If..Else Log

When Adsense was first unveiled, it was a bit of a revolution. Unlike banner ads, they were unobtrusive. However, lately I've been seeing a worrying trend. Now that Google have changed their T&C to allow you to place up to 3 ad blocks, far too many sites have gone ahead and done so.

I try to help out from time to time on various forums, as a way of giving back to the community but I'm increasingly finding that quite a few blogs (which I'll leave unnamed) that are just starting out are filling up their sites with ads. Here, there, everywhere until it gets to the point that I have to try hard to look beyond to see the content itself.

What is going wrong?

I'm not adverse to well implemented ads. However, I wonder if people know what they're doing.

Having more than one adsense block per page will not increase your click through success rate

In fact, in my case, it'll do exactly the opposite. If I see that a site is polluted with ads, I will make a point of *not* clicking any ads. Why?

If I can't see the content beneath the ads, why should I care about site? I'm just going to move on. More importantly however, is that this sort of stuff annoys the crap out of me. Pissing off your potential readers is not a good long term strategy.

Having more than one adsense block per page will not increase the successful targetting of the ads

Now if one ad block isn't providing the appropriate information, what makes you think that adding two more will do the job? If anything, it'll have a negative effect. In one distinct ad section, I can see if there are any appropriate exits. Add multiple sections and I'll mentally blank them out.

Having more than one AdSense block per page will not result in regular visitors

Before you start putting up adsense, have a thought to what you're doing with your blog. Is this a personal venture or are you doing this for financial gain?

If it's a personal venture, think on this. Would you be prepared to be distracted by marketeers when you're having a night out? Would you be prepared to wear adverts on your clothes if it gave you a discount? And would you be prepared to have a few adverts in your phone call if it meant cheaper calls?

Many of us would like people to read what we write. Many of us enjoy writing. Don't annoy your readers. Remember why you're doing this.

What about you? Aren't you using AdSense

If this post is still on the front page, then chances are that there are no adsense blocks at all on this page. And there will not be any adblocks at all on the front page. My aim is not to annoy any regular readers; this was never about any financial gain. This site is here because I enjoy web publishing.

So back to the adsense. What I've done is only display ads after they've been alive for at least 2 weeks (14 days). This will mean that regular visitors will not see any ads at all. Only people who arrive after the 2 week period will see the ads and as the usual manner that occurs is via search engines, the ads will hopefully be more appropriate (by providing alternative exits).

To do this, add the following piece of code in your index.php:

1. <?php
2. $u_time = get_the_time('U');
3. if ((time() - 1209600) >= $u_time){//60*60*24*14 = 1209600
4. ?>
5. <!-- Place your adsense code here -->
6. <?php } ?>

This retrieves the post timestamp and compares it to the current time minus 14 days. Only then will it display the ads.

Does this work?

The code obviously works but what has it done for my earnings? To be fair, I don't care at all. I'd be happy to take off the ads completely, especially if they were annoying. Anyways, I've had adsense on this site for about half a year now and I've made, well nothing. I haven't hit the first pay cheque limit yet.

In six months I made 60 dollars worth of clicks. At 10 dollars a month, that doesn't even pay for my internet connection. The only reason I'm carrying on is that I want to hit $100 so that Google will send me a cheque. After I get the cheque, it's going straight on my wall. Yep, I'm not even going to bank it.

So after reading this section, you've probably come to the conclusion that I'm the last person to go to if you want to make it big with adsense. If however, you want some common sense advice about using ads without annoying your readership, I hope some of what I said made sense.