Adsense Tips and Tricks Part 2

Hey there and welcome to part 2 of Adsense Tips and Tricks Part 2. That would lead one to believe that there must be a part 1 somewhere, and in case you missed it you can check it out at Adsense Tips and Tricks  Part 1. So lets get into a couple more tips here.

Images not always worth a thousand words.

With your ad blocks you also have the choice of test or image ads, or let google mix em up for you. This is kinda a mix bag and you’ll have to decide what’s best for you. You see the nice image ads (any size) are recognized as just that, ads. We all know how ads started as those 468×60 banner ads and we all tend to avoid them like the plague. I go with that theory with all image ads, they don’t get clicked that often. The other side of the coin is that image blocks typically are higher bid ads thus earning you more per click. Image ads can also earn you CPM income, a couple cents just for showing the ads with out clicks. I have on some sites kept a skyscraper ad or even a 250 block in the sidebar as text/image but for the most part have switched to all text ads and have seen income overall go up a bit since. Also since you are allowed 3 to a page perhaps one text only and one image only?

Text Links, the Other White Meat

With adsense you are allowed 3 ad blocks AND 3 text links per page but very few take advantage of these other ads. My most clicked on ad style is the 728×15 text links that I put under my menus (as seen above on this page). Another good one is the 200×90 stacked text links, place in your side bar in-between widgets such as recent posts and categories. If google’s contextual ads are working it will look just like your list and get clicks. I have been seeing that for the most part (not always the case) that these clicks are not worth as much as regular ad blocks, but they do seem to get lots of clicks so its another catch 22 and a judgement call. Having at least one some where is a good idea though.

I have wondered if I didn’t have those ad links on the sites, would it translate to the same amount of clicks on the higher paying ads? Part of me says no but Im am doing a test by removing the top text links on a site that was getting a decent amount of those clicks and will see how it pans out after a week.

Content is King

Of course if you have interest based ads switched off adsense serves ads based on your content and keywords. Now you most likely are not writing you blogs for adsense unless you are doing niche sites. But no mater your subject it doesnt hurt to structure your posts with adsense in mind, just like doing SEO. You can use free tools such as Google’s adwords keyword tool or paid programs such as Market Samurai to do keyword research for you posts. These tools will tell you how much a keyword or keyword phrase is searched as well as tell you what adsense ad bids that can be expected as well. Of these ad bids you would expect to see 60%-70% (but not always). So you may want to take some time to do keyword research so you can keep them in mind when writing your posts.

Little Word on Ad Networks

What we all should be doing is using channels (more on that later) and creating different ad blocks to test things like color, position, text, etc and when we find what performs well for us the we go with it. There is another area people look at and its the ad networks, but don’t treat this like the other testing. Some will look at the reports of ad networks and see that some networks don’t seem to be paying out much so in their mind if they block this ad network then google will choose ads from the other higher paying networks instead. This is a mistake!

With colors and positions once you find what works and eliminate the others it is not effecting the auction process for the highest paying ads to appear, you are working more on your CTR. If you block an ad network you are essentially limiting bidders for advertising on your site. If adsnese served an ad from a lesser paying network its because there were no other ads from the other networks that would pay more. Adsense is always going to serve the highest (or best) ads for your spots from among all the networks.

So do not block any ad networks! If you are looking to block specific content or ads there are better ways to do that.

Get Help From Adsense

Finally there is a way to get help from the adsense folks themselves. Its a slim chance but the have introduced a way that you can get personalized suggestions by email. In your account while you are on the home page go down and click on Account Settings. In the first section ‘Personal Settings’ click edit please 🙂 You’ll then see a check box titled ‘Customized help and performance suggestions’. If you check this box you get a chance at adsense sending you a personalized email with suggestions for better using adsense on your site or sites. Dont hold your breath though, haven’t seen one yet, but dosnet hurt to have it checked and perhaps get a little help. After all it is in their best interest that you do well.

Test, Test, Test

Of course every site is different so the best route is to test often to find what best works for your site. If you have a blog that you post regularly on you will do things different than if you are creating niche sites that you would build and park. Above all it takes time, adsense is not going to make you rich as soon as you put up a site. I have over a dozen blogs and niche sites that I work on. Some become instant hits and have generated adsense revenue right away others have taken months to get first click. Couple sites bring in the majority of the income while a others just trickle in a little once in awhile (it all ads up)

Don’t be discouraged as once you get it set up it is the easiest way to earn a bit of money with out doing much at all. Im not an expert like some of the big dogs out there that earn thousands off adsense each month, but with time I hope to be 🙂 Will the be a part 3? I am thinking about it, there are a couple more subject to consider but may make them posts on their own. I will continue to post tips as I discover new ideas that work for me, and there are other topics such as channels that I will cover. If you want an in depth guide to adsense, the e-book over in my sidebar was a great read and covers other ad sources as well.

Let me know what you think! What you would like to know more about! Do you have any tips?