Minting money from a website is no more a novelty today. With the help of ample tools and tutorials that are available, one can easily start a website and monetize it using website ads.
The caveat is that it involves meticulous planning and a robust strategy, which is something that some website owners fail to pay attention to and lose money (and sleep) by not earning enough from the website – despite having good content and value to offer.
Easier said than done, we found some of the red flags that can help you focus on your website and never enter the black hole of (non-working) website ads again.
Without further ado, here are the pointers that you need to consider:
- You are Placing the Ads Wrong
First things first, you need to understand that the placement of your ads might have gone horribly wrong. According to experts in the field, the placement matters more than the ads themselves.
For instance, think of a situation where you have placed too many ads above the fold on your website. This is the first thing the site visitor would notice, and since they expect some sort of content on the site, it can be a major downer for them. It also means that the web page is poorly designed and will be taken into account by Google, which brought forth an algorithm to penalize pages containing an excessive number of ads above the fold.
So, the question is, where should you place your ads on the website? Here are some of the best alternatives that you can try:
- Within the Content – This is a fab way to gain instant attention from your target audience and also, get them to click on the ad. All you need to do is make sure that the ads are placed naturally in between the paragraph, without sticking out like a sore thumb. This will improve the chances of the ads getting clicked if the visitors want to go for them or can keep reading the content.
- Under the Navigation Menu – Make use of the space below the navigation menu, which is the space right above the content, and you will be playing it safe with ad placement. It offers better visibility for both the ads and the content.
Bonus tip: You can also use the whitespace on your website, which can be on both, the left and right sides of the page. This will not take the attention away from the site’s content, but yet get the ad the traction it needs.
- You Didn’t Use All the Ad Blocks
Want to increase your chances of landing an ad click? Simple. Use all the ad blocks that are there on the site. This will help you get a better RPM irrespective of the content length you are settling for. Also, you need to go for the bigger size from all the AdSense size options so that the ads are visible to the site visitors. At the same time, ensure that you make the ads more visible by using color psychology so that it attracts more people without appearing way too flashy.
We’ve gathered from various websites that it is a good idea to place at least two ad blocks within the content, with one at the top and the other at the bottom.
- The Ads are Not Relevant to the Target Audience
The next and important pointer related to website monetization through ads is to understand your target audience. If you don’t have a clue of who they are, what products and services are relevant to them, or what can make them click on all those ads on your website, then you are making a huge mistake.
Sounds like something you have done something wrong?
Fret not, as you can always rectify this step by starting from scratch. Do a study of your website visitors using the right analytics. Next up, tie the ads on the site with their preferences and update the strategy that best suits them. This way, you can always make up for the lost time and earn tremendous revenue!
Pro Tip: The same rule also applies to your content. Make sure that the content is relevant to the audience you want to attract.
- You Have Been Using Ads on 404, Contact, And Privacy Policy Pages
As a rule of thumb, AdSense doesn’t encourage ad placement on some pages of a website. These include the disclaimer page, privacy policy page, terms and conditions page, sitemap, contact information page, and 404 pages.
This, in essence, means that only the pages with content and maximum user activity need to display ads. Follow this tip, and there will be no looking back for your website.
- There’s an Ad Overkill on the Website
We understand that ads are the key components for your website and help monetize it. But there should be a cap to the number of ads that you can place on it to get the best results. Way too many ads can lead to increasing the bounce rates on your website by being a dampener for the visitors. Their focus will be on the ads and not the content on your site. This way, you can also end up losing some of the returning visitors as well. The solution is simple. Reduce ad-fatigue by choosing the number wisely and following the placement rules along with ad blocks and making sure that the ads don’t overwhelm the visitors.
Advertise for the Win
Web advertising is ever-changing. The rules of today may become obsolete tomorrow. This is why it is important that being a website owner, you keep track of all the rules and regulations for web ads apart from taking into consideration the pointers mentioned above.
Remember, done right, the advertising on your website can fetch you more benefits than you can ever imagine. Therefore, without waiting further, start working and make changes to rectify any mistake that is stopping your website ads from churning money!