Knowing that the owner of the site gets paid for every click, I try to at least pay attention to the ads and check for links that interest me.
Typically though, I don't always look really hard for ads, so they should definitely position where I should see them during my normal site navigation.
Size of the ad doesn't matter.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Apex,
Thanks for your feedback. So that is pretty cool to hear. You want to help support site owners by clicking on the ads that interest you. That is good to know.
How would you rate the overall level of quality in the content that you find through Google Adsense being generated on the sites you visit on a regular basis?
Susan Borgas
· 2 years ago
Good topic Garry!
If the ad interests me I will click on it, that is if I see the advertisement in the first place, hence find the top of the page best. Why do I click in the fist place? To give something back to the web/blog owner for what is received; good information! 'In the face' ads tend to make me want to move on quickly, without the click!
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Susan,
Thanks so much for the feedback. So far one consistent reason why people click is in consideration for the blog author/ site owner... as Apex mentioned also.
If you could respond back, what would be some example of "In The Face" ads? Could you provide a few link examples so that I could view them?
It is interesting to discover so early in this discussion that people who are aware of Google Adsense:
<ul><li>One: Have an interests in the ads</li> <li>Two: Are partially motivated to click to support the site owner.</li></ul>
Susan Borgas
· 2 years ago
Garry as an artist I am a very visual person that likes layouts that I can get the information that I want straight away so that I can move onto the next. I don’t particularly want to single out blogs or websites because the sites that come to mind are ones that I also like to keep tabs on and do respect their work.
Let’s see if I can expand on what I said in my first comment. “In the face†would be when colours are tasteless, ads oversized and busy images used. I am not fond of very large fonts or moving images either. Not all visitors are on high speed internet with many still on dial-u. I don’t have a choice with internet speed, ISDN dial-up is it for me and can be pretty darn slow at times. The video ads for example would never be clicked on by myself. The long towers are a waste of space when placed near the top of a page in the sidebar. I want to see information like ‘recent posts’ and so forth, not the advertisement, as ads will always be secondary to me. The banner and smaller square with text ads are my preference when visiting a page because I feel these are a much better design to get the information to the visitors without overpowering the remainder of the page, if colours are used correctly ;-)
Leroy - GL
· 2 years ago
I tend not to click on any ads for various reasons. When it comes to my own blog, I try to market my content toward the click happy masses rather than a web savvy individual who tend to visit "How-To-Make-Money" blogs.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
What is interesting Susan, is that I have toyed around with the idea of using Adsense here on this site. But I always have felt that it wouldn't be very effective and it would take away a lot of valuable space here on the site. But, after reading what you have wrote here as well as reading what Apex wrote, it would almost seem beneficial to have Adsense on the site, if used in a subtle and conservative manner.
I totally agree with what you saying. I like my sidebars to immediately present to my readers, "What is Going On?", "What are the Current Topics?", "Who is/was Here?" and ""What Did They Say".
I have quite a few other sites that I make money online with. But, this site has been precious to me because I want it to be a site where people can come to learn more about me as a person, what I think about, and how I can help them with being successful online.
I have been toying with Text-Link-Ads and just now AdVolcano a little bit, but to me it almost would seem more beneficial to my readers as well as myself to campaign using Google Adsense. I also have Yahoo Publisher, and that pays very well. However, the ads are less relevant. With my site design being just about done, I am now wondering if I should re-think how I monetize the site. I have been tracking Text-Link-Ads, ReviewMe.com as well as my own independent advertisement campaign for about two months now and I think it would be interesting to compared the difference in results by participating in a PPC campaign here instead. I guess I have some thinking to do... :) Thanks for dropping the added comment and further explaining your thoughts.
mattsofi
· 2 years ago
Very interesting topic Garry.
You would normally surf the sites that you have interests. You are looking for some info, then the ads next to it might have what you need. So, there goes a click.
However, if the sites is full of ads and does not have any value added, there is no point of helping the owner. In this case, I just type in the URL manually. If there is no URL, forget it.
In summary (reason for clicking): 1) The ads is catchy and interesting 2) It is highly targeted (and might you want you want) 3) Help the owner of the websites for giving good info.
uncle sha
· 2 years ago
I don't click ads when i'm on mu PC, a habit brought over i practice as someone who don't click ads on their site
if i'm on another pc terminal, i click once in a while to help the fella earn and also if the ads are interesting
782x90 & 336x280 works best for my roving eye
also dude, work on ur spam comment redirect page. after i key in the K2 image captcha, it says my comments is successful and thats it.
no link to your main page, i think you lose couple of readers who are internet idiots
just a thought ...
btw i use akismet, no captcha, kinda hassle free. also K2 spam plugins clash with another plugin of mine, had to deactivate it
cheers
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Hey Leroy,
I wrote a post about writing content that targets, as you call them, "Click Happy Masses" and want to invite you to read it.
I appreciate the honesty in your feedback. You have explained to me that you tend to not click on any ads. Choosing not to click on ads on sites you visit, do the ads on these sites bother you? Have you learned to ignore them, or do they cause you slight aggravation?
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
It amazes me to learn that 3 out of the 4 commenters so far tell me they click on Google Adsense ads partially to help support the site owner, assuming that the ad interests them.
I did a little test a few minutes ago, if you were here you might have noticed. I displayed a 728x90 on the top page to see what kind of ads the script would generate and the content didn't seem to be all that bad. Quite a few of the ads were promoting Google Adsense itself, which I don't think would be effective. But, most of the other ads were spot on in relation to the subject matter of any given article written.
It is funny to hear that you will write a URL in the address bar manually before you would click an ad generated from a site that is over saturated in ads.
On sites that you support and click on the interesting ads, is there a particular ad format and position that is more catchy to your eye than others? (i.e. do you prefer image ads over text ads, do you catch on sidebar ads over ads that are embedded into content, etc...)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to you expanding more on this.
Leroy - GL
· 2 years ago
I tend to ignore ads when I visit any website. Plus, it also helps that I use the FireFox web browser, along with their ad block extensions. I can't see any ads whatsoever! Thank Goodness!!!
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Does the Ad Blocker extension also block Google Adsense ads?
Yes, I use the AdBlock Plus extension, combined with the the Adblock Filterset.G Updater. It's a bullet proof way to block out ads. For annoying Flash ads, I use the flashblock extension for additional protection. Google ads and all popular content advertisers are blocked off as well.
These extensions can also be customized based on a variety of settings and filters. :)
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
I just noticed that you updated your header? I thought that it was very creative how you had it before. What was your main consideration when you made this latest update?
I have invested quite a bit of time into setting up my SpamKarma and it works very well and is very balanced. I monitor it very closely as well to make sure comments don't get missed. The reason why you were promoted to captcha image was because SpamKarma assigned you with a very low Karma rating which was triggered by your IP address. You should have any more problems as the more you comment the more you build your Karma level here on the site. Thanks for bringing the re-direct to my attention, I appreciate that.
mattsofi
· 2 years ago
Practically, 728x90 at the top page is not very effective. The reason is that user has not seen the content yet. So, they just scroll down to the content.
The best is still large rectangle inside the content area, or if your page is narrow, tower 160x600 on the side next to the article/post.
728x90 might work if placed at the bottom. However, I still prefer large rectangle even at the end. So far the CTR is good.
Text ads is much better because I have trained my eye to ignore those image ads since many years ago well before Adsense come into the picture. :)
I know it is hard to make a living online. So, if I could help the owner, at least I have contributed back for his sincere and hard work. Some sites are full of ads and the content is probably 2 paragraph and talks about somebody else articles which is (in my opinion) would not help the visitors much.
Yes, I would type the URL manually even on google search page. Usually and generally speaking, I try not to entertain too much on the ads.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
It has been awhile since the last time I visited Google's help pages on Google Adsense, and the last time I was there they didn't have this page:
which I found to be very helpful. This page is offers specific advice for ad unit implementation on a blog.
mattsofi
· 2 years ago
I make my initial layout based on the recommendation. Later fine tune the ads placement by using channel. So, you know which one works best on your site.
2 main things that contribute to the increase CTR are the site layout and ads relevancy.
You need to do some fine tuning and experimentation. So, your mileage might varies.
I think the page you mentioned above was there for quite some time. It must be very long since you were there. :) Also, it is good to subscribe to adsense official blog @ http://adsense.blogspot.com. Catch the latest development and announcement.
Submission of sitemap to google would help a lot. 2 of my latest 4 post was on first page of google blogsearch after I have posted like 1 hour or so.
my 2 cents.
K-IntheHouse
· 2 years ago
I think I would fall into the majority here.. I click on ads to support the quality content the author brings when the ads display relevant interesting links.
Text ads are the ones I click usually. My eyes just don't pay attention to to the banner ads and flash ads and tend to ignore them. I second or thrid the opinion that ads in the sidebar take up valuable space and somewhere in the side of the post or the bottom is what I consider a favorable place. I don't run any ads yet so my views are as a techie reader.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the feedback. I have set out a test campaign that I am going to run out and test for a few days. Follow what Google suggested on this page, I have launched an ad unit directly below the post content and my signature. I am probably going to run it for the month of May and then see how it did. I have researched the ads generated on quite a few of my older articles written months back, and I have to admit... they are pretty spot on and seem to be attractive. To me though, if the campaign doesn't generate the minimum payment, then I feel it is not worth having on the site. I would much rather call a loss and have a site totally free of ads. I guess only time will tell. Thanks again for the comment.
Manila Mom
· 2 years ago
I think I still belong to the "click happy masses." :) I am even tempted to click on my own ads NOT to make money but because I am curious about their content. I'm a sucker about ads on how to make money online. Also ads offering free stuff I'm interested in like stories and book reviews. It doesn't matter where they are on the page as long as I see them. It's more of the way the ads are written that determines whether I find them credible or not to merit exploration.
Knowing all these myself, I put up blogs to carry ads that I think would be attractive to people like me. One of my problems is that I often don't like the kind of ads being displayed on my site.
George
· 2 years ago
I rarely click on ads, but when I do it's because the ad REALLY interests me.
I am slightly more partial to clicking on ads on sites that I feel really give me great information. However, I still only click on ads for sites that look really interesting to me.
I don't think the size of the ad affects me much. Ads that are located above the fold, are more likely to grab my attention. Since ads located in the middle of content annoy me, I never click on those. But ads just above or below content, in the sidebars, or at top of the site are fair game.
Hope that helps...
jez
· 2 years ago
my google earnings have just dropped to the bottom for april and may. I used to make 10$/day with 7000 to 8000 impressions, but now I make only 5$/day.
that's as some say due to the good weather, but I think it is due to people being lazy to click. also the ads are not really targetted that well. I get wu-long slim tea ads on my articles about trance music? what the hell?
no wonder noone clicks them. the competition filter is already maxed at 200 lines.
some ads, I think are very interesting, I am tended to click, then again others are just plain stupid. so I can basically understand both sides of the coin.
does anyone click your ads garry?
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
I remember five months ago you ran a poll on your site. I want to provide that link here because I think it was an excellent study and produced some good feedback in the comments.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Its too early for me to tell. The ads you see below the post and below my signature are on a test run. I want to make some money on this site, but really that isn't my focus here.... I make plenty on my other sites. But, on the flip side, I don't want to throw money away here!
My main focus is quickly and accurately displaying useful and helpful information to my readers. This is my personal site where I spill the beans and write about my experiences and knowledge and creative ways I make money online and how viewers can too. I am all about doing it right the first time... but life on the Internet and especially with blogging, sometimes that isn't possible... and with Garry Conn dot Com, this is a site that has been doing it right since the beginning because of all the mistakes I have learned on other sites. Within the last two months this site has converted from being my slowest site to the largest site. It totally amazes me!
My test campaign is at the bottom of the post because I don't want people to click until they are done reading what I wrote. I don't want ads interfering with my content, nor do I want them to distract the reader. When I am done speaking, then the reader can click or not... Naturally, I would love to get clicks, but that is really not what my site is about.
I am sure that I will keep everyone informed of the progress of the campaign... as much as I am allowed too without breaching Google Adsense TOS. Also, if it doesn't perform well, then I will get rid of it.
Displaying three posts per page and having three of these ads at the bottom of every post could acutally allow me to display four posts per page without it. That is quite a bit of space.
Thanks for the comments and sharing your feedback!
uncle sha
· 2 years ago
i changed the header as i got THE email from goggle whom with its new TOS, asking me such blending is prohibited and i'm in violation or i'll get my account suspended
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Wow, no doubt! They are a little picky! I thought it looked pretty good! Oh well, I am glad that they contacted you about it. I have heard some horror stories about Google just suspending accounts without warning... not sure if that is true or not, but at a minimum, it was still nice of them to contact you about it. Again, it is their program and their rules, so we do need to respect them. :)
Greg
· 2 years ago
Being that I am and advertiser I know the cost of running ad campaigns and they are not cheap. I rarley click on Adsense for this reason. If there is and ad that I see that interests me I usally copy and paste the url directly as not to cost the advertiser un-due cost as I have no intentions of buying.
Adsense has change alot since it's beginnings. Too many ill willed people are abusing the advertising system these days.
As for the novice that knows nothing about ads, like my parents, your chances of landing a sale are much better than the random "tip in the jar" approach that seems to be whats happening latley. The "tip" is costing me money and I see nothing in return.
Although I do not implement Adsense on my best performing site as of yet I do plan to once the traffic is more relevant. I hope as time goes on people that are click happy realize the money they are costing advertiser, especially the small operations. Many people simple go broke because of the click happy folks having a good time.
Great topic Gary
George
· 2 years ago
Greg,
I do that too at times. I used to spend quite a bit of money on advertising on Google. Generally, I turned off content sites, so my ads were only seen in the search results. Sometimes I would also show them on content sites, but I would always set up a separate campaign and bid a lower price on the content ads.
Kyle Eslick
· 2 years ago
When I visit sites, I often try to click an advertisement or two to help that blogger out. I think its a good practice for readers of a blog they like.
Ad placement is just something to experiment with. With your suggestions and my old experience, I've been moving my ads around quite a bit to figure out what works. I'm generally a person that likes to try different things, so knowing me, I'll move them even if I find a position that works well ;)
Great reader feedback and discussions above!
apex
· 2 years ago
You asked me: 'How would you rate the overall level of quality in the content that you find through Google Adsense being generated on the sites you visit on a regular basis?'
Typically, I think that the targeted ads in adsense works very good. However, as some users have pointed out, there is always that weird one that on the surface doesn't appear to have anything to do with the site.
As far as the content of links provided by adsense, it varies. I would have to say that I have seen a lot of sites that are clearly SEO optimized. They are rich in content but aren't really appearing to the eye. However, I have also seen pages that are very appealing to the eye, and I have actually favorite'd and gone back to some sites I found via adsense ads.
Homemom3
· 2 years ago
Okay this might be long, might not as I see you comment after others and normally with a question. First, I click on one a week, sometimes more depending. I'm afraid if I click on one or more than one a day, they'll get banned. But I do want to support them so I click at least one a week. The ones I click are normally ones that I would at least find interesting. ie, I see some of yours are about blogging or getting paid to blog, that would definitely be a click, however if it were about software or computers it probably wouldn't. A parenting site will get me to click on ads about children's products, diapers, etc. (things that interest me)
As for how do I rate the ads, lately all it is are those darn ebooks for making millions of dollars. Or helium of course and I'm already a member there.
I tend to actually click on the text link ads inside a paragraph that I'm reading to see where it takes me. Normally I avoid those giant ones that have the one picture on them. Well not sure if this helped or it was what you are looking for.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
I don't use Firefox too often, only to double check my design to make sure my sites look good in both browsers. I am curious what happens to the ad space? Does the content below the space just move up? or is there just a blank spot where the ads used to be?
I am curious as to why you participate in a program on your site that you feel is so offensive that you take these extreme measures to block the ads that appear on other sites?
I can understand why someone would want to block the ads... but I am more curious about why you block the ads on other sites but run the ads on your own site. I would guess it is about the money. But then I have to also ask, if it is about the money, why not run with a different business model, something that you personally buy into yourself.
I am not trying to create controversy, I am a pretty open minded guy, but it almost seems like a one way steet here. I am not trying to offend you, I am just curious to hear your response to this becausee there are people that actually click on ads that interest them and do so knowing that it gives the site owner a little bit of a "reach around".
I would imagine that it is against Google TOS to discuss how much money I make per day by participating in Google Adsense, but I can say that after running Google Adsense for 48 hours so far on this site, it has done pretty well. And I would imagine everyone that clicked on these ads did this knowing that they were helping me out. But also they know not to abuse the system and only click on ads that truly interest them. This makes me feel real good knowing that people want to help me and also have trust in the program I choose to run on the site. If I didn't support Google Adsense and if I didn't buy into the program, I wouldn't participate in it. And I surely wouldn't present these ads to my trusted readers. Naturally I have other sites that run Google Adsense and they do very well, but these are sites that are designed to target "Click Happy" traffic (as we are calling it that on this thread).
Within the last 48 hours, because of my reader's support and desire to investigate the content within Google Adsense, I can take my kids out to Dairy Queen for a special treat! I love it and appreciate the help. I am also confident in Google ability to provide my readers with excellent resources. I believe that if I continue to write excellent content then Google will provide my readers with excellent links.
Now, depending on how well the end result of this test is, will determine if I will continue using Google Adsense on this site. As I have mentioned before, I am all about making money online, but this site is more focused on helping others do it creatively and not the other way around.
I am taking into consideration the amount of money I make and I am weighing it against how relevant and useful these ads are for my readers. I want to use Google Adsense to assist me in providing my readers with advise, tips and tools on being successful online.
Garry Conn
· 2 years ago
Well then, you must be the one that is treating my kids to Dairy Queen this Sunday! LOL..
Ok, all kidding aside, here is an article direct from Google that might help you with improving the relevancy in your ads in your Google Adsense ad units:
Good luck with that, and let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you.
If you don't mind me offering a suggestion to you, I think you should make a choice between Google Adsense or Amazon.com affiliate program. I feel that running both is somewhat a conflict of interest.
I have experience with both programs, and both can make you a great deal of money online if used correctly, but I have had terrible luck running both at the same time.
I would run nothing but Adsense for one month and see how it does. then I would run one month using Amazon and see how that does.
Let me know these ideas interest you and then I can give you more detailed suggestions based on the choices you make. I can help you make an attempt to make Google Adsense more effective on your site for you and or offer advise on running the Amazon ads.
Overall, you are spreading yourself too thin on the site. There is too much to click on your site and unless you have thousands of visits per day, it is probably hard to see the overall growth of your income in all these programs combined. Where if you exercised focus and effort towards one program solely, you could visible see better results.
Again, just some helpful friend to friend suggestions... If you want some help, I will be happy to provide more details.
Manila Mom
· 2 years ago
This is very good advice. I didn't realize that having both adsense and amazon would be a conflict. I think I will remove amazon and try adsense first, since to earn at Amazon will need actual sales while adsense only needs clicks. Additional advice will be very, very welcome always. The month's earnings of all our family blogs together couldn't even pay for Dairy Queen blizzards for my 3 kids as of now.
Off topic, I have not been posting the past two days as my mom is in a bad way. I am mentioning this because I read about you and your family caring for your dad. We did that, too, and he passed away last year. We are now caring for my bedridden mom. Working at home is really a blessing in that it allows us to care for our family.
George
· 2 years ago
One other thing... I was talking to my wife about this the other day and for some reason the banner ads with movement and nice graphics tend to draw my attention. I click on them sometimes, because the ad catches my eye. Whereas with her, the banner ads with moving graphics annoy her and she never clicks on them. I don't know if this is a male vs. female thing or something else. Just thought it would interest you.
Dave Starr --- ROI Guy
· 2 years ago
Yes I'd be interested in reading more about this attitiude/preference too. "I see no ads, thnak goodness". Super, because the world is built on preference. But wy on earth be reading, and commenting on a blog about making money wiht ads?
I use FireFox for most of my surfing as well, but I nebver turn off ads ... I read them the same as I read other parts of blogs that interest me ... and click on a ad occassionally which interests me. I found several blogs I currently read from ads they had placed on other sites. I click on ads for items I think I may want to buy or to learn more about something I am curious about.
Ads are an important part of newspaers and magazines that I buy ... I certainly don't sit down and cut them out with a razor blade before reading *smile*.
Tatan
· 2 years ago
I personally love ads if they are still, medium size images. Nice , creative, relevant images. Moving graphics are too much and a bit threatening. As for text ads - I just ignore them. They tend to be in smaller fonts and not 100% relevant ( in case of Google ads).
Position comes secondary. Right side has more chances to be clicked (intentionally or by mistake)
Planet Apex
· 2 years ago
All these days I didn't care much about them ads. I used sites that advertise were not worthy to check and only geared to for SEO and traffic generation without much value addition. I have seldom looked at them or clicked them. But now that I use ads in my blog I take them more seriously and look at them to see whether they are similar etc. to the ones I get on my blog. So when I read them many interest me and I like to click them and read more. But then again this may be a short term interest, i don't know.
btw Garry, Thank you very much for the information and tips you share with us. I am learning many things from them.
PRINREP
· 1 year ago
I just put the ads in my blog. I'll never want to click my own ads, just try looking and change for optimized the ads. Than you for the information and tips.
All Comments
Typically though, I don't always look really hard for ads, so they should definitely position where I should see them during my normal site navigation.
Size of the ad doesn't matter.
Thanks for your feedback. So that is pretty cool to hear. You want to help support site owners by clicking on the ads that interest you. That is good to know.
How would you rate the overall level of quality in the content that you find through Google Adsense being generated on the sites you visit on a regular basis?
If the ad interests me I will click on it, that is if I see the advertisement in the first place, hence find the top of the page best.
Why do I click in the fist place? To give something back to the web/blog owner for what is received; good information!
'In the face' ads tend to make me want to move on quickly, without the click!
Thanks so much for the feedback. So far one consistent reason why people click is in consideration for the blog author/ site owner... as Apex mentioned also.
If you could respond back, what would be some example of "In The Face" ads? Could you provide a few link examples so that I could view them?
It is interesting to discover so early in this discussion that people who are aware of Google Adsense:
Let’s see if I can expand on what I said in my first comment. “In the face†would be when colours are tasteless, ads oversized and busy images used. I am not fond of very large fonts or moving images either. Not all visitors are on high speed internet with many still on dial-u. I don’t have a choice with internet speed, ISDN dial-up is it for me and can be pretty darn slow at times. The video ads for example would never be clicked on by myself. The long towers are a waste of space when placed near the top of a page in the sidebar. I want to see information like ‘recent posts’ and so forth, not the advertisement, as ads will always be secondary to me. The banner and smaller square with text ads are my preference when visiting a page because I feel these are a much better design to get the information to the visitors without overpowering the remainder of the page, if colours are used correctly ;-)
I totally agree with what you saying. I like my sidebars to immediately present to my readers, "What is Going On?", "What are the Current Topics?", "Who is/was Here?" and ""What Did They Say".
I have quite a few other sites that I make money online with. But, this site has been precious to me because I want it to be a site where people can come to learn more about me as a person, what I think about, and how I can help them with being successful online.
I have been toying with Text-Link-Ads and just now AdVolcano a little bit, but to me it almost would seem more beneficial to my readers as well as myself to campaign using Google Adsense. I also have Yahoo Publisher, and that pays very well. However, the ads are less relevant. With my site design being just about done, I am now wondering if I should re-think how I monetize the site. I have been tracking Text-Link-Ads, ReviewMe.com as well as my own independent advertisement campaign for about two months now and I think it would be interesting to compared the difference in results by participating in a PPC campaign here instead. I guess I have some thinking to do... :) Thanks for dropping the added comment and further explaining your thoughts.
You would normally surf the sites that you have interests. You are looking for some info, then the ads next to it might have what you need. So, there goes a click.
However, if the sites is full of ads and does not have any value added, there is no point of helping the owner. In this case, I just type in the URL manually. If there is no URL, forget it.
In summary (reason for clicking):
1) The ads is catchy and interesting
2) It is highly targeted (and might you want you want)
3) Help the owner of the websites for giving good info.
if i'm on another pc terminal, i click once in a while to help the fella earn and also if the ads are interesting
782x90 & 336x280 works best for my roving eye
also dude, work on ur spam comment redirect page. after i key in the K2 image captcha, it says my comments is successful and thats it.
no link to your main page, i think you lose couple of readers who are internet idiots
just a thought ...
btw i use akismet, no captcha, kinda hassle free. also K2 spam plugins clash with another plugin of mine, had to deactivate it
cheers
I wrote a post about writing content that targets, as you call them, "Click Happy Masses" and want to invite you to read it.
I appreciate the honesty in your feedback. You have explained to me that you tend to not click on any ads. Choosing not to click on ads on sites you visit, do the ads on these sites bother you? Have you learned to ignore them, or do they cause you slight aggravation?
I did a little test a few minutes ago, if you were here you might have noticed. I displayed a 728x90 on the top page to see what kind of ads the script would generate and the content didn't seem to be all that bad. Quite a few of the ads were promoting Google Adsense itself, which I don't think would be effective. But, most of the other ads were spot on in relation to the subject matter of any given article written.
It is funny to hear that you will write a URL in the address bar manually before you would click an ad generated from a site that is over saturated in ads.
On sites that you support and click on the interesting ads, is there a particular ad format and position that is more catchy to your eye than others? (i.e. do you prefer image ads over text ads, do you catch on sidebar ads over ads that are embedded into content, etc...)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to you expanding more on this.
Plus, it also helps that I use the FireFox web browser, along with their ad block extensions. I can't see any ads whatsoever! Thank Goodness!!!
Is this the extension you have?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10
These extensions can also be customized based on a variety of settings and filters. :)
I have invested quite a bit of time into setting up my SpamKarma and it works very well and is very balanced. I monitor it very closely as well to make sure comments don't get missed. The reason why you were promoted to captcha image was because SpamKarma assigned you with a very low Karma rating which was triggered by your IP address. You should have any more problems as the more you comment the more you build your Karma level here on the site. Thanks for bringing the re-direct to my attention, I appreciate that.
The best is still large rectangle inside the content area, or if your page is narrow, tower 160x600 on the side next to the article/post.
728x90 might work if placed at the bottom. However, I still prefer large rectangle even at the end. So far the CTR is good.
Text ads is much better because I have trained my eye to ignore those image ads since many years ago well before Adsense come into the picture. :)
I know it is hard to make a living online. So, if I could help the owner, at least I have contributed back for his sincere and hard work. Some sites are full of ads and the content is probably 2 paragraph and talks about somebody else articles which is (in my opinion) would not help the visitors much.
Yes, I would type the URL manually even on google search page. Usually and generally speaking, I try not to entertain too much on the ads.
Blogtimize
which I found to be very helpful. This page is offers specific advice for ad unit implementation on a blog.
2 main things that contribute to the increase CTR are the site layout and ads relevancy.
You need to do some fine tuning and experimentation. So, your mileage might varies.
I think the page you mentioned above was there for quite some time. It must be very long since you were there. :) Also, it is good to subscribe to adsense official blog @ http://adsense.blogspot.com. Catch the latest development and announcement.
Submission of sitemap to google would help a lot. 2 of my latest 4 post was on first page of google blogsearch after I have posted like 1 hour or so.
my 2 cents.
Text ads are the ones I click usually. My eyes just don't pay attention to to the banner ads and flash ads and tend to ignore them. I second or thrid the opinion that ads in the sidebar take up valuable space and somewhere in the side of the post or the bottom is what I consider a favorable place. I don't run any ads yet so my views are as a techie reader.
Knowing all these myself, I put up blogs to carry ads that I think would be attractive to people like me. One of my problems is that I often don't like the kind of ads being displayed on my site.
I am slightly more partial to clicking on ads on sites that I feel really give me great information. However, I still only click on ads for sites that look really interesting to me.
I don't think the size of the ad affects me much. Ads that are located above the fold, are more likely to grab my attention. Since ads located in the middle of content annoy me, I never click on those. But ads just above or below content, in the sidebars, or at top of the site are fair game.
Hope that helps...
that's as some say due to the good weather, but I think it is due to people being lazy to click. also the ads are not really targetted that well. I get wu-long slim tea ads on my articles about trance music? what the hell?
no wonder noone clicks them. the competition filter is already maxed at 200 lines.
some ads, I think are very interesting, I am tended to click, then again others are just plain stupid.
so I can basically understand both sides of the coin.
does anyone click your ads garry?
My main focus is quickly and accurately displaying useful and helpful information to my readers. This is my personal site where I spill the beans and write about my experiences and knowledge and creative ways I make money online and how viewers can too. I am all about doing it right the first time... but life on the Internet and especially with blogging, sometimes that isn't possible... and with Garry Conn dot Com, this is a site that has been doing it right since the beginning because of all the mistakes I have learned on other sites. Within the last two months this site has converted from being my slowest site to the largest site. It totally amazes me!
My test campaign is at the bottom of the post because I don't want people to click until they are done reading what I wrote. I don't want ads interfering with my content, nor do I want them to distract the reader. When I am done speaking, then the reader can click or not... Naturally, I would love to get clicks, but that is really not what my site is about.
I am sure that I will keep everyone informed of the progress of the campaign... as much as I am allowed too without breaching Google Adsense TOS. Also, if it doesn't perform well, then I will get rid of it.
Displaying three posts per page and having three of these ads at the bottom of every post could acutally allow me to display four posts per page without it. That is quite a bit of space.
Thanks for the comments and sharing your feedback!
Adsense has change alot since it's beginnings. Too many ill willed people are abusing the advertising system these days.
As for the novice that knows nothing about ads, like my parents, your chances of landing a sale are much better than the random "tip in the jar" approach that seems to be whats happening latley. The "tip" is costing me money and I see nothing in return.
Although I do not implement Adsense on my best performing site as of yet I do plan to once the traffic is more relevant. I hope as time goes on people that are click happy realize the money they are costing advertiser, especially the small operations. Many people simple go broke because of the click happy folks having a good time.
Great topic Gary
I do that too at times. I used to spend quite a bit of money on advertising on Google. Generally, I turned off content sites, so my ads were only seen in the search results. Sometimes I would also show them on content sites, but I would always set up a separate campaign and bid a lower price on the content ads.
Ad placement is just something to experiment with. With your suggestions and my old experience, I've been moving my ads around quite a bit to figure out what works. I'm generally a person that likes to try different things, so knowing me, I'll move them even if I find a position that works well ;)
Great reader feedback and discussions above!
'How would you rate the overall level of quality in the content that you find through Google Adsense being generated on the sites you visit on a regular basis?'
Typically, I think that the targeted ads in adsense works very good. However, as some users have pointed out, there is always that weird one that on the surface doesn't appear to have anything to do with the site.
As far as the content of links provided by adsense, it varies. I would have to say that I have seen a lot of sites that are clearly SEO optimized. They are rich in content but aren't really appearing to the eye. However, I have also seen pages that are very appealing to the eye, and I have actually favorite'd and gone back to some sites I found via adsense ads.
As for how do I rate the ads, lately all it is are those darn ebooks for making millions of dollars. Or helium of course and I'm already a member there.
I tend to actually click on the text link ads inside a paragraph that I'm reading to see where it takes me. Normally I avoid those giant ones that have the one picture on them. Well not sure if this helped or it was what you are looking for.
I am curious as to why you participate in a program on your site that you feel is so offensive that you take these extreme measures to block the ads that appear on other sites?
I can understand why someone would want to block the ads... but I am more curious about why you block the ads on other sites but run the ads on your own site. I would guess it is about the money. But then I have to also ask, if it is about the money, why not run with a different business model, something that you personally buy into yourself.
I am not trying to create controversy, I am a pretty open minded guy, but it almost seems like a one way steet here. I am not trying to offend you, I am just curious to hear your response to this becausee there are people that actually click on ads that interest them and do so knowing that it gives the site owner a little bit of a "reach around".
I would imagine that it is against Google TOS to discuss how much money I make per day by participating in Google Adsense, but I can say that after running Google Adsense for 48 hours so far on this site, it has done pretty well. And I would imagine everyone that clicked on these ads did this knowing that they were helping me out. But also they know not to abuse the system and only click on ads that truly interest them. This makes me feel real good knowing that people want to help me and also have trust in the program I choose to run on the site. If I didn't support Google Adsense and if I didn't buy into the program, I wouldn't participate in it. And I surely wouldn't present these ads to my trusted readers. Naturally I have other sites that run Google Adsense and they do very well, but these are sites that are designed to target "Click Happy" traffic (as we are calling it that on this thread).
Within the last 48 hours, because of my reader's support and desire to investigate the content within Google Adsense, I can take my kids out to Dairy Queen for a special treat! I love it and appreciate the help. I am also confident in Google ability to provide my readers with excellent resources. I believe that if I continue to write excellent content then Google will provide my readers with excellent links.
Now, depending on how well the end result of this test is, will determine if I will continue using Google Adsense on this site. As I have mentioned before, I am all about making money online, but this site is more focused on helping others do it creatively and not the other way around.
I am taking into consideration the amount of money I make and I am weighing it against how relevant and useful these ads are for my readers. I want to use Google Adsense to assist me in providing my readers with advise, tips and tools on being successful online.
Ok, all kidding aside, here is an article direct from Google that might help you with improving the relevancy in your ads in your Google Adsense ad units:
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answ...
Good luck with that, and let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you.
If you don't mind me offering a suggestion to you, I think you should make a choice between Google Adsense or Amazon.com affiliate program. I feel that running both is somewhat a conflict of interest.
I have experience with both programs, and both can make you a great deal of money online if used correctly, but I have had terrible luck running both at the same time.
I would run nothing but Adsense for one month and see how it does. then I would run one month using Amazon and see how that does.
Let me know these ideas interest you and then I can give you more detailed suggestions based on the choices you make. I can help you make an attempt to make Google Adsense more effective on your site for you and or offer advise on running the Amazon ads.
Overall, you are spreading yourself too thin on the site. There is too much to click on your site and unless you have thousands of visits per day, it is probably hard to see the overall growth of your income in all these programs combined. Where if you exercised focus and effort towards one program solely, you could visible see better results.
Again, just some helpful friend to friend suggestions... If you want some help, I will be happy to provide more details.
Off topic, I have not been posting the past two days as my mom is in a bad way. I am mentioning this because I read about you and your family caring for your dad. We did that, too, and he passed away last year. We are now caring for my bedridden mom. Working at home is really a blessing in that it allows us to care for our family.
I use FireFox for most of my surfing as well, but I nebver turn off ads ... I read them the same as I read other parts of blogs that interest me ... and click on a ad occassionally which interests me. I found several blogs I currently read from ads they had placed on other sites. I click on ads for items I think I may want to buy or to learn more about something I am curious about.
Ads are an important part of newspaers and magazines that I buy ... I certainly don't sit down and cut them out with a razor blade before reading *smile*.
Position comes secondary. Right side has more chances to be clicked (intentionally or by mistake)
btw Garry, Thank you very much for the information and tips you share with us. I am learning many things from them.