The majority of publishers who are just starting out seem to think that the only way to increase their profits is by getting more traffic to your website.
This could not be more wrong!
More often than not, you will see much bigger increases from making changes to your website or your ads, instead of getting more eye-balls to your blog.
Here are a 7 ways to increase your profits, excluding the traditional approach of increasing your traffic.
- Max Out Your Ad Units
Different ad networks have different limitations in terms of how many ads you can show on a page. They’ve set these limits for a reason – using this number of ads usually makes the most money for the ad network, which means that you’ll also make the most money out of it.
In the case of Infolinks, for example, make sure you test out all of the products:
Most of these you’ll be able to use at the same time and it would be silly not to try them out. Keep adding them on your site one-by-one with small breaks in between and if something makes your revenue drop or ruins the user experience on your website – remove it and try a different combination.
- Don’t Overdo It!
This may sound slightly contradictory to my previous bit of advice, but it’s true. Although I encourage you to try and use all of the advertising options you’ve got access to, you have to do it within reason.
If your whole website is full of ads, pop-ups and content becomes unreadable, your visitors will never return and it may heavily affect the traffic your website gains from search engines.
Non-intrusive advertising is fine with the majority of readers so put yourself in your readers’ shoes and analyze your pages. Where would you be likely to look at an ad and click on it?
To make this easier, you can use tools like heat maps and video recorders. One of the best options for this is a tool called MouseFlow. It records your website from the users perspective, showing you how they move their mouse, where they click and so on.
The tool is free up to 100 recording per month and has premium versions as well. You can actually use the coupon code “MonetizePros” to get 750 free recordings with them.
- Have Your Best Performing Ads Above the Fold
This is definitely one of the easiest ways to optimize your ads. If an ad or ad unit is making you a lot of money, you should place it where it gets seen the most.
Above the fold is the section of your website which is visible without the need to scroll – for example, your header and your menu.
The majority of people do not scroll through your entire page so many of your ad units may be getting less impressions than they deserve.
It’s important to keep in mind that sometimes ads perform well because of their location and moving them above the fold may actually decrease earnings – always remember to measure the impact of your changes.
In general, this experiment tends to pay off and increase revenue up to 35%.
- Have a Proper Website or Blog
This isn’t directly rated to revenue but it’s probably the most important point in this article.
Invest some money in starting a blog that looks professional.
Have a look at these two websites, which one do you trust more? Which one’s ads are you more likely to click on (without the fear of malware)?
A BlogSpot niche site will never look as good as a professionally made website on a proper blogging platform.
Here’s a good rule to follow: pretend you’re bigger than you are.
Even if you’re running a small website about taking care of cats, act as if you’re running the biggest cat magazine in the world and your readers will feel the same.
Having a proper website or the right platform also gives your more opportunities for split-testing ad layouts, different designs and so on.
- Change The Colors of Your Ad Units
The most common mistake I’ve seen in display advertising is trying to make your ad units match the design of your website. Sure, your blog will look beautiful but no one will notice your ads.
Find complementary colors that make your ad units stand out from the rest of your website. For example, if you’ve got an orange theme on your website, blue will fit in the design perfectly but stand out from all of the rest.
Try different colors and yet again, measure the impact. On a lot of tests that we’ve done over at MonetizePros, the ugliest colors we could find had the best click-through rates!
While it’s scary to make your site look “ugly” – your readers will not leave because of it. Advertising is a part of life and your readers know it, as Dominic Wells said in his post about display advertising myths.
- Don’t Neglect Mobile Traffic
We all spend huge amounts of time on our smartphones and tablets but when it comes to internet marketing, most people neglect their mobile readers.
On MonetizePros for example, nearly 30% of our traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets! That’s over 30,000 people a month!
Which ever ad network you’re using, make sure they’ve got mobile ads as well.
With a little help from a developer you will be able to set up different ad layouts for desktop and mobile, which means you can split-test the locations separately.
Since the user experience is completely different, the ad placements have to be different.
- Increase Your Page views
Getting more traffic overall is great but you should also try to get more page views per user.
While I might not click on an ad when landing on the first article I’m reading from your website, usually a second page view will show me completely different ads that I may be more likely to click on.
Try to interlink the content on your website as much as possible and keep your users engaged!
The best example for this is any major news outlet. You’ve surely seen articles like “10 Movies From 2015 That Every Entrepreneur Should Watch”.
Why do you think they use those annoying slideshows and galleries? To get more page views, more ad impressions and more clicks.
While I don’t recommend killing your user experience with the kind of stuff that Inc.com does, it’s a good example of what’s possible.
What tests have you done, that increases your advertising revenue the most?
About the author:
Karl Kangur is an internet marketing geek with over five years of experience in many different verticals, languages and countries. His passions include SEO, PPC, display advertising and getting results. Currently he runs MonetizePros.com.
