While the efforts of some publishers pay off, the revenues of others don’t seem to rock, making them ask “why is my CPM low?”. You may be surprised, but the majority of factors that slow down or even block publishers’ business growth can simply be defeated! And this is the goal of this checklist post. We’ll overcome the main difficulties website owners face world-wide when running their business online and highlight critical website monetization mistakes.
We divided our checklist into two parts. The first one will cover major advertising mistakes (the way you get and place ad formats on the web pages). The second part is all about non-direct factors that can badly affect a website’s profitability.
12 website monetization mistakes
Let’s take a look at the common mistakes publishers make when placing advertisements on their websites. As an example, we’ll use screenshots related to Adsterra’s platform and give examples of our ad formats. However, most of the points listed are fair for any advertising network.
1. Too many ads on a single page scare off your target audience
A common misconception among publishers is that “more ads” equals “more money.” That’s not true.
First of all, visitors are distracted by different messages and can’t choose between them. Here comes the banner blindness effect!
And second: earnings from ad impressions are your goal, not your visitors’ 😉 Visitors come for a purpose, so your content must solve problems, answer questions, give instructions, and so on. If they don’t get the content needed, they shift to similar sites and hardly return.
Avoid ad density and combine formats
You can place several banners on a single page. But please avoid high ad density (multiple formats placed together). It is worth using different placements and sizes. E.g., a 728x90px format comes above the content, that of 300x250px is for the sidebar, and one format left for the footer part. Another example is when you place a couple of native banners’ sections in a long-form article.
There is an even better monetization strategy that saves you from making mistakes. Combine ad formats that don’t look alike and interact with users in a different way:
Popunders and banners,
Native and push ads,
Popunders and Social Bar, and more.
Get expert advice from the unique Partner Care team with Adsterra. Ensure you use the best possible scenario for your high-earning ads. Go through quick registration and account approval.
2. Your blogposts are sliced with multiple native ads
Previously, we pointed out that placing native banners on a single page is a good idea. But when you slice your blogposts or pages with multiple sets of them, you become too salesy and may hinder your user experience (UX). Even native formats can become annoying in this case.
In-article ads perform great when users meet them up to 3 times per post. Some websites, like video streaming platforms and file storages, can act more aggressively. It all depends on the website profile and your users’ sensitivity.
Learn where to place native banners, get one of the CPM-boosting ad formats from Adsterra and maximize earning potential!
3. Too many ad formats at once
While combining advertising formats is a sound and wise strategy, it still can lead to poor results. Why so?
First, multiple ad formats make users feel under attack: push, video ads, and a couple of popunders, greeting them in the new browser tabs on top.
Second, it makes it harder for you to assess the productivity of each of them. You risk failing to identify the most efficient ones and missing the most irritating.
It’s best to start with a single format, then add another, analyze the results, and study your audience’s reaction to each separate unit.
With Adsterra Publishers Statistics, you manage all ad placements, since our system marks them all. Choose your domain from the list, pick the ad format you want to analyze, and check all key metrics one by one: clicks, CTR, CPM, revenue.
4. Not adapting ad formats to your website's niche
Except for the universal Smart Direct Link — a simple URL that you can put anywhere and get earnings from impressions — all other ad formats should match your content and niche.
Supposing, when you’re running a web service platform (a File Converter), you can use almost any visual placements, from Social Bar to Popunder. But when we refer to sensitive content, like long-form articles, tutorials, and how-tos, it is better to use the least intrusive formats. Native banners and Popunders will be the most suitable units here.
5. Ad formats don't fit your traffic type
Along with advertising units that don’t fit your website niche and content, there can also be mismatches between the format and the traffic type. Let’s go over some examples.
Web push notifications
While more and more users get the opportunity to decline push notifications, ads based on users’ subscriptions will gradually fade.
Actually, classic push notifications are getting banned by Google Chrome more often each day, and they aren’t available on iOS devices.
At the same time, the new generation of In-Page Push works even with iOS, remaining ad-blocker friendly. So, if you’re focusing on iOS traffic, you can now shift to a more prominent format.
Adsterra has a gallery of ad formats and skins that will fit your audience preferences. Use the most industry-advanced ads to tackle user ad blindness and raise your CTR up to 30%.
Mobile vs desktop formats
Quite a plain question, but still making trouble: some publishers use desktop formats on mobile versions. Make sure that the banner size is OK. For instance, 798×90 px is a traditional desktop leaderboard, while 320×50 is a mobile leaderboard.
Pop-up and interstitial ads mechanics
Classic pop-ups and interstitials are pretty aggressive because they can block the web page content. If your visitors belong to Gen Z or are even younger, they will leave the website immediately. Pop-ups are not recommended for mobile traffic, as they act as a barrier between the website and the user.
As for Interstitials, they’re more friendly (Google Ads Platform uses them widely!) but only when based on a dynamic iFrame technology. It allows visitors to click on the widget, collapse it or maximize the size while the website content remains usable. Interstitial ads by Adsterra come with the Social Bar format that uses the dynamic iFrame principle.
6. Incorrect frequency of Popunders
Usually, the frequency of pop ads is set by default, but publishers can apply to change it, aiming to show ads as often as possible. That may lead to both CPM decrease and traffic loss. Numerous hidden tabs may discourage visitors from using your site next time.
With Adsterra, you get a balanced default frequency: 4 popunders in 2 hours with 10-second delay between them.
Increasing this frequency may result in CPM rates dropping, though your revenue streams will temporarily boost. But only temporarily. Advertisers who bid for your traffic will soon realize that their offers are all messed up with loads of other campaigns.
7. Ad placement mistakes
We have already mentioned that slicing your content with ads doesn’t pay off well. But if you delicately put a banner in the long scroll page footer, it could also return zero profits. The balance is everything! How to choose the best spots for ad units?
First off, it’s crucial to understand how ad impressions are calculated. For example, native banners must load not less than 51% on a user’s device. So, make sure your users are ready to scroll the page.
Second, the home page isn’t always the best place to place ads. For example, if you have a news website, people often quickly leave the home page for other inner pages, ignore the home page content, or go straight to the Latest posts category.
Third, check how your visitors scroll and use web pages, which spots are visible and which are ignored. Google Behavior real-time reporting shows the most visited pages, while various Heatmap and Scrollmap tools will tell you all about user behavior on each page.
8. Two or more ad networks' scripts lead to poor monetization
It’s best to focus on one advertising network at first. Not necessarily Adsterra, but it must be one platform to serve you ads. Two or more scripts from different ad networks may conflict, and this can affect your page speed.
Moreover, when you’re focused on one ad network, you get a clear picture of how it works, what types of offers it streams, and which formats are top choice for your audience.
If you switch from one ad network to another, you start the process of adapting these new ads to your website all over again, and you end up wasting time and money.
9. You remove the ad network's script too early
Another website monetization mistake is to start checking the statistics immediately after placing ad codes, hoping to see the desired results. Passive income is indeed instant, but the results depend on your traffic volume, the ad location, and users’ behavior.
In addition, ad networks can use smart algorithms of traffic-2-ads matching (Adsterra does). These algorithms scan your site first to select advertising offers that match your website audience best. Sometimes it takes up to 48 hours to calibrate CPMs and adapt your offers.
10. Incorrect usage of ad codes/scripts
Sometimes, publishers make some adjustments to the scripts they got from the ad network. When copied incorrectly, scripts fail to serve any ads, which leads to zero CPM. When placed in the wrong part of the HTML code, they begin to conflict with the webpage’s settings.
One more common website monetization mistake is using the script twice. Each script is unique, and if you copy and paste it several times, statistics can double, triple, or even fail to deliver any data. You will not get any information about how the format works, whether it is visible and usable, how profitable it is, etc. The same is fair for several websites; you should not move ad scripts between different domains.
This common mistake is easier to avoid than fix. On the Adsterra platform, each ad format is followed by instructions. Please read them attentively and place your ad precisely as recommended. For example, you can’t place Native ads between the “<head>” tags, while Popunders should be put exactly before the closing “</head>” tag.
11. Not trying AdBlock-friendly, new formats
Good old classics like banners or popunders are a sure-fire way of website monetization. But the advertising market is evolving, and you are missing some fantastic earning potential. For example, TikTok that reshaped the social media landscape, Social Bar push ads that are winning more and more views and…advertising budgets!
Neat, lovely designs fit almost any web page, whether it is a blog or file hosting.
For those publishers streaming mobile iOS traffic, Social Bar is a must, for it is user experience (UX) and AdBlock friendliness.
Learn how to make a profit with the next-gen ad format for publishers. Social Bar with up to 30% higher CTR than web push formats.
12. You ignore website metrics except for CPMs
Publishers often care about the CPM rate, ignoring vital alternative metrics, such as CTR and clicks.
Meanwhile, advertisers are those who set requirements for the sort of traffic they want to get and rely on CTRs as the measure of success.
What could be general reasons for the drop in CPM? A lot, actually.
For example, proxy traffic is much cheaper since it’s impossible to determine whether the user is unique or not and from what GEO they are from.
Desktop traffic is often cheaper than from mobile devices. Traditionally, traffic from Tier 3 countries is cheaper than that from the USA, the UK, Australia, or Tier 2 countries. But not always. South African users are evaluated almost as highly as the Tier-1 audience.
Publishers can group all traffic they deliver by country and check how each GEO performs. They can also monitor the volume of clicks generated by each ad placement. It happens too often when a simple switch of ad placement location can improve CTRs and Clicks metrics and strategically heighten CPMs.
Indirect mistakes in website monetization
Above were the saddest mistakes of website monetization that every publisher can make. Nothing fatal, as you can see. You can ensure and fix any of those pitfalls on your own or ask for our managers’ help. We have a bunch of indirect difficulties that can block your opportunities to grow income. Let’s list them below.
1. You create a website not for people but for search engine algorithms
What did you create your website for? Most likely, you’ll say “to make money.” And that’s natural!
But will you be able to earn revenue if users immediately leave your site and then stop coming altogether? The answer is obvious. So, what should you do?
Create a website for organic human traffic with SEO best strategies, for real people with real needs. And by that, we mean:
Post super-engaging, quality content on your website
Add value to trending topics, answer questions, provide useful tools, methods, and services. Your content will not necessarily be analytical articles or reviews. It can be file storage or an MP3 collection with an open license.
And people will come; they’ll eagerly wait for your next post, write reviews and comments, share their preferences and your content, and recommend your services to their friends and peers.
2. Not focusing on target groups of users
Like we said earlier, high-quality content is rewarded both by the audience and search engines. But it only works if there is demand. Otherwise, you assist nobody and gain nothing. It would help if you always stayed in the market.
Marc Andreessen wrote The only thing that matters for THE PMARCA GUIDE TO STARTUPS. In it, he states:
“The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit. Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.
You can always feel when product/market fit isn’t happening. The customers aren’t quite getting value out of the product, word of mouth isn’t spreading, usage isn’t growing that fast.”
Whatever the topic of your site, it has a specific target audience. If you haven’t identified it yet, then exploring exactly that needs to become a priority. The more accurately you pinpoint your target audience, the faster and with no limit you can monetize your site.
3. Driving fake or bot traffic or purchasing cheap
Don’t neglect the quality. You cannot monetize fake or bot traffic. If it’s cheap, it’ll often result in unnecessary expenses. Keep in mind that all advertisers that stream ads on your site can identify you and assess how effective their campaigns are on your traffic. If they detect a sudden spike that doesn’t bring them clicks or conversions, they can blacklist your site. Also, many advertisers do not intend in paying for proxy traffic as they don’t want to buy a pig in a poke.
Advertisers can target by keywords; that’s why it is vital to attract organic, quality traffic.
4. Your hosting provider fails to perform
Remember, 40% of users will leave if your website doesn’t load within 3 seconds, so it’s essential to choose the right hosting.
The hosting provider must be reliable and fast and have good tech support. Some publishers start their online business with free or very cheap shared hosting. They’re great for beginners. But as your volumes begin to grow, you will need a more powerful platform. Earlier, we shared a guide on how to choose a hosting service.
5. Not using more ways of monetization
Websites are still the backbone of a monetization strategy. But think bigger! You don’t need a multi-page website to drive, say, Facebook traffic to a simple landing page with ad codes. Just the same, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram monetization is also feasible.
Email marketing is irreplaceable for publishers, and you can start building your new source of income from loyal subscribers. Think of some extra value you can provide. Coupons from your partners, infographics, free trials, discounts? Use referral links to send as much traffic to your partners’ websites and get a commission from each target action.
Traditional affiliate marketing is still on top when it comes to getting profit from recommending goods and services. Sponsored content is another monetization way. You won’t monetize instantly, like in the case with ad networks, and this way of making money requires effort and time. But you definitely can get a solid commission when someone buys a product you recommended.
Closing thoughts
To make your digital strategy clear and avoid website monetization mistakes, start with a reputable ad network that partners with multiple advertisers. The ad network will pay you additional money when you recommend it to your friends and make money from referrals.
Check whether you can earn from desktop users, mobile traffic and mobile optimization, and profit from social media audience, like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok users.
Make sure you can enrich your monetization tools with various ad formats.
And keep in mind that attitude and trust remain vital factors in any partnership. Choose trustworthy advertising networks with live support and educational materials. And stay safe from all critical and common website monetization mistakes.
