Thanks, Typo.

Okay, I need grade school level help here. Y'all know I have the provocateuse websites. They do pretty decently in terms of clicks. Between that and hotlinking, I was over my limits every month, and just a cool thing to do was suddenly costing me $300 extra! I put up solicitation buttons, but it felt weird (I don't interact with the visitors), and was obviously not something you can budget on.

Unsettling, not really a solution.

So I went with adsense. I can do that. All the sites have ads (not here! not here!). People are used to that, and apparently some click? Well, good! So I drop one in at the top and bottom of each ten image page, and the top and bottom of each index page. There's not really much more there.

In terms of drawing attention to the site, there is an RSS feed, but not publicised outside the pages of the site itself (and who casually uses it anymore?). And it's not broken down by interest at this time (of coding). And I post a picture, with ref links back to the source...well, I attempt once a day, but I also suck, so there's that.

I need to monetize, yo. When your web host comes back you and says "I'm surprised your back end page ever worked--you've had 1.2 million visitors so far this morning" there's a two pronged approach--get more invisible money off them (i.e. through showing them ads, and then if they like it and click--value provided--good luck with that...) and to fix the damned back end page so it doesn't crumble under a paltry million (hopefully not concurrent users).

I'm not asking about the latter so much as the former. Without even going into improving the site via program changes (I mean, don't not discuss it just because there are spaceships, but let's not get bogged down in hyperspace v. wormholes debates)

I'm looking at the automated suggestions and they suggest moving ads closer to the content. So this is a kinda typical short page: [link] . I can move a banner ad below or under the person's name, and below, it could come before the links to other sites of the same person. For varying reasons I don't like, but I like the last least.

The sides aren't that open on all the sites, though--my current min wiidth for pics was 600px, but now it's 800px, and sometimes a bigger one slides in.

Anyway. That's my thing. I've already started some SEO based on recommendations here--there's more name in the HTML, and as I collect pictures I try and work out a caption for each one, which definitely should help.

But now what?

Aidez-moi? S'il vous plait?

So, excuse the delay as I was distracted by the yummy. I claim no expertise on the placement of ads, but as far as the placement goes, I believe the frequent web user has acquired the ability to ignore them wherever they are placed.

So my uneducated suggestion would be to experiment with various options and see what works best for you. In your spare time, of course.

I would think the SEO would help.

I'd be okay with the ad under the category but above the name, although I don't know how much "closer" to the content that is. I'm actually okay with your least happy option, too. I think. Maybe I would have to see it. I wouldn't like the ad right on top of or between the pictures.

I'm gonna look at both of those, Liease and Laura--the idea that they might not care, because they're blind (or adblocking, sadly) means I might get away with what I consider intrusive, even. And I'll try with your placement recs, Liese.

I'm thinking of paid User Acceptance Testing (UAT). What do you think of the idea of asking 5 people here and five elsewhere (maybe on the Provocateuse tumblr) who have some tenuous link to the site and then 5 people who have none to spend 30-45 minutes going through as much of all and any of the sites they can, and reporting back to me their responses.

I'm not sure how much I should guide them with preparing a form. At work UAT is really specific. Here is a use case you need to complete to do your job. Here are the new steps. Could you work out how to do step #4? Was the documentation specific...that sort of shit that doesn't apply here.

Is $10 a person reasonable? I can't afford more than that...that's currently too much of one months ad money, but I want to put some of my rapidly decreasing brain cells into this while I can.

I'd do it for free, but I'm a clicky kind of person, and hey, provocateuse. But I think you would need to give at least some guidance to get back the info you're after.

I'd be happy to help as well. Gratis. But, like Liese, I'd need a bit of guidance. The times that I've gotten lost in your sites...which, admittedly, were quite a while ago, my progress was super random. I don't know that I could have produced any useful documentation.

Yeah, that's the thing. I don't want to give "here's how to use the site" instructions, because if that's not apparent--big flaw. And I don't have particularly suspected weaknesses (as in, I know definite bugs and issues, and those are on my list--this is to discover new stuff) so I can't guide people with that knowledge.

I'm going to have to think that one through more deeply. I'll have to work out various categories for ranking ease of use, etc, and then maybe ask for suggestions....

Thanks, guys.

Ah...I'm having a thought that I'm half hating because it sure feels like work, but...

You know how blogs and stuff have those buttons that say "Tweet this" "Stumble upon this" etc?

I don't use most of those platforms--in fact, I want to Tumblr stuff, and that button rarely appears, and if it does, it never generates an actual post I'd submit (links to the image that caught my eye? What's the point? That doesn't make my Tumblr look cool!). In terms of popularity, if I had to put three buttons, which three are the ones--FB? Twitter? And then what?

eta: Let me not take 1000

Also--people don't really go through to the individual pages, although there is one for each photo. But if I put the share buttons (I'm leaning towards making the third Tumblr) on the 10 photo page, that's nuts. I'll need to work the divs and shit so they're alongside the photos--I will be crying in Buffistechnology for help there...will that kill the page, or what?

I mean, each individual page will definitely have them, but it will be almost for naught if you can't share from those pages by impulse too...

ita ! I don't have much concrete info on this topic, but I totally feel your pain: I have SO MUCH I need to change on my website and social media...and I don't have the time! I'm working on jobs. But I HAVE to do it. So, yeah. I'm with you.

But In terms of popularity, if I had to put three buttons, which three are the ones--FB? Twitter? And then what?

For your tumblr (it's got an array of interests, some geeky, right. Some Provocateuse? Use Twitter, and keep on that shit. Once a day, send a couple of pics out. Easy. Some little blurb, a pic (use owl.ly to shorten URLs-I think that's how it's spelled? Anyone know for sure?

Use HootSuite and you can send the same message to Twitter, FaceBook and, well LinkedIn, but no on THAT one! Maybe a couple more choices I can't recall. Maybe Instagram, but I am new to that, so no advice from me there; I'm still figuring it out and analyzing if I like it.

I don't know what tweaks you can do to your tumblr theme settings, but I'd also add a Pintrest button, and have a Pintrest page. Pintrest can be crackadelic time suckage, so I warn you, but it's hot right now, and there's several categories that fit the different stuff in your tumblr very well. And then you can also get shit from other's people Pintrests of just the groups for your tumblr!

(I am strangely proud I know this. I just had little mental IAmAGirlGeekGasm. Although my geekiness in some areas has some big holes, but c'est la vie; I know a fuckton of esoteric crap from a lot of random subjects. It balances out.)