Jen from Jensense has a good Interview with Jason Calacanis about Weblogs Inc’s experience with Adsense. There’s lots covered but here’s Jason’s main piece of advice:
‘Jen: What is the best piece of advice you have for a publisher brand new to AdSense? What would you have done differently when you started with AdSense, knowing what you do now.
Jason: I would have run four ads per page, taken off the borders, and made the links the same color as the links on the blog. I would have also made channels for each position and blog so I could track things better.’
Most people do that allready. Is this special just because Jason would do it? I don’t think so. Darren, you posting behavior of the last few weeks seems to focus on quantity, not qualtiy.
With all due respect, Tinus, I disagree.
Keep those posts comin’ Darren. You’ve helped this blogger immensely.
I thought AdSense had a 3 ad block limit? Is he talking total ads across the different positions or within the blocks. I’m familiar with the channels, but I guess it wasn’t clear to me how to set up channels for the different positioning of ads. Is it just a matter of creating the channel name for a given position and then including it in the ads at that given position?
Tinus – I think the last few weeks I’ve written more original, long posts than I have for a long time and in the midst of it put my normal links to other sites.
I posted the tip because I saw it as Jason telling Jen what his ‘key tips’ were – not because they were unique. To be honest I didn’t see anything unique in the article but think its notable because the guy is at the head of a million dollar operation and could probably teach the rest of us a thing or two.
Having said that his tip is not really unique – I’m amazed how many bloggers do the exact opposite to what he suggests.
Jason – I think he’s talking about three ad blocks plus the ad link units across the top.
You’re spot on with what you say about channels Jason – a different channel for each position helps you track your results better.
AdSense allows three ad units PLUS one link unit per page. Google says you can have a max of three ad units per page and that link units don’t count towards that total, but you are only allowed 1 link unit per page making the largest amount possible three ad units plus one link unit = 4.
No idea what Tinus is on about or where he’d been the past week. You’ve posted a lot of content yes, but it’s been some of the best blogging I’ve ever seen Darren, or anyone else for that matter, do. His strategy blogging and apathy series of posts have both been top notch as was his recent case study which is perhaps the best post I’ve seen going around the web on blogging for a long time.
Another thumbs up here for Darrens blogging on Problogger as of late. It has been amazing, and inspiring. Keep up the great work.
Tinus, Bull.
Way to go Darren! Keep it coming!
Tinus, your reading behavior of late seems to focus on skimming, not reading.
Lately I’ve found greater success in narrowing down my ads to one well-placed adblock. I actually tripled my CTR on one blog simply by removing one of the ads (weird, huh?) – it was two small skyscrapers on either side. I think it had something to do with no focal point for clicking, but who knows.
Hopefully I can look into some better designs that cater to three adblocks better.
Jason’s idea of making an ad look less like an ad is a great one but I wonder at what point Google will begin to discourage that idea.
Google is faced with a dilemma – on the one hand it wants to increase it’s revenue by giving its affiliates more ways of using adsense and the link unit is perhaps one of the best if you know how to blend it into your page.
But at the same time, for the average surfer, those link units are almost like blind links. Sure the surfer will click them and Google will make money but once the surfer gets to the advertiser’s site he may well find that he is not where he wants to be and leaves without purchasing anything.
That means the advertiser has spent his money and not made a sale and ultimately he may feel that advertising with Google is a waste of money. So Google loses an advertiser.
This could be a balancing act that is well worth watching.
Not sure Google will discourage it Stuart – in fact the last official advice I’ve seen from Adsense actually encourages blending of ads.
That’s what I’ve heard too (blending = good).
And just a minor correction Stuart, they are not really blind links at all — they take you to a google search page that has a list of related links. It’s only when the user clicks on *those* links that anybody makes a dime, including Google. In other words, the first click on the link units is free. At least that’s how I’ve understood it.
As for the quantity versus quality debate, I’ve noticed the “quantity” theme myself lately — but after digesting it a bit (of course I was instantly hostile to it because that means more work!), I am growing to wonder if quantity is not *as important* as quality. I think the way Darren has addressed this issue has been really helpful if you open your mind to the possibilties. :)
Amended to say — I have no idea how Google makes money on link units, don’t listen to me. lol But I do know that *I* don’t make money until the user decides to click from the search results.
Thanks for that correction Taughnee – I have no problem with blending the ads at all – I may sometimes describe myself as a sensitive new-age marketer but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to make money – so I like the idea.
And I wasn’t aware that those links did not go straight through to an advertiser – I never click on links on my own site and I’ve never been inspired to click on those text links on any other site – although I almost did with one of Darren’s :)
You’re welcome. And, I guess I look at it like this — if the links are relevant, people looking for information will not be displeased and probably find them helpful. In that regard, I feel ok about the blending (and the making of the money!)
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After reading through the comments of a post over at ProBlogger this morning I decided to try and […]