A huge, huge part of gathering an audience to your work is having an update schedule. How would you like it if your favorite television series just went on air “whenever?” No schedule for a new episode, no day for you to check back, just whenever the heck the network had the time to air it? You’d be pissed off and forget to check back! Then you’d be pissed off more when you realized you missed a new episode or 3!

Yes, yes, I know. You want to tell me, “But Kez, when a webcomic updates, the page stays up, so people can come and check back whenever they want! TV shows air, but then you can’t watch them again until the network feels like replaying them! These are 2 really different things!” Well I’m going to tell you that updating randomly is the lazy-man’s way to do it, and though you may keep SOME of your readers, you will NEVER have the audience that a webcomic that updates to a schedule has.

As usual, I’m going to look at the success stories here. Let’s  try Gunnerkrigg Court. GC is currently #14 on TWC, so we can all agree the comic is quite popular! It updates 3x a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And look! It SAYS so, right at the top of the comic there.  Let us view the Project Wonderful stats on GC.  No way! HUGE increases on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays! I WONDER IF THERE IS A CORRELATION (please note, that was not phrased as a question).

Let us consider a scenario where you come across hypothetical Comic X. You really like Comic X, so you bookmark it. Uh oh, problem! Not only does Comic X NOT have an RSS feed (the only semi-substitute for not having a schedule, which I’ll get to at the end of this article), but it does not have an update schedule listed either! So, you bookmark Comic X, and tell yourself that you’ll check back.  For the first couple days, you DO check back. No update! Then, one day a week or so later, you check back and there’s a new page! You are so happy, but wait a second! There are new characters and new places and you have no idea what’s going on! You click the “previous page” button, and discover that Comic X was updated with multiple pages totally out of the blue. I suppose this scenario wouldn’t be so bad if the creator of Comic X at least kept an updated news area to let people know what happened, but odds are that if someone hasn’t posted a schedule, they don’t know enough to have news posts either! Anyways, you catch up on Comic X, but never knowing when the blasted thing updates, you check back quite randomly, maybe 2 or 3 times a month.  You don’t tell many people about Comic X, because let’s face it: though it’s really good, you only ever remember to check it 2-3 times a month, so how are you going to remember to tell anyone about it? Because you don’t visit the site much, you don’t even vote on TWC much. You don’t join a forum or leave a comment or send a fan-mail.  Now multiply you a hundred or so times, and you have the audience of this comic!

Scenario TWO! You come across hypothetical Comic Q.  You really like Comic Q, so you bookmark it.  Uh oh, Comic Q does NOT have an RSS feed, but don’t worry! Comic Q has an update schedule! It updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a page per update. You are irked that it does not update more, but you know when to check back for another new page. So you do, three times a week. Each time you visit for that update, you vote for that comic on TWC. Comic Q keeps getting bigger!  Visiting 3x a week, you’re keeping up with the story quite well. You leave the creator of Comic Q a comment, telling him/her how much you like it.  You remember to tell friends about this comic, and you’re sure to let them know when it updates, so they can enjoy the same thing! You find yourself looking forward to each new update, MUCH THE SAME AS IF IT WERE A TELEVISION SERIES.  Is that a small amount of gratitude you feel? That the creator of Comic Q is updating his/her comic loyally to schedule?

Okay, now consider that Comic X and Comic Q are the same comic. Comic X decided to update in batches of 3 on random days, once a week. Comic Q decided to update 3 scheduled days a week with one page per udpate.  They both have the same thing going for them, but Comic Q decided to take the audience into consideration.  Always, always, ALWAYS make it as easy as possible for your readers to keep up with your comic. A schedule is for THEM as much as you, if not MORE for them.  Yes, yes, there are DEFINITE middle paths between Comic X and Comic Q. Phoenix Requiem updates on Mondays and Thursdays with batches of pages. FreakAngels updates on Fridays with 6 pages, and when they can’t, they bother to let people know they’re taking a week off (’cause hey, that’s polite!). There was once a comic I read that updated on Fridays, every OTHER week. This leads into a discussion on how often one should update, which I’m not going into, because the point of this article is merely that to maximize your audience, you NEED to have a schedule (and stick to it!). People will continue to check back on those days you’ve told them you will update.  The reader who comes back to your comic monthly to read batches of pages regardless of whether you have a posted update schedule is few and far in-between.  The great majority of people will come back when you tell them you’ll have something new.

Let us consider a 3rd scenario. You have a webcomic, but you have no idea when you’ll have time to work on it one day to the next. You try for an update schedule, and fail miserably. People start leaving nasty comments about how they’re not going to check back because “you’re a liar,” yadda yadda. Webcomic readers can be a spiteful bunch I tell you!  You really want to keep updating your comic, but there’s no way in hell you can definitely update on a specific day.  Finally, you list your schedule as “whenever I can do it, you sniveling mongrel sons of dogs” (only slightly less inflamatory), and point people to your RSS feed.  Once subscribed to it, people will be notified when you update!

Ah ha! The miracle cure, you say! No, not really. The minority of an audience uses an RSS feed. A sizeable minority to be sure, but most people bookmark your site and physically check back.  As for the intricacies of an RSS feed, what to display on it, I’ll leave that to another article as well. The bottom line is that if you want to continue to grow your audience, they need to know they can depend on you for updates. It’s a loyalty issue. People stop coming back if you don’t update like you said you would. They stop coming back if you update randomly and don’t keep them informed. They stop coming back because they lose interest because they don’t check back, and then forget about you.  Relying solely on RSS feeds is NOT recommended! Not even update listing sites like Piperka, TWCL or OnlineComics make up for not having a schedule, because all of these places require people to make accounts! Again, the minority of your readers will use these sites.

So, if you don’t have a schedule, you need to make one! Period.

Next up! “What is a CMS and WHY do I need it?”

88×31 was the original “button” size for webcomics.  This is a very acceptable size for link exchanges, and often the smallest. Many people will link with larger sizes now, but this was once the default size. Definitely have at least one banner of this size available, and preferably, more than one.

117×30 is the “button” size on Project Wonderful.  Most webcomickers do not link with this size. If you are seeking a link exchange with someone, check their links page first to see which size they prefer.  You SHOULD have this size available on your links page as it is slowly becoming more popular, but I think you will find many still prefer to link with 88×31.

125×125 is the  “square” size.  It is very rare to see anyone choose this size to link another comic with.  Not unheard of, but rare. You MAY want to have this size available on your links page.

160×600 is the “skyscraper” or “tower” size. This is for advertising purposes only. No one will link you with this size unless they are crazy (120×60 is the thin tower, going out of style).

200×40 is my personal favorite size for link banners. It is also the de facto size for link exchanges.   It’s small enough you can often fit 3 across a page, but large enough you can fit some art on there. If you remember my 4-article series about making banners, art together with words make the best banners, especially for comics. Definitely have at least one banner of this size available, and preferably, more than one.

234×60 is the Project Wonderful “half banner” size.  I find it an awkward size myself.  Most webcomickers do not link with this size. Have this for size for advertising for yourself, but don’t expect others to use it.

300×250 is the “rectangle” size. This is for advertising purposes only. No one will link you with this size unless they are crazy or owe you a favor big time.

468×60 is the traditional full banner size. You will be lucky to get a link exchange with this size, but it’s certainly not unheard of.  This is a size to have for many things, including top lists, comic updater sites, comic collective banner rotations, and more. Definitely have at least one banner of this size available, and preferably, more than one.

728×90 is the “leaderboard” size.  This is for advertising purposes only. No one will link you with this size unless they are crazy.

Other sizes: some comickers have created link banners of very odd sizes. This is not advisable. People don’t like their link exchange page to be horribly cluttered, which it will become if everyone wants a different size. Feel free to have other sizes available ALONGSIDE the acceptable sizes.

Etiquette for people seeking link exchanges: if you are asking for a link exchange with another comic, do exactly that FIRST: ask! Do not email someone with your banner already attached, or with a link to you banner/links page, or with a link to your OWN links page, where their banner is up.  It is very rude to 1) send attachments to people who don’t know you 2) assume they will link you and 3) try to pressure them into a reciprocal link by already putting up their link. I recommend asking if they would be willing to exchange banners with you, and if so, what size they would prefer.  Ball’s in their court, and they’ll get back to you if they’re interested. 90% of people will be interested, unless you’re making a totally horrible comic* and you’re asking a totally great, popular comic*.

*relative designations.

Etiquette for link/banner pages: preferably you should have SOMEWHERE on your links page your linking policy. For example, do you even accept link exchange queries? Some people don’t (ex, Earthsong)! Are there comics you won’t link (mature? violent? graphic?)? What banner sizes do you prefer, and where can you be reached for queries? If your linking banners are on a different page than you link exchanges, make sure the link is prominent.

The first thing to understand is that if you’re going to put PW in an ad chain, it should be as the final default, or rotated in at a certain (lower) percentage. PW pays the lowest CPM of any advertiser, because it’s geared for cheap advertising rather than the generation of revenue. For example, I could advertise on a really awesome webcomic site for about 1 dollar per day. I might get…10,000 ad impressions that day! When you consider that average market CPM is 2-6 dollars, that creator of that popular comic is TOTALLY getting ripped off for those pageviews (instead of 1 dollar for that day, the creator should be making $20-60 at a 100% fill rate). But you, as the advertiser, you’re getting a really great deal. Welcome to webcomics!

Anyways. PW should always be at the end of an ad chain because you will make the least with it. Period. PW also doesn’t allow defaults, so there’s no use putting it up higher on an ad chain anyways.

The second thing to understand when adding PW as a default is that THE STATS GRAPH ONLY REGISTERS VISITORS AND PAGEVIEWS WHEN THE AD IS SHOWN! The stats are not inflated. The stats do NOT register the pageviews of all the other ads.  So, publishers and advertisers alike: don’t think you are cheating bidders or being cheated! Advertisers will be bidding for the TRUE amount of pageviews registered.

The real question here is one of SHOULD. Should you add PW into an ad chain?  I would say that there is no reason not to, so long as you are getting enough default pageviews to warrant the addition. Fill rates change day to day. Sometimes they can be 5%. and sometimes 50%. This means the pageviews registered by PW change day to day also, and large amounts of fluctuation may scare away bidders. Therefore, the more traffic you get, the harder you should think about adding PW as your final default, because overall fluctuation will seem less. If you are a webcomic hurting for more than 1000 pageviews a day, and you already belong to one or 2 ad networks, you shouldn’t add it. You won’t get enough default views to make any amount of money. (In this case, I recommend actually setting up defaults of banners from your favorite comics, or your other projects, or your store.)

Should you add PW to your page OUTSIDE of an ad chain? Most definitely, and for both large and small comics. Larger comics might want to decrease the amount of ads on their site by putting PW inside the chain, but smaller webcomics who probably shouldn’t have PW as a default might find it more worth it to have ads that show 100% of the time. PW also offers a much wider range of banner sizes, more control over what ads are shown, and ads that are far more likely to generate clicks.

It’s the weekend, when I’m supposed to post story extras and stuff. Trying to keep up with that. Those of you not interested in this, come back on Monday. I’m working on slew of informative articles that ought to be right up your alley (collectives, adding PW to ad chains, world pages, website extras like chat boxes, and a discussion about webcomic title images).

Part of the reason I’m taking a hiatus from The War of Winds this month is so I can focus on editing the novel that the comic is based on. Here’s a snippet from Chapter 7: Lesser Evils, and the corresponding comic pages.  The “lesser evils” title refers to many things, but mainly about past and present choices that 3 characters (Vrin, Ravar and Mersnai) have made.  I would of course welcome thoughts on what you think those decisions were, but I think the hints I laid down in this chapter were too vague yet. A sharp mind ought to be able to connect the dots, however.

I find it amazing how much my writing style has changed over the years. The original version of this chapter was written in 2003 or so. At the time, I was heavily into The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, obviously a maximalist fantasy work. I now am much more minimalist, preferring to hint at rather than be explicit. Minimalism also makes everything MUCH shorter, and the few descriptions I use stick out much more. I still love WoT though, that’s for damn sure. I also have quite the fondness for em-dashes. I find they replicate speech patterns much truer than more traditional methods.

Also, a note about Ravar’s syntax: Ayenroki try never to use contractions. When they slip up and use them, it’s supposed to be a very big faux paus. Ravar loosens up as you get to know him, but at this point he’s still pretty rigid.

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(Corresponding to these 2 pages: 1, 2)

“Where is the thief?” he asked again, growing vexed. Her arms twitched as he increased the level of pain she felt; he frowned. She should not have been able to twitch.

In a voice different than the one she had previously spoken with—deeper, more guttural—she replied, “You’re not very good at this, are you, half-man?”  Ravar felt his hackles rise at the sound of the voice, though he could not reason why. “A real Rrah’ashī Master could reach into this mind and pull out the thought he wanted. But you…” the voice trailed off, chuckling darkly. “You rely on brute force and pain, child of the destroyers.”

“You seek to mock me, human?” the half-man snarled.  “That is unwise, considering your position.”

“Mock you? I speak only truth, Ravar. An interesting—true—name, that,” the voice mused. “Said the same, front as reverse. Did anyone ever tell you what that meant? Half a name, mirrored on itself?” The Ayenroki felt his mouth go dry as the voice continued, answering its own question, “It means you are only half, half-man.” She paused, then smirked, still not looking at him with the rolled back eyes. “I made a joke.”

“Do not try to play with me,” Ravar warned, narrowing his eyes.  He felt his alignment slipping, and righted himself.  The voice grunted as the Ayenroki straightened the fingers on Vrin’s forehead, as though rotating a very small, very sharp, invisible knife.  “Who are you?”

“Who am I?” the voice repeated. “Ayenroki, you chose the wrong head in which to muck around.”  Ravar’s fingers, mere tools of physical alignment, jerked as something pushed against him-something he could neither see nor sense, but it existed nonetheless. He felt his fingers slowly turn clockwise, and despite how he strained, they would not straighten. Vrin’s hands raised themselves up as though pulled by invisible threads, every muscle and fiber in the arms starkly showing, flexed and strained, beneath pale skin.  Even in the darkness, Ravar could see the rows of scars that stretched vertically down both wrists, thick and white scars that stood out against the shadow-scars that should have killed. “Get out of it, now.”  Her lips were pulled back to reveal her teeth, held by bloodless gums.  The force that pushed against his ashī strengthened further, testing.

Ravar narrowed his eyes, confused.  Holding to his tenuous alignment, he asked again, “Who are you?”

“I am but one,” she replied, the joints of her fingers popping and clicking as she clenched and unclenched her hands. Her body seemed pressed against the wall by a force larger than Ravar himself, something invisible.

“That was not what I asked, Vrin,” he growled.

“You may think you know my name, I know your name, Ravar.”  Her mouth grinned, completely incongruent to the strain her body showed. A bead of sweat ran down the contour of her cheek, passing rolled-back eyes and catching on the edge of her lip.  The Ayenroki glanced down at the sensation of heat on his chest as saw his kireken, his crystal talisman, glowing a muted red like a nearly doused coal. It had never done that before. “You’re still in this head, Ayenroki,” the voice brought his eyes back up.  “It’s not a place you want to be.”

Ravar felt himself growing frustrated. “I do not care for your games! Tell me where Talon is!”

The woman sighed, unfazed by the anger in his voice.  “You are not welcome here, bastard child of two forms. Leave!” she hissed, baring teeth. “And do it skillfully. I will be very unhappy with you if you damage this mind.  Hurting her, or trying to kill her, would not serve your well.”

“Kill you?” Ravar growled, finally releasing the hold on her mind and instead snatching a wrist, “I have no need to kill you.  It looks like you have already tried enough.” He tossed her scarred forearm down, withdrawing all that he had done. Vrin dropped to the floor limply, a tangle of confused, shaking, limbs. “You are unnatural, whatever you are. From one second the next, you are different. It disgusts me,” the Ayenroki spat. “Slesseneġ.”

Advertising 202 took you through which ad providers to use and why.

Advertising 303 is going to take you through how to make money. Whoo! However, I’ve already touched on a lot of this in my previous articles, so I’m going to start out by repeating myself.

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The first way to increase revenue generated from displaying ads is to give the ads priority in your site design, whether those ads are served from ADSDAQ or Project Wonderful. I realize this goes against everything a webcomic site is supposed to be about (ie, you and your comic), and I don’t care, because I want to make money too.  By “priority” I mean placing ads before your site’s content, in this case, your comic. So, a leaderboard ABOVE your comic, a tower to the LEFT of your comic, and other ad sizes where available (example, a 300×250 box directly beneath your comic, not beneath your news area).  Ad providers generally offer two types of ads: above the fold, and below the fold. You get paid MORE for displaying above the fold ads, obviously.

Please keep in mind that even if these ads are given priority over your comic, people keep coming back FOR your comic, and no, ads will not make people stop coming back unless you completely overboard.  Mike, a commenter here, mentioned something called “ad blindness” a bit back, where internet viewers no longer even see ads.  It holds true. They see your content, and ignore the ads for the most part, which is EXACTLY the reason to get paid more, you need to put the ads before the content, so they [the ads] perform better.

What you DON’T want to do is place ads where people much scroll, either horizontally or vertically, to see them, unless they are specifically “below the fold” ads.  Sometimes this means you have to change your layout (DESIGN FOR THE ADS) or change your content (ex, no more wide-screen content).  What you also don’t want to do is allow “takeover” ads on your site, pop-ups, pop-unders, or ads that are expandable without hovering. These ads are a deterrent, and if you’ve got an archive of 50 or more pages, with these ads displayed on every page, NO ONE is going to read your comic.  Moderation is key, as well as taking care of your audience.  These types of ads can be turned off in your admin areas on Burst Media and ADSDAQ, and are obviously not allowed through Project Wonderful.

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The second way to make more money is specifically for context-based advertisers like ADSDAQ.  These companies read the text on your page and then serve you ads that have something to do with that text. If you have little text on your page, you don’t get many ads (if you have no text, your application will not even be accepted).  These companies are NOT INTERESTED in serving ads that have nothing to do with your audience’s interests, and why should they be? It’s lose-lose for them and the people advertising if performance is horrible! Which is why having readable text on your page is extremely important.

But the question then becomes “well, what text should I have on my pages?”

• Text about specific current events, politics, technologies, culture, or media RELEVANT to your audience.
• Text about specific places you visited, how you got there, what you bought, where you went, with what transportation service, etc.
• Text about specific companies, items, things you want to buy, gifts, holidays.

The key is being specific enough to get ads.  For example, let’s say I’m blogging about myself beneath my comic:

Hey guys! Yesterday I drove an hour to visit my friend and hang out with her. We checked out a bunch of things at the mall, but I didn’t buy anything.  We thought about seeing a movie, but decided instead to go out to eat. All in all, it was a fun day.

That is so vague that the only keywords I can find are “mall” and “movie.” This is not going to increase my fill rates much. Now, what if I transformed that into this?

Hey comic readers! Yesterday I drove to Rochester to visit my friend and have some fun at the local shopping mall called “the Medley Center.” We shopped for half the day, checking out stores like The Gap, Bon Ton and Dick’s Sporting Goods. I didn’t buy anything, but I found this fabulous athletic outfit that is just so cute! It’s Nike too (which was probably why it was so expensive! D:) We thought about seeing a movie at the theatre, perhaps the new James Bond flick Quantum of Solace, or maybe a comedy like Four Christmases, but decided to go eat at Outback Steakhouse instead. It was a great day, but wow, post-Thanksgiving at the mall is tough! I can’t even imagine what Christmas shopping will be like! It was still a lot of fun though!

This time, I highlighted the keywords for you (I went a little overboard, but I wanted to you get the general idea).  Mentioning CURRENT events/holidays gets you in on current ad campaigns that will shoot up your fill rates. This is why it is so important to write or update your text OFTEN. If you don’t, you get in on the new campaigns.  I mention specific places to get in on the “Travel” ads.  I mention specific stores to get ads related to merchandise sold there. Specific movies because when movies first come out, there are a LOT of ads going around. Etc, etc.

If you’re still confused, here is a screenshot of possible ad categories displayed on my site.  My next goal is to work on increasing specific ones.

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The third way to increase ad revenue is to join multiple ad networks and set up an ad chain (as discussed in Advertising 202). You can see in the above image of ad categories that I have a lot of default views because my fill rates are not 100%. My fill rate at ADSDAQ is on average 15%, which leaves 85% to send elsewhere.  I send it to Burst Media, where my fill rate is also 15%. I send the rest of the views to defaults of my choice, in this case, free advertising for comics I enjoy.  If I joined more networks, I would get paid for more pageviews, which is my goal!  I next would like to join Tribal Fusion, but my audience is not yet large enough.  Tribal wants 2k uniques a day. I’m about half-way there. :D

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The fourth and final way (that I use) to increase ad revenue is something again mentioned in a comment. I advertise through Project Wonderful to increase my total pageviews, and I make more money from the higher CPM of ads my site displays than I lose paying for the advertising itself. Make sense? PW prices are so awesomely low that just about every webcomicker out there can afford it, with average CPM being under 20 cents (in my personal experience.) In contrast, normal market CPM is 2-4 dollars, or higher.  Most of us don’t even think about our ads on PW being in CPM, we think in CPC and click-thru rates.  A good ad with PW will have a CPC (cost per click) of 0-3 cents.   If it costs more than that, as a webcomicker, you’re being ripped off!

I’m going to quote that aforementioned commenter, JGray, here, as he beat me to it:

“…people should consider at least one Project Wonderful ad on their site. If everyone uses PW and no one publishes PW there won’t be a PW to use. Plus, a good way to pay for PW is to use the funds they give you for publishing.”

This means more ads on your site, but it’s nice because it funds your OWN advertising through PW if you have a PW slot on your site.

This is the end of Advertising 303!  Next up: Advertising 404: The in-depth tutorial on setting up ad chains and default campaigns. When I can get to it, as it will require quite a view screen shots and coding quotes.

Most people in webcomicdom know, use and love Project Wonderful. This post is not about Project Wonderful. PW is AWESOME for the average webcomicker looking to advertise his or her comic on another web-page  (advertiser). It is not so awesome for the person trying to make money by publishing ads on his or her page (publisher).  In the rest of this article, please be aware that when I say “publisher,” I’m saying “person who publishes ads on his/her site.”

Some more terms:

CPM=Cost Per Thousand Ad Impressions (mille=thousand in French, guessing the acronym is related). This is the unit in which ads are sold through most publishers. You are paid by how many thousands of pageviews you provide. Normal market CPM is $2-4.00 US for webcomics.  In contrast, I’ve never advertised on PW for a CPM over 20 cents.

CPC=Cost Per Click. Some ad providers pay by the click. This directly relates to the performance of the ads on your site, obviously. It’s not recommended that you run CPC ads, as you will generally make less money than with CPM campaigns.

Fill Rate= # of ads shown/total # pageviews. Most ad providers do not guarantee a 100% fill rate, unlike Project Wonderful (if someone is bidding, they get that spot 100% of the time, until they cancel the bid or run out of funds).

Default= when an ad space is not filled on a pageview, it may be sent your default: either an image of your choice, or another ad network.

Ad Chain= you can set up different networks to default to other ad networks. When your fill rate is 10-20% per network, but you set up your ads in a chain, you make more money by filling default views.

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So, if I don’t champion Project Wonderful for the Publisher, what do I suggest?  There are lots of other advertisers out there that pay by CPM or CPC*  For this article, I am only going to talk about the ones I personally use, have set up for others, or have heard only praise for by others.  I am also going to stress that you should not take the step to applying to ad providers until your site is up to par! That means SEO, webcomic website must-have’s, should-have pages, reguarly updated content, and that’s just the beginning! You can find my articles on these things in the archives on this blog. Check the categories section in the side-bar!  If you do not do these things, your site’s application will be rejected, and you’ll have to wait a couple months to resubmit!

Okay, now that I’ve added my disclaimer, I can move on to where to go! I recommend starting first with ADSDAQ. This is a context-based ad provider, meaning it reads the text on your site, and serves you ads that have something in common with your readership.  If your site does not have a lot of readable text, your site will be rejected.  ADSDAQ is also nice because it provides you with simple codes to install on your site, as well as the freedom to set your desired CPM. This means that you may set a very high CPM (and have a lower fill rate), a very low CPM (and have a very high fill rate), or your perfect CPM (with a medium fill rate.)

I recommend ADSDAQ because it allows small sites to join. Webcomic sites, or any image-intensive sites, must be careful when applying.  Webcomics/graphics compete with ads on the page, so an application will be quickly rejected if competition is too high.

I personally make $40-50 dollars a month with ADSDAQ (more now that I’ve optimized my site) by displaying 2 ad sizes. That’s up to $600 a year, which ain’t a LOT, but it’s far more than I would make with PW at 50 cents a day.  I have a steady 15% fill rate at 2.00 CPM, and I get on average 100k pageviews a month. I’m trying to increase the fill rate to 20-30%, if not more.  The key to making money with ADSDAQ is increasing your fill rate, and it will depend on your site’s content, your desired CPM, and your total pageviews. I am currently experimenting with including more text about current television series such as Heroes, NCIS, CSI, etc, as well as new movie releases in order to increase fill rates. By doing this, I increase fill rates for ads that have more in common with my audience, for example, the Hellboy II campaign that was shown 2 weeks ago.

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After applying to ADSDAQ, learning the ropes of being a publisher, and optimizing your site even more, apply to Burst Media.  Burst is harder to get into than ADSDAQ, and is not context based. Instead, it allows you to choose which ads (and what CPM) you want to display on your page out of a list.  It also requires that your audience fill out a survey in order to determine your site’s demographics. You need a minimum of 200 responses to get better fill rates, so make sure your audience is big enough!

Since you’re in 2 networks now, you can set up an ad chain so that unfilled impressions are sent to the second network. Which ever network makes you more money should be placed first! (D’uh, right!?) I have ADSDAQ defaulting to Burst.  Before joining Burst, I had ADSDAQ defaulting to Project Wonderful. Be aware that when doing this, the PW stats graph DOES NOT INCLUDE PAGEVIEWS WHEN IT IS NOT DISPLAYED. However, due to misconceptions about this, PW default ads perform poorly.  People do not like to bid on them.  The one exception I know is the tower on Roza and the Horse Prince.

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After ADSDAQ and Burst, you’ll want to apply to networks like Tribal Fusion and Gorilla Nation.  These are the big guys, and they require a minimum amount of visitors, UNLIKE the previous 2 networks.  They are context-based networks also, GN more than TF.  My site is too small to be accepted here.  There are many other ad networks out there, but most, like Google Adsense, make zilch for the average webcomicker.  Since I have no experience with them, I won’t write about them.

What I HIGHLY recommend is advertising through Project Wonderful, and publishing through these other networks.  For a comparatively inexpensive price, you can greatly increase your pageviews, and make MORE money from publishing than you spent advertising.  I also know there are plenty of webcomics out there with significantly more readers than mine, webcomics that are simply better, but make no money.  THERE IS A WAY. If I can make $600 a year on a hobby, others can be making thousands, easily. This is entirely without merchandising, which is something I think webcomics should not pursue until they have a steady income though publishing ads. There is simply so much involved in designing good merchandise odds are you won’t do it right until you’ve had more experience in knowing WHAT SELLS, and that includes ads on your site.

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Up next: Advertising 303: Generating Ad Revenue and How it Relates to Content (and therefore, SEO).  I touched on it today, but tomorrow will include examples, screen shots, etc.

Ad placement directly impacts the revenue you generate as an ad publisher. It is only logical to think that, of course, an ad placed at the TOP of your page generates more funds than an ad of the same size placed at the bottom. Why? One word: Exposure.

The majority of internet users read left to right, top to bottom, just like reading a book. We look at the top left first, and the bottom right last. To gain the most revenue, whether through Project Wonderful or another ad publishing service, place your ad at the top of the page. People will bid more for this spot because it has the most exposure, and is not competing with other visual products (such as your comic.)

The second best place for an ad is to the left of your content. For example, a tower/skyscraper ad to the left of a webcomic page. Third best place is in the MIDDLE of content. For example, if I suddenly split up my paragraph right here with an ad:

It is in the middle of content, and therefore you are forced to read through it. You cannot completely miss the ad, as you might if I placed an ad on the RIGHT side of the page (as you can see in the sidebar.) To the right of content is the fourth best place.

Finally, the worst (and worst-performing) place to put an ad is beneath all your content, where most visitors will not even scroll. I see a lot of people complaining that their Project Wonderful ads are gaining very little revenue for them, yet when they are told it is because of ad placement, they do nothing to correct this. You really must think of your webpage like a realtor thinks of a property he or she is SELLING. You are selling space, and if you want to make money, you sell the best place.

(I would like to say right now that ad placement is slightly more complicated than I am presenting it. There is actually a spectrum for left, right and middle placement as you scroll vertically, but this blog is about the basics, so there they are.)

As with most aspects of life, moderation is often the best way to go. When placing ads on your page, you must remember not to go overboard. Too many ads not only detract from the reading/viewing experience (if you work is less enjoyable, less people will come back!) but also generates LESS revenue than less ads due to competition. For example, if I offered TWO tower slots on my webpage, the revenue generated from both would be less than if I only offered one spot, because of the laws of supply and demand. I supply more, the demand stays the same, therefore the price goes down. If the demand increases and the supply decreases, the price goes UP.

Please also be aware that if you are a member of publishing companies such as Google, ADSDAQ, Burstmedia, etc, there are RULES about where you may place ads. For example, the leaderboard I currently display on my comic archives may ONLY appear above the fold in a 800×600 resolution. The tower must appear within one scroll of a 800×600 resolution. There are restrictions, so that people don’t just go and put all the ads at the bottom, because you shaft the advertisers. So, read your Terms of Service!

Next Update: Advertising 202: Ad Providers Other Than Project Wonderful

Then: Advertising 303: Generating Ad Revenue and How it Relates to Content (and therefore, SEO)

Finally: Advertising 404: The Ad Tutorial: How to Make Money Without Merchandising.