First adsense check imminent

First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 06 Nov 2009 02:11

I've put a lot of sweat into two of my adsense supported wikidot blogs, but the ad income has always been slow in coming. Even moreso since I'm in school right now and have been very lax about updating. But sure enough I'm mere pennies away from my first payout. Based on past experience, I'm a week away at the most. And it couldn't come at a better time, as I'm getting ready to replace my aging razr with my first smartphone. I've always been a PDA man, but in recent years, PDA selection has disappeared, and only a few smart-PMPs exist to really replace them, so Windows Mobile here I come =)

I'm actually a little hopeful that having the smartphone at the ready might increase my posting frequency. Not super hopeful, but a little.

Re: First adsense check imminent

pieterh 06 Nov 2009 13:58

It can be a tough to get enough traffic to generate good adsense payouts, so good luck. Personally I think Android is looking a lot nicer than WinMo… :-)

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Portfolio

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 06 Nov 2009 22:24

I think when I get another device in 4 years, android will be a very nice platform. But I've already messed with making purchases and hoping a platform develops the way I want it to (it didn't work out like I hoped). WinMo has my present needs and wants covered already.

Of course, users with different needs than mine can say the same about android. =)

And I wouldn't say I got a "good" payout (I shudder to think of it on a dollar per hour basis =| ), but it is money in exchange for what really is just a hobby, and I passed the mark today.

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 06 Nov 2009 16:54

I've been considering putting some advertisements on a few of my sites. According to google analytics one of them is getting an average of 200 hits per day — so I'm assuming that at least one or two of those would be willing to click on the ads. From what I remember, Google pays out once you reach the $100 mark?

Wondering if anyone knows how long it might take to get to that point?

Any pointers as to ad providers to use? Is adsense the best?

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 06 Nov 2009 22:36

The click thru rate can vary wildly from site to site, varying based on ad placement, how jaded your audience is, how regular they are (if the bulk of visitors are regulars (you aren't allowed to encourage them to click either), they'll probably develop ad blindness, but if the bulk is fresh from google or external links CTR might be higher). Determining timing to a check can be very hard since Google makes you agree to not disclose your CTR to others. Also, not every click is worth the same amount. Some of them are only worth a penny, some are worth dramatically more. You could have more clicks than someone else, and still earn less.

The nice thing about using adsense here is that wikidot gets a cut, so it's one more way you can generate income for them. Since I want wikidot to be around for a long time to come, I consider the ad split to a nice perk.

I can't say what the best ad provider is on any other factors because adsense is the only one I really use. I actually am an Amazon associate — on my games blog I put purchase links in each game's gallery, but it's a very different model. Click thru doesn't earn anything, there's just a referral fee on actual purchases through the link, and my income from it is dramatically smaller than adsense—non existent most months, though that will vary from site to site and implementation to implementation.

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 06 Nov 2009 23:11

Okay. Well, only about 30% are returning visitors, so I suppose that's a good thing.

I'll look into using Adsense then. Any tips on ad placement? I was considering putting them underneath "Watchers" in the sidebar (this site)

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 07 Nov 2009 05:03

I opted to go with a 250x250 image only ad in my sidebar, and it was a decent performer. But at the end of the day you kind of just have to experiment and see what works best on your site. I went a Looooooong time and a lot of impressions before I got my first click. As I tweaked it more and more trying different things, I improved.

As to text ads, there are multiple theories about what gets the most clicks. One theory is blend — use a color scheme that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but meshes with your site design. Another theory is contrast — make them stick out and catch the eye. Inbetween is to make the ads complement the site — where it stands out from the rest of your content but doesn't really slap the user with contrast. Finally, people who deal with a lot of ad blindness like to regularly alter ad layout and format.

I blended on WiiHD, but I never really gave complement a fair shot. Most of my experimenting early on was moving the ads around to get the best placement — something intended to strike a balance between earnings and maintaining a pleasant appearance.

So pick something that works with your site, track it's progress for a few weeks, then tweak it and see if the tweak helps or hurts. Good luck.

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 07 Nov 2009 10:45

Well, I've put a skyscraper-size text banner on the sidebar of my site: http://cyclods.wikidot.com

I've got it set to only appear for anonymous users. To be honest, I'd prefer to show it for everyone except site members, but can't seem to do that :/

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 07 Nov 2009 10:46

OH, and do you use Firefox when you're setting up Adsense via wikidot, david?

Whenever I got to the adsense control panel using firefox, it continues loading forever. If I open it up on Chrome, it loads in an instant and I can change my settings, etc.

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 07 Nov 2009 17:28

I use firefox 3.5. Sometimes the adsense report has the little status indicator going for a while, but the page loads quickly and I have instant access to settings.

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 09 Nov 2009 09:17

I think that's what I mean. The side menu seems to load, but the rest of the page (i.e. the introduction to what Adsense is, etc) continues loading. With Chrome, everything loads instantly.

I am yet to test it with Opera, IE or Safari.

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 10 Nov 2009 19:44

I only use firefox with admin'ing wikidot. Sometimes I use chrome to check my sites out from a visitor's eye-view, but I never log in through chrome, so I didn't realize there would be any difference.

Obviously wikidot is pulling that info from google — do you suppose google is sabotaging firefox to make their browser look better 0.o ?!?

I actually do most of my huluing in chrome. Sometimes much of the hulu interface seems more responsive in chome than in firefox.

Last edited on 10 Nov 2009 19:45 by David Marseilles + Show more

Re: First adsense check imminent

leiger 11 Nov 2009 00:17

Well… that thought didn't cross my mind but if they were — it'd be a good business decision for them, even if it's an extremely annoying one for everyone else.

So, does this mean that you have just tried using Chrome and have seen the same difference that I did?

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.

Re: First adsense check imminent

David Marseilles 11 Nov 2009 03:23

So, does this mean that you have just tried using Chrome and have seen the same difference that I did?

Nah, just messing around.

Re: First adsense check imminent

DennisV8 03 Dec 2009 13:35

Congrats David! I know how it feels when after tedious work and lots of tweaking around the reward finally comes in… Makes it all worthwhile in the end, especially if it lingers around. :-)

jjs 03 Dec 2009 15:29

leiger:
Well, I've put a skyscraper-size text banner on the sidebar of my site: http://cyclods.wikidot.com
I've got it set to only appear for anonymous users.

You can do that? I've been really negative about polluting my site with ads but that would be a nice compromise to cover the costs of a custom domain (submitting lots of content for others to use and then pay for it is not a pleasant idea either). It could even encourage new users to join to get rid of the ads. Do you know if Wikidot has any special policies about ads in free educational sites?

An observation: if I type "trumpet exercises" in Google, the first ad on the right is a penis pump ad. I guess that the word "exercise" triggers it. Can you affect the content of the Google ads (ban certain keywords etc) in any way on your site or are they fully automated? If they start showing penis pump ads on my site, I'll pass.

Edit: Never mind, figured this out already.

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___TTT___/ http://www.trumpetexercises.net
 (_|||_) \ - Janne

Last edited on 05 Dec 2009 05:31 by jjs + Show more

leiger 09 Dec 2009 00:45

If I remember correctly you PMed me about this. The "show only to anonymous users" option is set by default and therefore when adding ads to your sites you should not see them until you log out. Unless, of course, you enabled the ads to appear for logged in users ;-)

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Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming. ★ STE Wikidot Editor: Windows. Mac. Linux. ★ Twitter. Google+.