How to Increase Your CPM

Spring has officially begun and Q2 is here. Just like temperatures will begin to rise, so, too, will revenue. (We’ll let Brad break down the numbers in his next installment of Behind the Numbers With Brad.)

Today? Let’s talk about how to increase your CPM.

First: What is CPM?

Essentially, CPM stands for “cost per mille” and has to do with how much each ad spot costs advertisers. By optimizing your ad inventory and website for user experience, you make more money.

So let’s dive into a few simple ways to do that.

Fill in your video details

If you’re using video in your content strategy — wait, you are using video, right? — you’ll want to make sure you include fill in all the video details.

Why?

Because, no matter how wonderful they are, advertisers don’t watch your videos.

They DO read your video details, especially the URL and keywords. It’s those details that help them determine where to spend their ad dollars.

The more information you give them, the better they are able to make decisions on where to spend. So why not make it easy on them?

Think about your Jump button

If you’re using a Jump button on your site, know that doing so comes with the risk that users will skip over your in-content ads, which has an impact on your viewability. It can also drastically decrease the number of impressions you’re serving.

However, there’s definitely a portion of your audience that wants the ability to skip to the meat of your content.

So what can you do?

Give it a think. Consider your goals.

If you decide a Jump button is for you, try making it less obvious. Rather than a big, colored JUMP at the top of all your posts, look at a subtler design. Are you using multiple Jump buttons? Try narrowing down to just the one that’s most useful for your readers.

Finally, if you determine a Jump button is the best experience for your readers, make sure you enable the Jump to Recipe Arrival Unit. It has excellent viewability and will help boost your recipe card CPMs.

Disable the Adhesion Close button

Another way to increase your CPM that requires balancing user experience and your wallet is found at the bottom of your screen.

It’s called the Adhesion Unit — that banner ad at the bottom of your website — and it’s a big revenue generator. It has great viewability which lends itself to high CPMs. So first, check your Dashboard and make sure that you’re running the Adhesion Unit for both desktop and mobile.

Now for decision time: to disable or not to disable the close button?

Disabling the Adhesion Close button can increase revenue for that unit by 10%! This means increased impressions on a unit with already high CPMs.

Improve engagement and first-party data with Grow

Third-party cookies are crumbling. First-party data is the future. The future? It’s kind of already here.

You can begin enticing your readers to share their first-party data with you through Grow, our user-engagement suite designed for a more privacy centric internet. Logged in users who’ve consented to the use of first-party data are the most valuable to advertisers.

With features like Grow Subscribe and the Spotlight Widget you can easily encourage readers to sign up for your newsletter, log in to your website and build a network of users across the world wide web.