Stuart McHenry - My Internet World

We have a handful of wordpress blogs and yesterday was the first time I used the adsense plugin from Wayne Walrath of Acme Technologies. I don’t know why it took me so long to use it and I’m a bit embarrassed since Wayne is a good friend. *sorry it took so long* but it could not have be easier.

Here are some of the advantages:

-Switching all AdSense ads to a new color scheme across the entire site
-Trying out image ads instead of textual ads
-Testing alternate AdSense formats
-Disabling a class of AdSense ads, or even all ads
-Including common formatting for AdSense ad blocks (less typing)
-Testing alternate ad placements for higher click-thru rates
-Controlling ads within your WP template files.

My favorite feature is the ability to switch different formats out quick and easy. I do tons of testing on a lot of our sites and I always look for a quick way to change out colors, sizes and styles.

One of the hidden features is the support Wayne offers with his plugin. I had some questions about it so I fired off an email and I got a response from him the next day. If you run adsense on your wordpress blog… you cannot go wrong with AdSense-Deluxe WordPress Plugin.

I know I’m not alone but some days I can almost time the next YPN or Adsense update in my head. I sit here working away and then I realize it’s time to check the cash flow. It’s funny how often one logs in to their accounts to check and see how much they have made for the day. I sure there are some of us out there that check it over a dozen times per day. Why is it so addicting?

It’s pointless to login and check your accounts so much but people do. It’s not like you can actually change the SERPS from one hour to another. I have to admit there are times I’m one of those people. I spoke with a friend who said if someone is waiting for him… he has to check his accounts (he makes them wait) when he gets in for the day. He said there has been numerous occasions where he just walked in the door from getting food or whatnot and he goes straight for the PC to check his accounts. He hands his the food off to his wife… it’s like the PC has some sort of tractor beam pulling him in.

I’m sure he and I are not the only ones.

YPN could be the ultimate contextual advertising program but they lack one basic function:

relevant ads

We have a small handful of sites that could run YPN ads on… but should we? The few sites that we identified are not geo-specific sites. They are sites which fit better with the type of ads YPN is currently serving up. For example if you have a health site that is not very specific to the type of health issue or products then YPN would be good for it.

It has been about a month since we started with YPN and we now have pulled the ads off of one of the two testing sites. There are a few reasons why we pulled the ads… the important thing to know is it was purely a business decision.

When we first started out our average click was around $2.50. I’m not 100% sure why but it has dropped to just about a $1.00 per click now. I could speculate why but it really doesn’t matter… the bottom line is I’m getting much less now.

The biggest reason is the click through rate. The two sites we tested out YPN on the click through rate was considerably (4%-14%) low but at first this didn’t matter as the overall revenue was more. The last two weeks this hasn’t been the case since the average cost per click is lower now we started loosing money. We get considerably higher click through rate from Google Adsense since the ads are very targeted to what the visitors are looking for.

Since we pulled our YPN ads off of one of the sites we are experiencing an average of 24% increase of revenue. Once Yahoo gets a better handle on targeting ads I think YPN would be a better choice but until that time we will run YPN on a limited basis.

The Yahoo Publisher Network is fast becoming the contextual advertising choice of many webmasters. As of last month YPN had 2,000 accounts but a few days ago 1,000 more invites were sent out.

The prices per click are significantly higher than Google Adsense but currently there are down sides as well. If you run a geo targeted site.. chances are the contextual ads are not relevant to what your site is about… which leads to lower click through.

Jeremy and I spoke with Will Johnson, VP and GM of the Yahoo Publisher Network back in November (at pubcon) about his network. Will ensured us that we will see significant improvements in the first part of 2006 with the relevance of the ads. I have already seen an improvement in the ads over the last month. Unfortunately the improvements aren’t to the point where I can start using YPN on our larger money makers.