Keeping an Adsense Journal

When I listened in to the Adsense Teleseminar with Joel Comm a couple of months ago (see details), the one thing that stuck out in my mind was his suggestion to keep an Adsense Journal.

Being a 'stats junkie' this really got my interest, as I know firsthand how beneficial your own stats can be when tweaking to increase profit potential. I keep a Commission Log for my affiliate sites, tracking the stats to keep an eye on fluctuations and seasonal effects... so it only makes sense to track Adsense in the same manner.

Up until a couple months ago, I was guilty of what many people do: slap Adsense on a website and forget about it. Take what I earn and cash the check. I admit, that makes no sense at all 😕

I havent set up my Adsense Journal yet, but have been making mental note of changes and results over the last two months. Using Joel's Adsense Guide, I've been making minor tweaks here and there that have more than tripled my Adsense revenue so far. This was an immediate result (the first month) and has held consistent since.

Not only have I increased my Adsense revenue, but I've also increased the Affiliate revenue across some of my sites. Sometimes part of the testing is to figure out when NOT to use Adsense, and choosing the most profitable call-to-action for a particular web page.

I'm motivated now, of course, to track things even more closely and continue testing the options 😉 Here are my plans:

Step One: Set up a spreadsheet listing each of my domains, which has 12 monthly columns to track Adsense revenue for the year across my sites. This will give me "performance at a glance"...

Step Two: Set up URL Channels so that I can get a detailed look at how specific sections and pages on each site are performing.

Step Three: Update my Custom Channels to track only ad types, colors, formats, placements, etc. Since I'm using URL Channels now, I wont need to track specific pages or sections through the Custom Channels section anymore.

Step Four: Schedule Custom Reports to be emailed each week on Monday from my Adsense account. These will go in my Adsense Journal, in addition to the spreadsheet and my personal notes on any changes made.

Step Five: Analyze each of my sites and optimize the Adsense placement. As I mentioned, I've been tweaking & tracking a bit in the last couple of months so the plan is to take what I've learned and put it into action across ALL pages.

Step Six: Set up a document for the actual Journal and being making dated entries. Noting changes made, pages added, documenting changes in stats, etc.
 

It sounds like work, I realize - but once I get it all set up it should run rather smoothly. I can simply analyze the stats and reports once a week and jot down anything noteworthy. I should be able to do this over coffee on Monday mornings.

As for testing changes, I am using SSI (Server Side Includes) to serve the ads so any changes across entire sites can be made in a matter of seconds.

I feel what little time I spend on this task will be well worth it, as I expect it will make a dramatic difference in my earnings through Adsense 😉

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