About a year ago I decided to turn the site into a blog using Word Press as my blogging platform. The changeover went smoothly and went well for a couple of months. Then withough any explanation the Adsense revenue stopped. In fact the number of impressions that showed up in my Adsense account panel dropped to an average of 0 to 2 a day if that much. I examined all aspects of my site and could not find anything wrong. I tried several different WP layouts and still no change……….. Adsense was seemingly dead.  My Google analytics showed the same level of traffic but zero impressions on average in Adsense. This went on for a couple of months while I scratched my head.

Finally last week I decided to take the site back to a static html format. I rebuilt the site as a “directory” style website which will provide answers to about any question a visitor in this niche could have. I kept Adsense on the site and within 24 hours of re-launching the new site it was indexed in Google and voila…..  Adsense impressions immediatey climbed to the level they were a year ago. Click throughs are going up and for the first time in almost a year income is being generated via Adsense from this site.

I still cannot figure out what is going on. I have adsense on other blogs but they do not do well. Have I overlooked something with regards to Adsense and Word Press? Although blogging format provides for easier updates to my sites, am I losing income because a conflict of some sort that I am not aware of?

I would like to hear from any of you who have had the same problem.

What do I mean by deep links you ask? A deep link is a link that comes to you from another site but does not point to your index page. But wait a minute…… don’t I want all of my links to point to my home page so people will find out what I am all about? Not necessarily. While links to your homepage are needed and do help people to find your site, wouldn’t you rather have someone refer a visitor via a text link directly to one of your site’s inner pages and provide that visitor with an immediate solution to what they seek?

Another advantage of having a deep link is the originators website will pass “link juice” to your inner page thus making it stronger in value which in turn will have a positive effect on you overall page strength.

Let me use the example of one of my websites which is a trucking industry website. TruckerHub.com is a directory style site that has links to almost every aspect of the trucking industry. While I would certainly like a lot of in-bound links point to my home page, it is advantageous to me to have a trucking website specialty site link directly to a page within my site dealing with that subject. For instance a specialty chrome shop could link directly to one of my inner pages that deal with chrome modification and customization for trucks. The visitor to that page obviously wants chrome related info and by landing on that subject page you save the new visitor time.

Deep linking also helps in your search returns as your inner pages start to show up in better positions for more precise searches such as “chrome plating for trucks”.

If I had my preference I would want 25% of my inbound links to hit my home page and the other 75% to go to inner pages for deep linking.

What are your thoughts on deep linking?

If your website truly provides a “solution” to a need or problem then it will be successfule no matter where it ranks on Google.  I dare say that a quality website that gives the visitor what they want on a consistant basis will do well even if they are at number 900 in a Google search return. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising medium. Good search return rankings will be a natural result of the success of a website as others link to it (at least for now).  We must learn to anticipate what visitors will want and to put ourselves in the visitors shoes. If I know someone has come to my site based on a referal then I need to make sure I solve their problem and then give an incentive to comeback.

Have content of the quality that will make them want to sign up for emails or subscribe to RSS feeds or at least bookmark your site. The new game in town is no longer going to be SEO but PQS (Provide Quality Solutions).

More and more I am of the firm belief a minimalist design is the best option for a website. Google is a perfect example of minimalism in design. With a “sparse” design the visitor will know what to do. No searching around for menu links or reading through “keyword” laden text or over the top graphics. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that by providing a simple solution to a visitors need you will not only retain a visitor but that visitor will tell others how simple it is to find something at your site.

But what about text and keywords and relevant content you ask? All of that can be provided at your website; it just doesn’t all need to be stuffed into one spot. I think as more and more people become numb to webpage sensory overload, they are going to welcome a simple interface that quickly takes them to their answer. On subject or topic per page with one supporting advertisment that a business will pay for to be the only solution your site provides to it’s visitor.

Does this make sense to you. I am about to start and expirement with a domain I have had for a couple years that has not really done anyting on it’s own. I am going to pare down the design to the bare basics and turn it into a simple directory of answers the the particular industry that it deals with. No graphics, no rows of banner ads, no overwhelming text; Just a simple gateway to an answer. We will use social networking to promote and hopefully the quality of the visitors answer will become well known enough that the site starts to be known as the “only” destination for information and answers in it’s particular niche.

If this expirement is successful I will post the url on this blog as well all the steps I took to get the site known in its niche community.

Who knows, I may just be daydreaming, but then again, I like simple and easy to use. Maybe others will too.

What is your opinion?

Readers pick up on the fact that you are writing because you enjoy it. When a reader is not bombared by advertisnig as soon as your page comes up ( or those damn annoying pop up window that a lot of top MMO bloggers are using) the reader has a better experience. They realize you do this for fun and therefore the info is going to be better quality and more genuine. That is when you get traffice and referrals. Once your blog has grown to hundreds of unique visitors a day you can monetize is but dont go overboard like others………  (you know who I am talking about)

So take a break and start a blog for fun and see where it takes you.

What prompted me to do this was a posting I did the other day with Garry Conn’s name in it which gave me a google page 2 return when someone searched on his name.

I guess I come from old school web design, if there is such a thing as old school.  I believe in the Keep It Simple philosophy of design.  When a visitor comes to one of my sites I want to be able to immediately find what they are looking for.  I do not want distractions and I don’t want my visitor to have to hunt for the information they are seeking.

Keeping your design simple has another major advantage as well. SEO (search engine optimization) is much easier on a simple site than on one with multiple layers of what some call information, what I call distractions.

I look at each website design two ways. How easy is it for my human visitor to navigate through my website and find what they are looking for and second, how the search engines move through the site on their periodic crawls. What I have found is that if the site is easy for a human to use then it will be very easy for a search engine to crawl. True, my websites might not be as “pretty” and “flashy” as some and they will never be considered as “eye candy” but what they will do is provide a constant source of information for the visitor.

Simple design equals simple use which equals a sticky website.  A sticky website means repeat visitors and repeat visitors will bring lots of traffic and you will benefit from that traffic by simple “unobtrusive” limited advertising, whether it be a banner ad or something as simple and effective as Adsense.
I would rather provide my visitors with solutions that may involve 2 or 3 advertisers than solutions that offer 15 or 20 advertisers. Those 2 or 3 will probably pay more than the total of the 15-20 due to the increased traffic you are sending them.

Anyway, that is my opinion for what it is worth.  How do you feel about this subject?

My potential new client has said in return for doing SEO work on his website I can have one year of Adsense placement using my Adsense ID. Basically I optimize his site and my payment comes from whatever income is generated by Adsense and other affiliate programs. The site is in a fairly high payout niche and it would offer an extra incentive to me to ensure the site becomes higly visible.

What is your opinon of an arrangement like this? The only thing that bothers me is what if the site starts generating a good income stream then in 12 months I have to give it up? hhmmmmm

Spread the wealth??  What a crock of crap.  Is Barak Obama out of his mind? Does he not realize what he is going to do to people like me? I AM MIDDLE AMERICA.  If he is elected I stand to lose my job as my small business owner employer will be forced to pay more taxes to fund Obamas social programs.

Make money online? How about Lose Money Online.  Can you tell I am angry? I rarely write when I am upset but I can’t help it. Sure Bush has made some blunders but not all our problems are his fault. God help us if he is elected. Might as well go ahead and change our name to the Socialist States of America and put a hammer and sickle on our flag.

Step 1: I build a nice looking website that is pleasing to the eye complete with different gift certificate purchase options and information. This site is constructed in such a way that as each holiday throughout the year rolls around, I can quickly change the look to reflect that holiday.  In the case of the one I am working on now, it is Christmas oriented.

Step 2: I go to my local Staples or Kinko’s and I get 1000 business cards made that say “Looking for a gift certificate for a holiday gift?” or something to that effect.  I put the website addess on it along with some names of various types of certificates (monetary, dinner, actual gift, discount, etc…) and I start passing them out.  I always keep at least 100 cards with me at all times and my goal is to hand out 100 cards a day. If I run out I simply go and order another 1000.

When crunch time comes for gift purchases hopefully those people you have handed them out to will pull them out and go to your website. Don’t hesitate to email your friends and family with the website address and ask them nicely to pass it on to thier friends and family as well.

There you go. Two simple steps to market your holiday gift certificate website offline and generate online affiliate sales. Simple but effective (especially if you live in a smaller town like I do.)