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Got traffic, need more revenue

by stcynic
21 replies
I own a large blog network that gets more than 200,000 pageviews per day, but the revenue seems much lower than it should be. We use a third party company to handle our ads, with 5 ads on the page (one banner at the top, four 300x250 ads on the sidebar); they use Adsense and several other remnant networks, run through Doubleclick. But with all that traffic and all those ads, we're still making less than $1.50 cpm overall. I'm not using popunders or popups, but I've just started using a hovering margin ad on the right; it's averaging less than $.20 cpm. We do some directly sold ads, which pay better, but not enough to really boost the revenue consistently.

I don't really have a frame of reference for this, so I'm hoping others with more experience can tell me whether these results are too low compared to what we should be making. And if they are, I was hoping for suggestions on how to boost our revenue. Any help would certainly be appreciated.
#revenue #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author imfusa
    Well the main advertising company that i would suggest on adding it on your website is adsense. They usually pay quite well. Of course the niche matters too. You should check what is the CPC for your niche. I believe that you can do it with the google adwords keyword tool.
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  • Profile picture of the author kimjox
    Where Does the Traffic Come From?
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    use adsense - you will make much more
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  • Profile picture of the author masterjani
    If it is organic traffic then you can monetize with CPA offers using blamads.
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas Smale
      It's impossible to say if these results are too low or not without knowing what niche your sites are in, as the average CPM differs greatly from niche to niche.

      That said, I would suggest you to experiment with different options, and if you don't want to burn any bridges by getting rid of the ad management company right away then you can take a few ad units and experiment different monetisation options (adsense, perhaps CPA, etc) on these units while leaving the other units with the ad mgmt company at first.

      Originally Posted by masterjani View Post

      If it is organic traffic then you can monetize with CPA offers using blamads.
      This is such a horrible suggestion.

      BlamAds specialise in incent CPA offers, and as such their payouts are much lower than those of traditional CPA companies. In OPs case I highly doubt he will go with content locking / incent offers so this is suggestion is completely irrelevant.
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  • Profile picture of the author DylanC
    Originally Posted by stcynic View Post

    I own a large blog network that gets more than 200,000 pageviews per day, but the revenue seems much lower than it should be. We use a third party company to handle our ads, with 5 ads on the page (one banner at the top, four 300x250 ads on the sidebar); they use Adsense and several other remnant networks, run through Doubleclick. But with all that traffic and all those ads, we're still making less than $1.50 cpm overall. I'm not using popunders or popups, but I've just started using a hovering margin ad on the right; it's averaging less than $.20 cpm. We do some directly sold ads, which pay better, but not enough to really boost the revenue consistently.

    I don't really have a frame of reference for this, so I'm hoping others with more experience can tell me whether these results are too low compared to what we should be making. And if they are, I was hoping for suggestions on how to boost our revenue. Any help would certainly be appreciated.
    The positioning of the ads may help in increasing revenue. If possible, do put ads in content as they give high CTRs. Also, you may want to look into building an email list of subscribers that you can market to in the future. On top of that, sponsored reviews can also be another good source of income if it suits your niche.


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  • Profile picture of the author shahidusman
    200,000 pageviews a day is hell lot of traffic but the problem it is a combined traffic of your blog network, not a single site. Try different monetizing techniques on different blogs and see which works the best.
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    • Profile picture of the author stcynic
      We do use Adsense, as I mentioned in the post. The blog network is devoted to atheism, with a great deal of discussion of religion and politics.

      Are there people out there who do ad sales for websites and work on commission? If we can sell ads directly to companies rather than through the remnant networks, the price is always higher. The problem is that I don't have the time or the knowledge to do that. And I can't afford to hire a full time salesperson, but if there are companies or individuals out there who do that for a client list of websites on commission, that would really interest me. But I don't know if that actually exists.
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      • Profile picture of the author DylanC
        Originally Posted by stcynic View Post

        We do use Adsense, as I mentioned in the post. The blog network is devoted to atheism, with a great deal of discussion of religion and politics.

        Are there people out there who do ad sales for websites and work on commission? If we can sell ads directly to companies rather than through the remnant networks, the price is always higher. The problem is that I don't have the time or the knowledge to do that. And I can't afford to hire a full time salesperson, but if there are companies or individuals out there who do that for a client list of websites on commission, that would really interest me. But I don't know if that actually exists.
        You can try BuySellAds.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Cesar Sampaio
    Are you doing A/B tests? Maybe the location of the ads or the layout of the blogs are far from optimal.

    Also CPA ads can be very profitable. With 200.000 page views it will be easy to be accepted in any network if the blogs are not controversial (porn, gambling, guns...).
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    • Profile picture of the author stcynic
      Originally Posted by Cesar Sampaio View Post

      Are you doing A/B tests? Maybe the location of the ads or the layout of the blogs are far from optimal.

      Also CPA ads can be very profitable. With 200.000 page views it will be easy to be accepted in any network if the blogs are not controversial (porn, gambling, guns...).
      I'm afraid I'm a bit of a neophyte here. Can you explain an A/B test? And a CPA ad? Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Cesar Sampaio
        Originally Posted by stcynic View Post

        I'm afraid I'm a bit of a neophyte here. Can you explain an A/B test? And a CPA ad? Thanks.
        CPA is Cost Per Action. If people submit an email or ask for a free sample of a product trough an ad in your site you are paid. It can be much more profitable than adsense or selling space for other marketers' banners if done right. An example of a network that does that is maxbounty.com

        Search posts by Kenster or William Souza, as they are experts in CPA, and you will learn more.

        A/B test is where you change, let's say, the position of a banner or the background color thus making several versions of the same web page (A, B, C, D...)

        Then you show page A to one visitor, Page B to another and so on. With enough data you will see which layout was more lucrative.

        Then you use the winner as a starting point for another round and keep doing it until you are satisfied or cannot get better results anymore.
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        • Profile picture of the author stcynic
          Originally Posted by Cesar Sampaio View Post

          CPA is Cost Per Action. If people submit an email or ask for a free sample of a product trough an ad in your site you are paid. It can be much more profitable than adsense or selling space for other marketers' banners if done right. An example of a network that does that is maxbounty.com

          Search posts by Kenster or William Souza, as they are experts in CPA, and you will learn more.

          A/B test is where you change, let's say, the position of a banner or the background color thus making several versions of the same web page (A, B, C, D...)

          Then you show page A to one visitor, Page B to another and so on. With enough data you will see which layout was more lucrative.

          Then you use the winner as a starting point for another round and keep doing it until you are satisfied or cannot get better results anymore.
          Thanks for taking the time to explain those things. I'll look into CPA marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author trafficmasters
    Have you considered charging for paid banners at a monthly rate? You have a lot of traffic you just need to find a company in your niche and contact them.

    All the best!
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  • Profile picture of the author stcynic
    Here's a question that maybe someone here can answer. Are 160x600 ads generally more or less effective in terms of revenue than 300x250 ads?
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  • Profile picture of the author NicoleElmore
    Hi stcynic,
    Wow, that is indeed quite a lot of hits that you could monetize to earn passive income.

    Do you currently offer any products or services for sale through your site?

    Also, do you have any lead capturing forms set up?
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    • Profile picture of the author stcynic
      Originally Posted by NicoleElmore View Post

      Hi stcynic,
      Wow, that is indeed quite a lot of hits that you could monetize to earn passive income.

      Do you currently offer any products or services for sale through your site?

      Also, do you have any lead capturing forms set up?
      We're setting up a storefront to sell t-shirts and such, but it's not done yet. Can you explain what a lead capturing form is? Thanks for the help.
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      • Profile picture of the author NicoleElmore
        Sure.

        A lead capturing form would be a form that you can embed in your site to allow people to enter their name and e-Mail address.
        Then you can build your e-Mail list and send out certain updates or offers to your e-mail list and generate income from it as well.

        Do you have an e-Mail marketing software or site that you are subscribed to such as Aweber or MailChimp, for example?
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Sounds to me like your topic is too broad. Sometimes we need to make a market and then point that traffic to the market.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    What's the site? 300x250 banners are one of the best that you can run.
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    • Profile picture of the author stcynic
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      What's the site? 300x250 banners are one of the best that you can run.
      The site is freethoughtblogs.com. I know it's ugly, we're doing a total redesign on the site now.
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