Can Google Ad Planner make your website more money?

2009 July 29

by Barry

A post by Brendan Hughes had me thinking a little more in depth on Google AdPlanner (you can read my comments there and also a previous post) and the benefits it can have for publishers.

A few years ago, I got fairly interested in making money from Google Adsense – but got short on time and disinterested in taking earnings to the next level (or any level above $5/day)

Right now I only monetize one website – Wiffy.ie which is a discussion forum I set up around 3 years ago for Nintendo users in Ireland. Onsite advertising includes Google Adsense and referrals from a video game supplier. Originally I also ran affiliate network ads – but found these time consuming to see any decent return.

As of today, Wiffy has netted over $2,000 from Adsense, over 3million ad impressions, and almost 12,000 clicks – not a huge amount considering the website is a hobby – but more than enough to pay for hosting, domain and software costs.

Something which has interested me, and I’ve touched on Google AdPlanner before – is the ability to target websites from an advertisers point of view. But what about publishers, those webmasters who want to generate revenue from their traffic.

What Google allows publishers to do is provide their own advertising information, check out Wiffy’s here

You can see the little Google Analytics icon, where I’ve shared my data to give actual figures. This is really useful for an advertiser as they get to see actual data. Ad Planner also allows the publisher to include information on ad formats and placements as well, effectively building a website media pack for potential advertisers.

And you don’t even need to be on Google’s AdSense network, you can update your data even if you don’t serve Google Ads!

This is pretty cool, considering similar ideas are being sold commercially – like Blue Metrix.

So for webmasters looking to increase revenue, Ad Planner could be a quick an easy way to put your website in the shop front. You can also link to an advertising page on site with additional details. I would definitely take more notice of a website which has updated info and is sharing some traffic stats. The lack of network centric data (sfor demographic targeting) makes it not-as-useful for Ireland, but as an advertiser I’ve already used the tool to target audiences and I’m pretty happy with results so far.

aindreas

Good post, found it very helpful.

Am I correct in saying that when you put a site into Adplanner and it shows no data that the owner has refused to share information or that the site is genuinely not big enough to have data ?
barryhand

Hi Aindreas, if there is little or no data – it's because Google has no data to show. Even if the site owner does not share Google Analytic data, there should be estimated traffic data from Google (from cookies)

This can happen on Irish websites, mainly due to the small sample size and the relatively small amount of traffic to some websites.

There are genuine reasons why webmasters don't share data, mainly if they don't use Google Analytics or don't know about Ad Planner.
aindreas

Good post, found it very helpful.

Am I correct in saying that when you put a site into Adplanner and it shows no data that the owner has refused to share information or that the site is genuinely not big enough to have data ?
aindreas

Good post, found it very helpful.

Am I correct in saying that when you put a site into Adplanner and it shows no data that the owner has refused to share information or that the site is genuinely not big enough to have data ?
barryhand

Hi Aindreas, if there is little or no data – it's because Google has no data to show. Even if the site owner does not share Google Analytic data, there should be estimated traffic data from Google (from cookies)

This can happen on Irish websites, mainly due to the small sample size and the relatively small amount of traffic to some websites.

Their are genuine reasons why webmasters don't share data, mainly if they don't use Google Analytics or don't know about Ad Planner.
barryhand

Hi Aindreas, if there is little or no data – it's because Google has no data to show. Even if the site owner does not share Google Analytic data, there should be estimated traffic data from Google (from cookies)

This can happen on Irish websites, mainly due to the small sample size and the relatively small amount of traffic to some websites.

There are genuine reasons why webmasters don't share data, mainly if they don't use Google Analytics or don't know about Ad Planner.
http://stiri-romania-libera.blogspot.com/ calin

hy…thx for the info`s…i think i have a problem whit AdSense..if you can give me a hand..please…my e-mail is ctantarean@gmail.com…10x
http://stiri-romania-libera.blogspot.com/ calin

hy…thx for the info`s…i think i have a problem whit AdSense..if you can give me a hand..please…my e-mail is ctantarean@gmail.com
thank you..
http://brendanhughes.ie/ Brendan Hughes

Hi Barry

Following our discussion last weekend I've beend doing a good bit of digging around with Ad Planner. Its own estimates look to be out by around 20%, so the facility you have made use of is great for advertisers. It is also great to see greater transparency coming into this area. In the early days of the Internet everyone used to share their analytics information. This didn't last long as many started misrepresenting their data (usually to generate more interest from the VC's).
barryhand

Good to see you've made some use out of it Brendan. It's a fairly good estimator for traffic, although not always accurate.

I posted before where they source the figures:

– Data comes from Google Search, Google Analytics, “opt-in external consumer panel data” and “other third-party market research.”, which could be: Search, Reader, Feedburner, Adwords, Adsense, Checkout, Desktop, Earth, iGoogle, Maps, Toolbar, Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Gmail, Orkut and more, so not exactly fluffy stats.
http://brendanhughes.ie/ Brendan Hughes

Hi Barry

Following our discussion last weekend I've beend doing a good bit of digging around with Ad Planner. Its own estimates look to be out by around 20%, so the facility you have made use of is great for advertisers. It is also great to see greater transparency coming into this area. In the early days of the Internet everyone used to share their analytics information. This didn't last long as many started misrepresenting their data (usually to generate more interest from the VC's).
http://brendanhughes.ie/ Brendan Hughes

Hi Barry

Following our discussion last weekend I've beend doing a good bit of digging around with Ad Planner. Its own estimates look to be out by around 20%, so the facility you have made use of is great for advertisers. It is also great to see greater transparency coming into this area. In the early days of the Internet everyone used to share their analytics information. This didn't last long as many started misrepresenting their data (usually to generate more interest from the VC's).
barryhand

Good to see you've made some use out of it Brendan. It's a fairly good estimator for traffic, although not always accurate.

I posted before where they source the figures:

– Data comes from Google Search, Google Analytics, “opt-in external consumer panel data” and “other third-party market research.”, which could be: Search, Reader, Feedburner, Adwords, Adsense, Checkout, Desktop, Earth, iGoogle, Maps, Toolbar, Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Gmail, Orkut and more, so not exactly fluffy stats.
barryhand

Good to see you've made some use out of it Brendan. It's a fairly good estimator for traffic, although not always accurate.

I posted before where they source the figures:

– Data comes from Google Search, Google Analytics, “opt-in external consumer panel data” and “other third-party market research.”, which could be: Search, Reader, Feedburner, Adwords, Adsense, Checkout, Desktop, Earth, iGoogle, Maps, Toolbar, Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Gmail, Orkut and more, so not exactly fluffy stats.
aindreas

Hi Barry,

Thanks for that, understand it better now. What sort of assumptions can be made from sites that don't have data displayed in the Ad Planner ? Are they struggling ? Or can assumptions like that not be made ?

Aindreas
aindreas

Hi Barry,

Thanks for that, understand it better now. What sort of assumptions can be made from sites that don't have data displayed in the Ad Planner ? Are they struggling ? Or can assumptions like that not be made ?

Aindreas
aindreas

Hi Barry,

Thanks for that, understand it better now. What sort of assumptions can be made from sites that don't have data displayed in the Ad Planner ? Are they struggling ? Or can assumptions like that not be made ?

Aindreas
JohnSternal

Hi Barry. Thanks for the great post. So many small business users could greatly benefit from learning more about Google Ad Planner. I think there's still tons of confusion in areas like SEO, SEM and PPC.
JohnSternal

Hi Barry. Thanks for the great post. So many small business users could greatly benefit from learning more about Google Ad Planner. I think there's still tons of confusion in areas like SEO, SEM and PPC.
JohnSternal

Hi Barry. Thanks for the great post. So many small business users could greatly benefit from learning more about Google Ad Planner. I think there's still tons of confusion in areas like SEO, SEM and PPC.
JohnSternal

Hi Barry. Thanks for the great post. So many small business users could greatly benefit from learning more about Google Ad Planner. I think there's still tons of confusion in areas like SEO, SEM and PPC.
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Can Google Ad Planner make your website more money?

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