Ads are a common way to monetize a website, but there are some fundamental problems with this approach, especially if you rely on search engines to send people to your site only to have them whisked to another, via a contextually published ad.
If people aren’t meant to stay on your site, why should they arrive in the first place?
Betting the farm on SEO? Read this NYTimes article on how stupid SEO can be. Can’t be bothered? Here’s the summary: having a tidal wave of irate customers complaining on popular consumer sites will make you the number one result for your chosen keywords, sending your way even more suckers to fleece, I mean, customers.
Before finding your site: contextual ads in search results
This is when the search engines processes the user’s query and returns an ad along search results. These ads are supposed to be your competitors; however,
- if the search results are so good, why should users bother looking at the ads?
- if the search results aren’t so good, how can they expect the right ad to be shown?
And that’s assuming the ads shown have something to do with the search query and aren’t the result of buying competitor’s trademarked keywords. But don’t feel relieved: unless you do your homework, these same weak ads are the ones showing in your website.
Another problem: user queries aren’t the same as user intent. Since the point of an ad is to get visitors to do something, let’s focus on user intention.
After search: user intention in websites
Now that your site has been found, what’s next? Online stores have it incredibly easy: they simply can’t put ads -everything is a site link, and every single one of them can lead to a sale.
Site links are cool -readers pay attention to them and won’t think twice of visiting them, even if they are less flashy and prominent than ads.
People couldn’t care less about ads. Why? Because site links are part of your site’s purpose, and ads just get in the way -no one reads your website for the ads. Why should they pay attention to them?
In the user’s mind, if it’s relevant it’s not an ad, it’s a site link.
How do I turn an ugly ad into a beautiful site link?
The easiest way would be to become a store, with the independence it carries. Most people can’t or won’t; for them, the old recipe holds true: know your site first, then know your readers. Analytics are your friend, but you still have to work at it:
- Don’t bait-and-switch your users -go with what brought them to you in the first place. Simple keyword matching will only take you so far. This says it all:
- “The idea is (…) the advertising really does become the content you were hoping to find.” (source)
- Make others care by showing you do: users won’t ignore the most transparent of paid insertions if it adds value (however minimal) to your site, is placed accordingly and you are upfront about it. Think SuperBowl half-time.
Sometimes the ad resists the upgrade, but you can improve future odds with return visits: don’t depend on being found again. This is where your site must pull itself. Again, stores and services have it a lot easier (exhibits A, B and C) but entertainment and information do well too.
Since you are counting on being the last stop before the real deal (the ad buyer’s site), ask yourself how much sense it makes for your site to be standing in the way of someone else’s shop, and go from there; if you do it right you can make a killing profit with a minimal investment.
Learning about SEO from reputable sources is a must. I’m not against SEO by itself, but I either laugh or cringe whenever people write a Search Engine Optimization Guide and keep telling you not to write for machines. Get real: SEO is writing for machines, and stupid machines incredibly stupid machines to boot.
Notes
- A startup wrote an interesting post about the traffic (and conversions) they got from TechCrunch coverage. While their experience isn’t applicable to everyone, it gives context to the realities of traffic volume, quality and monetization.
- This 2009 article on Susan Boyle has some numbers on YouTube monetization: USD$20 to $35 for each 1,000 views, to be split with Google and probably discounted by bandwidth costs.
- Analytics are a good start, but there are other methods to fine-tune a page, like testing alternate versions to see which performs best. Just remember to first have a website to test.
- Sometimes you can benefit from someone else’s testing: these guys improved their annual sales by USD$300 million just by changing a form.
- A cautionary tale: don’t depend too much on ad income.
© 2010 Héctor Cuevas. All rights reserved.
