"Confidentiality. You agree not to disclose Google Confidential Information without Google's prior written consent. "Google Confidential Information" includes without limitation:
(b) click-through rates or other statistics relating to Site performance in the Program provided to You by Google; and (c) any other information designated in writing by Google as "Confidential" or an equivalent designation. However, You may accurately disclose the amount of Google’s gross payments to You pursuant to the
Program."
Since this is the first report. Let’s establish the ground rules for these reports and the ensuing conversations.
1. I will not discuss any data that will get me in trouble with the big “g”. (See above.) I really feel that this can be handled in generalities that do not violate the Google AdSense Terms of Service yet communicate the important facts.2. You may feel free to request information; however, I will only answer your request in a manner that I feel is within the TOS.
3. Please keep in mind that this is supposed to be a community experiment. Feel free to comment with critiques or suggestions but please be niceJ In setting up this project I have made an agreement with you to accept and apply your suggestions as possible in exchange for supplying you with the results of the changes.
That’s all I can think of right now. I’ll come back to this if I need to in the future.History
This blog came into existence on July 5th and has had content ads in place since the 6th. I have posted about some of the things I’ve done to increase traffic flow during that time. I’m pleased to report that, while my figures are not outstanding, the blog has picked up a few regular readers and seems to be improving. According to my sitemeter.com reports the site received it’s first hit on Sunday the 9th, with daily traffic peeking at 17 on Monday with 37 hits and 3 subscribers for the week ended at midnight yesterday. I’m a bit disappointed to report that Google does not owe me a cent.What has been going on?
I would have to say; overall the first week’s stats are not a total disappointment. I’m not thrilled with the $0 revenue but solving that problem is what this project is all about isn’t it? I don’t know if I need to try to make changes to the site or to the ads or to just be patient. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to participate.
Days 1-3 were spent making posts and beginning to lay out a strategy for the project. Sunday (Day 4) I joined MyBlogLog which has brought a lot of traffic (24 hits; THANK YOU!). Monday (Day 5) is discussed in detail here. In summery, I spent $5.40 at bla.st (See widget on sidebar) to place my ad card high on their site for a year (8 hits so far), submitted the site to at least 10 directories and countless search engines. Tuesday was spent researching for my post and Wednesday was spent submitting articles for publication and on personal business. I have also spent an enormous amount time this week tweaking my blog, adding buttons & widgets, and playing with other mods and hacks.
Week 1 Stats:
Subscribers – 3
Hits – 37
Revenue - $0
Summary
How To Track Your AdSense Ads in Blogger
I recently decided to do some serious research on tracking software for my Google AdSense program and was a little bit surprised with the results.
There are several nice looking products out there, some of which are available for free as open source programs and they are numerous. A simple Google search for "free adsense tracking software" will keep you busy for hours. Some are for sale with a free trial or a money back guaranty, but the most popular software I found was AdSense Gold (Aff. Link). It has been reviewed and endorsed by some very reputable internet personalities such as Chris Garrett at Performancing.com and Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.com. This article is not a review of AdSense Gold so I am not going to go into all of the details, but it does seem to be a robust program that gives you the ability to dissect your traffic and click-through data from every angle thereby maximizing the advertising potential of your site. In fact the only real problems with it at all seem to be that it costs $97 and that the website looks like one of those "snake oil" scams complete with the whole, "I'm going to give you all of my secrets so you can make a fortune if you just buy this program from me!" thing. (A real turn off.)
There is however a problem with all of these options if you are one of the many bloggers hosting your Google AdSense ads on blogger.com or any of the other free blog hosts. You will find that all third party software programs require files to be loaded on the server. This issue alone excludes them from use on your free blog.
For those bloggers using a free platform, the question becomes, "How do I track my AdSense ads?". Rest easy dear friends. There is a solution. Granted, it's not as slick or simple as one of those cool self contained programs, and this method will not produce quite as much data, but it is free and it will work and it's not overly complicated.
The first thing you have to do is take advantage of the channels option when you set up your ad designs. It is a very simple process to complete. After you have chosen the size and colors of the add block, you will be asked to "Choose Ad Channels". Click "add new channel" and enter a name for this new channel. I prefer to use a name that describes the ad or referral link, such as "Top Banner", "Right Wide Tower", "FF Referral", etc. This way I can easily recognize each ad block or referral in my reports and gauge it's performance. If you have multiple sites, be sure to include a site prefix in each name. ("Dogs Right Link Box", Cats Left Referral Button") For proper tracking, it is necessary to go through this process for each ad unit, link box, referral button, or text link.
Next go to Google Analytics. Get your account set up, then install the javascript code into your template and wait for the system to start gathering information. This process takes overnight because the Google Analytics system collects and compiles it's data every 24 hours. When this data starts to flow you will have plenty to look at for a while until you decide exactly what is important to you. You can dissect this information any number of ways including the all important "Keywords" category and you can set up the system to report multiple websites.
I also like to set up an account for each site over at Sitemeter.com. One benefit to having the sitemeter account is that it reports in real time instead of having to wait until the next day for your hit count.
Now you have the ability to see exactly which ad units and referral links are performing and which are not by checking your AdSense report with channels. You can monitor the flow of traffic through your site(s) including the referring URL, keywords used, and tons more through Google Analytics. You have a source for real time hit data with sitemeter. All of which was free.
With these three tools in place you should be able to generate all of the data you need to manage a successful Google Adsense experience. If you do not yet have an AdSense account you may create one by clicking on the "Sign Up For AdSense" link located directly under my profile.
