|
| Author |
Message |
Elbethil
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 85
|
 Posted: 9/21/2005, 2:34 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
I don't use adsense, but as a user of some forums that have adsense, I will say that it is quite annoying to read a thread with embedded ads. I find I'm more likely to click an ad if it's in the footer or side. When an ad is stuck in my reading area, I just get annoyed and do my best to ignore it.
_________________
- Elbie |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Teknomancer
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 335
|
| Posted: 9/21/2005, 9:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
AdSense can be placed just about anyplace on the page. Not necessarily on the reading area. Careful, unobstrusive placement isn't annoying.
_________________
Toons & Comics Community
My Blog
My WebPage |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick
Administrator
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2212
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
drathbun
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
|
| Posted: 9/23/2005, 8:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
FWIW, and this is directed at Patrick  ... I really really dislike the inline ads you've added at your "hacks" site. In fact I left the site for several weeks in a minor protest... not that you probably noticed. I realize it's each webmaster's decision where to place the ads, but putting them inline with the content just tweaks me the wrong way.
I use Adsense adverts on my biggest forum and have so far made the minimum required to get a check ($100) every month that they have been active. I have one line of ads at the bottom of the page only. BTW, it used to be against the TOS to disclose any income numbers... they (google) have amended the TOS so that it's legal to disclose gross amounts. You can't disclose individual click amounts or other detailed information.
Bottom line: if you have the activity (I serve 40K page impressions a day on weekdays) then I believe that Adsense adverts are an excellent way to make money from your forum. You have to be sure that you don't display them on inappropriate pages (login pages, thank you pages, registration pages, etc).
FWIW, I also have google ads on much smaller / less active sites and make less than $5 per month from those sites. I would not bother with the ads unless I made at least $50 (gross) per month, otherwise you're waiting forever for your checks.
As a comparison... I make about $10-15 per month on Amazon affiliate links.
_________________
| Code: |
$sig = '';
while ($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result))
{ $sig .= $row['user_sig']; }
echo $sig; |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick
Administrator
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2212
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
|
| Posted: 9/23/2005, 9:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yeah, I didn't notice. Protests don't really do anything for me. You should have sent me a message saying that you didn't care for them. I'm not saying I would have removed them, but I would have taken it into account, certainly. They may or may not stick around for a long time.
As I said, my sites just don't serve many ads. We're a little top heavy (although not nearly as top heavy as many other sites) because that is where networks say their ads have to be, that is where people pay for their ads to be and that is where you get the best performance, generally. I disable inappropriate ads, I disable noisy ads, I don't serve popups, popunders, interstitals, invues or any of that. There are so many types of ads that I could serve - that many other sites serve - that I don't. I just serve in line ads and I feel that it is tasteful. It's not like their bright orange. They blend in, you can ignore the 60 to 90 pixels of height that they take up. There are so many ads I could serve, but I just don't like them.
This is my full time job. If I'm not making the money that I am able to make in ways that I feel are appropriate, I'll have to go get a full time job elsewhere - and the sites will stop or be curtailed or sold to someone who will care less. That's just the harsh reality. I don't want to go there - this is what I want to do - but I have goals for my life and where I want to be in the future. I dedicate my time to these sites and I work hard. If people can't respect the fact that I need to earn revenue and that I am doing so in ways that I feel appropriate (I'm not throwing popups at them, etc.), then I won't miss those users. I care greatly about my users and I do whatever I can, but this is my life - if they can't respect me, they can expect just about the same sentiment from me.
I'm not talking about you. You don't like the ads and that's fine. You don't have to. And you can decide whether or not you want to visit and use the site based upon that. I'm speaking of people who act like I am doing something wrong or ethically wrong, that I shouldn't serve ads there or that I'm evil for doing so, or something.
_________________
Patrick O'Keefe - CommunityAdmins.com Administrator
Author, Managing Online Forums (New Book)
Have a suggestion or a bit of feedback relating to CommunityAdmins.com? Please contact me!
User Guidelines |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
drathbun
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
|
| Posted: 9/23/2005, 1:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Patrick wrote: |
| Yeah, I didn't notice. Protests don't really do anything for me. You should have sent me a message saying that you didn't care for them. I'm not saying I would have removed them, but I would have taken it into account, certainly. They may or may not stick around for a long time. |
Oh no, I would never have written to complain. It's not my place to do so. You provide an excellent site / resource, and I appreciate that. It was a personal observation. I didn't care for the decision, but it's your decision and I respect that.
| Quote: |
| I'm not talking about you. You don't like the ads and that's fine. You don't have to. |
Certainly.
| Quote: |
| And you can decide whether or not you want to visit and use the site based upon that. |
And I did (er, didn't) for a while. But I enjoy the site, so I didn't stay away for long. And I wasn't serious when I suggested that you might have noticed that I was missing. 
| Quote: |
| I'm speaking of people who act like I am doing something wrong or ethically wrong, that I shouldn't serve ads there or that I'm evil for doing so, or something. |
There are some folks in the GPL-community that make the mistake - in my opinion - that everything even remotely related to GPL products must be free. Hrmp. Ads are fine.
I don't have a problem with anything you said. My initial comment was merely an observation. As a webmaster, there is a fine line between ads and the revenue they bring and the environment the users enjoy on the site. Ad placement has probably the biggest bearing on ad revenue. I'm curious... do you use the google channels to track clicks by placement? It would be an interesting experiment for you if you have not... set up a channel for the ad that appears inline with the topic, and set a different channel for ads in other places. See where the revenue comes from. If you get a higher % of revenue from the inline topic ad, keep it. If not, you may consider moving it to another location or dropping it altogether.
I have several sites with google ads on them, but there is one in particulare where I hate the way they look (and it's my site ). I think they destroy the flow / look of the site. I have considered alternate placements for the ads, and I've considered dropping it altogether. Since the ads have been live on that site I've generated about $15 in total ad revenues.... that over five months. I'm about to drop those ads, as $3 per month isn't paying for the fact that I don't like the way the ads look.
It would be interesting to see the CTR and revenues by ad placement, especially on a busy site. I have purposefully kept the ads at the bottom of the page on my busy forum, as I don't want people to complain. And some of them still do.
_________________
| Code: |
$sig = '';
while ($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result))
{ $sig .= $row['user_sig']; }
echo $sig; |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick
Administrator
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2212
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mark_the_accountant
Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 3
Location: UK
|
| Posted: 9/29/2005, 2:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Edited
Last edited by Mark_the_accountant on 2/2/2006, 5:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
drathbun
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
|
| Posted: 9/29/2005, 2:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Mark_the_accountant wrote: |
Does anyone know of any third parties/persons that could register the site in their name, collect the monies from Google and then pay them over to me less a commission % ?
|
I am not aware of any, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It's not something that I would volunteer for... all it takes is a member of your forum to do the same thing, and then I lose my adsense account too.  It's not a risk I would want to take.
I would also look at the terms of service (TOS) to see if this was even allowed.
_________________
| Code: |
$sig = '';
while ($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result))
{ $sig .= $row['user_sig']; }
echo $sig; |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick
Administrator
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2212
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
