BobBuskirk.com
Yes I Make Money Online

With affiliate marketing becoming so popular people are moving away from Google Adsense, but a lot of people are still dependent on it for income and I am one of those people. Since Google decided to screw us on the clickable area it has been harder and harder to make the money we used to. As I said affiliate marketing is very popular now so a lot of people are not talking about Adsense that much. Well since I still use it and I depend on it I will give you some tips that might increase your CTR and your income as a whole.

Blend Links In
If you are using in-content ads you should make the ads the same color as your links or text on your page. People will think that they are part of your page, not an ad. You can see what I mean here, as you can see we have the ad titles the same color as our links, people think these are actually part of the site, not an ad. Another good way to blend links in is on a sidebar. If you have a sidebar and add want to add some ads into it you should try to make them look like they are navigation links. The Link Units work great for this.

Make Ads Stand Out
Now I just said to make ads blend in, but there are times that you want ads to stand out. I very good example of this is a 728 x 90 or 468 x 60 ad on the top of a website. If have tried blending these in, but I had more success when I made them stand out. So when it comes to blending ads and making them stand out the general rule of thumb is if the ad is in the content blend it, if it is outside the content make it stand out. Also make sure you stay away from the default Ads style, by now a lot of people know that style and just seeing it they know it is an ad and won’t click on it.

Ad Sizes
A lot of people mess around with a lot of different ad sizes. When it comes to in content ads you want the biggest ad possible, so the user has the most options to pick from. For in content ads I usually use a 336 x 280 large rectangle or if space is limited I use a 300 x 250. These ads usually show 3-4 ads which gives the user more to choose from so they are likely to click at least one of the ads.

Integration
This is basically combining all of the tips above. If you integrate ads into your site well you will be successful. A lot of people just put up ads and expect to make money, that’s not how it works. You also don’t want to plaster ads all over your site. More ads does not always mean more money.

Tweaking
I have explained above what works for me, but it might not always work for you. If you are not happy with your CTR then change your ad colors, or move the ad completely. Make sure you test different ad placements and ad colors. Try the ad at one color for a week and then the next week try it with another color. If you see a big difference in CTR and income go with the color that performed best. Also after a while you might want to change up your ads because the people who frequent your site know what color the ads are by now, so if you change it up they are more likely to click on the ads. Adsense is all about tweaking.

Besides all of good times at the parties and events during CES the thing that I took away most from CES was motivation. I have been working on ThinkComputers since 2001 and I wouldn’t have imagined that it would be my full-time job that actually pays well and I enjoy doing. I proved to a lot of people that I could make ThinkComputers into a real business and I am proud of that. Now ThinkComputers is nowhere near where I want it to be as far as traffic and exposure, but it has grown a lot over this past year. At CES I realized that if I work hard good things will happen.

Name Recognition
Previous years at CES I would introduce myself to companies and they would have no clue what ThinkComputers even was. Now when I introduce myself they have heard of the site and know who we are and what we do. Also since we have been working with some companies for a few years now you don’t even have to introduce yourself to them, they come over and say hi to you. These companies deal with tons of press and customers and it is nice that they know who you are and take the time out to talk to you.

Doing What You Like To Do
My last few years of high school and when I was in college I always thought, “wouldn’t it be great if I could do this for a living”, and of course now I am doing that. When I was growing up I was always watching tech shows on TV. Shows like The Screen Savers and Fresh Gear bring back good memories. I always enjoyed those shows and now I am doing what they do, and I even see some of those people at the events I am at. Patrick Norton (The Screen Savers, now Tekzilla) and Jim Louderback (Fresh Gear, now CEO of Revision3) were both at the PC Race for Charity this year. It is really cool being in the same industry with people you were watching on TV growing up.

Wine and Dinned
During CES there are a lot of parties, but many companies take their clients out showing them appreciation for what they have done for them. This year at CES we were taken out by Lite-On and AOC to go see Phanton of the Opera then to the amazing restaurant Zeffirino. It was a great night and one of the most memorable nights from CES this year. It is nice that companies will take you out to show their appreciation for your work.

What Could Be
Each year at CES you meet new people and there are always good conversations. Most tech site owners that I have met are great people and even if their site is huge. A lot of the guys this year were giving me tips and how to improve on things. Also they were telling me about companies flying them out to product launches and things like that. It was cool to get the advice from my peers and also to hear what companies will do for you when you reach that level.

CES is always a great trip and if there is anything I bring out of it, it is motivation to keep on working hard. I can see how successful people are at what they are doing and it motivates me to work even hard to get to that level and beyond.

Almost every trade show you go to there will be some type of swag given away, usually its t-shirts and pens, but some companies go out of their way to have some really cool swag to make you remember them. This year at CES I did end up getting a good amount of swag, although I really did not try to get a lot of it. It is a pain to try to fit it all into your suitcase and a lot of it is junk really, I think I still have half of the swag I got last year sitting in my closet.

So what good did I get this year? Well AOC and Lite-On had some really good swag, they gave us a rolling bag with a ton of stuff in it. This was given to us at the Phantom of the Opera night out, it was not regular swag that was given out on the show floor. At the Sony Online Entertainment party everyone was given a grab bag with the game Pirates of the Burning sea and DVD on how they made the game. Also they gave out a ton of t-shirts there. It seems the bigger items were given out at parties, but I did manage to get some cool things on the show floor. My friends at Lenovo were nice enough to give me a watch and a 2GB flash drive. Besides that everything was the typical things you usually get at CES. The other bag in the picture is the press bag that is given out to all press.

I guess I should do a contest, besides the bags (which I am keeping) what is something from the picture above that you would like to see be given away. Just leave a comment below and whichever items get the most votes I will give away in a week or so.

Arbitrage is a word you probably have heard around the blogosphere. So what is it really? Wikipedia explains that arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price differential between two or more markets. So basically you want to capitalize on the imbalance. Still don’t follow? Ok let’s make this easier, say you make a new hockey website with Google Ads on it. You buy an AdWords campaign with a limit of $25 a day to bring traffic to the site, at the end of the day you have made $50. So you are paying less per click for the traffic. So there is the imbalance right there. There are a few different types of arbitrage that I have tried and I will explain them to you below.

Adsense Arbitrage
This is probably the most popular type of arbitrage. It is just like I explained above, but you probably won’t turn out with a profit by making a hockey site. The thing about arbitrage sites is it is not about the content, these are sites that are made to make you money, not something you should care a lot about. So make the content quick and to the point, but whatever the content is make sure it has high paying keywords. Some arbitrage sites I have created are about sleeping pills, protein supplements, and of course male enhancement pills. These keywords pay very, very high! Also make sure your adsense units are very visible so people will click them. Now getting traffic to the site, you can either create an AdWords campaign or use other services like adengage to get traffic to the site. I have seen 2x to 8x profits from this type of arbitrage. Now you do have to watch as Google may ban you for doing this.

CPC & Commission Arbitrage
There are many advertising services that offer products some of them include Amazon, TTZ Media and Shopzilla. They will provide ads of specific products. You want to find a service that offers a set CPC rate like TTZ Media does. So think of a popular product, say an iPod. You make a site called iPod deals with a ton of TTZ Media ads. Just like with Adsense arbitrage you want to drive traffic to the site, once people go to the site you hope they click the ads and you get your set amount per click. You hope that you make more from the clicks than you are putting in for traffic.

With any type of arbitrage you are looking for a 50% click rate or higher. As you know your CTR depends on the placement of the ads, so make sure they are very visible. Also people who make a lot of money on arbitrage don’t even mess with low paying keywords, they want to make the most for the money they are spending on traffic. These people spend a large amount of money on traffic, because usually if you have a good keyword in arbitrage the more you spend the more you will make.

As I said CES really kicked my ass! Unlike a lot of people who went for fun, I was there for work. One of my goals for this year is to take ThinkComputers to the next level and with that means a lot more work. So while at CES we tried to cover as much as we could as well as meet new companies and fit in a few parties. For those who haven’t been over to ThinkComputers in the past week or so here is what you’ve missed from CES…

CES Unveiled 2008
Digital Experience
Buffalo Technology
The Booth Babes
Antec
Microsoft
ViewSonic
Thermaltake
Intel
Targus
Dell
ASUS
Sony
In Win
Lunch @ Piero’s
Zalman
Cooler Master
Hewlett-Packard (HP)
The Sands Expo

As you can see there is a lot there so make sure you check out a few of the articles.