I said which ads you’re likely to receive, not which ads you wiII r e ce ive.
That’s an important difference. Google uses ail sorts of criteria to decide which ads you’re going to get. 1m not sure which criterion this preview tool uses to choose ads for keywords but I can’t see it emulating Google com pletely.
Use the tool to preview the ads on your site and you’re on pretty firm ground. You’ll get a great impression of the ads you’re likely to get and you can either match your content to it or change your content to bring up some different ads. Use it to preview the ads you’re likely to get with a certain keyword and you’ve got a guide to where those keywords can take you.
Either way, you’ve got a very useful tool.
6.12 Public Service Ads
The penalty for not getting your keyword placement and density right isn’t just irrelevant ads. It could also be no ads at ah, If Google can’t find any relevant ads to give you, it cou Id use your space to present public service
64
Don’t want to wait for the robot? No problem. The Google Ads Preview tool at http://googleadspreview.blogspot.com/ lets you see the ads your site is likely to receive right away.
Google has its own tool for this, but this program by Digital Inspiration is much better. That’s not just because it also works with Firefox (Google’s preview tool only works in Internet Explorer) but mostly because it lets you compare different programs and formats side by side.
When you’re just starting out, that’s not really important. But when you’re combining AdSense with Chitika eMiniMalls it’s useful to see what effect a single change can have across the different ads you’re displaying.
You can also compare the AdSense ads with those served by Yahoo! Publishers Network.
And here’s the real kicker: the Google Ads Preview Tool also lets you toss in keywords and see which ads turn up.
Try it! Surf over to the site, toss in a keyword relevant to your site and see what ads you’re likely to receive.
Note that I said which ads you’re likely to receive, not which ads you wiII r e ce ive.
That’s an important difference. Google uses ail sorts of criteria to decide which ads you’re going to get. 1m not sure which criterion this preview tool uses to choose ads for keywords but I can’t see it emulating Google com pletely.
Use the tool to preview the ads on your site and you’re on pretty firm ground. You’ll get a great impression of the ads you’re likely to get and you can either match your content to it or change your content to bring up some different ads. Use it to preview the ads you’re likely to get with a certain keyword and you’ve got a guide to where those keywords can take you.
Either way, you’ve got a very useful tool.
6.12 Public Service Ads
The penalty for not getting your keyword placement and density right isn’t just irrelevant ads. It could also be no ads at ah, If Google can’t find any relevant ads to give you, it cou Id use your space to present public service
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ads, which are very nice but they dont pay you a penny. You might prefer to earn money and give it to a charity of your choice rather than give space on your site to a cause that Google chooses.
Google lets you get rid of that space by collapsing the ad, tossing in an image or by creating a color block in the same tone as the background color. But that seems like a waste to me. That space can earn you money. If something goes wrong with your contextualization, you want a back-up that brings revenue.
The most obvious solution is to specify an alternate URL in the event that Google has no ads for you. You can do this from your AdSense account. lnstead of linking to the Red Cross or whoever it may be, you’ll receive a link to a site that you’ve pre-chosen.
I set up default ads for my 336 x 280 ad block, place them at
www.worldvillage.com/336x280-1 .html and choose that unit as my URL.
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Famiy-FriendIy nterne
Garies. softiare re.ies :-- -.
shopping free stjff and rncr
Coupon Codes
Find coupon codes for the webs leading merchants.
Hundreds 0f coupons and shopping forums
Increase Your AdSense Revenue
Groundbreaking AdSense ebook teils ail. Written by an
Adsense pro who makes over S500/day
The Best Web Site Reviews
fliousands 0f family-friendly web site reviews.
FamiiyFirst.com is the webs ‘eader since 1995.
Fig. 6.1 My own version of AdSense.
It looks remarkably like AdSense ads, don’t you think?
If these ads appeared on the same page as AdSense ads, it cou Id cause a problem. But if Google is going to send public service announcements to my site, I use these as a replacement.
You could also use this space to deliver image-based ads that come from your server. For offers that pay per action (clicks or signups), I like to use WebSponsors.com. You can signup for a free account and find new ways to monetize your unused ad space.
65
Google lets you get rid of that space by collapsing the ad, tossing in an image or by creating a color block in the same tone as the background color. But that seems like a waste to me. That space can earn you money. If something goes wrong with your contextualization, you want a back-up that brings revenue.
The most obvious solution is to specify an alternate URL in the event that Google has no ads for you. You can do this from your AdSense account. lnstead of linking to the Red Cross or whoever it may be, you’ll receive a link to a site that you’ve pre-chosen.
I set up default ads for my 336 x 280 ad block, place them at
www.worldvillage.com/336x280-1 .html and choose that unit as my URL.
4ds by WorIdviIIace
Famiy-FriendIy nterne
Garies. softiare re.ies :-- -.
shopping free stjff and rncr
Coupon Codes
Find coupon codes for the webs leading merchants.
Hundreds 0f coupons and shopping forums
Increase Your AdSense Revenue
Groundbreaking AdSense ebook teils ail. Written by an
Adsense pro who makes over S500/day
The Best Web Site Reviews
fliousands 0f family-friendly web site reviews.
FamiiyFirst.com is the webs ‘eader since 1995.
Fig. 6.1 My own version of AdSense.
It looks remarkably like AdSense ads, don’t you think?
If these ads appeared on the same page as AdSense ads, it cou Id cause a problem. But if Google is going to send public service announcements to my site, I use these as a replacement.
You could also use this space to deliver image-based ads that come from your server. For offers that pay per action (clicks or signups), I like to use WebSponsors.com. You can signup for a free account and find new ways to monetize your unused ad space.
65
Probably the best way to turn that wasted space into revenue though is to place a Chitika ad there. I talk about Chitika later in this book, in the chapter about other ad systems. The company has some fantastic looking ad units, and they can be used in conjunction with AdSense.
Having a Chitika ad automatically replace a PSA ad is, I feel, the perfect solution until you manage to sort out the problem with your AdSense unit.
The principle is the same as the AdSense-like ad units I used to use: create a blank page on your site, add your Chitika code and use the URL as your alternate AdSense URL
lt’s really very simple and very effective.
6.13 BlockingAds
Another useful way to control the ads you see on your site is to block ads you dont want.
Google gives you a limit of 200 URLs to block, which isn’t much. You might well find yourself burning through them pretty fast, especially if you try to block lower paying ads in favor of the higher-paying ones.
Playing with keywords, content and placement will give you much better resu Its.
6.14 “Advertise On This Site”
Finally, there is one more way to influence the ads that you show on your site through AdSense: by keeping active the “Advertise on this site” feature. (You begin an AdSense campaign opted in; you have to choose to opt out.)
The feature displays a small notice beneath the ads that potential advertisers can click to sign up for AdWords. You dont get paid when the advertiser clicks but if they do sign up, their ads will appear on your page on a pay-perimpression basis — provided the price they enter beats other bids.
While you can’t choose which advertisers will sign up — or even see which advertisers are signing up — you can be reasonably confident that any advertiser looking at your site and choosing to advertise on it is likely to be in a relevant field. You can also use the filters to block advertisers that you don’t want to promote.
66
Having a Chitika ad automatically replace a PSA ad is, I feel, the perfect solution until you manage to sort out the problem with your AdSense unit.
The principle is the same as the AdSense-like ad units I used to use: create a blank page on your site, add your Chitika code and use the URL as your alternate AdSense URL
lt’s really very simple and very effective.
6.13 BlockingAds
Another useful way to control the ads you see on your site is to block ads you dont want.
Google gives you a limit of 200 URLs to block, which isn’t much. You might well find yourself burning through them pretty fast, especially if you try to block lower paying ads in favor of the higher-paying ones.
Playing with keywords, content and placement will give you much better resu Its.
6.14 “Advertise On This Site”
Finally, there is one more way to influence the ads that you show on your site through AdSense: by keeping active the “Advertise on this site” feature. (You begin an AdSense campaign opted in; you have to choose to opt out.)
The feature displays a small notice beneath the ads that potential advertisers can click to sign up for AdWords. You dont get paid when the advertiser clicks but if they do sign up, their ads will appear on your page on a pay-perimpression basis — provided the price they enter beats other bids.
While you can’t choose which advertisers will sign up — or even see which advertisers are signing up — you can be reasonably confident that any advertiser looking at your site and choosing to advertise on it is likely to be in a relevant field. You can also use the filters to block advertisers that you don’t want to promote.
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There are two things to consider when inviting people to advertise on your site.
First, if there’s ene message I’ve been trying te push threugheut this bock, it’s that yeu dont want te make your ads look like ads. Keep your “Advertise en this site” feature switched on and you’re going te get the word “Advertise” right next te an ad that you’ve just spent heurs trying te blend inte yeur site.
That’s net the sort cf thing that’s going te make an ad look like content.
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Ads by Goooooogle site
Fig. 6.2 Emphasizing your ads with “Advertise on this site.”
Sure, yeu’ve aise get “Ads by Geogle” right next te it but yeu want te deemphasize your ads as much as possible, not push the fact that they came from a third party.
What effect will that little notice have on your click-threugh rate? That’s semething yeu’ll need te check. Once yeu’ve eptimized yeur ads, ept eut cf the “Advertise en this site” feature fer a week and check yeur CTR. Then ept back in and compare the resu Its.
That sheuld let yeu knew hew much yeu’re paying for the chance cf receiving a targeted CPM campaign.
When you do get targeted in that way, you can then see how much the campaign brings in and decide whether or not the lower CTR is worth the ex pense.
On the whole, I think that for sites with plenty of traffic and who can earn large sums from a CPM campaign, it’s usually worthwhile staying in; other sites will need to do some careful calculations but most will also find that the lost clicks are minimal and that opting in pays.
It can pay even more when you consider the second issue related to “Advertise en this site”: you can edit the landing page.
When an advertiser clicks on that advertising link, they’re geing te pull up a page on Google with information about AdSense — and about your site. Google sees this page as a co-brand: they host and supply it, you can do what you like with it. Advertisers that dent yet have an AdWerd acceunt will be shown how to sign up and place their ads on your pages, and advertisers that do have an account will be shown how to advertise on your site.
67
First, if there’s ene message I’ve been trying te push threugheut this bock, it’s that yeu dont want te make your ads look like ads. Keep your “Advertise en this site” feature switched on and you’re going te get the word “Advertise” right next te an ad that you’ve just spent heurs trying te blend inte yeur site.
That’s net the sort cf thing that’s going te make an ad look like content.
ContentKeeper - Webfilter Advanced Web Fiiter
Monitor, Manage and Control Staff Free 14 day trial. Block websites by
Internet Access name or type - Kid Safe Internet
Ads by Goooooogle site
Fig. 6.2 Emphasizing your ads with “Advertise on this site.”
Sure, yeu’ve aise get “Ads by Geogle” right next te it but yeu want te deemphasize your ads as much as possible, not push the fact that they came from a third party.
What effect will that little notice have on your click-threugh rate? That’s semething yeu’ll need te check. Once yeu’ve eptimized yeur ads, ept eut cf the “Advertise en this site” feature fer a week and check yeur CTR. Then ept back in and compare the resu Its.
That sheuld let yeu knew hew much yeu’re paying for the chance cf receiving a targeted CPM campaign.
When you do get targeted in that way, you can then see how much the campaign brings in and decide whether or not the lower CTR is worth the ex pense.
On the whole, I think that for sites with plenty of traffic and who can earn large sums from a CPM campaign, it’s usually worthwhile staying in; other sites will need to do some careful calculations but most will also find that the lost clicks are minimal and that opting in pays.
It can pay even more when you consider the second issue related to “Advertise en this site”: you can edit the landing page.
When an advertiser clicks on that advertising link, they’re geing te pull up a page on Google with information about AdSense — and about your site. Google sees this page as a co-brand: they host and supply it, you can do what you like with it. Advertisers that dent yet have an AdWerd acceunt will be shown how to sign up and place their ads on your pages, and advertisers that do have an account will be shown how to advertise on your site.
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Google lets you make three kinds cf changes to this page:
• You can add a logo;
• You can set the color scheme;
• And you can write your own welcome message.
Do you see why these options are so important?
This is the only place in AdSense where publishers get to talk dire ctly to advertisers.
That’s crucial!
AdSense is structured 50 that Google stands between the network of advertisers and the network of publishers. Ads go in one end, Google sorts them and sends them out the other end.
Advertisers have no way of telling publishers to put their ads at the top of the page or next to relevant pictures or only on pages that contain positive reviews of their products, or anything else. Once they’ve submitted their ads, they just have to trust the publisher to promote their sites in the best way possible.
Similarly, as publishers, we have no control over what the advertisers write in their ads. We can’t telI them to use particular keywords, to write certain things in their headlines or to produce their copy in a particular style.
If we get an ad with bad copy, we just have to put up with the lower CTR until we either block it or see it replaced by a more profitable ad.
Edit the landing page, and you can telI the advertisers what they should write to get the most clicks with an ad on your site.
You can even include your email address and contact information and invite them to contact you directly.
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PCUCOf1eT Advertise on epicurean.com Googte ;1 • You can add a logo;
• You can set the color scheme;
• And you can write your own welcome message.
Do you see why these options are so important?
This is the only place in AdSense where publishers get to talk dire ctly to advertisers.
That’s crucial!
AdSense is structured 50 that Google stands between the network of advertisers and the network of publishers. Ads go in one end, Google sorts them and sends them out the other end.
Advertisers have no way of telling publishers to put their ads at the top of the page or next to relevant pictures or only on pages that contain positive reviews of their products, or anything else. Once they’ve submitted their ads, they just have to trust the publisher to promote their sites in the best way possible.
Similarly, as publishers, we have no control over what the advertisers write in their ads. We can’t telI them to use particular keywords, to write certain things in their headlines or to produce their copy in a particular style.
If we get an ad with bad copy, we just have to put up with the lower CTR until we either block it or see it replaced by a more profitable ad.
Edit the landing page, and you can telI the advertisers what they should write to get the most clicks with an ad on your site.
You can even include your email address and contact information and invite them to contact you directly.
68
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Goo Adwec.b il iebun a&at.ng progtn LhaI c..nocu yu. adi vnth ctntoeicn cn ffi4 Ae and acstn
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about *dwotds ç
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Fig. 6.3 The “Advertise on this site” landing page. Your communication channel to ad vert i sers.
You want that page to look like part of your site. If an advertiser has clicked on the “Advertise” link on your site, it’s because they’ve liked what they’ve seen. You’ve impressed them, flot Google, flot Google’s robot and flot Google’s method of matching ads to publishers.
Google understands that means they’ve got more chance of signing up an advertiser if they let you do the selling.
You should certainly add your logo to this page. It appears in the top lefthand corner and makes the landing page look like you’ve endorsed it — which, of course, you have, If you don’t have a logo, this is a good time to create one. You could just use any graphic that appears on your site; the effect will still be to draw a link between the landing page and your site.
And that’s the effect you want.
At the moment, you only get one landing page per account, although that might change soon. If you have multiple sites, Google will make sure that the ads only appear on the site the advertiser was visiting when he clicked, but you might not want to mention a site name on the landing page in case you confuse the advertiser.
The color scheme, of course, should match the colors used on your site. lt’s in the welcome text that things can really get interesting.
69
A*fl. on lin n W* yau pat chclced q pnt cf an 44 C.intnon
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opan ai AOo(4I açcow$ ar.i «tata 4 ad lot in titi 1
9ck. s. p,oc.ss. it yvi.i on m.n., sa 1h. p,ce you •jg W
i.ut te pay. md wel lice cv. U 1h. rat •
Akndy P’jvq s G.o 4dWctdp )‘cc4mqt
nsJ çafll ta ff901
ZJrflrr,!4 .-i ::riT!r rTx.7r!
Goo Adwec.b il iebun a&at.ng progtn LhaI c..nocu yu. adi vnth ctntoeicn cn ffi4 Ae and acstn
S. wab. tise *dWoeds to tatp*t vois ad$ to 1h, weck .4. ce bned on key*crds 0f flJ tMa Wrte yn
O IMflJ and s.t yos oan pKa $ce 44 ckck t vvu tuvs cote CcôttoI. tfln mCtI
about *dwotds ç
œoos Goc9. - -
Fig. 6.3 The “Advertise on this site” landing page. Your communication channel to ad vert i sers.
You want that page to look like part of your site. If an advertiser has clicked on the “Advertise” link on your site, it’s because they’ve liked what they’ve seen. You’ve impressed them, flot Google, flot Google’s robot and flot Google’s method of matching ads to publishers.
Google understands that means they’ve got more chance of signing up an advertiser if they let you do the selling.
You should certainly add your logo to this page. It appears in the top lefthand corner and makes the landing page look like you’ve endorsed it — which, of course, you have, If you don’t have a logo, this is a good time to create one. You could just use any graphic that appears on your site; the effect will still be to draw a link between the landing page and your site.
And that’s the effect you want.
At the moment, you only get one landing page per account, although that might change soon. If you have multiple sites, Google will make sure that the ads only appear on the site the advertiser was visiting when he clicked, but you might not want to mention a site name on the landing page in case you confuse the advertiser.
The color scheme, of course, should match the colors used on your site. lt’s in the welcome text that things can really get interesting.
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You dont reaiiy want te give advertisers a Iist cf keywords that they shculd use. it’s uniikeiy that they’re going te be impressed by a bunch cf demands from someone who has yet to earn them a dime.
But they wiii appreciate information about the sorts of words that are iikeiy te attract the mcst clicks. They’ii stiil feei that they’ve got the freedcm te decide on their own ad copy — but they’ii be more iikeiy to write the sort of copy you want.
For exam pie, if you have a site about cars and you know your users are particuiariy interested in modeis that suit families, you couid let the advertisers know. If your biog mostiy attracts Repubiicans you couid suggest issues that are iikeiy te get ycur users ciicking an ad. if ycu’ve get a site about pets, you cou Id point out that your users are more interested in accessories for dogs than for cats.
No one knows your users better than you. This is the place to share that information so that you can share some higher revenues.
And finaiiy, you couid aiso encourage advertisers to sign up for a targetedsite campaign.
Whiie it’s iikeiy that most of the advertisers who click on the iink wiii want to advertise exciusiveiy on your site — and Googie has set up the system to encourage that resuit — it’s aise possible that some advertisers who are new to AdSense wiii decide to spread their ads over a number of different sites in your fieid.
That means yeu’re eniy getting a fraction cf their advertising budget. A targeted-site campaign wiii give you ail of it.
Just teil them that a targeted campaign on your site is iikeiy to give them the best resu its.
Does ail that sound hard? Don’t worry, iii make it easy for you. You can just take the text beiow and adjust it for your site, swapping the underiined sections for details relevant to your site:
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But they wiii appreciate information about the sorts of words that are iikeiy te attract the mcst clicks. They’ii stiil feei that they’ve got the freedcm te decide on their own ad copy — but they’ii be more iikeiy to write the sort of copy you want.
For exam pie, if you have a site about cars and you know your users are particuiariy interested in modeis that suit families, you couid let the advertisers know. If your biog mostiy attracts Repubiicans you couid suggest issues that are iikeiy te get ycur users ciicking an ad. if ycu’ve get a site about pets, you cou Id point out that your users are more interested in accessories for dogs than for cats.
No one knows your users better than you. This is the place to share that information so that you can share some higher revenues.
And finaiiy, you couid aiso encourage advertisers to sign up for a targetedsite campaign.
Whiie it’s iikeiy that most of the advertisers who click on the iink wiii want to advertise exciusiveiy on your site — and Googie has set up the system to encourage that resuit — it’s aise possible that some advertisers who are new to AdSense wiii decide to spread their ads over a number of different sites in your fieid.
That means yeu’re eniy getting a fraction cf their advertising budget. A targeted-site campaign wiii give you ail of it.
Just teil them that a targeted campaign on your site is iikeiy to give them the best resu its.
Does ail that sound hard? Don’t worry, iii make it easy for you. You can just take the text beiow and adjust it for your site, swapping the underiined sections for details relevant to your site:
70
Thank you for advertising on FamilvFirst.com, the webs leading site for familv-friendlv web site reviews. Our users are typically traditional families, stay-at-home moms and rarents of chiidren aaed between 3 and 16.
We’ve found that users respond most favorably to articles and links about filter software, children’s DVDs and computer pames, tovs and familv entertain ment.
Highlighting these aspects of your business in your ad is likely to earn the highest number of clicks and the best conversions.
We’d also recommend that you focus your advertising with a targeted-site campaign. We look forward to helping your business grow! If you would like more information about advertising on FamilvFirst.com, please write to sales@FamilyFirst.com.
See how easy that is?
The page should be available within 24 hours, and once you’ve created it, you can put links to it anywhere you like; you’re not restricted to the little line under the ads. So you could put them in your ernails and on your Web pages in places of your choice.
Why would you send potential advertisers to Google’s advertising sign-up page instead of your own? Well, you rnight not want to. You rnight prefer to just vet each advertiser yourself and set your own price. But bear in mmd that any advertiser who follows that link has to outbid other advertisers on Google who want that sarne space. You dont know what exactly the current highest bid is; the most you can know is how many clicks your ads received and how much money you earned in the previous days and weeks.
You certainly can’t telI how much you’re going to receive in the weeks to corne.
Sending potential advertisers to your Google sign-in page will ensure that you’re always getting the highest-paying ads for those spaces.
6.15 Does Location Matter For CPM Ads?
In a word, yes! This is what Google has to say about CPM ads, the type of ads you’re likely to get frorn a site-targeted carnpaign (rny ernphasis):
You’ll earn revenue each tirne a CPM (cost per 1000 irnpressions, also known as pay-per-impression) ad is displayed on your site. You won’t earn additional revenue for clicks on these ads.
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Please note that the placement of CPM ads on your pages can affect the amount an advertiser pays for that impression. Placing your CPM ad units below the fold, or in an otherwise low-impact location, may resuit in lower earnings than if the ad unit was placed in a conspicuous location. We’ve found that users respond most favorably to articles and links about filter software, children’s DVDs and computer pames, tovs and familv entertain ment.
Highlighting these aspects of your business in your ad is likely to earn the highest number of clicks and the best conversions.
We’d also recommend that you focus your advertising with a targeted-site campaign. We look forward to helping your business grow! If you would like more information about advertising on FamilvFirst.com, please write to sales@FamilyFirst.com.
See how easy that is?
The page should be available within 24 hours, and once you’ve created it, you can put links to it anywhere you like; you’re not restricted to the little line under the ads. So you could put them in your ernails and on your Web pages in places of your choice.
Why would you send potential advertisers to Google’s advertising sign-up page instead of your own? Well, you rnight not want to. You rnight prefer to just vet each advertiser yourself and set your own price. But bear in mmd that any advertiser who follows that link has to outbid other advertisers on Google who want that sarne space. You dont know what exactly the current highest bid is; the most you can know is how many clicks your ads received and how much money you earned in the previous days and weeks.
You certainly can’t telI how much you’re going to receive in the weeks to corne.
Sending potential advertisers to your Google sign-in page will ensure that you’re always getting the highest-paying ads for those spaces.
6.15 Does Location Matter For CPM Ads?
In a word, yes! This is what Google has to say about CPM ads, the type of ads you’re likely to get frorn a site-targeted carnpaign (rny ernphasis):
You’ll earn revenue each tirne a CPM (cost per 1000 irnpressions, also known as pay-per-impression) ad is displayed on your site. You won’t earn additional revenue for clicks on these ads.
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So if you were thinking, “Great! III encourage click-throughs above the fold and get paid per impression with an expanded text ad at the bottom of the page...” think again.
Google daims that CPM campaigns have to bid for space on publishers’ websites in the same marketplace as CPC ads, and that therefore you would only receive a CPM ad if it’s the highest paying option. If advertisers are paying less for a CPM ad at the bottom of a page, it’s less likely then that you’re going to get one down there.
Now, how Google is figuring out where on the page you’re putting your ads beats me. Their love of Smart Pricing (see Chapter 13) though, suggests that they could be comparing advertisers’ sales results with the number of impressions and assuming that sites with high impressions and low sales have put the ads in out-of-the-way places.
Whichever method they’re using, the end result is that you’re still going to see higher revenues from ads in the best locations and less from the worst spots.
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