Adsense Success

[nevetS]

OK, before this sounds too much like bragging, I made about $90 from January 16, 2004 until 10/30/2004. Averaging a little less than a click a day, posting the ads only on my "links page".

Well, the biz that I ran on the website closed down in August. I still get several hundred visitors a day, so I figure along with the "we're closed" notice, I'd put adwords up on all the pages.

Crazy, my click-throughs are at 6.6 percent and so far this month, I've made $55!

I'm astounded at how successful this is. Seems to me that it took me about 5 months to get the site as a top search result in google and inktomi. (not very competitive), so maybe making money off of ads isn't something to expect early on.

Just thought I'd share my success story. No fedex club member, but looks like I'm going to get a nice christmas check that I never really expected to get. (at .03-.50/day, you wonder if it's worth even having the ads).

[Will.Spencer]

6.6 CTR is great!

[dejaone]

the CTR may go down a little (20-40%) after a while.

[lorien1973]

Yeah 6.6% is a good rate. I have gotten 9.1% some days, but they are rare (usually on a sunday). With enough traffic, adsense can pull an excellent income. I love it cuz its all bottom line, no COGS or anything to deal with.

[Mia]

I see around 4.4% CTR currently with an all time average of around 2.2%. This is with the Adsense Ad's. The site does quite well traffic wise, so we see a check every month. It did a heck of a lot more revenue before Google dropped ad pricing, but it is still making money.

On the other hand the Adsense Search we are doing 14.9% all time average CTR!!!
I see high 20's and low 30's percent wise regularly.. Oddly enough Sept 2nd we had a 200% CTR which has to be a mistake in Google land..

Only down side is that the search really does not pay out much :-( I really wish I could get the ads up to 14.9% on average.. I could pay the mortgage, taxes, not only on my house, but my building as well :-)

Anyway..

[melfan]

6.6 CTR is above average. I range from 2.0% to 2.4% before, that was way back when Im using single block ads. Since I added another block the CTR drops but revenue increase so I might leave it that way.

[PhilipB]

I do ok with Adsense. I think it's the fact that I have my ads on the bottom of the page which really looses possible imcome, I just don't know a good way to incorporate them toward the header of my site while still keeping the site looking pro.

[Mia]

We just found a simple skinny tower on the right side seemed to work best for us. An example can be found at: http://www.mccoypottery.com

As for the "bottom", if you keep the pages really simple and small, say viewed at 800 X 600 at the very least you can get them to work well.. Here is another example: http://www.mccoypottery.com/email

In our forums we have them at the bottom and have recently moved them to the left side: http://forums.mccoypottery.com

All in all I think they work well. One of the keys to getting them to work well with the flow of your site, or look and feel is to simply adjust the font type/style and color schemes in your AdSense code such that it mirrors your site.. Then things do not look so "out of place", even if it is :-)

[melfan]

font type/style and color schemes in your AdSense code such that it mirrors your site

change adsense font? This is not allowed unless your a premium publisher.

[Mia]

But anyone can change the color scheme such that the look and feel of the AdSense banners look as though they are part of the site. You do not need to be a premium publisher to do that.

[nevetS]

Yeah, my adsense ads actually look pretty good on the site - all in the same color theme. If I couldn't do that, I probably never even would have put them up. I think my CTR is good because my would be competitors aren't ranked very highly, and since the visitors to my site find that I'm closed, they click on the competitor's ads hoping they might be local.

[bigslowrock]

mia - I like that adsense intergration into the pottery website.

[Mia]

Yeah, my adsense ads actually look pretty good on the site - all in the same color theme. If I couldn't do that, I probably never even would have put them up. I think my CTR is good because my would be competitors aren't ranked very highly, and since the visitors to my site find that I'm closed, they click on the competitor's ads hoping they might be local.

What is the site?

[nevetS]

well... I haven't been very keen on giving out the site at the risk of one of you SEO pros out there building a site to take away my traffic, but there are plenty of better projects out there that could make more money with a higher traffic/better keyword related theme. And besides, I think a lot of the traffic these days comes from referrals - when we were in business we made sure every client had the best experience.

Anyhow, without further adieu: www.ovenbuns.com

I'm actually considering migrating this to a site that is focused on childcare/child safety/maternity issues.

[Mia]

mia - I like that adsense intergration into the pottery website.

Thank you. It is actually a hobby of my dad's.. His passion anyway. When he say the adsense ads on the site one day he freaked, and was worried it would drive people out of the site. I convinced him to keep the adsense stuff there and when he saw a $300 check the first month he never complained again :-)

[nevetS]

Wow. $300!

You know, after spending some time on that site, i'm impressed with what it has grown to out of a hobby. I mean, the top two adsense ads were for finding McCoy Pottery on e-bay LOL

[Mia]

Yeah, it is just insane.. Makes now sense.. Anyway, we have 1100+ users on our mailing lists, just started the forums and it is close to 140 now, and have introduced an online auction site (ebay style) at http://auction.mccoypottery.com

The original site was started in 97, and it keeps growing. We have a long way to go in getting every McCoy Pottery image up on the site however... Between scanning, croping, cleaning up, and then entering into the sql db, it is a daunting task. That said I only work on it when I have useless time.. Lately though (this year) I have been trying to make it a priority to get it done. Given it actually generates revenue now that is...

[bigslowrock]

it's amazing how money can do that isn't it ;)

[mnemtsas]

I put up 4 KW specific articles on my software site (that had nothing to do with software). They get around 10-15% CTR and make $2-3 per day. Trouble is I cannot for the life of me think of any more terms to write articles about.

[nevetS]

Use the keyword suggestion tool to see if it can't come up with some good ones for you. Otherwise, check out the high paying words list at toppayingkeywords.com and maybe that will help you out. It's like $250 I think. I saw it and I'm probably eventually going to buy it, but I have a network of sites that I'm building for that as part of a future project.

[mnemtsas]

Not really fussed about how much they pay. For me it's a matter of time. If I can't generate 4 articles focussing on one area in one day then I'm not really interested atm.

[Mia]

Use the keyword suggestion tool to see if it can't come up with some good ones for you. Otherwise, check out the high paying words list at toppayingkeywords.com and maybe that will help you out. It's like $250 I think. I saw it and I'm probably eventually going to buy it, but I have a network of sites that I'm building for that as part of a future project.

Ok, but then what do I do with them from there? Place them in my meta tag keyword for the site?

[nevetS]

Ok, but then what do I do with them from there? Place them in my meta tag keyword for the site?

Write articles about the keywords, and make them interesting so that people read them, then click on the ads so they can get even more information about this newfound topic they just read about. (I haven't done this yet, but that's what I would do)

[Buzliteyear]

One of the posts mentioned that CTR rate was higher on Sundays. I've noticed that too. What is that?

[dejaone]

my CTR is always low on Sunday. It depends on the subject of the sites.

[Mia]

Friday's seem to be slow for us.. I see this trend with internet usage as an ISP as well.. Just that everyone goes out on Friday, except for me I guess.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are the big days for us. Of course the site that generates the most income is a site that seems to get its most visits on the weekend, and the first day of the week, ie., back to work day.. Something tells me people like to visit on Monday to get over that case of the Mundays..

[cleanlava]

Great rate...I hope I can do that well some day!

[Rik]

I started using Adsense from 10th November 2004, SO far my AVG click through rate is 2.2% but in last 12/13 days .. i have more than 12% CTR for 2 days ... will that be a prob? I mean will google cancel my payment or suspend my account? I'm just little afraid as I donno much abt adsense and 1st time using adsense.

So, what u guys say?

- Rik

[lorien1973]

I average between 7.4 and 9.1 percent on any given day; google checks the clicks at the end of the month and I'm sure they'd notice unusual activity.

[melfan]

7.4 to 9.1 are pretty high CTR. But if it is valid click throughs you have nothing to worry about.

[Swebbie]

Hey all,

One of my sites averages almost 15% CTR for the past 2 months after being around 7% for the months prior. All I did was change around the position of the ads to find the best ones for my layout. I get no trouble from Google. The check arrives every month, right on time (end of the month). I don't pretend to know how, but clearly Google can determine fraudulent clicks and won't boot you for a sudden rise if it sees that it's all legit.

John

[skunker]

I am finally getting 9% CTR after many months. I found out that "less is more".

[nevetS]

meaning less ads on a page?

[crazyhorse]

JJJJJj my rate is at 0.8% a day, 60 clicks average though, i must be doing something wrong...

[stephaneggy]

wow thats a very high clicktrhough, where do you place the ad?

[crazyhorse]

Me?? I place the ads on the right side of the page, as a skytower, background same color.

[melfan]

Me?? I place the ads on the right side of the page, as a skytower, background same color

Try using inline ads inside your articles. Just try different things and you'll find out what best for you.

[crazyhorse]

I ll add the ads between two posts of the thread, im using a phpbb forum. Lets see what that will bring. When u use a phbb forum its always a bit more difficult to play around with the ads. ;) I guess..

[melfan]

Forum based site likely to receive lower CTR, 0.8% CTR is normal for those kind of sites.

[Swebbie]

It really depends on your site's layout, but I've tested many placements and the best combination so far has been one skyscraper in the right margin and either one or two inline square or medium rectangles with a left alignment in the main body of the page. I usually place one near the beginning of the text, and if it's a longer article, I may add another toward the bottom. Google allows up to 3 separate occurrences of AdSense code per page, and I've found that using all 3 often helps. You have to decide what your main revenue goal is on each page, though. Don't cut your own throat!

[mopacfan]

My average ctr is at 6%. It fluctuates considerably. Some days it's down around 3%, others, it's up around 9%. I've noticed that since removing my adsense code from DP (since I got almost no income from these forums) that my ctr has gone up noticeably just because I don't have all those ads with no clicks showing against my account.

[bloodwrath]

WOW i would love to have that high of a clickthrough rate
mine is around 2.5-2.9%
my site is somewhat busy with 50000+ unique visitors a month

[EdenView]

Wide variation...

My CTR is highest on Sundays, but I make the least on Sundays as my total impressions are usually way down.

Friday nights are by far my best

[bloodwrath]

i want ppl to click but then they leave my site
so i dont want them to click
its all madness

[EdenView]

i want ppl to click but then they leave my site
so i dont want them to click
its all madness

I like using scripts like this:
http://www.hostinggap.com/linkout/

To keep them coming back.

Of course, can't use it for Google, but anything else is game!

[bloodwrath]

Good idea but i only use google ads and digital point ads

[EdenView]

Good idea but i only use google ads and digital point ads

I gotcha. Then unless you're a premium publisher on Google, you're SOL ;-)

[bloodwrath]

Well when i get 1 mill or more visitors
i can finally retire in hawaii

[bigslowrock]

Ummm, I average 0.3 % clicks, how good is that? :p j/k I need to get off my butt and intergrate them into the site. I pretty much just have them floating on the top.

[SprayedT/A]

Ummm, I average 0.3 % clicks, how good is that? :p j/k I need to get off my butt and intergrate them into the site. I pretty much just have them floating on the top.

That's normally what I'm getting as well, but a few times it was up over 0.7% but it has never so far hit the 1.0%. But I'm doing alright so far, so good I guess. Maybe I need to add some more ads on different pages or something...
:rolleyes:

[skunker]

Well, my sites have fallen back to earth and now have dropped to a 2.5% CTR from a 9.5% CTR. During the last month, my site had experienced a 300% increase in earnings.

We'll see how it goes this month.

[scriptdungeonadmin]

January is WAY down so far for me. I have been with Adsense for 11 months now and this is the worst start to a month that I have had. I figured the first of the year would be a great time for adsense becuase of renewed advertising budgets. I guess I was wrong....

[mdbusa]

jan is also way down for me--i dont get it--same ads, same ctr but much lower payouts

[scriptdungeonadmin]

I have heard from some adsense peers who have been in the program longer than I that last year January and February were both way down. It did not really pick up until March. :(

[mopacfan]

For me, my earnings are up nearly 100%. I'm on target to double my monthly earnings if these numbers keep up.

[EdenView]

Meh, adwords folks getting smarter, realizing more bang for the buck by dropping "content" from the options.

[Swebbie]

Hey all,

There are a bunch of variables that can change at any time that will affect your AdSense stats. If you're seeing the same numbers of impressions and CTR, but your income has dropped in January, one possibility is that it's a post-holiday effect. I would imagine a lot of merchants using AdWords jack up what they're willing to pay for each click during Nov. and Dec. every year, to try to make more during the holiday rush.

The other elephant in the corner is your organic search engine positions for your main keywords. Unless you track that very closely, even small changes can have a big effect on your AdSense results and you'd not know to attribute the results to it.

My sites are probably a good example for January. I'm seeing lower payouts-per-click, but impressions and CTR have both improved. So I'm making more this month than in previous months. I think the lower payout-per-click is a function of the holidays ending (primarily). The higher impressions are a result of some better SERPs at Yahoo and MSN beta. And the higher CTR is due to testing and finding better places to post my AdSense ads on each page.

I would highly recommend that those of you who want to ramp up your income with AdSense take the time to test ad colors and placement. I was amazed at how much better my results were after making what I figured were just minor changes. Test, test, test... then stick with the ad size/color/placement combo that works best. Seriously, you can double or even triple your CTR if you go about it systematically. :D

Good luck!

-John

[aaditya]

I am amazed to see people's CTR here. I get around .4% on average. Is that really bad?

Also, as far as i am concerned, i started my site in december, and though the clicks and CTR remains contant, january paid me more.

[mopacfan]

Right now, for Jan. I'm averaging around 6½ percent. I am so jubilant. I'm really looking forward to '05.

[Swebbie]

CTR really does vary a whole lot. Many things impact it - some are in your control, some are not. I try to nail the things I have control over, like having very specific content that relates to one keyword per page. This means your AdSense ads will also be highly relevant to your page visitors, who will therefore be more likely to click one.

Placement of your ads, in my opinion, is the most important thing you have control over (along with tightly focused content). Test various placements and ad sizes. Yes, it's boring to test, but I'm telling you from experience with several different kinds of websites I manage - do it! When you hit the right combination of ad placement, color, and size, you might be astounded by how much your CTR shoots up.

Our overall CTR average for all sites so far in January has more than doubled vs. the 2004 average. Placement is the key!

-John