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Making a Living with Adsense

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by here, May 1, 2012.

  1. #1
    After my first full month on Adsense I have pre-finalized earnings of just over $2,200 US. Sounds great, right? But it's not at all.

    I need to make at least $10,000 per month. I'm 50 years old. I have a wife and kids, a big mortgage, big property taxes, car payments, children to put through college and a retirement to fund. I am a programmer who specialized in real estate. Life was good until the crash. After that my wife's income became very important to our survival. Now her income looks like it could drop by a third next year. Life ain't so fun.

    I still get programming work, but I'm nowhere near where I need to be, so when I added Adsense to a hobby site of mine and saw the numbers I couldn't help but think "I need to multiply this by five or ten." Easier said than done.

    So my question is, is anyone here making a real US middle income using Adsense? Should I be trying to duplicate the conditions of my hobby site in similar niches? Should I be monetizing in different ways? Should I be happy with what I have and focus on earning elsewhere?

    Insights, comments, opinions please and thank you.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
    wisdomtool likes this.
  2. monkeyseemonkeydo

    monkeyseemonkeydo Guest

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    #2
    You are better off doing half online, half offline thing.

    Get a day job.
     
    monkeyseemonkeydo, May 1, 2012 IP
  3. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #3
    Thanks for the reply...

    So are you saying that further investment in this niche is not recommended? That I'm not likely to be able to duplicate this success? That Adsense revenue is too volatile or vulnerable? Would you mind elaborating a bit on your thinking?

    Thanks much!
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  4. MikeLugar

    MikeLugar Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I know people that make a living off Adsense. It is possible, but you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. You may want to consider branching out and possibly get into affiliate marketing. If your site is really busy you can add an opt-in (free email subscription service for your visitors) send the periodic weekly emails with tips etc. Then add a special offer or something to the email as an affiliate. Putting more focus on one site is better than branching out to 10 sites. You can only effectively manage a couple projects at a time maybe 3. My advice is work on your one successful site. PM me if you have any questions.
     
    MikeLugar, May 1, 2012 IP
  5. abdobasha2004

    abdobasha2004 Well-Known Member

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    #5
    10k/ month is not easy, but possible
    you can work online and offline untill you reach this limit, also never give up offline work, Google can any time terminate there co-operation with you
     
    abdobasha2004, May 1, 2012 IP
    Padalda likes this.
  6. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #6
    I know nothing of affiliate marketing. Really, I know nothing of making money off of websites. I've certainly designed and deployed many, but they were almost all for clients with specific goals that didn't include anything like Adsense advertising or affiliate marketing.

    I googled "affiliate marketing," but I'm still clueless. :( Would this involve approaching companies in my niche? Can you point me to some information on affiliate marketing?

    Thank you.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  7. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #7
    I'll never quit my programming work. I like it too much. But I would love to not have to depend on getting new jobs from clients. I am very leery of coming to depend on Adsense revenue due to all the stories of people losing their accounts.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  8. pamon

    pamon Well-Known Member

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    #8
    how many sites are generating that $2200/mo income? Depends on if you can scale it if not that many, but if a lot of sites, then might want to split up work. Most people who live off adsense don't have high monthly expenses like you do though I would guess. If it's 5 sites @ $2200/mo, then ramp up other sites I would imagine. But $2200/mo in your first work is pretty impressive and would imagine huge traffic #'s...
     
    pamon, May 1, 2012 IP
  9. danasurvey

    danasurvey Well-Known Member

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    #9
    $10,000 per month x 12 months is $120,000 a year and that's much better than the real or average US middle income. I think it is possible to make that much online in a year, but you may want to consider AdSense as one of your income sources and focus on diversifying and picking up additional income sources as well.
     
    danasurvey, May 1, 2012 IP
  10. RumpledElf

    RumpledElf Well-Known Member

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    #10
    What kind of traffic do you have to get $2000 a month? That's actually my own goal figure that I'd need to live off. But increasing traffic is very hard.
     
    RumpledElf, May 1, 2012 IP
  11. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #11
    It's just the one site. The traffic is decent for a site this size. I averaged 7150 unique visits per day in April. Traffic is steadily increasing.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  12. wisdomtool

    wisdomtool Moderator Staff

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    #12
    Don't depend totally on one source such as Adsense. Spread out your risks. $10k/mth is quite difficult to achieve but not impossible. Best Wishes.
     
    wisdomtool, May 1, 2012 IP
  13. RumpledElf

    RumpledElf Well-Known Member

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    #13
    Wow. Wish I made that much then, I get higher traffic than that and considerably lower earnings.

    I have an extremely low CTR.
     
    RumpledElf, May 1, 2012 IP
  14. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #14
    I guess it is more than average, but so is the cost of living where I am so it doesn't feel like a lot. :( Picking up additional sources of income isn't easy for me.

    The Adsense thing kind of fell in my lap. I knew I had good traffic on my hobby site, but never thought Adsense would add up to much. So when it did, that got me thinking about trying other sites and niches.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  15. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #15
    215K unique visits in April. High days are about 10K. Low days 5K.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  16. Buttsie

    Buttsie Peon

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    #16
    Have you thought about applying to a site such as CJ.com? It'll give you a decent opportunity to identify potential advertisers who might be interested in advertising their products and services in your niche.

    Best wishes
     
    Buttsie, May 1, 2012 IP
  17. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #17
    No doubt you've tried all the various ad sizes and placements to improve your CTR. Is your niche just prone to low CTR?

    My April CTR was 1.64%. I'm happy on days when I see 2%.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  18. here

    here Greenhorn

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    #18
    No I haven't. Thanks for the tip, though. I'll check it out.
     
    here, May 1, 2012 IP
  19. RumpledElf

    RumpledElf Well-Known Member

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    #19
    I don't have a niche. I've improved it from 0.01 CTR up to 0.2 and the CPM has gone up from 10c to 80c. Not much else I can do except increase traffic, really. Although there was such a dramatic improvement in ad quality from PR3 to PR4 on one of my other sites I'm hopeful for the same if this one ever hits PR5.

    To the OP, fiddling with your ad placement actually can do a lot if you're already in a decent niche.
     
    RumpledElf, May 1, 2012 IP
  20. Ender330

    Ender330 Member

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    #20
    OP...I am doing $10,000 a month with adsense. April was my first $10k month.
    There is a chance that we can work together to increase both of our adsense
    incomes. If you are interested then please PM.
     
    Ender330, May 1, 2012 IP