My Unique Affiliate: The Biggest Mistakes That AdSense Publishers Make (part II)

09 June 2009

The Biggest Mistakes That AdSense Publishers Make (part II)

(Summary of chapter 22, from book “Adsense Secret 4” by: Joel Comm)

So what else do we need to know about the biggest mistakes that you can make when using AdSense …

Not Checking And Analyzing Stats
One of the biggest differences between AdSense publishers who get the big checks and AdSense publishers who earn pennies is that the big earners are addicted to reading their stats — and they understand what they’re reading. It’s very tempting once you’ve set up your site and put on your ads to just kick back and look at the bottom line. But the other lines tell you what’s working and what you should be doing. Read your stats carefully and regularly.
Ignoring Channels
For some people channels can look a little scary. You have to build them from scratch, you might not be too sure which channels you should create or what you should do with the data the channels should give you. None of those is a good excuse. Channels are easy to build and they give you heaps of information about the way each of your Web pages is operating that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. If you’re not using channels, you need to start.
Not Keeping An AdSense Journal
Keeping a journal is vital. It’s the only way to keep track of your changes and what happened when you implemented those changes. Every time you use a different ad block, push a different keyword or try a new location on the page, write it down, wait a week and write down the effect. If you’re doing the same thing time and time again because you forgot what happened when you did it last time, you’re wasting your time and your money.
Building Huge Sites Overnight
It’s possible to go from no site to AdSense site in just a few minutes (plus the time it takes to get the confirmation letter). But it will take a little while longer to build the sort of massive site that keeps users coming back and builds a loyal base. Rush it and it’s more likely you’ll end up with a lot of trash that kills your clicks and ruins your Smart Pricing than a quality site that makes you money. It’s better to be small and good than big and bad.
Doing AdSense Halfway
This was the big mistake that about 95 percent of AdSense publishers are making. They create their site, put up an AdSense, maybe they’ll optimize it a little (and maybe not), and then they’ll wait for the checks to come in. Making a lot of money with AdSense will take a lot of work.
Only Using AdSense
Since Google changed it TOS to allow other kinds of advertising systems on AdSense pages, even other kinds of contextualized advertising systems. You should certainly use one of the text link services like Kontera. You can use Chitika’s eMiniMalls if you have a good product-related site. You can recommend affiliate products. You can mix different payment systems so that your pages are earning by impression, by click and by sale. You should have every base covered and every income stream up and running.

(Summary of chapter 22, from book “Adsense Secret 4” by: Joel Comm)

So what else do we need to know about the biggest mistakes that you can make when using AdSense …

Not Checking And Analyzing Stats
One of the biggest differences between AdSense publishers who get the big checks and AdSense publishers who earn pennies is that the big earners are addicted to reading their stats — and they understand what they’re reading. It’s very tempting once you’ve set up your site and put on your ads to just kick back and look at the bottom line. But the other lines tell you what’s working and what you should be doing. Read your stats carefully and regularly.
Ignoring Channels
For some people channels can look a little scary. You have to build them from scratch, you might not be too sure which channels you should create or what you should do with the data the channels should give you. None of those is a good excuse. Channels are easy to build and they give you heaps of information about the way each of your Web pages is operating that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. If you’re not using channels, you need to start.
Not Keeping An AdSense Journal
Keeping a journal is vital. It’s the only way to keep track of your changes and what happened when you implemented those changes. Every time you use a different ad block, push a different keyword or try a new location on the page, write it down, wait a week and write down the effect. If you’re doing the same thing time and time again because you forgot what happened when you did it last time, you’re wasting your time and your money.
Building Huge Sites Overnight
It’s possible to go from no site to AdSense site in just a few minutes (plus the time it takes to get the confirmation letter). But it will take a little while longer to build the sort of massive site that keeps users coming back and builds a loyal base. Rush it and it’s more likely you’ll end up with a lot of trash that kills your clicks and ruins your Smart Pricing than a quality site that makes you money. It’s better to be small and good than big and bad.
Doing AdSense Halfway
This was the big mistake that about 95 percent of AdSense publishers are making. They create their site, put up an AdSense, maybe they’ll optimize it a little (and maybe not), and then they’ll wait for the checks to come in. Making a lot of money with AdSense will take a lot of work.
Only Using AdSense
Since Google changed it TOS to allow other kinds of advertising systems on AdSense pages, even other kinds of contextualized advertising systems. You should certainly use one of the text link services like Kontera. You can use Chitika’s eMiniMalls if you have a good product-related site. You can recommend affiliate products. You can mix different payment systems so that your pages are earning by impression, by click and by sale. You should have every base covered and every income stream up and running.