I decided today to start testing the Google AdSense Referral program. What got me was that not only can you refer people to AdSense, but now you can refer people to Firefox. Since I’m a big Firefox user, this was enough of a push for me to start testing.

The message on my landing page, that Firefox referrals are now live internationally, definitely worked. Cause here I am.

So, it’s really easy to set up and get going. Under the “Referrals” tab, simply select either AdSense or Firefox to promote. Then, choose which size and message you want. It will produce some code you can then stick on your site.

Until I redo BloggingHelp, I’m just starting with Blogaholics. I might make a whole new section for it, like ‘Blogging Tips’ or something, but for now it’s at the bottom of a column. Not the best place, but a day or two will tell me if it’s worth shifting around.

About the Referral Program:

Referrals offer you a new revenue opportunity while increasing your users’ awareness of useful products and services. Adding a referral button to your website enables you to generate additional earnings by directing users to download or sign up for products such as AdSense.

Your earnings for referrals will vary depending on the product you’re referring.

When a user you’ve referred to AdSense first earns US $100, we’ll credit your AdSense account with US $100. When a user you’ve referred to Firefox plus Google Toolbar runs Firefox for the first time, you’ll receive up to $1 in your account, depending on the user’s location.

Ok, as you know we did a more thorough switch to the new column layout I wanted to test: content-sidebar-sidebar.

Well, first off it’s clear that design and layout are very much correlated. Our old design did not support the clear use of the new column design. So, with a stripped design, what are our results?

Well, preliminary results show a 5% increase in CTR for Blogaholics. This happened almost overnight. And has remained relatively stable.

That’s enough of a push for us to begin redesigning the rest of our blogs. With all designs in place, I will fiddle here and there with ad placement and colour, since the new design is amenable to my tinkering skills.

I think the main areas we are seeing improvement from are:

- the removal of images or lines between sidebar content items

- the use of a solid white background

- the upper sidebar column cap ad block

- matching font sizes better from category names, etc to ads

- replacing lines between posts with extra whitespace

Overall, the improvement is in the flow of the eye. With no extra graphics to stop the eye, the content and the ads read as one, and that is an improvement for us.

I will continue to let you know how things go with this test, and with our other blogs. But it is clear that this column layout is working, and that our design is much better for our advertising returns.

Ok, so we’ve redesigned Blogaholics again. If you recall, we swapped the columns around not too long ago from sidebar-content-sidebar to content-sidebar-sidebar. We thought it would look nicer, be easier on navigation, and be better for our advertising.

Well… we liked the shift in the column, but it just did not work with our design. First, making changes to our template was more than difficult given the graphic heaviness. There were browser issues and sizing issues. It was very difficult. The lines on the “page” that was pinned to the cork background also made reading difficult. It was so complex that I couldn’t make many changes - I had to leave it to Ianiv - which was not the best for maintenance.

So, we dropped the design. We kept the header - the post-it, the picture and the pins. They are our brand, after all. But the rest was scrapped.

So, we added more sidebar items and rearranged things. It’s not 100% done, and we’ll likely shift things around some more to get optimal placement on stuff, but if you notice any bugs, let us know!

What do you think?

Once this is done, we’ll flush out Vancouver Coffee and Baking Low Fat since we can do a lot of cut/paste due to the similarity of the designs. We’re also going to do a facelift on Blogging Help - I have the redesign done already - but that will need to wait until after we return from Disneyland.

We’ll see if the new design turns into more clicks soon enough!

Well, this is something I’ve been pondering. I was doing a lot of new blogs with the style of content - sidebar - sidebar. Always 3 columns with a content area and two sidebars. Anyway, these newer blogs were performing really well. Yeah, part of that is the topics I was choosing - they were performing well - but I was really getting used to the format.

So, when Ianiv & I were approved for BlogAds, and decided to do some eMiniMall testing, we had to shake things up a bit to fit the size requirements for both of these. Our two first blogs, Blogaholics and here at Blogging Help, are our largest traffic blogs still. So, it made sense to roll out some testing on one of them. We decided to start with Blogaholics. Shifted from sidebar - content - sidebar to the faithful content - sidebar - sidebar.

Sound confusing? ;)

Well, it was not an easy change. Blogaholics is graphics heavy. We like it, but from this experience some of it needs to be stripped down. Anyway, we managed to get it all in order. Mostly. Still need to align things up a bit better and make the columns flow together more seamlessly.

Well, we made the change. But what has the outcome been? Well, for a while our CTR was about the same. Now, it’s dropped. I would blame it on content, since I was not writing much, but I know that’s not true. Traffic is increasing and so are subscribers. So, the new design is not working well yet. It may be that our “design” does not fit the new alignment style. But it’s something to consider… how well does design play out with column placement. And how far can you change it without major alterations.

Well, we’re going to keep tweaking. If CTR does not go back to normal, and higher, for the monthly average, we have a saved version of the old design to revert to. That, or strip the design to basics and start over.

How have design transitions been for you? Have you experienced the same hiccups?

I’ve just come to the realization that affiliate programs are not just about making money, they are actually about improving my workflow.

Let me explain. I have a few product-based sites and have been recently using affiliate programs - Amazon and LinkShare - to look for products, review them, and insert information.

Rather than me going to Amazon, I’ll use a blog plugin to search the affiliate links directly. The pictures are enough to get me interested in a product or not. I can search quickly. Then, with minimal clicks, my blog post is ready with image and link, and in one step I have the product information to modify and review.

What does this save me? Well, it saves me time searching blogs for information. Saves me going directly to Amazon in another tab of my browser. Gives me that “new” information that is so valuable to traffic generation. And saves me worrying about looking for pictures - they’re given right to me!

What are the intangible benefits of affiliate programs:

- copy & paste product links
- copy & paste images
- no legal disputes on pictures
- quick search features for new products or promotions
- save me from uploading images to my server or to Flickr
- images are a very blog-friendly size

So, if your blog is about anything product related, I suggest seeking out the affiliate programs easiest to use to help you with your own workflow.

And, as an image tip, you can often find images for blogs on any topic through these affiliate programs - they may not be what the affiliate program was intended for, but they serve a good purpose.

Technorati Tags: traffic, pictures, licensing, money, affiliate, amazon

Not too long ago, I had a spike in traffic on b5. And the other b5 bloggers wanted to know how to get the same spikes, and also to maintain a steady growth incline. So, I shared some tips, and I thought I should share them here too:

-Write 25-40% original content. For some blogs this will mean reading news feeds, as well as other blogs, to catch news first. You can also consider non-RSS content research to find items or to connect the dots between topics.

-Use pictures. They draw the eye. Look on Flickr or Google Images. Take what is Creative Commons, but be liberal with your link of thanks. Ask when unsure.

-Know your area bloggers and link to them. Make sure to comment too.

-Send emails to big blogs in your area. Pitch a story, write something interesting about your blog, and make that link prominent.

-Break up paragraphs and use text effects - bolding, underline, etc.

-Use comments to start new threads.

Have fun!

It’s a week for blog traffic to escalate, it would seem. Early on in the week, one of my b5 blogs, Cooking Gadgets, received a link from Gizmodo (thanks to an quick email note to them) and was a featured blog of the day on Yahoo for Computers & Technology, and Food & Drink. I didn’t ask for the latter one - they supplied the directory information themselves, no less.

Well, the week of positive traffic has increased. Not long after that 4000 influx of visitors, Cooking Gadgets popped out of the Google Sandbox. She Knows Best is still stuck in, probably for at least another month, but that’s not the best of it. My other blogs, which have been quietly developing, all received the approval of Google too.

I have experienced the Sandbox up close & personal so many times now - it was the longest with Blogaholics, but all subsequent blogs have been in for shorter and shorter periods of time. It’s incredibly satisfying to wake up one day to more traffic, and more clicks. Even a PageRank of 0 is far better than one of N/A because it means you actually come up on some search terms.

I have one niche blog, from the bunch that are now out of the sandbox, that I knew was going to make a splash. And I was right. The CPM I already considered above-average has gone way up, with a CTR that I can only hope continues to be that high!

This has been a good week, and I love Google.

Technorati Tags: google, sandbox, b5, traffic, blogs, blogging

SEO Roundtable links to an interesting way to increase CTR with Google AdSense.

This is how. A woman made a very interesting experiment of using images to draw the eye to the ads. This leaderboard is at the bottom of her site, and she managed to increase CTR on the ads x4 by using the images.

Now, it is not a trick all can do, as there is a very fine line between this an between violating the TOS.

But, innovative nonetheless.

Technorati Tags: seo, adsense, ctr

Darren Rowse takes an in-depth look at PageRank on ProBlogger

So is Page Rank important?

I would argue that it is on some levels. I can’t see that Google would keep it going as a system if it were not. Their PR updates come every couple of months usually and must take significant energy and resources for them to do. I doubt they’d do this just to keep us believing they still used it. It must have some usefulness to them.

I keep an eye on my blog’s page ranks because it gives me some sort of indication as to how important Google thinks they are. It may not be directly linked to traffic but it gives me an indication if I’m on the right track to improving quality which I believe eventually leads to more traffic.

PR is also important to me because it also helps me monetize my blogs. On a number of my blogs I sell text links to other site’s operators. One of the few ways that seems to be used to judge the worth of a site for such purposes is Google’s PR. As a result if I see one of my blogs promoted from one level to another it’s a cause for a mini celebration. I guess in addition to this it’s good for the prestige and reputation for your site to be highly ranked.

I agree that PageRank has its place in our set of tools to understand our blog, our readers, and our profitability. It plays a good role in determining your search engine placement, which is important to drive traffic to your blog. But it is only one factor involved in this placement. So, as Darren suggests, use PageRank as a guide to how you are doing.

Another great value in PageRank is what it can offer to people who sponsor your blog with text links or banners. The link back to their own site is valuable for their own PR. As I move closer to this attempt myself, I look forward to offering an ever improving PageRank as a benefit to advertisers.

Technorati Tags: pagerank, google

Darren Rowse talks about what to go by when choosing a profitable blog. Before deciding you want to blog and make money, make sure you choose a topic also that will be enjoyable to write - unless you have content that has value, spirit and authority, you will find it more difficult to post and to make money (at least I think so).

So, here are the tips from Darren as well as some commentary of my own:

1. Topic Popularity - it’s the old supply and demand theorem. Choose a topic that is in demand by a lot of readers, and where you meet that demand because the supply of other blogs is either low or not well done for one reason or another.

2. Topic Competition and Narrow Niches - most topics you can think of already have blogs. Some, however, are underserved. Maybe they don’t post much, don’t add commentary, or simply leave something to be desired. You can also choose to make your blog more narrow - by decreasing the span of what you write on you can carve out your own very specific and informative niche. The more narrow you are, the likelihood is that it may take longer to gain profitability (decreased audience size).

3. Availability of Revenue Streams - some topics on Adsense or similar revenue programs simply don’t pay as well. More competition between advertising companies usually leads to higher click payouts. You need to balance this with point 2 above. You can also seek out different advertising revenue such as sponsorship or various affiliate programs.

4. Availability of Content - if you are going to write often, and in detail, on something, you’d like it to be as easy as possible to get right to it. You can write from knowledge for only so long - and research is time consuming. Services such as PubSub and Technorati let you subscribe to words or phrases - you can pull in information easier this way from many blogs, especially those whose topics are diverse and whom you may never read again. You can use other services such as Topix.net to pull in news information that may or may not be blog related.

5. Measure your Energy, Passion and Interest - motivation for money can only take you so far. You need to like what you are doing, as I noted in the preface.

6. Pull it all together - if you can meet some of these factors, go for it! The mixture of these will determine how much you make and how quickly - but it does not mean that you cannot be profitable. Most blogs can achieve a good level of revenue, but you’ll need many months of dedication to get there. At the same time, you may see an opportunity for a blog that may not last forever - Darren started an Athens Olympics Blog, for example. Great way to build a ton of traffic for a while, and then you can simply let it go after. Maybe leave it online just for passive revenue. But you’ll need to be well prepared for it!

Thanks Darren once again for some great advice. It’s something I’ll be taking to heart, along with some ideas of my own, as I start out on some new blogging ventures soon.

Technorati Tags: problogger, professional blogging, commercial blog, adsense

A PageRank update has just taken place. If you’re lucky, your Google PageRank will go up. If not, you may find it has stayed the same or gone down.

The updates don’t seem to happen often. Every couple of months it would seem.

Anyway, our sites have all gone up, and that is a token to what we do. :)

Technorati Tags: pagerank, google, seo

The AdSense interface has been modified. It is much cleaner and more straight-forward.

You will need to review the new agreement and change your bookmarks. The old bookmark no longer functions (if you had it bookmarked with a password save). - /reports-aggregate is now report/overview

The new interface makes it much easier to navigate your reports - which makes it much easier to spot patterns for optimization.

The basic interface has an overview of content vs. search and quick links to the most popular advanced reports. I am not sure if there are more substantive changes - I have not noticed them - but I think this could be a great step forward to understanding and maximizing Google AdSense potential.

The changes also mean that the AdSense Notifier plugin for Firefox is broken. Hopefully a new release will come up soon to fix it.

Well, we gave it a shot. Tried out AdSense for Feeds for over a month. And now we’re pulling the chain. I’ve already talked about why. But now’s the time to just do it.

If ever the feed program improves in context and formatting options, I may reconsider.

But, until then, I think we’ve found a better alternative. See below:

I won’t spill all the beans yet. I’m still testing. But everything looks amazing so far…

Technorati Tags: adsense, rss, advertising

Ok, just like many other blog owners out there, I jumped on as soon as I heard that AdSense was available for RSS feeds. After leaving them there a few weeks, I do indeed have to question whether or not they are worth it.

Ok, overall my AdSense earnings are going up on a fairly regular basis. I am learning how to place them, how to wean out some ads, and just overall make it better. My CTR is getting much better. Ok - let’s look at my month (almost) with AdSense for Feeds. An average of 0% CTR - the clicks are so low that it averages to 0%. I’d say that it’s not working, don’t you think?

Here are the problems I see with the current feed system:

1. It’s too easily recognizable as an ad

2. You cannot control the size or look

3. You cannot control where it goes

4. The targeting is much less specific for some reason (my ads lack relevancy)

There is one flaw with the whole AdSense program that I would like fixed. The ability to keyword drive the ads rather than have them based on context. Don’t we know our readers just a little better than Google?

Here is my theory - Google has taken the very well proven search model for delivering ads in search and just modified that into AdSense. But, in so doing, they make the ads much less specific for Some, not all, blogs and websites.

Here is why. Your readers may be reading you because you talk about a topic. However, they may be just as savvy as you on that topic. They don’t need the beginner-type ads or maybe even ads in your exact topic - they may want complementary ads. This is especially true, I think, if you have a metablog site that is read by other metabloggers. You don’t need the “build a blog” ads - maybe you need the “Skype headset” ads or somesuch.

So, aside from my one beef with AdSense, I think the feed version of AdSense is so much worse performing in my case that it will have to go.

Research out of Forrester is showing a growing interest to place advertisements on blogs and/or in RSS feeds. This should be no surprise, given the mainstream business coverage of blogs that has issued recently.

Of those surveyed by Forrester, 64% would be interested in advertising on blogs, while 57% would be interested in advertising through RSS. Both these figures represent more interest than advertising on mobile devices - this just shows which way the industry is set to grow.

Forrester estimates that total online advertising and marketing dollars will reach $14.7 billion for the 2005 year - that’s 23% more than in 2004. Banners/sponsorships will grow 11% per year to $8 billion by 2010. We’ll also see a large increase in spending for search engine marketing over the next few years, up to $11.6 billion by 2010. Online marketing spending is the only area of growth in advertising spending as a whole - so interest is definitely present.

By 2010, however, online marketing will only represent 8% of total ad spending. This is not to say that there will not be a lot of online marketing going on, but perhaps just that online marketing is less costly - an ad online will not run you into millions such as television would.

So, advertisements on blogs and in RSS represent a significant growth opportunity in the market. The also represent a very relevant opportunity to bloggers who want to monetize their blogs. As a recent professional blogger, this is something I’ll be seeking for myself, as well as for others through my services.

Via ZDNet

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