A few newbie questions about Adsense and the 'other' networks

Hello all.

I've finally taken the leap to purchase vBSEO and have started the lengthy (very lengthy) process of reading up on all the current threads to learn as I go. Naturally, the first place I start reading is the 'Monetizing' section.

I'm seeing a lot of Google Adsense threads, which leads me to my first question - is Adsense really that good? I tried it once, back when I was a weeee little site. I got nothing but the same 5 ads on rotation and made, I think, about 30c.

I'm currently with Valueclick and are doing ok, but of course, would love to be doing better. Especially because I spend nearly every waking spare minute working on my site in some form or another. My Awstats shows me sitting around the 15,000 - 17,000 visits a day, and I ended July at 180,000 unique visitors. I average around $8 a day with Valueclick. I'd like (need) more...

Is that an 'ok' amount for my hits? Or could I be making more?

last i knew, Valueclick doesn't allow forums.... are you sure?

I never trust awstats (WAY inflated). You're probably doing about 4-6k users /day with those awstats.

install analytics. Google Analytics


I generally do $2-3 per 1000 pages.

Yup sure. I had to get approval to allow the ads to show and have to follow certain additional rules.

at possibly not doing as well as I thought...

install analytics. Google Analytics

Never looked at this, does the tracking code go above the </body> on the FORUMHOME template? Or a different one?

neither. just enter yous ID into the vbseocp control panel it's built into vbseo

Originally Posted by briansol

I never trust awstats (WAY inflated). You're probably doing about 4-6k users /day with those awstats.

My little bubble is indeed bursted lol - no where near 17k But on the flip side, I'm not quite as low as 4!!

Yesterday (Aug4th): 8,099
Today (not sure if the days over or not by reporting standards: 8,017

That's Absolute Unique Visitors.

Pageviews have been 37,584 (yesterday) and 38,301 (today). You mentioned you get $2 - $3 per 1000 pages? So based on those numbers I should be making closer to $70 a day? I do a happy dance if I make $10 in one day...

yeah.. it depends on your market though too.

UK/US members see the best paying ads.
If you're catoring to different markets, the ad rate will not be the same.

I just go with what ever is given to me. Most of my members are US based, a large chunk Euro and the rest scattered around the world.

I think it's the type of ads though - all I ever seem to see is the cursor ads, the glitter name, zwinky and you've won an ipod adds.

block 'em.

go into the competitive ad filter and remove all the 'crap' that isn't on-topic to your niche

That would leave me with no ads though That's all Valueclick seem to offer me, with the occasional (very occasional) game related ad. Because their CPM I at least make some money... although not enough to cover the bills at the moment.

That's why I was wondering if it was perhaps Valuelclick that was the problem - nearly every thread I see here is about Google Adsense. I've only ever tried Adsense once, but I got the same 3 ads shown over and over...

ah.. valueclick.
have you looked into other providers?

i personally run 3 tiers,
CPM
CPM2
CPC

when CPM is out, it sends to CPM2. when CPM2 is out of fill, the rest default to adsense

tribalfusion.com, adsdaq.com, etc all run good cpm networks, and then there's always the CPC giants like adsense, etc.

I looked around other providers ages ago, but none of them would take me.

Tribalfusion has a requirement of: A minimum of 2,000 unique users per day. I don't meet anywhere near that. I'm an idiot and read the stats wrong, I go over way over that, application submitted!

Can you explain the CPM - CPM2 a bit better? Do you have multiple providers and do that manually? I only have Valueclick and only use their ads and interface...

cpm = cost per mili (or, cost per thousand impressesions).
cpm2 = cpm with a #2 after it to denote a 2nd network


Most providers will allow you to set up a custom backfill ad. I know valueclick does it. They give option to place your own code.
Basically, make an html page with the 2ndary JS code on it.
then use your site.com/hidden/path/to/js.html as your backup tag

Ah ok, need to have a second network, which I don't at the moment. I've used the Valueclick 'add a default' banner, but that was only a once off (actually, twice off) thing where someone paid to have their banner show on the site. I've never understood how to use it to show ads from another network.

Just share your url with me . with this kind of uniques you should probably make anywhere between 30 - 50 $ a day with adsense

Sure! It's The Warlocks Den