AdSense Success Stories (Part 1)
848 words | Last Updated: July 22, 2008 |
There are many ways to make money online, and one way is to earn advertising revenue from the things you publish on the web. While countless individuals have already tried this kind of business model, a lot of them have given up after seeing too few dollars and the end of too many months.
Can you still succeed with AdSense? Well, some people have, and here are their success stories...
First of all, this post is inspired by Marghil Macuha's My Google Adsense Story where he shares his journey with AdSense way back in 2005, his descent into the pit of low advertising revenue despair, and his discovery of the AdSense secret sauce that helped increase his online earnings.
Imagine that. Three years ago, Marhgil was earning 2 cents daily. Today, he earns $20 each day, and that's if it's a bad day. So, how does a minimum of $600 a month sound to you?
How did he do it? Well, he created a site that is primarily entertaining. It does not attract a lot of people who are in the mood to spend money online, but it attracts a lot of people just the same.
Similar to popular television programs, you (as blogger or online publisher) can still attract enough advertisers if your site captures the attention of a lot of visitors. In the case of Marhgil, his site is visited by a lot of cell phone users because he offers a truckload of quotes that SMS texters can draw inspiration from.
Here is a screenshot of that site, with the ad placements highlighted. Please take note of the following observations:
1. He places ads in the highly visible areas. For example, when you visitors land on your page, even without pressing pagedown, or even without scrolling down one line, what will they see? They will see the high visibility area of your web page.
2. He places differently-sized ads in the top-fold of the web page. The layout was well planned, which allows Marghil to break the monotony of the usual ad-filled sites. There are lots of blogs out there, for example, which make use of two identically-sized ads, but Marhgil shies away from the typical MFA tactic of placing two 300 pixel wide ads side by side or one on top of the other.
In the screenshot, however, you'll find a variety of ads:
- Vertical ad links
- Horizontal ad links
- Google search box
- 728 x 90 leaderboard
- 336 x 280 medium rectangle
- 160 x 600 tower
You'll also find a column of 125 x 125 square ads traveling down the left column (although those are not AdSense ads). Under those square ads (not included in the screenshot) are other ads which will be visible as you scroll down his web page.
Those ads (from AsiaCenturyPH or AdBrite, for example) will not compete with the AdSense ads, because when you scroll down you won't see any AdSense ads. Their below-the-fold placement tells us, though, that these ads are most likely earning less than the AdSense ads (which were placed in the prime above-the-fold location).
Anyway, towards the bottom of his page (or near the footer), you'll find another Google horizontal ad links ad unit. This is most likely placed to catch the attention of visitors who are used to seeing a row of navigation links at the bottom of a web page.
3. His blog is focused on one topic or one need. This helps ensure that the ads that appear are pretty much highly targeted. Visitors go to his blog for one thing, and the ads shown match the expectations of the visitors.
He further focuses his site by adding keywords underneath the title of his blog. This is similar to the technique taught by Grizzly in his How To Make Money Online For Beginners, which is also a blog hosted for free in Blogspot.com (just like Marhgil's AdSense success of a blog).
By adding those keywords, he is able to help the Google ad robot figure out what ads to show. That way, even if his blog posts (which are SMS quotes) may contain text that does not show terms related to sms or texting (i.e., a prayer, a saying), the page will still display ads related to cell phones, sms, or texting, thanks to those reasonably chosen placed keywords.
And there you have it... Lessons learned from one of the many AdSense success stories on the web. Stay tuned for more case studies in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here's to your continued success, and remember to persevere because you might just be a few feet away from achieving your "acre of diamonds" of a dream.
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"AdSense Success Stories (Part 1)"
First Posted: July 22, 2008 | Filed in: Adsense
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Superb and very comprehensive post Manuel.
I was particularly interested in this ...
"How did he do it? Well, he created a site that is primarily entertaining. It does not attract a lot of people who are in the mood to spend money online, but it attracts a lot of people just the same.
Similar to popular television programs, you (as blogger or online publisher) can still attract enough advertisers if your site captures the attention of a lot of visitors. In the case of Marhgil, his site is visited by a lot of cell phone users because he offers a truckload of quotes that SMS texters can draw inspiration from."
My question is -- how did his viewers get to know about the site initially?
I assume (some?) word of mouth (or is that word of text ) but other than that?
Thanks
Cheers,
AllanJames
(the StartBusinessMentor)
Thanks, Allan James! Marhgil networks with a lot with local bloggers online and offline (via blog events, parties, or get-togethers), and some of those bloggers either write about his blog, or even include his blog in their blogroll. And that's what helps spread the word about his site.
It also helps to leave useful comments in the blogs of people who share SEO tips. Sometimes, these edu-bloggers help out commenters who are just starting out in the world of problogging and SEO. That's another source of backlinks and traffic.
And lastly, he also drives traffic to his AdSense success site via his other blog, where he freely shares tips with everyone. I like his approach, which explains why I link to his blog post (which in turn links to his Adsense site).
In other words, if you genuinely and humbly seek help, people will help you. After you learn and then help others, something comes back. Tenfold, even. And when people start seeing what you're doing and how you're helping, then word gets around.
Thanks for this feature Manuel! Actually, I experimented on those ad-placement and sizes. So far, those ad-placements are the ones that gives me a high CTR.
@Allan James... I started introducing my blog to the blogosphere when I already have at least a 100 text messages. It's hard for people to start talking about your blog if you have no or little content. When I already have a hundred text messages, I started blog hopping.
I also joined mobile-related Yahoogroups and sent a copy of 50 text messages there with a link to my blog at the end saying "for more text messages, visit this blog."
[...] Manuel Viloria: Adsense Success Stories [...]
@Allan James - there are so many way to attract visitors online. One of the most effective way is search engine optimization
If you really want to make money online thru Adsense and other PPC programs, you should target organic traffic (first time visitors from search engines). These visitors will give you high CTR compared to your returning visitors and subscribers.
So if you're very serious in making money online, go for organic
go for SEO 
I believe that it's really common sense and straight forward that in order to earn money online from Google Adsense you will need to attract a whole lot of visitors. The amount of money you earn of course will be determined by your site key concept.
Personally because to the many stories that I have read concerning Google Adsense fraud, I will feel more safe diversifying to other means of earning income like direct advertising or affiliate marketing.
nice tips. anyway, just a question, how's it possible for you guys to have lots of adsense on a single page? cause some of my ads wont show up when it gets to be around four. please enlighten me
The last I heard, AdSense publishers are allowed to display on qualified web pages a maximum of three standard ad units, three AdSense link units, and two AdSense-for-Search boxes. In the example above, Marhgil is well within those limits.
At last a great tips with pics for placing adsense the effective way. Appreciate it so much. Will try apply it to my sites. My adsense not increasing for the past month.
I really enjoyed that post on the Adsense story through your link - some great tips as well
And tfw, I can just confirm that what Manuel syas in reply to your post is correct
Your blog contains useful tips and tricks that many a top Adsense affiliate earners use to keep their monthly Adsense income high. I think it is also helpful to others who are new to this work.
[...] seeking wealth online have asked me to continue what we started in AdSense Success Stories Part 1, so here we are with the surprising, eye-popping revelation of how 21-year old Jehzlau has good [...]
I am of the view, SEO is the only way to have more traffic, because more traffic you have , more chances of click and Earning. Ad placement does matter but most important is traffic.
Zang your right in a way. But if you dont blend your ads in or put them in good spots your adsense CTR wont be as good. We started out making $10 a day now we are around $150 to $180. Now that our CTR and ad placements are the best they can be we are really working hard at getting more traffic by means of SEO.
Our goal is to be at $500 a day. We've only had adsense up for 3 months so we have made some good progress.