google adsence, not worth the time, not worth the effort!

[dwixi]

Google Adsense: Not Worth the Time, Not Worth the Effort

Im just about to get to $100 so i would love to here your comments on this article.

[Buttercat Apocalypse]

Do you know, I never got to putting up those ads and I wonder if my intuition was gently steering me away from it. Well, I think I'll do project wonderful ads anyway - I really love those, I actually click on them and enjoy what comes up. I can't remember ever clicking on a google ad for something that wasn't bullshi't.

[dwixi]

Originally Posted by Buttercat Apocalypse

I can't remember ever clicking on a google ad for something that wasn't bullshi't.

yeah the only exeption i find to this is for local businesses.. like a hotel or restaurant or something..

[Eric Revelin]

The article is mostly conjecture. His case against adsense is as strong as the case they presented him for suspending his account.

However, the article highlights bad practices on the part of companies who provide ad-based revenue streams. The question is whether or not they can transcend it. It's far too easy for people to exploit loopholes in the Terms of Service for their own gain, and it's likely that they won't get anyone to use their ad service if they're not strict about who gets paid.

Google could and should have presented him with the evidence they had against his account, but by and large it seems these flaws are inherent in the system and it'll probably require new technology to fix them.

[teatree]

Adsense can be good, if you stick to the rules. Write high-quality articles, and the ads Adsense provide will relate to those articles and be of benefit to the user.

What you musn't do is click on the ads yourself or get your friends to click on them. Google is pretty smart at working out suspicious behaviour.

Regarding the blog advertising models out there, though many people try to come up with other advertising, Adsense still rules!

[dwixi]

Originally Posted by teatree

Adsense can be good, if you stick to the rules. Write high-quality articles, and the ads Adsense provide will relate to those articles and be of benefit to the user.

What you musn't do is click on the ads yourself or get your friends to click on them. Google is pretty smart at working out suspicious behaviour.

Regarding the blog advertising models out there, though many people try to come up with other advertising, Adsense still rules!

How has adsence went for you?

[Chris Cade]

I've been pleased with Adsense so far, and received several payments and they were even very responsive when I reported potential click fraud (friends clicked ads multiple times for my "benefit"). They said not to worry about it since I was being honest.

I check my Adsense each day - if you see odd behavior, then just email Google and ask them to look into it. Instead of viewing Google as some dictator in the sky, remember they're a business and employ the some of the smartest people they can get.

That said, I also employ several different revenue streams with my websites - so if my account did get banned by Google, I wouldn't cry... I wouldn't post a blog about it, I'd just replace all the Adsense with other sources of income.

[Justin Razmus]

I agree, if used properly, adsense can be a nice way to gain some extra income from your website. Google has the right to cancel an account if it seems that it is being abused. That is not the point of the program.

[Marth]

Project Wonderful is not pay per click by the way, it's a bidding system per day. CPC alternatives would be adbrite & yahoo ads.

[Loomis1324]

I have not had much success with ad sense as of yet, I find affiliate ads and amazon links work better to turn a profit.

[Eisho]

Although still new to Adsense I have had no problems with it. The guy in the article just seems upset about his personal account being frozen rather than having a strong case against Google and their business practice as a whole.

Sour grapes.

Eisho

[Mantius]

Adsense works well for me.

[Raymond Burton]

In my experience google adsense works well when you do not have a specific product or service to sell. For example if you do not collect leads for any reason and your only asset is content then it is a painless pay to monetize a site.

Sometimes if you have a hot product you love though, it makes sense to control all the aspects of your business plan.

My 7 year experience with adsense

[funchy]

Great discussion. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

[Daffy Duck]

I bet Steve would disagree that Adsense doesn't work.

[Raymond Burton]

It obviously worked for Steve for a good while but he dropped adsense now that he has his book out. I know that he had a personal conflict with some of the ads that were showing up and that was the main reason for him dropping adsense. It's possible that losing the potential customers of his newly released book to adsense clicks was also a minor point in his overall business plan as well.

[jetpack]

Haha, well, I've made 6 figures with adsense. I guess it's not worth your time if you're a billionaire or something.

[Raymond Burton]

The 'HOW' of making 6 figures with adsense would be some really great content to share...nudge,nudge.... I've only gotten to five (and thats not monthly, thats in a year.)

[sbdiane]

Adsense took no time at all. Dropped in the code and it was done. It pays for my server costs, which means if I'm out of work, at least I won't lose my web site. I've made 3 figures consistently for several years.

[Plato]

What time and effort?

It couldn't be easier to get ads up.

The threat that they could ban you at any moment is worrying though. They can also ban your website from the search engine, effectively killing your traffic. :/

[SimonaRich]

On my previous retail site google adsense worked from day one. On my new personal development website I still did not put it up as I have just started the website. But I will definitely put the code as soon as I get constant stream of visitors.

[Raymond Burton]

I think the question is not if it works or not. Of course it works. But is it the highest monetizing strategy for your site? Or is it simply the easiest?

[Rebecca800]

I spent a lot of time inserting AdSense code into all my web pages (100+) for not much payback. After 6 months I earned $115, although unlike the blogger here I did get a cheque in the mail. All in all, I can see it works for some people but I'd rather earn a decent sale commission with my own affiliate advertising than the occasional 5c for a click off site.

I also think AdWords is stacked against most people. Only the biggest websites with the most technical savvie manage to get high listings for a few cents. The rest of us either pay through the nose for one dollar clicks or appear so far down the search page the click through rate is zero and the ad gets canned! I've had a little experience with this and programs telling you how to work AdWords but overall been disappointed with the results.

Between AdWords and AdSense, I've probably made an overall loss and that is perhaps where the "scam" lives. If a webmaster uses one, he will probably use the other.

[Jonathan Browne]

There's no scam. Its just not easy. It's up to you to figure out how to be profitable with it.

[Raymond Burton]

I guess it all depends on what you consider profitable as well.

[Chris Cade]

I've pulled all adsense from one of my sites, and plan to pull it from most pages on another one of my sites... instead I'm focusing almost exclusively on list-building, and since Adsense doesn't open in a new window, I won't use it wherever it contrasts with my first business goal - leads.

That said, I am looking into Kontera, thanks to Ray - I have some massive content sites where context links would probably be more profitable than Adsense, and Kontera can be forced to open in a new window.

[Raymond Burton]

Hey Chris, are you referring to the article I wrote on my experience with Kontera? If so, I have dropped it everywhere since then. Not because it doesn't work though. Here is why:

Every business that I've ever started and got to a profitable point got a leg kicked out from it when things just started to rock. The leg has always been the link I did not control. So like your gut is telling you, fall back on things like Kontera and Adsense when you want it to run on auto pilot or you just need a boost (delayed by 30 days remember) in income. But in truth, working on your product, your lead generation and your funnel (with a dash of copywriting education) has been the point that I've come to.

Just my two pence.

[Chris Cade]

Originally Posted by Raymond Burton

Hey Chris, are you referring to the article I wrote on my experience with Kontera? If so, I have dropped it everywhere since then. Not because it doesn't work though. Here is why:

Every business that I've ever started and got to a profitable point got a leg kicked out from it when things just started to rock. The leg has always been the link I did not control. So like your gut is telling you, fall back on things like Kontera and Adsense when you want it to run on auto pilot or you just need a boost (delayed by 30 days remember) in income. But in truth, working on your product, your lead generation and your funnel (with a dash of copywriting education) has been the point that I've come to.

Just my two pence.

Yup, I was referring to your Kontera article. I am a big fan of multiple monetization strategies (at least right now)... but none of them can jeopardize my primary focus of listbuilding and product creation/affiliate promotion.

Since I focus on building content-heavy niche sites, I get enough repeat traffic (i.e. newsletter informing subscribers of website updates) that having on-site monetization is a benefit. I've gone back and forth with Adsense... if they ever offer the ability to open in a new window, I'll probably include it on all my sites (it's still on several, but not prominently).

[Raymond Burton]

Originally Posted by Chris Cade

if they ever offer the ability to open in a new window, I'll probably include it on all my sites (it's still on several, but not prominently).

Now that would be perfect! I never even thought about how much that would change things.

What pulls me to adsense every once in a while is the slowdowns in buying. Certain times of the year and downturns in economy. People then stop buying the product, but they always click ads. That's the temptation and why every now and then I blitz my sites with ads to put extra coin in the bank.

Then people start buying again, I look at how ugly it makes my site and I pull everything :-)