Adsense No-Nos
This is going to be a bit like the blind leading the blind. I'm just an amateur at this but if you're reading this, chances are you are too and who knows, maybe some of this stuff will help. I've read a lot of stuff about Adsense. A lot of it is just the same old shit re-hashed. In fact there's plenty of unscrupulous people out there charging fifty bucks or more for more or less the same info I'm giving you here for free.
Before we go any further, it's pretty obvious that you're not going to make any money unless you have traffic - the more the merrier. Occasionally I'll run a piece that's picked up by Technorati, Digg, Stumbleupon or one of the other social bookmarking sites and that'll bring me some decent hits - like thousands a day. I see the Adsense earnings spike correspondingly. So you must have traffic. And unless you're offering porn or gratuitous violence (and some of my stuff is borderline) you'll need to be serving up good content. Forget about using that stuff that comes from programs - or content you buy. No-one's interested in that shit. That's an insult to everybody's intelligence. The content - the copy - has got to resonate. Dare I go so far to say it's got to be something people might pass on or bookmark - either something extremely interesting or useful (and I'm hoping this page is the latter or I've failed).
AdSense programs can be a good way to pay the host costs of a blog like this one - Squarespace out of New York and earn extra money on top. It costs me $17 a month to be hosted. You can try it out for free for 30 days.
Why don't I use Blogger or Wordpress or one of the many other freebie blogsites? A few reasons - I like the templates they have here. I like the personal service they give you. I like all the bells and whistles but most importantly the Search Engines love it. Yep, the Google/Yahoo/MSN etc spiders are all over me. Enter Welcome to Wallyworld into Google and you'll see I have ten pages of results with 34,100 entries. Google my name, Malcolm Lambe and you get 47,400. And that exposure is mostly down to this one website. BTW it's pretty scary what pops up on Google isn't it? If you once told some obnoxious blogging bozo to go stick his head up a dead dog's bum it's there in its entirety on Google (there are ways of removing it but I couldn't be arsed).
Being hosted on a prestigious server like 
Squarespace also got me a Google Page Rank fairly quickly. I started out with an overall 5 and it's now 4. But some of these pages are getting 3 - which isn't at all bad for what is basically a blog. Google Pagerank also gives you some credibility - the higher rank the better. I must admit I got going quite well because I had some solid links coming in. One of them being The Sydney Morning Herald's "Radar" blog that I was writing for. You'll find me under "Punters" in the archives - "Les Miserable" or "lambe, paris".
To get a 30 Days Free Trial of Squarespace without even giving them your credit card details just click on the Squarespace button on the Nav. Column on the left there, under "Log In". (can't find the code to Hyperlink it). I've been with them 2-3 years and they've only crashed a couple of times (not their fault) and were back up and running toute suite. It's an immensely powerful program. You can start with a basic account for (I think) $11. I'm on the "Advanced" plan 'cause I need all the extras. The stats page alone is worth the money. I know where all my readers are coming from and what they're looking at. And if I get spammed I can stop it straight away (hasn't happened much, touch wood).
So...Adsense. Google takes the guesswork out of keyword advertising and contextual ad placement for you but it’s important to understand the basics and follow the guidelines that will bring in the most dosh. Here's a list of Basic Do's and Don'ts:
- Don't use click-bots or “programs” designed to click on your ads anonymously. These can get traced fairly easily.
- Don't click on your own ads. Google will track this, and they can do this much easier than ever before. If you get caught, you will be shot at dawn.
- Do call the AdSense team for any questions, tips, or suggestions about your site or ad program when you need it. They are pretty good at getting back to you. Make sure you understand the Terms and Conditions section completely before making an ass of yourself.
- Do make sure you understand what “click-through rate (CTR)” means. CTR is the ratio of clicks per impressions. It can range from 0.1% to 30%, but most commonly around 1% to 10%. Divide the number of users (visitors to your site) by the number of ads. If you have 100 "impressions" (ads) and only 1 person clicks - that equates to 1% Click through Rate.
- Do make sure you understand what “cost-per-click (CPC)” means. CPC is the earning you get per click.
- Do learn what an AdSense earning is made up of. This is the impression-count times click-though-rate times cost-per-click times smart-pricing factor. Confused? Reazd more on Google's Adsense site.
- Do take the time to find out what the highest-paying niches, keyword categories, and subjects are. This can help you improve your site dramatically, but it has to stay relevant to your overall topic or your readers will lose interest. Use keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Research Tool to find the keyword phrases that will be most worth your time to go after. BTW these are FREE.
So yeah...you need to tweak your site to make it pay any money from Adsense or indeed any other Text Advertising Program or Affiliate Advertising. I think 99% of us are only making a few bucks a day. But at least it pays for the site and a few beers eh? Cheerio. Malkie, Paris.
Malcolm Lambe
I've just been looking at what Vince Tan of BlackHat Edition has to say about tweaking Adsense in this Free Downloadable PDF file. He admits he's using some borderline techniques but some of the advice he gives is quite pertinent and worth a try. Several things I picked up off him -
* Adsense Skyscraper Ads
Unlike what I've read elsewhere (and even Google Adsense advocate it with their "F" hotspot pattern I talked about above) Tan says to put the Adsense skyscraper (if you're using it) on the right of the page. That way when people are scrolling they can easily click on an ad that attracts them. You'll notice I've changed my template to give it a go.
* Foreign Language Search Engines
Tan asks the question "What are the Three Biggest Search Engines?" And he says You probably answer Google, Yahoo and MSN. Then goes on to point out that the Chinese have a huge Search Engine baidu.com which is one of the top three Search Engines in the world - mainly indexing Chinese Language sites. And he's right - the Chinese (and Indian and Japanese) online presence is huge and getting bigger all the time. So I went to a free translation service and translated the Front Page intro and some other stuff to see if the Chinese Search Engines will pick up on it. The Squarespace Log will show me pretty quickly if they do.
* Headshot Next to the Adsense
This is a dead sneaky ploy. He says to put a headshot, not necessarily yourself, at the end of the article and next to Adsense. He says it gives your article more credibilty and if the photo looks like a trustworthy (ha ha) type people are more likely to click on the ads. That's downright sneaky if not downright unethical. So I'm gonna try that too. But I'm gonna use a shot of me and my little boy.
Type and Size of Adsense
Vince Tan also says to avoid the large banner Adsense sizes and instead use the 336×280 like I've used here. He says he's tested it with hundreds (thousands?) of sites and that's the one that works best. He also says (like others) to avoid display and Video ads and to stick to Text Only. I don't know about that one either. personally I like clicking on video ads. And a lot of us are on Broadband so load times shouldn't be a problem. But again...it needs testing. We'll see. I probably have enough blasted YouTube videos up on these pages anyway without adding to the clutter.
And another thing...Vince Tan says to blend the ads into the background of your page too. And to use the same colour (usually blue) in your links and the Adsense titles. Now I don't know about that. As I said (and maybe I'm dead wrong on this) I don't think people are that stupid that they don't realise its Adsense copy. I'm going the other way - I'm not trying to disguise the Google Adsense. You'll see this page uses a weird green for the Navigation Column copy and for the links. I like the look of it. But it makes the Blue Google ads really stand out. And why not? I notice sites like Boing Boing (the worlds Top Blog) do the same thing.
Blow Me Up!
Malcolm Lambe
Got this today from Cool News of the Day -
The search-engine leader in South Korea, with 77 percent of searches, is a home-grown site called Naver.com. Founded in 1999 by NHN, an online gaming company, Naver capitalizes on both the lack of Korean-language content online as well as the interest amongst Koreans to try to help each other out. In a nutshell, Naver is building its own database of information by letting its users answer each other's questions.
On any given day, about "16 million people visit Naver ... keying 110 million queries into its standard Google-like search function." If that search comes up empty, they can post their questions via an interactive Q&A known as "Knowledge iN." About 44,000 questions are posted each day, yielding "about 110,000 answers, ranging from one-sentence replies to academic essays complete with footnotes." So far, Naver has "accumulated a user-generated database of 70 million entries." Cho In Joon, a dedicated user, explains the appeal: "When people I have never met thank me, I feel good ... No one pays me for this. But helping other people on the internet is addictive."
Yes, there are issues with Naver's accuracy, as it "lacks the full-time editorial oversight found on Wikipedia." And despite its dominance over Google, Naver has a local competitor in Daum.net which is building its database by tapping into Korea's "6.7 million virtual internet cafes which are not physical structures but online user groups built around shared interests." In just two years' time, "Daum's market share increased by nearly 30 percent," for a 10.8 percent share. Also in the game is Yahoo, whose "Korean-language service" claims a 4.4 percent share. But NHN, Naver's parent, "is now the most profitable internet company in South Korea," with profits last year of $325 million and "a market value of more than $8 billion."
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