Welcome to Day 10 of the Internet Marketing Makeover!

Your metrics are the core of your business.  Knowing how well your site is performing in a variety of ways will help you improve it’s performance.  Without this knowledge, any changes you make are simply stabs in the dark that may or may not pay off – and the fact is, you’ll never know without monitoring your metrics.

Most of the competition won’t bother – they throw a site up, create content, build links (then complain about how internet marketing “doesn’t work…”  That’s pretty much the standard operating procedure. But you’ve made it this far, so I know you’re different!

The intelligence you will gain when monitoring your metrics, when acted on, can catapult you ahead of the other guys.  It’ll leave them wondering how you’re “cheating” – but the fact is, you’re not.  You just took the time to check your numbers and implement that information.

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Ever since I started with internet marketing in 2005 I’ve heard people saying that by blending your Adsense ads you increase your CTR (click through rating).

Here’s what blended Adsense ads look link on Mashable:

Click to see it full-size

Down in the bottom right, there’s an Adsense block and it’s in the same lighter shade of blue that Mashable uses throughout their site. It blends with the overall site design.

And above, we have an example of Adsense that isn’t blended with the site. It stands out because it’s in a different color than the overall design.

Image ads are another type of ad that doesn’t “blend” in that they are their own design and graphic, so they most likely wont match or blend into your site.

Back when I started in 2005, I was smart enough to test and see if blending ads did in fact increase my CTR – and it did.

But I wondered if that had changed? It’s been 7 years since then, after all!

The Blended Adsense Test

On December 13, I changed the colors of the Adsense ads on one of my sites – a very consistent site that isn’t seasonal – to blend and match the WordPress theme (WP-Ellie by Solostream):

I’m using the ad block at the upper right as well as a sidebar ad – but unlike the picture above, my sidebar block is at the top of the sidebar (to keep it as far above the fold as possible).

I also have a small Adsense unit above the individual posts (but below the post title) on the individual post pages.

So everything remained the same on the sites except that the colors were changed to blend and I set Google to only use text ads on the site.

The Blended Adsense Test Results

I let the test run for about 3 weeks, and have the results for your today.

While Adsense won’t allow me to give exact figures, I can tell you that my CTR was cut in HALF with the blended ads.

Yes, 1/2 the amount of people clicked the Adsense blocks when they actually looked nice and matched the site!

Next Steps

I’ve switched the ads back to the “Google Default” colors (they totally don’t match the site). I’ve left the settings to only display text ads to get a baseline number for my next test – does allowing images increase or decrease CTR?

What does this mean for you?

If nothing else, I hope it means that you’ll question what you’re taught (even by me!!). Not because anyone is out there lying to you on purpose though!

No, you’ve got to test this stuff yourself because your results could vary. What’s right for my niche (non-blended ads) could fall flat in your niche and lead to a massive bounce rate. Or just lead to lower CTR’s for you.

Time also changes things. The advice that might have been correct 7 years ago might just be outdated now.

It could be theme dependent – what works well with one theme won’t necessarily work an another.

Test everything – this is a test I’ll be running in other niches to see if it holds true for those sites as well.

Any other tests you’d like me to run? Let me know in the comments!

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You have that site online for quite a spell, is creating a good number of hits every day and you’re considering if to use AdSense advertising on it to make it generate some form of income.Well this is an explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to web advertising. AdSense has unquestionably hit the internet like something from another planet and men and women are going wild about it everywhere. There are downsides to Adsense and options to consider. AdSense is by and large a great tool for website owners. Whereas, they would use to worry about how to raise enough money to keep their web sites profitable, or at the very least keep them online those headaches are gone.AdSense allows website owners to forget about those … adsense, autoblogger, website, adsense placement, pros and cons of adsense, affiliate, money

Myths regarding affiliate marketing and advertising are appealing and attractive. Individuals who usually do not know the total program the incorrect way round are inclined to thinking that it can be some thing effective of providing them great fortune overnight. Tales concerning affiliate marketers who generate tremendous amounts of cash swim in their heads, and although these stories are as accurate as they can be, there are those who believe that they’re going to have exactly the same fortune as soon as they indulge within this particular business.

Discovering what one of the most typical mistakes affiliate marketers make can possibly dispel the gloom about myths surrounding affiliate advertising by correcting some incorrect notions reg … adsense, internet marketing, online advertising

Many affiliate marketers today have realized quickly that in some circumstances, google adsense may make you more money than your affiliate programs. This article below highlights some situations where Google Adsense code if placed on your website can actually make more money for you as oppose to a mere affiliate program link.Many internet marketers when doing their niche research have found out that many times they can’t find a specific product to promote even though they have a very lucrative niche. There are many affiliate networks like Clickbank, Commission Junction, LinkShare and others which may not have all the products you will like to offer to your clients and may not be niche specific. The good thing about Adsense is that Google i … Google Adsense, adsense, contextual ads, internet marketing, marketing tools, adsense ads, google adsense, text links, image links, google ads, adsens

Google, being the undisputable leader in search engines from then until now, is placing a high importance on the quality and relevancy of its search engines. Most especially now that the company is public property. In order to keep the shareholders and users of its engines happy, the quality of the returned results are given extreme importance.

For this same reason, doing the wrong things in the Adsense and other forms of advertisements, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will result in a severe penalty, may get you banned and even have your account terminated. Nothing like a good action taken to keep wrongdoers from doing the same things over again.

So for those who are thinking of getting a career in Adsense, do not just think of the strategies you will be using to generate more earnings. Consider some things first before you actually get involved.

Hidden texts. Filling your advertisement page with texts to small to read, has the same color as the background and using css for the sole purpose of loading them with rich keywords content and copy will earn you a penalty award that is given to those who are hiding links.

Page cloaking. There is a common practice of using browser or bot sniffers to serve the bots of a different page other than the page your visitors will see. Loading a page with a bot that a human user will never see is a definite no-no. This is tricking them to click on something that you want but they may not want to go to.

Multiple submissions. Submitting multiple copies of your domain and pages is another thing to stay away from. For example, trying to submit a URL of an Adsense as two separate URL’s is the same as inviting trouble and even termination. Likewise, this is a reason to avoid auto submitters for those who are receiving submissions. Better check first if your domain is submitted already an a certain search engine before you try to submit to it again. If you see it there, then move on. No point contemplating whether to try and submit there again.

Link farms. Be wary of who and what are you linking your Adsense to. The search engines know that you cannot control your links in. But you can certainly control what you link to. Link farming has always been a rotten apple in the eyes of search engines, especially Google. That is reason enough to try and avoid them. Having a link higher than 100 on a single page will classify you as a link farm so try and not to make them higher than that.

Page rank for sale. If you have been online for quite some time, you will notice that there are some sites selling their PR links or trading them with other sites. If you are doing this, expect a ban anytime in the future. It is okay to sell ads or gain the link. But doing it on direct advertisement of your page rank is a way to get on search engines bad side.

Doorways. This is similar to cloaking pages. The common practice of a page loaded with choice keyword ads aimed at redirecting visitors to another “user-friendly” page is a big issue among search engines. There are many seo firms offering this kind of services. Now that you know what they actually are, try to avoid them at all costs.

Multiple domains having the same content. In case you are not aware of it, search engines look at domains IP’s, registry dates and many others. Having multiple domains having the same exact content is not something you can hide from them. The same goes with content multiplied many times on separate pages, sub domains and forwarding multiple domains to the same content.

If webmasters want to monetize their websites, the great way to do it is through Adsense. There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money a day through their sites. But then some of the “geniuses” of them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think out of the box.

The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.

Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings.

1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.

3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.

4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “adsense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.

Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.

Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring.

If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.

To know why Adsense is essential for your content sites is to know first how this works.

The concept is really simple, if you think about it. The publisher or the webmaster inserts a java script into a certain website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script will pull advertisements from the Adsense program. The ads that are targeted should therefore be related to the content that is contained on the web page serving the ad. If a visitor clicks on an advertisement, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying the search engine for the click.

The search engine is the one handling all the tracking and payments, providing an easy way for webmasters to display content-sensitive and targeted ads without having the hassle to solicit advertisers, collect funds, monitor the clicks and statistics which could be a time-consuming task in itself. It seems that there is never a shortage of advertisers in the program from which the search engine pulls the Adsense ads. Also webmasters are less concerned by the lack of information search engines are providing and are more focused in making cash from these search engines.

The first reason why Adsense is essential for content sites is because it already has come a long way in understanding the needs of publishers and webmasters. Together with its continuous progression is the appearance of more advanced system that allows full ad customization. Webmasters are given the chance to choose from many different types of text ad formats to better complement their website and fit their webpage layout.

The different formatting enables the site owners the possibility of more click through from visitors who may or may not be aware of what they are clicking on. It can also appeal to the people visiting thus make them take that next step of looking up what it is all about. This way the people behind the Adsense will get their content read and making profit in the process.

The second reason is the ability of the Adsense publishers to track not only how their sites are progressing but also the earnings based on the webmaster-defined channels. The recent improvements in the search engines gives webmasters the capability to monitor how their ads are performing using customizable reports that has the capacity to detail page impressions, clicks and click-through rates. Webmasters and publishers can now track specific ad formats, colors and pages within a website. Trends are also easily spotted.

With the real-time reporting at hand, the effectiveness of the changes made will be assessed quickly. There would be time to sort out the contents that people are making the most clicks on. The ever-changing demands would be met while generating cash for the webmasters and publishers. The more flexible tools are also allowing webmasters to group web pages by URL, domain, ad type or category, which will provide them some accurate insight on which pages, ads and domains are performing best.

The last and final reason is that the advertisers have realized the benefits associated having their ads served on targeted websites. Thus increasing the possibility that a prospective web surfer will have an interest in their product and services. All because of the content and its constant maintenance. As opposed to those who are no using Adsense in their sites, they are given the option of having other people do their content for them, giving them the benefit of having successful and money-generating web sites.

Adsense is all about targeted content, the more targeted your content is, the more target the search engines’ ads will be. There are some web masters and publishers who are focused more on their site contents and how best to maintain them rather than the cash that the ads will generate for them. This is the part where the effectiveness is working its best.

There was a time when people were not yet aware of the money to be achieved from advertisements. The cash generated only came into existence when the webmasters and publishers realized how they can make Adsense be that generator. In those days, the content were the most important factors that is taken quite seriously. It still is. With the allure of money, of course.