Switching Over To Adsense May Not Be As Good As I thought.... Any Suggestions

[Brendan Mace]

So I very recently made the switch over to adsense. First of all, I am not insulting the program at all. I am actually quite impressed at how relevant the ads are in relation to the content.

I have 2 problems or questions that I need to address.

1. Are my sites immune to a google ban.

- I know that no one can give a guarantee, but an approximate answer works for me.

2. How do I improve my CTR

I'm not allowed to discuss any specifics. But I will say that my ctr is below 1%. Meaning that It's a decimal point of some kind.

I would prefer to have a much higher ctr.

Does anybody see anything that I should be doing differently. I have about 40 websites similar to the one in my sig. I'm considering starting to put adsense ads on them, but I would love to provide optimal settings.

Thanks so much to anyone that can help at all.

Edit:

Sig has loaded yet... Sorry. Here's the website that would be there juicer machine

[dp40oz]

I don't see any website in your sig

[nik0]

I had info that the people were looking for at my homepage, and my homepage ranked at the top of page 1 in Google. So my site answered there question and gone they were without clicking an add. My ctr was around 1.5-2%. Then I decided to move that content to an innerpage and my CTR increased to 10% instantly as the Adsense ads also offered that info for free and appaerantly my readers were to lazy to find the content on my own site.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by dp40oz

I don't see any website in your sig

hasn't populated yet I guess. I edited my original post to include a link to one of my sites.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

I had info that the people were looking for at my homepage, and my homepage ranked at the top of page 1 in Google. So my site answered there question and gone they were without clicking an add. My ctr was around 1.5-2%. Then I decided to move that content to an innerpage and my CTR increased to 10% instantly as the Adsense ads also offered that info for free and appaerantly my readers were to lazy to find the content on my own site.

hmmm. Yeah, at least it sounds like your website adds value to the visitor. Hopefully you can find a good way to make money in the future.

[eightofnine]

When I look at your page I get all the information I need about a juicer. As a result, I have no real need to click on the ads. As your website provides me with all this information. I have found that breaking up my articles, or producing articles that do not contain ALL the information someone is looking for can help boost the clickthrough rate. Don't go overboard with that strategy though. It is a fine balance to walk.

[nik0]

Originally Posted by co2

hmmm. Yeah, at least it sounds like your website adds value to the visitor. Hopefully you can find a good way to make money in the future.

My site does make good money since I increased the CTR to 8-10%

The info that I offered was also 100% free so I was glad that they couldn't find it easily and instead click the Adsense ads.

Maybe eightofnine explained my point in a better way

[RatRaceWatch]

Diversify, google adsense can pay well, but don't build your sites around it. Been there done that, banned, no reason, lost a lot of finalized earnings. There are other opportunities out there, lead generation is a good one too.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

My site does make good money since I increased the CTR to 8-10%

The info that I offered was also 100% free so I was glad that they couldn't find it easily and instead click the Adsense ads.

What's the secret to your success bro??? I can't get mine past anywhere close to that.

[dp40oz]

When I checked out your page there was only 1 relevant ad that I saw. Do you have user based interests turned in? That could be a big reason. All I saw was ads for credit cards, probably because I was looking at info about my chase credit card earlier.

[nik0]

Seriously, sorry if I sound a little rude now, but are you blind?

2 people, including me, already mentioned in 3 posts that you should HIDE your information. When you give all information for free your visitors have no reason to click on your Adsense ads.

Ever wondered why micronichesites have content that is totally useless? It's because it increases your CTR

Lately I visited a site about glass computer desks and the content went like this:

Glass computer desks are made of several materials. There are glass computer desks that are made out of glass and there are also glass computer desks that are made of metal and glass. The metal frame provides a solid foundation for your glass computer desk. Did you know that the glass used for your glass computer desk can be ordered in several colours. There is lightbrown coloured glass, black glass, transparant glass.

When people read this they think, jesus christ what a freaking site is this, and they tend to click your Adsense ads faster to get away from that total crap site asap.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by dp40oz

When I checked out your page there was only 1 relevant ad that I saw. Do you have user based interests turned in? That could be a big reason. All I saw was ads for credit cards, probably because I was looking at info about my chase credit card earlier.

user based interests??? How do you turn that on?

Sounds pretty interesting to me.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

Seriously, sorry if I sound a little rude now, but are you blind?

2 people, including me, already mentioned in 3 posts that you should HIDE your information. When you give all information for free your visitors have no reason to click on your Adsense ads.

Ever wondered why micronichesites have content that is totally useless? It's because it increases your CTR

I understand what you are staying. But google is becoming increasingly more willing to ban websites that don't offer any value.

The content on my websites is relatively permanent because they used to be amazon associates websites.

I want my websites to be passive and last the long term. I figure a little bit of value and a decent CTR would be ideal.

If you're saying that you absolutely NEED a lack of information or value to get clicks, then that is rather unfortunate.

[nik0]

Adsense does that automatically

[nik0]

Originally Posted by co2

I understand what you are staying. But google is becoming increasingly more willing to ban websites that don't offer any value.

The content on my websites is relatively permanent because they used to be amazon associates websites.

I want my websites to be passive and last the long term. I figure a little bit of value and a decent CTR would be ideal.

If you're saying that you absolutely NEED a lack of information or value to get clicks, then that is rather unfortunate.

I admit this is a bit of an extreme example but it's also possible in a more subtle way. The site I am using is offering value in the form of a free item that they can download. So I just hided it on an innerpage, a site that has only content needs a bit more clever approach.

You could talk about sub-topics on your mainpage and move your main info to an inner page. That would also increase your ctr cause people are extreme lazy to search the site. Just make the navigation a bit less obvious.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

I admit this is a bit of an extreme example but it's also possible in a more subtle way. The site I am using is offering value in the form of a free item that they can download. So I just hided it on an innerpage, a site that has only content needs a bit more clever approach.

You could talk about sub-topics on your mainpage and move your main info to an inner page. That would also increase your ctr cause people are extreme lazy to search the site. Just make the navigation a bit less obvious.

Okay. So I love this response for a couple of reasons. I agree that I need to make the navigation ads appear less ad-like.

And I think creating a more boring home page that links to inner pages would significantly increase CTR.

Both great tips. Thank you.

[Brendan Mace]

So it would probably be wise to change the color of the ads to a lighter blue. And create text-only on the home page with links to inner pages. Does that sound like the best course of action?

Would google consider a text only page as low quality content?

[nik0]

I just visited your site and I see way too much content where no ads are visible.

Why don't you spread the content amongst multiple pages? And try to optimize these pages for other longtail keywords that are relevant.

Also I would add some Amazon ads for juice machines and use some 336x250 adsense blocks wrapped in the content.

You should also embed the youtube video link in your content so visitors stay on your site a little longer.

Thing is, if I would look for a juice machine and visit your site I might like to read your review BUT I don't see any link where I can buy it. The power of review sites is that they also offer the product to there visitors and make money from that. Now people think, hey thats a nice juice machine for $69,-. Let's Google where I can buy that! Adsense ads are relevant but you are describing very specifc machine's with type numbers and Adsense is not THAT relevant to offer that exact product that you are talking about.

[dp40oz]

I don't mean any disrespect to anyones opinions but the idea that he should change his page to have worse content is not a very good plan. I won't go into all the reasons why, but for starters he will put his account at risk and he'll put his rankings at risk.

Some of my best adsense sites are chock full of everything the visitor wants. Adsense is 70% about ad relevancy to the users needs when searching for your page and 30% ad placement IMO. As my first suggestion states, you should turn off user based interest ads. Its under "Allow & Block Ads" and then the "Advanced Settings" tab. You should then take that 780x90 banner at the top and get rid of it. You should place a 336x280 block, not wrapped around any text and place it just below your first paragraph. You should then take that other 780x90 banner and get rid of it. You should then add another 336x280 block about half way down the page in between content, once again not wrapped. You should also have all ads set to images and text based ads.

[nik0]

Didnt know it was possible to turn these user-based ads off.

Why is it bad to wrap your content around the ads? I do it all the time with great CTR's

About the content, I wrote that before I visited his website, the type of content he uses is kinda irrelevant for his ctr. I thought he offered some how-to or something. Didnt even know it was about juice machines. Still it's too much content to cover with only 3 ad blocks.

Like previously said: Add Amazon products to your page and embed your youtube video, that would fill it up nicely without having to move content. And if you want to make your site look real ugly you should indeed not wrap your content around the ad blocks but just put them ugly in the middle to break the txt lol

[dp40oz]

Originally Posted by nik0

Didnt know it was possible to turn these user-based ads off.

Why is it bad to wrap your content around the ads? I do it all the time with great CTR's

About the content, I wrote that before I visited his website, the type of content he uses is kinda irrelevant for his ctr. I thought he offered some how-to or something. Didnt even know it was about juice machines.

Its not bad to wrap text. I do it a lot but I have better CTR when it stands alone within content. Its easier for the user to pass right by it when its wrapped around text. For me it depends on how much I need to milk as many clicks out of a page or not.

[nik0]

Originally Posted by dp40oz

Its not bad to wrap text. I do it a lot but I have better CTR when it stands alone within content. Its easier for the user to pass right by it when its wrapped around text. For me it depends on how much I need to milk as many clicks out of a page or not.

I always build sites that fit on the screen as a whole incl the footer, so people don't need to scroll down. Some people beleive more content is better too rank which is absolutely not the case.

[gs000707]

How do you mean, whether your sites are immune to Google ban? As far as you go by the TOS, you should do fine. Breaching them is a walking on a thin ice, what I would be really wondering about is, how much members got Google's team watching over this, heh. I personally stumbled upon a thousands webs, claiming, how great AdSense gurus their providers are, but in fact, half of the tips listed on their sites are just bogus and violations of Google TOS, it's kind of hard to filter, how to do this right,..

[boxoun]

I only skimmed the first few comments. Don't listen to these folks. You think they have a clue what they're talking about?

You come off a lot smarter than these folks. Trust your instincts. Provide value. You are simply targeting wrong keywords for adsense. Focus a little more on keyword research.

Also, your site seems like it may perform better with amazon.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by boxoun

I only skimmed the first few comments. Don't listen to these folks. You think they have a clue what they're talking about?

You come off a lot smarter than these folks. Trust your instincts. Provide value. You are simply targeting wrong keywords for adsense. Focus a little more on keyword research.

Also, your site seems like it may perform better with amazon.

I agree with you that amazon is a better fit. Believe me, I generated 4 thousand dollars in amazon sales from these websites in December alone. But then I was banned from the program from an accidental infringment of the TOS. From what I've read online, it's just about impossible to be admitted into the amazon associates program after you've been banned.

Which is why adsense seems like the logical successor, considering that I don't just want these sites to go down the drain.

[kiwiviktor81]

Google mesures the conversion rate of people who click on your ads, and if it's too low they assume you're scamming them and ban you. That's why you shouldn't listen to people who tell you to fill your site up with garbage in order to encourage the viewer to click on the ad just to get out of there. Someone clicking an ad out of desperation is not likely to buy anything.

[Greenfatman]

Yes... You are targeting the wrong keyword.Period

[nik0]

Originally Posted by kiwiviktor81

Google mesures the conversion rate of people who click on your ads, and if it's too low they assume you're scamming them and ban you. That's why you shouldn't listen to people who tell you to fill your site up with garbage in order to encourage the viewer to click on the ad just to get out of there. Someone clicking an ad out of desperation is not likely to buy anything.

The guys behind Adsense Flippers, have 1000's of sites and never got banned and I'm pretty sure they place there ads very prominent on there sites. Google doesn't care what you do as long as you follow there ToS

[nik0]

That sucks Co2. You ever looked into dropshipping? Maybe that helps you, just have to make your site look more real, contact adress and such, preferably webshop a like.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by kiwiviktor81

Google mesures the conversion rate of people who click on your ads, and if it's too low they assume you're scamming them and ban you. That's why you shouldn't listen to people who tell you to fill your site up with garbage in order to encourage the viewer to click on the ad just to get out of there. Someone clicking an ad out of desperation is not likely to buy anything.

Interesting. That makes a lot of sense. Sounds like a nice balance would be perfect.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

Google doesn't care what you do as long as you follow there ToS

I agree for the most part. Although, if you read the adsense TOS, they very plainly say that they can kick you out of the program without any explanation. Meaning that they are legally allowed to ban someone arbitrarily for no reason at all. So from my understanding of the TOS, they could (and probably would) choose to ban an affiliate that did not provide quality leads.

[Brendan Mace]

Originally Posted by nik0

That sucks Co2. You ever looked into dropshipping? Maybe that helps you, just have to make your site look more real, contact adress and such, preferably webshop a like.

I don't know if I'd want to dabble in that area. I'm now thinking that I'll just take what I can get from adsense. Even if it is significantly less money. Either that or sell the websites on flippa.

The new sites that I create from now on are going to be centered around clickbank.

Thanks for the advice though. Dropshipping would probably be the most profitable course of action. I might just be a tad bit lazy.

[3000]

Originally Posted by co2

1. Are my sites immune to a google ban.

- I know that no one can give a guarantee, but an approximate answer works for me.

2. How do I improve my CTR

I'm not allowed to discuss any specifics. But I will say that my ctr is below 1%. Meaning that It's a decimal point of some kind.

1. No website is immune to a Google ban. Period.

2. To increase your CTR I would recommend changing your Adsense link colors to match the link colors on you site.

I would change the URL colors to a light grey or just make them black.

Also I would change the theme and add a large rectangle, aligned left in the beginning of the first paragraph.

[mrgood]

Originally Posted by co2

So I very recently made the switch over to adsense. First of all, I am not insulting the program at all. I am actually quite impressed at how relevant the ads are in relation to the content.

I have 2 problems or questions that I need to address.

1. Are my sites immune to a google ban.

- I know that no one can give a guarantee, but an approximate answer works for me.

2. How do I improve my CTR

I'm not allowed to discuss any specifics. But I will say that my ctr is below 1%. Meaning that It's a decimal point of some kind.

I would prefer to have a much higher ctr.

Does anybody see anything that I should be doing differently. I have about 40 websites similar to the one in my sig. I'm considering starting to put adsense ads on them, but I would love to provide optimal settings.

Thanks so much to anyone that can help at all.

Edit:

Sig has loaded yet... Sorry. Here's the website that would be there juicer machine

Well, adsense can easily ban you because lack of content on your site. You simply don't have enough content.

[dp40oz]

Originally Posted by co2

I agree with you that amazon is a better fit. Believe me, I generated 4 thousand dollars in amazon sales from these websites in December alone. But then I was banned from the program from an accidental infringment of the TOS. From what I've read online, it's just about impossible to be admitted into the amazon associates program after you've been banned.

Which is why adsense seems like the logical successor, considering that I don't just want these sites to go down the drain.

What was your TOS violation that got you banned? I didn't even know Amazon cared to ban people.

[retsek]

Your site takes a bit too long to load.

a major culprit is the jquery you're loading from freefilesblog.com. Load it off the google copy instead.

[extremejava]

use some free CDN and caching to improve your website speed. Cloudflare is a good free CDN.