6 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
6 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Stumbled

by Ben Roy
5 replies
I have an adsense site that's basically just been sitting out there with no changes for months. It gets about 200 uniques a day, which I feel is pretty okay. A friend and I did it as an experiment and it generates a little cash every month so I guess it was successful.

Anyway, when we first put the site up, we did a little of the social bookmarking including at least one of us threw it up on StumbleUpon. I think we got like 2 or 3 referrals shortly after putting it up and then nothing.

Suddenly, after literally 6+ months of not having done anything but check the Adsense account on that site I see this big spike in traffic. Two days ago there were 37 stumblers sent to the site and yesterday it was up to 60. From the looks of the numbers today is going to beat that. I mean, it's awesome that our traffic is basically up 50% from SU, but I sure wish I knew how in the world it happened so I could replicate it for other sites.

Of course, I also hope it lasts a long, long time. Anyone else have an experience like this with SU?
#stumbled
  • Profile picture of the author Michael D
    Honestly, I would stay away from social bookmarking sites when you are only using Adsense. From my experience social traffic is pretty savvy and generally don't click ads. I am not saying it would never happen but you are going to kill your CTR and get priced if you are just targeting social sites.

    With Adsense the best traffic is pure organic traffic because you will get targeted visitors and have a better CTR. Having a good CTR will get you higher paid clicks as well. I would go as far as to shut off Adsense ads to anyone but organic traffic. If you are using Wordpress there is a plugin that will do this for you and you could also use OpenX.

    Adsense is very tricky and when people complain about the .05 and .10 cent clicks this is one of the reasons it happens.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[124084].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ben Roy
      Originally Posted by Michael D View Post

      Honestly, I would stay away from social bookmarking sites when you are only using Adsense. From my experience social traffic is pretty savvy and generally don't click ads. I am not saying it would never happen but you are going to kill your CTR and get priced if you are just targeting social sites.

      With Adsense the best traffic is pure organic traffic because you will get targeted visitors and have a better CTR. Having a good CTR will get you higher paid clicks as well. I would go as far as to shut off Adsense ads to anyone but organic traffic. If you are using Wordpress there is a plugin that will do this for you and you could also use OpenX.

      Adsense is very tricky and when people complain about the .05 and .10 cent clicks this is one of the reasons it happens.
      That's an interesting perspective...but the site has been running almost 100% organic traffic and I can honestly say that over the last 6 months there is NO consistency whatsoever in the amount I'm paid per click. I go through weeks where I never get a click over $.10, and then the next week almost every click is $.75 or more. Honestly though, like I said it was just an experiment and we didn't think about how good the subject was for monetization until after we were way down the road. Live and learn, right?
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[124123].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Michael D
        Originally Posted by hummusx View Post

        That's an interesting perspective...but the site has been running almost 100% organic traffic and I can honestly say that over the last 6 months there is NO consistency whatsoever in the amount I'm paid per click. I go through weeks where I never get a click over $.10, and then the next week almost every click is $.75 or more. Honestly though, like I said it was just an experiment and we didn't think about how good the subject was for monetization until after we were way down the road. Live and learn, right?

        Adsense is very tricky like that. The main thing with Adsense is your clicks are based on how well the traffic is converting for the advertiser. I am going to link to a blog post from a guy who knows his crap when it comes to Adsense. Don't let the Blogspot blog fool you. This guy makes bank of of free Blogspot blogs and Adsense. I am in no way affiliated with him but he goes into great detail. If you look in the right sidebar you will notice about 5 posts on Adsense and optimizing your page for Adsense and they are a really good read:

        How to Make Money Online for Beginners: Optimization Tips for Adsense
        Signature
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[124200].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Bogowski
    My guess would be (and again this is only a guess) is that there is a bit of hype around the topic your site is based on at the moment. I will try and explain what I mean

    Stumblers can decide which topics they want to stumble for sites. Lets say your site is based on renewable energy, and then there is a big report on CNN about renewable energy you are going to get more visitors because its the hot topic of the moment.

    Social media/bookmarking traffic is very much influenced by the trends of the time.

    Hope this helps
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[124091].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yaji
    It has something to do with your page rank and stuff like that as well.
    Signature

    Thanks, Yaji

    Hypnosis Weight Loss Fun Info about Hypnosis Weight Loss | Cheap Car Insurance
    Cat Dandruff All about Cat Dandruff. A Must-Read for Cat Lovers

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[124211].message }}

Trending Topics