Strong Advertisement on Blogs(adSense)

Being a blogger it is especially hard for Google Adsense to pay dividends. Blogs by and large are of a personal nature, with many varying topics. Depending on how personal you are, you can rest assured that the majority of ads will target the words "Blog", or the town/area which you live. Generally people don't search for "New York Blogger", and arrive by your site a completely different way. How can you make sure that your posts are targeting relevant ads?

The Structure of the Blog

Blog structure is hundreds of different pages all interlinked - there's the landing page, the archive pages and individual posts. Each page can have a number of Google Advertisements on it, and they can be put in the post and the sidebar. The majority of clickthroughs I find is not from the main page or indeed the archive pages, it's the pages of the individual posts. These pages get good search engine ranking - with keyword rich URLs. Have a look at a few of your URL's, the usually contain the title of the post in the URL (if your post was titled "My Day", then your URL would be "something.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-day.html" - Wordpress and other systems have similar URL's). Now, have a look at some of your titles. Do you believe they are as good as they should be? Do you believe that somebody searching for information on the subject concerned in your post will find your post high in a search engine? If your blog is personal, and you are happy to get the odd click here and there, nothing more, then often a witty title could be better. However, if you want Google Ads to be a form of income for you and your blog, they have got to be easily found by the search engine.

Keyword Rich Titles

This is quite crucial. Keyword rich titles can lead to strong Google placement. I personally saw my Adsense income increase (not by a huge amount, but a definite increase) when I switched to my "three strong keywords" titling method, if you have a relevant title, it will appear in the URL and in between the header tags, meaning Google (and Adsense) is more likely to pick it up.

Ad Placement

Notice the ads on this page, they are in pretty good positions, that are not hugely intrusive, and are clearly defined, but don't stand out. Generally, the top left, bottom of individual posts and footer placements lead to successful clickthroughs. It's not a matter of fooling your visitors to click your ads, it's a matter of using the eye's natural progression around the page to encourage your users to view your ads, before making a decision to click it. I like putting an advertisement at the bottom of the page, as it makes adds a footnote to the page, kind of like saying (subconsciously) "Thank you for reading my article, here are some products and services you may be interested in"

Look at the News

Blogs have one advantage over traditional sources that should something new happen, you can easily become the definitive source on it. Be quick. Early last summer on my blog I set up a World Cup fantasy football league, and blogged something new everyday about it. I received a number of clickthroughs and referrals, largely because individuals were finding my site for fantasy football. It could be anything, but a couple of posts about a subject at a critical time could pick up a nice amount of clickthroughs.

Strong Content - Truly Key

Of course, as a final point, all of the above is pointless if you have no readers to click the adverts. Readers strengthen your search engine placement with backlinks and recommendations. Regular readers won't (and shouldn't) click, but if they bolster your position in search engines, then clickthroughs should be coming!

Finally, don't expect to become a millionaire overnight using Google Adwords - it is unlikely to happen. The nature of blogs mean that - unless your blog is specific and a definitive source for a certain niece of products - you won't earn a fortune. But follow these methods and you should get a second income doing something you love, which can't be a bad thing, can it?

By-rhyswynne