Comments on: Make Money Blogging – Adsense is a Bad Choice

By: Droid

Droid — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:43:52 +0000

I agree that AdSense is a first step in making real money with any web site or blog. It is also a good first building block but it should not be looked at as the end all be all of web monetization. As with any good plan there has to be a first step or a beginning to the process. With out a true working knowledge of how advertising works and how to attract true click through traffic no system will work. With that said AdSense is a good teaching and learning tool. The program is forgiving in many ways and will teach someone while they work on the craft of blogging as they advance and figure out if they want to proceed on to the next step. I have posted a quick over view of AdSense here that works for a first time user or someone just getting into the blogging or web world.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:09:05 +0000

@Julie – sure a niche specific blog is a very different animal than the type of blog I am referring to so maybe I should have been more clear. When I refer to blogs I am talking about MMO blogs specifically or the typical what my kids did today kind of blog.

If you are building a niche site and happen to use WP as your CMS then Adsense can work great.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:47:43 +0000

Although I don’t disagree with the points you make, there are niche blogs that do very well with Adsense just as websites do, so long as they get the traffic. Blogging and marketing is not a good niche, but more popular topics such as travel, health, sports and gadgets which have a good sized advertiser base and product names to target, can be quite profitable with adsense (so long as they get traffic)

The thing about blogs is it’s hard for a basic blogger to configure a blog to target adsense ads that people will be tempted to click on. Having an adsense theme or using an adsense plugin will help. If you then add very specific keywords, your ads will be better than the general run of the mill ads that general keywords get you.

So although you make some valid points about people reading v people searching and neither being happy with the mix, I think it depends on other factors besides these. By researching for good seo keywords and using them with well configured themes and /or plugins designed to get the best from adsense, it is possible to better the odds.

I have dropped a link to a page with some links to adsense themes and plugins. It’s a shameless link drop and feel free to delete it if you wish, it’s just there to save some people a bit of a search for what I’m talking about.

http://richnicheblogging.com/Niche_Blogging_With_Adsense.html

Julies last blog post..Matt Cutts Video On Meta Description Seo

By: mr.eims

mr.eims — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:50:27 +0000

agree there are many other choice. but for me adsense is still needed since I target my reader is "the searcher type".. mr.eims's last blog post..[Don’t have to get it perfect, just get it going]

By: Felex Tan

Felex Tan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:54:49 +0000

Traffics does not determine how much you earn from adsense,we can't put all the eggs into one basket.Make money blogging is not only from adsense ,there are many choices down the road. Felex Tan's last blog post..Why blogging is not Right for YOU?

By: Gerri

Gerri — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:26:42 +0000

You have made some very good points about why you say Adsense is basically useless. You are correct there because I have managed to make much more money via other methods on my blogs but I still have Adsense up. I have not given up on it and it brings in a steady trickle of revenue. Gerri's last blog post..What I Did To Win a Prize

By: bennie

bennie — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:22:47 +0000

Well in my case I guess I should use adsense in my blogs because I dont really want to make money (for the moment) or making a living out of it I just want to have the money to pay for the domain and the hosting service. bennie's last blog post..MP3 Rocket - Un buen programa P2P

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:41:31 +0000

@Frank C – Sorry but I have to disagree with you. Bloggers will definitely buy affiliate marketing offers if you find the right ones to present to them. Case in point…..I made 3 sales via DealDotCom yesterday alone.

I also had two premium theme commissions last week.

Now can I retire off of these? No but the more this blog grows then the more income will generate from affiliate marketing. If you combine all of these smalll revenue channels will add up to some decent money if you can get good at it.

As for the ads that you are railing on….5 of the banners that are seen either on the sidebar or above the post are purchased banners. They aren’t my affiliate banners, they are paid advertising spots. Is it worth having them there? Hell yeah…although I do agree with you somewhat that most readers don’t buy off these buttons. A post about the product will be what sells it.

By: Wayne Liew

Wayne Liew — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:13:54 +0000

I think one reason why Adsense don't work is that people read blogs nowadays as a form as entertainment like you have pointed out. The name of bloggers seems to play a major part in marketing and the readers are wanting interaction with the bloggers rather than digging deeper and deeper for information. Wayne Liew's last blog post..Blogosphere Summary Week #7

By: Frank C

Frank C — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 06:24:55 +0000

You have 1/2 the equation right. Adsense is designed to work with organic search visitors. No surprise really given who developed it. It is a waste of time to use it on a site that you promote by means of social referral ranging from StumbleUpon to Twitter to EntreCard. But, here's the problem. These social visitors, aka readers, are unlikely to buy from affiliate ads either. This is particularly true of dealdotcom, reverse funnel and the 10-20 or so ads that every "make money online" blogger proudly displays in their same old 125x125 ad spots. Thus it's best to do something really off-the-wall different with affiliate ads or to sell monthly ad space to other bloggers and do paid reviews. Frank C's last blog post..Adding an eBay Sniplets to a WordPress Blog