Which Sites Generate The Best Incomes With Adsense & PPC Ads?
by Brian Cotsen

Despite the continuous claims of 'Internet Gurus' that any one can make a fortune from Google's Adsense program, or any of the other contextual ad serving programs, the truth is a lot more sobering.

Do a search in forums on the net and time an again you'll read stories of disillusioned website owners who incorporated those little 3 line ads into their websites only to spend hours earning cents rather than thousands of dollars.

 

Truth is that Adsense isn't the instant 'clip the code, insert into the site and watch your wallets expand as you see dollars flood in'... as some would have you believe.

Before you devote hours of your precious time embarking on an Adsense campaign it's worth considering whether your site is suitable for this form of revenue earning.

The question to ask is

 

'Is your website or rather your website visitors suited to this form of advertising?'

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Some sites convert better than others because the visitors to them are looking for something and will possibly be more responsive to the Adsense ads displayed.

Lets look at the sort of sites I'm thinking about:

 

Shopping Sites - such as clothes, household goods, pet products, health products, jewelry, books and flowers. These sort of sites attract customers who are in the browsing/ buying phase of the 'purchase cycle'.

Naturally you want those visitors to buy your products rather than navigate away through one of those ads, but hey it's better to gain income from them navigating away through an ad than just hitting the back button.

You can even find ways of positioning ads once your visitors have bought products, on the thank you page or on your acknowledgement page when they sign up for something.

 

Review & Recommendation Sites - such as product comparison sites, book review sites, film and music review sites, affiliate product review sites. These sites tend to attract customers who are in the 'information gathering' part of the 'purchase cycle'.

Again you will want your visitors to click the navigation link that contains your affiliate code. However those who are just beginning to research the products you are reviewing may need to visit your site a number of times before they decide to follow an affiliate link, so you want them to click an ad and at least generate some small income before they earn you your affiliate fee.

 

Information & Article Sites - like 'About.com', offer lots of free articles and advice on many different subjects. Again like with the review & recommendations sites, visitors are very much in an 'information gathering' mode... though maybe not to buy.

In these situations you don't really want the ads to get in the way of the visitors enjoyment of the article, so I often recommend that you position the ads at the end of an article or over to the side.

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Lifestyle & 'Hints & Tips' Sites - ones that help you solve problems like 'diy.com' are another form of site that visitors are receptive to the ads placed in front of them.

 

Directory Sites - Those set up to give you information about other businesses offering services or specific products.

All the above sites are very good for placing Adsense and other PPC ads.

For advice on how best to position ads within these different types of websites I thoroughly recommend looking at Adsense Videos which is a series of easy to follow lessons on the best ways to incorporate and earn from PPC advertising, specifically with Google but you can apply the techniques to any of the ad serving models on the internet such as MIVA and Yahoo Search Marketing.

 

 

What about the sites that aren't suited to Adsense ads?

Having told you about those sites that lend themselves to PPC contextual advertising there are some sites that are definitely not suited to this form of revenue stream.

Public Service Sites - These sites are not always the best places to pitch ads on. Sites like Doctors, Dentists & Therapists sites. Especially on those pages devoted to giving very practical information about the specific business,

This partly because the visitor may not be particularly receptive to the adverts themselves. They may also see them as in appropriate on certain sites.

Professional Sites - Those that need to appear impartial or where advertising might cheapen the image and feel of the brand or site. Again if you pepper your site with lots of ads, it can look a little like you are trying to get visitors to click. This can suggest a rather cheap operation.

Consider This:

Which would you think it more unusual to see, your local supermarket employees wearing a branded T shirt suggesting ideas for food you might consider or your Doctor wearing a T shirt with a huge flashing slogan on it advertising a specific brand of medicine?

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