This is going to be a long, but fun.
I promise it will help you to earn more from your blog. In particular, if you are usingAdSense, Media.net, or another similar ad network, you are going to love learning about Ezoic.
Imagine if you had a helpful friend who told you:
That would have a direct impact on the amount of money you make from your blog, right?
For example, what if you found out that the way you’re currently displaying your adsisn’t optimal?
If you changed to a better way, you could instantly make more money without needing to increase your blog’s traffic.
Ezoic lets you test ad placements, sizes, and publishers to find the combination which makes you the most money.
Ezoic claims that most websites see a revenue increase of at least 50% from implementing their optimization.
Those are powerful numbers!
And while the focus of this review is on ad optimization, Ezoic can also help you test your site’s layout and content, too.
Let’s take a look at why this tool is so helpful and how you can start using it.
Testing Ads placement & size Is Incredibly Important
There are two reasons I recommend you to test your ads:
- To make more money : I know, this one is obvious. It’s what most website owners are looking for when they test anything on their site. And testing is a really good way to optimize the amount of money you make from your blog or website.
- To optimize user experience : This reason is one people might not think about as much. But what if you found out that one set of ads caused people to leave a page right away? Maybe the two sets of ads you’re comparing make the same amount of money per page view, but one offers a much better user experience. Knowing that is equally as important for your blog. By maximizing your user experience, you can keep your readers coming back.
Why Testing Ads By Yourself Is Hard To Do
You might be thinking this:
But here’s the problem with that:
Those basic tests aren’t taking into account all of the important variables. They’re notmaximizing your money as much as possible.
And if you care about getting accurate results and really making more money, you should want to do your testing the right way.
Why Simple A/B Tests Aren’t Good Enough
You probably have multiple ads per page. So if you only split-test one placement at a time, you’re not getting an accurate value.
What you need to care about is how much money the entire visit makes, which includes all of your ad placements. You need a way to compare all of the ads on one page at the same time.
Even more importantly, you also want to:
Usually, your readers will click through to more than one page. So you need to be able to compare the money you make per unique visit.
To demonstrate this, here’s a quick example comparing two options:
Option 1 makes you $1 per page view. Visitors who see Option 1 usually view 3 pages.
Option 2 makes you $.75 per page view. But visitors who see Option 2 usually view 5 pages.
If you only looked at earnings per page view, you would think Option 1 was the best.
But really, Option 2 makes you more money.
That’s why running these detailed tests can put more money in your bank account.
Yes!
Running these tests yourself would be incredibly difficult.
It automatically runs all these tests for you, so that you can be sure you’re making as much money as possible from your blog’s ads.
How To Set Up Ezoic For Increasing Ad Revenue:
Now that I’ve told you why Ezoic is so beneficial, I’ll show you how to integrate Ezoicon your blog.
There are 5 steps that you need to follow:
- Create an account & link it to your blog using CloudFlare.
- Add the Ezoic script to your blog’s header.
- Convert all existing ad units to serve via Ezoic, and create new ad units.
- Apply for Google’s Ad Exchange program.
- Start using the Ezoic Ad Tester.
So let’s get started with an epic tutorial that will help you to make more money from your blog:
(In this guide, I will be setting up Ezoic on a WordPress site. If you are on another platform, the process will be the same except for WordPress specific things.)
Note: Sub-domains are not supported. So if you have a .blogspot domain name, ensure you get a custom domain name. If you are already on a self-hosted WordPress blog, you are good to go.
Once you are inside your dashboard for the first time, you need to start with these three steps:
1. Integrate Your Site
The first step is to connect Ezoic to your site.
Ezoic works with any platform as long as your website is on the root domain & not the sub-domain.
The best (& fastest) way to integrate Ezoic to your site is by using CloudFlare.
(This is highly recommended as it offers many great advantages that you can read about here.)
Once this is done, go to the “Integration” tab over here.
A “success message” will be shown like this:
For me, this is a must. CloudFlare makes everything much safer.
(They also have a JavaScript integration, but they don’t recommend it for most sites.)
You’ll also have to go through a few more setup steps that Ezoic will help you with. They mostly involve adding some code snippets to your site so that Ezoic can work properly. I think beginner bloggers may find it difficult to add these code bits, as some of them require a decent amount of code knowledge. For example, you need to be able to wrap all your existing advertisement code in Ezoic snippets.
2. Set Up Ad Testing
Once you’re integrated, go back to the dashboard & click on “Setup Ad Testing.”
(If you have navigated away from the dashboard, use this direct link.)
If you are using WordPress, you can use the free Header & Footer WordPress plugin to add these codes.
Wrap Your Existing Ads Or Create New Ad Units
Pay good attention here as this one is important.
I hope you are aware that AdSense has lifted the limits of the number of AdSense ads on a page. But you still don’t want to make your page unreadable because of too many ads.
If you already have an ad, you need to wrap those ads within the code generated after clicking on “Create New Ad Units”.
This image will make it easier for you to understand the process:
Once you are done replacing all existing ad units on your site with this wrapped ad unit, it’s time to add more ad units.
With Ezoic you can run more than 3 ad units. I would suggest to keep it at 5-6 maximum so your site doesn’t look cluttered.
In my case, I’m selecting 4.
(I will show you how to limit the number of ads in the upcoming section.)
Now, I will create a new ad unit using Ezoic & will place it in my WordPress blog’s sidebar.
Now, all you need to do is go to the “Widget” section of your blog & paste the code into a text widget.
This is a basic step & anyone who has just started with WordPress should be able to do it.
If you are unsure, here is an image to understand the various ad locations on a blog:
Once you have added the code in your blog’s sidebar, create more ad units & add the codes onto your blog.
Here is an official video that will help you to understand how to create & integrate Ezoic with your WordPress site:
Subscribe on Youtube
Do ensure you go to the “Turn On/Off” section & turn on ad types for all devices.
Apply for Google’s Ad Exchange:
Go back to the Ezoic dashboard (here is the direct link) & you will notice one more field called “Apply for Google’s Ad Exchange.”
Now, go back to the Ezoic dashboard & you will see the following text below “Apply for Google’s Ad Exchange”:
Ad Testing & Placement
This is where things get interesting.
To start using Ezoic, you need to install the Ezoic Chrome addon & watch this video:
Ezoic has some recommended best practices to get the most out of their testing.
They recommend:
Once your ads are all set up, Ezoic can start running experiments.
What Ads Does Ezoic Display?
By default, Ezoic has you sign up with the Google DoubleClick Ad Exchange.
This exchange allows thousands of ad networks to compete for your ad spots with real-time bidding.
But now you might be asking this question:
No!
But you will need to install another app into your Ezoic account.
It’s called Mediation.
The Mediation app allows you to link your existing ads into Ezoic’s testing.
Use Mediation to link your existing ad network accounts to Ezoic.
Ad networks that are set up in Mediation will compete with Ezoic’s own ad partners for the advertising inventory on your website.
This means that your existing ads will enter the same bidding marketplace as theDoubleClick Ad Exchange.
Here is the complete list of ad networks that bid in Google’s Ad Exchange.
If your existing ads earn more revenue than the ads Ezoic is testing against, your existing ads will continue to display.
Otherwise, Ezoic will display the more profitable options.
That’s good for you because:
The best part is that once you have done the initial configuration, everything else is automated.
How Much Does Ezoic Cost?
With all of these features that could directly impact how much money you make, you might think that Ezoic is an expensive tool.
For bloggers, Ezoic offers a free plan.
BUT, this free plan comes with one condition:
Here’s what that ad looks like:
If you don’t want to display the ad, their paid plans start at $49 per month for blogs with up to $1,000 in monthly revenue.
Once you start seeing good results after using Ezoic, I would suggest upgrading to the $49 plan.
Given that Ezoic claims most site owners increase their revenue by 50%, this is a small price to pay in my opinion.
Also, with one Ezoic account, you can manage multiple sites.
How Ezoic Pays & Minimum Payout
The minimum payout of Ezoic is $20.
You can get paid via various methods as shown in the below screenshot.
My Final Thoughts
Ezoic is an incredibly powerful tool.
I have tried to make it simpler for you to understand & get started with this guide.
You can always get help from Ezoic’s customer support & over time, I will add more information about Ezoic.
If you are making money using AdSense, or Media.net, or any other ad network, you should definitely start using Ezoic.
This automated tool will definitely increase your revenue & with their low minimum payout, you don’t have to wait long to get paid.
This tool is only for bloggers who already have some traffic and revenue. While it’s still good to optimize a small site, if your site doesn’t receive a lot of traffic, it may not be worth the time to set up the Ezoic integration.
But if your blog is generating some revenue already, I definitely recommend you try tooptimize that revenue with Ezoic.
I would love to hear your experience of Ezoic. What are your thoughts on how to maximize revenue and make the most out of Ezoic? Let me know in the comments!
Do share this tool with others who have a blog; they will thank you for helping them to increase their revenue!
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