WishList makes membership sites easier to setup

WordPress is an amazing publishing platform but what if Google AdSense isn’t enough to pay for the operation? What if you need to setup a fully featured membership site?

All over the world, millions of bloggers are thinking up new ways to bank on their content (or products, or services). To sell these offerings, some of them might want to consider turning their “free blog” into a “membership blog” where some things are free and some others are only made available to paying visitors (or customers).

Since WordPress doesn’t ship with the capability to bills members to access different levels or sections, the only option is to turn to a plug-in such as WishList.

This plug-in is sold for either US$97 for a “single site” license or US$297 for a “multi-site” license, which makes it an affordable solution for paid membership sites.

A free option for the WishList plug-in would be nice but that doesn’t seem to be in the works, for now.

So, what do you get, with WishList?

How about easy integration, detailed support guides, training videos, one (1) year of unlimited updates and support as well as four bonus goodies that just sweeten an already fair deal.

Also, with WishList for WordPress, you get the following:

Unlimited membership levels;
Simple installation with either new or existing blogs;
Flexible membership options (i.e.: free, trial or paid);
Sequential content delivery (from “level 1″ to “lever 2″);
Control over the viewed content;
PayPal shopping cart integration;
Easy member management;
Multi-level access memberships;
Total content protection;
Secure RSS feeds;
Subscription length control;
Login redirection to the page of your choice;
Sneak peak content display;
Custom error pages; and
Partial content display.

If you’re a blogger looking to install the WishList plug-in into your WordPress site, you should be able to do it within an hour. Most of the work, on your part, will be to figure out how you want to structure your sales to optimize successful conversions.

Regarding the plug-in itself, it works well and doesn’t seem to slow down the pages loading time, which is a definite plus.

Money shouldn’t be an issue for getting your hands on the WishList plug-in because as soon as you start operating a paid membership site —if your offering is any good— you’ll make your “initial plug-in investment” back very quickly.

So if you’re seriously looking to build a membership web site, WishList delivers.

Tags: wishlist, wishlist plug-in, plug-in, plugin, wordpress, member, members, membership, online membership, paid memberships, money, revenue, publisher model, adsense, google adsense, blog, bloggers, wordpress

The IE8 InPrivate mode doesn’t prevent Google AdSense ads from being displayed

Have you downloaded InternetExplorer 8, yet?

As Microsoft introduces Windows 7, that’ll be the default browser so if you don’t do it by yourself on your current XP or Vista setup now, it’ll be done for you, in the next OS release.

Microsoft’s new web browser is packed with features and one of them has been quite a cause for concern, for the online advertising industry which heavily relies on external JavaScript calls to display ads.

Publishers displaying Google AdSense ads have been quite vocal about the possibility for a new feature, among many others, called InPrivate [browsing] mode (also called the “porn mode“) where the browser doesn’t record anything, may it be history, cookies or cache that’ll be wiped out at the end of the session (so you don’t get slowed down during that session), because it was feared that the ads, originating from Google, would cease to be visible.

If that were to happen, as is the case with AdBlock Plus for Firefox, it would have the potential to destroy large parts of the online advertising industry because IE8 is promising to become the browser of choice, over time.

But although things might change, right now, it looks like the InPrivate mode won’t prevent Google AdSense ads from displaying.

Millions of AdSense publishers might let go a long sight of relief, when looking at the following proof that AdSense ads display normally, even when using the InPrivate mode…

By the way, it should be noted that we used IE8′s “express settings”…

…and we also had InPrivate filtering turned on in such a way that IE8 would block content for us (with its own “default” settings)…

inprivate_filtering_turned_on

…with these settings “enforced” (none that we determined, actually)…

So that was pretty much as far as the typical web user would go, when using such settings. Assuming a “typical user” would be using them, in the first place.

In all fairness, it might be a while before this type of “filtering” reaches mainstream.

The AdBlock Plus extension, however, has prevented publishers from collecting untold amounts of advertising revenue, since it’s been released to the Firefox user base so the idea of seeing IE8 come out with a similar feature, not activated by default but easily available to all, has made honest and hard working —ad supported— publishers very nervous.

Fortunately, it doesn’t look like Microsoft will wage war with Google on that front. Perhaps the Redmond giant has a slight idea of what kind of “blogger-storm” it would attract upon itself by doing so or maybe it’s just common sense (yes, that too can happen at Microsoft, according to certains rumors).

Whatever the reason, Microsoft’s IE8 InPrivate mode seems to play nice with Google AdSense ads on all publisher web sites that we checked (and we checked many of them, from all over the world, in several languages) so for now, it’s all good.

Let’s hope —and perhaps lobby— for things to stay this way.

And for AdBlock Plus to grow up and stop hurting honest web publishers.

Tags: ie8, internetexplorer 8, microsoft, adsense, google adsense, google, online advertising, online ads, web ads, ppc ads, pay-per-click, ad zones, display ads, hide ads, prevent ads from displaying, adblock plus, inprivate, filtering, web browser, internet users, advertising revenue, money, finance, common sense

Does Adblock Plus hurt Google’s AdSense publishers?

Downloading the Adblock Plus extension for Firefox is easy. It takes under a minute. Activating it takes a few seconds and once the browser has relaunched, Google AdSense ads become a distant memory.

People who install Adblock Plus or similar extensions, in either Firefox or Internet Explorer, do it for a variety of reasons…

some hate advertising, flat out;
some want to protest against Google’s privacy policies, which may be viewed as intrusive;
some never click on the ads, so they see no point in viewing them;
some want a faster browsing experience; and finally
some just follow a mass movement against online advertising.

But when people refuse to view the ads that pay for the free content they’re accessing, it endangers the entire online advertising ecosystem, especially the one involving Google AdSense and its publishers.

By using Adblock Plus when visiting ad supported web destinations, regular visitors become freeloaders. These people take all the free content and leave nothing behind, no even being courteous enough to even tolerate the generally non-intrusive ads accompanying that content.

Given the popularity of Adblock Plus, being the number one extension for Firefox, popularitywise, this means web publishers are going to have to find alternative ways to make money, such as…

relying solely on Google Custom Search (beta) which isn’t currently blocked — and that’s a long shot, to say the least;
switching to alternative advertising service but since they pay roughly 10 to 100 times less than Google, that’s a losing proposition that won’t pay the bills;
ending the universal access to free content, limiting the free stuff to marketing purposes only and charging for memberships to access the previously free content;
syndicating the locally produced and owned content to a larger network which still hasn’t been affected by Adblock Plus, yet.

That’s a lot of trouble to counter a handful of nasty ad blocking extensions but as the web publisher continues to reach new lows, there seems to be little other choice, in order to make ends meet.

Adblock Plus and similar extensions are probably the main reason why publishers see very high stats in their internal counters and much lower counts, according to Google. The difference is likely comprised of all the users that visited with such extensions on.

Keep in mind Adblock Plus —also— kills the Google Analytics code so trying to make sense of the numbers accumulated there isn’t even possible since a large portion of visitors aren’t accounted for. Yikes! So much for analytics…

So with all this in mind, it’s not hard to see that Adblock Plus and similar extensions are hurting web publishers, big time. So much so that an entire nascent online publishing industry is being strangled as it tries to emerge.

It’s like as if somebody sold a system to block all ads when reading newspapers, or watching TV or listening to the radio. It would have devastating consequences but online, it’s even worse since this media is still in its infancy.

People who value liberty, independent opinions and fair use should be enraged that ad blocking extensions even exist. If a web site has too much advertising for one’s taste, go elsewhere. When the web publisher sees his traffic count going down, he’ll get the message and change things to the visitors’ liking. There’s no need to block all the ads… for all sites, at once!

So, is Google also hurting, because of these ad blocking extensions?

Within its web publisher (affiliates) network, yes. Google hurt should follow the same curve as the downfall in revenue web publishers have been seeing for the last few months, especially since September 2008 and even worse, since February 2009.

However, the way Google displays its ads within its own search engine make it immune to ad blockers, there. As such, Google hasn’t been losing one penny from ad blockers, within its own search empire.

Also, everybody knows that the same link clicked in a publisher’s web page will usually bring between 6 and 18 times less money than the exact same link clicked within a Google Customer Search (beta) search results page. The logic behind this is probably that Google values its own web property above all others, even quality independent sites.

So while Google looks as strong as ever, every other AdSense publisher out there seems to be dying. Some slowly. Some, much faster. The smaller publishers being the first to call it quits.

Maybe that’s why Google hasn’t retaliated (legally or otherwise) against Adblock Plus.

They’re still making boatloads of money so why should they care if their web publishers are being driven into financial distress? Seriously, Google being the sole “safe” outlet to publish the pay-per-click ads, they may even be making MORE MONEY because of Adblock Plus.

So, the web publishers need to figure out a way out of this trap, by themselves…

Adblock Plus and similar extensions will likely continue to thrive (until the free web dies); and
Google isn’t moving to help out publishers… even as they’re being driven out of business.

Using scripts to force visitors to deactivate such extensions will likely become the norm because the financial drain is so bad that there’s just no other choice but that’s awful because web publishers are forced to confront their visitors because third party ad blocking extension makers have decided to attack them, head on.

Until such anti-ad blocking scripts are coded, web publishers will continue to feel the punishing crunch in their Google AdSense revenue. As bas as it is, the situation could get a lot worse.

Yes, web publishing was wonderful for a while but Adblock Plus and similar extensions are ruining the entire experience for everyone and accelerating the end of the free web, in the process.

Tags: adblock plus, google adsense, adsense, abblock, ad block, ad blockers, ad blocking, advertising, online ads, deleted ads, ads ripped out, ads not rendered, web publishers, ad revenue, sponsored links, free content, quality content, ad zones, visitors, adsense stats, ecpm, number of visitors, number of clicks, ad conversion, firefox, internet explorer, ie8, extensions, plugins, membership-based access, paid content

Will Adblock Plus kill Google’s AdSense?

Quality online content is freely available, today.

Thanks to revenue generation services like Google’s AdSense, web publishers can concentrate on creating and managing that content while advertisers bid to be seen alongside it. In the process, countless web publishers get monthly checks, from Google, which help pay for it all.

Again, placing ads alongside quality content provides the following advantages…

context-specific advertising space for millions of advertisers, from all over the world;
a relatively stable monthly money stream, for participating web publishers; and
tons of quality free content for all web visitors.

Furthermore, with Google’s AdSense service, visitors are presented with highly targeted ads which closely match their tracked preferences. In other words, a majority of ads presented are relevant.

So while that seems like a logical and straightforward online ecosystem, the people at Adblock Plus don’t see it as such.

In their view, such ads are a bad thing.

So bad, that they give away a plugin for the Firefox browser which basically eliminates all Google AdSense ads from web publisher pages, without Google’s consent or the web publisher even knowing about it.

Because Adblock Plus is a Firefox extension, the ads are basically stripped away from the rendered web pages.

If web publishers don’t read articles such as this one, they may never even know that their economic lifeblood (their ads) are secretly being trashed, by the Adblock Plus extension.

So Google AdSense publishers take thousands of blogs and forums by storm to discuss the recent freefall in the revenue they derive from their ads. And we’re talking about a more than 50% drop, roughly between September 2008 and March of 2009, according to many publishers who have been quite vocal about this spectacular drop in their earnings.

While it was historically possible to pay the rent by adding AdSense ads to content, it’s a lot more difficult now because Adblock Plus, among other things, is the single most downloaded extension for Firefox and on the Internet Explorer front, it’s no better because other similar extensions also attack the ads.

So where is this taking us?

If web publishers can’t make any more money with their Google AdSense ads, the quality and universal accessibility of content is probably going to be suffer, a lot.

Because of Adblock Plus and similar extensions to popular web browsers, expect…

a lot less variety of content;
a lot less free content;
more membership-based content, available for a monthly fee or per-access fee;
alternative ad methods that’ll need to be even more intrusive and less targeted, to make up for the lost revenue.

In other words, what sounded like a good deal for the typical web visitor tired of seeing clueless ads popping up everywhere might pave the way to a somewhat nightmarish web where a limited set of content is available for free and everything else has been forced to migrate to membership-based access rules, to keep up with the bills.

adblocker_064

People who install Adblock Plus most likely don’t realize they’re being converted into digital freeloaders, of sorts.

You see, contextual ads —especially those from Google AdSense— add value to the original content by providing lots of links providing more information or commercial offerings, about any given theme. Visitors who prefer not to click on such ads don’t have to while those who find interesting leads can follow them through. It’s that simple.

By having Adblock Plus and similar extensions installed on so many browsers, at home, at school and at work, the entire revenue model falls apart and risks bringing the beautiful web we know down with it.

As such, any responsible web user should never install such extensions in their browsers.

Case in point, this is what the people behind Adblock Plus say about their creation:

“While nobody profits directly from it, widespread adoption of ad blocking software will make intrusive ads economically inefficient until they become as rare as pop-up windows already are today. And aside of making the internet a better place it is simply good to know that this work is used.”

If “nobody profits directly from it”, it should also be noted that that billions of dollars are likely lost each year by web publishers and that means Adblock Plus is an obstacle to the rightful redistribution of money, in society.

Concerned web publishers are absolutely right when they refer to Adblock Plus as a digital calamity which is causing enormous harm to the web, in general.

More people are coming to realize that the web can’t continue to be free is people keep using Adblock Plus and similar extensions because freeloading destroys most revenue-generating models, especially the one based on Google AdSense.

Adblock Plus is so efficient that it blocks regular Google AdSense ads but that’s not all, even the customized AdSense feeds, like those displayed in the Los Angeles Times, get deleted. In short, anything related to Google’s ads gets pulled from the web pages shown to users. It’s very sad, indeed.

Since the Adblock Plus developers and fans don’t seem too keen on the idea that web publishers need money to operate, a series of retaliation might be needed to save the web as we know it.

Among the measures that are obviously becoming more necessary, Google and web publishers should sue Adblock Plus for, directly or indirectly, stealing them of their revenue stream by empowering users with a tool that blocks all ads by default, instead of letting the user only block the ads he feels are too intrusive, on a case by case basis.

By banning all ads altogether, without any kind of prior notice to the web publishers or advertisers, Adblock Plus might be exposing itself —and those who code and distribute it— to costly civil and criminal suits. Similar extension coders expose themselves as well. By attacking the web’s revenue model and the web publishers, these “ad blockers” paint themselves as targets for the moment when the legal actions start flying around.

Do you think the Los Angeles Times, for instance, will tolerate that over half of their online viewers refuse to even view their ads? Of course not. It’s just a matter of time before another way to generate money is decided upon. Since it will likely be a sort of membership, all readers will pay dearly for those who were too foolish to support the current “all free” content access model.

And in all fairness, the Google AdSense ad zones are usually well located, alongside the content and pose no problem for the visitors. Only a minority of spam-like sites stuff the ads in such a way that it become intrusive. Should all web publishers have to pay for the lack of judgement of a minority of spam-spinners? Of course not. That’s why the very principle of “blocking everything, everywhere”, with Adblock Plus, is so twisted, unfair and unethical, if not downright illegal, in some circumstances.

For the time being, Google has been careful not to talk about extensions like Adblock Plus. However, it’s unlikely that they’ll stay silent much longer as they too must be suffering from the spread of this extension and others like it.

While the power to view ads or not now lies in the hands of visitors, web publishers could choose to show blank pages to them. The pages could also display short messages asking the visitors to turn off their “ad blocking extension” if they wish to view the content. Some visitors might find it supremely frustrating but by activating such an extension, they definitely had it coming.

When enough web publishers refuse access to freeloading visitors, the popularity of such extensions might start to go down. For the time being, the economic nightmare stemming from Adblock plus continues, for countless Google AdSense publishers who can’t make sense of their stats, anymore.

Adblock Plus might sell itself as a “plus” but in the end, it’s a huge “minus”, for everybody. The end of free content online would change our world, for the worse.

Google Maps will help AdWords… and AdSense!

There’s been a lot of talk about the lower eCPM numbers affecting AdSense publishers since mid-February of 2009.

Some people believe the revenue shortfall is mainly due to the financial crisis, others think Google is keeping more for themselves. Since nothing filters from Google, it might be a bit of both, or not.

In all fairness and because so little relevant information is published by Google on this particular matter, it’s anyone’s guess why so many publishers’ revenues seem to be hitting record lows.

But…

In these harsh times, there might be a glimmer of light and it could be coming from an unexpected angle: Google Maps!

Yes, for those of you who have discover (or re-discovered) the planet using Google Earth, it’s no secret that businesses can now be easily located (and spotted) almost everywhere. The businesses that stand out the most are those who have registered with Google’s Local Busines Center (based in Mountain View, CA).

google_maps_showing_biz_contact_data

Business that register with Google must prove the authenticity of the information they post so that insures that visitors only see up to date information (which is very important, for any business directory).

So…

When businesses register to (eventually) show up in Google Maps (and Google Earth), they’re presented with a catchy little pitch regarding Google AdWords — now, that’s interesting.

google_maps_letterhead

google_adwords_reach_more_customers

Imagine, millions upon millions of smaller businesses being introduced to AdWords. It’s awesome because it’ll likely translate into a much more diverse advertiser base, more bids for a wide range of keywords and ultimately, higher and hopefully more stable revenues for publishers.

Here’s what Google writes:

Reach More Customers

If you have a website and want to reach more local customers, give Google AdWords a try. In just a few minutes, you can create ads that appear only to people in your target cities. (You can also have an AdWords specialist build your campaign for you) The best part? You chose the cost of your ads, and you only pay if these ads bring people to your website. Learn more at http://www.google.ca/local/promo

By the way, the link is for Canada because the author is based… in Canada.

Online advertising is still a fragile ecosystem but by helping millions of smaller businesses join the AdWords action, Google is helping itself, of course but it’s also helping its AdSense publishers who should, in turn, prep up their web destinations to be somewhat “local friendly” because that might just be the angle through which ad growth will occur.

If you know businesses looking for free visibility, invite them to list their contact data with Google Maps. It’s fast, free and surprisingly effective (yes, your phone will ring and you’ll get email messages with serious inquiries).

This is good news because amidst a sea of bad economic news, here’s living proof that Google is steaming ahead and building what could well be one of the upcoming paradigms in online visibility… and advertising.

Tags: online advertising, google maps, google earth, google adwords, google adsense, advertisers, publishers, local content, local listings, local businesses, small businesses, ppc, pay-per-click, lead generation, keywords, web publisher revenues, money, wealth

Are AdSense publishers’ revenues on a slippery slope, or what?

If you’ve been a Google AdSense publisher for several years, you probably remember the 18th of November, 2007.

That’s the day the clickable zones in Google’s ads were dramatically modified so only the title and the link were clickable, instead of the whole ad, including the description and the surrounding “white space”.

This modification in the way the Google AdSense ads were delivered to publishers’ web pages had desastrous consequences in their revenue — most publishers seeing their click through rate (CTR) drop by over 50%, with revenues plunging accordingly.

The AdWord advertisers were happy but even through this measure should’ve encouraged them to spend more (because of the heightened legitimity of the clicks), it didn’t seem to have any significant effect and publisher revenues have never recovered from that spectacular drop, starting in mid-November of 2007.

Fast forward in March of 2009, with a nasty recession hitting the US and many other “first world” countries, AdSense publishers are being hit by another revenue drop, this time, by the way of free falling effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPMs).

While the eCPM for a business blog might’ve averaged around $15 in January of 2009, something happened in mid-February that has been tanking the eCPM since. Nowadays, in March, the same profile is lucky to get $3 (of eCPM) instead of the usually very stable (over the last year, at least) $15 revenue threshhold.

Because of this, a typical publisher used to getting some $50 a day will likely get 5 times less and with a meager 10$ —for the exact same number of valid clicks— to live by, which obviously isn’t enough.

Most AdSense insiders know Google has taken a bit more than its “fair share”, over the last year but this latest drop in web publisher revenues is probably linked directly to the advertisers themselves… and how little money they now invest in the online advertising campaigns.

But Google isn’t providing web publishers with any sort of insight that would confirm this theory so we’re all forced to speculate to guess what’s causing Google AdSense’s publisher revenues to hit (what appears to be) record lows.

Other long-time web publishers think the global (and domestic) inventory of quality advertising zones has grown exponentially and therefore, advertisers now have access to a nearly unlimited number of online venues to reach their “intended audience”. This is likely to take a (serious) toll of the already battered web publisher revenues.

And there’s another thing…

Yes, it gets worse — Google AdWords now features way to screen out certain type of publishers and as such, an advertiser can decide to spend his money in Google’s own network of sites instead of “spreading the wealth” elsewhere, in the “web publisher network”. The controls allow for more fine-tuning but the stage is set for yet another hit of web publisher revenues. Even for those who create unique, valuable and sought content.

And last but not least, Google’s rules on what constitutes a “valid click” seem to be quite variable, depending on who you ask.

Most web publishers were under the impression that whenever a visitor —an genuine one, that is— clicked on an ad, money was awarded to their account, for that click. Well, it’s not simple, anymore.

It seems Google AdSense’s rules have evolved in such a way that if a visitor doesn’t stay “x” number of minutes of the advertisers’ web site, the click doesn’t count, at all. Speculation about a “one minute minimum” time requirement is rampant in several AdSense-related forums but, as with so many things regarding AdSense, any information of remotely significant value is usually kept —secret— so articles like this one are only going to multiply, all over the web, with all flavors of “requirements” being discussed. Google should really clear the air on all of these matters but if it hasn’t done so in the past so, realistically, there’s little chance things will change, in the future.

So, for the time being, countless web publishers are getting hit head-on by the “financial crisis” and it’s unclear when things will head back up… if ever.

For the hour, what seems to be akin to a tragedy is taking place and web publishers will need to take action, sooner or later, to recoup their lost revenues.

Tags: adsense, google adsense, falling revenues, lower revenues, low ctr, low ecpm, financial crisis, recession, economic downturn, dramatic drop in adsense revenues, advertisers, adwords, google adwords, speculation, speculation about adsense, web publishers, publishers losing money, adsense money, adsense advertising

Is it still possible to profit from AdSense?

Building up a successful web destination is no small feat.

If you’ve achieved it in the past, it doesn’t mean you’ll pull it off as easily in the future. It just means that you know one successful way to “get there”, among many others — which is better than nothing.

But hordes of newbies, from all over the world, are taking the web by storm and firing up new forums, blogs, wikis and sites with diverse offerings which they deem worthy of carrying the wildly popular Google AdSense revenue-generating pay-per-click advertising service.

Some publishers expect very little revenue (while dreaming of a break in the big leagues, at one point or another) and others, usually more experienced publishers, are aiming at nothing less than being able to live solely off these Google-spun revenues.

Is it still possible to get to that point where you can basically quit your day job and blog on all sorts of themes that you care about (for real)? Perhaps it is… but don’t get your hopes too high.

You see, Google AdSense is merely an aggregator of ads which are bought (and paid for) by advertisers of all sizes.

As such, some fields like the insurances, debt reduction and medical care in the US might yield a lot more money than, say, poverty reduction in Mozambique. The later theme is a crucial one, there’s no question about it —but— are there any advertisers looking to pay big bucks to associate with that particular content? Your road to riches, using AdSense, has to start with a theme you happen to like (otherwise, it’ll just make you unhappy) but it should also be a magnet of sorts, for rich advertisers.

You need to choose the right theme and if it’s possible, aim the content at a rich geographic location meaning that blogging about skiing in Argentina will likely score less money in your pockets than if you focus on Aspen, CO.

But that’s not all…

If you’re to emerge as a credible source of information for your visitors —and— the mighty search engines, you’ll need to find a way to stay on top of your competition. One way to do this is to post unique content people are looking for and then, once you master that art of “answering all the right questions”, you need to do it as often (and as regularly) as possible.

You see, lots of marketers are selling the dream of “passive revenues” related to the Web 2.0 and 3.0 publishers but the truth of the matter is, to be successful for a long time, a publisher has to sweat. A lot, actually. Getting a web site right doesn’t usually happen the first time around. It takes a serious toll in time, effort and sometimes, money.

The good news is that lots of other publishers will turn their attention to other things, along the way so that’ll be that much less competition for you, assuming you go the distance.

But again with the main question, is it possible to profit from AdSense?

Depending on the type of content you publish and how it’s delivered to your visitors, AdSense could prove to be a solid (and surprisingly stable) source of recurring revenue but don’t expect —even for one moment— that it’ll be as easy as what the marketers would have you believe.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re successful offline, you may also have what it takes to make it big online too but hey, you’ll have to give it a try to learn from experience how you fare in the face of infinite competition in an always-on world.

The AdSense revenue generation lifestyle isn’t for everybody and especially not for the faint at heart but if you really intend to work up your place as a “useful and popular web destination”, the payoff is very real if (and when) you get there.

Tags: adsense revenue, adsense lifestyle, making money with adsense, google adsense, adsense program, adsense for publishers, blogging for money, adsense blogs, adsense wikis, adsense forums, blogger revenues, money, adsense check, quit your day job, make money online, produce content

Do lower AdSense revenues make you blue?

Small and not-so-small webmasters alike are currently feeling the financial crises pinch all the way down into their daily AdSense earnings with lower than average eCPM numbers making it next-to-impossible to bring in a decent monthly pay even when tens of thousands of (hopefully valid) clicks being registered.

In fact, some bloggers believe it’s Google’s fault and that they’re keeping a larger share of the money that, in their view, usually goes to publishers but that explanation doesn’t add up. It could be (nobody knows for sure) but it just doesn’t feel right.

The more logical explanation has to do with basic supply and demand.

The supply of advertising space, namely in blogs like this one, have been growing steadily over the last months. That means advertisers are presented with more choices than ever before, within AdWords. So the supply side, meaning the countless AdSense Publishers, is busting at the seams.

On the other hand, advertisers are likely to hold back on frivolous spending, such as AdSense, resorting to local TV and radio spots or going back to specialty publications… offline. Even if these advertisers stick with AdSense, they’re likely to ease on the PPC budget they allow Google to manage so that, in turn, makes for lower revenues downstream… towards publishers.

So what can publishers do to push up their AdSense revenues in these times of financial crisis?

A lot of things, surely but here are a few…

Display your ads as close to the top of your page as possible — it appears Google, through some secret wizardry nobody can be quite sure about, awards more revenue to publishers putting their ads at the top, where all visitors can clearly see them;
Have less ad zones — this will filter out the less lucrative ads and only display those that pay the most. It might be risky since less visitors might see the ads but perhaps it’s worth a shot;
Go for colors that work for you — lots of AdSense ads still display using the “generic” Google-blue. Keep in mind that “ad blindness” is more likely to happen with this configuration even if you feel “visitors will be comfortable with colors they know”, you also risk that they won’t see them, at all;
Redesign your page layout — how your site looks makes a significant difference in the number of clicks you’ll get so make sure to put a lot of time to make your AdSense-bearing site as appealing as possible;
Link to other nice folks — especially if you operate a blog, linking with other blogger buddies will do wonders for your visitor count… and theirs.

Being blue because of lower AdSense revenues just doesn’t fix the basic problem: a much lower monthly check.

To cure these (probably temporary) blues, you must take action.

Google provides you with limited metrics about what’s really going on, clickwise but savvy publishers have a sixth sense to juice as many details as they can from those numbers by using channels and testing various advertising scenarios. This improves their knowledge of how AdSense rewards certain types of scenarios instead of others.

The financial crises Wall Street has basically engineered (from way back) and for which we feel a painful pinch now might take a few months (or even years) to wane away but as long as it hangs over our heads, publishers need to become even more creative in finding ways to stabilize and hopefully increase their revenues.

Good luck to all the good publishers out there who feel bad about getting less money for their hard work. Hang in there, there seems to be lots of light at the end of this tunnel.

Tags: adsense, google adsense, adwords, google adwords, publishers, advertisers, pay-per-click, ppc, daily adsense revenues, monthly adsense check, publishing content, adsense blues, revenue blues

Can independent blogging turn into… a real job?

Meet Adam (made up name).

He’s a smart individual with a general interest for life and all that stems from it. He likes to voice his own views and knows how to word them efficiently. He’s computer-savvy and knows his way around with such open source superstars as PHP, MySQL and WordPress.

He has this plan of getting quality information “out to the world” so he buys up a good domain name, sets up his own hosting account (or home server, whichever), installs the WordPress blogging script and launches his very first independent blog.

The word -independent- is very important, here. It means that Adam, our “example buddy”, will be able to manage his blog in any way he pleases.

He’ll be able to tweak his blog with any plug-in he wishes and will also be able to integrate pay-per-click advertising alone or alongside with more “traditional” banner placements (ideally bringing in a monthly revenue).

So Adam publishes his first 25 posts and already, some Google users are starting to notice his high-quality work. Let me insist on -quality- because without true uniqueness and added value, end-users will not waste time coming back to Adam’s blog, let alone bookmark it.

Like in all other aspects of life, sustained quality drives long term revenue.

Fortunately, Adam believes in his blog enough to continue investing time in it, even if the advertising revenue isn’t quite that spectacular, yet. At least, it’s not enough to live by. At this point, maybe Google AdSense brings in around $100 per month for pay-per-click “contextual” ads and the banners ads (let’s say there are 4 at $100 each) bring in another $400. It’s a good start but more work needs to be done.

Adam therefore continues to blog about what he loves but mostly, about what his users are looking for.

In a perfect world, a blogger should seek to either provide uniquely valuable information or, more to the point, solve one or many problems, for the end users. Doing that will built up a “reputation” for the blog as being “useful”. It will also significantly drive the traffic up.

Since good blogs usually have at least a 10% click-thru rate for the pay-per-click ads and that each of these ads pay out (an average of) 20 cents, if Adam’s blog gets 1,000 visitors daily, it can safely be assumed that it will generate around $20 a day, which translates into about $600 per month. Add that amount to the banner revenues which, at this point, may have doubled to $800 and you rise up to $1,400 in monthly revenue.

While that’s not enough to book that two week trip to Bali, it’s significant enough to be able to make ends meet — for a while, at least.

Now that Adam, our fictional blogger, has probably gone from a PR0 to a PR3 within roughly one month of hard work, his goal will probably be to reach (and stay at) the PR5 level, within a few more months.

To achieve this, Adam can simply leave “educated comments” in other blogs which happen to be well-regarded by both the end-users and the search engines. This will -naturally- enhance his own blog’s visibility, at no cost (other than his own time). Also, other smart people could, in turn, notice Adam’s blog (for the first time) and be compelled to leave a comment, too. These comments have the power to greatly enhance Adam’s blog value, for all further visitors who will see the post as having more depth… and influence.

From this point on, it should be fairly straightforward for Adam who simply needs to keep adding quality posts to his own blog -and- highly valuable comments into other blogosphere properties.

As the number of visitors crosses the 10,000 mark, on a daily basis, Adam can pretty much bank on a $200 a day revenue stream from his Google AdSense pay-per-click ads (for about $6,000 monthly) coupled with perhaps 12 banners generating $1,200 per month for a total of $7,200… month after month.

It goes without saying that Adam, our typical yet imaginary blogger, enjoys a nice life, financially speaking but also from a professional standpoint as he’ll likely be doing what he likes best, from home and on his own terms.

As time goes by, Adam may hook up with many other quality bloggers, advertisers and other “movers and shakers” who will keep turning out “new unforeseen opportunities” for him to better his blog.

This “fantasy blogging” scenario is made to follow real life metrics so it’s pretty clear that if you follow in Adam’s footsteps, you too could end up being able to make a (good) living off blogging.

As long as you focus on uniqueness, true value and long term revenue generation approaches, things should turn out just as you’d expect them to — akin to what happened to Adam.

Tags: make money with your own blog, blogs, bloggers, blogging, revenue generating blog, blogging as a career, blog job, working from home, working on your own terms, working without a boss, value-added blogging, quality blog posts, unique blog posts, online revenue, google adsense, banner advertising, monthly revenue, pay-per-click revenue, ppc advertising

New features in AdSense for search

AdSense for search - New features Over time, the Google Adsense service has grown into the biggest online advertising service in the world and this isn’t stopping them from innovating, which is all for the best.

The latest round of innovation is making the AdSense for search service even more flexible for the publishers while delivering a more satisfying search results experience for the users.

For those who are not yet too familiar with the AdSense for search service, it’s the “keyword search box” where users are free to enter any query they like, from within the web publisher’s site. It’s a great feature especially since the pay-per-click ads appearing on a given web page may not cover all that a user may be looking for.

As a web publisher, here’s a quick overview of what new tricks AdSense for search can do for you:

Selection of the ad location — You can now decide where to place the ads on the search results page (displayed from Google’s own servers). Choose top, bottom or right side of each page, according to your preferences;
Refining searches with keywords — Depending on the context, search terms can have different meanings but now, you can tune your search results and ads to what your users are interested in;
Improved indexing of your pages — Google indexing technology has recently been improved so AdSense for search will now index even more pages of your site (as long as they can be crawled) so your users will see more results from them, in the AdSense for search results;
Site Search — If you’re concerned about the users leaving your site through “web search”, you can now choose to provide just “site search” so your users can find what they’re looking… in -your- site. You can even host the search results on your pages so your users won’t leave your site when they perform a search;
Vertical Search — You may also allow your users to search across multiple sites. Searches may therefore be performed in your “network of sites” or other related sites that you think your users might find useful.

Those who already have their Google AdSense for publishers account set up can get started right away with these new features, by selecting the “AdSense Setup” tab and then choosing “AdSense for search” as the desired product.

Just like with regular PPC ads and referral units, your ad settings will be saved within your account when you create a new search engine. You can then go back at a later time and instantly make any updates that you like to your search settings.

Once you’ve set up your search box, you may wish to explore more advanced features such as site exclusion, labels and collaboration which may both help your users find what they’re looking for while boosting your revenues by laser targeting the returned search results.

Now that you’re “in the know”, have fun with these new AdSense for search features!

Tags: google adsense, adsense for search, search results, keyword search, customization, features, targeting, pay-per-click, ppc, web publishers, web publishing, monetization, make money with adsense

« Previous Entries