200+ Uniques/daily, PR4, $3/daily...

[haakonu]

My site, http://www.smartsoftware.org, is not exactly making me a lot of cash. I am working on increasing the number of visitors by adding more free cellphone content, but I would appreciate any ideas on how to optimize the adsense placement/design.

Regards,
Haakon

[wildfiction]

When I clicked on your link it just showed a web with a banner and nothing else except in my browser it said "error on page".

So problem might be that the web site isn't working - or possible that my browser is not working. Perhaps trying surfing it through an anonymous web proxy and see if it still works for you.

[haakonu]

Strange. I tested it using www.the-cloak.com , and it worked fine.

I have used IE6, Opera & firefox to test the site.

Could you try again?

[wildfiction]

Okay - this time it opened - but it still says errors on page in the status bar.

A comment about your ads: They are very well hidden on the page. I think that you need to make them more pronounced. Put a 728x90 at the top for example and perhaps an AdLinks line - just my opinion.

[MisterTut]

A very basic no-no...you have no ads above the fold!
I second Wildfiction's suggestions.

[haakonu]

Thank you both for your comments.

A comment about your ads: They are very well hidden on the page. I think that you need to make them more pronounced. Put a 728x90 at the top for example and perhaps an AdLinks line - just my opinion.

I used to have a leaderboard at the top. Never got any clicks whatsoever. Perhaps I should put it back in and see what happens.

There is a large rectangle above the fold, heading Relevant Links. It seems to disappear at times; perhaps my content isn't focused enough?

There are also adsense some other places; in the downloads-section and the forum. Haven't seen many clicks from them...

Any more advice would be highly appreciated! I would love to at least cover my hosting...

[thamisgith]

Put some ads above the fold.

The "relevant links" is below the fold (just) in my browser.

[golden14]

I also tried visiting your site, even on our broadband pipe at work to start with only the banner came up (with error message), but I waited and then around 20secs later the rest of the site appeared. I suspect that it's the big graphic of the phone combined with the other graphics further down that are causing this to little glitch with people just seeing the banner to start with. I'd be tempted to replace the smartphone graphic and put a link to it instead such as 'click here to view the'.
Run your url through http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ it shows you how long your page take to load up via different links e.g. dialup, 56k, adsl etc.
Bear in mind most people statistically want the page up with in around 10-15secs otherwise they'll click away. Try it for a few days with reduced numbers of graphics. I did this on my sites and visitor length went up (as did adsense) the faster it loaded. Hope this helps

[haakonu]

Once more - thank you for excellent suggestions! I have moved the images inside the article itself and moved the Adsense-blocks above the fold. I have also added a searchbox.

Any thoughts on the way it looks now? I am about to add a lot of content, once this is done I will mail my 11.000+ members about the new stuff.


Regards,
Haakon

[RAD]

I'm not sure where you are getting your free content. I just found goarticles.com and really like their content.

RAD

[haakonu]

Most of the articles are from a column I wrote; SmartWare, which ran in the Mensa International Journal 1998-2004. Others are credited with the authors info.

[thamisgith]

I think the new layout is much better, from an Adsense viewpoint.

You could also try to get images that line up - more or less - with the ads.

I'm thinking about where you have the cell phone between the 2 adsense blocks - maybe you could put 4 different handsets vertically aligned, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll see an improvement in your CTR. Hope it works for you!

[golden14]

I ran your site through url through the analzer this morning - your download times have halved!!! Keep us informed of how you get on, only other comment is I'd be tempted to make the blue url's black and try making the heading's blue (0000FF) is 'the' colour that is recond to get the best results. Overall looks much better. Interested to see the results when unleashed to your membership.

[haakonu]

Yoohooo!

Using the suggestions here, I made $6.13 yesterday! :)

I am about to implement the linkcolor-changes you suggested, golden14.

Thank you all!

Haakon
http://www.smartsoftware.org

[golden14]

Glad the changes worked! Let us know how the earnings go! Joel, why not set up a section on the forum for site earnings from inception, to full flow etc. I think many people would be interested to see how people 'critiques' pushed up peoples adsense incomes. :)

[golden14]

Site looks great with the changes!