Very low CTR. Any suggestions?

My web site is online for more than one and a half year. I post original content written by me and I am trying to increase its traffic.

However my CTR is less than 1%. I have an average of 1500 adsense views every day. Although I have tried different color schemes but I didn't have any increase of my CTR. Could you please check my ads placement and colors and give me a few suggestions?

Any help is appreciated.

This is the site:
www.my-guides.net

 

Your placement looks ok too, thing is where your traffic comes from. whether they are really interested in content of your site or not. Try to add more contents to your site and ctr will be up

 

use large rectangle ads too

 

Where you traffic coming from? Hopefully is not social networking. Do you have statcounter install? This will tell you where are they coming from.

 

I use google analytics. About 55% of my traffic comes from search engines. Another 30% comes from referring sites where I post links for my guides, such as Linux forums and video related ones.

I also use a 300x250 rectangle at the end of the articles. It isn't visible in the home page. It's CTR is about 0.2% Check it at the end of this article for example:
http://www.my-guides.net/en/content/view/122/1/

Thanks for the answers everyone.

 

I don't see anything wrong with the placement. Obviously 1% figure isn't really bad. My own number is also not far from that. Note that the ctr can also depend on which niche you are in.

 

i would propose image ads. they are more attractive

 

I agree with Uncle Bun, a mix of image and text ads may make a difference for you. Have you tested a variety of different combinations? I would suggest testing image ads for a week and see if that makes any difference. Check out my site for more tips at //AdsenseOverdrive.com/

 

Try to add one more units ads in between your post.

 

Try a half-banner at the top-left corner of your posts.

Google content content more content mo
___Ads content content content content
content content content content content c

 

Hello everyone and sorry for not replying sooner.

First I have to say that currently I am trying a different colour scheme, a blue colour for the ads titles, which although it doesn't blend with the rest of the site in the few days has increased the CTR a little bit.

@avaleks
This is a nice idea. In that part I usually post images relative to the article or the guide, but I might follow your idea.

@lifeplayer
I have tried this at the past but it didn't work. The ads at the end of the articles worked better.

@UncleBun, AdsenseOverdrive
I have tried image ads in the past at the top of the sight and the right scyscrapper. At first they appeared to behave well, but after a while the CTR went down. Maybe I'll try a mixed mode of image and text later.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I will try a few more days the blue colour and after that I'll try some of your suggestions.

I start thinking that my niche is the reason for the low CTR. Maybe DVD and Video stuff isn't a good idea for adsense.

 

edit your Google Adsen for the good earn!

 

In the main page, not need for the sidebar ads and inline post. Just the one in the top nav menu will do. In the single article page, put a huge ads just below the title. Nothing else. You are sure to get more clicks.

 

So your proposal is just 1 ad in the main page and 1 ad in the articles page?

I have tried 468x60 below the article title in the past. Or you mean something like 336x280 ?

Thanks for the reply.

 

2 ads in the article page. 336x280 below title.

 

Ok, I'll try that. Thanks.

 

Ok, I've removed the right skyscraper and added a 336x280 below the title in articles. I have to figure a way to make the header ad visible only in the main page and not in the articles. The rectangle from the first page will be removed also after a few tests.

You can check the site if you want.

 

After 1 month of testing I can say for surely that the 336x280 ad below the title gets many clicks! Thanks a lot iworkforthem!