
Google Web Fundamentals: Monetization - ossama
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/monetization/
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smaddock
I have a landing page for an application I've made which users then click
through to navigate to other websites. This single page gets around 1-2
million views a month and I'd like to place an ad on the page if possible.
However, Google AdSense denied me being that the page doesn't actually have
enough content for them to automatically determine relevant ads.

What other options do I have to get an ad placed onto the landing page?

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callmeed
[https://buysellads.com/](https://buysellads.com/)

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Ecio78
I was going to suggest it, even though I had zero success using it (as a
buyer, not as a seller)

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dozy
Regarding the article 'Let Users Explore Before They Commit' -

This is much easier said than done, and the effort and complexity will vary
greatly depending on your site/app. The example used (nondescript clothing
app) is one of the simpler cases, whereby the cross-session and device user-
state need not be maintained, or is at least pretty minimal.

For many app developers, though, the richness of their feature-set doesn't
come across until the user has a detailed state, such as level achieved, past
activity, preferences, etc. Without asking users to "commit", sites/apps need
to associate state with an anonymous user.

Unfortunately, it's not quite trivial to maintain the concept of an anonymous
user. For one, the lengths the mobile industry is going to restrict the use of
unique device identifiers poses a complexity to identify the same device
across sessions. Moreover, anonymous users pose an issue for services with a
value proposition behind their cross-device/platform support. Also, for small
sites, it may not be trivial to introduce a data-model that supports anonymous
data, which either needs to be thrown out or eventually merged with account-
linked data. Similarly, 3rd-party engagement and funnel analysis of anonymous
users is also a hard problem, as when the user does eventually identify
themselves with an account, you need to merge their previously anonymous data
into their account. Some services call this Aliasing.

I'll echo other comments that the content is sparse - this section
specifically speaks as if _registration count_ is the sole goal of the target
audience. A comprehensive document would account other conversion-like goals
that site/app makers might have, and the weigh the cost-benefit analysis of
requiring registration.

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jfoster
Google may also not be the best party to listen to for some of this advice.
Google has an interest in ensuring they can index as much as possible. If they
can't, it's their product that is less valuable. There are enough prominent
sites not doing this (facebook, quora, etc.) that it seems Google may be
mixing up what's good for you with what's good for them.

~~~
sehr
I don't think this document was created by a faceless organization.

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domydeal
I run a small accelerator in Florida and we have two businesses that were
primarily monetized with AdSense. The businesses have been growing nicely and
as of this month were on a $3.6MM annual run rate. We were constantly working
with the AdSense Partner Acceleration team and had even been invited out to
Google HQ for their Think Publishing event last spring.

As of last week both the Acceleration Team and Google AdSense Support stated
the account was in good standing and ad unit implementation and site content
was approved.

Yesterday morning we received automated emails stating "account has been
closed for invalid activity" and that all unpaid payments will be withheld.
When we emailed the individuals of the acceleration team we had been working
they said it was out of their hands.

This is a serious blow to the businesses. After spending over a year
optimizing the properties and user acquisition the businesses now need to
completely pivot and find a new source of revenue. In addition it is a blow to
cash-flow as they have spent substantial time and money acquiring new users
based on AdSense earnings.

While AdSense does provide excellent yields for site and app owners, the
downside is they can effectively put you out of business with no explanation.

I am shocked at the poor level of service and lack of overall service the
AdSense team and Google has provided.

We're excited to see how the teams pivot, grow and evolve from here.

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ashishk
Sorry to hear this. What were the properties? What was the full reason for the
closure?

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domydeal
They didn't give any reason for closure. Simply "invalid activity". The site
is PrizeGrab.com

~~~
ashishk
Interesting. Did you eventually get the account re-instated? Seems odd they'd
close it without a warning. Did they disable the sites or the entire account?

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idlewords
I would be loath to take advice from Google about how to monetize a small
website. Not just because of the conflict of interest (of course they want
people to run ads), but because it's not their area of expertise.

~~~
dpweb
I'd think Google knows more than any organization in the world how to best
monetize a website. In fact uniquely positioned as the only company to know.
Look at all the data they have access to. A lot of these people run g
analytics too not just adsense. They give up their website data to g for free.
If any organization has the hard data on what's effective and not, they do.
Now, take their advice? That's a different story. I'll check industry
standards if they say 3$ cpm and I'm getting 10 already, I don't need their
advise necessarily.

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lauradhamilton
Eh, other than Adwords Google hasn't been able to monetize their web
properties.

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kinlan
One of the authors of the site here.

We are very keen to get feedback on the content that web developers want to
see with regards to monetization. For example one area that I am keen to see
us grow is building components in sites that optimize credit card data entry.

~~~
conradfr
You forgot the part where Adsense suddenly bans your account, refunds your
money to advertisers and gives you no real appeal possible.

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JeremyMorgan
Someone had to say it.

Though I've never been banned, I know quite a few friends who have over the
years. A couple of them deserved it (asking for clicks to support etc) but
some of them not so much.

Like one guy getting banned because there was a thread talking about guns in
his forum. His forum was definitely G-Rated, which is a requirement for
adsense, but this one thread got him booted, and all his earnings yanked. Had
they warned him (which they do more of now) he would have just deleted the
thread but instead it was shut down with no appeal.

Stuff like that needs to be addressed more and looked at. After all what's the
business sense in having LESS advertisers? I can see weeding out obvious
offenders but as of now it seems they are a little to quick with the ban
button.

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tn13
They dont care about the publishers who make $500 a month or even a day. There
are dozen a dime such publishers.

~~~
chvid
It scares me that Google does not have the common sense to treat small(?)
publishers decently.

Given how I was treated over petty amounts on a website sideproject. Why would
I use you guys as a payment processor or to sell software I had invested years
in?

Todays amateurs are tomorrows professionals.

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collyw
Be nice if I could get an adsense account approved. Or even a reason why its
not been approved.

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putlake
One way to optimize Adsense earnings is to look at Google Analytics data (you
have to link the two but that is trivial to do). For example, look at eCPM by
screen resolution to see if your ad placements are working correctly on all
screen sizes. Or look at eCPM by Content Group, which will help you figure out
how lucrative certain sectors are. I also keep an eye on eCPM by browser. Used
to be that Internet Explorer had the highest eCPMs. Now it's Chrome.

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nilved
I'm very disappointed that monetization is, in Google's perspective, a
fundamental part of the web. Don't be evil never existed.

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Artistry121
Monetization has nothing to do with good or evil. Being part of the web has
costs and this is a discussion of a way to cover or create more value than
those costs.

It may be sad that advertising is the main means of monetization, but I still
find google's ads to sometimes be helpful and rarely be annoying.

~~~
nilved
No, monetization is, like the rest of capitalism, intrinsically evil. As a
counterpoint there are plenty (actually, significantly beyond the bounds of
"plenty") of websites and tech companies that operate entirely without
revenue. I think you'd find, in fact, that these collectives are the ones with
real creativity and humanitarian interest. When you're beholden to investors,
users become second-class citizens. Showing them advertisements or having
board meetings to talk about how best to exploit them is very far from
ethical.

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fleitz
It's too bad the Google+ team never saw this document.

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dannyr
How does this improve the conversation?

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fleitz
It points out the vast discrepancy between what Google recommends people do
and what they actually do, suggesting that they are either ignorant of best
practices, or are lying about best practices.

~~~
nakovet
The short comment was indeed lacking of usefulness but this one makes sense,
talking about discrepancy between what they recommend and what they do for
example: "Let Users Explore Before They Commit", I never asked for a Google
Plus account, I opened my Gmail and "free gift for you" a G+ account and we
will set many actions, shares and notifications ON by default so we can
improve our network metrics. This definitely goes against letting me explore
before committing.

