Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Another Record Month

Inflight map on TAM AirlinesA quick note to let you know that March's revenue from my methodology is over $30k. Those of you employing my methods have indicated that you're seeing banner revenue as well. Congratulations for your hard work. It does pay off.

In March I took a trip to Brazil. There were about two weeks that I had no Internet access. Still, a record month. Truly residual income.

Although I've never shared this, I did grow up on the Amazon River. I was born in the USA and when to Brazil as a kid. Imagine growing up like that? It was the experience of a lifetime. I still want to go back to the Rio Negro near the Equator and see the places I used to play.

I couldn't help myself when flying back to Miami from Sao Paulo to watch the inflight map on the monitor on my seat for when we were over the mighty river. Even though the cabin was completely dark because everyone was watching inflight movies and had the window shades down, I had to lift mine and peer down on the river that was once my home.

The Amazon out the window.As fate would have it, we did indeed fly over the Rio Negro, the largest tributary of the Amazon River. What you're looking at is the river just northwest of Manaus. It's called the "Anavilhanas Archipelago". I remember back in the '70's my Dad would have a river guide steer us up through this area.

Even then, at times the seasoned river guide missed one of the passageways and we'd have to turn around and retrace our way back to entry. As you can see, this could take a few hours.

Eventually we'd get back on track and make progress. When you're out on the water, the jungle all looks the same. It's not easy and I respect those river guides.

What I want you to take with you is the fact that learning how to best monetize your website is like navigating the Amazon River. There are times when the river is wide and you cannot make a mistake. And there are times when you come to an Archipelago and need a seasoned river guide to steer you in the right direction.

Will they hit it 100% of the time? No. But know that nobody does. However, without them, you'd run out of fuel before you successfully made it through.

Speaking of guides, my ebook is chock full of how-to's to get you going in a step-by-step fashion. You'll want to get it as soon as it hits the market. Make sure you are signed up on my e-mail list to know when the launch is. Subscribers will have first shot with a nice discount.

Until next time,
Dave in Naples, FL

Update Google AdWords Position Preferences

Just an update for my regular subscribers on Google AdWords Position Preferences; I've been running AdWords Position Preferences for three days now and am happy to say that the results are what I predicted. Click to enlarge.

AdWords Position Preferences screen shot
Here you can see from Tuesday's results that ads are being served within the parameters I've set. Initially I had included the number of clicks, impressions, CTR, price, etc, but I'm not sure if that violates the Google AdWords Terms of Services, and really, you don't need to see that. Let me say that the impressions are in the hundreds, and the CTR is around 2.5%.

But the cool thing is that the ads are appearing in the positions I requested. In addition, my YPN clicks have increased and AdWords cost has gone down. Talk about "fine-tuning"!

Let me know if you need help with your settings or if you have questions about Position Preferences and how to use it to your advantage.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Testing Google AdWords Position Preferences

Hey, one of the most interesting tools to come out of the Google bag of goodies is the Position Preferences setting with Google AdWords. Just what is it?

https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=31788&hl=en_US

Position Preference lets you tell Google where you'd like your ad to appear on Search Engine pages. It doesn't work with the Content Network and could get complicated if you have a ton of keywords.

Okay, here's the deal:

From my findings, position 3 to 5 is the very best. What I am recommending to you is to view all your keywords that are performing lower than 5 and higher than 2. Next, on the ones lower than 5, increase your bid about 6 cents and set your Position Preference to 3 to 5.

Then, on the keywords that are above 2, leave the bid alone and set the Position Preference to 3 to 5.

Watch this over the next three days. If your CTR decreases by 25%, revert back to your previous settings. Remember, my rule of thumb is to document everything and if anything changes by 25% usually within the period you normally check, undo your changes.

Keep testing - that's how I get great results from what I do. I change and watch, test, almost to paranoia - but the payoff is sweet.

Say, my ebook is done and I am now looking into the best way to market it. You will want a copy because it contains tips that I do not include here. With these tips, you can easily increase your ROI and continue to add to your work and bottomline.

Keep in touch!
Let me know how your Position Preferences work out.

Dave