Adsense & affiliates program on a single blog

[vinzsama]

Hi my virgin post here... haha just to ask the experts here whether is it advisable to do adsense and affiliates programs together? I understand that each works differently but I'm just wondering whether it is possible to do it together.

For a start, I'm trying to get my blog starting, building up contents and focus on adsense... Once the contents are built up, I would then try to add some affiliates programs in it... would there be any major problems or implications I fail to see?

[bgmacaw]

You will usually get the best results by sticking to a single form of monetization for a site. The way you construct effective Adsense sites, affiliate sites, CPA sites, list building sites and product sales sites is relatively unique to each type of site.

[ausmarketer]

Hey Vinzsama,

Here's the thing with Adsense. You put all this time and effort building a quality site and getting traffic to it, with the goal of sending that traffic away as quickly as possible (via an ad click) to 'competing sites' for pennies on the dollar.

This is not a viable business model. Lousy return on investment. What happens if you get Google slapped and the traffic stops?

Personally, I would drop Adsense all together and focus on building a quality content site that is designed to presell AND build a list. I'd then follow up with that list via an autoresponder with one primary affiliate offer (and have other related offers waiting in the pipeline). Not to mention lots of great helpful content. Did I mention the importance of preselling? That's what great content does.

Better still is if you can create your own product to sell. This is ideal. Remember when you promote products as an affiliate you hand your 'hard-earned' list over to the product owner and usually for a one time payment. Wouldn't you rather have people sending 'you' traffic and building 'your' list? I know I do.

This is the tried and tested way for building a stable long-term income online. It works.

Don't get me wrong, I do promote products as an affiliate. However they are almost always membership sites with recurring commissions for the life of the subscriber. I'd rather sell something once and get paid many times over. Makes good sense doesn't it?

In regards to creating content first and then adding in affiliate products after, you've got this back to front IMO. I suggest working out exactly what you're going to promote first and then create the content based on the buying keywords that people use to search for that kind of product or service.

This all fits into the market research / due diligence you do before even deciding on a niche topic for your site.

In my opinion, you've got to know how your site is going to make money from the very start and then build each page on your site 'purposefully' with that end goal in mind.

Obviously there's a lot more to it than this, and it probably feels quite daunting as you're just starting out, but this is a basic overview of what I do.

Some of my sites bomb while others do great. You just have to keep trying and testing and learning (like what you're doing here) and never, ever give up. That's a must!

Anyways, that's my rant. Hope you get something out of it.

[dodly]

you can add adsense and affiliate program for example clickbank

[5starAffiliatePrograms]

Originally Posted by vinzsama

just to ask the experts here whether is it advisable to do adsense and affiliates programs together? I understand that each works differently but I'm just wondering whether it is possible to do it together.

Technically you can have both on your site and even on the same page as long as the affiliate links aren't set up in a way that they mimic the look of Adsense.

Whether or not it's a good idea depends somewhat on the niche and what others have said is true. If you use Adsense you are encouraging people to click off your site to a competitor and just get pennies.

Typically you can make more with good converting affiliate programs.

It's a good idea to test to see with your market. Or another thing some affiliates do is to put the affiliate ads in the premium placements and above the fold to try to get the affiliate sales, then have the Adsense bank at the bottom of the page as a last resort. That way if they don't buy, you may at least get some click money.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by ausmarketer

Here's the thing with Adsense. You put all this time and effort building a quality site and getting traffic to it, with the goal of sending that traffic away as quickly as possible (via an ad click) to 'competing sites' for pennies on the dollar.

This is not a viable business model. Lousy return on investment. What happens if you get Google slapped and the traffic stops?
.....

Anyways, that's my rant. Hope you get something out of it.

No offense, but what I got out of it is that you don't know a lot about making money with Adsense. If you're making pennies you're doing it wrong.

As I mentioned, the site and traffic building model for Adsense is different from the model for affiliate marketing, list building or product sales.

[ausmarketer]

Hey there bgmacaw,

OK, my 'pennies on the dollar' comment was somewhat exaggerated. But if you don't choose a good market to begin with that has lots of competing ads driving up the CPC, AND ads that people will actually click on, then you will in fact be earning very little per click.

It ain't 2004/2005 anymore. Those were the days when Google was actually sharing decent revenue and those were the days when most people didn't realize the ads were in fact ads and therefore clickthru rates were much higher. Those days are all but gone.

Ever had a UPS truck deliver your Adsense checks? My business partner and I did for 8 months running in 2005 before Google zapped our sites for no good reason (that we can see). But that's another story.

Anyway I digress, the point I was trying to get across in my post is that in my experience (and I've been experimenting with Adsense since 2003) monetizing a website with Adsense provides a poor ROI, when compared to putting in the same amount of effort and building a site dedicated to selling products, either as an affiliate and your own.

Plus, you're not at the mercy of Google turning the lights out on your business without warning and without reason.

That's all I'm saying.

[vinzsama]

hey u guys rocks! i gotta stick with this forum to learn more stuff from u guys ya.. Thanks so much for the sharing!

[SurviveUnemployment]

I agree with bgmacaw and ausmarketer.

They are different kinds of sites, and you can make more and more quickly with affiliate marketing.

I think of AdSense as "automoney." I don't have to think about it. You have a blog. People are visiting. You can put whatever content you want up, and if people like the content, the money will flow.

To be a successful affiliate marketer, you really have to focus on the product and direct every ounce of your energy toward promoting it. Sticking affiliate links in blogs does not work. Don't even bother unless the entire blog is centered around promoting that product somehow.

That's what I've found, anyway.

[DavidJohnny]

Depends on the niche, and what you are trying to do.

I have some sites, where the entire purpose is to promote an affiliate product. These are focused on that, and I don't want someone clicking away on an AdSense ad that pays a lot less.

I have other sites that are focused more on a small niche, and these I will take either form of monetization.

I would suggest that as a new person, you learn one model, then work on it until you can do it well. Then diversify. Ultimatly, you won't want all your eggs in one basket. But to start, you need to focus in order to master the model you are trying to build.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by ausmarketer

It ain't 2004/2005 anymore.

That is correct. The model now is a lot different than it was in the "old days" when just about anything would work, like arbitrage and such. I didn't get into Adsense until 2007 so I missed that round of it.

Back in the "old days" (2001-2005) I sold a lot of stuff on eBay and it's a lot different now too. I don't recommend selling on eBay anymore to people who want to make money online but I'm sure there are some current powersellers who would tell me I'm wrong.