Frustrated - how long do you work on a project before assessing it's a failure/success?

[jodiesmitham]

Hi warriors,

I'm a little frustrated at the moment. The advice on here always states that you should give your projects a good go and be patient with results. Then you can build on what worked and get rid of what didn't work. My question is how long should you wait?

I used Market Samurai to find a keyword which I used to build a Wordpress site around. Didn't take long to get on the first page of Google, after working hard on the site's content and quality backlinks. But I am making NO money through Adsense and the site's been up for months. I tried CPA, but that didn't make money either.

I'm getting around 60 unique visitors per day from SEO, mainly searching for my keyword. I've built other sites that have made money within a few weeks, so what am I doing wrong with this site?

[TheArticlePros]

I'm behind a firewall that blocks AdSense, so I can't see what kind of ads you're using until I get home tonight. Just to humor me, are they where they are supposed to be?

Example: 5 Simple Adsense Layout Examples for Increasing Click Through Rates | Niche Pursuits

-- j

[paul nicholls]

well if your getting 60 visits a day but getting no clicks on your adsense then its down to your ad block placement

a lot also has to do with the demographics which your targeting. generally a younger demographic will be much more savvy when it comes to ads on websites so you ctr may be a lot less

in niches where the demographics are a lot higher your ctr may be a lot higher

it may not be the case in every instance but ive found this is the case a lot of the time

try changing your ad blocks around, once you start getting clicks then go from there

if your getting traffic then just keep changing things untill you make some money and then go from there

EDIT: ive just seen your link - try using the 336x280 ad block and wrapping your content around it

also try using the default google pallette colours. they do work well

[Dmarcotte]

Thanks for the advice - I am having a similar problem - I have at least 100 unique visitors a day and never a click on my adsense ads. I will make some changes and see if that helps.

[Robert Bleach]

60 unique visitors/day isn't huge, so that's your first problem. You might also want to play with your ad placement and size. I get the most clicks from a 336x280 block at the top of each article (between the title and text). Once I changed to one of these at the top and bottom of each article, my CTR improved dramatically. Of course, don't do that for small posts (maybe just one at the top for small posts).

Also, I've found that the 160x600 skyscrapers on the right hand side don't work well for me. If your theme makes it easy, you may want to consider switching to a left-side widget format, so your ads are on the left. The google ad heatmap says that's a much better location.

[paul nicholls]

also you have the word free in your domain and your title tag

so when people come to your site they are mostly in the "free stuff surfing mode"

not buying clicking on ads mode

thats another thing to think about too

i had an adsense site last year with the word free in it and my ctr`s were terrible as well

paul

[fenixpro]

Hi Op,

Well, from what I can tell, yes, you are on the first page for your domain match KW and looks like you have around 116 pages indexed. "Free cloud storage" gets 6600 exact searches per month according to GKWT and with you getting 60 uniques a day, I would say you would at least want one click per day - which would come out to be around 1.2% CTR.

Now why isn't it happening? I don't know. And if it was would it be worth it?

When I design and research a site and then build it out, I'll usually give it about 2-3 months of effort and if it isn't ranking and then creating profits, I won't continue to put effort into it, I'll just let it sit.

Obviously I keep track of it and sometimes it picks up and does well. If it doesn't, I either let it die, or I will try to sell it. Sometimes, you can sell a first page site even with no income for thousands.

In terms of what to do, if you want to put energy into it, I would play around with the adsense placement and possibly but some subheader style adblocks between your paragraphs. Possibly play with the design of the site too?

Best of luck. Don't put energy into something that isn't working. Seems to me you've done a good job testing so far -- with little to show for it. Sometimes it is best to move on.

[fin]

It's a bit of a guess I imagine, whether a website about free could hosting could bring you in any decent money.

Why don't you choose a niche that you know has money involved and build a business around it?

[jodiesmitham]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your brilliant feedback. The Google Adsense at the top of every article was where I started and still failed to get clicks. I've moved those ads around so many times now, but I think Paul Nicholls confirmed my thoughts about demographics and savvy youngsters.

I guess this one is probably worth parking, although I don't understand why the keyword was considered lucrative in Market Samurai.

[ClasH]

Okay, so let me tell you how to monetize this.

GUESSES = fail!

You need to install website optimizer or any other split testing tools on your websites and measure what is happening. You can get heatmap actions to see exactly what people find interesting. Any product you talk about should have a affiliate link wrapped around it, make it look natural and you will make money!

Implement an adsense block which looks like part of the article in the middle of the article. Maybe just before the "table".

In the table you should check out which of the products that have "affiliates" linked to it. Make room for another "tab" which says "try it now" or "learn more" with an affiliate link connected to it.

If you are ranking for any good keywords..you should start making money!

[Chris-]

are your AdSense impressions approximately matching your visitor numbers?

If not, then something might be wrong with AdSense. Some sites behave very strangely, for example one of my sites has 400 visitors a day, and AdSense says only 1 or 2 impressions, so sometimes things can be wierd! Most sites would show an AdSense impression for every page viewed (if that page has AdSense on it).

If other sites are doing well, then no point in struggling with a particular site that isn't, if you can't see any reason. Your time would be better spent improving results on your good sites. Some sites just don't work, period. Move on


Chris

[gasman]

Depending what the project is and how much time and money are needed to go into it determines when I decide it's a failed project. The truth is even though there are countless ways to make money online, not all of them will work for you, even if they have worked for others. I think of it as sort of a commission job. You need to have a product people want and you need to take rejection well.

[fluffythewondercat]

I suspect Paul N. is correct about "free" being a problem. People are looking for free and not finding it.

What's the average time on site? Bounce rate? I'm betting your bounce rate is at least 60%, right?

fLufF
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