Adsense – Still A Cash Cow?

With the advent of Google losing a court case (and a shed load of money) and the continued problem of click fraud the question is now on the tip of everyone’s tongue – “Is Google Adsense still the cash cow that it was?”.

In this article I’ll take a look at ways in which the average webmaster may still develop a successful Adsense business and how to use the up and coming Google witch hunt to your advantage.

There are currently two main problems that are facing Google, both of which are serious and could lead to the demise of both Adsense and Adwords.

The first and most serious problem is that of click fraud. For those of you who do not know click fraud is the act of clicking on your own (or a friends) ads in an attempt to generate artificial earnings.

This is such a problem for Google as it ensures that the value that Adwords purchasers gets is significantly less then they would want, thus ensuring that sooner or later they will just get up and walk away (with what remains of their advertising budget firmly clamped in their hand).

To remedy this problem Google have tried putting several rules in place such as not allowing the webmaster to show Adsense ads in auto surf sites (to name but one restriction).

The second problem that Google faces relates to content, notably the amount of original content which is out there.

The problem in this case is that many people have purchased article scraper software (software that you point at someone elses website and just shout ‘Fetch!’ – it then returns a document collection which is a complete rip off of the site).

This was already a problem before the advent of Adsense sites and with the continual chain of people chasing high value keywords it has become worse; It is now possible to search for a given phrase on Google and return nothing but duplicate content for the first few pages of search engine results.

In order to address this problem Google has been modifying it’s algorithm to effectively punish people with duplicate content, the extent to which an individual site is ‘penalized’ is currently a matter for debate.

So, given Google is about to launch a witch hunt looking for sites with nothing but duplicate content and for people performing click fraud what can you do?

After all there are so many people out there using site generation tools that Google can trace and/or document obfustication technology (you’ve seen the ads – “We can make your one original article into 300 and Google will never know!” – yep, and anyone who visits your site will just find drivel with spelling errors or contextual mistakes).

Step 1.
If you must use site generation software make sure you find one that leaves no trace behind itself, ask yourself – ‘If I was looking at the source code from the generated page how would I know that it’s machine generated?’

Step 2.
Don’t use site scraping tools, they're immoral and a waste of your time

Step 3.
Do include RSS feeds into your pages, they add fresh content with no effort on your part (at least one of the site generation tools now supports this kind of functionality)

Step 4.
Don’t click on your own adverts, Google will can you in the blink of an eye

Step 5.
Do get incoming links from established sites (in the same area as your niche content)

Summary.
If you are at all serious about creating an Adsense income you need more than one site and so it is inevitable that you will use site generation tools (because there aren’t enough hours in the day for you to create the amount of pages by hand), by all means use these tools but use them ethically.

When using site generation tools ensure that they allow you to add multiple blocks of Adsense /Clickbank /Ebay code to each page (it saves you a lot of time) and that it performs search engine optimization for you (both on page and off page).

You should also take the time to write some of your own original content – like this or perhaps pay a ghost writer to create a batch of articles for you (don’t forget to ad your bio box at the bottom of everything you write).

To answer the initial question, yes, it is still possible to make LOTS of money from Google – you just need to be careful.

Where Adsense Should Appear ?

When deciding whether to incorporate Adsense into your website there are several factors to consider. Many feel that it diminishes their brand, whilst others see it as a useful tool for visitors which creates revenues and makes their content profitable.

The choice can largely come down to the commercial goals and the purpose of your website. Many businesses who sell products decide to place Adsense adverts within their website. This would appear to be a strange choice, opening up opportunities for rivals to promote their service or product to your potential customer base.

Many publishers claim that they are only doing this to allow companies who provide ancillary services to advertise. These claims have some merit, as those who for example sell pillows could provide those who sell bedding with an opportunity to advertise.

Although this would make sense, there are still those online retailers who allow rivals to penetrate their audience. Many claim that there are still benefits in allowing your direct competitors to advertise within your website. One of these is that ultimately if visitors wish to see your competitors they would be able to see them through a Google search regardless. This may be true however the thought of an established brand like coco-cola having a Pepsi advert in their website is not even a possibility.

Another factor which is considered in this situation is that publishers do not feel that Adsense is effective in making conversions. They feel that visitors who would click on adverts are not highly qualified customers, as they would quickly navigate to the materials or products that interest them if they were.

Despite Adsense being a questionable choice for online retailers, it is surely a good supplementary service for other varieties of online publishers. For example, a website which provides a free service like dictionary.com gets high levels of traffic, and is able to make their service profitable through adsense. This has been the case for Bloggers who originally provided content free of charge, being unable to reach the scale that is necessary to contract with advertisers directly.

This could also apply to other previously free services, including wider forms of information broadcast, and news for example. In 2006 a man who later published a selection of Videos claims to make $19,000 a month through adsense, claiming that he was also contacted through Google to help him increase the CTR (Click Through Rate) that he achieved. The thought of success like this has been a major factor in stimulating online publishers to opt for Adsense.

Many publishers also claim that adsense makes their website look more professional. Those who are able to contract with advertisers are generally seen to provide a service with large appeal, and therefore those unfamiliar with the program may feel that the Adsense advertiser is in this position.

Adsense however, is also aligned with those publishers who use the service purely to provide links to adverts. Everyone has done a Google search, clicked on an Adwords advert and came into a website which reads top ten resources on… This is a major problem, as is generally something that surfers find frustrating. If people see that it says adverts by Google, and they then see adverts by Google on another site, they may align that site with consumer unfriendly practices. This is therefore an issue which Google has to address, to maintain Adsense as a reputable service.

Regardless of the disadvantages and the websites for which the service may be inappropriate it is still a useful tool for website visitors. Those who visit a website, and click on a link provide revenues for the publisher, whilst those who provide free services are able to generate revenue.

The only fear that Google has, is that rival PPC programs offer better deals to publishers and they decide to go elsewhere, therefore taking advertisers with them. However, ultimately it is best for advertisers and publishers if they largely remain in same PPC circuit.

You need to have optimized niche website templates for best results. You may find the best adsense templates and blog templates at www.AdsenseTemplates.com (http://www.adsensetemplates.com). They are offering 100 fresh new templates every month.

The Four Big Adsense Secrets

Is there a BIG secret to the huge Adsense checks? Yes, you’ve seen those screen shots of 5-figure Adsense earning … so have I. And that made you thinking, why are some people earning those huge income, and you are not.

Whatever people may say, I only see these are the only factors that make the difference between your earning and those ‘big-guns’.

1 - Adsense Placement

Yes, putting your Adsense in a special way can be the difference between 1% click-through rate (CTR) and 10% CTR. There have been some strategies outlined where you have to make your Adsense like content. You do that by removing the borders and using the same font color that you are using for your website.

Choosing the bigger Adsense format has always been recommended. It is said that the big square, wide skyscraper are the top performer. Me … yes, I am experiencing good things with these ad formats.

Some may say differently, but I am doing well with the Ad Links too. It’s those text link ads, which requires two-step clicks. I place them like a navigation link on my website, and I am doing quite OK with them.

2 - High Paying Keywords

Here’s another known secret. Go for high paying keywords. If your website is about a topic where advertisers are paying high money for them, then you may get more money with Adsense.

This is common sense. When people are paying $5.00 per click on Adwords, you may get a lot of money on your Adsense. And if the ads that are showing on your website are ads that people are paying $1.00 per click, you may get lesser than a dollar per click.

Known topics where advertisers are paying top dollars are like DUI lawyers, credit card applications, web hosting … you know the rest. And you can even go to Overture Bid Tools to guess what people are paying for certain keywords. If you come across a topic that you think might do well, you can give a try there.

http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/

But the problem with this, high paying keywords are normally very competitive when you are trying to drive traffic with search engine optimization (SEO). So some would just go for low hanging fruits.

3 - Get More Traffic

Yep … no secret here. The more traffic you get, the more clicks you are likely to get. And more clicks means more money. But then again, you should think about the type of websites that pull traffic.

I believe many of top earners are actually operating a community-based websites. These are like forums, photo blog service providers, blogs that has grown its readerships and maybe even dating profiles. Another way of doing this is where you build your website around user created content. You allow users to create the content, like put in comments and reviews.

These are the sites that where people keep coming back for more. The good thing is you don’t have to crack your head for content. If you think you can build one like those, then go for it.

On the contrary, many are actually growing sites in smaller niches. And they go for SEO for traffic. I have to say that this is the most popular when it comes to Adsense.

You and I know there are the good ways and the bad ways to SEO - yes, the white hats and the black hats. Whatever you do, that is your choice. Some people are doing the black hats, but to them, as long as they are in compliance with the Adsense TOS, they have nothing to worry about.

To me, you do what you want and take responsibilities for the outcome. If you are doing black hat SEO, and you are making boatloads of money – then good for you.

And after that, there’re the non-SEO methods. I know of some people who are doing the arbitrage method. They go for high paying keywords, and then advertise their sites for lower prices. And they make profit from the difference. It may sounds strange at first, but some actually made it work.

Other non-SEO methods are like posting at forums, writing articles and doing press releases on their websites.

I have also heard about a strategy where you create an e-course with email, and then send your subscribers to a web pages that contains the lessons and of course, Adsense. This way, you can capture one guy, and probably make money from him/her over and over again.

4 - It’s a Numbers Game

All in all … Adsense is a numbers game. If you find something that is working for you, to make more income is just to do it again and again. For the black hat SEOers, they just build more and more websites.

Unless you successfully build and grow a community-based website, you may want to build more sites. If you build one site that is making $100 a month, then 10 sites would give you $1000. But then again, I would say, you are bound to have sites that will just flop. So out of 10, maybe 3 is doing great, 4 is just so-so, and another 3 just flopped.

If a so-so site makes $30 a month, and a great site is doing $300 a month, with just 10 sites, you might be making $1020 a month. Just like I said … it’s a numbers game.

Adsense – Still A Cash Cow?

With the advent of Google losing a court case (and a shed load of money) and the continued problem of click fraud the question is now on the tip of everyone’s tongue – “Is Google Adsense still the cash cow that it was?”.  In this article I’ll take a look at ways in which the average webmaster may still develop a successful Adsense business and how to use the up and coming Google witch hunt to your advantage.

There are currently two main problems that are facing Google, both of which are serious and could lead to the demise of both Adsense and Adwords. The first and most serious problem is that of click fraud. For those of you who do not know click fraud is the act of clicking on your own (or a friends) ads in an attempt to generate artificial earnings.

This is such a problem for Google as it ensures that the value that Adwords purchasers gets is significantly less then they would want, thus ensuring that sooner or later they will just get up and walk away (with what remains of their advertising budget firmly clamped in their hand).

To remedy this problem Google have tried putting several rules in place such as not allowing the webmaster to show Adsense ads in auto surf sites (to name but one restriction). The second problem that Google faces relates to content, notably the amount of original content which is out there. The problem in this case is that many people have purchased article scraper software (software that you point at someone elses website and just shout ‘Fetch!’ – it then returns a document collection which is a complete rip off of the site).

This was already a problem before the advent of Adsense sites and with the continual chain of people chasing high value keywords it has become worse; It is now possible to search for a given phrase on Google and return nothing but duplicate content for the first few pages of search engine results.

In order to address this problem Google has been modifying it’s algorithm to effectively punish people with duplicate content, the extent to which an individual site is ‘penalized’ is currently a matter for debate. So, given Google is about to launch a witch hunt looking for sites with nothing but duplicate content and for people performing click fraud what can you do?

After all there are so many people out there using site generation tools that Google can trace and/or document obfustication technology (you’ve seen the ads – “We can make your one original article into 300 and Google will never know!” – yep, and anyone who visits your site will just find drivel with spelling errors or contextual mistakes).

Step 1.
If you must use site generation software make sure you find one that leaves no trace behind itself, ask yourself – ‘If I was looking at the source code from the generated page how would I know that it’s machine generated?’

Step 2.
Don’t use site scraping tools, they're immoral and a waste of your time

Step 3.
Do include RSS feeds into your pages, they add fresh content with no effort on your part (at least one of the site generation tools now supports this kind of functionality)

Step 4.
Don’t click on your own adverts, Google will can you in the blink of an eye

Step 5.
Do get incoming links from established sites (in the same area as your niche content)

Summary.
If you are at all serious about creating an Adsense income you need more than one site and so it is inevitable that you will use site generation tools (because there aren’t enough hours in the day for you to create the amount of pages by hand), by all means use these tools but use them ethically.

When using site generation tools ensure that they allow you to add multiple blocks of Adsense /Clickbank /Ebay code to each page (it saves you a lot of time) and that it performs search engine optimization for you (both on page and off page). You should also take the time to write some of your own original content – like this or perhaps pay a ghost writer to create a batch of articles for you (don’t forget to ad your bio box at the bottom of everything you write). To answer the initial question, yes, it is still possible to make LOTS of money from Google – you just need to be careful.