What am I missing??

Um...I don't see any Adsense ads on the page. Oh, I take that back. There is one.

You could try adding more ad blocks, particularly text blocks either at the top of the article or perhaps in the middle?

Tina

Sidebars don't offer the most effective position for AdSense ads. CTR increases if ads are
1. moved up from below
2. moved from right to left
3. are mixed into the content itself

Maybe the ads that are pulled aren't targeted? Is your site SEO optimized?

Hi Mike, good job on getting that traffic BTW!!
As you are probably aware you could write a book on Adsense (oh – somebody already has?) So you won't get a definitive answer in a forum post . Although there are many 'general' rules about ad placement etc. but each particular site can perform very differently so the real answer is testing. i.e. make a change and see if things improve – ad infinitum.


That being said I have a few specific comments.


First off you don't say where the traffic is coming from. If it is not all organic then it maybe that the traffic is just not targeted enough or the right traffic to convert.


Second. What is your average CPC payment (not sure your allowed to say under the Google T&Cs!!) but if it's $0.50 or more ok but if it's less than say $0.10 then you will need a lot of clicks to make anything. If your CPC is very low the you need to look more closely at your page keywords so you attract higher paying ads.


Thirdly, I looked at your page and there are some great pictures but only a short paragraph of text. The result of which seems to be that the only keyword Google can figure is South Africa and you have ads all offering South African safaris. Except for one for Lion Real Estate (I'll pick up on that one a little later). I don't know the answer but you have to ask – are the people looking at a Lion Talker actually looking to go on safari?


Fourth, Check your traffic stats and see what keywords your visitors are using to get to your pages. Optimise your text & hence ads to meet the visitors desires (what they are searching for).


Fifth, Re: the Lion Real Estate. Obviously a rogue ad (not related to the content) so filter it out with the competition blocker – I mean in principle check all your pages and block any ads that don't fit.


Sixth, Position of ads. Most visitors rarely go beyond the first page and many are too lazy even to scroll down so get your ads above the fold. The first view you see will be the biggest earning area. If you waste that area with superfluous or oversize headers etc. you will waste your sales area. PhilipSEO's comments are all valid but like I said test everything. Try typing ”Adsense ad placement best practice” into Google for more info.


And Finally
It's generally accepted that click through of Adsense has been dropping over the last few years and this is thought to be due to a phenomenon called ad blindness. I.e. everyone is now so used to seeing ads that they subconsciously block them out and manage to navigate around them. Whereas ads are normally created to stand out you will find a much better click through if your ads are 'merged' or matched to your website. I am not suggesting you disguise them or make them look like something they are not – this would be against the T&C's and get you in trouble. What I mean is ensure the colour scheme exactly matches your website, avoid garish or contrasting colours in your ad. In short don't make them stand out. Don't have big boxes around your add be more subtle. You will do well to read the terms etc. to ensure that any placements do stay within the rules as there are rules around using graphics next to the ads etc. Just cover your butt.


Like I said not definitive but my 10c worth


Tony

See where you place the ads, try to get some affiliate offers there as well

@Tony Marriott
1. Web 2.0 sites mainly Reddit and Facebook.
2. $0 - all referral traffic
3. Should I add alt image tags to help Google?
4. Again referral
5. Ah... didn't think of that. Should these ads be test or image, since these articles are not targeted toward commercial purchases. Can I specify other sites like mine to show up?
6. ok
Should I move toward ads based purely on impressions like blogads?

That picture of the guy bathing in the lake with the lion was hilarious. That looked like they were "caught".