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MinniePauz
Joined:
19 Nov 2003
Posts:
170
Location:
Michigan
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:16 pm
Post subject: How do you know if it's worth it?
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Since we can't talk about our Adsense results, how do you know if you're doing well or if you could be doing better? I realize that any extra money is a good thing, but when you've put the extra work in to optimize the pages, at some point it isn't as cost effective because my site was not built specifically for Adsense, like so many others have been.
My site has been up for nearly 6 years and I just started with Adsense in Sept and have tried to use the advice given here to optimize my existing niche site to make as much money as I could without having to recreate the entire thing. Even though I'm making some extra $$, I have NO idea where I am as far as what would be considered good-better-best. That's the only way you can tell if you need to do more or just keep doing what you're doing. Of course there are many variables that affect our income from Adsense and I am taking those into consideration, but it would sure help if there were some kind of averages to go by or some indication that a person could do more tweaking, etc.
I appreciate the effort Google is making to restrict abuse of the program and I'm sure they are trying to make this work for everyone (advertisers and publishers), so I'm not complaining, but with the technology they have available, they should be able to refine the system so we can know if our efforts are paying off or not. Since my business is all about helping women, I can only afford a certain amount of time spent on tweaking and optimizing and then I don't know for sure if I'm messing with my search engine rankings or turning my visitors off because I'm now carrying advertising or anything else that may be affecting what I've spent 6 years building.
Can anyone respond to this or am I just looking for something impossible?
Dee |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:26 pm
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Basically, like with any program you join, you need to track your stats (as best you can) with the affiliate program/product. You need to track your site stats including rankings, page traffic, page conversion when possible. You also need to poll your subscribers and visitors. Ask them questions, entice them to respond if you have to. Gauge their responses in line with your tracking.
Then tweak, test, tweak, test etc. until you feel you have reached maximum potential for each page. If you are happy with the number of visitors, conversions, and you aren't receiving complaints or more unsubs, great! If your income is increasing at the same time, awesome!
Can you do better? Sure you can, but noone can tell you what the norm is because it is specific to your niche and your products, not to mention your target market. A conversion of 1/2% may be good for Joe's site, but horrible for John's. Same with traffic, each niche is different.
So testing and tweaking is the only way to really see. That includes testing various Adsense sizes, colors and placement over time (not all at once or you can't tell what was good and what was bad).
At some point you may even want to test a new design (doing a sample, mockup page and poll your visitors and subscribers to see what they think).
Sorry I can't be more specific, but them's the breaks 
Debs
_________________
Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!" |
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MinniePauz
Joined:
19 Nov 2003
Posts:
170
Location:
Michigan
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:47 am
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I've done all that you mentioned Debs, but still having problems getting appropriate ads on several pages. I finally took them off of some pages since I couldn't figure out what the problem is.
Here's another question (or two)..... it seems that (1) I'm getting the lowest paying ads (when I can even find them on the list of advertisers), and (2) the ads don't seem to change very often, which again, doesn't work well when you have a lot of returning visitors.
I've been very diligent about adding new content (almost every day there's something new on the site) so my visitors will always have something new to read or interact with. I have very good traffic numbers, good search engine placement, communicate with my viewers on a regular basis with polls, contests, newsletters, etc., but since the ads don't change very often, my click through rate just keeps dropping. I suspect that what I'm getting is from new visitors, but even they are going to see all the ads in just a few pages when the same 4 ads show on 5-6 pages.
I've said it before and I'll say it again....Adsense seems to work better for people who are creating pages specifically for the ads, instead of for sites that are attracting the advertiser's markets. I might be better off to just deal directly with advertisers like I was doing before, I don't know....I'm just really frustrated! |
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Debs
Joined:
16 Aug 2003
Posts:
4296
Location:
NY
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 12:16 pm
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Minnie, I think a combination would be good ... some pages with Adsense (or all of them) PLUS ads for other products/programs. You can do both, and should in my mind. Putting too much emphasis on one company, can strangle your income. Consider Adsense for your new visitors, and find products for your repeat visitors.
And work on the ebook I suggestion  I think it would be a winner!
Debs
_________________
Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!" |
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john2698
Joined:
08 Nov 2003
Posts:
709
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 12:38 pm
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I also agree with you. I'm also with Adsense, and I'm also not sure if I'm earning as much as what I could be. It would be good if there was some way that you could find out how much other people were averaging per click thru from Adsense, how many of their impressions are converting to click thru's, etc.
It's a shame that people can't talk about their Adsense earnings!!!
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