Q and A: How can I increase my site traffic and my AdSense commission?

Dear Kalena...

My site is www.shopitonline.co.uk, and it's been up since November 2005. The traffic I am getting now is near enough to 3000 visitors per month.

I would really like to increase this traffice substantially, and also increase the Google Adsense commission. The Google Adsense has been on for just about a month, and the commission is next to nothing. How can I improve these 2 areas?

Thanks
Saleem

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Saleem

I no longer see Google AdSense ads on your site - perhaps you've removed these since you submitted your question? There are a lot of ways to increase your AdSense commissions. Most of them are listed in my article: Top 10 AdSense Tricks to Boost Your Commission. But be warned, Google has changed the rules for AdSense publishers since this article was written so you should check with their revised AdSense Policies before using any of the suggested tips.

Now, about bringing more traffic to your site, I would start with correctly optimizing it for target keywords. Here are just a few of the many problems with your site:

1) Your Title Attributes are too long, incorrectly formatted and stuffed with too many keywords. Your Title Tag should be a grammatically correct sentence of no more than 15 words, containing 2 or 3 target search keywords/phrases.

2) Your META Keywords Tag is too long and stuffed with too many keywords and contains keyword repetition which may trigger search engine spam filters.

3) Your META Description Tag isn't enticing enough and contains highly generic keywords which won't attract buyers for your individual products. Your Description Tag is often used by search engines and directories to list your site so you want to ensure it is written in a way that attracts clicks.

4) You use the same Title and META Tags on EVERY page of your site! You should create tailored Title and META tags for each and every page of your site, based on keyword relevant to the page content. That way you are creating multiple entrances into your site instead of relying on the front door.

5) Your site contains query strings and presents dynamic content for each page (e.g. http://www.shopitonline.co.uk/default.asp?cat=43), meaning some search engines will have difficulty finding all your content and treat your site as having a single page. If you don't want to redesign the site, you should consider using flat HTML pages for your most important category content or integrating a parameter workaround to switch the dynamic URLs into static ones.

6) I know your site is a directory, but you are trying to target too many generic products and categories with a single set of Title and META Tags. This is a complete waste of time. You should be dividing your content into various themes and optimizing each area for keywords relating to that theme.

In relation to gaining more traffic - I notice your link popularity scores are pretty low. You probably need to conduct a long term link building campaign and attract one-way incoming links from high quality sites and other directories. Try contacting sites that contain large lists of directories and search engines and asking them to link to you. You could also try a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign on Google AdWords and/or Yahoo! Search Marketing to promote your free directory submission.

Good Luck!

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