Building MiniSites, Picked $$ Niches, but Super Low EPC?! Need Expert Help!

[loybond]

Hey guys, I'm trying to follow the $5 Mini-Site formula by Josh Spaulding, and taking a lot of tips from Steve Crooks as well. I initially opened a blog in the "gay cruises" niche, but for the whole time it operated, I got ridiculously low EPC AND CTR. I realize these are two different things, but they are key causes of the low income I saw. EPC was in the neighbourhood of a quarter, and CTR, well, that was less than 2%. I changed my theme around, to reflect Google's heat map as well as other successful people (such as Mr. Crooks), with a large rectangle front and center, a skyscraper on the left, and another narrow, wide unit on the bottom. Still the same CTR. The gay cruises niche was a difficult one to be in, because it appeared that I had been sandboxed, and the subject is one of those that if the reader isn't part of that group, probably won't look into it. So not a lot of click throughs or views from Ezine etc., and not a single view on the Squidoo lens.

Fast forward, decided to try mini-sites, but didn't (couldn't?) want to invest in 10 at one go (cost of having articles written). So I thought, I'll try two, and if I see a glimmer of hope, I'm going ahead full force. So I opened two, mostly following Spaulding's $5 formula. Went to SpuFu, picked high-paying niches (dog allergies and hair restoration for women) and opened the sites up. Paid someone to write me 28 articles for each topic, submitted 20 articles to Ezine, Amazines, ArticlesBase (ArticleDashboard isn't sending me a confirmation email, so I couldn't use it), and am continuing to submit 10 of those articles to other directories.

Then, I set up another one of those themes with big rectangle front and center, skyscraper on the left, a search box top right, link unit under it, list of pages, link unit under that, another big rectangle at the bottom.

Immediately, I'm getting some traffic from Ezine, between 7 and 14 uniques. However, CTR is just dismal. It's not anywhere near the 30% Josh says he gets (does anyone really get this?), it's not even 3%. The other issue is that my first couple of clicks were barely more than a dime each.

This alarmed me, so I tried to read up a bit on Adsense, and I got rid of the underperforming channels/units from the gay cruises site, and reduced the ads down to a big rectangle at the top and bottom, and a skyscraper on the left. I also moved the rectangle at the top so that it was under the title of the page. Colours of everything match the site. I wait, and check again. First clicks... very low single-digit range in pennies. CTR, the same.

The mini-site idea makes sense to me in theory, but the problem for me is that I'm not hitting those EPC and CTR targets that I need. Can anyone help me figure out what's wrong?

[loybond]

Should I post the URLs here?

[Evita]

I would not post the url's.

Maybe the gay cruise thing is just one of those niches with low ctr?

This stuff takes a bit of tweaking to get right. Also, different niches can and will behave totally different.

Evita

[Mugil]

If you want a high click-through rate, I'd recommend that you use the same templates that Josh is using too: Sean Lowery's Niche AdsenseTemplates (html) and http://www.nicheadsensethemes.com/ (wordpress)

I've used Sean Lowery's HTML templates and all my mini sites have an average 10% CTR.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Mugil

Sean Lowery's Niche AdsenseTemplates (html)

Hopefully these templates have been redesigned to exclude references to Adsense for Video which doesn't exist anymore. I also find it funny that they display a below the fold sidebar Adsense block when Josh warns against this in his free eBook.

Originally Posted by Mugil

http://www.nicheadsensethemes.com/ (wordpress)

There are a lot of better WordPress Adsense themes out there (and free too) than these overpriced ones, especially for mini-sites.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by loybond

The mini-site idea makes sense to me in theory, but the problem for me is that I'm not hitting those EPC and CTR targets that I need. Can anyone help me figure out what's wrong?

The first thing to understand is that not every site is going to be a winner. You'll have some that don't get traffic or don't convert well even though it looks like they would on paper. Sometimes you'll hit a winner that starts earning right off the bat. Sometimes a site will peak and drop off, especially if you've followed a trend with it. The point is that you have to build enough so that you find the winning niches and you have to keep building.

My guess is that you've got a problem with your keywords not being buying keywords but informational keywords. This will lead to getting lower paying, generic, ads. Also, since your site is new, it's more likely to get these ads than an established site. These are ads that Google sells to big clients in bulk and they pay about 1/8th to 1/12th of what a regular Adsense click would pay.

Another thing to understand is that the price you see on Adword keyword tool isn't what you'll get. If Joe the Plumber pays Google $22 for an ad, this gets cut in about half to a third for the content network (aka Adsense). This leaves maybe $11 at the best. Then Google give you 20-30% of that so you get between 50 cents and $3 for a '$22' click. These percentages vary a great deal based on Google's secret algorithms so it can be likely that a high cost Adwords keyword may not pay out so well in Adsense and vice versa.

[loybond]

Thank you everyone, for your feedback. bgmacaw, I think you're right that they are in fact informational keywords. I read around a little bit on WF yesterday, and saw that some people have success with product descriptions and such (leading to very high CTRs).

I've been using SpyFu and the Google adwords tool, but those decisions have been based solely on the CPC, searches etc.

I want to try a couple more minisites to see how this theory pans out. Do you guys have any suggestions as to how to pick keywords/niches that are good for CTR and are high-paying at the same time?


EDIT: While I'm at it, I'll post the URL, and maybe someone can point out mistakes I've missed (thanks!). >> http://curedogallergies.com

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by loybond

EDIT: While I'm at it, I'll post the URL, and maybe someone can point out mistakes I've missed (thanks!). >> Allergies and Dogs

1. My initial impression, "What a cute puppy." You want it to be "Oh, there's the answer to my problem. {click}". I usually go with no logo graphics or a small logo that's rather generic.

2. Your content and titles is informational, not buying, thus so is your traffic.

3. Too many adblocks. Ditch the sidebar block and bottom block. If you know enough about web design to do it, drop the left sidebar entirely. It's wasted space.

4. Your title metatag isn't keyword specific on your home page, it's OK on the back pages. Use All-in-One SEO or Platinum SEO to help you with this.

5. The content is decent enough but you could use more keyword specific terms in your titles and opening paragraphs.

6. Fix your privacy statement and contact us links. They don't point to anything right now.

7. You only have 8 links to your site. You need more.

[loybond]

Thanks bgmacaw, that was very helpful. I'll incorporate everything you said into the changes I make today. What should the content be, if not informational?

Do you, or anyone else, have advice on how to choose niches that have better CTR?