My Exercise In Futility

I’ve finally done it. I have implemented all forms of cash generating advertisements on my site that I can possibly tolerate at one time. I learned a few things about Google AdSense that I was unaware of in the process; I’ve also noticed learned about Kontera code used to generate the in-line text ads. I thought I might report my process and findings to others who are trying to start earning revenue from their blogs. (Bloggers unite!)

• Placing the Google AdSense Code - When I first implemented the AdSense code on my page, I had attempted to do so just on the sidebar. After a few weeks, I realized that this approach really didn’t generate a lot of ad impressions. As a result, I moved the the AdSense code and placed it in ‘the loop.’ Those of you who are WordPress bloggers already know what I am referring to. On the ‘Main Index Template’ (index.php) page, there is a line that has ?php the_content in it. I placed my AdSense code on this page just after that line. Now, an ad is generated at the bottom of every entry on my main page.

• Restrictions of the Google AdSense Code - My blog was originally configured to display five entries on the main page. After placing the AdSense code in the loop, I noticed that only the first three entries contained actual ads. The last two entries had place holders where ads should be, but there were no actual ads. At the same time, I was trying to ad a skyscraper ad in the sidebar. It would not display. I was beating my head against the wall trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally, I stumbled on the AdSense blog. I was reading through the entries when I discovered that there is a limit on the number of different ad content per page. It just so happens that three was the limit for the particular type of ad that I was using. But, I also learned that I could have linked ads on the same page, so I did a little big of rearranging and changed the number of entries per page to three. Whalla! All is working in the land of AdSense.

• Creating a Separate Sidebar - One of the challenges I faced when placing the AdSense code within ‘the loop’ was that this only displayed ad content when viewing the main page. Often, I will write entries and then post bulletins on MySpace with links to the single entry. (You’d be surprised at the amount of traffic this generates.) Anyhow, I needed a way to place ads in single posts. I thought simply adding the AdSense code into the ‘Single Post Template’ (single.php) page would do the trick. Unfortunately, when I tried this, the view was not aesthetically pleasing to me. Not being an HTML wizard, I couldn’t get my words to wrap around the ad; I also thought that having such large ads on the main page and on single posts was a little too much for my readers. So, I generated a new sidebar. I wanted a totally different arrangement of my sidebar for single posts than for the main index and I was unsure of how to proceed at first. I am not aware of a WordPress supported way to generate a second sidebar that is different from the first and will only display when viewing single entries. But then I remembered that the code at the bottom of the ‘Single Post Template’ (single.php) calls for the sidebar. I figured I would just change the sidebar it called for! What I did was view my website in a web browser and then used the ‘View Source’ option available in my browser menu. This generates a page showing the user all the code, HTML or otherwise, involved in generating the page. While reading through this, you can see the HTML code that is generated when the get sidebar function is performed. I just cut and paste that code into my newly created sidebar2.php and tweaked the settings a bit. I then replaced the get sidebar statement in the ‘Single Post Template’ (single.php) page with ?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/sidebar2.php’); ? (Don’t forget the beginning < and the ending >; I just don’t want to place the code in the post - I am not sure what would happen.) Now users see two separate sidebars, one for the main page (sidebar.php) and one for single posts (sidebar2.php). I added AdSense code to sidebar2.php so I would still have ads but not seem so aggressive.

• Kontera Code - As the Kontera blog states, Kontera ContentLink appears to be the perfect companion for Google AdSense. It doesn’t take up any additional space, it displays content relevant ads, and users are only forced to see the ad if they hover over ContentLinks created by the Kontera code. The first time I tried to implement the Kontera code, I couldn’t get the code to recognize any of the content beyond the first post on my main page. I tried everything. I tried using the Kontera provided plug-in for WordPress, I tried different widgets, nothing was working. I honestly think part of the problem was related to the WordPress theme I was using (Fresh). This theme wasn’t widget enabled; I had done a lot of work to widget enable it myself, as well as correct other dificiencies. But, I still had problems even after switching to my current theme. I finally resolved the issue through the combination of a plug-in and adding the Kontera code in the appropriate section of one of my pages. I ended up using the Kontera Ad Wrap plug-in by Jimmy Vu and by adding the code Kontera provides at bottom of my footer.php just before the closing body tag. I now see relevant ContentLink displaying and my Kontera statistics are climbing. All of these things are good signs. I still notice that the ContentLink only seems to recognize content in the first and third entries on my page. (When I had five entries per page, it was the first, third, and fifth entries…) I was never able to figure out why, and e-mails to/from Kontera support were not helpful. The only response I received from Kontera Support was that they could see the code working on my page and that my statistics were climbing; therefore, they saw no problem.

Well, there you have it. These are the changes I have implemented in the past week. I am getting a good amount of traffic on my site, and I hope to generate a small income within a month’s time. I am following the advice I read in the AdSense blog; I am implementing these changes for a month and will monitor the results before I change any of my ads or their placement. I will even try to post a follow up blog just in case any of you may be interested.