Where should I put ads?

[Agota]

Hey, guys!

I'm finally properly monetizing my website by adding affiliate products to it.

I signed up for three affiliate programs: audible, phenomenal memoery and site build it.

What are the best locations to put up ads, in your opinion?

I've already put few of them, but since I've never done this before, I could really use some advice on positioning.

Thank you!

Agota

P.S. that's on Outside The Box | Different approach. Different results.

[Aminka Ozmun]

I recall some of Steve's posts discussing ad placement strategies for his blog, especially back when he was on AdSense. Generally, the principle was to stick them right in people's eyes, right in the content -- right from the start, literally, next to the very first letter of the very first word!

Other rules of thumb were to place ads above "the fold," above the point where someone would have to scroll down to see the rest of the page, and to avoid placing them along the sides. One observation I found interesting was that text ads were more effective than banner ads!

[Rebecca800]

Check out Google's "heat map" below....
Red/orange = best place
White = don't bother



However, the best thing you can do is test different placements on your own site and measure your click rate. If I've learned anything about online marketing over the past three years it's test, test, test!

From personal experience, the best thing is one ad, is in the left or right hand margin, above the fold.

Some people smush their ads into the main text, or make their banners really animated and obnoxious, which can annoy your readers. Of course, you DO want them to notice your ads too. So it's a fine line and ultimately you just have to experiment with it....

[Agota]

Thank you!

[chadcharlie]

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

Check out Google's "heat map" below....
Red/orange = best place
White = don't bother



However, the best thing you can do is test different placements on your own site and measure your click rate. If I've learned anything about online marketing over the past three years it's test, test, test!

From personal experience, the best thing is one ad, is in the left or right hand margin, above the fold.

Some people smush their ads into the main text, or make their banners really animated and obnoxious, which can annoy your readers. Of course, you DO want them to notice your ads too. So it's a fine line and ultimately you just have to experiment with it....

Great reference! And I agree. The most view and clicked through of most sites are top Right, under the banner, or top center. That is the most coveted, and most expensive ad space.

I run ads on other websites for one of my companies and I always consider it a steal when I can get a badge closer to the top right for the same prices as a badge lower down.

I was first introduced to the heat map via a presentation of CrazyEgg. It's a WordPress plugin if you're running that. I think I saw in another response that you were.

Take care,
Chad.

[chadcharlie]

Oh, and be cautious of too many monetization efforts!
If the content is stellar, it's not really going to matter, but I quickly leave sites that have every single monetization system going on the web. Particularly the inline-text light box ads.

I put the UE above the ads. If you explore a theoretical conversion model, assuming 1% of your viewers will convert to something, if you are pulling 1,000 uniques, you have 10 people converting to what I hope is at least a $50 conversion (I never looked at site-build-its exact rates.) $500 a day income is a very realistic prospect with those metrics, and you could get it with just the hosting affiliate and Amazon.

Lastly, if I may be so bold Abandon site-build-it and look into Squarespace's affiliate program.

Take care,
Chad.

[Agota]

Is this the expected conversion rate, 1% of your visitors?

I was wondering what the percentage was, thanks for sharing!

P.S. I'll take a look at square space.

[chadcharlie]

Originally Posted by Agota

Is this the expected conversion rate, 1% of your visitors?

I was wondering what the percentage was, thanks for sharing!

P.S. I'll take a look at square space.

It depends on the site and what it's selling. I use 1% in projections because I feel like it's modestly low balling. I hate inflated projections. However, industry standards for things like direct mail and print are much lower, in the .01% sometimes. Our entertainment company converts much higher than 1%, but the fans usually have previous contact with us before hitting the site (like they saw the show already and left with a contact card), and we weren't trying to sell them merchandise, just getting them to convert to the FB Fan Page "Like."

I'm currently running a new campaign that involves click-through to iTunes, but iTunes data is on about a 6-week delay, so I don't have accurate numbers yet.

My personal blog doesn't have enough traffic to measure conversions. It is the center of my "1,000 visits per day" experiment. The goal is to grow it to that.

Keep us updated!

Take care,
Chad.

[GregD]

hi, from what I know it is different in each case due to the demographics (types of people who visit you) and the products/ads

the best thing you can do is to take out opinions and emotions out of the equasion and you do this by acting like a robot:

Step 1: place ads somewhere
Step 2: collect say 1000 visitors and record what was your CTR
Step 3: change placement of ads, again collect 1000, record
Step 4, again change
Step 5 again

Until you find the configuration which produces the highest CTR for your website.

Next trouble is if you ever change your design you have to redo the entire exercise.

Also if you start writing different articles which brings different types of people you have to redo the exercise.

Business has no emotions.

[Bradshaw]

1% is very modest.

I get 2-4% and the ads aren't even that super relevant. (They are adsense ads).

[Matthew Cluff]

Please take caution in stating your click through percentages. I do believe it violates the Google Adsense ToS.

In answer to the initial question, I believe you should have the ads in places which are unobtrusive to the reader of the page. Are you trying to create happy readers/subscribers or bombard them with ads while making a slight income from Adsense.

I recommend you put the ads in places that will promote further reading and learning by the prospect, but don't add them in a way that makes your page difficult to read.

[GraemeMcA]

Is your website in your footer? It's just coming up with a holding page - you may want to look into that.

[chadcharlie]

Originally Posted by Matthew Cluff

Please take caution in stating your click through percentages. I do believe it violates the Google Adsense ToS.

In answer to the initial question, I believe you should have the ads in places which are unobtrusive to the reader of the page. Are you trying to create happy readers/subscribers or bombard them with ads while making a slight income from Adsense.

I recommend you put the ads in places that will promote further reading and learning by the prospect, but don't add them in a way that makes your page difficult to read.

It does violate Google's TOS, as well as reporting actual earnings. I'm not a fan of Adsense though, and don't use them, I think there are smarter ways to target your audience.

I fully support any sort of User Experience design, with regards to ads or any other element of the website, but the heat maps are solid indicators of reading patterns and that data should be acted on, with aesthetic ads worked into overall design. There's a middle ground, and if you're really cultivating a community, your ads will be relevant to their desires anyway.

Take care,
Chad.

[EmulationX]

I'm still trying to figure out the best placement myself. I try to look at other popular sites in the same niche and examine their ad setup.

Thanks for posting that chart Rebecca800! That's helpful to know as well.

My latest website is only about 2 months old so I'm still in a state where I can't really read too much into my results so far. I'm still trying to optimise for SEO and also many areas are still unver construction even.