Advertisements on websites pay based on the number of actual clicks the ad gets, times the cost per click (CPC). The CPC ranges from topic to topic. For Example, “gaming” niches usually only get between $0.01 to $0.05 per click, while “divorce” niches get anywhere from $2 to $6. Example of Earnings Calculation: 5 Clicks X $0.26 = $1.30 in Earnings.
Niches Where the User Wants to Click
The trick to a successful advertising campaign is to create a website where the user wants to click on the ad. For example, a website like Wikipedia probably wouldn’t have a high “click through rate”(CTR), as most people when they get on the site just want to read and scroll. A click through rate is the ratio of people visiting the website who actually click on the ad versus the people who just view it without clicking. On the other hand, a download website like Softpedia would probably have a great CTR, as the user goes on the site immediately looking to click again.
It isn’t just downloads though. There are many different types of sites that have high (CTR) such as;
- How-to websites
- Search websites
- Product websites
Keyword Value
Volume is described as how many times a keyword is searched into Google per month, multiplied by the Cost per Click (CPC). Therefore the goal of a webmaster is to;
- Get into a subject/niche that gets searched a lot (High Volume)
- Make sure that the Cost per Click (CPC) is high
- Can rank on Google, Bing, and Yahoo
How to Check Keyword Value
Step 1 – Go to SEMrush.com and type the keyword(s) into the search bar on the homepage. (If you have read my previous articles, I may have told you I have a subscription but they offer a free preview of the information. You may also try the Google AdWord Planner which is 100% free but will not show you if there are advertisers for the specific keyword.) For this example, we’re going to use the keywords ‘hunting in Montana‘.
Step 2 – As you can see on the top rows;
- CPC is $1.14. Meaning you would get approximately that amount if a user clicked an ad on a site that contained information about hunting in Montana.
- Volume is 480. This is the amount of times the keyword gets typed into Google exactly per month.
- Number of Results is 38,800,000. This is how many pages Google found that matched the keyword(s) entered. This is extremely important when figuring if a keyword is hard or easy to rank on Google. If it is above 50-60 Million, it is very difficult.
Step 3 – Below “Phrase Match Report”, you may see all the related hunting searches for the State of Montana. You may also view the Volume and CPC. As you can see, they are relatively close in both numbers. If you have a topic that has a bunch of related keywords, you may be able to incorporate those as well if your article is well done.
Step 4 – Scrolling all the way to the bottom, we now want to check how many competitors there are advertising for the keywords.
As you can see above, the left column displays the amount of advertisers and if you hover over the cloud image (highlighted in red), you can see exactly what the ad says. On the right you may view how many advertisers there were during the course of the last 12 months. I am guessing due to a yearly hunting season, you can see that some months there are more advertisers than others.
3 Main Advertisers
There are many advertisers out there but only a few will give you the opportunity to make real money. The three (3) that I would recommend are AdSense (from Google), Media.net (Bing and Yahoo Network), and Infolinks.
#1 – AdSense (Google)
Google has the most advertisers, therefore, they will have higher CPC and ads that really match your the content. Plus you can go inside AdSense and modify the colors, size, and font types to match your website exactly. The most important thing is to follow their terms and conditions.
Basic Rules
- Rule 1: Only 3 banner ads allowed on each page. Banner ads can be displayed horizontal or vertical on the side. They are typically more visually striking, allowing the advertiser to create a custom graphic design with images and unique font varying in style, color, and size. View the image below for an example of a banner ad.
- Rule 2: In addition to the 3 Banner Ads, you are also allowed 3 Text Ads. Text ads are much more simplistic than a banner ad. The title basically speaks for itself, these are ads that consist of basic text and are not highly customizable. The advantage with text ads is that they do not involve graphic design for the advertiser and they typically convert to mobile devices with ease. View the example of a text ad below;
- Rule 3: Do not click on your own ads! You do not want to click the ads you have displayed on your website. Considering you get paid each time someone clicks an ad on your website, Google makes sure people don’t abuse this for profit. If you violate this rule, you could potentially be banned from AdSense indefinitely.
- Rule 4. You cannot place ads in areas that would mislead the user. Meaning you cannot put ads under titles such as, “Recommended Links” or “Download Here”. They should be placed in areas where the user can clearly see that it is different from the content on the website.
Sample AdSense Ad
See in the above example how the article is about creating an LLC in Texas, and how the ad is a related topic offering the user a professional service. This is a classic Google AdSense Text Ad. The website wikiHow has the option to change that link color to any type they want in addition to the text description below.
- Helpful Tip – Remember, you can have other advertisers on your website if you have used the maximum amount AdSense allows.
#2 – Media.net
Media.net, otherwise known as the Yahoo-Bing network, have teamed up to try and be a competitor to Google AdSense, but in my experience, it isn’t even close. I went from AdSense to Media.net for a week back in May 2013 and found my revenue drop 50%. Not just that, their signup process is a nightmare and you need a site getting at least 1,000 visitors for a period of around 6 months to even have a shot at getting approved.
Their ads do try to match the site, but unlike Google AdSense, you have no choice of the colors and if you want text versus image ads.
Sample Media.net Ad
#3 – Infolinks
Infolinks is a creative advertising company that is completely independent from Adsense and Media.net. Like AdSense, you can choose the colors of your text links. This company is famous for having a banner that pops up on the bottom border of a website in addition to highlighting and underlining keywords that advertisers are paying for that are in your content.
Example 1 – Keyword(s) Highlighted
See how the word basketball is highlighted and underlined? When a user scrolls over the word, the infolinks pop-up appears. When a user clicks on the ‘click here‘ button in dark blue, the webmaster gets money.
Example 2 – Banner Pop-up
See in the image above how the banner pops-up on the bottom of the screen which is related to the topic the article is about? This is how infolinks works. They do not have as many advertisers as AdSense or Media.net but their ads get clicked on a lot.
Conclusion
I personally really like AdSense and usually only have 2 or 3 banner ads on my sites. I do not mess around with Media.net or infolinks, although I have tried them. If I do not have a sidebar, I usually only will have 2 ads on my site (header and footer ads). I have found that if I try to clog as many ads on my site, it takes away from the user experience and my bounce rate increases dramatically. The key is to keep your site clean.
