Most people are skating on thin ice: on the one hand, they’re banking high 3-4 figs per day but on the other hand, everything can go downhill in a matter of days or even hours. Here are just a few examples:

-the offer itself is shady and you just never know when the advertiser decides to let greed takes over and starts “overlooking” leads or sales like there’s no tomorrow

-the network you’re dealing with is the only one (out of the networks which aren’t private, so out of the networks you have access to) running a certain offer and those folks may also decide to let greed take over at one point or another

-laws which make pushing a certain offer too much of a risk make their appearance: nobody wants to get sued, so it’s only a matter of time until networks and/or advertisers pull the plug

-the only traffic source you’ve managed to make work starts screwing around

Have you ever asked yourself a few “what if” questions? It sounds strange but the vast majority of affiliate marketers would have no idea what to do if they experience problems such as the previously mentioned ones.

What would you do next?

Would you leave everything else aside and spend a few days brainstorming?

How would you put food on the table? Would you rely on savings? How much money have you managed to set aside?

Would you start liquidating some of your assets? Domains? Precious metals?

If so, would you be taking a loss?

What percentage of the money you’ve set aside or the money you’ve secured after liquidating a few assets would you use in order to fund your new project(s)?

Would you just focus on one project or try all sorts of approaches and see what sticks?

Do you have enough time and/or money to fight on more than one front? Or would you be better of limiting yourself to just one project?

Asking yourself some of these questions would definitely not hurt. Being prepared is always something smart. You know what they say, expect the best but prepare for the worst. Maybe you’ll be able to milk your current project/campaign for years to come but what if that will not be the case? Always take as many possible scenarios into consideration as possible because being unprepared is never smart. Never ever. EVER!

Banner Ad Placement

Even if your site is bringing in plenty of traffic, impressions alone do not guarantee riches when using the CPC advertising model. Obviously, clicks are all that matters. Of course, impressions are not limitless, so what we really are looking for when using the CPC model is a high click through ratio (CTR). A high CTR means that the banners on your site are getting clicked on frequently and thus bringing in more revenue. Throughout this article we will focus on the small details that can impact your CTR in a very positive way to earn you more money.

Placement

A variety of scientific studies have been conducted looking into the eye pattern of a person viewing a web site. Google, in fact, publishes a hot-spot diagram which documents the areas of the screen user’s look at the most. While getting user’s to look at your ad is important, many webmasters fail to realize that the real trick is to convince a person to actually click on your ad. There are two trains of thought on how to approach the “appeal” factor:

1 – Ads that stand out

I’m sure that you have seen the flashy ads on websites which flash neon colors or shift back and forth to imitate movement. Having ads stand out is one strategy that has seen success in the past. Although people may complain about their intrusiveness, it is often these people who are the ones clicking on the ads. One caveat with making ads stand out is that this strategy worked well in the early days of internet advertising, but today’s web surfers are much more cognizant of your advertising intentions.

2 – Ads that blend in

Our current preferred strategy is to make ads blend into your site as much as possible. The goal is to make web surfers think that your ads are actually part of the content on your site. It may sound like a deceptive tactic, but if your ads are targeted to your content, you will be doing your users a service by connecting them with products or resources they may be interested in.

The first step in making ads blend in with your site is to match the ad’s text color to the text color of your site’s content. Likewise, match the link color of the ad to the link color of your site. In this way, your ads appear to be an extension of your content.

In addition to making ads look like your content, you can place ads in strategic points on your site to increase the odds of getting clicks. Placing ads “above the fold” is one very basic rule you should try to stick to unless you have a very strategic area at the bottom of your site. “Above the fold” means that ads appear towards the top of the page so that a user does not need to scroll down. If a user has to scroll down to see your ad, this is considered “below the fold”.

Other strategic ad placement includes near the top “X” where you close the page or to incorporate ads near your navigation. Again, our goal is to get clicks, so if an ad blends in with your content and appears near where users would click normally, this can lead to a higher click through ratio and more money in your pocket.

At the end of the day, blending your ads as much as possible will earn you more money, and hopefully help your users be directed to targeted resources.