I know I'm knew here and I've seen alot of questions about how to make $100+/month or even for that matter $1k/month if any of you vets out their want to share please do so here.
Couple Tricks and Hints: 1) Read TOS 2) Follow TOS 3) Get Traffic* 4) Make Sure You Are Following TOS 5) Get More Traffic* *Traffic from returning visitors is good. So create a decent website and not one that's just made for Adsense.
and to think i spent so much time into keyword research, optimization and building brands for nothing! -sigh-
I do NO keyword research whatsoever, ever. Why? Because I already know what I'm going to design a site about and I don't care one way or the other what the keyword makes (which changes often, too) For the OP, the other thing to learn and realize is that there is a really cool link at the top of every DP page called Search.
Here's a good tip. To keep your sanity, do not be shocked if your numbers fluctuate by the day. Just accept it and keep building up the site.
Incorporate Google's AdSense for Search into your site. It hasn't made me a ton of money, but it adds up over time, and provides a really helpful service for your users (if you don't already have a site search on your site).
My thoughts exactly. Another thing, don't rely on those "top paying keywords list" unless your making a site that will be of *most likely* no interest to you, and have millions of competitors in the search engines.