700 pages and a long way to go..

...Built a website with a bunch of tips and ideas....

I've been collecting these pages for a while, and decided that I've found a way to use them when I found adsense ads.

I organized them with Robohelp, an application I use to build online help systems and other stuff that needs a table of contents and search and index, etc... ebooks, for instance.

Now, after reading the posts in this forum, I can see the word 'blending' comes up a lot.

I wonder how I can make my ads look a little more a part of the system. more, well, blended... I'm thinking 1) a redesign of the framework, and a background color, before I can integrate them all together like I've seen here..

- the start page is: http://www.800tip.com -

- click on "Show Navigation Pane " to see the navigation framework.

I'm also thinking 2), I should remove the ad from the top, if favor of a midpage one.

And 3), I think I need to move it all to a wiki.... so the world can edit it, and add their names to the business directories, and bring it up to date... but do adsense ads work in the PHP wiki pages?

Lot of questions, I know... I have a long ways to go, methinks...

 

when you said "I've been collecting these pages for a while" does it mean collecting the contents from other site or writing and keeping them with you for future use? copying someone else's work would cause you lot of trouble (duplicate content, flame mails, lawsuits etc etc)

 

The content either I wrote or I purchased the rights to. This was a prerequisite even before step one. Its all stuff that should be free, like wikipedia.

So, should I work for more integration in the ads? Perhaps a more professional theme that blends more easily?

 

I guess my first comment is that it doesn't look like a site with 800 pages behind it, meaning that if you used a more directory like UI on the main page and a hierarchical left nav it might be more obvious. For example, why hide the navigation pane? I'd also use the full with of the page instead to the narrow space you have now. I'd also suggest adding a little text description to each of your links and mimic a Google ad. For example:

10 Steps To Success In Direct Sales
Every year thousands of men and women across America sign on with
direct selling firm-Tupperware, Amway, or a cosmetic
company-hoping to make money enough for new draperies, a new
davenport, or some new clothes.
http://theurlhere.com

The pale links just don't scream "click me, there's valuable info here!"

Lastly... blend, blend, blend. The more your ads look like part of your site in color, font weight, positioning and treatment the more clicks you'll get. Good Luck!

-Michael
phpSimpleCMS.com

 

Wow, thanks Michael - those are all great suggestions! I will implement every one of them... watch for a major renovation there this weekend.

When you talk about the narrow width, are my talking about the front page, the list pages, or the content pages? or all three?

thanks again!

 

I think he means the content pages use only the left side of the screen

 

hmm, I'll have to rethink my design. All my category pages have 50 to 160 links to the articles. If the TOS says I can't put ads on pages that have only links, that eliminates the second-level category pages.

But I see lots of small sites that are directories only, with nothing but links. Can I insert ads on my category pages?