Ad Testing: Don’t Leave Money On The Table
Thursday, August 28th, 2008 |
As competition continues to increase on the internet it is the attention to detail and small efforts that create separation from the crowd. All webmasters operating for a profit should be making the most of every visitor by optimizing their advertising strategy. This can be achieved through regular ad testing.
I’m big on diversification and because of that I’m involved in quite a few niches that couldn’t be more different. Over the years I’ve learned that different audiences react to ad placements and formats quite differently. Just because something works for a financial investment audience doesn’t mean it’s going to work on the MySpace crowd.
This is exactly why it is critical to test and optimize your ads. I know it is easy to just leave things as they are when money starts coming in especially considering ad testing is not exactly “Fun” work, but making the effort to test your ads is one of the best uses of your time from a monetary aspect. I’ve typically found that from my initial baseline ad setup I can increase my income by at least double digit margins.
So What Needs To Be Tested?
There are a lot of answers to this question but I like to focus on placement, medium and revenue model.
Ad Placement: This all really depends on how many ads you have on your site but the key is to put the highest paying ads in the best spots. Typically this spot will be centrally located around content but that is by no means a given.
Medium: This refers to the type of ad. What ad medium does your audience respond to? Text ads? Banners? Lead Forms? Can you get away with interstitials? Find out.
Revenue Model: This one takes the most amount of effort but can bring the biggest returns. Options to consider are PPC (Adsense), CPM or per impression advertising, eCommerce, Time based rates (monthly banner or link), affiliate advertising or a rev share model. There are lot of options to get creative with private ad deals as well.
So How Can I Test My Ads?
Ad testing involves data analysis and some subjectivity. Sometimes the winners are obvious and sometimes it’s a lot closer. There are many ways to quantify what works but I like to keep it fairly simple by comparing my revenue stats with my Google Analytics data and heat map activity.
The ability to measure varies depending on the type of advertising. I like to set up goals in Google Analytics to measure click through rates and conversion rates if I don’t already have them. I also keep a close eye on how ad changes impact user data such as bounce rates, average time on the site and impressions per user.
As far as the heat map goes you can get a visual picture of visitor activity on your site and adjust accordingly. There are several heatmap options out there but I’ve been using ClickHeat (free) as of late and am pleased with it.
Ad testing is really a must for any serious website owner. It’s not something that you can sit down and do over a couple of hours as much as it is an ongoing process and a task that becomes part of the routine. There is no manual on how to test and optimize advertising because it differs from one site to the next. I hope this post can serve as a primer to encourage you to maximize the return on your efforts through ad testing.
