Just a Little More Money From a Website
By taking the following steps on a website/forum, I was able to bring in almost 7% more income for the owner during the first 2.5 months:
- Added a leaderboard display ad from Google AdSense on the top of the landing page
- Added a leaderboard display ad from Media.net on the bottom of the landing page
- Added a leaderboard display ad from Media.net in the middle of a newly created affiliate page
For more details, please check out the sections below:
- My Story
- Research
- Implementation/Finalization
- Continuous Improvement
- Lessons for Dumber Self
- Next Step for You
Last year, I received an opportunity to evaluate a website/forum with the goal of increasing its income generation potential. This website started over a decade and a half ago and has grown to over 120,000 registered members. It receives income from an advertising and affiliate program.
My Story
To initialize the assessment, I noted the locations of the existing ads, kept an eye for current ads that might need to be updated, and looked for potential areas for new ads. In addition, I asked questions of the owner to understand why ads were or were not set up a certain way. Lastly, I learned how the ads on the website were set up and what policies needed to be followed.
With this background information, I kicked off my project!
How was I able to increase the income for the website? What I did included research, implementation, analysis, and adjustment.
Research
Since the website that I was working on already used ads from Google AdSense, I browsed the internet for other ideas for revenue. What I came across were articles featuring Media.net as an alternative or an addition to Google AdSense. One of the helpful articles on DreamGrow’s website, Media.net Review: 3x Better Than Adsense? (2022 Major Update!), included the following information:
- Pros and cons
- FAQs
In addition, MonetizeMore’s article HOW MANY ADSENSE ADS SHOULD YOU HAVE PER PAGE? highlighted some useful tips when using Google AdSense.
Lastly, the article Standard Banner Sizes For Most Effective Campaigns on QwikBanners’s website has a list of banner ad sizes accepted across all advertising networks, along with the respective usage frequency. I certainly devoured the tip that the top 4 most used ad sizes can reach 82% of the intended audience.
Implementation/Finalization
In summary, I made the following changes to the website/forum:
- Tweaked two and added three ads for Google AdSense
- Created a new web page with the Amazon affiliate link and added two ads that were subsequently removed
- Added four Media.net ads
After I made the individual changes from above, I reviewed the respective ad performance reports to decide whether to keep or revert the modifications. The following chart lists each action that I took, along with the conclusion and explanation for each of them:
| Step # | Google AdSense | Amazon Native Recommendation Shopping Ad | Media.net | Decision / Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Changed a display ad’s size from Fixed to Responsive | Kept it. Change had minimal dollar impact. | ||
| 2 | Added a leaderboard display ad on the top of the landing page | Kept it. Change brought in new income. | ||
| 3 | Added a leaderboard display ad on the top of the new affiliate page | Kept it. New page created for visibility to an affiliate link also included the ad automatically as part of the forum set-up, thus potentially earning new income. | ||
| 4 | Added a leaderboard display ad on the bottom of the new affiliate page | Kept it. Same rationale as Step #3. | ||
| 5 | Added the ad in the middle of the newly created affiliate page | Reverted it. Earned more income from other Amazon ad types and wanted to try using a Media.net ad. | ||
| 6 | Added the ad to the bottom of the landing page | Reverted it. Same rationale as Step #5. | ||
| 7 | Added a medium rectangle ad on the right side of the forum index page | Kept it. Change brought in new income and adding a Google AdSense ad would violate Google’s policy. | ||
| 8 | Added a leaderboard ad in the middle of the affiliate page | Kept it. Same rationale as Step #7. | ||
| 9 | Added a leaderboard ad on the bottom of the landing page | Kept it. Same rationale as Step #7. | ||
| 10 | Moved existing skyscraper display ad down on the wiki page | Added a wide skyscraper ad above the existing skyscraper display ad on the wiki page | Kept it. Change introduced a way to diversify the income source. |
I have made some improvements during this initial assessment of the website/forum, but there is much more to learn about monetization. To start, I will take on the following steps:
Continuous Improvement
- Further analyze the revenue trends to better take advantage of the rises and mitigate the falls
- Continue to look for more of the complementary income generating ideas
Completing the project has taught me some important lessons that I can apply to future websites.
Lessons for Dumber Self
- Before building a new website/forum, determine if monetizing it is part of the strategy and if so, use the platform and plan that would best achieve this in the long-term.
- Understand the ideal conditions in which a potential monetization method or source should be applied.
- Include strategies to combat the uncontrollable decrease in income from a website resulting from changes to users’ purchasing and clicking patterns.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Assess your website to see how the revenue can be increased?
- Create a blueprint to reverse the downward income trends of your website?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)