One month ago I started a two part series (http://philwicklund.com/blog/Pages/Google-AdSense-vs-SharePointAds-com-–-A-Case-Study-(Part-1).aspx) that was hoped to help SharePoint bloggers (ad publishers) understand how SharePointAds.com compares with Google's Adsense product when/if they want to display ads to their site's visitors. That first post detailed my success with Adsense, but as of July 1st 2009 I've switched to SharePointAds.com and this post will cover my (even greater!) success with them.
Some More Google Adsense Debate…
Now, before I start talking numbers, there has been a good discussion started by Joel Olson this past week going over a major con of Google Adsense that I didn't mention in my first post. In a nut-shell, Google will often place very lame ads on your site, and even worse, many of those ads are VERY anti-SharePoint/Microsoft. This was the number one reason I was interested in SharePointAds.com, because I didn't want to contribute to Microsoft's competitors (I understand this statement is a bit hypocritical since I was using a Google product in the first place – but at the time it was the only option available to me). Now, many would discredit this by claiming "free enterprise" and "good competition" or "stimulating innovation" – but I like to respond to that by commenting that since my career is built around Microsoft products – it's for my family's sake that I care and want to promote Microsoft's success, not hinder it. Well anyways – check out Joel's post for more of this fiery debate: http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=244
CASE STUDY RESULTS – A Summary
July Page Views: 14,119 (May 15,945)
July Unique visitors: 7,731 (May 7,412)
July Ad Clicks: 152 (May 113)
July Compensation: $425.60 (May $48.60)
What this means for Vendors
(SharePoint Companies advertising their products)
In my opinion this undoubtedly represents to vendors a higher rate of advertisement effectiveness. Having a 35% higher click through rate, while at the same time experiencing a 13% decrease in page views is proof of the matter. The bottom line is SharePointAds.com produces BETTER Ads for the CORRECT AUDIENCE! Google cannot know the publisher (blogger) as well as SharePointAds.com can (a blogger can even distinguish themselves as a SharePoint Admin versus Developer – to ensure even more accuracy).
What this means for SharePoint Bloggers
You don't have to look much farther than an 876% increase in commissions to understand that ALL SharePoint bloggers using Google Adsense should make the switch. It even went far beyond my own expectations. What's more is now I don't have to worry about lame, non-SharePoint related ads displaying on my SharePoint specific blog. Think about it – which would you rather see:
CASE STUDY RESULTS – The Data
As you can see, here is the report of the traffic on my blog for the month of July:
Which translated into the following compensation results (I started with SharePointAds.com a few days before July 1st – that's why you see $462 instead of $425):
Cheers! And go check out SharePointAds.com!!!!
Phil