Google’s AdSense
With my Interview Section of Full Tilt Business, I have a specific strategy I use to try and attract new potential interviewees. One response puzzled me a bit and I had to do some thinking on the subject. I was told that my site is “ad-heavy.” What the hell was this guy talking about? I have one damn ad that is in the sidebar and one pop-up ad that disperses after thirty-seconds on the main page and the blog page. The standard sidebar ad is below the fold (the fold is the bottom of your computer screen when you first open up to a website), which doesn’t have to be that far down (per AdSense rules) on any page but the first page. Fine! I made my pop-up an email capture. Maybe that will make him happy.
So what happened? Nothing. He still wasn’t interested. That’s fine. Then he told me why. He saw too many ads for competitors. He didn’t want to give an interview and have his competition have ads in his interview’s sidebar. I won’t name names because I respect his business decision, but he does own a restaurant. He just didn’t want other restaurants advertising in his interview. The part he failed to grasp was that he needed to go look at some porn. Most people see ads for Asian singles or Russian mail-order brides in the AdSense, but he sees competitors.
So why does he see competitors? AdSense looks at your browser history and taylor makes ads for the viewer. So Mr. Restaurant Owner was basically looking at his competition recently online and that’s why he sees his competition pop up when he looks at FullTiltBusiness.com. That’s it! Simple as that…mostly….
I am a little too lazy to fix this problem and I personally feel that viewers should get a full spectrum of ads based on their recent searches. Those viewers are more likely to click an ad and that is (currently) the only way I make any revenue from this website (like a nickel a week), so I want to have the maximum amount of potential clicks (please click the banner ads so I can make a little money…PLEASE). I can set “contextual target ads” in AdSense to minimize the potential to have competitor ads, but I think competition is important and except for a business owner, the average person looking at the interview is going to see ads for more Asian singles and Russian mail-order brides. I can actually make more money per click by using the contextual target ads, but that will probably reduce my click rate, though I would make more money per click and the “context” of a person looking at an interview about a restaurant will probably have more ads that pop up for chain restaurants that can spend more money per click on AdSense advertising.
So what is my strategy to “sell” this restaurateur on doing an interview? I don’t have one. I will say “next” and simply move on to the next batch of businesses I will solicit. From our correspondence, he seemed like a nice guy and he was quite professional. Not everyone is interested in working with me and rejection is all part of sales and I am “selling” business owners on an interview with Full Tilt Business. I appreciate his critique of my site and took it under advisement. I sat my email capture as the popup, but I will probably set it back a day after I post this blog piece if I don’t have an increase in new subscribers to the Newsletter.
For more pieces like this, please go to website for Michael Beebe, Spark Plug Strategies, or Full Tilt Business.
Picture a young Michael Beebe, fresh out of La Porte High School in ’93, diving headfirst into the world of hospitality with a busboy gig at the old La Porte Holiday Inn. That hustle led him to an Associate of Science from Purdue-North Central in ’95 and a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management from Purdue-Calumet in ’97 (those schools are now merged into Purdue-Northwest, by the way). Michael’s early career was a whirlwind—running a 140-room hotel in Indianapolis, where he learned the ins and outs of the industry but realized it wasn’t his true calling. What did spark his passion? Teaching. He found himself thriving in front of students at Ivy Tech Community College and Lake Michigan College, sharing the art and science of hospitality management. Oh, and he also moonlighted at WIMS radio in Michigan City, juggling both on-air and behind-the-scenes roles with his signature high energy.
Politics? That’s been Michael’s sidekick since he was 18, registering to vote with a fire in his belly to make a difference. He threw his hat in the ring for La Porte County Council in 2010, where he got a crash course in the power of social media marketing. Undeterred by not winning, he campaigned for Indiana’s General Assembly in 2012 and took another shot at the County Council in 2014 and 2016. Though he hasn’t clinched a seat yet, Michael’s relentless drive to serve shines through. Lately, he’s been pouring that energy into helping other candidates who champion personal liberty, amplifying their voices with his knack for strategy.
Here’s a twist: Michael once co-owned a tattoo shop, despite having no ink himself. As the business manager and marketing guru, he leaned hard into low-cost, social media-driven campaigns to put the shop on the map. That experience fueled his love for digital marketing, and now he spends his free time crafting websites and boosting businesses online—a true labor of love.
These days, Michael’s living the dream as an independent contracted transporter, crisscrossing the country while getting paid to soak up new places and cultures. When he’s not exploring, he’s parked somewhere scenic, laptop open, building his digital consulting company, Spark Plug Strategies, or penning his thoughts. He even wrote a few books.
Based in La Porte County, Indiana, Michael’s embraced a “decentralized laptop lifestyle,” blending work, travel, and passion projects into a life that’s as dynamic as he is.