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Google has added would could be called a heatmap to their Optimization Tips page.

Every website is different, but this simple graphic gives you an idea as to what areas of a webpage to place your Adsense ads for maximum eyeball time.

For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well. It’s almost as if users finish reading and ask themselves, “What can I do next?” Precisely targeted ads can answer that question for them.

Study the heatmap - know it, love it.

Make more money with it.

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By Marjan Steneker

“Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, unobtrusive Google ads on their website’s content pages and earn money.”

To me, this statement (taken from the Google AdSense site) is a major understatement. AdSense is nothing short of a REVOLUTION… it’s so easy to put up, and the technology accurately serves relevant advertisements to your visitors. Google shares the revenue of that click coming from your site with you.

Yet, so many are looking at VERY LOW click-through rates (CTR). And their Adsense results are equally low. This doesn’t have to be this way. It really isn’t very difficult to get the click. Let me share with you 7 ways that work!

1: Relevant Ads
One of the most important reasons people click on links, is because they feel it is relevant to them. If you’re an avid Volvo-driver, ads on Chevrolet are irrelevant to you. Why would you waste time by clicking on such an ad? So relevancy IS important. The best way to achieve this is to write relevant content for your visitors, and let Google do its magic. Don’t be tempted to write pages on totally irrelevant subjects, just because it might trigger high paying ads. There’s a BIG chance they won’t get clicked anyway.

2: Above the Fold
Tests have shown that the most important ‘real estate’ on your site is ‘above the fold’. In plain words, the part of your web page that is visible immediately on arrival. Why is this? Within seconds after your visitors arrive, they decide if the information on the page is for them. Often before they even scrolled down. If you put ads above the fold, you give them (hopefully) TASTY click-food. If they’re leaving, it would be better if they leave you some money, don’t you think?

3: Looks like a Link
Believe it or not, Internet surfers are constantly looking for places to click. Luckily for them, links do look similar online. Luckily for you, you can make your ads look like standard links. Use the following color combinations (based on a standard white or light background):

- TITLE: #0000FF (Blue) - TEXT : #000000 (Black) - URL : #000000 (Black)

The title is underlined, and blue is the standard link color. Making both the text AND the URL black makes them blend together. This makes your ad looks less like an ad. In turn, your visitor won’t feel inhibited by clicking it.

4: Blending In
Although there’s some debate wether this always works, but for most BLENDING IN seems to work very well in increasing CTR. Blending the ads makes the ad look like part of the content. If you have Google ads in your content, try making the BORDER and BACKGROUND color equal to the background color of your web page. This way, your ads won’t stand out.

5: Less is more
If your goal is to get a click on an ad, you may want to reduce the choices you offer on a page. Each link on a page could get a click from your visitor. If you reduce the links on a page, you are effectively increasing likelihood of clicks on the remaining links. For instance, if the only links they can click on are ads, they only have 2 choices of going further: either click on the Back button, or click on your ads. Also important to consider is this: if you show less ads (for instance, a block with 3 instead of 4 ads), the ads that DO show are the more expensive ones! HOWEVER, make sure that your site navigation doesn’t become ridicilous when your zealously work to increase Adsense revenue!

6: In the end…
Imagine you have written a long, yet interesting page. After reading through your well written text, your visitor will come to the end of the page. At that point, (s)he will want to click further. Besides a link to another part of your site, you could put up an ad (or ad links) block. You may lose the visitor at that point, but gain more Adsense income!

7: Faces Draw Attention
A new addition to my CLICK-GETTER arsenal! Because of the hard-wiring in our heads, people’s eyes are naturally drawn to other people’s faces. This is even more true if the face is particularly good looking. So if you want to draw attention to your ad, try putting a picture of a face beside it. The face draws attention to itself AND your ads. These 7 strategies to Get the Click Without Upsetting Google have worked very well for me. Double-digit click-through rates are not uncommon. Apply them yourself, and see what it does to YOUR AdSense income!

* Please note that the author is not associated with Google.

About the Author:

Marjan Steneker is webmaster of several web sites, and author of the AdSense e-book “Top Earning Keywords for AdSense Success!”. Discover how to find keywords and build content that’ll show highest paying Google ads that fit in your site’s niche.

Adsense-Keywords.com

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By Matt Colyer

Today there are so many web sites on the web, but so few of them have good content and there are even fewer web sites that have large amounts of content. Why is the web like this? For one most webmasters are trying to make a quick buck and others don’t know where to begin or are too lazy to do the work.

Content really is king! Why? because visitors will stay longer or will come back more often and they are more likely to buy from your business. Visitors know you are an expert in your site’s topic because you write informative articles, which leads the visitor to trust your business more. And to your visitors it’s all about trust because if they can’t trust your business, how can they trust the product/service you sale or how can they even know that they will receive the product/service.

Most of the time before an Internet surfer buys a product they will search the web to get more information about it. Sometimes they are just looking to see how it really works or maybe they want to know more about a certain feature. If you write articles about your products, surfers are more likely to find your web site in the search engine and you may even steal a few sales from your competitor, which will result in more sales for you!

Having a site with great and informative information will make another site owners more likely to link to your web site. Think about it! Would you link to a site that just had their products and service web pages? Or would you link to a web site that has great content that will help your visitors? If you are like most webmasters you would chose the 2nd one because this will benefit your web site because it helps the visitors know more about your products.

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! love themed sites! Having a good themed web site means your ranking is more likely to rank higher than other web sites. Not only does this help out your site’s theme, but also allows you to target more keywords. Surfers will find these web pages when searching the web and will result in more sales.

About The Author

Matt Colyer is the owner of the Marhen.com Network which includes www.linkexchangeit.com and is a part-time SEO. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer.

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