Why is Adsense so popular? What is the difference between traditional banner ads and Adsense? In this article, I'll give you ten good reasons for using Adsense.
1. Displaying relevant ads
Adsense contains a vast advertiser base and its technology can deliver ads that are highly relevant to the content of the page. For example, you blog is about cars. Adsense will automatically selects those cars related ads and shown on your blog. Studies have proved that the percentage of clicks is higher for relevant ads than random ads. More clicks means higher revenue for you, too!
2. One contact point and that's it
Another advantage is that after you've created a blog about cars, later maybe you want to create another blog about movies also. All you need to do is to use the same Adsense code then that's done. Unlike traditional advertising, you'll have to contact different companies for different kinds of ads. You only need one contact, Adsense.
3. One time registration only
As a Webmaster, you may own several blogs. However, you only need to register with the Adsense program once. After you've registered, if you continue to create another blogs later, you don't need to register with Adsense again.
4. Credibility of Google
With the backup from Google, one of the largest search engines in the Internet, you don't have to worry of not getting pay or being cheated by those fake “earn money online" companies.
5. Support different languages
Now you may wonder, is Adsense supports my language or not? Don't worries Adsense supports different kinds of language, not only English.
6. Combine your blog with Google search engine
Apart from earning revenue from ads, joining the Adsense program also enables you to place a Google search box on your site. On one hand, your readers don't have to switch to Google to search something that they're interested; they can search that in your site and make them stay longer. On the other hand, when your readers search it from your site, the results shows up with ads also and you'll get paid when your reader click on it.
7. Customize the appearance of ads
Traditional banner ads made your site looks “ugly" as you don't have much control on its appearance. Let's say you already have a banner on your site and you probably don't want so many banners on it. With Adsense, you can customize the appearance of ads to make it more suitable for your site. If your site is mainly blue, you can choose the color of the ads to be blue also.
8. Text-based ads
Adsense offers you text-based ads as well as traditional graphic banner ads. According to studies, most readers are already getting sick and tired of the traditional graphic banner ads. Automatically, they tend to ignore these banner ads and developed the banner ad blindness behavior. By using text based ads, webmaster doesn't have to face the problem of banner ad blindness and the click through rates will be expected to be much higher, too.
9. Keep track of the performance of ads
You can place your ads in different locations on different pages. Adsense enables you to assign different channels to different ads. As a result, you'll know which location's ad has the highest number of clicks in your site.
10. Customizable reports
Finally, Adsense provides a large range of reports to you. You can analyze these reports and make the corresponding adjustments to improve you site. The reports are customizable, too.
Monday, October 29, 2007
10 Adsense Tips for Maximum CTR
# You should make your Adsense ads look as a part of your web page
They shouldn't look like an Ad. People are negative to advertising. They search the internet for content not ads. Especially Banners have a less of 0,5% response. Their days are over. Imagine if you have an Adsense ad looking like the typical Banner with different colors. It will not be profitable.
# Text ads are better than image ads
Like before, people are more responsive to text than images. In a way it is considered as a part of the online document and has higher CTR.
# No Border ads
One of the best tricks is to erase the borders of Adsense ads and make them again having the same color with your website's background.
# No other advertisements
The first reason is to be legitimate according to Google's Rules and the second more practical reason is that you do not want to distract your visitor's attention and go somewhere else without clicking your Adsense ads.
# Placement
Even if you have the best Ad, people will not respond if they don't see it instantly. The best place to see the ad is the top of your web page and the next is aside your document's text. Visitors will click it more frequently since it will look like your text.
# Traffic
Try to use legitimate ways of traffic. Some people use Google Adwords and other Pay per Click search engines. The problem here is to search very carefully for the right niche and keywords in order to make your campaigns profitable. Other ways is link popularity techniques like link exchange directories, software or even mass blog submission techniques. Don't use link farms and classifieds for that, because search engine's algorithms are extremely clever and they will ban your listings.
# Do not rely on one website
Yes you can make money with one website but try to make as more as possible.
# Relevant content is King
Articles are one of the best tactics to create huge websites that will be crawled by search engine's robots. Don't forget search engines exist to provide relevant content at first. One excellent resource to automate your article directory procedure is http://www.articleequalizer.com .You can create an article database in minutes which otherwise is time consuming and it would take you a week!
# Use site maps
Google's site maps visit your site and crawl it much sooner that any other submission process. More information is here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps
# Relevant ads
It's one of the most important factors for Adsense success. If the internet user can't find relevant ad in your page he or she won't click the ad. Would you act differently? So it's critical to create relevant resource for your web page. In order to do that, you must do the following steps.
First the file must be saved with the appropriate name for example: Golf-Secrets.html if your article is about golf. So the webpage will be: www.yoursitesname.com/Golf-Secrets.html. Second thing you must change is your title tag. For example:
They shouldn't look like an Ad. People are negative to advertising. They search the internet for content not ads. Especially Banners have a less of 0,5% response. Their days are over. Imagine if you have an Adsense ad looking like the typical Banner with different colors. It will not be profitable.
# Text ads are better than image ads
Like before, people are more responsive to text than images. In a way it is considered as a part of the online document and has higher CTR.
# No Border ads
One of the best tricks is to erase the borders of Adsense ads and make them again having the same color with your website's background.
# No other advertisements
The first reason is to be legitimate according to Google's Rules and the second more practical reason is that you do not want to distract your visitor's attention and go somewhere else without clicking your Adsense ads.
# Placement
Even if you have the best Ad, people will not respond if they don't see it instantly. The best place to see the ad is the top of your web page and the next is aside your document's text. Visitors will click it more frequently since it will look like your text.
# Traffic
Try to use legitimate ways of traffic. Some people use Google Adwords and other Pay per Click search engines. The problem here is to search very carefully for the right niche and keywords in order to make your campaigns profitable. Other ways is link popularity techniques like link exchange directories, software or even mass blog submission techniques. Don't use link farms and classifieds for that, because search engine's algorithms are extremely clever and they will ban your listings.
# Do not rely on one website
Yes you can make money with one website but try to make as more as possible.
# Relevant content is King
Articles are one of the best tactics to create huge websites that will be crawled by search engine's robots. Don't forget search engines exist to provide relevant content at first. One excellent resource to automate your article directory procedure is http://www.articleequalizer.com .You can create an article database in minutes which otherwise is time consuming and it would take you a week!
# Use site maps
Google's site maps visit your site and crawl it much sooner that any other submission process. More information is here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps
# Relevant ads
It's one of the most important factors for Adsense success. If the internet user can't find relevant ad in your page he or she won't click the ad. Would you act differently? So it's critical to create relevant resource for your web page. In order to do that, you must do the following steps.
First the file must be saved with the appropriate name for example: Golf-Secrets.html if your article is about golf. So the webpage will be: www.yoursitesname.com/Golf-Secrets.html. Second thing you must change is your title tag. For example:
Qurbaani: a Subservient Submission
All praise is due to Allah The Sustainer, and Protective Guardian of humanity.May His choicest blessings be upon our Master Sayyidina Muhammad and upon his illustrious galaxy of Companions.
We once again commemorate the heroic submission of Ibrahim and the valiant compliance of Ismail u on this day of Eidul Adha.
The life of Ibrahim u serves as an epitome of faith, courage, and compassion.His conduct, conviction, and submission are the vital traits patently absent from a society characterised by its indifferent, selfish, self-centered and voracious ethic.
"The Knife"
"It is neither the flesh, nor the blood [of the animal] that reaches Allah, but it is your Allah-consciousness that reaches Him."
The concept of Qurbaani has a profound impact on, our lives.It is relevant today, as it was in the day and age of Ibrahim u.The "Knife" as an implement, has the potential to disconnect, remove, and extricate. Qurbaani, is really a symbolic declaration to sever, unfetter, cut off and dispense with extravagant, self-centred ostentation. The "knife" needs to go beyond the throat of the animal, it has to be placed onto the heart, and sever the arteries that sustain sentiments of greed, hatred, cowardice, hypocrisy, and malice. The melodies of the heart have to ooze, out like blood that flows from the sacrificed animal.Allah needs neither the flesh nor the blood of the sacrificed animal; He simply ascertains the "Knife" has to be placed on the beast within you so that it may extricate the venom and brute passion.
"The Family"
When he left his wife and infant son at the foot of mount Safa and Marwa, she simply responded saying that: "He [Allah] will certainly never leave us to perish." Likewise, when he concurred with his son about the dream and its implication, his son responded by saying: My beloved father, do as you have been commanded! Allah-willing you will find me from among the patient." What kind of relationship existed between husband, wife, and son? How did Ibrahim u command such implicit trust and dedication from his family? How did they so easily identify with his values and purpose?
Demeanor! Communication! Compassion! Three fundamental requirements for the healthy development of a vibrant, happy, and healthy, family. How often do you communicate, teach, and display love, to those around you? Does your conduct warrant emulation?
"The Submission"
"Verily my prayer, my sacrifice, my very life, and death is for Allah The Sustainer of the Worlds.He has no partner, and with that (belief) have I been commanded, and I am the foremost of those who submit."
The unparalleled submission of Ibrahim, Hajira, and Ismail u lays the basis for our relation with Allah.It highlights the need to identify with the precept of "Divine Rights and Human Obligations" No command of Allah can be made subject to man-made laws.No command of Allah can be measured against the benchmark of common law. How consistent is the Qurbaani of Ismail, the apparent abandonment of Hajira in the burning sand dunes of Arabia with the incoherent concept of Human Rights and Gender Equality?
"The Consequences"
The courage, determination, and faith of single women paved the history of the desolate sand dunes of Arabia. The steadfastness of Hajira u served as the foundation for the eventual establishment of Makkah. The scorching thirst of an infant led to the miraculous well of zam zam. What apparently seemed to be a waste of human life gave rise to the annual pilgrimage where millions of Muslims converge to pay homage to Ibrahim
Too often, we stand petrified of the thunder, oblivious of the potential rain it brings.We forget that dark clouds herald torrential rain.
The Law and workings of Allah are perfect, full of wisdom and are premised on His Mercy and Benevolence. What at first seems to be difficult, crude and burdensome, may really be the beginning of lasting prosperity. Allah says: "Perhaps you may dislike many a thing, whilst Allah has placed abundant good therein." Qurbaani is the very antitheses of subjective obedience or convenient compliance.
May Allah Ta'aala imbue our darkened souls with the true spirit of Qurbaani - Ameen.
We once again commemorate the heroic submission of Ibrahim and the valiant compliance of Ismail u on this day of Eidul Adha.
The life of Ibrahim u serves as an epitome of faith, courage, and compassion.His conduct, conviction, and submission are the vital traits patently absent from a society characterised by its indifferent, selfish, self-centered and voracious ethic.
"The Knife"
"It is neither the flesh, nor the blood [of the animal] that reaches Allah, but it is your Allah-consciousness that reaches Him."
The concept of Qurbaani has a profound impact on, our lives.It is relevant today, as it was in the day and age of Ibrahim u.The "Knife" as an implement, has the potential to disconnect, remove, and extricate. Qurbaani, is really a symbolic declaration to sever, unfetter, cut off and dispense with extravagant, self-centred ostentation. The "knife" needs to go beyond the throat of the animal, it has to be placed onto the heart, and sever the arteries that sustain sentiments of greed, hatred, cowardice, hypocrisy, and malice. The melodies of the heart have to ooze, out like blood that flows from the sacrificed animal.Allah needs neither the flesh nor the blood of the sacrificed animal; He simply ascertains the "Knife" has to be placed on the beast within you so that it may extricate the venom and brute passion.
"The Family"
When he left his wife and infant son at the foot of mount Safa and Marwa, she simply responded saying that: "He [Allah] will certainly never leave us to perish." Likewise, when he concurred with his son about the dream and its implication, his son responded by saying: My beloved father, do as you have been commanded! Allah-willing you will find me from among the patient." What kind of relationship existed between husband, wife, and son? How did Ibrahim u command such implicit trust and dedication from his family? How did they so easily identify with his values and purpose?
Demeanor! Communication! Compassion! Three fundamental requirements for the healthy development of a vibrant, happy, and healthy, family. How often do you communicate, teach, and display love, to those around you? Does your conduct warrant emulation?
"The Submission"
"Verily my prayer, my sacrifice, my very life, and death is for Allah The Sustainer of the Worlds.He has no partner, and with that (belief) have I been commanded, and I am the foremost of those who submit."
The unparalleled submission of Ibrahim, Hajira, and Ismail u lays the basis for our relation with Allah.It highlights the need to identify with the precept of "Divine Rights and Human Obligations" No command of Allah can be made subject to man-made laws.No command of Allah can be measured against the benchmark of common law. How consistent is the Qurbaani of Ismail, the apparent abandonment of Hajira in the burning sand dunes of Arabia with the incoherent concept of Human Rights and Gender Equality?
"The Consequences"
The courage, determination, and faith of single women paved the history of the desolate sand dunes of Arabia. The steadfastness of Hajira u served as the foundation for the eventual establishment of Makkah. The scorching thirst of an infant led to the miraculous well of zam zam. What apparently seemed to be a waste of human life gave rise to the annual pilgrimage where millions of Muslims converge to pay homage to Ibrahim
Too often, we stand petrified of the thunder, oblivious of the potential rain it brings.We forget that dark clouds herald torrential rain.
The Law and workings of Allah are perfect, full of wisdom and are premised on His Mercy and Benevolence. What at first seems to be difficult, crude and burdensome, may really be the beginning of lasting prosperity. Allah says: "Perhaps you may dislike many a thing, whilst Allah has placed abundant good therein." Qurbaani is the very antitheses of subjective obedience or convenient compliance.
May Allah Ta'aala imbue our darkened souls with the true spirit of Qurbaani - Ameen.
THE ANT - A BEAUTIFUL CREATION OF ALLAH
This particular insect has been selected as a title (Aayat) of a Surah, "The Ants" in the Noble Quran. Briefly, it discusses the advent of Hadhrat Sulayman (Alayhis salaam), gathered with his hosts of Jinn, men and birds and they marched in arranged groups till they reached the Valley of Ants. Said one Ant "Oh you Ants! get back into your dwellings, least Sulayman and his hosts crush you unintentionally".
The Hadith and sayings of the companions are numerous relating to the Ant. Hadhrat Ibn Abbas (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, "Do not kill four of these creatures viz. ant, bee, sparrows (wood-pecker), and any pigeon".
Hadhrat Abdur Rahman Ibn Abdullah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) descended at a certain place - (house) and attended to the call of nature. Incidentally a man kindled a fire in a heap of ants, (either the house was built on a tree or on the ground). Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) seeing this exclaimed "Who did this? Extinguish it!! Extinguish it!" Abu Hurayrah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that a certain Prophet from the Prophets (Alayhis salaam) rested under the shade of a tree. An ant bit him. So the Prophet stood to avenge for the bite. He spotted a large group of ants and killed them. A call was voiced to Him, "Did not one ant (bite you)?"
Abu Hurayrah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports I heard Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) saying, A certain Prophet from the many Prophets (Alayhis salaam) was resting under the shade of a tree. An ant bit him. He instructed his belongings to be removed from there and immediately ordered the heap of Ants to be burnt. Allah Ta'ala revealed to him "Did not a single Ant hurt you and you have ordered a full nation of ants to be destroyed who are engaged in the invocation of Allah Taala? Was it not one ant?
Hassam Dastawani says that the ants and small ants during the season of summer brings love and prosperity to us but during the season of winter we fear they will dissminate/split away from us.
Abu Bakr Najee reports that Hazrat Sulayman (Alayhis salaam) came out seeking for water. Incidentally he spotted an ant facing its bottom downwards the sky and struggling with its legs facing upwards and saying, "Oh Allah we are a creation from Your Creation, we are not independent from your quenching our thirst, either you refreshen us and feed us or either kill us and destroy us.
"Till when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an Ant exclaimed, 'O Ants! Enter your dwellings least Sulaymaan and his armies crush you, unperceiving…" (Naml 18)
The Hadith and sayings of the companions are numerous relating to the Ant. Hadhrat Ibn Abbas (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, "Do not kill four of these creatures viz. ant, bee, sparrows (wood-pecker), and any pigeon".
Hadhrat Abdur Rahman Ibn Abdullah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) descended at a certain place - (house) and attended to the call of nature. Incidentally a man kindled a fire in a heap of ants, (either the house was built on a tree or on the ground). Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) seeing this exclaimed "Who did this? Extinguish it!! Extinguish it!" Abu Hurayrah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports that a certain Prophet from the Prophets (Alayhis salaam) rested under the shade of a tree. An ant bit him. So the Prophet stood to avenge for the bite. He spotted a large group of ants and killed them. A call was voiced to Him, "Did not one ant (bite you)?"
Abu Hurayrah (Radhiallaahu Anhu) reports I heard Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) saying, A certain Prophet from the many Prophets (Alayhis salaam) was resting under the shade of a tree. An ant bit him. He instructed his belongings to be removed from there and immediately ordered the heap of Ants to be burnt. Allah Ta'ala revealed to him "Did not a single Ant hurt you and you have ordered a full nation of ants to be destroyed who are engaged in the invocation of Allah Taala? Was it not one ant?
Hassam Dastawani says that the ants and small ants during the season of summer brings love and prosperity to us but during the season of winter we fear they will dissminate/split away from us.
Abu Bakr Najee reports that Hazrat Sulayman (Alayhis salaam) came out seeking for water. Incidentally he spotted an ant facing its bottom downwards the sky and struggling with its legs facing upwards and saying, "Oh Allah we are a creation from Your Creation, we are not independent from your quenching our thirst, either you refreshen us and feed us or either kill us and destroy us.
"Till when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an Ant exclaimed, 'O Ants! Enter your dwellings least Sulaymaan and his armies crush you, unperceiving…" (Naml 18)
4 Tips to Improve your AdSense revenue
How many times have you seen an ad campaign running for “Google Adsense” that makes it sound so easy to make revenue by just copying and pasting their code onto your website? After all the research I have done on Google Adsense, I finally realized how it is not that easy just to copy and paste. There is much more beyond this that must be done in order to make Google Adsense revenue..
The Secrets Of AdSense
If you frequent any of the AdSense forums chances are you’ve come across the phrase ‘AdSense Arbitrage‘, while it’s been around for a while a lot of people don’t understand what it is, or how it works. While I’m not a big player in the arbitrage model I’ve been doing it profitably for a few months, so I can explain how I do it and share a few tips I’ve picked up. In part II AdSense Arbitrage: Keyword Selection I’ll take you through some real keyword options, and in part III AdSense Arbitrage: Automation and Button Pushing I’ll go over some ideas for automating the process I learned recently.
To start let’s take a high level view of what AdSense arbitrage is and how it works. The basic principle is to pay for a low price for keyword in an advertising program like AdWords, Overture Yahoo Search Marketing, or MSN AdCenter and direct users to a page with AdSense or another contextual advertising program on it that has higher payout. You can either bid low on the same term, looking for keywords with a large bid gap (more on that later) or you can bid on very specific keywords with little competiton and drive them to page with ads for a more general and competitive term.
Sounds pretty simple you bid $1 for a keyword, direct the traffic to a landing page with ads that pay $2 sit back and watch the profits roll in right? Well there’s a little more to it than that, it’s not rocket science but the more familiar you are with how both Adwords and AdSense works the more likely you are to succeed. Up until fairly recently most publishers were getting a 60% cut of the adwords price, $0.03 on a $0.05 bid. However now that AdSense has factored in smart pricing it’s a little more complicated. Here’s a decent explanation of smart pricing from Jensense (One poorly converting site can “smart price” an entire AdSense account - JenSense.com)
Google’s smart pricing feature automatically adjusts the cost of a keyword-targeted content click. So if our data shows that a click from a content page is less likely to turn into actionable business results - such as online sales, registrations, phone calls, or newsletter signups - we reduce the price you pay for that click.
The role smart pricing plays in your account varies from one account to the next and is an unknow variable. To keep the math here simple I’m not going to include it, but it is something you should factor into your computations. To keep things simple lets assume you are bidding $1.00 for a keyword. Again to keep things simple lets assume the advertiser is paying $2.00 a keyword, so you’ll get $1.20 a click ($2.00 * 0.6). So you pay $1.00 a click but get $1.20 a click so you make $0.20 every click, not a lot but you’re not really doing any work after you get it running so you’ll make money slowly. The problem is you aren’t going to get a 100% click through rate on your AdSense ads. Lets run some numbers using 100 users coming to your page
Users Cost Per Acuisition Total Cost $ Per Click CTR Income Profit
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 100% $120 $20
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 90% $108 $8
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 80% $96. -$4
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 70% $84 -$16
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 60% $72 -$28
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 50% $60 -$40
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 40% $48 -$52
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 30% $36 -$64
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 20% $24 -$76
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 10% $12 -$88
So what did our little experiment tell us, unless we have a 90% CTR we are going to lose money. While I’m not going to say you can’t achieve a 90% ctr, I am going to say if you did it would be pretty phenomenal. Let’s take a much more realistic CTR of say 30%. If you were able to get the cost down so you were paying $0.25 per click you would be in much better shape
100 leads @ $0.25 = $25
30 clicks at $1.2 = $36
$11 profit
$11 Profit per day isn’t a lot, in fact it’s probably going to cover lunch at the diner and not much else. So you’re going to have to find something with a lot of volume per day or look for a wider bid gap. A bid gap is what occurs when there is a large gap in bid prices for a particular keyword for example:
Bidder 1 - $10.00
Bidder 2 - $9.75
Bidder 3 - $7.00
Bidder 4 - $3.00
Bidder 5 - $1.25
There $4.00 difference between bidder 3 and 4 is a sizeable bid gap, and these are the opportunities you are looking for when you play the arbitrage game. Adwords isn’t much help in revealing bid in fact the best you can get is a kinda close guestimate, using the Overture Bid tool you can get much more accurate bid prices. Let’s assume you are going to bid 1 penny more than bidder number 5 so it will cost you $1.26 for each bid. The top bid is $10.00 so you will get $6.00 per click, so lets run some number again
100 leads @ $1.26 = $126
30 clicks @ $6.00 = $180
$54 dollars profit
Ok $54 dollars is more like it, now you can take your significant other out to dinner. But let’s slow down let’s say you are running a popular sized adsense block, good old 300 x 250. Well that size block displays up to 4 ads. If the user clicks on advertisement #3 forget going out to eat it’s left over mac and cheese for you. If they click on advertisement #4 you’ve lost money, so you better call up mom and see if you can come over for dinner.
The point to here is it may not always be in your best interest to display as many ads as possible, in many cases you can actually make more money by showing less ads, imagine that! You may even want to use single ads like 125 x 125, 180 x 180, 234 x 60 or the double 468 x 60, and 120 x 240. In addition you want to make sure you have the ads in prominant clickable spots (see Maximizing Profits With Website Design and Layout: Part II :). You may also find you have a lot more success using a landing page with no external navigation. By eliminating options the only choices are clicking the advertisements or using the back button. This means your content is going to have to “add value” along the way just be careful how you add value. Lastly if you use multiple ad blocks give each of them their own channel. If one block consistantly gets a higher CTR, have it appear first in the code so it gets the highest priced ad. Position it where ever you want using CSS. Also remember many publishers bid lower prices for contextual ads than search ads, so this could affect your ability to turn a profit, just again another factor to be aware of.
There are some other points to remember as well like cash management. Let’s say you spend $1000 on Adwords, and get $2000 from AdSense, $1000 profit so what’s the problem? You won’t be getting your AdSense check until the end of the month, and chances are your credit card bill will come before your AdSense check arrives, so make sure you can cover the expense. Letting your bill run up and giving the credit card company 18%-22% of your profit just isn’t cool. If you can’t float the money find a 0% interest credit card.
Getting your first campaign up, running and making a profit is definitely the hardest part. You probably are going to have to micromanage it for a week or two. You may even ask yourself is this worth the time? Well remember you’re just on the learning curve, once you’ve learned how to do it for one the second one is easier, the third even easier and by the fourth one hopefully you’ve found your groove. AdSense arbitrage isn’t rocket science but you do have to be on the ball, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
To start let’s take a high level view of what AdSense arbitrage is and how it works. The basic principle is to pay for a low price for keyword in an advertising program like AdWords, Overture Yahoo Search Marketing, or MSN AdCenter and direct users to a page with AdSense or another contextual advertising program on it that has higher payout. You can either bid low on the same term, looking for keywords with a large bid gap (more on that later) or you can bid on very specific keywords with little competiton and drive them to page with ads for a more general and competitive term.
Sounds pretty simple you bid $1 for a keyword, direct the traffic to a landing page with ads that pay $2 sit back and watch the profits roll in right? Well there’s a little more to it than that, it’s not rocket science but the more familiar you are with how both Adwords and AdSense works the more likely you are to succeed. Up until fairly recently most publishers were getting a 60% cut of the adwords price, $0.03 on a $0.05 bid. However now that AdSense has factored in smart pricing it’s a little more complicated. Here’s a decent explanation of smart pricing from Jensense (One poorly converting site can “smart price” an entire AdSense account - JenSense.com)
Google’s smart pricing feature automatically adjusts the cost of a keyword-targeted content click. So if our data shows that a click from a content page is less likely to turn into actionable business results - such as online sales, registrations, phone calls, or newsletter signups - we reduce the price you pay for that click.
The role smart pricing plays in your account varies from one account to the next and is an unknow variable. To keep the math here simple I’m not going to include it, but it is something you should factor into your computations. To keep things simple lets assume you are bidding $1.00 for a keyword. Again to keep things simple lets assume the advertiser is paying $2.00 a keyword, so you’ll get $1.20 a click ($2.00 * 0.6). So you pay $1.00 a click but get $1.20 a click so you make $0.20 every click, not a lot but you’re not really doing any work after you get it running so you’ll make money slowly. The problem is you aren’t going to get a 100% click through rate on your AdSense ads. Lets run some numbers using 100 users coming to your page
Users Cost Per Acuisition Total Cost $ Per Click CTR Income Profit
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 100% $120 $20
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 90% $108 $8
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 80% $96. -$4
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 70% $84 -$16
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 60% $72 -$28
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 50% $60 -$40
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 40% $48 -$52
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 30% $36 -$64
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 20% $24 -$76
100 $1.00 $100 $1.2 10% $12 -$88
So what did our little experiment tell us, unless we have a 90% CTR we are going to lose money. While I’m not going to say you can’t achieve a 90% ctr, I am going to say if you did it would be pretty phenomenal. Let’s take a much more realistic CTR of say 30%. If you were able to get the cost down so you were paying $0.25 per click you would be in much better shape
100 leads @ $0.25 = $25
30 clicks at $1.2 = $36
$11 profit
$11 Profit per day isn’t a lot, in fact it’s probably going to cover lunch at the diner and not much else. So you’re going to have to find something with a lot of volume per day or look for a wider bid gap. A bid gap is what occurs when there is a large gap in bid prices for a particular keyword for example:
Bidder 1 - $10.00
Bidder 2 - $9.75
Bidder 3 - $7.00
Bidder 4 - $3.00
Bidder 5 - $1.25
There $4.00 difference between bidder 3 and 4 is a sizeable bid gap, and these are the opportunities you are looking for when you play the arbitrage game. Adwords isn’t much help in revealing bid in fact the best you can get is a kinda close guestimate, using the Overture Bid tool you can get much more accurate bid prices. Let’s assume you are going to bid 1 penny more than bidder number 5 so it will cost you $1.26 for each bid. The top bid is $10.00 so you will get $6.00 per click, so lets run some number again
100 leads @ $1.26 = $126
30 clicks @ $6.00 = $180
$54 dollars profit
Ok $54 dollars is more like it, now you can take your significant other out to dinner. But let’s slow down let’s say you are running a popular sized adsense block, good old 300 x 250. Well that size block displays up to 4 ads. If the user clicks on advertisement #3 forget going out to eat it’s left over mac and cheese for you. If they click on advertisement #4 you’ve lost money, so you better call up mom and see if you can come over for dinner.
The point to here is it may not always be in your best interest to display as many ads as possible, in many cases you can actually make more money by showing less ads, imagine that! You may even want to use single ads like 125 x 125, 180 x 180, 234 x 60 or the double 468 x 60, and 120 x 240. In addition you want to make sure you have the ads in prominant clickable spots (see Maximizing Profits With Website Design and Layout: Part II :). You may also find you have a lot more success using a landing page with no external navigation. By eliminating options the only choices are clicking the advertisements or using the back button. This means your content is going to have to “add value” along the way just be careful how you add value. Lastly if you use multiple ad blocks give each of them their own channel. If one block consistantly gets a higher CTR, have it appear first in the code so it gets the highest priced ad. Position it where ever you want using CSS. Also remember many publishers bid lower prices for contextual ads than search ads, so this could affect your ability to turn a profit, just again another factor to be aware of.
There are some other points to remember as well like cash management. Let’s say you spend $1000 on Adwords, and get $2000 from AdSense, $1000 profit so what’s the problem? You won’t be getting your AdSense check until the end of the month, and chances are your credit card bill will come before your AdSense check arrives, so make sure you can cover the expense. Letting your bill run up and giving the credit card company 18%-22% of your profit just isn’t cool. If you can’t float the money find a 0% interest credit card.
Getting your first campaign up, running and making a profit is definitely the hardest part. You probably are going to have to micromanage it for a week or two. You may even ask yourself is this worth the time? Well remember you’re just on the learning curve, once you’ve learned how to do it for one the second one is easier, the third even easier and by the fourth one hopefully you’ve found your groove. AdSense arbitrage isn’t rocket science but you do have to be on the ball, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
What is RSS?
Do you want to keep up to date with the latest posts on ProBlogger?
We have a number of ways that you can subscribe to this site and receive updates. The main one that our readers use is our RSS feed.
What is RSS?
RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites.
In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added.
The problems with bookmarking
* You as the web surfer had to do all the work
* It can get complicated when you are trying to track many websites at once
* You miss information when you forget to check your bookmarks
* You end up seeing the same information over and over again on sites that don’t update very often
RSS Changes Everything
What if you could tell a website to let you know every time that they update? In a sense, this is what RSS does for you.
RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published.
RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.
I find the ’subscription’ description helpful. It’s like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you periodically but instead of it coming in your physical mail box each month when the magazine is published it is delivered to your ‘RSS Reader’ every time your favorite website updates.
How RSS actually technically works is probably a lesson for another day but the key today is for you to understand why it’s good and how to use it.
Let me say right up front that I’m not the most technically savvy guy going around - but even I can use RSS. At first I found it a little strange to make the change from bookmarking to RSS but I found that when I started that I just couldn’t stop.
How to Use RSS
Get an RSS Reader - The first thing you’ll want to do if you’re getting into reading sites via RSS is to hook yourself up with an RSS Feed Reader.
There are many feed readers going around with a variety of approaches and features - however a good place to start is with a couple of free and easy to use web based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines. Either one will do if you’re starting out (I use Google’s Reader) - as I say there are many others to choose from but to get started either of these are fairly easy to use and will help you work out the basics of RSS.
Both of these feed readers work a little like email. As you subscribe to feeds you’ll see that unread entries from the sites you’re tracking will be marked as bold. As you click on them you’ll see the latest update and can read it right there in the feed reader. You are given the option to click through to the actual site or move onto the next unread item - marking the last one as ‘read’.
The best way to learn how to use either Google Reader or Bloglines is to simply subscribe to some feeds and give it a go. Both have helpful help sections to get you up and running.
Note: other options to tracking websites that you might already be familiar with include using pages like MyYahoo, MyGoogle and MyMSN.
Find Some Feeds to Subscribe to - there are two places to look for a site’s feed:
1. On the Site
2. In Your Browser
On Site Subscription
Over the last few years you may have noticed a lot of little buttons and widgets appearing on your favorite sites and blogs. Little orange buttons, ‘counters’ with how many ‘readers a blog has, links called RSS, XML, ATOM and many more.
They come in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few you might have seen:
Rss-Buttons
There are plenty more - but any time you see any of these buttons or anything like them it means that the site you are viewing almost certainly has a feed that you can subscribe to. In most cases it’s as simple as either copying and pasting the link associated with the button into your RSS Reader or clicking the button and following the instructions to subscribe using the feed reader of your choice.
Browser Subscription
Many internet browsers now have the ability to find and subscribe to RSS feeds built right into them.
When you surf to a site you can usually tell if it has an RSS feed by looking in the right hand side of address bar where you type in the site’s URL.
Here’s how it looks for ProBlogger when you’re using Firefox:
Picture 1-21
See the little orange icon on the right hand side? Click that and you’ll be locating ProBlogger’s RSS feed.
Using Safari Browser it is a blue RSS icon:
Picture 2-13
Other modern browsers will have similar icons.
To quickly and easily subscribe by clicking these icons you’ll want to set up your browser to do it with your feed reader of choice as by default they will probably subscribe you using the in-browser reader. You can do this by going to the ‘preferences’ to your browser and choosing ‘Google Reader’ or ‘Bloglines’ etc as your feed reader.
Once you’ve done this and have subscribed to a few feeds you’ll begin to see unread items in your Feed Reader and you can start reading.
Don’t want to Use an RSS Reader? Email is an Option
If the above explanation all just seems a little too complicated for you then please don’t worry. Many sites also enable you to subscribe to RSS feeds via a more familiar medium - Email.
Here at ProBlogger we know that not everyone is into the RSS thing so at the top of our right hand sidebar there is a field where you can enter your email address and get a daily email with a summary of our latest posts. You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will be kept private and not used for any other purposes than to send these daily updates.
Further Reading on RSS
* How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way
* Getting Started with RSS
* Beginners Guide to RSS
We have a number of ways that you can subscribe to this site and receive updates. The main one that our readers use is our RSS feed.
What is RSS?
RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites.
In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added.
The problems with bookmarking
* You as the web surfer had to do all the work
* It can get complicated when you are trying to track many websites at once
* You miss information when you forget to check your bookmarks
* You end up seeing the same information over and over again on sites that don’t update very often
RSS Changes Everything
What if you could tell a website to let you know every time that they update? In a sense, this is what RSS does for you.
RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published.
RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.
I find the ’subscription’ description helpful. It’s like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you periodically but instead of it coming in your physical mail box each month when the magazine is published it is delivered to your ‘RSS Reader’ every time your favorite website updates.
How RSS actually technically works is probably a lesson for another day but the key today is for you to understand why it’s good and how to use it.
Let me say right up front that I’m not the most technically savvy guy going around - but even I can use RSS. At first I found it a little strange to make the change from bookmarking to RSS but I found that when I started that I just couldn’t stop.
How to Use RSS
Get an RSS Reader - The first thing you’ll want to do if you’re getting into reading sites via RSS is to hook yourself up with an RSS Feed Reader.
There are many feed readers going around with a variety of approaches and features - however a good place to start is with a couple of free and easy to use web based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines. Either one will do if you’re starting out (I use Google’s Reader) - as I say there are many others to choose from but to get started either of these are fairly easy to use and will help you work out the basics of RSS.
Both of these feed readers work a little like email. As you subscribe to feeds you’ll see that unread entries from the sites you’re tracking will be marked as bold. As you click on them you’ll see the latest update and can read it right there in the feed reader. You are given the option to click through to the actual site or move onto the next unread item - marking the last one as ‘read’.
The best way to learn how to use either Google Reader or Bloglines is to simply subscribe to some feeds and give it a go. Both have helpful help sections to get you up and running.
Note: other options to tracking websites that you might already be familiar with include using pages like MyYahoo, MyGoogle and MyMSN.
Find Some Feeds to Subscribe to - there are two places to look for a site’s feed:
1. On the Site
2. In Your Browser
On Site Subscription
Over the last few years you may have noticed a lot of little buttons and widgets appearing on your favorite sites and blogs. Little orange buttons, ‘counters’ with how many ‘readers a blog has, links called RSS, XML, ATOM and many more.
They come in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few you might have seen:
Rss-Buttons
There are plenty more - but any time you see any of these buttons or anything like them it means that the site you are viewing almost certainly has a feed that you can subscribe to. In most cases it’s as simple as either copying and pasting the link associated with the button into your RSS Reader or clicking the button and following the instructions to subscribe using the feed reader of your choice.
Browser Subscription
Many internet browsers now have the ability to find and subscribe to RSS feeds built right into them.
When you surf to a site you can usually tell if it has an RSS feed by looking in the right hand side of address bar where you type in the site’s URL.
Here’s how it looks for ProBlogger when you’re using Firefox:
Picture 1-21
See the little orange icon on the right hand side? Click that and you’ll be locating ProBlogger’s RSS feed.
Using Safari Browser it is a blue RSS icon:
Picture 2-13
Other modern browsers will have similar icons.
To quickly and easily subscribe by clicking these icons you’ll want to set up your browser to do it with your feed reader of choice as by default they will probably subscribe you using the in-browser reader. You can do this by going to the ‘preferences’ to your browser and choosing ‘Google Reader’ or ‘Bloglines’ etc as your feed reader.
Once you’ve done this and have subscribed to a few feeds you’ll begin to see unread items in your Feed Reader and you can start reading.
Don’t want to Use an RSS Reader? Email is an Option
If the above explanation all just seems a little too complicated for you then please don’t worry. Many sites also enable you to subscribe to RSS feeds via a more familiar medium - Email.
Here at ProBlogger we know that not everyone is into the RSS thing so at the top of our right hand sidebar there is a field where you can enter your email address and get a daily email with a summary of our latest posts. You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will be kept private and not used for any other purposes than to send these daily updates.
Further Reading on RSS
* How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way
* Getting Started with RSS
* Beginners Guide to RSS
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