63 clicks and a big zip - suggestions, please

Hi all -

My main site - starting to draw people in on article pages. Today, 63 page views, and a big nada on clickthroughs. Any thoughts on the site or its sister blog would be appreciated.

Paul

 

How about we get the url in question to review...?

 

Sorry, both are below, in my signature - I didn't want to spam the forum with double url entries - didn't think that as long as I don't live link, etc... But they are www.a1-outdoors.com (most searches land, for now, on article pages, i.e., "downhill skiing technique) and the blog, www.a1-outdoors.com/outblog/.

 

Damnit... now I can't even access your urls. Is that because I'm "hidden" away in Reykjavik (holiday in Iceland) or is it down right now?

Well... get back to it later on I will.

 

Appears down. Great. Calling host right now.

 

Back up. Hats off to Lunarpages! Any thoughts, anyone, appreciated!

 

It's nice to have your ads above the fold, but above your fold everything is so "empty" that I automatically draw in my head a line separating the content from the ads and the navigation itself... Just like in the image below...

Try to add more colour, change the place of your ads...

 

If you coded the site and have the know-how to do this, then it works great for bumping up adsense CTR...

Whenever you create the content, use a special character sequence (e.g. {ADSENSE HERE}) after the first paragraph of the content. Then when displaying the content, replace with the adsense code. Usually one of the vertical display works best with the blended color approach (which you're already using).

You could also stick it in there a 2nd time before the last paragraph. The theory being some people will read the intro paragraah and lose interest ... and hopefully their eye sees something of interest in the ads .... or, they read to the end and are hungry for more and one of the ads that is then the 2nd ad block which is now at center view on the page, catches their eye.

 

My suggestion is to experiment with various ad formats and placements. The ads seem relevant to your web site, so that doesn't seem to be a problem.

All the advice you hear about "above the fold" has to taken lightly because if you have a good site and good content, the ads can be about anywhere. I just don't think that someone coming to your site is going to click on ads at the top of the page (and leave your site) before they've scrolled down to explore your content. Try to integrate and blend the ads into your content. I've found this to be a much more productive technique.

 

Thanks, all. Ironically enough, I have neglected the site over the last few days to birth another one, and I am now seeing better results.

Your thoughts are appreciated - I will think on them.

Paul