My comment about random crap was not directed at your site specifically, I just often see lots of people on here who believe you can just put adsense on any website and watch the cash come pouring in. I disagree completely, if I went to a web developer's website and saw an ad with a cat on it (what I saw when I went there) I would be quite confused. Having to supplement your web development business with advertising means you're not doing enough web development. When you are selling a service you need to look like a pro. Banner ads in this context simply do not fit. But again, that is just my opinion and you are welcome to dismiss it. My post was not in any way immature, you came here with a problem, I offered you suggestions on how to fix it. Just because you don't like those suggestions does not mean I am a jerk or that I am picking on you. If you can't learn to take constructive criticism from people, you will have a hard time growing. I learned this game by making mistakes and having my friend (who was nice enough to tutor me) basically tell me how and why I was screwing everything up. I took the criticism, learned from my mistakes, and profited. So once again, you can take my advice or not, it's up to you. But please don't confuse constructive criticism as a personal attack, I have much better things to do than pick on people on DP.
Hey! About 5 months ago I got an email from AdSense stating that because of my besiness structure (whatever that means) I couldn't participate in their program any longer. The good thing was they did pay me the last $700 I earned with them, even after they disabled my account. So, I was upset and so forth, and then I tried AdBrite. Holy cow! AdBrite ads pay a whole lot more! The only downside is their ads are not relevant to the content of each page but just to the website content you define when you generate your ads. But still, most ads pay 5-20 cents per click and you can put more than just three ads per page, and you have an option of inline ads too. Anyway, if you have a good amount of traffic to your website, try AdBrite, see if you like it more.
Oh, and just a word of caution to those who defend AdSense (I use to do this too!): Sooner or later they will ban you too! It's just how it works with them.
My only question is, if this is your business site, why do you want to have ads on there that may draw visitors away to someone else"s site? If you need to make money, start a blog with helpful hints and tips, and put adsense on there. It will not only enhance your business site, but give you an outlet to make some money, while not cluttering up your professional site....you know, the one that you are trying to attract clients with...with ads.
No...it is an affiliate marketing program that I belong to. I love it because it has some great products and a LOT of helpful guides
To Hmansfield: Thanks for the advice. The truth of the matter is that most of the sites I do for people come from word of mouth. I think the bottom line for me at this point is that I don't believe there is anything wrong with putting ads on a web development service site. In this case, my site is both a service site and an informational site and I use it as a tool in conjunction with my consulting business. I can't seem to understand why some of you guys say that it has to be one or the other. I do provide a lot of information on my site including IT Support and software reviews, etc. Again, why must it be one or the other. Today (somehow), I made 1.67, the second highest I have made from adsense on this particular site. I have an appointment to go see someone about a site today as well and it came from word of mouth. I have not and do not rely on my site to get more clients. Word of mouth seems to be the most powerful source (for me atleast) to get people to buy websites. But I will say that I am glad that qurve said what he said and you are saying what you are saying because these kind of statements inspired to make a new blog called web-site-know-it-alls.com., currently websiteknowitalls.blogspot.com...Anyway, I hear what you guys are saying but I still don't see it as black and white as you fellas seem to... And...who decides whether or not a site is 'professional'. It seems to me that most commercial sites has plenty of ads...even website service sites....
Just an FYI, if you want to respond directly to what someone wrote, hit the Quote button anyway, site looks MUCH better without the ad at the top but I still don't like the moving heading
To all: Somehow today my site made 1.67 so far. I did some things to my site based on some things I read in here and all of the sudden, I went from pretty much zeros across the board to 1.67 today. That't not amazing or anything but it is encouarging to me! But here is what I did for any of those who this may help at all: Like someome suggested in here I started sumbitting my site to some of the social websites (and am still in process. I am using socialposter.com. So far I have only made it down to Blogmemes.net. Also, I took someone's advice and made all my text bigger including the links and made the pictures smaller. I also changed all my google ads to just text. I also removed some bitvertiser ads I had on the bottom of the main pages...I also removed a banner on top of three pages of my site....Other than that, I just asked you guys what you thought of the site. Maybe that helped too? Anyway, thanks for the advice.....Oh yea, I also removed some text that seemed to offend people who may be interested getting a website.....I think thats it
The color scheme of your site is giving me a headache; the red is far too prominent and intense. This is the type of site that I -sorry- would leave the instant it popped up on ym screen.
Ahhh, much better. Thanks man, you are very helpful. I am still thinking about the header that makes you dizzy. Lots of people I talked to like it.
So the reply buttons are basically like one reply button....they all just do the exact same apply. Gotchya.
Thanks, I have taken you guys advice on adding a blog (but not stripping my all ads from my other site): websiteknowitalls.blogspot.com
Hi Chad, I think you should take up this strategy: Start a blog, and blog there regularly. Blog about stuff directly related to your occupation. And always link back to YOUR consulting site. You are free to put Adsense on your blog...but I'm with the others who say you shouldn't have Adsense on your consulting site. And even on your blog, it's best not to...I'll explain more in a moment. If a person was looking at your site, and he COULD have been a potential client,....but he saw an Adsense ad on your site and clicked on it and went away to a competing consultant....wouldn't you kick yourself for losing a potential client? Hey, don't tell me you do your projects for peanuts. Even $1 or $2 a click in Adsense is not worth the lost business for you. If you take a look at many medium to large, successful consultant websites, notice they don't have Adsense there....so take a leaf from them. Your blog's aim is to drive more traffic to your consultant site. Some of your visitors may indeed order your services, so you don't want them clicking away on Adsense and leaving your site, do you? The golden rule is: If you're selling a product or service, you want all the traffic to yourself. Adsense is not a good fit when you're selling your own products or services, and often too, if you're mainly selling other's products or services as an affiliate.
Thanks for the advice. Maybe this will clear things up. The main purpose of my site is not to get more clients but to be used as a tool for me to use in my consulting practice. I don't rely on it to get clients. The truth of the matter is that I barely have time to take care of the clients I already have (which I got through word of mouth). So the site is a tool and so that is why I have no problem if I lose a client to one of the ads. That make sense?