Adsense--Google wants me to use more ads...

[Sweet Tooth #3]

That's pretty awesome. I stand corrected. I'm assuming this ad unit is all text (because it fit between the header and leaderboard ad)?

Text and image ads are exactly the same size.

[Glen Lawrence]

Text and image ads are exactly the same size.

No, there are text ads in just one line and there are boxes that only hold text ads. You can't fit image ads in those tiny spaces.

[Sweet Tooth #3]

No, there are text ads in just one line and there are boxes that only hold text ads. You can't fit image ads in those tiny spaces.

The link unit is under the header (inserted into the header php), and the leaderboard is under the post title, so there's actually a decent amount of space between them. It looks pretty natural too because I don't really have any menu stuff in the header.

One other strange thing is I moved my link unit from the top of the sidebar to the bottom to make way for the skyscraper, and the link unit still gets about the same amount of clicks. So...the skyscraper gets all of the clicks that the link unit used to get, and the link unit still gets about all the clicks it used to get in the old position...if that makes any sense. Bottom line, I have a net gain in both CTR and revenue.

I didn't add any more ad units into the posts, just in the sidebar and under header. I do have some 1000+ word articles where I could add in a link unit in the middle of the post. I wonder which would do best, the horizontal unit or the verticle...

[Glen Lawrence]

The link unit is under the header (inserted into the header php), and the leaderboard is under the post title, so there's actually a decent amount of space between them. It looks pretty natural too because I don't really have any menu stuff in the header.

One other strange thing is I moved my link unit from the top of the sidebar to the bottom to make way for the skyscraper, and the link unit still gets about the same amount of clicks. So...the skyscraper gets all of the clicks that the link unit used to get, and the link unit still gets about all the clicks it used to get in the old position...if that makes any sense. Bottom line, I have a net gain in both CTR and revenue.

I didn't add any more ad units into the posts, just in the sidebar and under header. I do have some 1000+ word articles where I could add in a link unit in the middle of the post. I wonder which would do best, the horizontal unit or the verticle...

Can you give specific numbers? I'm really curious because I haven't seen much success in Adsense. How many clicks does it take to make profit through Adsense? In the hundreds? Thousands?

[williamc]

Can you give specific numbers? I'm really curious because I haven't seen much success in Adsense. How many clicks does it take to make profit through Adsense? In the hundreds? Thousands?

how deep is the sea, how tall is the mountain?

[Sweet Tooth #3]

Can you give specific numbers? I'm really curious because I haven't seen much success in Adsense. How many clicks does it take to make profit through Adsense? In the hundreds? Thousands?

I can't give specific numbers, but I don't mess with any terms that pay a nickle a click. Clicks in the 1-5 dollar range add up much quicker.

[Glen Lawrence]

how deep is the sea, how tall is the mountain?

It's not that kind of question, is it? I just wonder what kind of numbers I should be looking at to have a profitable blog. Is 1000 visits with a 1% clickthrough rate a good place to start? That kind of question. I understand if the data is confidential, though.

[Sweet Tooth #3]

It's not that kind of question, is it? I just wonder what kind of numbers I should be looking at to have a profitable blog. Is 1000 visits with a 1% clickthrough rate a good place to start? That kind of question. I understand if the data is confidential, though.

A small number of visitors is what most people have to start out with. But a 1% CTR is pretty bad. If I got anything under 3% I'd be horrified, though I don't get the 10%+ that some claim to.

If you get 20,000 page impressions a month, and you target most of your keyphrases to terms that are 1 to 3$ + (as listed in the Adwords Keyword Tool), it's not hard to make a coupe hundred bucks a week. The hardest part is getting that first paycheck.

I don't know what niche you're targeting, but if the average CPC is 10 cents, then you'll obviously have to recalculate the math.


Edit:The scenario I mentioned above does not apply to a 1% CTR.

[Glen Lawrence]

Maybe this isn't an Adsense question anymore, but which would you suggest: a static website with a few well-optimized landing pages or a dynamic blog? The former is much easier to get traffic for, but both Google and readers love fresh content.

[Sweet Tooth #3]

Maybe this isn't an Adsense question anymore, but which would you suggest: a static website with a few well-optimized landing pages or a dynamic blog? The former is much easier to get traffic for, but both Google and readers love fresh content.

I don't understand why you think a static website would be easier to get traffic for, I do use static homepages on all of my blogs. I turn off the comments. The only reason you can tell they're blogs is that they're arranged in categories. And Google loves 'em.

As far as # of pages/posts, add as many as you can, or at least 15. I wouldn't recommend the micro niche site approach.