5 ms·

Ask HN: How to make more money? Adsense isn't working

4 points by thatusertwo 16y ago

Built a product and its getting some traction, at last check it had over 11000 page views, but with google adsense we only got like 10 clicks. Clearly this method is not working very well, what other options do we have?

petercooper 16y ago
While you can get a lot out of "optimizing" your Adsense placement, it usually requires having at least some traction. I'm guessing your audience is pretty geek oriented with this clickthrough rate. I had success going beyond 10-20% CTR on general search traffic but with geeks? Hideous CTRs :-) An option might be affiliate schemes. Not necessarily just Amazon, but specific products related to your topic area. I've had quite a bit of success with this in the Ruby space (though there are hardly any products to promote - the biggest problem). Job ads can also be a big deal if you can provide the traffic and the right demographic. I've made both of these areas work well.
djloche 16y ago
My suggestion would be to re-orient your focus. Think about other groups of people that would find value in your product, that such added value would be worth paying for. Maybe your main focus is consumers, but the people who would find your product (or something made with your product) worth paying for are the B2B type customers. Maybe the opposite is true. Maybe you're leaving out a demographic that isn't the first thought, but they're the ones who will go bonkers and become the evangelists for your product. Go back to the drawing board and think about new ways to use your product, new ways to market your product, new groups of people to market it to, etc. Don't turn the initial letdown of Adsense failing into a failure for the whole project.
staunch 16y ago
Trying to generate any serious revenue from 11k page views is nearly impossible using ad networks. Even with the best possible eCPMs (which you won't get) you're talking about a couple hundred dollars. The best shot for a low traffic site to make money with advertising is selling direct "sponsorship" style ads. Get some relevant companies to pay you $500-$1000/mo each to have an ad on your site.
- scottchin 16y ago
  I am interested in setting up some type of sponsorship like this on my site. But I am wondering how to determine an appropriate price to charge for such an ad. I am sure there are many factors involved. But I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions? Note: I am not the OP
  - gspyrou 16y ago
    Try BuySellAds http://buysellads.com/ http://buysellads.com/
revorad 16y ago
Email me or sign up here - http://laughingcomputer.com http://laughingcomputer.com
imp 16y ago
11,000 page views per day or per month?
- thatusertwo 16y ago
  yesterday evening.
- calebhicks 16y ago
  I think he's saying 11,000 page views since inception.

4 points by thatusertwo 16y ago

petercooper 16y ago

While you can get a lot out of "optimizing" your Adsense placement, it usually requires having at least some traction. I'm guessing your audience is pretty geek oriented with this clickthrough rate. I had success going beyond 10-20% CTR on general search traffic but with geeks? Hideous CTRs :-) An option might be affiliate schemes. Not necessarily just Amazon, but specific products related to your topic area. I've had quite a bit of success with this in the Ruby space (though there are hardly any products to promote - the biggest problem). Job ads can also be a big deal if you can provide the traffic and the right demographic. I've made both of these areas work well.

djloche 16y ago

My suggestion would be to re-orient your focus. Think about other groups of people that would find value in your product, that such added value would be worth paying for. Maybe your main focus is consumers, but the people who would find your product (or something made with your product) worth paying for are the B2B type customers. Maybe the opposite is true. Maybe you're leaving out a demographic that isn't the first thought, but they're the ones who will go bonkers and become the evangelists for your product. Go back to the drawing board and think about new ways to use your product, new ways to market your product, new groups of people to market it to, etc. Don't turn the initial letdown of Adsense failing into a failure for the whole project.

staunch 16y ago

Trying to generate any serious revenue from 11k page views is nearly impossible using ad networks. Even with the best possible eCPMs (which you won't get) you're talking about a couple hundred dollars. The best shot for a low traffic site to make money with advertising is selling direct "sponsorship" style ads. Get some relevant companies to pay you $500-$1000/mo each to have an ad on your site.

scottchin 16y ago
I am interested in setting up some type of sponsorship like this on my site. But I am wondering how to determine an appropriate price to charge for such an ad. I am sure there are many factors involved. But I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions? Note: I am not the OP
- gspyrou 16y ago
  Try BuySellAds http://buysellads.com/ http://buysellads.com/

revorad 16y ago

Email me or sign up here - http://laughingcomputer.com http://laughingcomputer.com

imp 16y ago

11,000 page views per day or per month?

thatusertwo 16y ago
yesterday evening.
calebhicks 16y ago
I think he's saying 11,000 page views since inception.