{"id":2553,"date":"2016-08-09T19:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativeadbuzz.com\/blog\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2017-11-08T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T09:30:09","slug":"11-arbitrage-diary-keywords-content-and-staying-sticky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativeadbuzz.com\/blog\/11-arbitrage-diary-keywords-content-and-staying-sticky\/","title":{"rendered":"#11 Arbitrage Diary – Keywords, content and staying sticky!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading time: 7 mins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hey buddy,<\/p>\n

Great that you could make it again.<\/p>\n

First off, I meant to post this back in June. After our first Google paycheck this was our second big milestone. Cool huh? And the first day we ever ran any traffic was Saturday 30th April, so in just two months!<\/p>\n

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\"Blog_11_1_Milestones_2\"<\/p>\n

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Anyways, last week Jake gave you a great run-through of some of the AdSense optimisations<\/a> while I was in France at a music festival on a beach! Pretty sweet, but this week\u2019s it\u2019s all business again for me, and I\u2019m excited to tell you about some strategies we\u2019ve been using to hone our content.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve got your content up and campaign running maybe, like us, you\u2019ve been inclined to just leave it?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t!<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve found we can squeeze a lot more juice out of our campaigns by going back and revising the copy and the slideshow order.<\/p>\n

How do we do it? Like everything, it\u2019s the stats! So listen up.<\/p>\n

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1. A Quick Recap (of what we\u2019ve covered already)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
As Advertisers<\/b><\/td>\nVariable\/Metric<\/b><\/td>\nAiming for?<\/b><\/td>\nArbitrage Diary #<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Outbrain<\/td>\nCPC<\/td>\nLow CPC<\/td>\n8<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Outbrain<\/td>\nTraffic Sources<\/td>\nBlock poor-performing traffic<\/td>\n8<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Outbrain<\/td>\nCTR<\/td>\nDoesn\u2019t matter that much!<\/td>\n8<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Outbrain<\/td>\nImages<\/td>\nDramatic, intriguing<\/td>\n9<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Outbrain<\/td>\nHeadline content<\/td>\nDramatic, intriguing<\/td>\n9<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
As Publishers<\/b><\/td>\nVariable\/Metric<\/b><\/td>\nAiming for?<\/b><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AdSense\/Content.Ad<\/td>\nWidget Placement and Size<\/td>\n(depends)<\/td>\n10<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AdSense\/Content.Ad<\/td>\nText or Image? Text\/Border Colours<\/td>\n(depends)<\/td>\n10<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AdSense\/Content.Ad<\/td>\nCTR\/RPM<\/td>\nAs high as possible<\/td>\n10<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Article Content\/Subjects<\/td>\nAdsense keywords<\/td>\nInclude well paid keywords<\/td>\nThis one!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Slideshow ordering<\/td>\nPost exit rates and time on site<\/td>\nKeep users in slideshows\/on site<\/td>\nThis one!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Website <\/b><\/td>\nMetric<\/b><\/td>\nAiming for?<\/b><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Site Speed<\/td>\nLoad time<\/td>\nQuick as possible<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Theia Post Slider<\/td>\nArrow Colour\/Style\/Placement<\/td>\n(depends)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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2. Not all keywords are equal<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Google prices its AdSense keywords (\u201cAdwords For Content\u201d) differently for different topics. Have a look at these two links to see some of the most expensive.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.wordstream.com\/articles\/most-expensive-keywords<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/grepwords.com\/1000000-top-high-paying-cpc-adwords-adsense-keywords-2015\/<\/a>
\n\"Blog_11_2_keywords\"<\/p>\n

(Errr number 20… Cord Blood? Yep, me neither. But look it up! Bit weird and a bit gross!)<\/p>\n

So an advertiser is likely to pay more if they are advertising insurance (#1) than if they are advertising a rehab centre (#18). (Pity the fool who offers both!).<\/p>\n

Now, as publishers, you and I get paid the amount the advertiser bid to have that ad displayed (minus Google\u2019s slice of the pie), so we get paid more for insurance-based ads than rehab-based ones.<\/p>\n

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3. Making the Most Of It?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

So, to make more money, we can focus on writing stories that are likely to contain high-paying keywords and therefore be populated with higher-paying ads.<\/p>\n

Does it work? From our experience, yes!<\/p>\n

Our best performing campaign, which has basically generated all of our profits \u2013 I think Native Ad Buzz Rob says in his book that you only need one successful campaign, it\u2019s just about finding it!<\/i> \u2013 happens to be about air travel and holidays.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s not on those top 20 lists<\/i>, I hear you say, but after running the campaign for a few weeks and looking at what ad categories were performing well for us (see below) we clocked that we could still try to squeeze in a couple more references to insurance, loans, credit cards etc. by revising our copy.<\/p>\n

\"Blog_11_3_ad_categories\"<\/p>\n

The outcome? By making a few tweaks here and there, we managed to shift our average AdSense CPCs up. It might have been by cents rather than dollars, but over tens of thousands of clicks, those add up!<\/p>\n

How much you can use this approach of tailoring your content to high-paying topics depends on the niche of your site. But it\u2019s worth reviewing these lists (just Google \u201cadsense keywords\u201d and there\u2019s a bunch of articles) simply to get to understand what sort <\/i>of keywords pay the most.<\/p>\n

Also, as we look ahead to whether we might cookie-cutter our current site\/business model out to new niches, it\u2019s giving us a ton of inspiration about what niches might be most profitable! [Watch this space!]<\/p>\n

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4. I\u2019m Sticking With You: Make Your Copy Engageable<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n