Pack your bags! If you recognize yourself in the preceding paragraph you are ready to begin your journey into the blogosphere. There are only a few things you need to do to make your journey a success:
Find a home for your blog
Find a focus for your posts
Learn ?Bletiquette?
Persevere
Find a home for your blog! You need a host for your blog, some are free, some charge a small amount per month for their service, some are simple to use and some require more technical knowledge, some have more features than others; choose carefully, once you've established your blog and have a few regular readers you may not want to change your address (your URL).
Start by surfing the Internet and the blogs to see what bloggers have to say about their hosting programs. Don't get in over your head by picking a blog host that requires a technical expertise that is beyond your current capabilities. There are many free hosts that are more than adequate to start you off and are customizable -- as you gain new technical skills you can edit your blog template to make your blog look like you want it to look and do almost anything you want it to do, all without changing your URL.
If you are using free hosts start blogs at two or three host sites just to see which one you like best and which one gives you the most capabilities right 'out of the box.' When you find one you are happy with, be nice and go back and cancel your other blogs.
Find a focus for your posts! Most every blog has a theme, a theme that sets the tone for most (not necessarily all) of the posts on that blog. Your blog can be a topical blog that focuses on a special interest of yours (politics, religion, health care, science, engineering, cooking etc.); a personal blog that focuses on what you are doing that day, where you have been, where you are going or any aspect of your life's journey; or a showcase blog that displays your writing, art, photography, or etc.. Some posts will not fall into your blogs main theme and that's OK -- your blog is a reflection of you, and we all have different moods . . . we all 'wear different hats;' don't decide not to post just because you feel like writing 'something different.'
?Bletiquette!? The objective of most bloggers is to attract a regular readership; to do that you need to display some basic (really common sense) blog etiquette (bletiquette!):
When commenting on a post, stick to the point, don't get personal or abusive.
Never comment as ?Anonymous;? if you are ashamed to use your actual blogger name, don't comment.
Try to respond to all comments on your post, even if it is just to say ?thanks for commenting? (but don't expect all bloggers to do this).
Don't get personal by asking personal questions unless you have a long-standing relationship with the other blogger; bloggers enjoy the relative anonymity of a blog and a blogger name.
If you are ?flamed? (verbally attacked for something you wrote) don't get into a ?flame war;? respond politely or not at all.
Never take a block of text, a unique phrase, a picture, a graphic or anything else from another blog or from any web page and use it in your post as is, without clearly indicating where it came from.
Persevere! Bloggers blog! That's what they do! If you post every day you will improve not only your technique but also your readership; don't give up.
Bloggers are very much like novelists. Novelists write every day and finally reach the end of the novel. Then they submit the novel to publishers, file their rejection notices and resubmit to other publishers. Eventually, every novelist who perseveres gets published . . . eventually every blogger who perseveres gets a loyal readership and his or her own measure of success.
1) Ad Placement
Many websites try to hide the fact they have ads. They put them at the bottom of the page or only have one or two that are so small, the rest of the page distracts from them. While it's okay not to want to bombard your visitors with a site of ads, those ads are also a crucial part of keeping your business functioning. If magazines tried to bury their ads under all the content, they wouldn't be in business for very long, would they? Your site should be the same way. Place ads where they can easily be viewed and where they're visible to your visitors.
2) Ad Text Color
The text color of your ads should match the text color of your site. If you use bright blue for headlines on your site, use that for your AdSense headlines as well. This makes it appear as if the ads are part of the content.
3)Page Content
Choose a broad niche for your site, then break it down into smaller niches. Those smaller niches go on separate pages. This is also site organization and will help you place better-targeted ads. For example, if you have a computer site, break it down into sub niches: repairing computers, new computers, used computers, software, etc.
If you lump things together on one page and don't organize, you'll find that your CTR will be lower because your content is unorganized and scattered; therefore, your ads aren't as helpful to the visitor as you may think.
4) Don't Label Them as Ads
Don't label them as ads or sites sponsors. Although these are the only two terms allowed by Google, there's no need to point out that these are ads. It will just prevent them from blending in with the content of your site. Since the ads are targeted, if you allow them to, they will appear to be additional information on what your visitors are already interested in. Don't put a sign there letting them know they're wrong and it is, indeed, a "dreadful" ad.
5) Ad Appearance
Take away the border and background colors of your AdSense ads. These make them stand out as ads rather than information your visitors will be interested in. As said earlier, your ads should blend into the page. By making them appear as information you're providing, you're giving them another point of interest rather than an ad that many people might shy away from.
6) Expand Your Site
Expanding your site and adding pages should go hand in hand. However, expanding your site could just mean adding and refining content. It's important that you add pages with quality content as well. This increases your search engine ranking and gives more pages for AdSense ads.
7) Move the Ads
Sometimes return visitors only see what's new or what's changed. Move your ads from time to time, especially if you notice your CTR dropping. More often than not, you'll see an increase again as those same return visitors notice something in a different place and actually start to click through the same ads they didn't "see" last week.
8) Ad Format
Wider ads appeal to more visitors because they're easier to read. If something is easy to read, someone is more likely to take the time to read everything rather than just glancing at the first few words. However, it's important to balance your ads and the content on your pages. You'll discover that the way you think the ads should be for optimal CTR aren't always where they need to be. Monitor your ad placement versus CTR and you'll find the place and format that works best on each page.
9) Don't Chase the Million Dollar Keywords
Don't try to compete with the experts for the $100 keyword. It may work from time to time, but you'll have more success with mid-range keywords, and less competition too. By using mid-range keywords, you are more likely to achieve success over the long term. Remember that success in driving targeted traffic to your site by being ranked high in the search engines will increase your CTR with AdSense.
10) Use Text Ads, not Image Ads
By far, more webmasters have had success with text ads and not image ads. They look more like part of the document and are more appealing to visitors. Feel free to experiment with both, but text ads blend into your site better and result in higher CTR.
When trying any new method of using AdSense or new placements, be sure to monitor and track the results. After all, you're experimenting to see what brings you the highest CTR. By documenting your results, you'll know what makes the most money for you and you'll become one of the AdSense Webmaster gurus in no time at all.
Both Rudolf Freidlander & Qualrock are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rudolf Freidlander has sinced written about articles on various topics from Domains, Blogging and Online Dating. Discover How YOU - Or Anyone - Can Easily Create Your Own Professional In Just A Few Minutes without Having To Hire An Expensive Web Designer OR Use A. Rudolf Freidlander's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
Qualrock has sinced written about articles on various topics from Adsense, Software and Affiliate Programs. Please browse for more information at our websites. . Qualrock's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.