Are you trying to say that all the successful publishers on this board and in the adsense program are low quality ugly sites?

Get a grip!

Ann

She got you there must_learn_more... ;)

No! I am sorry if i offended you in anyway, fellow publishers!

I just want some statistics that is all!

But you have to admit that there are a lot of people here who have just stuffed adsense on their site! They have little value on it other than that. In fact is that not why MFA's are everywhere: because adsense works if you have a ugly site with little value.

Anyways, it would be helpful if you could answer my original questions!

Thanks

Get a grip!

What!?

No! I am sorry if i offended you in anyway, fellow publishers!

Not me.

Ann's a bit tetchy about her "revelation" and whether others have as good a result. This has to be said.

Sometimes we get a bit too personal here believing that Joe Public "knows" what we're doing when no one has a clue...we ALL need to remind ourselves that we are at the forefront of the future!

We ARE the publishers of today, tomorrow and, until something "better" comes along, the reality of current business.

Heh...ever seen your website on a mobile phone? :-))

You see, the way I see it, Adsense works really well on "ugly pages" and pages with low quality content.

The funny thing about your statement is that it's been a longstanding notion that ugly sites work best as affiliate sites. Not the other way around, as you seem to think. ;)

Ugly Sites Sell [webmasterworld.com]
"Monkey see big yellow button. Monkey press big yellow button. Monkey get banana."

The notion that an ugly site is needed to make money off AdSense smells mostly like sour grapes by some who've created arguably decent sites in what is probably poor niches. Even that last thread where someone described an AS case study site as being ugly, there were others who disagreed and said it was a nice and tidy site.

My personal experience is that truly ugly sites, in the rcjordan vein, don't perform as well as a trust inspiring well designed site with good content. That's just my personal experience in A/B testing designs.

I would suggest that ugly sites sell, and trust inspiring sites with good content induce clicks. Wow! Wouldn't it be funny if some of these so-called low quality (read: ugly) affiliate sites some are blocking are actually conversion monsters?

Okay, firstly, it's not like I am doing too badly with adsense. It's working for me and I appreciate the headache it takes away from me.

I want to know whether I am missing out on something, by not putting up affiliate adds.

My theory is: If people trust the content, they will trust the recommendations. I want to then recommend to them good quality products that I am an affiliate to.

I do not want to dupe them. I do not want to put up some ugly "bees buzzing" adds! Or Britney Spears game adds! I probably will not even go in for huge banners. I will just go in for neat text links.

So what say? Does that kind of thing work on sites with content that people trust?

What is the conversion rate like?

P.S: BTW, Ann, I was part of your experiment too. It's still on. Things did improve. But I was not 100% sure it was becuase of deleting custom channels. So i did not make any post.

I think it depends what your site is about.

I run what I would say is a fairly high quality site and although we do well with adsense, circa 3%+ ctr...we do not with affiliate and CPA ads.

This is mostly because we are an online newspaper and cover lots of ground. Since currently we do not target sub sections, like DVD or Science, the audience is too broad for those type of ads to work. Whereas if we were running a travel news and review site then I am sure they would be our prime earner.

However, I am currently trying to hire a manager to micro-manage sub sections and try to get those type of ads working. But I am not sure we have enough traffic in each category to make it worth our while yet.

I think the key is to try out as many things as possible and see what works for you. No magic bullet.

You should maybe consider CPM/CPC banner ads from networks like Tribal Fusion, Burst and Value Click Media...if you have enough USA/UK users.

Thanks FattyB.

If I am putting affiliate adds to sell books etc. from one of my pages then I cannot put Adsense on it according to the TOS right? Just confirming?

Besides that, what is the effect on the adsense adds on other pages if some of the pages have adsense on them? Or is there no effects at all?

Well,

For every afilliate click you miss an adsense click. That could be okay if you are SURE the conversions are going to be high, otherwise you have sent a reader away without getting anything.

No I am not upset about my idea. I put it out there for others to mull over and use if they cared too. It worked for me...and seems to have worked for must learn more.....

Ann

If I am putting affiliate adds to sell books etc. from one of my pages then I cannot put Adsense on it according to the TOS right?

You can have some affiliate ads and Adsense on the same page. Check the Adsense site for details.

Why not just test it out? Put up some affiliate links and see what happens. The best way to know what will work for your site is actual testing.

p.s. I don't recommend the books as those affiliate programs offer very weak commisions.

Why not just test it out? Put up some affiliate links and see what happens. The best way to know what will work for your site is actual testing.

p.s. I don't recommend the books as those affiliate programs offer very weak commisions.

How much traffic do you get on your site? Are you getting enough to determine whether the CTR is good enough?

How much traffic:

80k hits per month
Around 250-300 visitors per day
Adround 4-5PageViews/Visitor

Is that enough for checking CTR?

Besides, while I am on this, how much money should this kind of traffic make...if its a general portal type site?

>>I want to know whether I am missing out on something, by not putting up affiliate adds.

yes and no.

... because finding a decent aff program is difficult and a lot of work, the beauty of adsense is you just put it on the page, with an aff programm the strategy is entirely different. ... of course the two can easily work on the same page, but it isn't as simp[le as just adding a couple of aff links.

If you don't try it, yes, you are missing/losing out on something.

Looks like you have decent numbers. What's stopping you?

If it doesn't work out, then consider it a compliment on your beautiful site.

must_learn_more: I want to know whether I am missing out on something, by not putting up affiliate adds.

LISTEN, for years I created websites and my main source of income was affiliate product sales. Sales were poor, and the prospects of me quitting my "day job" seemed out of reach.

Then one day in 2004 I got that email invitation from the Googleplex that changed my life...

I still have the affiliate pages up and running (and I still create more of them), but I make sure I always put Adsense on them! The Adsense income numbers are KILLING the affiliate sales!

My affiliate sales actually went up a bit (because I have a new sense of urgency about creating more pages) but my Adsense income is greater than 50% of my income. I will still keep the affiliate stuff going, because it is intertwined with content on themed sites, and I do make some "extra" income from it.

If affiliate products fit in with your plan, go ahead and do affiliate pages - but dont fret over it if you have other fish to fry.

Personally I have found that Adsense is far FAR more profitable than any affiliate program I have tried - and I have tried a good few over the years! I always pick them carefully, target them to my market, and get excited at the response I am going to get to them - and then find myself very disappointed indeed. I now promote one affiliate product which brings in a reliable dribble of pocket money, and a few more which occasionally come through and give me a pleasant surprise when I check my stats - but it is Adsense which pays the bills and puts a smile on my face.

80k hits per month
Around 250-300 visitors per day
Adround 4-5PageViews/Visitor

'Hits' mean nothing really. You can place 500 images on a single page and when it loads you have 500 'hits'. So you have 7000-9000 unique visitors a day. If you have a web site on a single subject, then this traffic has some value, especially if it's a small niche or if the traffic comes for shopping or generates a valuable lead. On a site that provides general information or free entertainment such as jokes, traffic of this site has very little, if any value.

CTR will vary with subject, quality of content, design and positioning of the ad, amongst other variables. So if your site has broad content across several subjects and the traffic is spread thinly over them, it would take much more traffic to arrive at any realistic CPM expectations.

Besides, you're assuming your website is 'high quality content' and 'not an ugly site'. Place it in your profile for some pro to assess it here and you may get a new perspective.

80k hits per month
Around 250-300 visitors per day
Adround 4-5PageViews/Visitor

All things being equal, pro-rata to my sites I would earn about USD 300.00 assuming 7,000-9,000 visitors per month.

The best by now was ebay contextual ads ranking at 1/3 if adsense income.

Everything else is basically a waste of time, that's in Germany.

Google seems to be still the best.

Here's my own personal experience from two sites I run:

Trustworthy-type niche site: Affiliate programs (dating mostly) do well while AdSense does poorly.

Ugly site: AdSense does well (5% clicks) but affiliate ads do poorly.

Just my own humble experience - hope this helps :)

[edited by: martinibuster at 5:12 pm (utc) on Aug. 4, 2006]
[edit reason]
[1][edit reason] No site reviews, please, thanks. :) [/edit] [/edit][/1]

The thing about affiliate programs is that your visitors must generally either be highly targeted to the content (geographic, niche, etc.) and ready to buy, or else you have to convince them that they can't do without a particular product (i.e. product review, won't take no for an answer hard sell, etc.).

Imo, the process for affiliate success takes a little more thought into how links and content etc. are presented and integrated. The motivation is conversion, right?

So if you are going to slap affiliate links next to somewhat related content, you may not experience that much success with it.

I do mix AdSense with affliate links, but have had to rework the content a bit to encourage people to buy what's offered by the program.

Too many affliate links and the AdSense CTR drops, imo. So you'll have to experiment to find the right mix.

Thank you all.

And it's great that this is unlocked again!

Yesterday I decided to become an ebay affiliate. In India they pay quite low. 1.5$ per new active member. And they pay 3$ per new "really" active member! (But i think the 3$ thing is just a joke. No one is going to make 500+ bids in 30 days, what does your experience tell you?)

Anyway I have integrated the ebay thing into my content by suggesting the people who visit my site that they buy particular products from ebay.

Now, the only thing that is bothering me is that what if the guy is already on ebay? I get nothing for getting him to buy?

Is there a way to cash in on people who are already signed up on e-bay?

About, dating sites, yes, i thought that might work too. I have applied for "fropper.com" affiliates. Anyone heard of it? But, there two I get paid only when people referred become premium members. Which is a little dicy?

Anyways, i thought of putting something like "Indian Friend Finder" but not too sure about the quality of the sites. Are the "Friend Finder" series sites a little low grade?

Thanks guys.