Used Goals For Sale
February 12th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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Several people recently suggested that I try using Google AdSense to place context-relevant text ads on the side of the blog. Initially I rejected the idea because I didn’t like the idea of putting ads on the site. I’ve kept Dexterity Software ad-free for years. And when my wife tried using AdSense on her VegFamily Magazine site, it didn’t work well (vegetarians don’t like seeing ads for beef), so she dropped it. Also, I’m sensitive to the potential problem of ads detracting from the content.
But since I was hearing some positive stories about AdSense too, I decided to find out what other bloggers who used it thought about it. One of the most informative articles I read on the subject was Blogging for Dollars, written by the owner of PVRBlog (you can see how AdSense is used on the side of the blog). I like that he included his results:
From approximately 3,000 visits (not too shabby at all), enough people clicked through that I made $40 in the first 24 hours.
He writes that he made the same amount the next day and continued doing well after that. StevePavlina.com is now getting about 3500 visits per day (and still growing fast), but the content may not be as tightly focused or as AdSense-suitable as PVRBlog (which is about digital video recorders).
I did a few tests with AdSense Sandbox to see what kinds of ads might be displayed for various blog posts. Some are highly appropriate and even beneficial, like ads for goal setting and time management books and software. Other ads seem based on a keyword used out of context and just aren’t relevant. And some of the ads are pretty funny, like the one that invites you to shop for “new and used goals” at Ebay. Is there actually a market for used goals? Anyone wanna buy “get married and have kids” or “run a marathon” or “start my own blog?” Are used goals worth less than new ones? If I sell one of my new goals, can I still keep a copy for myself?
Anyway, I decided to give AdSense a try to see how it works out. I signed up this morning and am waiting for account approval (hopefully the AdSense folks have enough of a sense of humor to approve it even if they read this post). 
If you already have a blog or site that uses AdSense, I’d also love to hear feedback on your experiences with it.
February 12th, 2005 at 7:28 pm
“Post your goals where you can see them” — posting them on eBay counts, right?
Kate Lucas wrote (and Joel Spolsky cited) an interesting bit on software engineering:
> Every methodology I’ve come across has, at its kernel, a very small section labelled “do magic here”….
> …at the core of [Rational, Inc.’s software development process] is a small area where you have to use OO design talents…. if you don’t have them, it’s like having a methodology for running the 100m.
> “Step 1: write about running really fast. Step 2: Go and draw a plan of the racetrack. Step 3: go and buy really tight lycra shorts. Step 4: run really, really, really fast. Step 5: cross line first”
Contrary to what she’s saying, I think object-oriented design is mostly learned, not innate. But Rational needs more nitty-gritty in their process — and so, I think, do you.
Lemme rant on this for a bit. If you’re making software, you need to know how to maximize your code reuse, leave out inessential concepts, and ensure object interfaces are clean — not just that those are your goals, or that you’re supposed to set aside time for object-oriented design. If you’re trying to become CEO of WidgetCorp, you need to learn a lot about widgets and a lot about making money — on top of career-development skills like making a good impression over the phone and managing time.
I know from writing software that planning requires more than a method: good planners foresee the critical decisions and likely glitches, and bad plans, no matter how detailed, don’t. Similarly, reflecting on the nexus of need, talent, passion, and purpose will get you further if you’ve learned about each factor through varied experiences and self-awareness — and if you know how to hold down a job in the field you’re passionate about.
So what I’m trying to say about personal development is that it can’t survive as an isolated field. I’m not developing an abstract person; I’m developing me. I like your entries about doing lots of reading and finding models — because both steps take the focus off the methodology and shift it to the things that one person, in particular, must learn.
(http://www.fysh.org/~katie/computing/methodologies.txt, http://joelonsoftware.com/)
February 12th, 2005 at 9:54 pm
I’d be wary about bringing AdSense onto your site.
It seems like your current goal is to be a successful public speaker and produce professional personal development products. And your website is one of your tools to get people to invite you as a speaker and buy your products. Whenever you put any type of advertising on a site it seems like most of the time it makes it look a little cheaper.
I think you should be advertising your products (once you create them). How many books do you have to sell to eclipse that $40/day number that Adsense may or may not offer you? And why are you writing these articles? Is it to drive more traffic to your site to advertise other peoples products? Or is it drive more traffic to your site to show people that you and your products are high quality?
If you don’t need the money now, I would pass on the Adsense and leave it to other sites who don’t have the bigger and better goals that you have in mind.
On the other hand, it could turn out that people who visit your site become voracious consumers of personal development products (if they remember the 3% rule), follow your Adsense links and you make a killing with your Adsense income. Because of this outside chance, I’m posting anoymously so it won’t ever come back to haunt me.
February 13th, 2005 at 1:33 am
Here is another idea:
After you write some more articles, collect everything you have written (articles, blog entries, etc) and put it in a book. Make sure the book has a good index.
Add links for buying the book to your website.
This has worked for Joel http://www.joelonsoftware.com/ and I belive it can work for you.
I like your web site and blog very much, because:
- The information/fluff ratio is very good, unlike many self-help books which contain a few good ideas and the rest is fluff. So my time is much better spent reading your site than reading self-improvement book.
- You write short articles which contain information. I can read for 10 minutes and get some useful ideas. Unlike in many self-help books.
- You reply to your readers and have honest discussion.
- You write on diverse topics. If I read a self-help book, I usually get 1 or 2 topics. If I read your site, I read on many topics, and there is a higher chance of finding an useful idea.
So, in my opinion your blog is better than most self-help books because of the issues stated above.
You could, after writing some more content, put everything into a book. The book should have a very good index, so if I have problem X, I can search for problem X and find all the articles about it in the book.
February 13th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Thanks for the detailed feedback, MX. Your list of feedback is aligns with my list of objectives for this site. My main goal is to create an abundance of high-density content that people can actually apply to benefit themselves.
By the way, I just started reading Edwin Bliss’ Getting Things Done this morning. I like the 1-3 page mini-chapters that take a single topic and cover it concisely. Thanks for the recommendation!
February 13th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
Follow up to my previous comment: I finished Edwin Bliss’ Getting Things Done this evening — it was a quick read. However, I can’t say I learned even one useful new time management concept from it. There are good ideas in there — it’s just that I’ve seen them all before in other works. As this book was written in the 70s, I’d estimate that about 25% of the content is obsolete because it’s rooted in old tech (dictation machines, typed paper memos). IMO Brian Tracy’s How to Master Your Time audio program trumps this book, but that is getting dated too since it’s from the early 90s.
February 14th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
I think the great thing about Adsense ads is that they’re so unobtrusive. And often interesting. I say go for it. Actually, I suggested it to you a while ago.
But it does depend on you site content.
I make some nice pocket change off a site which basically requires zero maintenance : http://www.deadhardrive.com
By comparison I make little off the adsense ads on my other site http://www.auctionsieve.com (I’ll probably remove them - the main income for that is from the eBay affiliate program.)
In your case the stuff you write about will generate ads with high revenue keywords.
February 15th, 2005 at 6:16 am
$1200/мес с блога
Steve Pavlina говорит, с блога при 3000 посетителях в день можно делать $1200 в месяц при помощи Google AdSense и разместил рекламу…
А есть ли у нас анало…
February 15th, 2005 at 6:24 am
Click, click… a few more cents for you