How To Increase The Value Of Your Advertising Website

Advertising websites are super popular, both with buyers and sellers. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that pretty much anyone can create, sell and buy such a site, as well as the fact that there are numerous niche possibilities.

And to get started, all anyone needs is an AdSense account (and a decent idea).

That said, selling an advertising website isn’t easy if you aren’t able to increase its value. And whilst individual buyers lookout for different things, there are still certain things all website owners can do to increase the value of their advertising website.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at how you can do just that.

Create More Ad Units

One of the main things that will make your website more valuable is more revenue.

And one of the easiest ways to boost revenue is to create more ad units to your site.

That said, if you decide to do this, I need to stress that you mustn’t go over the top. Why? Because if a buyer suspects that the ONLY way you’re driving revenue is via ad overkill, they may lower their offer.

For this reason, it’s a smart idea to choose extra additional units selectively, limit yourself to one or two, and only add them to your most popular pages. This tactic alone can boost your impact per unit.

An alternative option is to add an extra unit that has a one day/view frequency cap. Why? Because the impact this has on your site’s revenue can be big, while at the same time it won’t cause your site to look as though it’s flooded with ads.

Also, it’s a good idea to take another look at any popular pages you have that have fewer units than the rest of your site. These can often represent missed opportunities.

Add More Competition

It’s all well and good to be using AdSense to serve the ads on your site – but what if it’s the only exchange/network you’re using it?

If it is, you’re as good as leaving cash on the table.

To increase the value of your advertising website, it’s a smart idea to add a bit of competition by using other networks and exchanges, such as Exchange Bidding and Header Bidding.

Why is this?

One of the reasons is that Header Bidding, for instance, only allows Google the chance to buy the ad impression if they’re offering more than the winning bidder. As long as you’ve got the right buyers in the auction, you can easily increase your revenue.

It’s a simple step but it can boost your revenue, and thus the value of your site, fairly significantly.

Sub Out Your Poorly Performing Units

Most sites have all-star units that outperform the rest – as well as poorly performing units that are lagging way behind all the others.

Most times, we place these units without giving them much thought, and they often end up languishing below the fold. Hey, there was a bit of space there, so we thought we’d slip them in!

But why keep them there if they’re not performing up to scratch?

My advice is that you sniff these guys out and substitute them for better placement potential.

You could also mix up where they’re placed on the page. Try to find a bit of space where they’ll be more viewable. For ads to perform well, you need to at least give them every chance you can. If no one can even see them, what’s the point?

It’s not always easy to find good placement opportunities, but you can use heat map tools to help you learn more about where your site visitors are engaging on your website. There are also scroll depth monitoring tools that you will help, too.

Boost the Visibility of Your Ads

Ads on your website can earn you money in two ways:

• Paid per impression
• Paid per click

If your ads are the first one, a huge chunk of your revenue is going to come via viewable impressions. If they’re the second one, it logically follows that people still need to see your ads before they click on them.

As such, optimizing your ads and website for viewability is one of the best ways to boost revenue and increase the value of your advertising website.

This is a really important point because Google did some research and found that more than 50% of all ads don’t even get noticed by site visitors. Site owners are losing money because they are not strategically placing their ad units.

Where should you display your ads? It’s a smart idea to keep monitoring your site and to perform A/B tests to see what works best. But here are some tips:

• Place your ads above the fold – It makes a lot of sense that if the user doesn’t have to scroll before they see an ad, they will definitely see it. However, there are still things to consider. For instance, plastering your ad right at the top of the page won’t always work simply because it’s at the top of the page. Instead, you might find that placing it just above the fold does the trick. As said, though, it’s up to you to carry out a few tests to see what works best
• Use vertical ads – According to the same study by Google, ads with vertical orientations get viewed more than those with horizontal orientations. This is a really crucial point to make if you’re getting paid per impression. See, as long as over 50% of pixels are seen by the site visitor, you will get your money. Ergo, it makes a lot of sense that vertical ads will get seen more than horizontal ones
• Publish great content –  It’s logical to assume that advertising websites generate more money when site visitors spend more time on them. And the reason they spend more time is usually down to the quality of the content. Publishing engaging content that keeps visitors on your site longer will increase ad impressions and clicks.

Boost Your Site Speed

Site speed matters so much when it comes to the performance of your ads.

Why?

Because research has shown that slow loading websites have higher bounce rates. A higher bounce rate = less time spent on your website. And the fewer time people spend on your website means the less they’ll notice your ads.

Not just this, but a high bounce rate is bad for SEO reasons. Google will punish sites with high bounce rates, sending them plummeting down the rankings. This will in turn mean less visibility, less traffic – and thus fewer ad impressions and clicks. Not cool.

So how can you improve your site speed?

There are literally so many ways. It’s important to run your site through a site speed checker to see if there are any problems. If you’re experiencing poor site speed, the next thing you should do is check your images as these are almost always the biggest reason a website takes too long to lead.

Ideally, your images should be no larger than necessary, and in the correct file format (JPEGs are good for photos, but PNGs are the best for graphics).

Go here for a more comprehensive list of things you can do to reduce your site speed, but bear in mind that you may need some outside assistance from someone who knows their SEO better than you do.

Use a Specialist Monetization Agency

Finally, if all of the above sounds like too much work, you could always hire a monetisation agency.

What do they do?

They’ll essentially implement everything I’ve mentioned above while also attracting demand from exchanges and networks you couldn’t previously access.

There’s a chance they’ll ask to share revenue with you, but the main benefit is that they’re: a) the experts and b) they work quickly to boost the value of your advertising website so that it’s primed for sale.

Final Word

Use these tips to help you increase the value of your advertising website. At the same, it’s really important that you also don’t do certain things: Don’t implement bad ads (pick your ads carefully, the last thing you want is for your website to alert a site visitors anti-virus software); don’t run too many ads; and avoid Google’s blacklist.

Other than that, good luck.

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