AdSense Accelerator
Not long ago, I reviewed AdWord Accelerator, and explained how it’s the best tool I know (and use) for developing successful AdWords campaigns.
A couple of readers asked me whether Ad Words Accelerator is also useful for the ‘other side of the coin’ - developing and publishing sites that generate Google AdSense revenue.
The quick answer: yes, it’s useful. BUT… the same developers have come up with something even better, more specific for Google Ad Sense publishers:
Very quickly for those who aren’t already in on this: Google’s AdWords program is for advertisers - you bid on keywords and get your pay-per-click text ads placed on Google search pages, as well as “in context” (alongside relevant page content) via a huge network of independent publishers’ sites; Google’s AdSense is the companion program for publishers - you host Google’s AdWords advertising on your content sites, and earn a share of the advertising revenue.
The interests of AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers are similar in some ways, and completely opposite in others.
Similarity: you both want targeted traffic driven to your site(s) through search. To do this well, you need to research keywords and key phrases, and learn how to mine value by digging deep into the available data on what web surfers search for.
Difference: as an advertiser, you are looking for low-cost traffic, and you win when you find highly-targeted key phrases that have low bid prices; as a publisher, you are looking for high-cost traffic, because your earnings are a share of the per-click fee paid by the advertiser.
So in one sense, the tools you need to succeed on either side of the Google PPC environment are the same. You have to find the keywords and keyphrases that Internet users are actually searching for. You need to know how many times those key words are searched each day. You need to know how much competition there is for the traffic generated by those searches. And you have to be able to find out what the price is per click for those searches.
I am both an AdWords advertiser, and an AdSense publisher. I have used a lot of different tools for carrying out keyword, niche market and bid price research. I have used everything from free online tools like Google’s Keyword Sandbox, Yahoo’s Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool, Overture View Bids Tool, and Digital Point’s Keyword Suggestion Tool; to paid services and software including WordTracker, AdWord Analyzer, and Keywords Analyzer.
In all of these cases, the tools are really designed for AdWords research, with the advertiser in mind. But as an Ad Sense publisher, you can sort of get the information you want (high profit phrases with lots of searches but low competition) by adjusting the way you think about the results.
Luckily for me and everyone who works the AdSense revenue stream, the folks at AdWord Accelerator have spun off a tool that does just what we need, and saves a huge amount of time over the general advertiser-oriented tools.
As of today, AdSense Accelerator is still in beta testing, and you can’t get at it. The public launch is later this week (scheduled Feb.24 I believe), and my advice to all AdSense publishers is: get it right away!
AdSense Accelerator uses the same core technology as AdWord Accelerator. You input a keyword or phrase, and it seeks out the usual data on related keywords in depth, search volume and competition. As with the AdWord software, this basic set of functions is put together in a way that I find intuitive and easy - much better than the competition. Big time savings right there.
But this is where it gets exciting! Next up, AdSense Accelerator takes the list of keywords and phrases you have generated, and gathers real time data on bid prices. And not just the top bids that you can get from some other high-end tools: AdSense Accelerator has the unique ability to dig down and deliver the top 8 or so bid prices for each term. This is fantastic for AdSense research, because it gives a clear indication of the real revenue potential for each keyword - because actual click fees paid by advertisers, and shared out to publishers, depend on the competitive bidding spectrum for each keyword.
AdSense Accelerator even goes a couple of steps further. It allows you to sort the key word terms according to bid prices at each position (ie sort on bid prices for 5th-highest bid). And it provides a proprietary indicator of “Quality” - meaning a combined analysis of bid price and bid depth. Build successful AdSense sites around keyword terms rated $$$, $$$$ or $$$$$ by AdSense Accelerator, and you’re golden!
There’s other stuff in there too. There are tools and methods for in-depth keywords research: lateral, refined and meta-keyword searches, as well as a “recyle” tool that allows you to drill down ever deeper in search of narrow niches. Full save and export features, so you can capture your work and import it into other tools that require keyword lists. And just towards the end of the beta test, the developer added a very nice “Most Expensive Keywords” function, that gives you an up-to-date starting point for seeking out high-profit territory - just in case you’re one of the handful of online entrepeneurs who has never heard of “mesothelioma” !
I’m a recent convert to these Accelerator products. I’ve been using a bushel basket full of other tools for years, to get similar information. Now that I have AdWord Accelerator and AdSense Accelerator, I hardly use anything else at all. Seriously! They are open on my desktop all day long, so I can do quick research whenever an idea crosses my mind.
As with AdWord Accelerator, I give AdSense Accelerator the highest possible recommendation. Visit the site, watch the preview video, and get this tool as soon as it’s available later this week.