How Google's New Ad Format Can Help You Grow

Making It Work for Publishers

Google is also inviting participants on the publishing side. Invitations are restricted to U.S. sites that publish AdSense ads. Ad publishers who are accepted can run both the regular PPC ads and the new pay-per-action ones on the same site.

Before you sign up, ask yourself, can my site deliver the kind of people who are ready to buy or sign up for something? If visitors come to your site to be entertained or socialize, you're probably better off with pay-per-click.

And do you want your visitors clicking away from your site to go through someone else's sales process? If that's going to interfere with your own sales, then it's probably not worth it.

You can let Google choose the ads you'll run, or you can see what's available and pick those you think will convert best. You might as well test both ways.

When you look for pay-per-action ads to run on your site, find the ones that use your best keywords and speak directly to the needs of your visitors. Ask yourself if you'd be compelled to click on the ad.

One huge advantage to this program is you can merge ads visually into your site, which has been shown to improve ad performance. You can also put a recommendation next to an ad or embed a text link in your site copy. If your site visitors already trust you, they're more likely to follow up on a product you stand by.

Google is sending email revenue reports weekly to those in the program. Actual conversions on these ads can take time, so you might not see revenue right off the bat, or you might lose a commission because someone wiped out their cookies.

Also keep in mind that if you're in an affiliate program and someone comes from both sources, the Google ad gets the credit. So don't bother running ads for a company that's already paying you affiliate commissions.

The program is still too fresh to have much feedback, and publishers should watch their ROI compared to regular AdSense. But it looks like pay-per-action could lead to higher earnings if it suits your site and its target audience. Choose relevant and compelling ads and take advantage of the promotion opportunities that come with it.

If you're interested, you can sign up to be considered here.

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