Archive for November, 2005
16th November 2005
Well I just got the email today from the Yahoo Publisher Network that you can now run YPN ads in RSS feeds. Google has a similar program running in beta right now, so it was interesting to see YPN make the first move with regards to making this feature active for everyone. I immediately dropped the ads into the BrainSeeds RSS feed. Check out the feed to see it in action.
The current restriction on using these RSS ads (at least as stipulated on their site), is that the feed must be from either a Moveable Type or WordPress feed. That works well for me on this site, but I do run an RSS feed of new recipes on my FoodClassics.com site. I see no issue with adopting their code to meet my needs in that feed, and will be dropping YPN support an email shortly asking if I can incorporate them. My guess is that they may be hesitant given that RSS feed is primarily showing a brief synopsis of new recipes and links to see the full recipe, and does not have much content with which to generate a meaningful contextual ad.
I’ve been reluctant to send YPN many impressions on my sites as I felt that on my initial run with them, the contextual ads were poorly related to my content. Now that they have some experience, I do plan on slowly feeding them more ad impressions.
15th November 2005
I often see webmasters asking questions about the right way to set up their ad chains. They will throw out a list of advertising networks they are members of, and ask which is the best way to optimize their ad chain to increase revenues. This is truly a valid question. However, the answer may not be the same for all websites.
There are many factors that may lead one webmaster to choose a different ad chain order than another webmaster. Some of the things to consider are: Read the rest of this entry »
12th November 2005
How do you decide where to place content on your pages? I’m not talking about page layout from a 2-column or 3-column perspective. I am talking about where you place content to generate the most attention. Thinking particularly about things like where to place links (internal and external), where to place internal ads (e.g., newsletter sign-up forms), and where to place contextual ads like Google’s AdSense ads.
One of the best resources I’ve found to help with this type of decision is the Google Adsense help area. And when thinking about how to place content on your page, I’ve found the Google AdSense “heat map”to be an invaluable resource for ideas. It is not a big stretch to use this heat chart in coming up with placement of your own links. They have already done the research to determine the most effective spots for their ads. You can use their hard work to determine the optimum position for your newsletter sign-up form, for internal links to help increase your pages per visitor, or for placing affiliate links on your site.
As they mention at various times in their help section, please experiment to determine what layout is most effective on your site.