HeroTurko.Net

Recently, we’ve heard some questions about the difference between eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) and RPM (revenue per thousand impressions), as the older AdSense interface references eCPM and the newer version shows RPM. We’d like to clarify and let you know that the terms are referring to the same thing: both eCPM and RPM represent your estimated earnings for every 1000 impressions. To calculate this figure, divide your estimated earnings by the number of page views, impressions or queries that you received, then multiply by 1000. For example, if you earned an estimated $0.20 from 50 page views, then your page eCPM or RPM would equal ($0.20 / 50) * 1000 or $4.00.

Formula:
eCPM or RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of page views) * 1000

To avoid confusion in the future, we’ll work to use only one term (RPM). RPM is a commonly used metric in advertising programs, and you may find it helpful for comparing revenue across different channels. You can learn a lot more about using RPM in our two part blog series (part 1 and part 2).

All of you using Google Adsense for their blogs might have noticed that something unusual is going on in the Google Adsense Dashboard for past couple of hours. Most of you would be experiencing a delay in Google Adsense Reports update and the earnings and impressions counter may seem as if it is static or moving slower than usual.

For all those concerned about this issue, they should worry no longer as the Google Adsense Team has took complete notice of this issue and the Google Engineers are currently investigating it and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. The issue might take some time to resolve but the earnings/impressions data is being tracked continuously, so this issue will not affect your earnings or payments.

Moreover, Inside Adsense has recently announced about the new Known Issue Page for Google Adsense where you can check for updates on this reporting issue and other existing issues.

Now with that all explained by Google, Publishers should feel happy and calm.

Have you just clicked your own ads and hoped to get that big check soon? Or maybe you told your relatives that you have a site and mentioned that you earn by serving ads… and they helped you by clicking the ads? Well, here are my top 3 AdSense alternatives, together with reviews.

Note: I will not include Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN) since it is currently in beta and only accepts publishers from the United States.

1. AdEngage
Publisher income: 75%
Payment: PayPal/Check

Read the rest of this entry »

Google’s Adsense program is one of my main online income streams. It is really simple to use (which is great for newbies) and doesn’t require much monitoring or modification when you have added it to your site.

Many of my friends have asked me how to get a start making an income online, and my recommendation to them is always the same; blog about something that you are interested in, and add Google Adsense to the blog.

This is easy to do with Google’s own blogging software (blogger), although I strongly advise buying your own domain (which can cost as little as $0.60) and using WordPress. There are many reasons for this, but my main ones are that:

• Your blog belongs to you. You are creating value in your domain which you own (and are free to sell if you wish). If you use blogger and a blogspot subdomain Google own your website address.
• WordPress is customisable and upgradable; checkout some Adsense ready WordPress themes.
• Read the rest of this entry »

Ok so we all know how much we love Google Adsense. For some people it is just a source of making money online but for others it is their main and only source of income. If you are a developer or web publisher, there is a 99.99% chance that you use Google Adsense to monetize your site or web blog.

Keeping in mind our love and attachment to Google Adsense, the Adsense team is giving us a chance to get free Google Adsense Stickers. These stickers are designed for laptops, but they’ll work just as well for placement on mugs, skateboards, or temporarily on a shirt.

Getting one of these cool and sticky Google Adsense stickers is easy. Just send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Google Adsense with enough postage to return 1 oz of sticker goodness to you. Send it to the following postal address:

Google AdSense
c/o Arlene Lee
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA

The sad part is that every publisher gets a maximum of one or two stickers

Although I decided not to use Adsense on this blog, for most of us blogging means use of Adsense, and this is why more WordPress themes now come as “Adsense-ready”. So, here are a few small add-ons that will make your contextual monetizing process easier and faster.

Adsense Deluxe – Currently the most popular and widely-spread AdSense plug-in, that allows you to automatically insert ads’ code into your posts. Very simple to use, easy to install, runs smoothly and I am using it successfully on all my other blogs.

AdSense Widget for WordPress Sidebar – This plug-in adds AdSense to your WordPress sidebar in the form of a widget. Especially recommended to those who often switch themes and use widgets to play around with sidebar’s content position.

Shylock AdSense – Easy integration of AdSense ads into your WordPress. Basically it’s a simple addition to WP that has one pretty good feature — you can set particular ads into blog posts which are more than X days old.

AdMan – Integrates ads directly inside your posts. If you ask me, this plug-in is nothing special, however it’s compatible with Adsense itself.
AdSense Manager – This plug-in’s name is well summed up by its title. Use the latest version only, as older versions had some issues with the AdSense terms and conditions.

AdRotator – This plug in is a perfect savior for blogs with a lot returning visitors / traffic. and solves the ad blindness problem. It rotates your AdSense ads, and combines them with other advertising programs, banners, Adbrite.

AdSense Attachment – Display extra content, like images, in a new page together with AdSense ads. I have not found any proof of it being compatible with Adsense TOS, if anyone knows otherwise, please advice.

Google Ad Wrap – This nice plug-in show Google spider — in other words, what content on your blog is really important. It may help with targeting for the right keywords and understanding Adsense’s inside mechanism better.

Adsense Inline – another plugin that makes inserting AdSense into your blog posts really easy. It makes no difference from Adsense Delux (in my opinion) however every developer deserves his glory.

Author Adsense – Often used on forums and joint communities — this plug-in splits revenue between several blog authors on the same blog, inserting different publishers’ code into same ads slots.

AdSense Sharing Revenue and Earnings System – Same as the plug-in mentioned above, only show, additionally to all, revenue in real time.
Adsense Earnings WordPress Plugin – Control Adsense from your WordPres panel. Suitable for those who are too lazy to log in to their Google Adsense page, yet not lazy enough to install this plug in.

Google is said to be considering banning newly registered domain names from participating in the Google for Domain Names program, severely hampering the practice of domain tasting.

According to Jay Westerdal at Domain Tools, Google would block all domains if they are less then five days old. In Jay’s words, “This potential new policy change by Google could stop all Domain Tasting in its tracks.”

Domain tasting, for those not familiar with it, is the practice of registrants using the five-day grace period at the beginning of a domain registration to test the marketability of a domain name (full Wikipedia entry here).

I’m a little hesitant in suggesting that Google’s move will completely wipe out domain testing, because there are no shortage of alternative advertising programs for domains, however Westerdal is a heavily involved in the industry, and he would suggest that Google is where most domain tasters are generating revenue:

It was disclosed in court that one partner that Google had was generating as much as $3 million dollars a month from the practice and that was after Google’s revenue share. Oversee.net and other companies have been using this practice for years and it will have a direct impact on them. The gravy train of free money might be coming to a halt very fast. This policy change at Google should be announced to the channel partners soon and it will have a huge echoing impact on the Industry….I think this is a return of the “Be Good” motto Google had a few years ago. Google has been quietly enabling this practice for years now. This is a smart policy move on Google’s part to ward off impending litigation that might have hit them in the coming months.

An example of a Google Adsense for Domains page below, as demonstrated by Google.

Even if you were using AdSense for a few years now, you might still not be aware of the fact that the ads, which show first in your html’s code – have the highest bid. It’s important to emphasize that I refer to the code, and not to the actual position on the page as often CMS templates with a several files mislead the publisher. For example, let’s take a classical 2 columns WordPress theme, with navigation at the right, and say you placed one banner at the footer of your page and a big add at the beginning of your navigation column. Visually, the big ad at the beginning of the right-handed navigation menu is first, but, since the code is “read” from left to right, your footer ad will be the first one (and consequently with the top paying ads), while the apparently upper ad on the right side will be second and get a lower paying ads, click on which will result in lesser revenue. However, since it’s on the upper part of the page and likely to get viewed and clicked more often then the footer banner, your pay-per-click will just be unjustly lower than it could be.

Solution

Just go the other way around and make sure that the ads, which are located at the “prime” spots of your website (I strongly suggest to optimize the “prime” spots in according with Google AdSense heat map) and place the “first” adverts there. If you are unsure how the ads ended up, just view the code of your site, once the ads are places and see which ad slot comes first. If you work with channels or different colours / ads formats, you won’t have a difficulty identifying which code belongs to what ads spot. This will guarantee that the biggest amount of clicks will fall on the top paying Adsense ads, which will either increase your revenue, or won’t let it be reduced if the amount of clicks on your ad goes down (happens due to lack of traffic, normally).

It sounds simple, and indeed it is, so do not let your fancy and complicated layout steal your website’s material potential.

While many business men and developers will tell you that the only way to make money is to think outside the box, this is not the case when it comes to AdSense.

Why? Because the “box” is exactly what makes the most money in PPC programs. When I say ‘box’, of course I refer to the Medium (300*250) and Large (336*280) Rectangle or Square (250*250) ad format. These ads format are considered to have the highest Click-Through-Rate, especially when they are placed at the top position, according to Google’s Heat map.

How true is it, or is it a myth? Well, I heard about this myself from another blogger who implements a medium rectangle AdSense ads in the beginning of each post and bragged about his high CTR. Since I’d not do it on a blog because I believe it ruins the reading experiences and distracts from main content, I choose to place a medium rectangle on my eCards service website, in the prime position. Here is a screenshot, with highlighted ads.

Yes, the ads are right in visitors face and this could not be the best idea if you want to maintain a more “clean” look for your website, but the result is, the CTR of rectangle ad in the center is above 12%! No, I am not exaggerating. I guess this is just the special charm the ‘box-shaped’ ads have, and you will hear a lot of publishers confirming that these 3 ads formats, together with Wide Skyscraper. Try these formats and I am sure you will see a difference in your CTR percentage.

Yes, you are saying ‘what the f…’ now, seeing this post nicely embedded in Google Adsense (biggest contextual ads network) from all sides and Kontera in between, yet I come and advice you not to use it? You got me wrong then, I will not advice you not to sign up with Adsense, Yahoo Publisher Network or MSN (I actually do advocate it in general) and most definitely I will not advice you to get rid of your existing account, but, I want to bring to your attention some down sides of monetizing your website with contextual ads.

First of all, what are contextual ads? These are just link to other websites on the body of your pages, related to site’s content, and since you get payed per click (PPC model) you have to place the ads on so-called prime positions of your website and spare a lot of space for them, otherwise they might not be noticed. And all this you are doing to… to make people leave your site. Did you think about it? You get paid for loosing visitors. If contextual ads are your only way to make money off the site, and you really don’t give a damn if your content will be read / viewed, – then it’s perfect. But what if you have other ways of income, such as affiliate sells, subscriptions, donations? Once your visitor left, the chance of him coming back and continue bring you revenue from other sources or clicking other ads is very slim, and I am sure you do realize it. So think about it, you get a few cents compensation for every visitor you wave good bye to.

Secondly, niche plays a significant factor. Some relevant keywords pay a few dollars per single click, while others (and actually many of them) pay a few cents for a click. This means, if your website is targeted to low paying keywords (or better said – created for the niche, where ads are paying low and the competition is small), you can’t possibly make much, unless you have really crazy traffic. This, however, does not mean your content is bad or not interesting or not worthy, it can still potentially make a lot of money (from donations, subscriptions, affiliate marketing, direct ads sales etc), but not from contextual ads.

Lastly, PageRank does not matter when it comes to contextual advertising. PR8 sites that choose to place PPC ads can still get 1 cents off each leaving visitor, while another PR0 websites can easily generate a few dollars per click… Having said that, contextual ads are better for beginners who can’t sell direct ads to advertisers yet (due to low traffic or lack / low PR), while the sharks out there, with high PR’s, are practically wasting space. Just imagine how many text links you can sell directly to advertisers in the place where your skycrapper is located, and how much can you earn monthly…and does your PPC network cover it..?

Main problem with contextual ads (and I faced it myself), is you have no real control over your income. Yes, traffic = revenue, but there is no guarantee that this very traffic will click your ads, the chances are bigger, but there is no solid base for it. Another reason why you cannot have control over the income, is because prices per click vary, so this will drive you crazy – how to adjust to higher paying keywords, why yesterday the clicks brought 1$ and today only 0.01$? There is really not much you can do except for working on content and then spamming your site across the globe hopping for traffic…

If you enjoyed reading and didn’t bring me a few cents by leaving in the middle to some competitor’s site, please consider subscribing to new posts or Digging this article.