I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve made a few minor tweaks to the Beyond the Rhetoric layout, as well as added a thing here or there that can either a) enhance the user experience, b) help me make more money, c) both, or d) neither. It’ll be interesting to see how this blog does in terms of monetization and traffic over the next little while, given these recent changes.

First, I finally took the plunge and installed the Buy Me A Beer WordPress plug-in by Sherief Mursyidi. This gives you the opportunity for readers like you to, well, buy me a beer. It’s basically an adapted PayPal donation button, but with a much more casual spin to it. There’s a single-liner at the end of every post as well as a small image in the sidebar. As the temperatures continue to rise, I could certainly use an ice cold draft to cool me down. Who knows, I might even show some link love to the first person who sends a beer my way.

duffbeer.jpg

Next, I’ve adjusted the ad layout and keywords for both the main Beyond the Rhetoric homepage and for individual posts. Previously, I ran a 468×60 ad block at the top for both, typically running either a banner promoting Firefox or one for AuctionAds. For a little while, I was also using that space to tell you about my t-shirt contest.

Well, despite the fact that over one-half of visitors to this blog are using Internet Explorer, the CTR (click through rate) on the Firefox ad was next to zero. Jane May once said that the 768 leaderboard worked well for Career Ramblings, so I thought I’d give that a shot for the main index page. My spin on it, however, is that I’ll be using a TTZ Media single product ad instead. This is because I typically embed an inline 300 Google box for my posts, and with all that text above the fold, it looks a little bland. The pictures accompanying the TTZ Media ads break that up quite well.

I’ve replaced the Firefox ad for individual posts with AuctionAds again. AuctionAds hasn’t been a huge performer, because they only pay when someone completes a sale rather than “just” on a click, but the CTR is actually quite good. I guess the bargain hunters see the low prices and jump all over them. We’ll see how that goes. I’m hesitant to start up another ad network, because it’s a lot to keep track of. I have an account with Neverblue Ads, so I might give that a shot again if the right opportunity presents itself. My first attempt was pretty abysmal.

The last change that I’ve done is the implementation of a 768 Google Adsense leaderboard in the footer. This doesn’t appear on the main page, because Google automatically limits you to three placements per page. I doubt it will perform very well, but this is the first time that I’ve placed ads in the footer.

Now, I shouldn’t be quick to jump to any sort of conclusions, as changes in click-through rates, traffic levels, and ad revenue are not wholly dependent on the things that I have altered. It’s a known fact that summer is a “slower” time for blogs, presumably because more people are on vacation, spending more time with backyard barbeques, and otherwise spending more time outside (and away from their computers). I’ll be sure to keep that in mind the next time I do an ad analysis.

Have you experienced any drop in traffic lately? Or are you one of the lucky people whose online money-making scheme has actually increased alongside the mercury in the thermometer? I’d also like to know how you feel about the current ad placements and whether they detract from the user experience. I want to make money from this blog, sure, but not at the cost of losing readers.