Hi all, Just wondering whether anyone could have a look at my site www.online-bank.ca and let me know what else I could do to improve the placement of ads on it. Currently the CTR there varies from 1.90% to 2%. I've spent quite a bit of time optimizing it, and at this stage am not sure what else could be done with it. All suggestions are highly appreciated. Best, Dennis
Hello, do you know how much CTR gets the header ad 728x90? From past experience, any ad in the header isn't clicked much at all. But the fact that it is the first one in the html code make you lose money because best paying ads are located in the first adsense block. So you want to make sure the first adsense block in your html code is also the one getting the most CTR of all. What I would do, apart from removing the header adsense. Is to move the adlink to another place, you don't want ADS BY GOOGLE be displayed just above the article title on pages such as http://www.online-bank.ca/online-ba...k-ca-launches-online-banking-news-aggregator/ I would try to set the title color in the first square block to standard blue (0000ff) even if it doesn't match the rest of the links, it's still the standard color for links and the color used on google! Also, I would add another square block just below the five related post and before tags. As for adlinks, it would be way better if you want one at the top, to include it just below your navigation bar, with the same bacground color as the navigation bar, so dark blue background and white links. And one more adlinks just below the tags, same colors as tags. This should be a start and will certainly improve CTR by a few points, and the eCPM by a few dollars/cents, assuming google ads are relevant to what your audience is looking for.
Hey, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. That's an excellent point. I read about it before, but did forget to implement it, it seems. Indeed, it only has 0.25% CTR, so I guess I'll just switch this to a TribalFusion CPM ad. Will certainly try that as well. This one I already did try, didn't work out too well... hence I adjusted the colours to fit the site template. That's excellent advices as well, thank you so much. I will certainly try all of that. If it works out positively I'll certainly owe you a few hundred dollars, considering that my sites network receives over 30k impressions a day and uses the same overall design Cheers!
Oh, question.... should I eliminate the first ad altogether and make the header more compact - OR - should I place a CPM ad in there (not from Google). What do you think would be the optimal solution?
I don't know about CPM I don't use them much at all (only sometimes on french sites, just $1 for 1000 unique ips per 24h) maybe good paying CPM networks is good, I don't know. But for sure this big space could be use for awesome graphics (you can create a 20 to 50 $ contest here on DP I just did one for a logo and I'm statisfied with the result) so that it gives instant credibility to your site. (see how http://www.chauffeurdebuzz.com first impression does to you, even without looking at anything else) If not, a reduced header means more space above the fold for adsense ads. It's a choice. I would probably go for the awesome header if I can have one, and don't mind waiting and paying, but easiest is to make it small in height.. depends on your attitude towards your site and mood. As for blue links, I need to do a test today on a big traffic site to get quick results to update my very old tests. I have the impression blue links worked, but I don't remember from which test since it's been so long ago, I posted a thread on DP today but without interest from others. So I'll have my results tomorrow, blue links on a dominently red site.
I guess my question is whether I should: #1) Keep a CPM ad there at around $1.5-2CPM from TribalFusion and risk people clicking less on other ads. #2) Put a nice header like you're suggesting and keep the same header height. #3) Make a much smaller/reduced (around 1/3 of original height) banner and thus pushing the (currently) second ad higher above the fold.... Choices, choices....
- If the CPM pays that much, you only risk 0.25% CTR maximum going to the cpm ad, probably less as the ad won't be as relevant as adsense. With improved ad placement you'll get back more than 0.25% CTR anyway, so the CPM can be additional revenue. - A very good header is quite rare and if it's to put an average header, maybe it's not worth it as it won't have the slight psychological effect expected on audience while taking the space. - Having a short header, may improve slightly adsense CTR on lower ads, but I'm not sure it would match the earnings of the CPM ad. So I guess the choice is between CPM ad or really awesome header, I know which choice is easier and cheaper in the short term