Monday, December 26, 2005

Contextual Ad Sweet Spot

In preparation for the new year, I want to give you who are following my posts some insight to my methodology of generating revenue with contextual ads. I call it getting into the "sweet spot".

To me, this represents achieving a 3 to 1 return on investment.

Whatever manner you use to generate traffic to your site, you'll agree you're doing well when you're making a profit. Many people don't include the "time" they spend working to get there. And, I think that's okay. Sure, your time counts as something, but don't beat yourself up if you find yourself taking long hours working to turn a profit.

Before you get feeling all warm and cozy, let me tell you that the better part of this business is duplication. You simply find your system (i.e. one that works for you), and keep duplicating your efforts.

The second part is the hardest; that of finding the right niche/keyword/content/webpage combination. However, if you simply copy someone's success, you will have the same results - given you meet the same parameters for a niche. If you are new, when we talk about niche, we mean a segmented, targeted market you can work with. It has to be focused, yet popular.

And the third part is mental. Most people start out not believing they will do well. You get what you expect in this business. It's a funny universal law that when you set out to accomplish something, if you believe you can do it, the universe itself will assist you. Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right."

So your job should be to work traffic to your site full of great context of value and make sure your investment doing that is one third or less of the profit generated from your site. Take time to pencil out what you are spending and chart it against your earnings for one week.

If you aren't in the "sweet spot", read my earlier posts on first, working on getting more traffic, and secondly, on creating great content of value.

It gets even better. Once you're in the search engines, visitors may drop by and make you revenue. That's better than sweet - that's great residual income, and that's what your goal should be, long-term.

Kind regards,
Dave Jackson
Naples, FL