AdSense has released some tips for placement of AdSense ads on forums. Adsense Forum placement tips Or for the lazy people
Big thanks to Google for sharing these tips and of course You - Crusader, who post them here After reading them, I have to say 3 things: 1) Just as I thought about placing Google Adsense Ads on my Forums after moving from phpBB to IPB 2.1.x Now I have a confirmation straight from Google and can't wait to test it 2) Didn't think that placing a skyscraper above the fold on the left side of forums would perform so well! On Home page yes, but forums... well everyday a man learn something new 3) Any tips for placing Ads in ViewForum??? :? They may be similar, but Ads after X topic may/may not perform so well as in topics. They might be to intrusive for Users after all.
Definitely interesting - and thanks for posting the link & info! I have Adsense on my own forum, and after over a year of testing... it performs best as a Leaderboard below the header and above the fold. I've tried the "after first post" trick, but it honestly didnt perform well. I have a fairly active forum and the people that read & post are definitely there for the content (and interaction). I believe it's my unregistered lurkers that are more enticed by the Leaderboard up top (which mostly arrive through obscure search terms and land on a discussion they probably dont have time or patience to wade through). You can see my forum as an example: SSWT Forum. You'll notice I've replaced the "after first post" adsense with another advertisement altogether. I now switch them up often, depending on what's "hot" in the current discussions. At the moment it is XSitePro... so that's the link I have there.
I can agree with you on the leaderboard use Lynn. I have been placing my ads above the fold and using leader boards and they are performing better than the other ad types.
In tip #5, they hint that opting out of image ads implies you are opting out of site-targeted ads, but they don't specifically say it. Has anybody heard a definitive answer on this?
Most advertisers that use CPM ads will make use of image ads. You just have so much more potential to attract a visitor if you have a very well designed image ad. So if I'm to take a guess I think 90% of all CPM advertisers will make use of image ads. So if you opt out of displaying image ads, you might lose out on a lot of CPM ads if an advertiser wanted to advertise on your site using image ads. That's my understanding in any case.
Thanks for posting those tips - I personally could really use them as I have a forum that has over 3,000 members and receives over 1000 uniques a day yet still doesn't make me much more than $1-2 a day which barely covers its hosting and forums really juice the bandwidth. So hopefully these will help reduce the burden.
Keep in mind that Adsense isnt the only potential source of revenue. You can feature certain affiliate programs that are a good match for your visitors as well... or even create and sell your own product. There is a good free rebrandible ebook that does real well in forums: Forum Supertips by Harvey Segal. Check that one out and post it on your forum - and mail it out to all of your members as well. Most forum set-ups have a mailing list feature. I use PHPBB and it allows me to mass mail all forum members from within the admin panel. If your forum doesnt have this feature, definitely set up a list and a subscription option (preferrably tied in with their registration) and start following up by email
The only problem is when I email 3000 members in variably there are always 5 or so that have registered on the forums but never been active and they always complain about how they want to be removed but they can't remember when they join or what name they joine under leading to a real pain in the behind when it comes to removing them and usually involves threats etc... and that is just for emailing them relevant and important infomation - I'd hate to think what they would do to me if I tried to sell them something in a Mass Email...
I get a stray request to "unsubscribe" from time to time, but I can usually lead them into some kind of 'telling' information to help me determine their username so I can remove their account. I havent had any problems out of it yet... but you make a good point - it's something to keep in mind (spam complaints, that is).