A site review and ideas please..

[AuctionMan]

Hi all,

I joined the forum after being recommended to by a friend and I am glad I have as there are some great posts on here already that have helped me. I am running the site Online Auction Trader (http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com) and have been trying to develop the adsense income side of things.

I have just given the site a graphical update, there are still pages in the old format that I will get updated to the new look shortly but my main aim is to develop my adsense earnings and this is the reason for my post...

Please take a look at the site and see what you think I can do to improve earnings, so far my best day has been $11 and my worst 16cents(!!) and there seems to be no consistency on a day to day basis although the traffic is always at or around the 100 uniques a day..

All comments appreciatted, thanks in advance for your time.

Mike

[kjcdude]

you got some cool little html things on there that i just might use when i get lazy

[Matthew]

Ok, I like the site, but there are definitely things that you can change with your Google Ads.

First, never use the 486x60 banner Google ad. They have proven to be the worst performing ad size in all of Google history. I would suggest that on your homepage you use a large box ad as they perform much better.

On your "e-bay articles resources" page you use two 250x250 ads in the middle. This is great, but the colors should be changed to match the text around them. The link should be the same blue that your links are. In fact, all the ads on your site should be like this.

I'm not sure if you realized this but some of your articles have no formatting. They are just one HUGE block of bolded text. Nobody will read these articles and therefore will not click on the ads.

As for your articles I would suggest using the large box ad instead of the 728x90 banner ad. I would place one at the top, the middle, and the bottom of each article. Also, don't make the articles bolded. It is very hard to read that way.

My last suggestion would be to use an ad link unit in your left navigation bar and your top navigation bar on the other pages that have it. This will give the users something else to click on.

Hope this helps!

[AuctionMan]

Cheers, just the reply I was looking for to give me a kick in the butt and do something to address it :D

Took your advice and sorted the frontpage, I am getting to the article pages and will sort out the blocks/formatting so that is follows the likes of 0% Credit Cards (http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com/creditcards.htm) that I have just reworked following your advice.

Please take another look, if you have the time, and let me know if this was what you were suggesting.

Cheers,

Mike

PS. Do link ads work? I have heard mixed results from them.

[Matthew]

PS. Do link ads work? I have heard mixed results from them.

That depends on your site. Try them out, and if they don't work, then remove them! :)

I'm looking at your site now...

[Matthew]

The page at http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com/creditcards.htm is exactly what I meant, except that I would remove the Google ad on the left navigation bar and make a third box ad at the bottom of the article, or make a 728x90 ad at the bottom.

Looks good!

[AuctionMan]

Matthew,

Thanks a lot for your great advice, I have just loaded my channels into adsense properly now so I can start to measure what effect the changes have had.

Any more advice from anyone is appreciated.

MIke

[Matthew]

Much better! I am confident that your revenue will increase.

Just one last thing. Your article at http://www.onlineauctiontrader.com/articles/how_to_start_a_successful_home_jewelry_business.ht ml is just one big block of text. You may want to format it.

Also, don't forget to change the ads in your articles to 336x280 boxes, and put one at the top, middle, and bottom.