Sometimes, despite their subtleness and clear advantages to the website’s publisher, visitors do complain about the introduction of in-text ads to a website. Most often, this would happen when a website has a community of regular visitors who are not always open to changes. From my experience, the number of complaints will be very low when compared to the number of visitors and they will also disappear after a short while. Nonetheless, sometimes a publisher must deal with the complaints. This is especially true when the complaining visitor is an important member of the community or simply a noisy one.

Before the Complaints, Be Transparent and Explain

The best way to respond to complaints about in text ads would be to avoid such complaints entirely by being transparent and explaining to your visitors why you are adding the ads to your website. Sharing with your readers the need for advertising revenues to cover your costs and keeping the content free will build a stronger relationship with them. If you highlight the advantages of in text ads, you will most likely avoid all complaints. Your in text ads network should have a ready-made paragraph that can help you with drafting this explanation.

The best place for an explanation would be in a blog post or in your FAQs section. Sometimes, especially for dynamic content websites and blogs, a link from the sidebar to this explanation would keep transparency and gain appreciation from your readers.

Yes, Visitors can Opt-Out from, or Remove In Text Ads

If complaints persist, you can offer your visitors the choice to actively remove in text ads. Theoretically, this will lower your potential revenues, because the removing visitors will not click on ads, but in real-life, such complaining visitors are unlikely to click anyway.

How can users remove in text ads? Easily. Your in text ads network should be able to provide you with a link that will enable visitors to opt-out. This link would usually lead to an explanation about the ads, and then visitors will be able to choose to remove them. Technically, such visitors will pick up a cookie to their computer that will tell the in text script to refrain from highlighting links for such users.

Having this option for visitors to remove in text ads should also be helpful in internal discussions when you need to persuade the team to accept the new form of ads.

Smart Ad Placement for Returning Users

An extreme case for removing in text ads could be when you choose not to show them at all to your returning users. Some websites have a core community of frequent users. Such returning users can be an important part of the website’s goals, but in certain cases, they simply don’t click on ads, yet they do get annoyed by them. If you have such users, you probably know them already. They can be identified by how they reach the website – for example, by direct approach as opposed to Google search, or by being logged in as a registered user.

If you know that your core community of visitors generate much less per-per-click (PPC) advertising revenues because they simply don’t click on ads, it could be wise to remove PPC ads from their user experience entirely (you would still be able to gain some revenues by display ads that pay per impression).

Removing In Text Ads for Returning Users

How can you remove in text ads for your website’s returning visitors? First, you need a method to identify them – a cookie, sign-in, or their approach link could do the trick. Then, in your design, have the in text script run only on pages that are loaded for other users. If the balance of new and returning users in your case is relevant, you can also focus on the other group, for example – identify the visitors who arrive to your website through Google and other search engines and have the script run only for these users.

Please note, this will lower your revenues and you should take this fact into consideration before removing in text ads to entire groups of users. However, in the overall balance of your website, it could be a solution for avoiding complaints from regular users while still monetizing other sources of traffic to your website.

Getting to know your audience is a major part of any plan to make money from a website. Now, it’s no secret that a visitor’s choice of a browser can tell something about the expected behavior. If you’re looking to increase your website earnings from in text ads, there are certain specific actions relating to your visitors’ browsers that you can take and that can make a difference. Analyzing general statistics from in text advertising results reveals a few interesting insights that I’m happy to share here.

Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari

This website monetization tip is based on browsing statistics of thousands of websites with integrated in text ads, focusing on the four major internet browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Clearly, as with any statistical analysis, the lessons from this research are limited by being generalized and you might find that in your website visitors behave differently. And still, there is much to learn from information gathered over large volumes of traffic.

In the data used here, from a single day in December 2009, Explorer users counted for almost half of the page views, Firefox users represented 35% of the pages, Chrome browsers where used for 7% of the total traffic, Mac’s Safari users viewed 5% of the pages, and the remaining 3% of web pages where mostly viewed by Opera users. While web surfing behavior is different in India than it is in Canada, the data here was analyzed without referring to the location of the users. Also, while analyzing data from a longer period could tell us even more, in total, the data here included many millions of page views, which should be enough for reaching a few conclusions.

Targeting Safari Users can Earn you More

Mac users with the Safari browser seem to represent a unique group of users who’s often categorized as having a tendency towards graphic and design. In this analysis they represent a rather smaller group of users with two major differences from other users and with a promise for higher revenues.

The first finding is a little disappointing: the fill rate for Safari users reached only 75% of the general fill rate. The term fill rate here stands for the number of viewed pages where the in text ads script has managed to highlight double underline hooks, excluding business related decisions, so it only relates to the influence of technology. The explanation for the lower number of pages could be found in ad blockers or other scripts that interfere with the in text script, but other reasons could also be relevant. From the publisher’s point of view, this means that you should expect less page views with in text ads from these users, which could lead to lower earnings.

But there is a nice surprise from Safari visitors: they yield higher payment per click. In fact, the CPC paid by advertisers for clicks from Safari browsers was nearly 50% higher than the general cost per click. Why is that? It seems that Mac users are highly sought after by online advertisers and the competition drives prices up. These high prices compensate for the lower fill rate and the results from Safari users, measured by effective CPM, do get to the top levels of earnings. The conclusion is that targeting Safari users is a viable strategy for making money online, if you understand that they are limited in numbers from the overall online population and generate lower page volumes with in text ads. How to attract those pricy Safari users is a different story to be discussed elsewhere, but delivering content about Mac is a sure bet for doing so and getting high CPC clicks.

Internet Explorer is the King of In Text Ads Revenues

Visitors who use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer stand at the top of most categories relevant to earning more with the in text ads on your website. First, they represent the largest group of users, and while Explorer is losing market share to competing browsers, they are still leading. Second, they simply click more often. The click through rate on in text ads measured for Explorer users is over 54% higher than for users of others browsers. Third, and most important, influenced by the high volume of clicks, the effective CPM from Explorer users is much higher than the expected website revenues from users of other browsers, and this is an understatement. In the data sampled here, the eCPM measured here was in fact 85% higher…!

Why does an Explorer user click more often on in text ads? The answer to this crucial question hides somewhere in understanding who these users are. Since most personal computers are still sold bundled with Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Internet Explorer browsers, using a different browser requires an active choice. It makes sense to assume that users who are less web-savvy won’t make that choice and simply stick with the default. Apparently, there is a direct correlation between your level of web expertise and your willingness to click on online advertising, or at least on in text ads.

The conclusions from this advantage of Explorer users can be taken into consideration on both the targeting level and the technology level or the type of integration you use. On the targeting level, delivering content aimed at users who are less “webby” could prove to be worth it, and it’s up to you to analyze what content they are looking for. From the technology aspect, a website publisher can prioritize in text ads for Explorer users, by identifying these users and then running the in text script earlier in the website’s loading or adding more hooks for them. When optimizing your website for higher monetization results, you can ask your in text ads provider for ideas on how to do that.

There are additional interesting differences among the different versions of Internet Explorer. For example, the newer the version, the higher the CPC. However, these results can be explained by external factors which are not directly related to the browser. For example, it could be that Microsoft manages to generate upgrades to the newer versions of Explorer faster in markets with higher broadband penetration, and such markets probably have stronger online advertising markets.

Firefox Users Generate Less Website Revenues

Firefox users earn less in text revenues for website publishers. This fact is not surprising if you think about who these users are. Making the active decision to switch from the default Explorer to Firefox is probably more common for users who have likes and dislikes about the web. These users click less, only about two thirds of the clicks from Explorer users. Firefox users install add-ons to block ads, they surf more and generate more page views than their respective percentage of the unique users and by doing do so may get more annoyed by ads, and there could be other reasons, but they all lead to this fact – they click less. As a result, the eCPM measured from visitors who use Firefox browsers is just a little over half than the eCPM from Explorer users.

Before any actionable conclusions, it’s important to realize this fact and understand that if your website typically attracts “webby” visitors with a tendency towards Firefox, your monetization results from in text ads will be lower. As for things you can do about it, my best recommendation would be to explain to such users the nature of in text ads. Make sure that your users know that the double underline ad links in your website are there to help you finance better content for them, keep it free when possible, and that they are much less intrusive than jumping banners. By clarifying the advantages of in text ads to their user experience, you may generate genuine interest in these ads and as a result get more clicks. This can easily be done by a sidebar link to an FAQ explaining the nature of in text ads; consider a link saying “Double Underline Explained” or something in this spirit. As for technological improvements, you can optimize the appearance of in text ads to match the taste shown by your Firefox users, and for this you need to first get to know them better and then use the flexibility from your in text provider.

Chrome Users Follow Firefox Patterns

Chrome users seem to follow the footsteps of Firefox users and the statistics of both groups are quite similar – they click less than Explorer users and yield lower in text ads revenues. The similarity of results for Firefox and Chrome users teaches that Chrome users are more or less the same users and the conclusions for Firefox users can be used here as well. Currently, Chrome users still represent a small group of users and it would be worthwhile to study them further as it grows and develops its own unique behavior patterns.

Earn More with In Text Ads

The bottom line is that getting to know the differences between visitors according to their choice of web browser could help you in increasing your revenues from in text ads on your website. There is still much to learn. For example, iPhone and other mobile phone browsers show other surfing patterns, but this seems to stem from the different user experience on the mobile phone, and not only from the choice of browser. Getting to know your website’s visitors and acting upon the findings to optimize the user experience and the in text ads integration is an important part of your website monetization plan. Even if you’re not ready yet for running different scripts according to the user’s browser, you should at least adopt the recommendation about explaining your users the nature of in text ads – it could help with Firefox and Chrome users, and for the long run, this should improve overall quality and results from all users.

As most new online advertising methods pave their way in their early days, so did in text advertising started as a monetization solution for smaller websites and blogs. But with time, more and more big and reputable websites added in text ads to their monetizing plans and we get this question quite often – do in text ads work well for the big guys? And the answer is yes, big time. In text ads serve as an AdSense supplement and adding 30% to 60% on top of your AdSense earnings is a big incentive to giving in text ads a chance.

I’ve recently had the opportunity and privilege to work closely with several large websites, including Squidoo.com and Britannica.com, and following are a few insights into how to best integrate in text ads into such big websites.

Big Websites Need Robust Solutions

The major or perhaps even the only characteristic that all big websites share is the volume of traffic they get. In fact, this is probably the definition of a big website: a website that gets lots of visitors. Accordingly, the first concern a publisher of a big website should consider is the robustness of the solution selected for monetization.

There are over twenty in text ads providers, and with the expansion of in text penetration, this number keeps growing. However, many of these providers are making their first steps in this field, and such new systems may not always be able to support large volumes of visitors. The limitations can be in the automatic realm – is the IT infrastructure capable of withholding millions of queries and clicks every hour? The established in text providers have proven that yes, it’s more than possible. So just make sure you’re working with one of those.

Another type of limitations is in the manual aspects of the integration. Some of the in text providers require manual involvement in the choice of highlighted terms and the matching of ads to text. For a website with a high volume of content or with dynamic content, manual involvement in the process can prove to be inefficient, so you need to check this with the potential provider as well.

Lots of Content and Ajax

Some of the larger websites also tend to have a lot of content in each page. The in text algorithm needs to analyze the text in real time without delaying the loading time. Some in text providers solve this by caching the content and doing the analysis offline, but since the online advertising market is rapidly changing, you may lose monetization potential with offline analysis. Therefore, a big publisher should make sure that the content analysis is done online with each page’s loading, but with no delays to the website’s behavior.

If each web page has a large volume of content, like with an encyclopedia or with long articles, the publisher may consider using Ajax for loading the content only when users scroll down. In such cases, the in text algorithm needs to run again and again with each scroll, or otherwise – the monetization will be limited to the first few paragraphs only. Britannica uses Ajax with in text ads perfectly. If you have a large volume of content, you should make sure the in text ads provider can manage it professionally and maximize your potential earnings.

Multiple Level Reporting

Big websites also tend to cover different content or different types of content. For example, Squidoo has both regular articles and a specialized section for books; or a website can have an articles area and a forum; or a portal may have both local news and sports news. If you take your website monetization seriously, you would probably want to monitor the results of each section separately, like with Google AdSense channels. In text ads are no different and you should ask your in text ads provider to provide you with multiple level reporting.

The larger in text advertising networks work with website networks as well and should be able to provide both aggregated reports and separate reports for each site. Such reporting systems can easily be used for monitoring different sections of a big website.

Niche Content and Advertisers

When matching advertisers with online content, the more focused the content, the higher the revenues can be. You can imagine that it’s easier to sell ads for a website focused on new family car models than for general web portal. However, bigger websites often have many categories of content and varied demographics. This means that the in text ads provider should also be able to match wide category advertisers or multiple niche advertisers. Some in text ads providers focus on specific areas and as such will have difficulties matching ads for big websites with a wide variety of content. If you have such a site, make sure you get the service that you need for it.

Big Websites and Monetizing International Traffic

The Internet is open for all, and don’t we just love it this way? Sure. But it brings a challenge to monetization, especially for bigger websites. Most websites today have at least twenty percent of visitors which come from outside of their main market. Some have much larger parts of their audience come from other countries. For big websites, these foreign visitors can accumulate to vast numbers and there’s no reason they won’t be treated as customers as well.

Clearly, since the online advertising arena can be different in each country, serving in text ads in many markets can be difficult, but it is possible. In fact, visitors from surprising countries often prove to have higher click through rate. This calls for further research, but the explanation probably comes from different surfing culture and perhaps less offline advertising attacks. When you integrate in text ads into a big website, you should ask about international traffic – your provider should be able to monetize it as well.

Contract Changes and Higher Revenue Share

When joining online services, in text advertising included, you are required to accept the standard terms and conditions. For big publishers, entering into legal contracts usually involves going through the legal department, who always want to contribute its wisdom to the contract. While this will surely slow down the process, it makes sense, so don’t forget this step in the integration process. You can sign up online and then negotiate an addendum to the agreement with such changes.

One major change you should consider does not require legal involvement. A big website can leverage the large online ads inventory to request a higher revenue share. From my experience, this can go up to very high numbers… but don’t push your provider too much. You want the provider to be happy to, or the incentive to get you higher revenues will be diminished.

Your Very own Customized Bubble

In text ads are placed with a bubble that opens upon a mouse hover. Each in text ads provider utilizes its own design for the bubble, but this appearance can be customized. Since this does take some work, integrating a customized bubble is mostly relevant to big websites. If you’re lucky to be included in this group, you should consider asking for your very own bubble, matching it better to your site’s overall look and feel and perhaps promoting your brand as you go.

Testing and a Trial Period with In Text Ads

So, you are now seriously considering adding thousands of dollars when monetizing your mega website, and you’ve checked all the relevant issues to make sure you found the right solution for you… but wait, just before you execute a 12-months exclusivity contract and commit yourself to the adventure – why won’t you test it first? Yes, a trial period is the right thing to do. Integrating in text ads into a website takes very little technical effort – you simply paste a line of code in the right place – so performing some testing shouldn’t be too difficult. Starting with a one-month trial period sounds like a step in the right direction, especially for a big website. My guess is that after some optimization and successful testing, you will stay for the ride.

Once a visitor to your website hovered over a double underline link and clicked on the ad within the bubble, you’ve already earned advertising revenues – it can be as low as a few cents, but money is money, right? So why don’t you get paid immediately? Well, handling payments takes efforts and costs, and if we’ll create a transaction for every cent earned, the costs will be higher than the earnings. Also, the online advertising cycle requires several offline procedures to ensure the validity of the ads served and visitors clicking, so some patience is required.

In text ads providers, like other ad networks including Google AdSense, set a minimum sum for payout, often called the payment threshold. As a website publisher you get paid only after your earnings reach this number. And then, payments go out in cycles, mostly on a monthly basis, so you need to wait a little longer. In order for you to get paid, you first need to get to the payment threshold and then also wait for the monthly payment cycle to arrive.

Let’s take an example with customary numbers: the payment threshold is $100 and the payment cycle is monthly, with a waiting period of 30 days during which the provider collects payments from advertisers and makes all necessary calculations and procedures. If in July you’ve earned $65, then you’re still not entitled for payment because your earnings are lower than the payment threshold. This sum is therefore carried over to the next month. Then, in August your website yielded another $80. Although this is still lower than the payment threshold, you already have pending balance from the previous month, and together you have $145, which makes you entitled for payout. Now, from the end of August you need to wait 30 days and expect payment by the end of September.

Just to avoid a common mistake, your September earnings will not be included in the payment at the end of September but only 30 days later. Accordingly, even if during September you’ve earned another $300, these earnings will only be reflected in the following payment, at the end of October.

Payment Methods and Transaction Fees

Although most money in the world today is in the form of bits of information in various types of banking accounts, which theoretically can travel at the speed of light, it can still prove to be quite difficult getting your website revenues from the online advertising provider. Also, some forms of payment include charges of high transaction fees.

If both you and the provider are in the US, the best form of payment – in terms of speed, comfort and costs – is ACH. It is very much like a traditional wire transfer directly between bank accounts but with much lower commissions and transaction fees; in fact, they are close to zero. If you have a bank account in the US, you should ask your provider to use ACH.

In some cases, using ACH is limited to high volume transfers. If you don’t qualify for it, ask your provider if it’s possible to hold your payments until you reach the minimum sum for ACH. If you can afford the wait, the minimal costs can be worth it.

International Payments

Outside the US, the most common form for online transfers is PayPal. The advantages are transparency and safety. The disadvantages are high service commissions and severe limitations in certain countries. In small transfers, PayPal is a wise choice. If your earnings get into hundreds and thousands, you should consider alternatives to save on the commissions. Also, in some countries, like Chile and Pakistan, you simply can’t work with PayPal, while in other countries you can work with them but find it very difficult to withdraw your money… in these cases, you must consider the alternatives.

Since payment methods are not the focus here, I won’t include reviews of PayPal alternatives and competitors. From my experience, I can say that wire transfers directly between bank accounts is relevant only to big numbers, as they involve a headache of details and commissions. For smaller amounts where PayPal is not available, a good alternative cab be Payoneer, which sends money directly to MasterCard debit cards that are accepted worldwide, and there are other options as well.

Tax Forms

As it happens, all major in text ads providers operate out of the US and are therefore subject to the IRS tax regulations. As such, to receive payments from them, the website publisher needs to fill out a form that transfers the responsibility for tax payments to the publisher. This is true even if the publisher is not located in the US. Be sure to submit the relevant form to guarantee that your payment is not delayed.

If you don’t have any business in the US you can replace the IRS form with a formal declaration about having no business or income in the US.

If your in text ads provider is located in another country, the tax requirements will be different, so take it into consideration.

Small Website Warning

Some blogs and websites earn only smaller monthly sums, but still – it can accumulate to significant amounts and can at least cover your costs. When choosing your provider, check what the payment threshold is, so that your earnings won’t get stuck with the provider for too long. More important, some in text providers tend to discriminate smaller publishers in the fine print… for example, the terms may state that if you haven’t reached a minimum sum in a certain month, your earnings will be lost entirely. Even for a bigger website, if you have a slower month or your website was under construction, you may find yourself losing revenues that your website had rightfully produced. Make sure you don’t fall into such a trap.

Big Website Warning

When your website monetization entitles you to high payouts, you should be aware of high transaction costs. Even if you got used to PayPal, the commissions there can be significantly higher compared to ACH or wire transfers, so with growth – you should also look into your choice of payment method.

The advertiser’s fantasy has always been a medium where highly targeted potential customers seek specific information and knowingly choose to get exposed to ads. Sponsored search ads fulfilled this fantasy. When people search online, they are looking for specific information, their location and some other characteristics are known, and they’re willingly clicking on search results – including sponsored ads. This explains the phenomenal success of Google AdWords for both advertisers and Google.

In the online world, display ads, mostly in the form of banners, represent the opposite end. Much more like in traditional media, banners need to interrupt potential customers while they’re doing something else. Like TV ads, they ask the potential customer to stop enjoying the content she’s interested in, and pay attention to paid-for messages. This is why advertisers need vast exposure of banner ads to get to results and so we price display advertising by the thousands.

From the advertiser’s point of view, in text advertising is much closer to search ads than to display. While people are asked to pay attention while they are doing something else (mostly reading), they are not actively interrupted like with jumpy banners. Only an interested reader will hover with the mouse to see what ad is related to the highlighted double underline term. And then, after viewing the ad, only if there’s still interest, the reader will click and a charge to the campaign will be made. This means that advertisers pay only after the potential customer has given permission to get exposed to the ad’s message. In fact, the potential customer gave her permission twice – first with the hover and then with the click. This explains why in text ads come very close to advertisers’ fantasies about permission marketing.

What to Expect: CTR, Bounce Rates, and Conversion

The high engagement of potential customers with ads that they have knowingly chose to view leads to relatively high conversion rates. Clearly, conversion depends on many factors and there isn’t a specific number that can be projected for all ads and products, but you can expect higher conversion rates than with display ads and results that are closer on the spectrum to search ads. True, the conversion rate will not be as high as with search ads, but the cost per click could be significantly lower and the click through rate higher, so the overall results should get very close.

In text ads yield more clicks or as we tend to call it – a higher click through rate (CTR). In text advocates explain the higher CTR with the smart algorithms that highlight the most relevant terms. While this is true, there is another explanation. In text ads are still relatively new. While online dwellers got used to banners and they mostly disregard them, in text ads still attract more attention. With the growing penetration of this new method of advertising, the initial interest in the new format will decline. Then, the genuine interest in the advertiser’s message will remain to justify the click rate, which will probably be a little lower, but still much higher than with display ads.

An unfortunate side effect of the high click through rate that stems from interest in the format itself – as opposed to the interest in the ad’s content – is a higher bounce rate. As an advertiser you should expect more visitors that leave your landing page quickly. These visitors were probably mostly interested in seeing how this new type of ad works. While this behavior should decline with time, it still affects your results negatively, so you should anticipate it and include it in your calculations. And yet, despite the higher bounce rate, the genuine interest of most visitors and the relatively low click costs will yield high conversion rates.

Tips to Improve Online Advertising Results

When you first launch an advertising campaign with in text ads, please do your homework. Simply copying your AdWords campaign will work but it won’t maximize your potential results. One major difference is the keywords format. While for sponsored search results you try targeting what people are searching for, in text hooks – those double underline links – are part of written text. Think about it when you do your keyword research.

Also, keep in mind that the in text bubble is limited to a single ad. There are formats that allow more ads, but the limited space and attention leads to one ad per hover de facto. This means that you can’t set your cost per click (CPC) aiming for mid-level or lower-end results. Since only one ad will be placed, your CPC calculations should aim at the first place. Among other things, try adding just a little to your CPC, as an ad with 11 cents usually stands a better chance than an ad with a round price of 10 cents.

Due to the temporary issue with higher bounce rates (see above), keep your landing pages as clear as possible. This way, visitors who are new to the in text format will not be confused. Help them understand where they got to and easily identify your call for action. This tip is clearly relevant to all online advertising, but it’s more important with new advertising methods.

For the last tip to improve your advertising with in text ads I must first apologize. I’m going to recommend working with direct in text providers, but I also work for one of those. So, you can disregard this tip, but you can also consider it together with the reasoning. I work with most textual CPC marketplaces and those ad networks are doing an amazing job in getting potential customers and advertisers together. It’s true that they take their share of the CPC and you could bypass them, but I think they bring real value to the table. That’s not the reason why I recommend working directly with the in text providers. The ad networks’ systems were tailored to search results and to AdSense like contextual programs – both of which place several ads each time. Their pricing mechanisms and other technical filters find it difficult to maximize results from in text ads. For the time being, I therefore recommend that advertisers try working directly with in text providers. I also recommend (and work on it) that the ad networks improve their compatibility with in text advertising, so that everybody can be happy.

Are you looking for ways to increase the number of clicks on ads on your website but through legitimate interest in these ads? You are not alone. With people getting more and more used to online ads, they tend to avoid them, and many bloggers and website publishers are looking for creative ways to monetize their content.

Say Thanks with a Click

Here comes the Thank You Click Organization. Its goal is promoting sincere interest in online advertising in order to help keep the Internet free and the ads reasonable. In other words, it educates Web surfers to give online ads some attention as part of the general cycle of surfing, and by doing so – help financing the costs of websites.

Joining ThankYouClick.org

Joining the Thank You Click organization is easy. All you have to do is add a nice looking button to your homepage with a link to http://ThankYouClick.org. Visitors to your website will be intrigued by it, click on it, and learn about the importance of online ads. Hopefully, they will give your website’s ads more attention and you may get more legitimate clicks. Oh, and it’s totally free.

No Fraud Clicks

This organization does not encourage fraudulent clicks on advertisements. It clearly states that if you’re not sincerely interested in its content, don’t click on an ad by no means. In fact, it’s part of the organization’s spirit that encouraging uninterested clicks is both forbidden and unethical and that you should avoid them at any cost.

The Buttons

These are the available buttons. Whay do you think?

Some website publishers ask if they can open the landing pages of the in text ads in new browser windows. The answer is that technically, yes, it’s possible, but since it’s not a good practice, you’d better avoid it. If you really have to, you can ask your provider to set your in text ads to open in a new window, but please read this first and give me a chance to discourage you.

What is a New Window?

Any hyperlink leads to a new web page. The link can be customized to either open the target web page within the same active window of the browser, replacing the original page, or open it in a new browser window, leaving the current browser window open with the original page. In other words, it either replaces the current page (same window) or keeps the current page open (new window). When designing your website you need to determine how to configure links generally – open in the same window or in a new window – and there are many discussions about this subject which I will leave for others to conclude. When adding in text ads to your website, this question comes up again.

Can a Visitor Stay Forever?

It is important to understand that no visitor stays in your website forever. Eventually, as much as they like your content, they will move on to another site, close the browser, run out of electricity, or sadly pass away. So why not prepare for it? Give your visitors a good exit experience together with a good reason to come back and bring others with them. Forcing a visitor to stay by technical means will not keep her forever anyway and it will probably worsen her experience and overall feeling towards the website.

So, understanding that visitors leave eventually, there’s no reason to mourn departed visitors. Rather than having them leave with no goodbye, it would be better to have them leave through a relevant ad, with a click that generates you as the publisher some revenues.

Advertisers ask for Attention and Pay for it

Have you wondered why advertisers are willing to pay you for each click? Apart from you being so nice, they actually need the attention of your visitor to their message, be it a public service, commercial product or simply another website. When they planned their landing page, their ads, and their advertising budget, they had some goals in mind which require the clicking visitor to actually give attention to their ad’s landing page. Embrace this fact, don’t fight it.

Usually, when a website publisher asks to open the ad’s landing page in a new window, he does so because he doesn’t want to lose the visitor. But face it, this is exactly what the advertiser wants – that your visitor give full attention to the ad’s message. When you make it easier for your visitor to leave the ad’s landing page and go back to your page, you hurt the advertiser’s goal. When advertisers are not happy with the conversion they get from your visitors, they won’t want to work with you. Through automatic processes, advertisers will stay away from your website and you won’t notice it at first, but your website will get ads that pay less and that are less interesting to your visitors. With time, the user experience will diminish and your bottom line revenues will decrease.

When the ad’s landing page opens in the same window, the user gets a more natural flow of web surfing experience and the landing page has a better chance to get attention. When you open the ad’s landing page in a new window, the chances are higher that the user will not give the same amount of focused attention to the advertiser’s message.

In Text Ads Advantage

As opposed to other hyperlinks on your website, in text ads provide the visitor a glimpse into the advertiser’s message. Upon mouse hover, the double underline link opens a bubble with an initial ad. This is like a opening shortly in a new window. But then, remember – if the visitor is not interested in the ad’s content, he will move the mouse away, the bubble will disappear, and you will keep you visitor in your original page. It’s only when the visitor has genuine interest in the ad that he clicks, and in such cases, it’s good practice to let him follow his interest to the ad’s landing page without interference.

The Back Button

If you adhere to advice above and let advertisers get the attention they pay for, your in text ads revenues will grow. As for your visitors, if they ask about this, you can always point them to that arrow shaped button which reverses time… the back button. Once they have regarded the ad’s landing page, they can choose to proceed to wherever the advertiser has suggested – buy a book for example – or simply hit the back button and return to your original web page.

Notice: sometimes the back button won’t work. Due to the complex path that the browser goes through   from click to the landing page, and sometimes due to the advertiser’s configuration, the back button sometimes doesn’t work. Although providers try to prevent this from happening and keep the back button enabled, with different browsers and different advertisers, it is sometimes impossible to avoid.

For cases with no back button and for cases when the visitors simply like the advertiser’s landing page and stay there, your website should be attractive enough to have users come back to it voluntarily. That’s the right way to keep your visitors, not by technical means.

When you add in text ads, a smart algorithm analyzes the content on your web pages and highlights the keywords and terms with the best match to the page’s content and the potential advertising. But smart as this algorithm can be, no one knows and understands your own content as well as you do. And with some help, the in text algorithm can improve its performance and the results will show up in your website monetization reports. The nice surprise here is that it’s very easy… all you have to do is recognize areas and terms which are better left alone and not highlighted as in text ad links.

Website Areas to Avoid

Some areas on your web pages are just not suitable for in text ads. Here are some examples:

1. Fixed content areas – headers and footers, navigation bars.
2. Fixed content pages – the About and Contact pages.
3. Repeating sections – the details area in a forum, the add comment paragraph in a blog.

Let’s face it, when your visitors read the Contact page or actually review the footer, they’re not likely to actively choose to get exposed to an advertisement. If they do click an ad text link there, they usually would be doing so by mistake, hit the back button, get annoyed and generally lower your chances for future visits and revenues.

Moreover, since the number of hooks – the in text ad links – on a certain web page is usually limited to a set number, highlighting terms in areas where visitors will not regard or click them, is a waste of hooks. Such misplaced hooks replace better placed hooks and reduce the potential monetization.

Specific Terms to Avoid

In addition to unwanted areas, there are also specific keywords and terms that you’d better leave out of the in text ads algorithm’s way.

First, there are repeating terms. You know which terms appear repeatedly in your pages but are not relevant for ad text links. Think about it. Here a few examples:

1. Automated Text – mostly in blogs and forums you will find “posted by”, “date”, and other terms that are automatically added very often.
2. Names – people’s names, places, subject matter names, and names in general are sometimes used very often but are not good candidates for ad text links.

Second, there are specifically problematic keywords. A friend of mine runs an informational website about protecting children on the web and avoiding different online risks. On a certain page, the term pornography can appear several times when the page’s subject is how to filter it out and protect children from exposure to it. In certain cases, an in text ads algorithm can recognize pornography as the subject of the page but disregard the negative context. In others, the context could be picked up, but still, even if the ad would be for a filtering software, my friend would prefer not to highlight pornography on her pages.

Another example for keywords to avoid is misleading ad links. If your website promotes an ebook, video or software for downloading, your page probably includes descriptive words and sentences like download here. These sentences are not the actual download links but they are part of the page’s content. Since the page is in fact about downloads, the algorithm may highlight these terms for ads, but your visitors may mistake the links for being the download button. Such clicks are double trouble. You both lose the download click you wanted in the first place, and the advertiser gets a mistaken click which he doesn’t like and would probably reward you with low quality feedback and long term decrease in revenues.

Each website has its own potentially harmful terms. Think about your own website – which keywords are better left alone?

As smart as the algorithm can be, terms that appear often seems to be important to the page’s content. Despite efforts to automatically recognize irrelevant words and avoid them, there are so many different ways to create a website, blog or forum, that it’s practically impossible to cover them all. Just a little help from you can do wonders to the algorithm’s performance and your monetization.

How to Choose Better In Text Ads

I hope you are convinced. By avoiding certain unwanted areas and keywords on your website, you can actually help the in text ads algorithm to chose better keywords and increase the potential website monetization. As promised earlier, it’s surprisingly easy to do. You simply mark which areas and keywords you want out of the in text algorithm’s reach.

For whole areas, there are simple HTML tags for turning the algorithm on and off. With each in text provider there are slight differences, but the big providers should all have this option available. Pick up the exact tag formation from your provider and mark as Off the areas that should not have in text ads in them. Don’t forget to add the On tag afterwards and then test it a little, to make sure that the ads appear in the right places and are gone from the wrong ones.

For unwanted keywords there should be a black list. Ask your in text provider about it and then write down your own website’s list. Coming up with the initial list shouldn’t be too difficult, and you can always edit it and add to it later on. You can prepare this list right now and immediately improve your earnings within a few minutes. What are you waiting for?

The color of the ad links on your website’s pages has a significant impact on your potential revenues. When addressing the issue of the link’s format, I suggested that website publishers should make a clear distinction between the in-text ad links and other hyperlinks, preferably by using double underline format. This distinction may reduce clicks on the short term, but on the long term will improve your user experience and your bottom line revenues (read Tip #1). Choosing the right color for your ad links contributes to this distinction, but it has much more to it.

Attention without Interruption

The in text links appear within your content. They need to get a little attention from the reader, hinting that there’s an ad relevant to the highlighted term, subtly asking for permission from the reader. If she’s interested, she may hover with the mouse over the link, get some additional information, and then decide if she wants to click on the ad or continue reading. This permission process is essential to the success of the advertisement and of your website. But it’s not alone. Giving your website’s visitors the option to read smoothly through your content without interruption is crucial to your website’s user experience, which of course directly influences the usage and eventually earning patterns.

The color of the in text links should stand out from the text just enough to clearly present the link as an advertisement, but not too much, avoiding interruption to smooth reading.

Tasteful Design

The chosen color also needs to be part of the overall color pallet of the website. In other words, protect your tasteful design. In-text ads become part of the website’s general appearance and the color should match the surrounding environment. Now, there’s no magic matching formula. Some people like pink and brown together, others think it’s hideous. It is up to you – or your designer – to consider the general design of the website when choosing the ads’ color, not only money making considerations. Good design will contribute to the user experience and in the long term help building up your users’ satisfaction, which is crucial to your website and business.

Choosing your Color

And here’s the practical tip: choose quickly, and then choose again. And again. Yup, that’s the way. When you first integrate in-text, take a look at your website, and choose a color that you think would work. Don’t think too much, your guts can do this work for you. If you don’t like making such quick choices, simply stick with the default color that you get with the service. Then, give it a few days.

During this initial time, get some feedback. Ask your team, friends, visitors. Ask them specifically about the color, not a general question. And then, based on the feedback and your own taste, change the color. This should be very easy to do through your account with the in-text ads provider.

After you change the color, give it again a few days. Then, compare the statistics. In most cases, your in-text stats will provide you with a clear picture. Look for changes in the percentage of clicks out of your page impressions (click through rate, or CTR). Check the eCPM and bottom line revenues as well.

If there’s a change in the statistics, it would usually give you an answer about the right color for you. More money equals right color choice, in most cases. Attention: do give it a few days; testing for just one day may simply indicate visitors’ interest in the new color, not much more. If there’s no change in the statistics, then it’s up to your taste again. And if you’re still not sure, change the color again – it’s a click of a button and free of charge. And again. Until you find the right match, a color that gets you the clicks and revenues, matches your website’s overall appearance, but doesn’t interrupt smooth reading.

Extra Tip: Image and Video Sites

If the website or pages that you’re analyzing for color choice focus on images or video, your visitors most likely disregard the accompanying text. Such pages usually yield lower volume of clicks and revenues with in-text ads. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the extra income. For such web pages, try eye-catching colors that call for attention. While your visitors watch a video or an image, in-between the interesting parts, they’re usually looking for their next click. In such cases, the ad links should be easily identified and you shouldn’t worry too much about interrupting smooth reading (in most cases, your visitors don’t really read the entire text anyway). Make them shine.

Despite the temptation of short term increase in click through rate, avoid hiding the in-text links and use a distinct format like double underline. And I’m happy to elaborate…

The hooks – those hyperlinks that yield a bubble upon mouse hover – are the key to website monetization with in-text ads. When the provider’s algorithm works well, the keywords selected for hooks will be of interest to the reader and relevant to the content. When a reader actually is interested in the highlighted term, she will hover over it with the mouse, consider the ad within the bubble, and if she wants to learn more – click. That’s where the cash is.

However, the reader can also choose to click on the hook directly. Such a direct click will also lead to the advertiser’s landing page and generate the per-click revenue. And here’s the temptation: hooks for in-text ads can be formatted as regular links, with the same format and appearance of other links in the page. When disguised as regular links, readers may click on the hooks without knowing that they lead to paid-for content. For the short term, this leads to more clicks per page views (higher click through rate, or CTR), and on a pay-per-click basis (PPC), when each click is paid for, the website will generate higher revenues.

The Catch

But there’s a catch. This will only work for the short term. The obvious explanation is that the website’s readers will soon learn that not all links are regular and they will either avoid clicking entirely or screen them carefully with a hover. This way, after the first increase in clicks, there will be a drop. I’ve seen this happen in many websites. Now, I know some website publishers are now smiling to themselves, thinking, well, I don’t manage to get repeated visitors anyway, so at least I’ll get a paid-click out of them on that single visit. Sorry, but this is wrong as well.

The deeper reasoning behind this tip – to use distinct format for ad links – covers both repeating and new visitors. When a reader clicked on a link expecting to get to another related article but landed in an advertiser’s page, she mostly goes immediately back (or just shuts down the window, if it’s a new window). Such a disguised ad is an interruption to the reading, which is mostly ignored or even frowned upon. From the advertiser’s point of view, this is the worst kind of click. First, the advertiser paid for that click but didn’t get the expected attention when the reader simply left the ad’s landing page immediately. And second, and much worse, the visitor may even leave with a negative feeling towards the brand that managed to fool her into clicking.

Losing Revenues and Happiness

When advertisers are not happy with the clicks they pay for, they pull off the campaign from the website. This can be done specifically against a website that keeps sending bouncing visitors (those are visitors that leave immediately); and if you think smaller websites can hide below the radar, think again – automatic filters will give such websites low quality scores and block them out as well.

Once advertisers pull their campaigns off a certain website, the ads then get lower and lower click value, so the effective revenues (or the eCPM) drops. In fact, even the click through rate decreases, as the active campaigns become more general and the ads get much less relevant and interesting for the readers.

If all this is not convincing enough, add on it the general frustration your visitors get when they feel they were tricked into clicking on an ad – is this the user experience you were aiming for? And if we’re already into rhetoric questions, which of the formats – regular or double underline links – is more noticeable and has a chance to get your own interest and click?

The Tip: Distinct Format for Ad Links

My tip is: use a distinct format for in-text ads. When your visitors recognize the hooks as a signal to an ad, they can easily disregard them and not get interrupted while reading. However, when the hook is interesting, they know there’s a bubble behind, they hover, they consider the ad, and… they actively give their permission to get exposed to the advertiser’s content. Such clicks that come with permission are highly valuable to advertisers and they will reward them with good feedback. This positive feedback will soon thereafter be translated into higher value per click and eventually into higher revenues. In professional terms, you may experience a lower CTR, but the eCPM and bottom line revenues will be higher. Moreover, you will then have more available clicks for other uses (like content related links), and, most importantly, your website’s general user experience will be improved. Don’t we all like happy visitors?

The Added Value of Double Underline

One last thing. Why double underline? This tip is about making a clear distinction between the in-text ad links and other hyperlinks on the page. Any distinct format will do. Double underline will do even better.

Using double underline has an important added value. More and more people online recognize this format as unique to in-text advertising. All the advantages of making both your visitors and the advertisers happy by getting permission for clicks are leveraged by using a common format that doesn’t annoy your visitors and doesn’t distract their focus away from your content. I recommend sticking to the standard of the online community – noticeable double underline it is.