From my personal experience this is what I have learned from the Adsense:- 1) Forget about placing Adsense Ads if you have a traffic < 1000 2) Only 336 works within the content. Place it in a DIV with flowing text around. 3) The vertical sidebar ads never gets clicked 4) Randomize the Ad position every now and then, this increases the CTR 5) Links SHOULD be blue. Forget about blending 6) Ads should have no borders. It should blend with the background 7) Never read and get disappointed with others adsense earnings. They are not true 8) Never buy Adsense secret tips books. They don't know any better than you. 9) Never keep adsense filters. They will affect the smartpricing of adsense. you earn less if you keep them. 10) Always TARGET ads using section-targetting of adsense.
My 2 cents worth 1) Forget about placing Adsense Ads if you have a traffic < 1000 Not true. Many people have success with Adsense even with traffic < 1000. The key lies in your niche, the % CTR etc. If you focus on the right keywords, you will get a good SERPs, and in turn good conversion on Adsense. 2) Only 336 works within the content. Place it in a DIV with flowing text around. 3) The vertical sidebar ads never gets clicked I definitely prefer the skyscraper / large rect! 4) Randomize the Ad position every now and then, this increases the CTR Depends on your source of traffic - if majority of your traffic is organic, this doesnt help much. For forums or high % returning users, this might work - but will also annoy your returning users! 5) Links SHOULD be blue. Forget about blending Once again - depends on niche! But blue is always highly recommended, since most people are "programmed" to click on blue texts! 6) Ads should have no borders. It should blend with the background My advice is to try both! for a period of time, and compare! Some sites definitely do much better with bordered ads! 7) Never read and get disappointed with others adsense earnings. They are not true 8) Never buy Adsense secret tips books. They don't know any better than you. Read the DP forum! Use the search function! Everything can be found here. If not - just ask! 9) Never keep adsense filters. They will affect the smartpricing of adsense. you earn less if you keep them. That is if you are unsure of what you are doing. 10) Always TARGET ads using section-targetting of adsense. Not true.
So why is the title of this thread - 'Does Adsense Really Pay?' We all know it does, and these tips are completely unrelated to the title...
different keywords have a different ctr. rubber bands in idaho may have a very low payout, while insurance toronto would have a much higher payout. do a search on highest paying adsense keywords
5) Links SHOULD be blue. Forget about blending 6) Ads should have no borders. It should blend with the background First forget about blending now have them blend with the background?
Clearly a bitter person who is not making any real money. Like anything else you have to know what you are doing. Harsh. Hardly. Everyone can't play in the NBA and everyone won't be good at figuring out how to effectively implement Adsense.
If you are building a site/blog keeping one eye constantly on adsense earnings, one is bound to get disappointed.... Consider it as a side income and keep building your site....If your efforts are truly satisfactory, this side income would also automatically reach a decent level. Some of OP's tips are really helpful...though Regards, RightMan