If you are reading this we can safely presume that you have a blog or site with some sort of banner or text ads displayed on your site. You want clicks because clicks equal mullah.
The reality is that most of us (including me) hardly get a click and often these ads are simply fugly, spoiling the whole layout and design of our sites.
So, you spend forever blogging, writing unique original content with the perfect intentions of making a passive buck on the side long term. You are glued to Analytics and AdSense (if you use Google) hoping that at some point you will get some sort of click consistency…?!
I’ve been doing this for some time now and have been through this cycle too many times. I have read squillions of articles and followed all the basic rules but still nothing to write home about.
It’s an Investment, Enjoy It.
I will always remember a mate of mine’s famous line:
A website (blog) is an investment. It takes time, everyone starts a blog, writes aggressively and six months in stop due to not seeing results. The ones that are making the money are the fellas that are still around when everyone else stops.
So it’s an investment. Long term we know that Google and other search engines favour sites that have time to their domain and content. I have seen this in action when a site hits the ‘one year’ mark it’s like you power up and hits increase.
As with all investments, if you work hard at it and keep content consistently quality it is just a matter of time.
It’s a Numbers Game.
There are sites that claim that they can hit 100k a day hits within year one. Blog aggressively i.e. once / twice a day and you’ll get there. This is great, and good on them. I certainly don’t have the time and or the belief that it is that easy.
I do know that quality content is the key game changer here. I also believe that getting more visitors to your site means that your ads have more visitors that could potentially click on it.
This leads us to the solution…
Engage and Entertain
As discussed on a previous post, user experience and organic SEO go hand in hand. This cannot be truer when it comes to your blog design for more ad clicks.
The formula presumes:
Quality, relevant content that engages the user will keep them coming back to your site (organic SEO) and keep them ‘on page’ for longer.
If you combine this with entertaining copywriting you get clicks to your home page as it is logical that an entertained viewer will want to see more of your AMAZING content.
Two things happen when we get this mix right.
- Your SEO rankings go up organically.
- You get more visitors, and more opportunities to click on your ads.
How to Design your Blog Layout to Get More Clicks on your Ads
Now, blog layout is very important to achieve a good user experience (create engaged users).
- Clean minimalistic design and layout. Having your site look like a Vegas strip will not get you more clicks.
- Content is king. The only way we keep visitors coming is the abovementioned formula.
- Less is more, keep your ads light, well placed and a non-distracting factor on the page. This will make the user focus on your content and allow for more time on your site.
- They see your ads, don’t worry. The statistics for banner ads are dismal, however; guess what? Google is still making a killing off of it. Allow the banner ads to do their work. If the ads are any good the customer will see it and click. This is not your job.
So to summarise, keep your blog cleanly design. Focus on a providing rich quality content that will keep the view glued for longer. Entertain your customers with engaging content that will encourage more clicks to other pages on your site.
More visitors, equal more clicks. Once we have more visitors, serve ads tastefully. I have seen many sites that place only one ad on page and get more clicks than what I could wish for.
Build, design, and keep your site layout clean with the focus on providing a good experience for your readers. Stick at it long term and your investment will pay off!
