Generate Revenue from your Forum with Google AdSense
vBulletin Forum Monetization
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Generate Revenue from your vBulletin Forum with Google AdSense
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Owning a vBulletin forum isnt free. Between the cost of the software, domain and hosting, you can easily spend $200 a year or more keeping your forum running. Even more if your forum is successful and busy.
Why not recoup some of that money? Place Google Adsense Ads on your site, and you could easily earn that much per month or more!
I personally know forum owners who make $1,000 per month and more just from Adsense!
Google AdSense is one of the easiest and most popular revenue generators in the Web. We hear the stories about forum owners and bloggers, who turn their websites into cash machines seemingly overnight. However, it’s not that simple to find the actual tips for vBulletin forum owners, which stick to Google policies, help increase your revenues and don’t irritate the members of your vBulletin forum.
So here are a few helpful tips and ad placement suggestions to get the most out of your forum.
FIRST You Need to:
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Click the Banner Below to Become a Google Adsense Publisher
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| Placing the ads on your vBulletin Forum |
There are several common placements on your forum for Adsense Ads. Some of these include:
- Below the Navbar
- Below the first post in each thread
- After the last post in each thread
- Right side of Header
- Archive
When you create your Adsense Account, and then set up the ad, you will be given some code which will look like this
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = "728x90_as";
google_ad_type = "text_image";
google_color_border = "FFFFFF";
google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
google_color_link = "FB7D00";
google_color_text = "000000";
google_color_url = "FB7D00";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
This code contains information such as the colors your ad will be, your publisher ID, and the size of the ad.
You want to place the code block in your forum templates at the placements you choose.
One good hack to consider using is the vB Ad Management Hack, available at vB.org. (for vB 3.6x) This hack can greatly help with your ad placements and make them easier. You can also use our own hack, EZ Archive Plugin - Ads in your vBulletin Archive 3.6x, to place ads in your forum archive.
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Click the Banner Below to Become a Google Adsense Publisher
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| Six AdSense optimization tips for forums |
Google offers this advice for forum owners using AdSense:
1. Format is important for multiple ad units
Placing a skyscraper above the fold on the left side of your forum seems to produce slightly better performance than other positioning. However, when using multiple ad units throughout the page our horizontal bias still favors the leaderboard. See the Forum Heat Map below for more details.
2. Display your ad units where repeat users will notice them
A leaderboard at the very top fits nicely next to the logo, but forum regulars tend to skip the header and go straight to the meat of the thread. Placing your ad unit above or below the first post can be more effective.
3. Place a leaderboard immediately after the last post
This provides users who make it to the end of a thread with a ‘next step’ when the content ends. If you place it after the footer, though, folks will move to the next thread before they even see the ad!
4. Use horizontal link units
Link units offer a wider range of relevant topics for users to browse. A horizontal unit can be placed near the top of your forum just below the header.
5. Opt-in to image ads
Supporting image ads increases the pool of ads –particularly cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM) ads – bidding to display on your site. Since forums tend to have lower click-through rates (CTRs) than other types of sites, CPM ads can improve revenue without the need for clicks. Please remember, however, that CPM ads come in both text and image formats.
6. Be sensitive to your forum community
Forums are highly interactive, so be sensitive to your users when implementing your AdSense ads. Be sure to blend the ads nicely, so they don’t appear overly intrusive – but don’t blend them so well they mislead your users! Every forum site is different and you know your community best, so as always use your own judgment to create the most positive experience for your users.
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