I have finally added Google Ads to this site. Why? Well, when I hear that Jason Calacanis just sold his company for $25-$35m on Google Ad revenues of $1m annually, I decided I need to try doing something similar! So I figure, if I can get $100,000 Google Ad revenue, I’ll be able to sell for $2.5m - Wohooo! I’m gonna be rich, rich I tell ya!
No seriously, I have added the ads to the site to offset some of the hosting costs. The ads themselves I have tried to keep subtle using a 468 x 60 text only banner and I’m keeping the text colour the same as the colour of the posts. This I am doing in order that the ads don’t distract from the posts. However, there is always the view that by doing this, no-one will ever click on the ads because they are too subtle!
Obviously, if you read this site in your rss reader - this is a moot point! Still, I’d like people’s opinions on this, is it better (from an earnings point of view) to have the ads loud, garish and in the readers face (say it ain’t so), or is the muted approach more likely to succeed?
I am interested in using ads to help pay for hosting costs, too, so I’ll be following your progress with them.
Have you been following ProBlogger’s take on Adsense vs. some of the newer ad companies, like Chitika mini malls?
They seem a bit on the garish side to me, but if what Darren says is true, they seem to bring in better money than Adsense does.
I put them on my site for about 2 months and got next to no clicks on them. Granted I have almost no traffic so it’s understandable.
Bonnie, I wasn’t following Darren’s post about Chikita eMini Malls (what a ridiculous name!) but it certainly looks interesting, thanks for pointing it out.
Anthony, what kind of ads did you have (big garish/ text only subdued) and where did you place the ads on the page?
Tom
You should have a look at the supercharged adsense plugin for wordpress available at:
http://www.acmetech.com/blog/2005/07/26/adsense-deluxe-wordpress-plugin/
One of the problems you will probably encounter is that the google media bot will serve irrelevant ads on “fresh” posts, so placement is important plus you can use Alternate URL to supplement your Google Ads. See:
http://www.alternateurl.com/index.php?rid=101
Michele
Damn! Forgot to subscribe - why is that “off” by default?
I receive rss feeds with the google ads as part of the feed. Havnt looked at how they are doing it.
Alan
Only a select group of bloggers can run Google Ads in their RSS feeds.
What makes them select?
Please tell us when you start clocking more than EUR 1000 per week. That will put you at the top of the stack of Irish AdSense users in my book.
Alan - the number of subscribers to their RSS feeds.
Bernie, EUR 1000 per week? If I ever make more than EUR 1000 per annum, I’ll be delighted!
I think you’ll be waiting!
The AdSense profiteers in Ireland who I know are turning $8 per click and they have a list of buzz words that double that click payment when used juidiciously in the titles of blog posts.
As long as the product is attractive to the reader, the ads don’t have to be garish to get your attention. If the user has no interest in what’s being touted…no clicky!
Bernie, how does one get $8 per click?
Yes, Bernie, tell all about this $8 per click! Is it only for the Irish?
I’ve got a couple of Irish great-grandparents on my family tree… perhaps I can qualify!
Tom, it was text only in the right hand column about half way down the page so the top of it was visible on 1024×768. I may re-introduce them in horizontal manner as you’ve done.
That might explain it alright Anthony.
I’m curious if the subtle approach will work better for click-through’s or will people see them at all.
It will be interesting to experiment!
Just wanted to post a follow up on this. Neil Turner seems to get a good bit of money from Adwords ($300 for September) so he shares his adsense secrets.
Anthony - was that all from one blog or multiple sites and blogs?
Michele that was from his one neilturner.me.uk blog
Anthony - for one blog that is pretty impressive
I think it’s due to the fact that he’s done a few templates for MT and WordPress plus a few tutorials. Content like that is very popular but it’s still some amount of cash.
Thanks for the link to the article Anthony - all common sense stuff really!
His point about most readers coming from search engines is why I put ads in my most read articles - good to get confirmation that I’m thinking along the right lines!