Google Adsense Revenue Maximized

I'll tell you how I maximise Google Adsense for western sites reading left to right. Firstly though, you should know that I don't build my website to make money! I do it to keep myself occupied and to have a goal in life. You will understand, therefore, why I like to keep the process of making money from my website as simple as possible so that I can concentrate on achieving my goal; attracting visitors and having fun building the site. That is also a good starting point to make money.

On that basis, what I am going to say is simple and based on common sense assessments that are confirmed by Google Adsense specialist trainers whom I have met when attending Google run Adsense seminars.

The basic model for me in respect of Adsense is as follows:

(1) To let Google decide what adverts to present on my site. They are the experts. I can modify Google's choice and sometimes I feel inclined to do so. For example, I sense that adverts for charities such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are not the best earners but as I give some money to charity from the site I feel obliged to support charities. I therefore accept these adverts. Also, it may the case that the WWF have decided to place ads on my site. I don't want to disappoint them.

Placement

(2) To place the Adsense units in the most prominent places on each page. Where are these places? Commonsense dictates that the reader's eye starts at the top left of the page in the region of the title, and then soon afterward just below it. Most people on the Internet skim and speed read the first bit of text and then tail off. If they like what they see they stay around and read more and digest it. The adverts should reflect this behavior. The Adsense ads must be high up and, in your face, (above the fold as the experts call it).

When you create carefully produced copy it can be difficult to decide to "spoil it" with adverts right at the beginning. I would resist that obstacle and put it where the eye falls. Be commercial. Internet surfers are used to seeing ads on the page so aren't put off. When they are ready to move on, they might click on an Adsense advert. If they are ready soon after visiting, they will click on the top ads and if they have read the article, they might click on the Adsense at the base of the page. It is said that Adsense does not drive visitors off the site. It just gives them an option when they are ready to leave.

Here is a diagram showing the hotspots as I see it (four are listed but only three are allowed as you know):

The red=hot. The blue=cold. Often you see websites with a banner on top of the site. We are told that this is not a good place for Adsense. It is out of the eye-line for visitors who read the text of an article. Perhaps the website creators who place Adsense above the website are using it as a branding tool. Google ads look good and can actually improve a site's appearance.

Why are the Adsense adverts on this page where they are? Because Google automatically puts them there and the choices for change are limited. This site is a Google Blogger hosted subsomain. The Adsense units are both outside the area of text. I prefer adverts inside the text as it forces readers to see it. Note: the advert top left inside the text is a Casale Media advert in an iframe tag.

Text and Image

Text and image ads are best. Let Google present both from the same Adsense script.

Size

Use the largest size you can. I use a thin line of links immediately above the title. That is more or less the only place I use a thin line of links. The reason is because when I received one-to-one advice from a charming Google employee she recommended that I place this Adsense unit in this position. It has worked well and earns about £80 - £100 per month by itself.

Personalised

As each page or each website is different the above suggestions are generalizations.

Adsense colour etc.

I used to mess around with colours etc. I saw no difference. I prefer the standard Google format because people recognise these as adverts. I believe that is a positive thing. This leads to the question whether you should blend in ads and place them where the navigation bar is. To me this looks dishonest and it colors my assessment of the website negatively.

Revenue

I am a relatively small time player (Alexa 114k at 14th March 2012 - it used to be 50k). I earn about $2,000 (USD) per month from Adsense. The site used to make quite a bit more but Google's algorithm, copyright infringements and intense competition changed that. I also make some Adsense revenue from YouTube videos (about $400 per month).

Visiting Google In London

As a person who manages his own websites and being dependent to large extent on what Google does in respect of its search engine algorithm, it was nice to be invited to attend a seminar on how to improve AdSense revenue. For a website builder it was like being invited to visit God! I have visited three times now and I'd like to briefly write about the experience as it might interest some people who would like to know what it is like inside Google's offices.

Complimentary gift that Google generously gave me.
This is a really nice Italian made note pad.

I'll tell you right away that it is not the kind of place I worked in all my working life. In fact, Google offices are startlingly different to the conventional office environment.

I have a lot of experience working in offices in England as a lawyer. I would have given my right arm to have had the opportunity to work for Google when I was younger. Google didn't exist when I was younger! But hypothetically speaking you get the message.

Offices

The Google office space in their London, Victoria offices and the ones near Tottenham Court Road are extremely pleasant work environments. The outside of the buildings are modern and you know that Google occupies the building as there are bright, modern Google colors outside. This is especially the case at the 1-13 St Giles High Street, London WC2H 8AG offices near Tottenham Court Road.  The Google street view image below shows the offices being built.


View Larger Map

There is a very relaxed feeling about the place. They don't seem like work places; more like a big club. There are canteen areas dotted around the building brimming with food and drink and what seem to be brainstorming areas in glass walled rooms. There is an open feeling.

The colour schemes are modern, bright, colourful and a bit funky. I guess the idea is to encourage employees to think out of the box and creatively.

One slightly unpleasant aspect of visiting Google that I experienced last time was "reception". In the Victoria, London offices nearest Victoria station there is what appears to be a large reception desk. I went up to it and announced my arrival for the seminar. This was not a reception desk, I discovered. The two women behind the very long counter were security only. They were unhelpful and simply said that I must know the name of the person who I was visiting before they would let me in. They could not ring up to the Google offices. They had no means to do that. They were a complete brick wall. I was about to go home when one of them mentioned that there were other offices down the road. I figured I was in the wrong place but the general mood at the massive entrance hall was cool, unwelcoming and unhelpful. This problem of visiting the wrong office (the other one being near by) must have happened before and you would have thought the people at the counter would have been trained to deal with it pleasantly.

There was another security guard near the lifts. I presume that this office building did not receive Joe Public but only Mr Businessman.

Another generous Google gift. Thank you Google.

Culture and Employees

All the employees that I met and saw were young and there were lots of females. I don't know if the people that I met were a representative group but young/female would describe them. Perhaps women are more often employed in communicating with the public - people like me. They were international ladies; women whose first language was not English. They were multilingual. I use the word "lady" deliberately. They were nice intelligent people. That gives a clue as to the type of employee Google seeks.

On the downside, I really feel that Google has become a bit flabby in its culture and mentality. I think this is because of the large profits that roll in without the usual effort (in my opinion) and they are a monopoly almost.

Without wishing to be over critical, the time keeping and organisation by Google employees was not first class and neither were the presentations. And I expected first class from a company that produces first class free software (usually). You wonder how hard they were trying.

I enjoyed my visits and I thank Google for inviting me. However, I think Google should tighten up a bit and put a bit of rigour back into their workplace. It has got too easy at Google. It is not the real working world. Not from my perspective in any case.

Cat Photography For All

Good cat photography is not limited to gorgeous show cats and tons of high end equipment.  They do help if you know what you are doing but you can get a very decent shot with average equipment and your moggie. What you can't do without is your photographic eye.

When you have your camera in your hand, the trick is to look at the world photographically. By that I mean you need to really look with an open mind at the shape, form, composition and color of what is before you. In fact you should be able to switch to this mode of looking at short notice as it allows you to spot the unexpected photograph that quickly develops in front of you.

Most of the time our minds are closed to what is in front of us. Alternatively, our mind filters what our eyes see. It is a modified and personalized world.

Open your mind and eyes and you might see a good photograph. About 15 minutes ago I saw this:



I am not saying that it is a world better. It is not. But it both gives pleasure to the photographer, captures a scene from day to day life for the photo album and you can bung it up to Flickr for others to share and discuss.

This is a picture of Charlie. He has three legs. He was coming in from the garden and I walked past him. I had no camera but saw the potential. I quickly got the camera and just before he moved, I captured the image. It was a matter of a spit second. I captured a single image. I knew that I would be lucky to get something because cats move when you don't want them to. They aren't the most cooperative subject.

As it happens I have a decent camera (Canon 7D). Your camera should assist you in capturing a fleeting moment. And good photographs are often fleeting.

The framing for the photograph was created using Picasa on my computer. This is free Google software (Note: the drop shadow around the dark frame is Google Blogger. I am not sure that I like it in this instance).

Here is another picture of a Maine Coon purebred cat that I took in America. His name is Zak:



The key to good casual photography is to (a) have a camera to hand and (b) to use your eyes and be open and ready for the fleeting image that will present itself to you from time to time.

Tiger parts are as profitable as Apple products

Tiger steak washed down with the best tiger bone wine is definitely on the menu in restaurants throughout China. The raw meat might start its journey in tiger farms in China or perhaps in Bangkok, Thailand. Tigers are treated like livestock in many parts of Asia. Half a ton of tiger meat was recently unearthed in Bangkok with bones (for the wine) all destined I suspect for the major restaurants of Shanghai where clients believe it will improve their virility especially if they eat a $6,000 (USD) tiger penis. Man that really does make you feel superhuman....The bones of the tiger's forelimbs are prized too. It is all completely senseless.

Burma is a major trader and so are Malaysia and Vietnam. The business, built on corrupt officials, pathetic enforcement of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and mafia masterminds, is worth billions of bucks. And you know what? As the tiger becomes rarer and rarer as a result of this senseless slaughter, the tiger parts become more and more desirable and expensive and so the profit margins go up. It is self generating. Until it is all over.

In Asia it seems that everyone is abusing the tiger, which is fast becoming extinct in the wild. It is a shame that the tiger's range or distribution is in Asia. That is not a racist remark. It is a simple fact that countries like Burma and China are horribly corrupt and have a disregard for animal welfare.  The illegal trade in tiger parts would not exist but for the corruption of officials. In India the Bengal tiger is often poached from tiger reserves with the assistance of corrupt wardens (I allege this).

For example, some of the so called "private zoos" in Thailand are in fact tiger farms or wildlife farms. Documents are falsified and inspections evaded or officials collude in the illegal trade.

I haven't mentioned traditional Chinese medicine. Did I say "medicine"? I shouldn't because it isn't. It is, though, the single biggest contributor to the extirpation of the tiger on the planet.

What chance does the tiger have in the wild? Pretty much a zero chance of survival. It will all be over in about 20 years and we can then stop bemoaning the tiger's gradual extinction on the planet and move on. We will be left with generic tigers (hybrids or moggie tigers) in farm cages or zoos and that will be that.

A tiger's body is worth £215,000 in China (2008 and going up). Here are some more prices:

Tiger Product	Price $ USD per Kg	Place	Date
Bone	130	Nepal	2002
Bone	130-175	Vietnam	2002
Bone	up to 300	Russia	2002
Bone	140-370	South Korea, Taiwan	2009
Penis Soup	320	Taiwan	2009
Humerus bone	up to 3190	Seoul	2009
Eyes (2)	170	Taiwan	2009

Src: tigersincrisis.com and Sunquists


China is a CITES contracting party.  See also Bengal tiger facts.

Stripping away the Facebook mask

Do you understand Facebook? I don't. I don't understand the opaque navigation, how to switch things on and off, the difference between a group and a community and so on. Nor do I understand the privacy policy. One reason, in fact the major reason, why I don't understand is because I can't be bothered to try and understand. All I want to do is connect with someone from time to time. And that is precisely what 90% of Facebook users want to do as well. It is meant to be social media not an obstacle course for geeks. Facebook use this human trait to make money. Perhaps the entire wealth producing model of Facebook is based on our apathy towards detail and complicated, time consuming things that we consider irrelevant.

The new Google Plus One button works in a similar way. They changed their search process, the core of their business, in a fairly quiet way by providing a personalised search as a default. This is a completely different way of searching, but did the man on top of the Clapham omnibus notice the change? You can turn off this customised search that is based on your personal profile, your likes and dislikes, your habits etc. But do you turn it off? Do you know where and how to turn it off, and more importantly can you be bothered to do it? Do you want a neutral search of the Internet or be spoon fed by big brother!

The banks work in the same way and make billions from our lack of concern. They create this lack of concern by making the rules complicated and opaque. We don't have the time, inclination, brain power or desire to wade through terms and conditions of bank agreements. For that reason, in the UK, they were able to mislead millions of people by selling them mortgage protection insurance without them being aware of it. These unfortunate people paid for the insurance premiums by a surcharge on the mortgage payments. Over the lifetime of the mortgage this amounted to thousands of pounds.

The insurance companies use our lack of understanding and apathy in the same way in selling poor policies and investments that just don't perform. Endowment policies are a classic example. The telephone companies have very complicated "tariffs" for the same reason - to baffle us. I won't go on.

We are told that Facebook is worth about $100 billion (one thousand million USD). That is what the financial boys call the IPO - initial public offering - shares offered to the public based on a valuation by "experts".

This valuation is based on the wealth of the personal information on the 800+ million Facebook members (March 2012) that is stored on FB's servers. This information is valuable to business. It is certainly by far the greatest repository of information about humankind ever compiled. We have given Facebook that information initially and throughout our use of the site. It seems that the almost invisible advertising revenue is very secondary.

You can delete your Facebook account "permanently" (see full data use policy). What does the word "account" mean? Does it include all your inputted information and all the information that you left on Facebook in a trail of activity while interacting with others? I am sure it does not, which means some information is not deleted. It can take 90 days to delete an account. What happens between day one and day 90 at Facebook with respect to that information?

When big business confuses us it uses us.