Increase AdSense CTR and revenue on a Vanilla forum

Raize

If anyone is using AdSense on their Vanilla forum, here is a plugin that will help increase your click through rate.

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/adsense-plugin

I'm not sure if it is still under active development or even if it works with the latest version of Vanilla, but I used it on a forum I was running before, and it increased CTR by 2-5% depending on the subject.

I actually recommended for this plugin to be made because I realized that if people are landing on a discussion from Google, it will most likely be because they are looking for information about the discussion topic. Meaning they are more likely to click the ad, especially if it is so conveniently placed within the discussion topic. Clever, no?

Raize

for demo purposes you can now see it on my student forum, which is running vanilla 2.0.17.8

http://talksfu.ca/forum/discussion/8067/chem-121-tutor-wanted

x00

More and more people are using adblockers these days (which is why I didn't see it at first). It also depends what sort of forum you have. Yours is very broad, so there is more scope.

Raize

Thinking out loud are we?

x00

It is worth considering. Many people who use adsense don't consider if it is right for them. This way is a lot better, but you need the right sort of users, context, etc. Adsense and other ads can actually detract from the site, an in effect there is cross purposes, becuase you want generate interest, but also could be simply a go between, your bounce rate will go up.

If the searches are really relevant to the ads why not provide the service? like a classifieds. Use the freemuim model or whatever.