March 21, 2007 12:56
Category: Other Information
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I'm an Adsense publisher for over 2 years. Initially, I'd put Adsense ads in just about any place on my website as long as I felt that they 'aesthetically' fit in the pages. Since I'm a fan of attractive banner ads, I used to look upon Adsense as unpleasant-looking intrusions in those days. But then shortly it dawned on me that to be not an active Adsense publisher is rather a foolish act for a website owner like me.
When I started their ads, I didn't consider Adsense to be any different from other commercial ads. After awhile I realized where Adsense scores over others is the ability to know how the ads are performing in my website through detail statistics.
Okay, others do provide those stats, but somehow I've a nagging suspicion that in many cases, the figures shown are diluted to a great extent so that advertisers can escape paying affiliate charges. This I feel is especially true for non-US sites if only because site owners from other countries have virtually no legal recourse to challenge those figures.
But there are other compelling reasons to opt as an Adsense publisher. Hundreds of articles and research have shown that viewers are more likely to click on simple text ads instead of image ads. Also, image ads create distraction, which many do not like and may therefore stop being shown in the browser.
But perhaps the 2 biggest advantages for publishing Adsense are twofold.
- Only content-specific ads are displayed. This means Adsense will automatically and in real-time adjudge type and nature of content in a page, and will accordingly display the ads. This increases possibility of click-through because for a reader the ads are just like natural extensions of the contents they are seeing in the page.
Agreed, this Adsense feature is available with scores of other similar ad providers, notably Yahoo!'s YPN and Microsoft's adCenter. But what they appreciably lack is the vast repository of ads available with Adsense. This, according to me, is its single biggest advantage.
- Google AdWords is so popular that one gets to see ads from virtually every nook and corner of the globe. There are also local language ads available. The stock of text ads with Google is phenomenal. This means in my blog about the city of Kolkata where I live, I'm able to display Adsense ads that are specific to my Kolkata-related content. No wonder, as an Adsense publisher, my blog-site enjoys healthy click-through.
If these are reasons enough for you to start Adsense publishing, more are in store if 2 recent developments are any indication.
- Google is now offering what they term Adsense Referral Beta. Upon choosing this option, and based further on sets of keywords or specific ads that you may select, Google Adsense will display those ads that have the potential to add more to your earnings. These are not like the prevailing CPC (cost-per-click) or CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) ads.
In this case, when a visitor clicks on an ad and then takes a definite action required by the ad giver such as a sale or a sign-up, you stand to earn. Ad givers pay more to Google for such ads, and so you too earn higher referral fee than simple Adsense ads. For more on this, visit Google's page.
- The second development is in reference to a Feb 26 article in New York Times, which has been analyzed by Jennifer Slegg in this article. For its AdWords ad givers, Google will shortly start providing a list of content sites where their ads are being run and probably also the corresponding click-through figures.
In her article, Jennifer quotes Kim Malone of Google as saying that advertisers on the Google networks would soon be able to bid on contextual ads on particular Web sites rather than simply buying keywords that appeared across Google's entire network.
In my opinion, (1) and (2) together offer a significant opportunity for Adsense publisher. If a content site generates higher click-through for a company, the latter may be willing to pay more to Google by defining an action to be fulfilled (a sale, for example) for its AdWords ad, while the content site can earn more by opting for Adsense Referral.
It'll be a win-win situation for all 3 entities involved, the Adsense publisher, the AdWords ad giver, and of course Google, the facilitator.
Caveat
Okay, there is a lot to gain as an Adsense publisher. But before all that windfalls can be yours, there is a hard lesson to be learnt and implemented. It's about traffic. The point is unless your site has a steady stream of visitors coming in looking for information, there is just no revenue to be had. It's only when the pages of your website are inquired for by searchers and visited thereafter by them do you have a chance to gain.
Remember, ad click-through may be as dismal as just 2-5% of the total impressions made. And, irrespective of whatever many experts might say, the only solid way to ensure more 'impressions' is to make your website content-heavy. In other words, the more content that you have in your website, the more the chance of increase in number of viewers, and therefore the more the possibility of handsome earnings as an AdSense publisher.
