How To Monetize Adsense For Search On Your Blog

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Adsense for Search is another brilliant way to earn money from your Google Adsense Account. It’s implemented by putting an individually-coded search panel to your blog. 

Generally, it’s useful to add a search box to your blog so that your visitors can find information posted on your site, and indeed on the entire web. However, just doing this means that you do not benefit when these visitors actually buy or use something they found because you pointed them in that direction. Customising and monetizing your search box is therefore a sensible option to consider. Once the codes have been added to your blog, you don’t have to do anything more.

Recommended practises when implementing 'Adsense for Search'

• Ensure that your search panel is easy to find. Place it at the top of the page so that visitors can see it without scrolling down.


• It’s a good idea to have 2 search boxes. Having one in the middle or at the bottom of the page ensures that your readers will find it once they have scrolled down.


• If you can, integrate the search results within your own site so that visitors stay longer on your page, thus increasing your bounce rate.


• Ensure that ads are placed at the top of the search results page – not at the side or bottom.


• Customise the search results page so that it matches with the colours used on your blog.

How to get your 'Adsense For Search' code

Keep this window open and I'll go over it step by step with you. Now, go into your Google accounts and sign into your Adsense account.

Go into Adsense Setup

Click on Adsense for Search. This brings you to a page with the following:

Search type - either choose your sites manually or opt for the entire web. It’s better to click on ‘only sites I select’ because obviously you can fully customise your search pages to suit the needs of your target audience. However, for now, for the sake of simplicity (and time), we’ll just go with the entire web. Later when you’ve set all this up, you can come back and spend time sorting this out. When you do so, just repeat the above and click on ‘edit this ad’ to change anything you like.

Optional Keywords - put some keywords relating to your site in this panel. If you manage a gardening blog, when your readers type in ‘pots’ in your search panel you want them to find  plant pots - not cooking pots. This gives the user a better experience on your site because it means targeted search results will be geared towards exactly what your audience is looking for. For example, I typed in the word, songs into a Google search and was given the entire web with results relating to millions of songs. I typed the same word into my relationship blog search panel and was given, love songs, relationship songs and songs relating to children and family. (These were my keyword choices).

~Set your site language and country. It’s also beneficial to add or manage your channel. This will be useful later to help you identify which panel works best for you. To do this, click on 'Add a new channel'. You’ll be given a panel. Choose a name and type it in. Do this every time you create a new search box.

~By all means, use Safe Search.

Look and Feel - It’s helpful to customise your brand to suit the colours and style of your blog page. Keep your search box long and generous so that it’s very obvious to your readers.

Opening of search results page - Choose to open results within your own blog because visitors will stay for much longer on your site. They’ll be able to read the search results while still on your site and you’ll see your bounce rate improve dramatically. Having said this, I’ve found out (after hours of wasted time) that Blogger does not support this option. You can still implement and monetize your Adsense for search on Blogger, but you’ll have to open the search results page on Google instead of on your own blog. I'll show you how to do this below.

If you’ve chosen to open results in your own page, go to your blog and create a blank page. Some blogs allow you to build standalone pages. If you can’t do this, just create a blank post page, give it a name that relates to your blog (like Gardening Google Search or Search for Wooden Furniture – for example). Publish this page and keep it open. You will need to come back to it later. For now, copy the url of the blank page you’ve just created and paste it into panel where required.

Opening of search results page for Blogger users - You have to open results in Google. Choose in a different window or in the same window – whatever suits you.

The look and colours of search results - There are over 200 colours to choose from here. Use them to the full advantage and play around until you get it right. Blogger users will also be shown a sample logo and be asked for a logo image url. This is simply an image you'd like to place at the top of your search results page. When people use your search panel, they'll see this (your) personal logo at the top. Choose any image you like, but it has to be on the Internet with a proper url.  

~Tick the box to show the image above the search box. If you’re at a loss, just open a new browser window and search for images. Type in the name of your blog. You’ll find images that you’ve used on your blog before. One of them should be your blog header. Click on the picture you want, then click on ‘see full size image.’ This will appear on the right of each picture you click on. Only by clicking on this phrase will you get the direct url of that image. Copy this url. Go back to your adsense for content page, and paste it into the ‘logo image URL’ panel . Click anywhere on the page to say you're done.

~Click the box to agree to Google’s terms, name your search engine and ‘submit and get code.’

Ad Location for non-Blogger users - Top and Right is by far the best position for your search box, based on Google's research. Finish off the style of the search results on your page. Toggle the colour palettes to choose the one that works best for you.

NOTE TO ALL: sometimes you get a message that says there has been an error in submitting the code. Don’t start over again if you do. Just go into Adsense set up. Adsense for search. Scroll down to Custom Chanel (you’ll see two options here: manage channels and add a new channel). Scroll down from ‘No channel selected’ and click on the name of the one you’ve just created (see, naming it is important!). Make sure everything is the same as you selected and ‘get code.’

Get code for non-Blogger users - This proved to be very tricky for me because the directions on this page are not very clear. I’ve set out exactly what you have to do below. If you follow these guidelines it should be pretty straight-forward. 

If you’ve chosen to show the search results on your own site (this means you don’t have a Blogger blog) you will be given two sets of codes. Copy the first set. 

~Go into your blog’s layout page and ‘add a gadget’. 

~Choose the ‘HTML/JavaScript’ gadget. 

~Add this where you want the search panel to appear on your blog (we said the top right hand is the best place for it to be). 

~Paste the code you copied from the Adsense for Search page into the ‘content’ space of your HTML/Javascript gadget and save this. 

~Now you have your customised search panel displayed on your blog. This will not work properly unless you have the second set of code imbedded in your blog. Remember that blank page you created? Copy the second set of codes and paste them into this blank page on your blog. 

~Save. 

Now whenever someone types a word or phrase into your customised search panel they will be sent to this page where your results will be displayed.

Get code for Blogger Users - You will be given just one set of codes. Copy this. 

~Go into Blogger Layout. 

~Add a Gadget. 

~Pick HTML/JavaScript. 

~Paste code into the space. 

~Save. 

We said that the recommended place for your search box is at the very top of your blog page. Your search results will be displayed in Google, but it will give you the opportunity to earn money, should any of the searches yield a conversion (like a sale or an action). If you look at the very top of the search results page you should see your Google publisher account number and your nice little logo!

Enjoy and let me know how you get on.

Alexa.com And Your Blog

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Alexa tracks and provides statistics on web traffic and other important information about your blog. It's a very influential site on the Internet. Not only will potential advertisers consult your Alexa rankings, but pay per post sites will no doubt consult Alexa to find how your site is valued in the web. This information is then used to govern how much you will get paid. Some affiliate websites won't even accpet your blog unless you have a suitable rank on Alexa. 

This is not to say that Alexa has a definitive way of measuring a site's real worth, but since a low Alexa ranking has a negative impact for your blog, it effectively, is instrumental in how your blog is perceived in the web. When or if you come to sell your site, your Alexa ranking will determine how much cash you get for it. In other words, you can't ignore Alexa. Even if you have Google Analytics, Alexa provides a variety of very helpful and interesting data for you about your blog. The following is the information Alexa holds about your site:





Traffic Stats

• Traffic rank: This tells you how you're rated in the world, in America (Alexa's home), and in other countries. It also gives you an idea of how your site has performed in the last three months (whether it's gone up or down). Please note that sites rated less than 10,000 on the web have limited stats.


• Reach: The reach of your blog tells you what percentage all web searches are directed to your blog. You're given a table which enables you to see how your reach has changed over the last 3 months.


• Page views and page views per user. 


• Bounce percentage: It helps to know how many people are visiting just one, or several pages on your blog.


• Time on your site. 

Search Analytics

• This is the kind of information you can get on your Google Analytics, but I found Alexa's tools to be very detailed and simple to understand (even though they're updated monthly as opposed to daily or weekly). These analytics show you exactly which terms are bringing traffic to your blog and how much of the web's overall traffic you're receiving. This feature doesn't stop there. It goes on to identify how said searches have performed and weather they've declined or increased over the last month.


• Impact factor of your query terms (words or phrases which bring traffic to your site) is then broken down to show how you perform despite high or low advertising competition for said phrases. Mouse over each question mark icon for explanation of terms you don't fully understand.


• It also tells you how often people search for the terms found on your site. If you know this, you'll be aware of how well (or not) those phrases or words work for you.

Audience

• A fantastically well laid out chart shows you exactly who's visiting your site, where they're from, their gender, and how your site is rated in their country.

Related sites

• If your blog has been on the Internet for some time, Alexa will provide a list of similar or related sites readers may like. Note that new sites aren't included in this feature.

Other things you can measure on Alexa

• Average time your site takes to load.


• An audience snapshot. This is extremely useful as it helps you to target your posts and ads on your page. For example Alexa says that my site: The Relationship Supermarket. com, based on internet averages, is visited more frequently by females who are in the age range 18-34, have children, are college educated and browse my site from home.


• Top search queries found on your page. It also tells you what percentage of the overall traffic (for each query) arrives on your blog.


• High impact search queries on your blog. This information assists you in post targeting because you can clearly see which terms have high or medium search results on your personal blog page. 


• How many sites are linking into your blog.


• Ask your friends to review and rate your site on Alexa. The more the better.

Just go to Alexa by clicking on the link. Type the url of your blog in the search panel and away you go. You can also type in the address of any site on the Internet to see how Alexa has rated them.  You will notice that Alexa's home page shows you the currently hot topics, updated every 5 minutes.  This is a wealth of information which you can use to write your own take on these topics to steal some of the limelight. Alexa also provides the most popular sites on the web at any given time. 

Do you use Alexa and what do you think of the service?

Does Facebook Send Traffic To Your Blog

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I have 3 of my blogs networked to Facebook. All my new posts are automatically posted on my Facebook profile minutes after I click the 'publish' button on my blog. At first I was very excited to get hooked up with this because I'd heard many bloggers extol the importance of linking your site to Facebook. After all, according to Alexa rankings, Facebook is the number 2 most visited site on the Internet! It makes sense therefore, to try to squeeze some of that traffic juice for yourself, right?



While this makes sense theoretically, I wonder how much of it carries any practical weight. I have linked up my blogs to Google analytics so I can check my daily traffic, know where it's coming from and where it's going when it leaves. This is a foolproof way of managing your sites, and of knowing your audience  so you're aware of what they're looking for on your blog. According to these figures, for every 1,000 visitors I get on my blog, an average of 1 (yes that is one as in, singular) comes from Facebook.



I wonder if this is because people tend to read the posts (if they do read them) from the Facebook link-up, or if they don't bother at all. This is why I'm going to conduct an experiment today. I'm going to delete one of my sites from Facebook Networked blogs, but I won't say which one. I'll manually put up links of my new post in my Facebook 'new updates' panel. Potential readers will have to actually click on it to read the link which will be directed to my blog page. I will leave the other blogs the way they are now, and at the end of the month, I'll compare the traffic to see if there is any change. I'll let you know what happens when I've collated all the figures.



Have you got your blog networked to Facebook? If so, do you see any significant traffic to your blog from that site? 

Blog Jog Day Bonanza!

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Welcome to Blog Jog day!

There are nearly 150 wonderful blogs in the jog each a little different from the last. Many have special contests and events set up just for this day.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. Please explore all this blog has to offer, subscribe if you like it, then jog on over to: http://deathdyingafterlife.blogspot.com/  If you would like to visit a different blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com.   





Thank you.

Whinging Wednesday - What's Up With That Horatio Caine?

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How typical! This is exactly the kind of unnatural pose you'd expect to find of Horatio Caine. In case you don't know who he is, (lucky you!) he's the head of the CSI Miami team, played by David Caruso. His series of actions in each painful episode is extensively and redundantly choreographed: a foolish pose, a sideways glance for no particular reason (but to show what he must think is his 'good' side), and then a deliberate slow removal of those daft dark glasses he puts on just to take off. 

I mean, for crying out loud (the word stop) who dreams up or plays a character so shallow. He must have one hundred words in each episode; unintelligible phrases seemingly written for the sole purpose to make him sound 'hot' (they do not!). Who knows, these could be arbitrary lines taken out of thin air regardless of the plot going on sideways in the rest of the show. And believe me, ALL that Horatio Caine says or does is so redundant it has to go parallel to the action rather than with it.  

Unlike Grisham/Ray Langston in CSI (the original), Horatio does no real work. He just stumbles across the answer in the last 10 minutes of the show, an answer, no doubt, he knew all along.  Yes, his time is spent parading the screen, saying his lines, then prancing off into the orange sunset. He has no emotions (is this the actor or the character? The two of them have long since mashed together in a migraine of red and wrinkled play-dough where I'm concerned). He stands uncomfortably sideways (not a good look and certainly not working for a person with a queer sort of bendy-back thing going on). All his lines are delivered in the same tone, same volume, same pitch of nothingness.

In one episode, Alex asks, 'Could you put a rush on this?' as she looks at him, mastering a mixture of pleading and worry on her face. The following is his slack response: he takes his dark glasses off slowly in his crab-like sideway-ness, (no, sideway-ness is not a word, but that's only because the Oxford dictionary has never seen Horatio Caine) looks at something somewhere between himself and her, and with a flat voice says, 'priority number one' and walks off frame. What? Who says that then walks away? If he's always in such a hurry to walk off, why doesn't he stay gone?

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Arrrggghhhhhhh!

I wonder what he does for the show. Eye candy? certainly not! Great acting? How dare you even ask that! It's definitely not for quick-fire interaction because never looks at the people with whom he speaks. How can a director let that pass. Please, someone, just tell him it doesn't work!   

He moves like a snake just about to shed its skin, slowly, slithering, devoid of articulation. He holds his hands together like a politician giving his inaugural speech. (Wait! do you think he's a bit confused? Perhaps he thinks he's really going for the Presidential seat? Obama, had better watch his step)

Bottom line, there are lots of other 'minor' actors who could do a better job. (like that Bud from 'Married With Children') The event that convinced me this poser was just that, was when he said, 'you're going to die' to some dude, then waltzed off with his eye bags, holding a the-kettle-has-just-boiled-let's-get-some-mint-flavoured-tea expression on his face. Then he had the audacity to use this exact look later on when his friend and colleague, 'Eric' was on his death bed. This series of events followed both incidents: ginger eyebrows cocked at a particularly weird angle, pose, side step, head turned at a peculiar angle, glasses off, say the line, glasses on again. 

I've waited a long time for this whinge. I feel better for it now. That, and I can't watch CSI Miami as long as Horatio Caine is in it. 

5 Special Mother's Day Ideas

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We interrupt this blog for a short public service announcement... I've always wanted to say that and now I've actually got a valid reason. 

Here at A Blogger's Books it's clear that the focus is on books, writing and blogging. Today however, order is put on the back burner because our colleagues across the pond in America are soon to celebrate Mother's Day. Of course, one cannot let such an event pass without some sort of acknowledge, however small. My own mother is no longer with us, but that doesn't mean my annual ideas for presents should go to waste. I would appreciate it if you could add your special ideas in the comments section. And while we're at it, have a look at Amazon's Mother's Day Deals. I hear there's a 30% discount (limited time) on all jewellery too!  There are great ideas here for the active, glamour, or gardening mum, but let's get on with our own suggestions.

• If she lives far away make a DVD for her. Film her grandchildren and anyone else she knows with special messages just for her.


• Restore an old photo of someone she loved who's no longer around. If it's black and white, maybe have it photoshopped in colour. It's easy to photoshop a picture of a new member of the family with an older one who's no longer around. Have it framed the way you know she'd like, and give it to her as a present.


• Arrange for a mobile hairdresser and masseuse to pay her a visit at home so she can relax in her own surroundings.


•  Get her a train/plane ticket to somewhere she's been and is longing to visit again.


• Put all her favourite music she still has on cassette tapes and CDs, unto an iPod or MP3 player. She'll love it!

For younger mothers who just want something they can use, don't feel guilty to buy online and get a discount too. Enjoy Mother's Day with your mum and don't forget to add your special mother's day idea for an original present in the comment box below.