Moluv Check-In: Featured Site Archive and Google
It's been a year since I started using Blogger to keep track of stuff. I initially began using it so that I could benchmark Blogger's admin utilities, for a newer version of Moluv. Since then I've done a bunch of back-end work, changed hosts, and began using Google as a source of income.
Over the past year the two biggest additions to the site have occurred within the past three months. The first is the latest addition, the Featured Site Archive. Since way back in 2000, the 6 currently Featured Sites have been an integral part of Moluv.com. And for the past 2 years I've been [inconsistently] emailing Featured Site Awards. However, not even our administrative area provided an easy way to access the old Featured Site thumbnails.
With all of the new activity on going on with the site, and now that I'm finally updating the Featured Sites again regularly, being able to reference those old thumbnails was starting to become a necessity. Initially, I was just going to have it be a members only benefit, which meant the member sign-up section I've been planning on finishing would actually have to be completed. Then we got a new admin, Jory Kruspe, who thought it would be a good idea to make it easily accessible to everyone, which was really the right thing to do.
Now I can finally look back a couple of years at the sites we've linked (if they're still up). They're presented in a gridded thumbnail format that's probably familiar to most adult males (You know what I'm talking about). It's a lot of fun looking back at all the great work we've covered, and seeing the timelessness of what the world's best web designers have had to offer over the past few years.
The next addition, which has been at least as important are the Google Adsense ads. To date, they've contributed over $600 to Moluv.com over a three month period. The ads currently there have a click through rate of 2.8 percent and the average eCPM (cost per thousand impressions) is $6.49. With an average of over 40,000 impressions/month the Google ads are paying about $260/month. The first direct deposit from the Google adsense account arrived just yesterday.
What this will do for Moluv.com is allow it to pay for itself. Additionally, we'll be able to increase traffic on the site with paid sponsor banners on other up and coming sites. Also, there's finally some capital to pay for some Moluv tshirts, tanks, boxers and other clothing to sell at the site. All in due time.
What I don't like about the Google Adsense program, though, is the randomness of their pay rates and the monthly pay period. For example, one day there could be 50 click-throughs that pay a total of US$9.00. The very next day there might be the same number of clicks, but they'll only pay US$4.00. Google explicitly states that they have no intention of explaining the differing rates, which doesn't help optimization. In any case, it's still passive income, so I can't complain too much.
That is, if they actually paid the amount within a reasonable amount of time. You don't actually get anything until the end of the month following the month in which the money was earned. Again, it's passive income. Also, it's income that would not exist otherwise, so I'm not too upset about it. Just a tiny bit irirtated.
Hopefully this post will help anyone else out there looking to use the Google Adsense program set appropriate expectations. It can be lucrative, but it has it's weaknesses. It pays much better than Amazon's associate program, though.
Over the past year the two biggest additions to the site have occurred within the past three months. The first is the latest addition, the Featured Site Archive. Since way back in 2000, the 6 currently Featured Sites have been an integral part of Moluv.com. And for the past 2 years I've been [inconsistently] emailing Featured Site Awards. However, not even our administrative area provided an easy way to access the old Featured Site thumbnails.
With all of the new activity on going on with the site, and now that I'm finally updating the Featured Sites again regularly, being able to reference those old thumbnails was starting to become a necessity. Initially, I was just going to have it be a members only benefit, which meant the member sign-up section I've been planning on finishing would actually have to be completed. Then we got a new admin, Jory Kruspe, who thought it would be a good idea to make it easily accessible to everyone, which was really the right thing to do.
Now I can finally look back a couple of years at the sites we've linked (if they're still up). They're presented in a gridded thumbnail format that's probably familiar to most adult males (You know what I'm talking about). It's a lot of fun looking back at all the great work we've covered, and seeing the timelessness of what the world's best web designers have had to offer over the past few years.
The next addition, which has been at least as important are the Google Adsense ads. To date, they've contributed over $600 to Moluv.com over a three month period. The ads currently there have a click through rate of 2.8 percent and the average eCPM (cost per thousand impressions) is $6.49. With an average of over 40,000 impressions/month the Google ads are paying about $260/month. The first direct deposit from the Google adsense account arrived just yesterday.
What this will do for Moluv.com is allow it to pay for itself. Additionally, we'll be able to increase traffic on the site with paid sponsor banners on other up and coming sites. Also, there's finally some capital to pay for some Moluv tshirts, tanks, boxers and other clothing to sell at the site. All in due time.
What I don't like about the Google Adsense program, though, is the randomness of their pay rates and the monthly pay period. For example, one day there could be 50 click-throughs that pay a total of US$9.00. The very next day there might be the same number of clicks, but they'll only pay US$4.00. Google explicitly states that they have no intention of explaining the differing rates, which doesn't help optimization. In any case, it's still passive income, so I can't complain too much.
That is, if they actually paid the amount within a reasonable amount of time. You don't actually get anything until the end of the month following the month in which the money was earned. Again, it's passive income. Also, it's income that would not exist otherwise, so I'm not too upset about it. Just a tiny bit irirtated.
Hopefully this post will help anyone else out there looking to use the Google Adsense program set appropriate expectations. It can be lucrative, but it has it's weaknesses. It pays much better than Amazon's associate program, though.
posted by moluv at 2:05 PM
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