18 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes to Maximize your Contextual Ad Earnings
9:51 PM Posted by Admin
When I first started Dosh Dosh, I decided to use an Adsense Wordpress template that was designed with the primary goal of maximizing ad earnings. I wanted a Wordpress theme with distinct ad blocks so I can easily blend contextual or other types of affiliate ads alongside my main content. 
As you probably know, effective ad placement is critical if you plan to make any significant amounts of money through Google Adsense or other contextual ad systems.
Using a blog template with distinct ad blocks and optimized ad placements will very likely help you increase your Click through rates and affiliate conversions. These customized blog designs are also known as Adsense Ready themes.
How are Adsense Ready Themes different from other blog templates?
A key element that is central to all Adsense Ready themes is their focus on integrating contextual ads around content. As you will notice, the ads and link units are carefully placed above, beside and below each individual post to maximize exposure and their click through potential.
Several themes will also allow you to easily place blocks of square ads within each post, which is one of the proven ways to receive the highest amount of ad clicks from the average blog visitor.
Here are some general characteristics of most Adsense Optimized themes:
- Built in Adsense blocks for easy ad insertion.
- Ads are active once the Adsense Publisher ID is inserted or changed
- Optimized Ad placement, colors and types according to Google’s guidelines
- Adsense linkunits and search are already included.
- Search Engine Friendly. Post and category titles are used for page titles etc.
Why should I use Adsense Ready Templates?
The main reason why you should use an Adsense ready theme is convenience. You don’t have to sift through too much code and there’s no need to make major adjustments to the template’s form.
In many instances, all you need is to insert your Adsense publisher ID and you’re done. This will probably only take a few minutes, which can be a huge time and effort saver.
You can probably hack any other Wordpress template to include ads but they can be a hassle if you are unfamiliar with how to optimize your ad placement. Most of these templates are not terribly attractive but I think they are functional and their ad placement is pretty decent.
I think Adsense Ready templates are very useful when you own dozens or hundreds of niche websites which use credited feeds or free content. Niche websites with high paying keywords will be naturally more profitable when you use templates with optimized ad placements.
Dosh Dosh’s List of 18 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes
As far as I know, this collection of Adsense Ready themes is the largest online. I’ve included a link to each theme’s home page and as well as a direct download link for your convenience.
Some of the screen shots were taken from the websites referenced and others were screen grabs of blogs running the specific theme. If you know of any other Adsense themes I’ve missed, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list.
All of the themes should be compatible with Wordpress 2.0+. Feel free to check the theme’s homepage for more information on compatibility and installation.
Adsense Tips : Ad Formats and Their Placement to boost earning
5:35 AM Posted by Admin
Google provides dozens of ad formats that you can use on your site. These ads are of different
sizes. Some of them are completely ineffective. But some are really powerful. Once you know
what kinds of ad formats to use, you should take care of placing them at the right places. If they
are not placed strategically, they will not be clicked on often enough.
Here are some tips to choose the best kinds of ad formats and optimum placements
Use Large Rectangle (336 x 280) as your primary Ad format
The Large Rectangle (336x280) works like a charm because it has proven itself to be the best
performing format. If you place it “above the fold”, its magic!
Use Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) on the Left/Right border
The Wide Skyscraper 160 x 600 performs very well on the left or right side of your screen. I prefer
putting it on the left side because it gets seen more than the right side...
Do not neglect the Link Unit!
A Link Unit is one of the most under-utilized ad formats. But if used correctly, and in the right
position, it can be really profitable format if put in the right place. It is supposed to be placed
near your navigation menu. Most people will think it’s a part of your navigation menu and
automatically read it. And if the ads being served are very relevant to your niche, they will click on
it!
Try using a Link Unit format that has 4 keywords in them. This is because the size of the ad text
would be slightly bigger, and look more like a navigational menu. Also make sure to make the
border color blend with your website’s background
Hey, we also have Search Boxes!
Don’t forget that Google also provides us Search boxes that we can put on our site. Do not put
them above the fold. But those in a less prominent place further down the page. Bottom of the
page or somewhere on the left side below the fold is perfect.
Do not expect much money from Search boxes, but anything that comes in extra counts!
Have your Ads above the fold
This is one of the most important tips to increase your CTR. The term “above the fold”, comes from
newspapers. Any news above the fold on the front page of a newspaper will be read more than
any other part of the newspaper. The same rule applies to AdSense too.
Here, “above the fold” means the top position of your screen that is visible without the user
having to scroll down. So if you place your ads “above the fold”, it will be visible to everyone, and
they won’t have to scroll down. Your Ads are therefore more likely to get clicked. Also, the area
above the fold loads before the rest of the page. So this is by far the best location for AdSense Ad
placement.
Try not to have any other links “above the fold”
This may not always be possible. But if you can, remove all links that are “above the fold”. The only
links displayed should be your AdSense Ads. By having any other link, you are giving your visitors
the option of clicking on them. This will decrease your CTR. If you do not have any other links,
your visitors will sub-consciously be forced to click on your AdSense Ads. This will shoot up your
CTR.
Do not neglect the bottom of your page!
If you have followed the above points, you will find that most people click on the ads above the
fold. But there will be some who will go down the page. And when they reach the end, they
normally think “what next?” To help them, we should have an AdSense Ad to bid them farewell!!
By placing an AdSense ad at the end of the page they will often click it!
sizes. Some of them are completely ineffective. But some are really powerful. Once you know
what kinds of ad formats to use, you should take care of placing them at the right places. If they
are not placed strategically, they will not be clicked on often enough.
Here are some tips to choose the best kinds of ad formats and optimum placements
Use Large Rectangle (336 x 280) as your primary Ad format
The Large Rectangle (336x280) works like a charm because it has proven itself to be the best
performing format. If you place it “above the fold”, its magic!
Use Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) on the Left/Right border
The Wide Skyscraper 160 x 600 performs very well on the left or right side of your screen. I prefer
putting it on the left side because it gets seen more than the right side...
Do not neglect the Link Unit!
A Link Unit is one of the most under-utilized ad formats. But if used correctly, and in the right
position, it can be really profitable format if put in the right place. It is supposed to be placed
near your navigation menu. Most people will think it’s a part of your navigation menu and
automatically read it. And if the ads being served are very relevant to your niche, they will click on
it!
Try using a Link Unit format that has 4 keywords in them. This is because the size of the ad text
would be slightly bigger, and look more like a navigational menu. Also make sure to make the
border color blend with your website’s background
Hey, we also have Search Boxes!
Don’t forget that Google also provides us Search boxes that we can put on our site. Do not put
them above the fold. But those in a less prominent place further down the page. Bottom of the
page or somewhere on the left side below the fold is perfect.
Do not expect much money from Search boxes, but anything that comes in extra counts!
Have your Ads above the fold
This is one of the most important tips to increase your CTR. The term “above the fold”, comes from
newspapers. Any news above the fold on the front page of a newspaper will be read more than
any other part of the newspaper. The same rule applies to AdSense too.
Here, “above the fold” means the top position of your screen that is visible without the user
having to scroll down. So if you place your ads “above the fold”, it will be visible to everyone, and
they won’t have to scroll down. Your Ads are therefore more likely to get clicked. Also, the area
above the fold loads before the rest of the page. So this is by far the best location for AdSense Ad
placement.
Try not to have any other links “above the fold”
This may not always be possible. But if you can, remove all links that are “above the fold”. The only
links displayed should be your AdSense Ads. By having any other link, you are giving your visitors
the option of clicking on them. This will decrease your CTR. If you do not have any other links,
your visitors will sub-consciously be forced to click on your AdSense Ads. This will shoot up your
CTR.
Do not neglect the bottom of your page!
If you have followed the above points, you will find that most people click on the ads above the
fold. But there will be some who will go down the page. And when they reach the end, they
normally think “what next?” To help them, we should have an AdSense Ad to bid them farewell!!
By placing an AdSense ad at the end of the page they will often click it!
12Must-KnowTips To Avoid Getting Banned From Google AdSense
10:02 AM Posted by Admin
Although Google’s AdSense program is an excellent way to earn money,we need to understand
that Google is a company that cannot be messed with!
We should not abuse the system in order to make a quick buck.Many website owners, knowingly
or unknowingly, violate AdSense Terms and Conditions and subsequently get banned.
If you are really serious about earning from AdSense,make sure you do not do anything that can
get yourself banned. I have listed 12 things that you should NEVER even think of doing.
1.Never, I repeat, never click on your own Ads:
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why AdSense accounts get disabled.This seems obvious,
but it’s surprising how many people actually do that intentionally.
If you think by clicking on your own ads, you can fool Google, you are highly mistaken.Google
has got its own proprietary technology to find out if the publisher has clicked on his own ads.
And once they know that, your account is in jeopardy.
Google wants to protect the investment of its advertisers, and it will never tolerate any false
clicks. So make sure you do not make this foolish mistake.
2.Never, I repeat, never tell others to click on your own Ads
I often see click-swapping on AdSense forums. It’s kind of you-click-on-my-ad-and-I-will-click-onyours.
Never ever do this.
If you want a strong AdSense business, stay away from trouble.Don’t ask even your friends,
relatives or employees to click on your ads.Do not provide any kind of an incentive to anyone for
clicking on your ads.
I feel one good way to protect yourself is not to disclose your website’s domain to anyone. Keep it
to yourself and you are safe!
3.Never, I repeat, never modify Google’s AdSense code
This is against Google’s policy. Just use the code as-is.Don’t play around with it at all.
4.Never, I repeat, never put images next to your AdSense Ads.
This is a relatively new policy.When I started with AdSense, this rule did not exist.Moreover,what
Google actually wanted with this policy was never very clear.Nor did Google do a good job of
clearly defining what is allowed and what is not.
Even I had put some pretty images next to my Ads, and achieved excellent CTR. But here is a rule
of thumb. If you are in doubt, ALWAYS play safe.When this policy was enforced, I did not waste a
moment removing images that were next to my ads.After
all, I love my AdSense account, too!
My suggestion: If you have images next to your AdSense ads, remove them immediately
5.Never, I repeat, never title your ads the wrong way.
You are not allowed to label your Ads with messages like“Click Here”,“Related Links”or anything
else that misleads people into thinking that it is not an Advertisement.
You are however allowed to mention “Advertisements”or “Sponsored Links”, because your ads are
actually Advertisements.And Google is OK with that. If you want, you may prefer not to put any
label at all.
6.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on pages that do not have enough content.
Yeah, this is something that web-masters may not be aware of. But Google allows AdSense only
on pages with good content.
Therefore it is not advisable to put ads on Thank You pages, subscription pages etc.Make doubly
sure that you have Ads only on pages with good content.
This also means that you should not put your ads on sites with junk content.Any site that doesn’t
really add value to the visitor is considered to be a junk site
7.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on sites that have got prohibitive content.
Make sure you do not have Ads on sites that have got anything to do with drugs, pornography,
hatred, gambling etc.
Again, this is self explanatory, but some people simply don’t understand!
8.Never, I repeat, never create multiple Google AdSense Accounts.
Google allows you to have only 1 personal account and 1 business account.Google links these
two accounts.Never try to fool Google by creating different accounts under different names.
As long as you do not get caught, it’s fine. But if Google traces these accounts as being used by
the same person, all your accounts are in danger of being suspended.
9.Never, I repeat, never enlist your site in any kind of auto-surf or traffic exchange
programs.
Again, this is against Google’s TOS. So stay clear of it.
10.Never, I repeat, never exceed the amount of ads you can display on a page.
Currently Google only allows 3 Ad blocks, 3 Link units and 3 referral buttons to be put on one
page. I personally feel Google has allowed more than what is required. So, I don’t know why you
would ever want more than this.
11.Never, I repeat, never reveal your AdSense Data
Google doesn’t allow public display of your CTR, Impressions,eCPM etc on forums, eBooks,
websites or any other publicly viewable media.
But Google doesn’t have any objection if you mention how much you earn from AdSense… just
don’t go into the details of your clicks, impressions, CTR, or eCPM.
12.Never, I repeat, never stay outdated!
Google’s policies are constantly changing. It will help if you know what changes are taking place
in the world of AdSense so that you can update your sites if required.
If you get banned by AdSense for whatever reason you cannot give the excuse that you were
“not aware” of the policy.This will not be of much help. So know the waters that you tread on!
This article, by no means, is a comprehensive list of AdSense Policies. I highly recommend you go
through all the policies in details.And never even try to cheat the system.
that Google is a company that cannot be messed with!
We should not abuse the system in order to make a quick buck.Many website owners, knowingly
or unknowingly, violate AdSense Terms and Conditions and subsequently get banned.
If you are really serious about earning from AdSense,make sure you do not do anything that can
get yourself banned. I have listed 12 things that you should NEVER even think of doing.
1.Never, I repeat, never click on your own Ads:
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why AdSense accounts get disabled.This seems obvious,
but it’s surprising how many people actually do that intentionally.
If you think by clicking on your own ads, you can fool Google, you are highly mistaken.Google
has got its own proprietary technology to find out if the publisher has clicked on his own ads.
And once they know that, your account is in jeopardy.
Google wants to protect the investment of its advertisers, and it will never tolerate any false
clicks. So make sure you do not make this foolish mistake.
2.Never, I repeat, never tell others to click on your own Ads
I often see click-swapping on AdSense forums. It’s kind of you-click-on-my-ad-and-I-will-click-onyours.
Never ever do this.
If you want a strong AdSense business, stay away from trouble.Don’t ask even your friends,
relatives or employees to click on your ads.Do not provide any kind of an incentive to anyone for
clicking on your ads.
I feel one good way to protect yourself is not to disclose your website’s domain to anyone. Keep it
to yourself and you are safe!
3.Never, I repeat, never modify Google’s AdSense code
This is against Google’s policy. Just use the code as-is.Don’t play around with it at all.
4.Never, I repeat, never put images next to your AdSense Ads.
This is a relatively new policy.When I started with AdSense, this rule did not exist.Moreover,what
Google actually wanted with this policy was never very clear.Nor did Google do a good job of
clearly defining what is allowed and what is not.
Even I had put some pretty images next to my Ads, and achieved excellent CTR. But here is a rule
of thumb. If you are in doubt, ALWAYS play safe.When this policy was enforced, I did not waste a
moment removing images that were next to my ads.After
all, I love my AdSense account, too!
My suggestion: If you have images next to your AdSense ads, remove them immediately
5.Never, I repeat, never title your ads the wrong way.
You are not allowed to label your Ads with messages like“Click Here”,“Related Links”or anything
else that misleads people into thinking that it is not an Advertisement.
You are however allowed to mention “Advertisements”or “Sponsored Links”, because your ads are
actually Advertisements.And Google is OK with that. If you want, you may prefer not to put any
label at all.
6.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on pages that do not have enough content.
Yeah, this is something that web-masters may not be aware of. But Google allows AdSense only
on pages with good content.
Therefore it is not advisable to put ads on Thank You pages, subscription pages etc.Make doubly
sure that you have Ads only on pages with good content.
This also means that you should not put your ads on sites with junk content.Any site that doesn’t
really add value to the visitor is considered to be a junk site
7.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on sites that have got prohibitive content.
Make sure you do not have Ads on sites that have got anything to do with drugs, pornography,
hatred, gambling etc.
Again, this is self explanatory, but some people simply don’t understand!
8.Never, I repeat, never create multiple Google AdSense Accounts.
Google allows you to have only 1 personal account and 1 business account.Google links these
two accounts.Never try to fool Google by creating different accounts under different names.
As long as you do not get caught, it’s fine. But if Google traces these accounts as being used by
the same person, all your accounts are in danger of being suspended.
9.Never, I repeat, never enlist your site in any kind of auto-surf or traffic exchange
programs.
Again, this is against Google’s TOS. So stay clear of it.
10.Never, I repeat, never exceed the amount of ads you can display on a page.
Currently Google only allows 3 Ad blocks, 3 Link units and 3 referral buttons to be put on one
page. I personally feel Google has allowed more than what is required. So, I don’t know why you
would ever want more than this.
11.Never, I repeat, never reveal your AdSense Data
Google doesn’t allow public display of your CTR, Impressions,eCPM etc on forums, eBooks,
websites or any other publicly viewable media.
But Google doesn’t have any objection if you mention how much you earn from AdSense… just
don’t go into the details of your clicks, impressions, CTR, or eCPM.
12.Never, I repeat, never stay outdated!
Google’s policies are constantly changing. It will help if you know what changes are taking place
in the world of AdSense so that you can update your sites if required.
If you get banned by AdSense for whatever reason you cannot give the excuse that you were
“not aware” of the policy.This will not be of much help. So know the waters that you tread on!
This article, by no means, is a comprehensive list of AdSense Policies. I highly recommend you go
through all the policies in details.And never even try to cheat the system.
Adsense Earnings
7:11 AM Posted by Admin
What can be learned from these stats?
I haven't created blogs for all 24 contestants but I have targeted them all one way or another with either new blogs or using some of my older existing blogs that cater to this niche. The results vary from decent to crappy at this stage of the competition and the two blogs I have shown you fall into the "just alright" and "crappy" categories.
The Asia'h blog had an okay bump after the show and is still getting traffic today - not huge traffic but enough to work with as far as monetization goes. The Amy Davis blog isn't getting much for traffic at all and hasn't generated a single click yet.
Using all of my sites as a barometer, Asia'h is the fifth most popular Idol. Amy sits near the bottom of the pack along with, Joanne Borgella, Garrett Haley, Colton Berry and Chikezie Eze.
Note: I wrote everything above before the elimination last night - I didn't finish the post as I figured I would wait and see who got sent home. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised to see who was eliminated - 4 of the 5 with the worst search results.
It's now Friday morning and you can see that Asia'h is still pulling in a steady stream of visitors.
There is a slight problem with the Asia'h blog though - in spite of the traffic I have only received 2 clicks since Thursday morning. The reason has to do with her name. The Adsense bot keeps changing the ads on the blog - one minute I get related American Idol ads and the next I get ads for everything from Asian Airlines to a fertilizer spreader. My attempts to fix this have been stymied and here s why..
A Tale of Two Bots
The main Google Bot is responsible for catagorizing my blog and ranking it in the serp's. I have targeted the keyword "Asia'h Epperson" and the bot has me ranking number two in the serp's for this term. see below...
This is good as the only site that outranks me is American Idol's own website. The problem is that to achieve this I have had to use Asia'h's name in all the prominent locations - URL, page title, post titles, H tags etc. The downside is that the Adsense bot uses these same markers to determine the ads it gives me and because her name is Asia'h the bot keeps thinking that it must be a misspelling of the largest landmass on Earth and I keep getting "Asia" related ads. To fix this I need to change all the markers to "American Idol" keywords but by doing so I risk losing my position with the main Google bot. If I eliminate the keyword "Asia'h" I will get relevant ads for the show but I may lose my ranking for "Asia'h" in the process - most annoying.
Another problem is that the people searching for Asia'h aren't looking for "Photos", "Pics" or "Celebrity" stuff in their keywords - notice the terms people used to find Amy Davis - few though they were I could zone in on what they were after just by looking at the search query keywords they used. In Asia'h's case the people are simply looking for general info as they are only using her name in the searches. This makes it hard to monetize the site - if people are looking for something in particular you can optimize your content to get the Adsense Bot to give you ads related to it.
The most popular contestant is a guy - and the people searching for him are quite interested in his "photos", "does he have a girl friend", his "birthday", his "myspace page" etc. The point being you can learn a lot by what keywords are used to find your site and then optimize your monetization accordingly. I have no doubt that the people searching for the "GUY" are a young girls - my own 6 year old daughter has mentioned how "cute" he is several times... lol. I know this contestants audience and need to find ads that young girls will click on - something I readily admit I have had problems with in the past. If any of my female readers can suggest what 12 year old girls would be interested in please let me know. I am after all just a "Guy" and am clueless to the inner workings of half the planets population in spite of living with three of them...
Ok, some quick pointers.
All my sites combined have produced just over $100 in Adsense revenue in the last two days - Asia'h's blog started out well but has crashed and burned re: Adsense as mentioned above. None of the contestants are pulling in great numbers - nothing even close to what Antonella Barba, Kelly Pickler, Sanjiya Malakar or Chris Daughtry did in past years but the season is still young and anything can happen.
I have received approx. 6500 visitors in two days to all my "American Idol" related sites. $100 sucks for this amount of traffic. My Kelly Pickler site still makes $20 - $30 a day and it only gets about 200 visitors daily.
So far I have shown you how to get quick, free traffic from Google. The Asia'h blog is not making money yet although it does point out the advantage of using Blogger - I spent maybe an hour total creating it and adding content - it was free - it allowed me to get the perfect URL asiahepperson.blogspot dot com - it has made $26 for the effort and I have 600 or so people visiting it all in 12 days. How many of your 12 day old sites have 600 visitors - remember I have not submitted this to any social networks. 80% of the visitors are from search engines - 20% are from other sites linking in.
BTW - I have mentioned the importance of trying to get the perfect URL in the past. Aside from it helping you get Top Spot in the serp's when all other factor's are equal between two sites, it also has some "Link Capturing" benefits. In this case my URL has led people to assume the site is either Asia'h's own blog or that it is an official fan blog. Check out this radio station - http://www.kissin925.com/pages/694105.php Kissin925 dot com - website (I don't want tolink to it or the jig will be up if they read this) or better
Okay - that sounds like braggin' - I'm not, pure horseshit luck is all but still pretty cool. Oh - having a link optimized for my keyword from the LA Times does wonders for my keyword authority - did you notice I now outrank youtube dot com in the search listings? I was ranked just below them until the LA Times link. Pretty damn cool...
Note: I hope you are getting my point with these lessons. Everything I have shown you with this short term blog can be done in any niche with any blog at any time. If any of you doubt my system of making money online just think of what I have just done with this 12 day old blog - I can't fake the results - you can check the serp's yourselves. I have a handful of links, how many does youtube have? It all comes down to SEO. I outrank youtube because I have the most keyword authority - not PR - not quality content - not because my blog is prettier or is reader friendly - or is popular with Digg and the social crowd. I attack every niche the same as this but in the case of long term blogs I write much better content.
This post will be enormous if I don't stop now. I will pick up with Adsense and other ways to monetize these blogs in the next post. What I have to show you won't just apply to these kinds of blogs but for everyone that has a niche blog already set up. In fact a friend has a blog that is in the "entertainment" niche like American Idol and since he has asked me what I would do with his site to make money I thought I would use it as an example. You can see Mike's new blog blog by clicking the link. I will show you what I would do with his sites and how to turn a buck on the traffic I am getting from Asia'h's blog.
I haven't created blogs for all 24 contestants but I have targeted them all one way or another with either new blogs or using some of my older existing blogs that cater to this niche. The results vary from decent to crappy at this stage of the competition and the two blogs I have shown you fall into the "just alright" and "crappy" categories.
The Asia'h blog had an okay bump after the show and is still getting traffic today - not huge traffic but enough to work with as far as monetization goes. The Amy Davis blog isn't getting much for traffic at all and hasn't generated a single click yet.
Using all of my sites as a barometer, Asia'h is the fifth most popular Idol. Amy sits near the bottom of the pack along with, Joanne Borgella, Garrett Haley, Colton Berry and Chikezie Eze.
Note: I wrote everything above before the elimination last night - I didn't finish the post as I figured I would wait and see who got sent home. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised to see who was eliminated - 4 of the 5 with the worst search results.
It's now Friday morning and you can see that Asia'h is still pulling in a steady stream of visitors.
There is a slight problem with the Asia'h blog though - in spite of the traffic I have only received 2 clicks since Thursday morning. The reason has to do with her name. The Adsense bot keeps changing the ads on the blog - one minute I get related American Idol ads and the next I get ads for everything from Asian Airlines to a fertilizer spreader. My attempts to fix this have been stymied and here s why..
A Tale of Two Bots
The main Google Bot is responsible for catagorizing my blog and ranking it in the serp's. I have targeted the keyword "Asia'h Epperson" and the bot has me ranking number two in the serp's for this term. see below...
This is good as the only site that outranks me is American Idol's own website. The problem is that to achieve this I have had to use Asia'h's name in all the prominent locations - URL, page title, post titles, H tags etc. The downside is that the Adsense bot uses these same markers to determine the ads it gives me and because her name is Asia'h the bot keeps thinking that it must be a misspelling of the largest landmass on Earth and I keep getting "Asia" related ads. To fix this I need to change all the markers to "American Idol" keywords but by doing so I risk losing my position with the main Google bot. If I eliminate the keyword "Asia'h" I will get relevant ads for the show but I may lose my ranking for "Asia'h" in the process - most annoying.
Another problem is that the people searching for Asia'h aren't looking for "Photos", "Pics" or "Celebrity" stuff in their keywords - notice the terms people used to find Amy Davis - few though they were I could zone in on what they were after just by looking at the search query keywords they used. In Asia'h's case the people are simply looking for general info as they are only using her name in the searches. This makes it hard to monetize the site - if people are looking for something in particular you can optimize your content to get the Adsense Bot to give you ads related to it.
The most popular contestant is a guy - and the people searching for him are quite interested in his "photos", "does he have a girl friend", his "birthday", his "myspace page" etc. The point being you can learn a lot by what keywords are used to find your site and then optimize your monetization accordingly. I have no doubt that the people searching for the "GUY" are a young girls - my own 6 year old daughter has mentioned how "cute" he is several times... lol. I know this contestants audience and need to find ads that young girls will click on - something I readily admit I have had problems with in the past. If any of my female readers can suggest what 12 year old girls would be interested in please let me know. I am after all just a "Guy" and am clueless to the inner workings of half the planets population in spite of living with three of them...
Ok, some quick pointers.
All my sites combined have produced just over $100 in Adsense revenue in the last two days - Asia'h's blog started out well but has crashed and burned re: Adsense as mentioned above. None of the contestants are pulling in great numbers - nothing even close to what Antonella Barba, Kelly Pickler, Sanjiya Malakar or Chris Daughtry did in past years but the season is still young and anything can happen.
I have received approx. 6500 visitors in two days to all my "American Idol" related sites. $100 sucks for this amount of traffic. My Kelly Pickler site still makes $20 - $30 a day and it only gets about 200 visitors daily.
So far I have shown you how to get quick, free traffic from Google. The Asia'h blog is not making money yet although it does point out the advantage of using Blogger - I spent maybe an hour total creating it and adding content - it was free - it allowed me to get the perfect URL asiahepperson.blogspot dot com - it has made $26 for the effort and I have 600 or so people visiting it all in 12 days. How many of your 12 day old sites have 600 visitors - remember I have not submitted this to any social networks. 80% of the visitors are from search engines - 20% are from other sites linking in.
BTW - I have mentioned the importance of trying to get the perfect URL in the past. Aside from it helping you get Top Spot in the serp's when all other factor's are equal between two sites, it also has some "Link Capturing" benefits. In this case my URL has led people to assume the site is either Asia'h's own blog or that it is an official fan blog. Check out this radio station - http://www.kissin925.com/pages/694105.php Kissin925 dot com - website (I don't want tolink to it or the jig will be up if they read this) or better
Okay - that sounds like braggin' - I'm not, pure horseshit luck is all but still pretty cool. Oh - having a link optimized for my keyword from the LA Times does wonders for my keyword authority - did you notice I now outrank youtube dot com in the search listings? I was ranked just below them until the LA Times link. Pretty damn cool...
Note: I hope you are getting my point with these lessons. Everything I have shown you with this short term blog can be done in any niche with any blog at any time. If any of you doubt my system of making money online just think of what I have just done with this 12 day old blog - I can't fake the results - you can check the serp's yourselves. I have a handful of links, how many does youtube have? It all comes down to SEO. I outrank youtube because I have the most keyword authority - not PR - not quality content - not because my blog is prettier or is reader friendly - or is popular with Digg and the social crowd. I attack every niche the same as this but in the case of long term blogs I write much better content.
This post will be enormous if I don't stop now. I will pick up with Adsense and other ways to monetize these blogs in the next post. What I have to show you won't just apply to these kinds of blogs but for everyone that has a niche blog already set up. In fact a friend has a blog that is in the "entertainment" niche like American Idol and since he has asked me what I would do with his site to make money I thought I would use it as an example. You can see Mike's new blog blog by clicking the link. I will show you what I would do with his sites and how to turn a buck on the traffic I am getting from Asia'h's blog.
Optimization Tips for Adsense
7:06 AM Posted by Admin
My regular readers know I am a big fan of ignoring prevailing wisdom and choose to experiment constantly in order to find my own answers. If there is one area where this approach has paid off nicely it's with Adsense. I have read numerous articles and comments from others who offer advice on this topic and quite frankly most of what you read is either wrong or misunderstood. To make money with Adsense you have to do two things; optimize your blog and each page on your site for a single keyword and then drive targeted traffic to that page. That second requirement would be better stated as "ONLY" drive targeted traffic to that page.
I want to take care of an Adsense myth right from the start.
"If you have a low CTR (click through rate) then you are probably smart priced."
This is absolutely wrong.
If your Adsense ads don't convert well for the advertiser then the advertiser is only charged a fraction of the amount he or she bid for the ad placement. We are only talking about content ads here - the ads that show up on publisher's blogs and websites.
If you are running ads on your blog that an advertiser has bid $0.50 per click on and your traffic clicks the ads and doesn't convert well for the advertiser then Google will not pay you the usual $0.25 per click. They will likely give you $0.01 to $0.05 per click. This means you have been smart priced. This will also mean that you will receive lower payouts on every site you have Adsense on - not just the poorly converting site. This is a penalty because you are not optimizing your Adsense pages in order to give the advertiser the most bang for his or her buck.
Give the advertiser the most bang for their buck!
That simple statement is the key to making good money with Adsense.
People have assumed that a low CTR is responsible for smart pricing. It isn't responsible for smart pricing but rather it can be a symptom of a poorly optimized page or poorly optimized traffic. Poor conversions are responsible for smart pricing - low CTR is just a side effect. There are many times though that a low CTR is just a matter of ad placement - your sidebar will have a poor CTR but your main ad block will have a high CTR. Both ad blocks still pay out a decent CPC regardless of number of clicks.
Let me use an example to explain this.
Let's compare two blogs writing about the same topic. Both use the same keywords.
Blog A is called everythingaboutwidgetsdotcom and Blog B is called bluewidgetsdotcom.
Blog A has several posts on the home page each with a snippet of text and a "more" tag - the "click here for further reading" link that will take the reader to the page with the full text.
Blog A has several snippet headers on the front page. Each snippet header is about a different widget.
"All about Blue Widgets"
"All about Green Widgets"
"All about Red Widgets"
The Adsense bot will read the page and conclude (correctly) that the page is about 1) Widgets in general, 2)Blue, Green and Red Widgets.
It will call for ads about widgets in general and ads for blue, green and red widgets.
Now Blog B only has 1 post on the home page. It is about Blue Widgets. In fact every post on the blog is about Blue widgets and nothing else.
The Adsense bot will give Blog B ads about Blue widgets.
On the face of it both blogs are optimized fairly well. Blog A is definitely optimized for widgets in general and Blog B is optimized for Blue widgets.
Now let's assume they know how to SEO and both blogs get ranked high in the serp's.
Blog A gets ranked for "Widgets".
Blog B gets ranked for "Blue widgets".
Google sends both blogs traffic. The traffic for Blog A is looking for "widgets" and some of the visitors are likely to click an Adsense ad. Some will click on the "widget" ad, some will click on "blue widgets", some on "green" and some on "red".
The Blog will get paid decent for those clicking on "widget" ads but not very well for the colored widget ads. Why? Because the traffic was looking for widgets and not "blue widgets" and will be less likely to convert for the advertisers of the colored widgets. Will the blog be smart priced? No - not likely, as the traffic will still convert OK - just not great. The blog will just make less than it could if it were better optimized. The blog will not get the best Adsense ads. It will get the cheaper CPC (cost per click) ads and the poorer performing ads.
Blog B on the other hand only gets Google traffic from people searching for "Blue Widgets" and all of its Adsense ads will be for "Blue Widgets" and everyone who clicks the ad will be more likely to convert and the blog will get the best payouts. The Blog will also get the best performing ads.
What are "The best performing ads"?
The best performing ads are not necessarily the highest paying ads.
Huh?
Very few people understand this so let me use another example. Would you prefer to get an ad that pays you $1 per click but only gets 10 clicks a day or would you rather have an ad that pays you $0.40 per click but gets 100 clicks a day?
Note: Google knows which ads get the most clicks - regardless of cost - some ads are just better written and draw people in better.
If you did the math then you will realize that the $0.40 per click ad is more desirable and is the "best performing ad".
If you are using Adsense then you need to understand how Adwords works.
The advertiser bids on keywords. If the advertiser's keyword is perfectly optimized for their landing page then Google will charge the Advertiser less for both the serp listing and for the content ad placements. If the advertiser's landing page is not well optimized for the keyword then they will have to pay more for the ads - sometimes a lot more. Let's use the term "make money online". If Advertiser A bids on this term and the landing page is perfectly optimized for "making money online" then they will be charged less than Advertiser B who's landing page is about "Forex" but he wants traffic looking for the term "make money online".
Google will charge the "Forex" advertiser a lot more money for the ad and place the ad on lots of crappy "make money online" blogs. Crappy in the sense that these blogs will not be perfectly optimized for "make money online" or "Forex" - most likely on blogs that have an affiliate page about Forex. The publisher won't convert much because the traffic clicked a make money ad and landed on a Forex page and the advertiser will pay a lot for this worthless click. The publisher will however get a good CPC out of the deal - just not many clicks because they have little traffic.
Advertiser A on the other hand gets rewarded by Google for its high quality score (its keyword and landing page are perfectly optimized - this equals a high quality score) and besides being charged less Google will only put the ad on the "best performing" blogs.
The best performing blogs are those that, like the advertisers landing page, are the best optimized for the keyword and have the most targeted traffic for the keyword.
This is a bit confusing so lets look at an example.
The blog you are reading is extremely well optimized for the term "make money online". The easiest way to know this is by looking at this blogs serp rankings. It ranks highly for most of the "make money" keywords. Now, even if it wasn't ranking well for the keywords the blog and posts are still optimized for the keywords. If the majority of your pages get the same ads regardless of the individual post topics then you have successfully optimized your entire blog for a certain keyword. If every page on your blog gets different ads then your blog isn't optimized for one topic. If you want the best performing ads for your main keyword then you have to optimize your entire blog for them and not just a few pages.
As a publisher you want Google to place the best performing ads on your site. To get the best performing ads you have to be just as optimized as the advertiser.
If you are reading this and you live in Canada or the United States then you see the best performing "make money online" adsense ad up top (above the fold) on this blog. If you live anywhere else then you see different ads - probably a block of four ads. This is because the advertiser has picked the location he wishes to advertise to. Only people with Canadian or American ISP's will see the ad. The advertiser does not want anyone else clicking the ad.
This ad appears on my site day after day and it converts well. I banned it from my blog a week ago in order to see how well it performed. The ads that replaced it paid just as much or more per click as this ad but I received 60% less clicks. Meaning I made much less money by not having this ad on my blog. In case you are interested the ads on my sidebar pay more per click than the top ad but don't get a fraction of the clicks. When I banned this ad it was replaced with an ad block containing multiple ads.
Out of curiosity I checked the Adsense ads on my main competitors sites just to see what kind of ads they were getting. They all show multiple ads in their ad blocks. My ad blocks are usually only a single ad. Guess which gets a better conversion? The ads my competitors get are the ads I got when I banned the Gerber Ad. They don't produce anywhere near the same income.
Needless to say - I unbanned the Gerber ad and my revenue returned to normal.
So what does this mean?
It means that Google will give the best performing ads to the best performing publishers. The advertiser gets charged less and gets his ad placed on the best blogs for the keyword. The publisher gets less CPC but gets a lot more clicks. It's a win/win for both parties.
Targeted Traffic.
I said at the beginning of this post that you only had to do two things to make good money with adsense; perfectly optimize your blog for a single keyword and then drive targeted traffic to it.
If we go back to the widget example let's look at what happens when the two blogs don't get the right type of traffic. As they currently stand I said both were ranking well in the serp's and neither would be smart priced. Blog A will do OK with adsense but not great. Blog B will do much better as the blog is better optimized for the traffic from the serp's.
Now imagine that neither blog gets serp traffic for their respective keywords or very little compared to other types of traffic.
If you are a proponent of using social media to get traffic to your blog then pay attention. Let's say most of your traffic comes from stumblers and entrecard and RSS subscribers and Digg etc. If you have Adsense on your blog you run the risk of being smart priced. Most of these social visitors will never click an ad - and that's a good thing. Unfortunately a few will click an ad from time to time. When they do Google knows where they came from and knows that they aren't targeted traffic looking for widgets. They are just casual browsers and if you get too many of these casual browsers clicking your ads then Google will discount the hell out of the CPC in order to compensate the advertiser who is getting really crappy traffic from your site. Google will smart price you until you provide quality traffic.
Social traffic is not quality traffic and if you get a lot of it then you had best not have Adsense on your site. Period.
Because you have a lot of social traffic that rarely clicks ads you will have a very low CTR - hence the misconception that low CTR means you are smart priced. You aren't smart priced because you have a low CTR, you are smart priced because your traffic is crappy and not targeted for the ads. You get a low CTR just because most of your traffic doesn't click ads.
My sidebar ads are all low CTR - under 1% and yet they bring in up to $5 a click. They aren't smart priced - they just don't get a lot of clicks. The top ad block gets the bulk of the clicks.
How to tell if you are doing things right.
For the most part, the first visitors I get to my site each day come from Asia and Australia. This is because they get up first. Then later Europeans and Africans start showing up and finally North and South Americans. The sad fact is that most advertisers using Adsense are North Americans and as such they basically only want traffic from North Americans. (Most only have products available in the US or Canada) The best paying ads and highest converting products tend to be by and for Americans and Canadians. This isn't fair, it sucks and in the end comes down to the reality that European and Asian businesses have yet to take advantage of the internet to the same degree as North American businesses. If your traffic comes from mostly US and Canadian visitors then you will get better Adsense Ads. If your traffic is mostly from elsewhere you will get poorer paying ads and also run the risk of getting smart priced.
The first clicks I get each day are from Asia and Australia - my CPC always starts off low. Later in the day my CPC increases, sometimes quite dramatically. This is because the clicks are now coming from the US and Canada - the people my best ads are targeting.
If you see the same trend then you are doing things right. If you start off with higher CPC and see your CPC drop over the course of the day then you are not doing things right. It means you are getting more less desirable traffic than desirable.
This happens when the bulk of your traffic comes from countries other than the US and Canada. This also happens when the bulk of your traffic comes from sources other than the search engines. In both cases you are getting the wrong traffic. If this is the case remove the Adsense ads from your site and start optimizing it for the search engines.
It all comes down to conversions for the advertiser. The only way you will get good converting traffic for the advertiser is by providing them with people looking for what they are selling.
The only way to guarantee that your traffic will convert is by ranking well for the keyword the advertiser is chasing. My best advertiser is looking for people looking to "make money online". The ad says "Make Easy Money Online". Most of my traffic - about 75% find my blog searching on Google for the term "make money online" or a long tail version of that term. If one of my visitors clicks on the ad they are most likely looking for what the advertiser has to offer and even if they don't buy, Google can charge the advertiser full price because the visitor left a "make money online" trail. They found me using the term and they found the advertiser because of the term. That is as targeted as traffic can get and Google can charge the advertiser full price. If all my traffic came from stumble upon and clicked the ads then the advertiser wont get many conversions and Google can see where the traffic originated, knows it isn't targeted and will penalize me and give the advertiser a rebate.
That folks is how Adsense works.
In Summary.
To make money with Adsense;
You have to target a specific keyword - not a general one.
You have to optimize your entire blog for the keyword - not just a page for this and a page for that. (This can be done but until you know how - don't!)
Only ONE post per page - yes I mean the home page too. Most people will get sent to your homepage and if you have a bunch of snippets for different keywords you will have a bunch of different ads showing. This means the person who found you for the "blue widget" keyword may click on the "green widget" ad. This isn't targeted. You will never get the best performing ads if your blog is not perfectly optimized for the ad. You can't be perfectly optimized if you blog about different topics.
If your site is about widgets then you had better only get widget ads. If you are about blue widgets then you only want blue widget ads.
The only traffic you want to your site is targeted. This means search engine. You never want social traffic. You can target specific forum traffic if it is centered around your keyword but be aware that the CTR will be low.
This in a nutshell is my system. Yes there is a different method you can use and quite frankly it is the more common form. Many practitioners choose to go with quantity over quality - they basically create hundreds or thousands of pages on many sites all poorly optimized and smart priced but still make a decent buck just because of the volume of clicks. The danger is that they use Adsense tricks to get people to click ads and the sites are clearly built for Adsense and contain little useful info. This is a violation of the Adsense TOS and if caught they risk getting banned.
Note: I didn't buy Joel Comm's Adsense Secrets book but I did check out some of his blogs that have Adsense on them. I don't know what his book is about but it only took a few minutes to realize that his sites were poorly optimized and smart priced so I assume if he makes money with Adsense then he is a practitioner of quantity over quality. His sites had little content - lots of Adsense (typical made for adsense sites) and the blocks were showing ads for Bowel Cleanser and Family Vacations in the same ad block. (A sure sign of smart pricing) I, however don't recommend this as you have to do a lot more work and run the risk of losing your adsense account. It may work but not as well as my system and it is a lot more risky.
I have less sites using Adsense but they are all highly optimized for my keywords, they all have a lot of useful content, they all get the best performing ads and they all get the bulk of their traffic from Google's search engine for the keywords they are optimized for. This is a system that is both safe and effective and it will continue to work for as long as Adsense exists.
An optimized blog plus targeted traffic equals a healthy Adsense paycheck.
That's all there is to it.
I want to take care of an Adsense myth right from the start.
"If you have a low CTR (click through rate) then you are probably smart priced."
This is absolutely wrong.
If your Adsense ads don't convert well for the advertiser then the advertiser is only charged a fraction of the amount he or she bid for the ad placement. We are only talking about content ads here - the ads that show up on publisher's blogs and websites.
If you are running ads on your blog that an advertiser has bid $0.50 per click on and your traffic clicks the ads and doesn't convert well for the advertiser then Google will not pay you the usual $0.25 per click. They will likely give you $0.01 to $0.05 per click. This means you have been smart priced. This will also mean that you will receive lower payouts on every site you have Adsense on - not just the poorly converting site. This is a penalty because you are not optimizing your Adsense pages in order to give the advertiser the most bang for his or her buck.
Give the advertiser the most bang for their buck!
That simple statement is the key to making good money with Adsense.
People have assumed that a low CTR is responsible for smart pricing. It isn't responsible for smart pricing but rather it can be a symptom of a poorly optimized page or poorly optimized traffic. Poor conversions are responsible for smart pricing - low CTR is just a side effect. There are many times though that a low CTR is just a matter of ad placement - your sidebar will have a poor CTR but your main ad block will have a high CTR. Both ad blocks still pay out a decent CPC regardless of number of clicks.
Let me use an example to explain this.
Let's compare two blogs writing about the same topic. Both use the same keywords.
Blog A is called everythingaboutwidgetsdotcom and Blog B is called bluewidgetsdotcom.
Blog A has several posts on the home page each with a snippet of text and a "more" tag - the "click here for further reading" link that will take the reader to the page with the full text.
Blog A has several snippet headers on the front page. Each snippet header is about a different widget.
"All about Blue Widgets"
"All about Green Widgets"
"All about Red Widgets"
The Adsense bot will read the page and conclude (correctly) that the page is about 1) Widgets in general, 2)Blue, Green and Red Widgets.
It will call for ads about widgets in general and ads for blue, green and red widgets.
Now Blog B only has 1 post on the home page. It is about Blue Widgets. In fact every post on the blog is about Blue widgets and nothing else.
The Adsense bot will give Blog B ads about Blue widgets.
On the face of it both blogs are optimized fairly well. Blog A is definitely optimized for widgets in general and Blog B is optimized for Blue widgets.
Now let's assume they know how to SEO and both blogs get ranked high in the serp's.
Blog A gets ranked for "Widgets".
Blog B gets ranked for "Blue widgets".
Google sends both blogs traffic. The traffic for Blog A is looking for "widgets" and some of the visitors are likely to click an Adsense ad. Some will click on the "widget" ad, some will click on "blue widgets", some on "green" and some on "red".
The Blog will get paid decent for those clicking on "widget" ads but not very well for the colored widget ads. Why? Because the traffic was looking for widgets and not "blue widgets" and will be less likely to convert for the advertisers of the colored widgets. Will the blog be smart priced? No - not likely, as the traffic will still convert OK - just not great. The blog will just make less than it could if it were better optimized. The blog will not get the best Adsense ads. It will get the cheaper CPC (cost per click) ads and the poorer performing ads.
Blog B on the other hand only gets Google traffic from people searching for "Blue Widgets" and all of its Adsense ads will be for "Blue Widgets" and everyone who clicks the ad will be more likely to convert and the blog will get the best payouts. The Blog will also get the best performing ads.
What are "The best performing ads"?
The best performing ads are not necessarily the highest paying ads.
Huh?
Very few people understand this so let me use another example. Would you prefer to get an ad that pays you $1 per click but only gets 10 clicks a day or would you rather have an ad that pays you $0.40 per click but gets 100 clicks a day?
Note: Google knows which ads get the most clicks - regardless of cost - some ads are just better written and draw people in better.
If you did the math then you will realize that the $0.40 per click ad is more desirable and is the "best performing ad".
If you are using Adsense then you need to understand how Adwords works.
The advertiser bids on keywords. If the advertiser's keyword is perfectly optimized for their landing page then Google will charge the Advertiser less for both the serp listing and for the content ad placements. If the advertiser's landing page is not well optimized for the keyword then they will have to pay more for the ads - sometimes a lot more. Let's use the term "make money online". If Advertiser A bids on this term and the landing page is perfectly optimized for "making money online" then they will be charged less than Advertiser B who's landing page is about "Forex" but he wants traffic looking for the term "make money online".
Google will charge the "Forex" advertiser a lot more money for the ad and place the ad on lots of crappy "make money online" blogs. Crappy in the sense that these blogs will not be perfectly optimized for "make money online" or "Forex" - most likely on blogs that have an affiliate page about Forex. The publisher won't convert much because the traffic clicked a make money ad and landed on a Forex page and the advertiser will pay a lot for this worthless click. The publisher will however get a good CPC out of the deal - just not many clicks because they have little traffic.
Advertiser A on the other hand gets rewarded by Google for its high quality score (its keyword and landing page are perfectly optimized - this equals a high quality score) and besides being charged less Google will only put the ad on the "best performing" blogs.
The best performing blogs are those that, like the advertisers landing page, are the best optimized for the keyword and have the most targeted traffic for the keyword.
This is a bit confusing so lets look at an example.
The blog you are reading is extremely well optimized for the term "make money online". The easiest way to know this is by looking at this blogs serp rankings. It ranks highly for most of the "make money" keywords. Now, even if it wasn't ranking well for the keywords the blog and posts are still optimized for the keywords. If the majority of your pages get the same ads regardless of the individual post topics then you have successfully optimized your entire blog for a certain keyword. If every page on your blog gets different ads then your blog isn't optimized for one topic. If you want the best performing ads for your main keyword then you have to optimize your entire blog for them and not just a few pages.
As a publisher you want Google to place the best performing ads on your site. To get the best performing ads you have to be just as optimized as the advertiser.
If you are reading this and you live in Canada or the United States then you see the best performing "make money online" adsense ad up top (above the fold) on this blog. If you live anywhere else then you see different ads - probably a block of four ads. This is because the advertiser has picked the location he wishes to advertise to. Only people with Canadian or American ISP's will see the ad. The advertiser does not want anyone else clicking the ad.
This ad appears on my site day after day and it converts well. I banned it from my blog a week ago in order to see how well it performed. The ads that replaced it paid just as much or more per click as this ad but I received 60% less clicks. Meaning I made much less money by not having this ad on my blog. In case you are interested the ads on my sidebar pay more per click than the top ad but don't get a fraction of the clicks. When I banned this ad it was replaced with an ad block containing multiple ads.
Out of curiosity I checked the Adsense ads on my main competitors sites just to see what kind of ads they were getting. They all show multiple ads in their ad blocks. My ad blocks are usually only a single ad. Guess which gets a better conversion? The ads my competitors get are the ads I got when I banned the Gerber Ad. They don't produce anywhere near the same income.
Needless to say - I unbanned the Gerber ad and my revenue returned to normal.
So what does this mean?
It means that Google will give the best performing ads to the best performing publishers. The advertiser gets charged less and gets his ad placed on the best blogs for the keyword. The publisher gets less CPC but gets a lot more clicks. It's a win/win for both parties.
Targeted Traffic.
I said at the beginning of this post that you only had to do two things to make good money with adsense; perfectly optimize your blog for a single keyword and then drive targeted traffic to it.
If we go back to the widget example let's look at what happens when the two blogs don't get the right type of traffic. As they currently stand I said both were ranking well in the serp's and neither would be smart priced. Blog A will do OK with adsense but not great. Blog B will do much better as the blog is better optimized for the traffic from the serp's.
Now imagine that neither blog gets serp traffic for their respective keywords or very little compared to other types of traffic.
If you are a proponent of using social media to get traffic to your blog then pay attention. Let's say most of your traffic comes from stumblers and entrecard and RSS subscribers and Digg etc. If you have Adsense on your blog you run the risk of being smart priced. Most of these social visitors will never click an ad - and that's a good thing. Unfortunately a few will click an ad from time to time. When they do Google knows where they came from and knows that they aren't targeted traffic looking for widgets. They are just casual browsers and if you get too many of these casual browsers clicking your ads then Google will discount the hell out of the CPC in order to compensate the advertiser who is getting really crappy traffic from your site. Google will smart price you until you provide quality traffic.
Social traffic is not quality traffic and if you get a lot of it then you had best not have Adsense on your site. Period.
Because you have a lot of social traffic that rarely clicks ads you will have a very low CTR - hence the misconception that low CTR means you are smart priced. You aren't smart priced because you have a low CTR, you are smart priced because your traffic is crappy and not targeted for the ads. You get a low CTR just because most of your traffic doesn't click ads.
My sidebar ads are all low CTR - under 1% and yet they bring in up to $5 a click. They aren't smart priced - they just don't get a lot of clicks. The top ad block gets the bulk of the clicks.
How to tell if you are doing things right.
For the most part, the first visitors I get to my site each day come from Asia and Australia. This is because they get up first. Then later Europeans and Africans start showing up and finally North and South Americans. The sad fact is that most advertisers using Adsense are North Americans and as such they basically only want traffic from North Americans. (Most only have products available in the US or Canada) The best paying ads and highest converting products tend to be by and for Americans and Canadians. This isn't fair, it sucks and in the end comes down to the reality that European and Asian businesses have yet to take advantage of the internet to the same degree as North American businesses. If your traffic comes from mostly US and Canadian visitors then you will get better Adsense Ads. If your traffic is mostly from elsewhere you will get poorer paying ads and also run the risk of getting smart priced.
The first clicks I get each day are from Asia and Australia - my CPC always starts off low. Later in the day my CPC increases, sometimes quite dramatically. This is because the clicks are now coming from the US and Canada - the people my best ads are targeting.
If you see the same trend then you are doing things right. If you start off with higher CPC and see your CPC drop over the course of the day then you are not doing things right. It means you are getting more less desirable traffic than desirable.
This happens when the bulk of your traffic comes from countries other than the US and Canada. This also happens when the bulk of your traffic comes from sources other than the search engines. In both cases you are getting the wrong traffic. If this is the case remove the Adsense ads from your site and start optimizing it for the search engines.
It all comes down to conversions for the advertiser. The only way you will get good converting traffic for the advertiser is by providing them with people looking for what they are selling.
The only way to guarantee that your traffic will convert is by ranking well for the keyword the advertiser is chasing. My best advertiser is looking for people looking to "make money online". The ad says "Make Easy Money Online". Most of my traffic - about 75% find my blog searching on Google for the term "make money online" or a long tail version of that term. If one of my visitors clicks on the ad they are most likely looking for what the advertiser has to offer and even if they don't buy, Google can charge the advertiser full price because the visitor left a "make money online" trail. They found me using the term and they found the advertiser because of the term. That is as targeted as traffic can get and Google can charge the advertiser full price. If all my traffic came from stumble upon and clicked the ads then the advertiser wont get many conversions and Google can see where the traffic originated, knows it isn't targeted and will penalize me and give the advertiser a rebate.
That folks is how Adsense works.
In Summary.
To make money with Adsense;
You have to target a specific keyword - not a general one.
You have to optimize your entire blog for the keyword - not just a page for this and a page for that. (This can be done but until you know how - don't!)
Only ONE post per page - yes I mean the home page too. Most people will get sent to your homepage and if you have a bunch of snippets for different keywords you will have a bunch of different ads showing. This means the person who found you for the "blue widget" keyword may click on the "green widget" ad. This isn't targeted. You will never get the best performing ads if your blog is not perfectly optimized for the ad. You can't be perfectly optimized if you blog about different topics.
If your site is about widgets then you had better only get widget ads. If you are about blue widgets then you only want blue widget ads.
The only traffic you want to your site is targeted. This means search engine. You never want social traffic. You can target specific forum traffic if it is centered around your keyword but be aware that the CTR will be low.
This in a nutshell is my system. Yes there is a different method you can use and quite frankly it is the more common form. Many practitioners choose to go with quantity over quality - they basically create hundreds or thousands of pages on many sites all poorly optimized and smart priced but still make a decent buck just because of the volume of clicks. The danger is that they use Adsense tricks to get people to click ads and the sites are clearly built for Adsense and contain little useful info. This is a violation of the Adsense TOS and if caught they risk getting banned.
Note: I didn't buy Joel Comm's Adsense Secrets book but I did check out some of his blogs that have Adsense on them. I don't know what his book is about but it only took a few minutes to realize that his sites were poorly optimized and smart priced so I assume if he makes money with Adsense then he is a practitioner of quantity over quality. His sites had little content - lots of Adsense (typical made for adsense sites) and the blocks were showing ads for Bowel Cleanser and Family Vacations in the same ad block. (A sure sign of smart pricing) I, however don't recommend this as you have to do a lot more work and run the risk of losing your adsense account. It may work but not as well as my system and it is a lot more risky.
I have less sites using Adsense but they are all highly optimized for my keywords, they all have a lot of useful content, they all get the best performing ads and they all get the bulk of their traffic from Google's search engine for the keywords they are optimized for. This is a system that is both safe and effective and it will continue to work for as long as Adsense exists.
An optimized blog plus targeted traffic equals a healthy Adsense paycheck.
That's all there is to it.
