Google AdSense
 

Has anyone found a viable alternative to these people?

I don't understand their formula for figuring out what they owe you. When I contracted with them a year ago they were paying me $12 to $15 per day and at times $20. Over time their payments decreased and decreased and decreased all the while my traffic going up.

They've now gotten to the point that if I see $4 in a day I think I've hit the jackpot, and I know better than that. My traffic today is approximately 60% greater today than it was a year ago when they were paying $12. To give a more recent example last month my traffic (even according to their BS o meter) was 30% lower than my traffic to this point this month has been yet Google had tallied about 25% more pay last month than so far this month.

I'm about to tell them to take their crap and stick it where the sun doesn't shine if their payments do not improve in the near future.

Skip

It would help if you gave some traffic stats.

About 230,000 hits/day on 35,000 page turns/day 1000+ uniques.

Skip

Ok, I looked over your site. IMHO the ads on top right and left corners are just ugly.. The visitor wants to browse the real content. I have ads setup just above the navbar but I only have one block. Also remove the ads between thread listing, it might bring u some money but users will tend to run away. Try adding ads after last post.

That's all.

PS: will u be changing the color scheme in the near future?

You really need some work done on your forum :) In all honesty, the second I would go there if I was a guest I would have clicked the X and closed it.

Why? You have 5 Google AdSense related ads in the header before I even know the name of your site or know what is going on.

Good luck with your forum
Kolby Bothe

For the most part, Google pays based on action (clicks), not traffic. If your visitors increase 10x but your clicks don't, your revenue wouldn't go up. The first stat you should be looking at is your CTR and the number of clicks you're getting. Is that up 50% from a year ago or down? Having your ads all crammed at the top of the site not only negatively impacts the user experience but many repeat users will unconsciously skip over the ads -- we call it ad blindness. By integrating your ads within relevant content areas you can increase clicks and decrease user abandonment.

Furthermore, Google uses a system to determine quality -- sites that send poorly converting traffic make less per click than those that send good traffic. If your site is driving bad traffic or if people click ads thinking it's content (false clicks) and then back out, you're going to see a sharp decline in earnings. The only way to address this is by sending better quality traffic. If you can't do that, consider trying other programs -- Google Adsense can be very profitable but it is not the only advertising program out there nor is it ideal for all sites. In the PPC world there are companies like Yahoo Publisher Network, Adbrite and Clicksor. In the CPM world there's standard internet, burst, castle, 247, valueclick and dozens of other networks.

I personally do not like google ADsense too, but there are not many alternatives. With only one false-click you can already be kicked out of the network. I have already been kicked twice, but after discussing the data my Account was re-enabled.

I am currently trying to switch over to Etology. They pay you 75 % of the money which advertisers invest and also have a feature where advertisers can directly buy advertisments on your website. This is really good for finding new partners. Have a look here to see how paying would look like. I find it very handy but I just have started with etology aswell. Before I have been trying to use ADbrite or Zanox. I did not like both very much. Zanox is an affiliate program, you get money if people buy something over the ADs on your website, usually about 15 %. Well I have not been paid for 2 months that's why I skipped it....

Google ADsense is very good for displaying Content realted Advertisments and is unique currently with that feature. There is no other AD-Program which can display as content-related-Advertisments as Google-ADsense. Unfortunately google has strict rules (3-ADs per page, ban on 1 click) and only pays 50 %. I got about 120 clicks per day and only get 10 $, that is not very much.

To pit it into a nutshell, try using etology or zanox =). And yes, your forum is awfull, you need to rework it =). On my website (d3scene.com) only guests see Advertisments which is very handy for members as they keep visiting your website.

IMO your design and layout need a serious overhaul. The colours clash and the layout is not particularly user friendly. I recommend more subtle colour schemes, smaller fonts, and maybe some simple graphics? Sorry, however, that I am no help with your adsense question. :)

We have a lot of older members with short arm disease. The larger bolder font is easier for them to read.

99.99% of the return visitors enter at a forum level, I've thought of eliminating the home page altogether. We have a high rate of return visitors. Many have been on the forums for 4 or 5 years.

Skip

Skip - I run a fishing forum too, with roughly similar traffic. Making less money now than I was for 4 months in the winter time. I've seen the quality of the ads tank a bit and they are certainly paying less - going from 20-35 per day to 2-5 per day. Thems the breaks with forums. Your users are becoming blinded to the ads too...

While my site is not anywhere near where I expect it to be, it is a lot easier on the eyes than your site. I would recommend you look through come of the skins available for vbadvanced and the forum and get one nicer on the eyes. It will only help the board. I imagine you could go another step and have two different versions of the same style. Instead of High Bandwidth - Low Bandwidth Choices, you could have 20/20 Vision style and Geezer styles ;)

I would recommend reducing some of the ads and changing the style. If the ad style is hurting, you may not be getting the return you could hope for.

Good luck