Is it possible to make money with just a normal website?

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by Spynder, Apr 12, 2011.

  1. #1
    I run a blog, that gets around 7000 unique visitors a day (with 60k+ or so pageviews)

    It's essentially a fansite, that has everything from fanfiction, to videos.

    I threw adsense on it a while back just for fun, and actually made reasonable money.

    I recently got dropped from 25 hours a week to 10 hours at work, so I'm sort of looking for a serious alternative.

    I don't know much about cpm and stuff, since I just started actually thinking about it, but from what I have been reading, it looks like the only ones that actually make good money are these fully optimized, specifically targeted, websites that are there for the sole purpose of making money.

    This blog will never have that kind of ability, and the ads I get are everything from credit scores to world of warcraft.

    There was a week where I was making 30 dollars a day (With the same amount of clicks, 60-100, as usual), and I have no clue why. It sits around 15-20 now.

    I'm assuming the main thing I need to raise here is CPC.

    I notice you can filter certain ad networks. Is there any reason to do this?

    Thanks guys, I'm a total newb when it comes to adsense.
     
    Spynder, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  2. Laceygirl

    Laceygirl Notable Member

    Messages:
    4,617
    Likes Received:
    188
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    250
    #2
    Well, here's a little advice that may help you.
    Adsense placement is like an art. To make art you need to proper assortment of colors (multi-color palette system in adsense).
    If I were you I would seriously try to learn more about adsense optimization. There is more to it than you think. You have a lot of traffic and people are clicking but you got to learn to harness these clicks to make more.

    I find this topic pretty interesting because there are a lot of people out there who get tons of traffic but never really know about adsense so they don't get revenue for the traffic.
    Assuming you are talking like your traffic was the same you should know that adsense is "supply and demand". This simply means that if your niche(sites' topic) is going through a popular period then clicks will be worth more as there is more of a demand for that type of site, but as World of Warcraft starts to die down the revenue per click will die down. Think back to that date when you were making a lot. Did they just come out with an expansion? Probably.
     
    Laceygirl, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  3. Spynder

    Spynder Peon

    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    It was about 2 weeks ago when that happened actually. The site has only been around since the end of January. I thought maybe that week I was unknowingly posting a keyword that pays more or something, but I don't really know. My trafffic was actually lower back then, around 50k pageviews as opposed to 60k now.

    Heres something else I have been wondering: Is a banner better than a text ad?
     
    Spynder, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  4. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #4
    I'd disagree on this and I suspect this is a mistake and you meant CTR. Because your current CPC of $0.2 is double what I consider an honest/correct CPC.
    From what I read your CTR must be extremely low since if we take 60,000 ad impressions per day for 100 clicks it is SO LOW at 0.16%
    So something could be done or at least tried in order to increase your CTR. You could ask for a review on ad placement of your site by creating another thread in the correct forum and let us know its URL here.
    As for text or images being better, that's not the priority in your case and you can happily let both coexist
     
    JamesColin, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  5. Spynder

    Spynder Peon

    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    My ctr has always been absolutely awful. It's at .06% for all time right now ;p The majority of my trafffic is firefox, so I'm assuming most are just blocking it.

    Also why do words randomly disappear here? ;p
     
    Spynder, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  6. adsclassifiedads

    adsclassifiedads Greenhorn

    Messages:
    87
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    #6
    yes you can make earning from your normal website and good earning. there is no problem.
     
    adsclassifiedads, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  7. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #7
    If firefox is blocking adsense with adblock add on, then they shouldn't show as ad impressions in your adsense reports, so they would not lower your CTR with ad impressions and no clicks.
    If you mean your users are too technically advanced and are "blocking" naturally adsense ads and never click on them, well that's possible, I don't know your topic exactly. but still this CTR is SO LOW that I can't imagine it being optimized at all. 1% is no big deal to achieve for a non-forum, at least I never had any sites under 1% it's unthinkable for me.
    But then I don't know how many adsense you have on your pages and where you have located them. It's very important, of course if you have only one ad, no link unit, and the ad is badly located, and your site stats are MAINLY due to a forum, then I can understand a very low CTR.
     
    JamesColin, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  8. Laceygirl

    Laceygirl Notable Member

    Messages:
    4,617
    Likes Received:
    188
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    250
    #8
    Listen to James. He knows what he's talking about. He's so money hungry with adsense he could dry a flood by unloading all of the google money he's got in his pockets! (ain't that right, James!)
     
    Laceygirl, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  9. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #9
    It would have to be a very dangerous flood in my opinion as the bills will then be unsuable :)
    But it's true that our adsense account is a real goldmine, we can dig it to collect gold and while many use their bare hands and get peanuts out of it, Spynder has at least a pick-axe at his disposal, he just has to learn how to use it correctly to start digging more.
     
    JamesColin, Apr 12, 2011 IP
    Laceygirl likes this.
  10. Spynder

    Spynder Peon

    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #10
    Would you mind if I Pm'd You?
     
    Spynder, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  11. JamesColin

    JamesColin Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,874
    Likes Received:
    164
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    395
    Digital Goods:
    1
    #11
    If you're talking to me about the PM I'd rather have you create a thread on DP so that information I write can be public, I like it better. But you can always PM yes :)
     
    JamesColin, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  12. RumpledElf

    RumpledElf Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,054
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    100
    #12
    I've never had any over 1% :)
     
    RumpledElf, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  13. Spynder

    Spynder Peon

    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    Alrighty I sent you something ^^

    I can't post in the website review forum yet (account is too new), and I have some other questions for you anyhow.
     
    Spynder, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  14. quintonboyer

    quintonboyer Peon

    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #14
    Playing around with the color theme and ad placements are ways to try to increase CTR. You might risk losing more CTR along the way as you are testing, but might be worth it. I remember increasing my CTR by over 3% just by changing the color of the AdSense titles.
     
    quintonboyer, Apr 12, 2011 IP
  15. w3bmaster

    w3bmaster Notable Member

    Messages:
    17,594
    Likes Received:
    416
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    240
    #15
    Ofcourse you can make money with your NORMAl Site

    Actualy most MFA sites don't earn much

    sites that have good traffic and ofer serious info/help etc Earn Money ...
     
    w3bmaster, Apr 13, 2011 IP