Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Design and Content : First medium-scale website, looking for resources

[BCBrandon]

Well apparently my previous post was deleted because I had the URL in it? I don't know, I wasn't trying to advertise, but anyway...

I have a medium-scale website that I am in charge of, this is the first time I've done anything as big as this. I'm looking for ways to

a.) Increase traffic
b.) Increase ad-revenue
c.) Setup an online store

Let's start with c.) first, I would like to be able to setup a shopping cart and integrate it completely with the site's design if possible. I would also like relatively cheap merchant fees. Any suggestions on either shopping cart software or merchants?

a.) I need to increase traffic, and I'm not sure the best ways to do it. Currently if you google even the site's name it will come up as the 2nd response, but apparently Google doesn't crawl the rest of the site and I'm not sure if it's because I dynamically generate most of it using PHP and SQL.

Are link exchanges effective? Are there any big exchanges that will let you select the types of sites you are willing to link with?

b.) I need to increase ad-revenue. I have implemented Google AdSense, but so far it hasn't been doing that great of a job matching the ads to content, and not only that but a lot of time it has those damn PSAs. I tried using the tags that they give you to specify where I want it to get the info from, and it works to a degree, but on some pages it still gives PSAs, what gives? Are there any other similar products out there?

What about other ad sources? I have signed up at ShareASale and Commission Junction, but I don't see much response from those. I'm a bit at a loss as to how to go about getting good advertising on the site.

If this isn't the right place for these types of questions, please let me know instead of simply deleting the thread again, thank you.

~Brandon

[the_pm]

FWIW, I wasn't the one who removed your other thread, but I can tell you the reason it was removed was that it belonged in the Website Reviews forum, but you don't have 10 posts yet, so it couldn't be moved there. This is a much better thread for your purposes anyway

[BCBrandon]

I really don't want to clutter this, but it was the exact same thread really, all I said at the top was the URL so people could give input if they so desired. Alas...

[the_pm]

Originally posted by BCBrandon
I really don't want to clutter this, but it was the exact same thread really, all I said at the top was the URL so people could give input if they so desired. Alas...

Yep, that's the difference right there

Carry on!

Does your site use sessions? This will stop Google in its tracks. Also, using the letters "id" within a URL string variable will often stop Google as well, because it associates this with session IDs. Use another term to make that call, and Google will be much friendlier to the site.

There's a start for ya...

[BCBrandon]

Originally posted by the_pm
Yep, that's the difference right there

Carry on!

Does your site use sessions? This will stop Google in its tracks. Also, using the letters "id" within a URL string variable will often stop Google as well, because it associates this with session IDs. Use another term to make that call, and Google will be much friendlier to the site.

There's a start for ya...

I don't use sessions, but I use a lot of "id"s in my GETs, so that must be a major reason! Thanks I'll fix all that and see if it helps much. Any ideas for AdSense or other ads?

[JayC]

Originally posted by BCBrandon
but so far it hasn't been doing that great of a job matching the ads to content, and not only that but a lot of time it has those damn PSAs. I tried using the tags that they give you to specify where I want it to get the info from, and it works to a degree, but on some pages it still gives PSAs, what gives?

FIrst, if you haven't already done so, read through this page, which might point out something you're missing:
https://www.google.com/support/adsen...35&ctx=en:top5

But the real answer for eliminating PSAs, while it takes a bit of work, is to provide your own alternative ads. If targeted ads aren't found, you can set this up to either show your own ads or to simply hide the empty ad block:
https://www.google.com/support/adsen...590&topic=1165

[the_pm]

My own experience with ad vendors and shopping carts is limited. I'll defer to others on those issues

[BCBrandon]

Originally posted by JayC
FIrst, if you haven't already done so, read through this page, which might point out something you're missing:
https://www.google.com/support/adsen...35&ctx=en:top5

But the real answer for eliminating PSAs, while it takes a bit of work, is to provide your own alternative ads. If targeted ads aren't found, you can set this up to either show your own ads or to simply hide the empty ad block:
https://www.google.com/support/adsen...590&topic=1165

It says on the google page that you can use "targeted Google ads" instead of PSAs, but it doesn't give any more info then that. What are targeted google ads, and how do I get them? I'm sure if I could like... look at the database of available AdSense ads that I could find the kinds I want, it's just an issue of it not picking up the correct content right now. I wish I could just specify the ads I wanted?

[JayC]

Originally posted by BCBrandon
It says on the google page that you can use "targeted Google ads" instead of PSAs, but it doesn't give any more info then that.

No, you're misreading it. It says "you can make sure that your advertising space is always being used effectively, either by targeted Google ads, or by your own choice of content."

That doesn't mean that you can choose your own "targeted Google ads," it means that you can choose to show your own content when targeted Google ads are not found -- your "advertising space is always being used effectively" by always having an ad in place, whether its a Google ad or your own.

They won't allow to choose ads from their inventory, because control over where ads appear (what limited control there is) has to be in the hands of the advertisers paying for the ads, not the publishers displaying them.