How To Increase Your Ad Earnings
TweetThere are several different things you can probably do right now to optimize your site's advertising and generate more revenue. The first and most obvious is to get more traffic, but that can take a lot of time and effort to do. Instead this article is going to focus on how you can make the most out of the traffic that you already have.
Ad Positions
It's important to note that not every blog or site is going to be the same. I can't just tell you that by putting an ad in such and such a place this is going to be your click through rate. What I can give you is a general idea of what locations work the best. First off, don't just look at other sites in your niche and think that since they are doing it one way, it must be the best way. You do want to start by thinking about where on the page your reader gives their full attention. Most likely this is above the fold and either towards the left of the page or right above the content. This has been reinforced by the heat map released by the Google Adsense team. Another great location for advertisements is the footer area right below your content area. By using the top left, above the content, and below the content strategy you are probably going to be on the right track, but since every site is different you should split test and experiment to find out which locations give your specific site the most clicks and then stick with that format.
Adding Additional Ad Space
This one seems like common sense but I see plenty of websites out there that do not seem to be utilizing all of their ad space. Where are the natual points for a reader to pause on your page? On blogs you will find it just after you end the article and before the comments section. This is a place where the reader considers what they want to do next so it's a great place for related articles, a link to have them subscribe to your feed, and for advertisements related to the post. Another great place is after the comment section. If a reader goes through the comments then when he or she comes to the end of the list they once again will be looking for more places to go. Why not give them the choice to click on an ad so you can make some money?
You can also find more advertising space with text links. These work great in two places, on your navigational menu and in the content itself. Just make sure that the link text and site you are linking to are a fit to what the content is about, so that way the user gets what they are expecting.
Do you use any other techniques to make money with your advertising? If so I would love to hear about them in the comments section.