Thread: What's Wrong

Hello IMTalk,

I'm running a travel based blog whose URL is Top Tourist Attractions :: Find Travel and Honeymoon Destinations

I'm getting almost zero CTR. Normally I receive between 80-130 daily unique visitors but haven't received more than 5-10 clicks in a month ever. I mean 10 clicks on 3000-3500 unique visitors or 7500-8000 page views which is quite low. Obviously I don't want fake clicks but I have seen lot's of websites whose CTR is between 2-5%. Site is travel based so obviously there are tons of images and lot's of visitors visit my site through Google image search but still....0.20% CTR is too low. Will someone please suggest me if I need to rearrange ads position or something else is the reason behind it?



Thanks and Regards,
Devjeet

I was in travel business for long time and made some serious $, I'm kinda still in, but not much focused anymore, because BIG boys along with G pushed me out, but this is another story...
I would suggest that you try some affiliate offers like, vacation/flight/hotel search boxes or lastminute offers, etc... along with adsense, but you need to try different places and color schemes, so splt test it (use different channels).

Try text ads on your adsense post box on top that's aligned left or all of them just as a test. Your ctr will be higher, I'm sure. Also, with commission junction ads, there are tons of travel site aff programs like cheapflights . com and travelocity, etc... Try and get those in too. I noticed in your source that you don't have <!-- google_ad_section_start --> and <!-- google_ad_section_end --> as well. This will help to pull the most relevant ads. Good luck...

hmmm...thanks or your suggestions...let me try to implement that.

@Nemanja Will you please suggest me some travel based affiliate network which really pays well?


Thanks and Regards,
Devjeet

All major affiliate networks are fine like linkshare or JC like penguin suggested,
I was with Orbitz, Hotwire, Onetravel, Cheaptickets, Cheapoair, etc, the best payout per flight/hotel/cruise (last time I was looking) have OneTravel at linkshare,
but this is something you need to check when you apply for each.
And test out which one is working/converting best.

When looking at affiliate programs you may also wish to consider travel accessory items like luggage and travel health insurance.

The theme is seriously not working for you man ! Make sure to give your theme background the same color that your ad background contains.Change your Post title's color to blue and make everything to look simple.

Travel niche works better with Affiliate programs than PPC.

I can see you are only using one variation of ad unit. Try using other variation of adsense and see how they are going. You need to experiment a little before you can find the optimized ad combination for your website.

If adsense is your main income stream then as per Nemanja's suggestion "split testing" is a better way to figure out the areas getting you the most $$

I Have the best solution for your problem. If you can copy my style of putting adsense, here is my blog sudcamp dot com. it will definitely increase your CTR. I have CTR around 2-3, which is great i think so.

Try to use more keywords in your content, so that relevant ads would appear. Also limit your ads to 2 per page, otherwise your CPC would decrease.

You can use different monetization ways and get more money than Adsense...