No Ads Experiment

[Scott Greczkowski]

Registered Members today are seeing something a little different... (and no it's not an April Fools Joke.)

Today Registered SatelliteGuys Members are seeing the site just like Supporting Pub Members with NO SYNDICATED ADS!

On the advice of Google Adsense we are trying an experiment by shutting off the syndicated ads that registered members see. They tell us that by shutting off the ads that it will increase our click thru ratio by the unregistered users and thus we would see an increase in total earnings.

While this change would only have an effect on the Google ads, I have turned off the other syndicated ads from the Burst and Adify networks as well.

I want you to see the real power of our servers and how fast the site can be. I am hoping that if you find this site helpful and if you have learned from the site that you will consider becoming a supporting Pub Member so that you can continue to enjoy the speed of the site while helping us pay the bills and as we work to expand the site.

Over the next year we will be looking at getting a brand new server. A new server is expected to cost somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. Our two servers we have now are close to being maxed out one server is 5 years old and the other is 3 years old.

I dont know how we will raise the funds for the new server, but we will.

If you would like to help support the site PLEASE consider becoming a Supporting Pub Member. Pub Membership is under $20 a year and it will help us keep the lights on.

For information on becoming a Supporting Pub Member please CLICK HERE. THANK YOU for your support!

I don't know how long this experiment will last but we are going to give it a try and see how it goes.

Thank you again for your support.

 

[Hall]

Registered Members today are seeing something a little different... (and no it's not an April Fools Joke.)

Today Registered SatelliteGuys Members are seeing the site just like Supporting Pub Members with NO SYNDICATED ADS!

On the advice of Google Adsense we are trying an experiment by shutting off the syndicated ads that registered members see. They tell us that by shutting off the ads that it will increase our click thru ratio by the unregistered users and thus we would see an increase in total earnings.

It's not an April Fool's joke ?

By me not seeing an ad, un-registered users are more likely to click ads ? Don't believe that for a second... but Google's people are without question smarter than I am.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

No not an april fools joke.

If you have 100,000 ads being shown a day and only 5000 ads are clicked your CTR (Click Through Ratio) is 0.05

Now if we remove ads from members and still show them to Unregistered members (who do the majority of clicking on the ads)

So lets say now only 50,000 google ads are displayed, but still 5000 ads are clicked our CTR goes up to 0.10.

A big part of how the Google Ads pay is based on the CTR, not just on how many times an ad is shown. (Some ads pay NOTHING for being shown)

Google says Less is More and I am going to give it a try.

There have been a number of folks who have been told the same thing and have seen improvements.

Simple Changes Doubled My Adsense Revenue
Less AdSense is more AdSense | Community Building
Google AdSense: Less is More | MonetizeMore - Your Website Monetization Experts

 

[Hall]

Ahhh, that makes sense... Kinda seems like the CTR methodology is flawed then. What if you could further turn all ads off (to un-registered users) randomly ? On the downside, you reduce the odds of those who do see the ad clicking on it.

Are you sure Google recommends this or have other websites simply figured this out ?

Since supporting members see no ads, their click-through is obviously 0%. Do registered members click on many ads ?

 

[TheKrell]

I"m with Hall; this seems like an April Fools joke. Google is using a surrogate figure of merit, the CTR, rather than the absolute # of ads visited. Why would they do that, anyway?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Still no joke.

Please research for yourself. Search for "adsense less is more" and you will find lots of people saying it works.

Looking at the stats now so far today it does appear to be working as we are at now at Noon at where we normally are at 5pm, and Friday is normally our slowest day of the week.

Its something that will take a few days to truely see how it does.

 

[Hall]

This method helps Google and the websites that show the ads, but might be considered "unfair" to the people paying for the ads.

Two of the links in Scott's first post are a few years old.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

How is "Unfair" to them?

We can show up to 3 Google Ads per page, if by showing less ad's increases the revenues because the CTR goes up then for us its a good thing. For the advertisers the ones who dont pay as much their ads are not being displayed any longer as Google only shows the higher paying ads.

Thats the way Google Adsense works and has always worked.

So far I am starting to believe that indeed, less is more.

 

[Hall]

How is "Unfair" to them?

Not knowing enough about internet ads, I was basing that on if the advertiser had the option to select websites to be listed on. If I pick a site that has "x" visitors per day (verified, not claimed) and my cost is based on that, when that website doesn't display ads to that "x" number, it would be unfair. See what I mean ? Sounds like it doesn't work that way, so disregard

 

[TheKrell]

I don't think either of us are claiming it won't work to gain revenue for Satelliteguys. I imagine it will, for the reasons you (Scott) mentioned. It just amazes me that CTR is a valid/desirable/fair figure of merit on which Google bases it's business. If I were an advertiser, I would want to pay for actual clicks (click-through count) on my ad, not potential eyeballs or some irrelevant number such as the CTR. In the worst-case scenario using the CTR, I (as an advertiser) would be paying the same for a single customer coming from an insignificant website as I do for thousands coming from Satelliteguys. I guess that's why I'm not a Google Adsense customer.

 

[KimmiKat]

Hope this experiment works and the income coming into the board doesn't drop. As mentioned, many do visit the board without logging in or signing up, mainly getting linked here from a Google search and seeking a tip on a service or something and the syndicated ads.

As for the new server, may try a "naming rights" thing like they do on sports arenas. Have a company or group pay for part of the server to have their name on it, maybe like the "Dish Store Server" or "Claude's Box" as an example.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The income will drop from Burst and Adify in this test, that I am sure of since those are CPM ads where we are paid based on the number of times ads are shown...

However still seeing a nice big swing UP in the Google numbers. We are at now where we are normally at around 7pm at night (and its only 3pm now) and again Friday is our slow day here.

I got my fingers crossed.

 

[Hall]

See, ad-blockers had actually been helping !!!

 

[Anole]

Not showing full potential.

Round 'n round, 'n round she goes . . .

Overall, it's obviously great, but I still see a pause sometimes where we're hung on:
- the www.Satelliteguys.US and vb4.satelliteguys.us (both)
- Facebook.com ! <--- die, FB, die!
- google adsense, google-analytics, apis.google
- rover.ebay.com
and there are more.

I can only imagine what the site performance would be like without all those external links!

 

[costanzas_wallet]

When I had an add running, I paid for views, or opportunities for Click Through... the math states that the more views your add gets, the more clicks it will get as well, So it's actually very nice of Google to see an opportunity to save it's advertisers money while paying more to the actual sites hosting adsence adds.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

About the only slow outgoing link is the Facebook one, I disabled that one once and some people nearly killed me. I am kind of surprised how many people use the facebook interaction here.

The Ebay one is for the Ebay search box, but you can get rid of that one by turning off the ebay forum in your user control panel.

 

[Anole]

You mean this one?

[B]The following groups are available for you to join[/B]

     User Group
 Joining Conditions
 Join Group
 
 
 
 
[LIST]
[*]     EBAY Free To Air Equipment Deals
 Join this group to access our EBAY Free To Air Deals Feed Service.  You can leave this group at anytime!
 
                                               Anyone is free to join this usergroup                                      
   Join Group
[/LIST]

I've had it turned off for months. Just nothing useful, imho.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nope the other one. The one under SatelliteGuys Classifieds.

 

[Hall]

About the only slow outgoing link is the Facebook one, I disabled that one once and some people nearly killed me. I am kind of surprised how many people use the facebook interaction here.

What does it do ? You can split this off into a new thread if you want...

 

[Anole]

Nope the other one. The one under SatelliteGuys Classifieds.

Wow, that's a ... bear to find, and again to disengage. Not obvious.
However, it's off now.
Hey, every little bit helps!
Thanks.

And regarding that Facebook, how 'bout a way to turn it off for those of us who find it totally out of place on a satellite forum?
Or, should we just add that to our blocking list?