Dollars and AdSense Mini-Course Issue #10 -- Special Issue on Tracking and Channels <>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<> ~<> Today we'll focus on Google's detailed account reporting -- which they call 'channels.' We'll start with a brief review of what channels are, and show you how to implement them and read the reports. We recommend you pay particular attention to our suggestions for how you can take maximum advantage of channels, especially what you might want to test and track using channels. For most subscribers, this will be the most valuable part of this Issue. We'll then mention a third-party alternative you can consider if you want additional AdSense tracking. OK. Let's get started... ~~~ Enhanced Reporting: Channels First, a quick review of what Google says about detailed account reporting -- channels: "Channels provide you with a way to view detailed reporting about the performance of your pages. By assigning a channel to any combination of pages, you can track a variety of metrics across your sites. Track your leaderboard performance versus the performance of your towers, or compare your motorcycle pages to your automobile pages, by assigning each group of pages to a specific channel and comparing results in your custom channel reports. You can even assign a channel to each of your separate domains to see where your clicks are coming from. "With up to 200 AdSense channels, plus 200 AdSense for search channels available for each publisher, you can use channels to gain the insight you need to optimize your site's performance. It's easy to add, deactivate or rename your channels, and customized reports are simple to generate." Technically, channels are very easy to set up. Google provides excellent instructions (we'll come back to this in a few moments). Before you set up channels, you need to decide what goes into each channel. So, the big question is: how do you take maximum advantage of your channels? Here are our seven recommendations: 1. At a bare minimum, each website should have its own channel. 2. Consider using a separate channel for each ad block and each link unit on the site. For example, we often have one set of link units and one AdSense block on the left nav, and perhaps another AdSense block somewhere else on the page. We'd then use three different channels for that website -- one for each. (Unless we're testing something specific, we keep the layout of AdSense consistent within each site using server side includes (SSI's) -- it's much easier to manage.) 3. Use your remaining channels for testing. Depending on how many sites you have, you'll probably still have quite a few channels to use for shorter term testing. For example, if you have thirty websites with AdSense and each has 2 AdSense blocks, that means you'd use 60 channels and can use some of the additional channels for short term testing. 4. Make a list of things you want to test. The key is figuring out what you'd like to know so you can improve the AdSense performance of your sites. Here are four suggestions: - Would you like to know what some of your high traffic pages earn individually? If so, each page can be a separate channel. - Do you want to compare groups of pages on your site? For example, does the forum discussion or the blog pages earn more -- or less -- than the content pages? This can help you figure out where to put your time and resources. Simply put the group of pages into a channel. - Do you want to know what ad layout performs best on a site? Then, for example, put all the pages with the Leaderboard format in one channel, and all the pages with the Skyscraper format in another. - Here's a really interesting one: create a channel with only a sales page. You'll then be able to know exactly what you're earning by adding AdSense to that page. And, you'll be able to see if sales drop by adding AdSense to that page (sales usually don't, which is counterintuitive). You'll also be able to see if any drop in sales is made up -- or exceeded -- by the AdSense revenue for that page. You can then make a good business decision about whether or not to add AdSense to your sales pages -- you don't have to guess. 5. Pick the channels you want to implement first. Decide on a descriptive name for each channel so you'll know right away what the channel represents in your reports. 6. Create your channel names. Log in to your account at: ==} Code: https://www.google.com/adsense Then follow Google's directions. 7. Add the channel-specific code to your webpages. This is easy to do -- again, just follow Google's instructions For more info, including how to deactivate channels so you can re-use them after you've completed your testing -- as well as how to download reports -- visit: Code: ==} https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/topic.py?topic=152 How to Read the Channel Reports Google explains the process pretty clearly. Here's what they say: "Channel reports are accessible from the Advanced Reports page, under the Reports tab. After selecting a date range and breakdown type, select the Channels Data radio button. Choose any number of Active or Deleted channels from the channels list by holding the CTRL key while selecting. "Click Display Report to create your custom channel report. Your channel reports will show data for all selected channels, including impressions, clicks, and earnings data. " There are two main points we'd like to add: - It's interesting to click the 'Group data by' radio button to 'Both' and to 'Channel' to look at your results. You'll see different patterns by looking at the data in these different ways. - The data for any websites or pages that are not included in any channel will only be seen in the aggregate data reports. This has confused a few AdSense users. Clickthrough rates can vary widely by channel, site, layout, type of pages, etc. -- as can earnings. Other Tracking Tools (Not From Google) Third party companies have come out with tools to track AdSense more comprehensively. One is called AdSense Tracker, and it looks fairly comprehensive. The feedback and testimonials are quite exceptional. We haven't tried it yet, but it has gotten good feedback so we thought we'd mention it so you could take a look - you can get a free trial -- here: Code: ==} http://about-adsense.com/a/tracker.html ~~~ Today's Featured Resource: How to Create Best-Selling Ebooks As you probably know, we've written and published over 20 ebooks -- many of them best sellers. Some have sold thousands of copies. Perhaps our favorite book on how to write ebooks is David Garfinkel and Jim Edward's 'Ebook Secrets Exposed.' I wish I had read this before we wrote our first 8 ebooks! If you'd like to learn how you too can earn extra income publishing ebooks on your favorite topic or hobby, visit: Code: ==} http://about-adsense.com/a/ebooksecrets.html ~~~ That's it for now. We recommend you take the time to set up your channels, and to help you maximize your revenue. Cheers, for lot more courses..... http://mysoftskill.com
Why not link to where you got this from: References: http://freeok.org/hai-friends-i-got-one-material-on-dollars-and-adsense-mini-course/ http://mysoftskill.com/showthread.php?t=353 Or at the very least not pass it off as your own. Give credit where credit is due.
just waste of a rep point in my view. it is unlikely we will ever see Mr. First Post again on this forum
But seriously I wouldnt have got to know about channels and reporting were it not for such a message. It served as a reminder. What about that then.