Help optimizing with Adsense - Getting 0.05% CTR

Discussion in 'Placement / Reviews / Examples' started by rldowling03, May 8, 2010.

  1. #1
    I have a site making about 200,000 impressions a day and rising and getting about 0.05% CTR

    Site is http://bit.ly/cuhUoU

    I have never been more of a just place and earn kinda person when it comes to adsense, but seeing how low the clicks and eCPM is and how low I am earning compared to other sites, just thought I would try get some help and opinions on my sites placement and how to improve the numbers

    Bounce Rate is about 48%
    Search engine traffic is at 68%
    Direct Traffic is at 19%
    Other 13% is from mostly a combination of Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo Answers

    Thanks in advance for all who can help me :)
     
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  2. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #2
    The adunit in the sidebar is dead, move it to the top a little bit.
    More the adunit under the comment form to exactly under the post.

    You should see a good result. :)

    BTW, how many uniques/day are you getting?
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 8, 2010 IP
  3. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #3
    Getting about 35,000 uniques a day which is increasing almost everyday

    Moves the adsense units now, how does that look now??

    Anything else I could try?
     
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  4. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #4
    35,000 everyday is very good for a 1 month old site.

    Use a 336 x 280 Large rectangle on the sidebar instead of the current one.

    For all ad units: make the ad background and border the same color as the site's background
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 8, 2010 IP
  5. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #5
    Yes I was suprised also by the growth of the site

    Should I make the ads show just image ads, just text ads or both text and image ads. Is there a big difference between doing that with adsense?

    I have changed as colour and also added the large recgtangle, is it a problem if it is cut off a bit?? Should I go with the Medium Rectangle which would fit?

    Edit: Decided to go with the Medium Rectangle ad for the sidebar anyway as the other one was too big and looked a little silly
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2010
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  6. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #6
    1. Text ads usually pays more than image ads, But you can use both and AdSense will decide what's best relevant.

    2. The large rectangle will looks good when the side padding are removed, a medium rectangle can be fine too : )

    3. I told you to make the ad background color = ad border color = site's background color = (WHITE), Not grey!
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 8, 2010 IP
  7. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #7
    So I should just leave it as both images and text ads

    Also I thought you meant the actual sites background colour not the content areas background colour, will do now
     
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  8. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #8
    Yes, its all good... You'll just need to change the padding around the sidebar's adunit, make it
    padding: 0 0 5px 0;
    Code (markup):
    You should also remove one of the linkunits at the top... they are making the ad unit look ugly. (Specially the one above the adunit)
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 8, 2010 IP
  9. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #9
    I cant just remove the padding as the only way i can remove the padding would be to remove the padding for all of the sidebar which makes it look quite bad

    Am trying to widen the sidebar currently

    Also removed the top link unit

    Edit: The adsense unit is now displaying up top of sidebar now and is in full without padding
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2010
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  10. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #10
    Great, Those were my 2 cents.
    Hope that I could help : )
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 8, 2010 IP
    rldowling03 likes this.
  11. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #11
    Thanks will see if that helps :)

    Anyone else have anything else to say??
     
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  12. Lorelei

    Lorelei Notable Member

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    #12
    review the sites that have a very good click through rate and you see the difference. ads should look like they are a part of the content, and be right in visitor's face, otherwise tge CTR is 1% and less.

    if you want, i can show you a few examples of my good CTR sites:

    http://virusremovaltool.info/quick-and-easy-steps-to-removing-trojans-from-your-computer/ <--- 9% CTR (ads are the only clickable option)
    http://bestfreecards.net/ <---- 16% CTR

    and, just for the contrast: http://loreleiwebdesign.com/2009/12/26/75-best-wordpress-plugins-that-make-bloggers-lives-easier/ <---- 0.25% CTR (webmaster's related, too many other options to click on)

    hope this helps. don't try to innovate your own ads placement, just copy those who are successful :)
     
    Lorelei, May 8, 2010 IP
  13. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #13
    Might be too quick to judge right now, but my eCPM has increased since doing this. Will give it a day or two and see how it goes from there :)
     
    rldowling03, May 8, 2010 IP
  14. rldowling03

    rldowling03 Notable Member

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    #14
    Wow, after doing that, my CTR has doubled and eCPM shot right up. Only half way through the adsense day and past the $50 mark in earnings for the day :)
     
    rldowling03, May 9, 2010 IP
  15. UpL0ad3R

    UpL0ad3R Active Member

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    #15
    Hah, I'm glad for you.

    So, You're welcome ;)
     
    UpL0ad3R, May 9, 2010 IP