What I've Learned About Adsense

Discussion in 'AdSense' started by TigerGreen, Mar 14, 2006.

  1. #1
    I've learned many things from creating my quality content web site build for adsense. That is to say, it's not a scraper site or just other people's articles.

    1. It's easy to knock out 10-20 articles on a subject. A content-rich site needs a lot more pages. The best for keeping people on a site is writing the content yourself or hiring a ghostwriter. Look for the smaller terms people search for and write articles around those words.

    2. Spend the few dollars on Wordtracker so you can get keywords appropriate for Google. Don't targer the popular words, go for keywords around 2k-4k per month. I did this with the free version of Wordtracker which gave me keywords of that range for MSN (of which I have been #1 and #2 with little traffic but those same words on google would have 10x that number and my page would never be seen.

    3. I picked debt reduction because it was something I was interested in as it applied to me. It's also a very competitive market. My CTR on my adsense has been very good THE FEW TIMES I CAN GET PEOPLE TO MY SITE. Competitve markets mean I'm placed lower in the SERP's and mostly never seen.

    4. Submitting articles must be an all or nothing thing because I've submitted to the main 8 and have had very very very very very little traffic from it.

    If you are thinking about starting a web site just for adsense...
    1. It takes a lot of great content.
    2. An existing market that's not saturated.
    3. Oh, did I mention great content.

    I'm not sure what i'll do next with the site. I know it needs a hell-of-a-lot more pages with high-quality articles and a blog that needs updated at least weekly ...and targeting keywords that can get me on page one of the SERP's.
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 14, 2006 IP
    Bean and Jat like this.
  2. SEO Guru

    SEO Guru Peon

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    #2
    Informative but can you tell me why so much of space on left side of ur website left blank, or is it some bug?:confused:
     
    SEO Guru, Mar 14, 2006 IP
  3. corinaw

    corinaw Not Banned

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    #3
    I agree with your statement. ;)

    FYI- I get an error with your xml file "could not open XML input", also you should take a look at the site in firefox too. There's a formatting incompatibility issue.
     
    corinaw, Mar 14, 2006 IP
  4. TigerGreen

    TigerGreen Peon

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    #4
    heck of a day for my host to have problems.
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 14, 2006 IP
  5. dadasays

    dadasays Peon

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    #5
    While I agre with all that you said, I also think that there is a future for even the most competitive words. I target very low paying keywords but build up a readership base, which ends up being profitable for me. Yet the real winner for AdSense revenue is the writer who sticks around for the long haul -- the more history I have behind me, the better the paychecks are. I see so many competitors come and go so quickly (sometimes in less than 2 weeks). Every day there is another 10 people targeting my niche, but they're gone before they ever have a chance at making themselves a few coins.

    Don't worry about the first 3 months, 6 months or 12 months -- like any business it takes 3-5 years to really pull in the big bucks. I know there are people making (or claiming to make) $500 a day in their first few months, but I've seen a lot of these sites and they're not really offering anything new and interesting -- and Google is specifically targetting these sorts of sites in their new Smart Pricing. I think a lot of people will be disappointed in AdSense in 2006 because they aren't working on real content for real people, instead they're focusing on the one time reader who just wants to click to get out of the site.
     
    dadasays, Mar 14, 2006 IP
  6. TigerGreen

    TigerGreen Peon

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    #6
    dadasays: thanks for the information. Encouragement goes a long way.

    ...I've fixed the page issue. It was the xml file that stopped working due to host changes. I'll take a look at firefox...
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  7. theprimehost

    theprimehost Active Member

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    #7
    It's cool to see people take subjects that interest them, right up some material on that and then make a little profit for their time and hard work.

    ...speaking of ads...have you tried making the bg color of your ads the same as your left hand column for more of a blending effect? I hear arguments both directions as regards blending your ads.
     
    theprimehost, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  8. j3r0m3

    j3r0m3 Peon

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    #8
    i have to agree with theprimehost, although the contrast is not too great,
    it does not really sit well with the eye.

    After all, we are all visual creatures
     
    j3r0m3, Mar 16, 2006 IP
  9. TigerGreen

    TigerGreen Peon

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    #9
    I'll work on that. It's very odd...I've viewed it on a CRT and my laptops LCD and can't see the difference. But if others see it, I'll change it.

    In the meantime, I'm also working on a free ebook (if they give me their email address ) filled with useful information interspersed with links to my site and an affiliate link or two.
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 17, 2006 IP
  10. Storyteller1

    Storyteller1 Peon

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    #10
    ...but that doesn't necessarily mean it's saturated.

    Since it's my field also, I'll agree that the debt-reduction / personal finance milieu is a difficult place to get a foothold. But it can be done.

    Content is big, of course, but you HAVE to find a way to make yourself stand apart from the pack. Even if it's just by appearance of your pages, although that'll only get you so far. Find ways to offer your readers things they cannot get (easily) anywhere else.

    As far as wringing dollars from AdSense, it can be done, but it'll take time. I was late to the AdSense game, but I'm glad that another money-site webmaster encouraged me to plug AS into my pages. It's not making me much, but it's more than I ever figured my site would bring. Throw in some affiliate sales, and maybe some of your own products, and you can do just fine. I have modest expectations, though, because I built my site out of (1) personal need (not for money!), and (2) a love of the topic.

    Keep writing, keep building, and you can do well with your site.
     
    Storyteller1, Mar 17, 2006 IP
  11. ahearn

    ahearn Peon

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    #11
    I agree, it takes time to good SERPs and traffic. Too many people give up on good web sites because they don't get immediate results.
     
    ahearn, Mar 18, 2006 IP
  12. SEO Guru

    SEO Guru Peon

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    #12
    Yeah, and most them are the ones who dream to be a millionaire with adsense.
     
    SEO Guru, Mar 18, 2006 IP
  13. Deano

    Deano Sail away with me.

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    #13
    i didn't notice much difference in the advert colour and the side bar, have you already changed the background?
    Anyway the background cdskyblue is #F5FAFE
    Why not try a link unit at the top of your site.
     
    Deano, Mar 18, 2006 IP
  14. dlcmh

    dlcmh Peon

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    #14
    TigerGreen - thanks for sharing your insights. I've subscribed to a couple of Article Services which churn out 200 - 400 articles every month, and these services have a limit to memberships numbering from 200 to a thousand. I had put up a couple of articles on my sites which drew a profitable amount of traffic for 2 months (to the tune of usd500 to usd1000 per month). But of course we know what happened next - with so many sites out there posting the same, unmodified articles, Google saw it fit to reduce the number of visitors to my sites.

    I'm interested in cancelling my memberships to the services and using the money to pay good writers for exclusive articles to be posted on my site, so I was wondering if you'd be willing to share the approximate income your debt site gets (not that I want to get into the same topics :) ). FWIW, I had a Loans and Credit site that was getting usd40 to usd50/day with only 10 pages (visitors were being directed to only 2 of the 10 pages though), but that's now gone down to zero after a 2 weeks of strong performance.

    Thanks in advance!
     
    dlcmh, Mar 18, 2006 IP
  15. TigerGreen

    TigerGreen Peon

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    #15
    $15-$25 dollar range per month. Yep, it's pathetic. Just not driving the traffic yet.
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 20, 2006 IP
  16. john269

    john269 Notable Member

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    #16
    I guess it's another bad day for you.

     
    john269, Mar 20, 2006 IP
  17. TigerGreen

    TigerGreen Peon

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    #17
    They've been changing IP's on their servers. All is ok now.
     
    TigerGreen, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  18. TradezMark

    TradezMark Guest

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    #18
    What I have learned about adsense..

    It makes me write write write.. I was thinkin if I can't make it become a adsense decent earners (like most) at least I can end up being a writer myself.. :)
     
    TradezMark, Mar 21, 2006 IP
  19. FreeFox

    FreeFox Peon

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    #19
    You can write a book about that for sure :)

    But i think you can make few K$ this year with Adsense ;)
     
    FreeFox, Mar 22, 2006 IP
  20. john269

    john269 Notable Member

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    #20
    I have not really learn't much about Adsense. To me it is just another source of income for my sites and it is just treated like any other affiliate program that I have on my sites apart from it is promoted quite a bit more than the others.

    But just because of Adsense it doesn't make me keep on writing. I have not changed the way that I do things just because of Adsense. I have only just made a little more space for the Adsense ads on my site and that is it.

    I am just carying on as normal and just doing what I had done even before Adsense was realeased.

     
    john269, Mar 22, 2006 IP