Trying Something New

Fine with me. Right now they're all oil-related since you complained about the price of gas--LOL.

LoL, I know -- it's funny what it picks up on.

The best was still the public service ad it was showing before it figured out I hated oil companies -- "save the owls". Heh.

Aaron, I'm no adsense expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I can say that after doing it for a month it more than covered my host costs. I've picked up quite a bit of good information on the topic over at problogger.net so you might want to check that out for implementation ideas. Based on what I've learned there and elsewhere I think your current ad location is unlikely to get as much clickthrough as you could potentially get. Here are a couple things to think about:

1) Having ads on the front page of a blog that covers a variety of topics can make it hard for AdSense to choose ads that will entice users. To combat this issue on my weblog I've limited ads to individual entry pages.

2) Location is key. AdSense has a hotspot map and the best places are general at the top, the lefthand side towards the top. The middle of content is also useful, but more intrusive. The middle righthand where you currently have your ad is about as cold as you can get on the hotspot map if I recall correctly.

3) Adjust the ad colors to blend into your design. When you leave them as the default it can be easy to tune them out.

Part of the trouble of positioning is that I'm no good with web programming, so getting things to fit in well with the CSS and page layouts is a total pain. That, and I don't really want obtrusive ads, so the top is out. Personally, I'd like them to show up opposite of the sidebar (so they're in a spot all by themselves), but I've yet to figure out a way to do it without destroying the rest of the layout.

I tried to pick colors to make them blend in with the different themes (from the default colors you can choose from), and I think a few of them are pretty close. However, I have a hard time believing that I'll get a lot of click-throughs simply because I don't know who'd ever click on those things. :-P I know that for myself, I've never clicked one, ever. So I guess I just figure everyone else is like me. ;-)

Thanks for the tips though! If I get a spare evening where I hate myself enough to do web programming, I may try to move them in the layout. :-P

So is it only clickthrus that generate revenue? Google doesn't pay just to have them shown?

I think they pay for impressions as well, but to be honest, I'm not entirely certain how it works. :-P

Aaron with all due respect your "product" is the articles but they are void of the ads! I didn't even notice them at all and figured you took them down by the time I hopped on to check your blog.

I don't want to nag but you have a great product and there is no shame in making people "pay" for it by having a few ads... I go to news.com all the time and have not yet stomped my feet in protest over their ads.

Audentes fortuna juvat!
(fortune favors the bold)

~joe

Interesting -- so you'd like to see articles broken up by ads? I'd find that way too intrusive for my liking, personally.

I put in helpful tips and blog about programming topics that interest people because I enjoy helping them out, not because I need the extra money (though, with a new house, the extra money can always be put to use. :-P). And ths thing is, if I started feeling like I was "charging" people for content, then I'd feel like I'm not able to blog about personal topics, or I'd have to focus programming stuff solely on what people want -- not what interests me. I dunno how I'd feel about that.

As it stands, the ads feel a little skeezy to me. I'd be more apt to put a donate button on the sidebar than to put ads into the middle of the content. Perhaps a sig line at the end of the really good posts that says "if you liked what you read, then donate to show your appreciation" or something along those lines.

But to be honest -- I post this stuff because I want people to succeed, and I enjoy the dialogs with customers and other intelligent people. :-)

If you had ads between the article and the comments section, I could deal with that. If it helps you pay for hosting then why not?

-- SirG3

Fair enough... but you made my point with regard to why I would "like to see articles broken up by ads?." I wouldn't! I want the consequences of having them broken up...

If you were to put those ads up then you would feel compelled to put up more content to increase your revenue stream. Ahhhh the joys of capitalizm. It isn't "rich vs poor" as some erroneously believe (lazy slothful types in my estimation) - it's a symbiotic relationship that at its essense is a simply a voluntary trade of value. I emailed your boss once to encourage him to SELL a premium version of the language reference (and other docs) - NOT because I wanted to shell out my hard earned dollars, but because I know that things that generate revenue will get more attention than those that don't and I will end up with something useful in return. As it stands now with regard to the RS docs (no offense intended) - I'm getting what I pay for ...

Yikes that sounds like a rant! My apologies.

~joe

@SirG3 -- that's an interesting idea of a place to put the ads. It's relatively unobtrusive, but still visible.

@Joe -- sneaky. ;-) However, I'm certain I'd make much more revenue by writing articles for RBD or O'Reillys, so if revenue were the only driving force behind my writings, then you'd have to get more magazine subscriptions.

Well I've got a sub to RBD and pretty much everything else ever published and I'm yearning for more... I think those slick econ folks call that "pent up demand" - I call it "I'm often confused and can't find adequate resources"...

Cheers,

~joe

I make it a habit to open all the google ads on a website I like visiting, I take the extra 30 seconds and hopefully the website pockets a few pennies. I wish you good luck with it!

I would think you could get away with putting the ads on the right side of each article's page, and then pushing the article itself all the way to the left to give some visual separation. Right now it's centered with plenty of wasted white space.

Just dittoing what other people have said... I read your site from an RSS viewer, so I never load the front page and never see the ads.

An additional potential fundraising model for the site:
CafePress.com.

Now, I'm not saying that "Aaron Ballman is my hero" t-shirts would be big sellers, but you might want to consider putting together a compilation of useful REALbasic articles, tutorials, and code and produce a book or even a CD. CafePress doesn't charge any setup fees (unless you want a premium shop) and they charge flat rates for their products. You set the selling price and the difference between the selling price and their rate is your profit!

Also, you might want to mention this to the gang at REAL Software. I'd be interested in purchasing some merchandise that declares my pride in using RB! :) (And no, I won't by the REALbasic boxer shorts :P)

Just a thought! And hey, keep up the good work. Your blog is one of things I look forward to everyday. And I sure appreciate the fruits of your labour at RS too :)

There we go, now there's a small banner before the comments section for the default theme. I may get around to adding this to the other themes as well (though some themes continue to show the sidebar, where there's already an ad).

And done. Now, between the post and the comments is a small, hopefully unobtrusive banner ad. I pulled the crap from the sidebar, it bothered me way too much. :-P

"I think they pay for impressions as well, but to be honest, I’m not entirely certain how it works. :-P"

The only pay for clicks.

You can change also the border colors - many people uses the same color as the background color of the page, in your case white - they say it increase the clicks ;)