I have been using Google AdSense to monetize my blogs and
websites for as long as I remember. In fact it was the first method I ever
tried (I made a whooping $15 on my first month… back in 2005). Over the years I
migrated to other methods (e.g., direct sponsors and affiliate marketing),
which made AdSense become merely an inventory filler. I was still making around
$1,000 monthly from it, but whenever I could I would use other methods over it.
Then some months ago I started noticing an upward trend on
the CPC of my sites, and I figured that I should give AdSense another try. I
started applying some tricks here and there, and the next month I made over
$3,000 with it (that is combining all my sites). I was pleasantly surprised,
and I decided to keep using it actively on some sites.
In this article I want to share with you the tips and tricks
I used to triple my AdSense earnings in one month.
1. I added units
to my Big Websites
Daily Blog Tips and Daily Writing Tips are my largest
websites in terms of traffic. They are getting close to one million monthly
page views (combined). Despite that I was not using AdSense on them, mainly
because the direct sponsorship model was working relatively well.
Some months ago I decided to load some AdSense units on the
sites, however, and the results were very positive. Around 70% of the boost I
generated to my earnings came from these two sites. At the same time I managed
to keep the other monetization methods working fine, and no reader ever
complained about the new ads (more on that later).
Even if your blog is already making money with direct
sponsors and affiliate marketing, therefore, you could still manage to
increment your earnings by strategically adding some AdSense units.
2. I added units
to my Small Websites
As many webmasters do, I have a bunch of small websites
scattered around the web. Some are on free hosted platforms like Blogger, and
others are self hosted sites that I abandoned along the way. Most of these
sites still get traffic, however. Not much, but combined the numbers get decent.
I figured that adding AdSense units to all these sites could
yield some money, and I was right. The main reason is that, since these are
abandoned sites and don’t have loyal visitors, I can place the units very
aggressively. The result was a very high CTR (Click-through rate), which
compensates the small traffic levels.
Don’t underestimate the earning potential of small websites,
especially if you are willing to place AdSense units aggressively.
3. I used the
Large Units
If you want to make money with AdSense you’ll inevitably
need to use one of these units: the 336×280 large rectangle, the 300×250
rectangle, the 120×600 large skyscraper or the 728×90 leaderboard.
Whenever I tried to use smaller units the results were disappointing.
Even if I positioned them aggressively the CTR was just too low.
All four units mentioned above can produce good results, but
the best performing one is by far the 336×280 large rectangle, and that is the
one I used to boost my earnings.
4. I placed the
Units above the Fold
My first trial was to place the 336×280 large rectangle
between the post and the comments section of my blogs. The results were OK. I
then decided to try placing them below the post titles for one week, and the
CTR skyrocketed. In fact I still need to find a placement/unit combination that
will beat placing a 336×280 unit below post titles.
I knew this rule, but I guess I needed to test and get
confirmation. The rule is: if you want to make money with Google AdSense, you
must place your units above the fold.
5. I Focused on
Organic Traffic
My main concern with adding a large AdSense unit right below
my post titles was that some of the loyal readers could get annoyed with it. At
the same time I knew that loyal readers become ad blind quite fast, and that
the bulk of my money would come from organic visitors (i.e., people coming via
search engines to my posts).
To solve this problem I decided to display the large
rectangle only on posts older than seven days (using the Why Do Work WordPress plugin). It
worked like a charm, as loyal readers don’t even notice the ad units when they
are browsing through my recent posts, and organic visitors almost always see
the ads because they usually land on posts older than seven days.
6. I started
using AdSense for Search
I was not sure how much money I would be able to make with
AdSense for Search, but I was not happy with the search results provided by
WordPress, so I decided to give it a shot anyway.
Currently I am making around $60 monthly with AdSense for
Search. It is not much, but if you sum it over one year we are talking about
$720. On top of that the search results are as relevant as you’ll get, so it is
a win win situation.
7. I started
using AdSense for Feeds
Another AdSense product I decided to try was the AdSense for
Feeds one. I opted to display the ads below my feed items (you can also place
them on top, but this would be too intrusive in my opinion). The results here
were pretty good, both in terms of CTR and earnings.
You obviously need a large RSS subscriber base to make this
work, but I am guessing that even with a couple thousand subscribers you could
already make $100 monthly from feed ads.
8. I played
around with section targeting
Section targeting is an AdSense feature that allows you to
suggest specific sections of your site that should be used when matching ads.
You can read more about it here.
I found that on niche and small websites section targeting
can help a lot. Often times Google was displaying unrelated ads on these sites
because there weren’t enough pages. After using section targeting I managed to
increase the relevancy of the ads and consequently the CTRs.
9. I tested with
Different Colors and Fonts
If you enabled both image and text ads on your units you
should be able to customize the colors and fonts. I did some testing with both
of these factors, and it helped to increase the numbers. Nothing dramatic, but
it was definitely worth my time.
You just need to track your CTR for a couple of weeks. Then
change the color or font and track it for another week, seeing if you can beat
the original CTR. If you can, keep the new format. If you the performance
decreased, try a new color or font and track the CTR for another week, until
you find the optimal combination.
On my sites the best results came from making the ad units
merge with the look of the site, but on some sites contrasting colors perform
better, so testing is a must.
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