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Affiliate Links or Adsense?
April 13, 2006
I've been trying to get my head around this dilemma: I have a few niche sites that seem to have decent (not high) paying Adsense ads on them. The problem is, there are also some decent (as in "they convert for me okay") merchants for these niches.
So the question is, should I keep running optimized Adsense ads on these pages?
I really wouldn't have noticed this, except that I have an older site that I never did get around to putting Adsense code on. And this site, which doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, does manage to make a few sales each month. And the amount of the sales, combined, is easily more than what most of my poor Adsense performers might make in a month.
At first, I thought about testing things by pulling the Adsense off a few other niche sites that also pull in the occasional sale, but now I've decided to try sticking Adsense in non-optimized positions. Kind of leverage the "make money no matter how they leave" motto. (Except that I never did understand this motto completely, since there's always the back button, which I myself use with astounding frequency.)
This is even more of a dilemma because I've got a few sites on the drawing board that definitely target the online shopper.
Decisions, decisions! If I were more patient, I'd go the test and track route, but that only works for me if I can make myself forget I'm testing and tracking. Otherwise I just keep testing, tracking and checking, which is usually a total waste of time on a daily basis.
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Posted by BJ at 12:31 AM in Adsense, Affiliate Marketing | Permalink
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Comments
Good post, BJ! I have several niche sites that I am constantly testing & tweaking, and going back and forth on when it comes to Adsense vs Affiliate Programs.
One thing I know FOR SURE, is that I remove the Adsense altogether during the Christmas shopping season (beginning around October) on my product based niche sites. The commission on product sales during that time far outweighs the Adsense revenue!
I found that even when I moved my Adsense to below-the-fold low-profile areas of my sites pages, I still got a surprisingly high click-thru rate -- which I worried was affecting my product sales.
So the question is: Would those clickers have been buyers? Or were they not buyers in the first place?
The only way to know is to test...
-Lynn Terry
Posted by: Lynn Terry | Apr 13, 2006 9:31:05 AM
I like the idea of taking Adsense down during the "peak" buying seasons - for your niche. Because who knows, you might have clicked away a potential buyer - and those affiliate purchases would leave you with more money in your pocket than the change that Google sends you per click.
I've had that dilemma as well, and it's hard to take away that consistant adsense revenue for affiliate sales that may or may not happen...
I think doing as Lynn does, take it down when your niche's peak buying time is - and see what happens. Test, test, test. I'd be interested to see how it goes.
Posted by: Empress | Apr 13, 2006 1:24:53 PM
That's a great idea, Lynn. I really hate the thought of testing now - losing those pennies that come in steadily each day from some of my niche sites would be just too much to bear. If I pull my Adsense beginning around August, by January I should have a good idea which sites I should be putting the Adsense back on!
Posted by: BJ | Apr 14, 2006 1:19:53 AM
In my experience affiliate sales have always been better because usually just one sale per month outweighs the entire month's worth of AdSense. But that's just the way my sites work.
Of course if you can both to work together in harmony that has to be the best way to maximize your returns.
Posted by: Yaro | Apr 14, 2006 3:34:25 AM
Which affiliate network do you use? CJ or something else?
And how many visitors do you need per sale? (just an approx. average, I guess it really depends on the website layout and the subject of the website)
Thanks.
Posted by: MyCrazyCars | Apr 18, 2006 8:58:18 AM
I use a number of affiliate networks: CJ, SAS, and I just signed up for Linkshare because Tiger Direct has recently moved to Linkshare. I also use a number of independent, in-house programs, as well as Netshops.
As for how many visitors I need per sale, it's very difficult to say, because it really seems to depend on the site and the niche. I also don't track such things as consistently as I probably should.
Posted by: BJ | Apr 20, 2006 11:05:48 AM
Excellent topic and you covered it nicely. Adsense is indeed a huge player in the online advertising world and I believe any tips and guides are appreciated. Of course, while millions of publishers are running Adsense, only a handful are making serious money off it. As far as I’m concerned, the best way to make money with Adsense is to develop a website or blog on a niche topic that should also be something you are interested in. Hobby-related sites have the best chances of keeping you, as their webmaster, happy and involved, and this will soon show in the number of visitors and the amounts of money you make.
Another vital thing to consider is ad style and placement. I prefer to use a similar structure for all my websites – one that was proven to work. I will share this with you as I believe in reciprocal help through free advice – I also learned A LOT from browsing blogs such as this and other webmaster resources on Adsense. Ok, so getting back to ad placement: I love the idea of placing a 120x90 or 160x90 adlink box on the left side menu of my sites, in the top left corner, just below the banner. Have a look at my website, and get more tips on How to make money with Google Adsense and look at the area below the graphic saying “Online money” – it will house a nice 160x90 adlinks box soon after my site receives enough traffic.
The second good spot to place a 250x250 or 300x250 ad box is in the article text. Loose the border and make the background of the ads the same as your web background (same is true for the adlink placement mentioned above. The final touch comes with a final ad placed at the end of each araticle. Consider the article a path that leads to the final conclusion – exactly where the ads are. You can also place a small graphic image to the left of the ads, so that they are more attractive from a visual point of view.
By using such an ad placement most of my sites get CTRs of 10%-15% all the time
Give it a try and let me know if this sort of ad placement worked in your particular cases – I am also doing a study on this which I will eventually publish on my web2earn.com Google Adsense case study
Best regards,
Mihai
Posted by: Mihai Rad | Apr 21, 2006 11:59:00 AM
