Ad Testing Update
If you’ve been following along with this case study, you know I’m slowly pulling away from Adsense due to the worthless ads that Google’s been letting slip through. My CTR (click through rate) has dropped because of them, and of course, my income too. Well, no more.
My testing is finished on Idea Queen for the most part, since I’ve found some pretty good preforming ads to compliment the site. I did some testing within the same programs and found just the right ads to use. That I’m leaving alone for now.
The recipe site on the other hand is a picky little thing. The same ads that have been doing well on Idea Queen aren’t doing nearly as well on the recipe site. One would think the target markets on both sites are pretty much the same, but the content is what makes all the difference. (As in what someone is looking for when they land on each site or page).
I’ve decided to think outside the box a bit. I’ve already proved that cookbooks don’t sell so well on a recipe site (and why would they? If someone is on a recipe site, changes are they know how to search for recipes, thus eliminating the need for buying a cookbook). Apparently coupons and the like don’t “sell” too well there either, which one would think they it would compliment it (if you are looking for recipes, you buy food, thus needing coupons…or so I thought). Although I guess it’s time to try something different.
Since the focus on the site is recipes for MOMS, I’m running some mom related ads on the site. One of them has a focus on health, which I think most of us mothers are interested in (especially if we are already searching for recipe to cook, thus boosting our family’s health by skipping junk foods). Another ad I just put up was on that wasn’t recipe or food related at all, but about scrapbooking. A tad crazy I know, but remember the focus on MOM.
With these ads I kept Adsense in the rotation (mostly just on the category page), and I’m still not impressed with the outcome of it. Thanks to the junk ads if it does produce a click, it’s something pathetic like 5 cents or less. NOT worth it, especially when affiliate programs will pay a whole lot more. It’s just a matter of playing the waiting game to see if commission on occasional sales outweigh the tiny clicks.
I’m still waiting on approval from the Adify networks, and have my fingers crossed they’ll up the approve at least something here soon. In a way I’m kinda glad they’ve taken this long, since it’s given me a chance to test a whole lot of ads to see what preforms and what doesn’t should I be without advertisers.
Your fellow WAHM in success,
Kara
Topics: Ad Case Study | 3 Comments »
March 28th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Great update Kara. I hope you get approved for Adify soon and can’t wait to read how that is working for you.
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April 13th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
hope adify approve you also check for adbrite too if it works for you
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June 30th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Yes I would advise to stay far away from adsense as it is a hard beast to master. Chitika is another ad network that can deliver text based ads that will probably work better for you. The best though would be to write your own ebook on something you master, like pizza, chocolate cake or whatever and sell it on your site.
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