Is Google Adsense Killing Your Business?
By Joe Balestrino, Mon Jan 2nd
As an SEO expert, I do site evaluations daily. It amazes me howpeople are willing to put Google ads all over their pages in theinterest of earning a few extra bucks without considering theconsequences to their business. Think about it. If you areselling a service or product, why would you allow the ads ofyour competitors on your site? Are you willing to sacrifice asale for the few pennies you'll make if someone clicks on theads? It's ok to include Google ads in some instances, even Ihave some ads on my site. Knowing where and when to allow googleads on your pages is key to maximizing revenue from your trafficwhile minimizing the chances of lost business. Google ads are based on the content that is on your site.Because your content is about a particular product or service,the ads on your site will also be about similar products orservices. If the ads are compelling enough, people will clickthem and leave your site. Sure, you'll make some chump change,but how much would you have made on a sale if you hadn't givenyour customers a window to the competition? Many site owners know where to put ads to get the most exposurebut not where to place them for minimized risk. Places on thetop of the page, side and middle are the most common areas forGoogle ads. An ad on the top of the page will be seen beforeyour content. If you absolutely must place ads, at least putyour content first and place the ads on the bottom. If they'vealready looked through your material and haven't found what theywere looking for, you can still make a little revenue on theirway out.
Many websites don't sell products or services, but instead relyon Google ads for revenue. For these businesses, Google ads makeperfect sense. Other businesses sell products for which Googleads can still be a benefit. For instance, if a business sells aspecialized product that can be found nowhere else, Google adsaren't going to be a source
of competition. Perhaps you sell anaftermarket car product that you yourself manufacture. If thereis nothing else like it on the market, why not allow otheraftermarket manufacturer's ads on your site? Your customerswon't find your product on another site, yet they might belooking for other products in addition to yours that you don'tsell. Another reason to allow competing Google ads on your siteis if you are certain that the products or services you areoffering are a great value. If you are cheaper than thecompetition, and you know it, it's a boon to your business toencourage your potential customers to comparison shop. In alllikelihood, they will come back to you to make a purchase andyou will have made a little extra money in the process. You are probably saying to yourself, "Joe, we can block ads wedon't want on our site". My reply is..."Why have ads at all,then?". Think about this: blocking your competitor's ads willnot only reduce the number of ads to display on your site, butalso decrease the relevance of the remaining ads. The more urlsyou block the less the chance of the ads being relevant. Sowhat's the point of having them at all? In that case, they'llserve no purpose but to clutter up your pages. What do you think it says about your business if you are usingGoogle ads to generate extra income? I tell you what it says tome. It says you're not selling. If you're not selling, chancesare your products and services, prices or website are not up topar or your site hasn't been optimized and you have no traffic. In general, sites that sell services or products should bepushing their own stuff and not someone else's. When didbusiness change? Just because you can make money placing ads onyour site doesn't mean it is always (or ever) in your bestinterest.
About the author:For SEO, SEM, web design and more visit Joe's sitefor a free evaluation http://www.mr-seo.com Listen t o Joe'sPodcast at http://mrseo.podomatic.com/ Or, read more articles onSEO visit http://mr-seo.blogspot.com |
