Why I hate Adsense

[Cataclysm1987]

Here's how I look at internet marketing:

I have one of two possible things I can do with any visitor I send to a website. I have affiliate offers, such as CPA and Clickbank, that yield me a solid opt in/conversion rate and a good EPC because they are targeted traffic coming in based on what people actually want, not what is off on some obscure corner of the screen.

Then I have adsense, this annoying little jerk on the side of my page that tries to pull people's attention span away from whatever I'm already doing for a measly 20 or 30 cents per click. This is something I don't understand.

My ONLY goal on any money making website is to get people to click on whatever is going to make me the most money. I am running Clickbank campaigns that are yielding 3-8 dollars per click on my blog! Why the hell should I bend over a benjamin to pick up a dime?

It's just a distraction in my opinion. I don't want to send my good traffic over to a competitor via adsense and watch as the money disappears from my wallet. Why have someone click and be distracted by dirt cheap adsense that empowers other marketers to make a profit while allowing them to ignore the great affiliate links on my site that convert well and give me a few dollars per each click?!

Just my thoughts on the whole adsense thing.

[BSco]

If you hate it so much, why are you using it? =P

[indexphp]

ask Steve Wagenheim. he thinks Adcents is a great business model for noobs.

[E. Brian Rose]

Affiliate marketing and Adsense marketing are two totally different beasts and should be treated as such. With affiliate marketing, you want to give as much information as possible to compel a visitor to buy whatever you are pitching. With AdSense marketing you want them to find the answers that you don't provide them with in your ads.

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Ben Scobie

If you hate it so much, why are you using it? =P

I'm not. I just do CPA and Clickbank

[bigcat1967]

If you hate it so much, why are you using it? =P

I was thinking the same thing when I was reading his post. Just delete the adsense code from his site...

[inter123]

I am new to IM, Adsense is fantastic for such people. It allows to see and understand how the process works and learn the tricks of the trade. As you see the few cents build turn to dollars it gives huge confidence.

[Cataclysm1987]

I'm not here because I use adsense and hate it. I'm trying to convince people there are way more profitable ideas out there that won't allow competition to steal traffic from your site like Adsense. Just trying to start a compelling discussion.

[Ryan79]

I use both adsense and affiliate program on my sites and they work great. Affiliate is the main revenue.

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Ryan79

I use both adsense and affiliate program on my sites and they work great. Affiliate is the main revenue.

Right, and that' good for you and all. But my point is, every person has a choice when it comes to what they are going to click on your site. They can either

A. Click your affiliate offers, which make you more money

or

B. Click your Adsense, which as you said, makes you less money

Do you ever wonder what might happen to people who would click option B if you took option B away and left them with only option A?

In my opinion, you would simply make more money. That's my argument. Because you would no longer have adsense taking away your profitable traffic, it would FORCE your profitable traffic to take a look at your affiliate links instead!!! Making you more money.

That's how I see it anyways.

[24kWing]

There are dozens of GREAT ways to make money online, but adsense is (IMO) the best way for most newbies to get their feet wet. It also can be a very profitable long term business model as well.

Success with adsense is all about traffic. I know, everyone says that about all forms of IM, but with adsense it is really true. With the low revenues per click you MUST have volume to create a decent income.

Just my opinion!

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

Then I have adsense, this annoying little jerk on the side of my page that tries to pull people's attention span away from whatever I'm already doing for a measly 20 or 30 cents per click. This is something I don't understand.
------------------------------
I am running Clickbank campaigns that are yielding 3-8 dollars per click on my blog!

It clearly is something you don't understand. Most of my Adsense sites will get, on average, $2-8 a click on an ad. If you're getting 20-30 cent clicks you're doing it wrong.

That said, IMO, it's not a good idea in most cases to mix Adsense and affiliate ads or product sales. Techniques that produce high paying clicks for Adsense are different from those used to push affiliate offers or sell products and services.

[Ilya Feynberg]

Originally Posted by inter123

I am new to IM, Adsense is fantastic for such people. It allows to see and understand how the process works and learn the tricks of the trade. As you see the few cents build turn to dollars it gives huge confidence.

Um....no it does not. "Tricks of the trade"? The "process"? Being successful with Adsense has it's own set of skill requirements, but it's not the same "game".

It is pennies. You can get paid more. A lot more for your time and effort. And make your sites look a lot more appealing. My beef with it isn't that though...it's run by Google. Anyone trusting Google with paying for their business and bills are...well...um....not so smart. You never just fully trust Google. And putting new people in that mindset is dangerous.

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Ilya Feynberg

Um....no it does not. "Tricks of the trade"? The "process"? Being successful with Adsense has it's own set of skill requirements, but it's not the same "game".

It is pennies. You can get paid more. A lot more for your time and effort. And make your sites look a lot more appealing. My beef with it isn't that though...it's run by Google. Anyone trusting Google with paying for their business and bills are...well...um....not so smart. You never just fully trust Google. And putting new people in that mindset is dangerous.

That's what I'm trying to say!

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

I'm not here because I use adsense and hate it. I'm trying to convince people there are way more profitable ideas out there that won't allow competition to steal traffic from your site like Adsense. Just trying to start a compelling discussion.

It was probably the way you started the thread. It sounded like an opinion to me, which is perfectly reasonable. But I'm not sure people need to be convinced of anything. It's all part of the mix. I could ramble on about how pointless it would be to spend your time and energy learning how to cut hair. Hairdressers probably don't make a ton of money... the real money is in owning the franchise. But the fact is... we need somebody to cut hair. And some people cut hair in the right places, where they might get nice commissions and big tips... they work hard and it pays off.

You seem to have missed all of the posts here from IMers that claim they are making some very nice money from Adsense only sites. Not sure why it is a "noob" thing, unless it makes people here feel better about themselves to put down others who claim to have some success with their own methods.

To each their own, I guess.

[Fraggler]

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

My ONLY goal on any money making website is to get people to click on whatever is going to make me the most money. I am running Clickbank campaigns that are yielding 3-8 dollars per click on my blog! Why the hell should I bend over a benjamin to pick up a dime?

A lot of the time that method is AdSense.

Look at the eCPM/EPC and select the method that is making you the most money. You mention clicks only get you 20-30c - that means the content for that site is not suited to Adsense monetisation and should never have been used in the first place.

Adsense is great because it is a relatively stable income that can be easily predicted. CTR is a pretty stable metric once a site is established with a reasonable amount of traffic.

[Adam Roy]

If only you could make adsense ads open in a new window when clicked...

[fastlancer]

You've got this all wrong! Suppose one has a website about "Myspace Layouts" and it gets 8k uniques a day. you think those 12 - 14 year old kids are looking to purchase an ebook? or lower their mortgage rate?

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Fraggler

A lot of the time that method is AdSense.

Look at the eCPM/EPC and select the method that is making you the most money. You mention clicks only get you 20-30c - that means the content for that site is not suited to Adsense monetisation and should never have been used in the first place.

Adsense is great because it is a relatively stable income that can be easily predicted. CTR is a pretty stable metric once a site is established with a reasonable amount of traffic.

Yes, the CTR is pretty stable...It's stable at a very, very low level, which means lower earnings. My content network click are always ridiculously low CTR, which means it more or less serves as a distraction rather than an income source.

I dunno just never quite saw the point of it on a site with ecommerce or IM. Disagree with me if you like, that's just how I see it.

[Ernie Lonardo]

I love Adsense.... infact in most cases its much better and profitable than Amazon. Some of you need to leave your ego aside and realise there is nothing wrong with Adsense as a business model. It's just as legit as affiliate marketing, list building or any other method.

Adsense gets a bad rap because its believed to be a "newbie" method, but make no mistake about it, there are many marketers making huge sums of money with adsense and what are they doing? There sitting on their ass after working hard for a while. Now they just add a few articles and do some light SEO and the money keeps rolling in...oh the pain.

Now is Adsense the best method? Probably not.You can get banned anytime however then you could still replace the ads with CPA or affiliate ads so not all is lost.

Adsense is definitely not the worst method to try and is a lot easier than most, so dont knock it till you've tried it and gave it a real chance.

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Ernie Lonardo

Now is Adsense the best method? Probably not.You can get banned anytime however then you could still replace the ads with CPA or affiliate ads so not all is lost.

I'm saying the exact same thing as you. If adsense isn't the best method to use for making money online, why exactly use it? I just don't see the appeal in second rate money making techniques.

[Ernie Lonardo]

Because its the easiest money making method out there and we should all try and create as many different types of income streams as we can.


Also its a matter of opinion because there is no 1 best method.

The only reason I said before that Adsense is "probably not the best method ever" is because of the risk factor of getting banned. However if you had a choice between making $100 a day from Adsense sitting on your ass or $100 a day sending out emails or selling products and dealing with customers....Adsense would be the better method as you wouldnt have to do anything, yet most would say that list building is the better method - its just a matter of opinion and different for everyone.

I tried list building and didnt make much money while Adsense is working better for me? Now do we say that Adsense is better than list building? No of course not - everyone will have different results depending on too many factors - thus my point about no best method out there.

Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987

I'm saying the exact same thing as you. If adsense isn't the best method to use for making money online, why exactly use it? I just don't see the appeal in second rate money making techniques.

[ninal]

I believe adsense is a good stepping stone, at least for me. I don't see any reason why anyone should hate adsense (unless they got banned). It's all a matter of preference and more importantly the application of what the person learned from whichever money making method they decide to focus on.

[Kay King]

What one person thinks is second rate may earn a living for another. If I don't like a method I don't use it - but I don't love or hate it.

If you are selling products or affiliate products, I wouldn't put adsense on the site either. But if you have a content site or blog, adsense can work well.
Different strokes.

kay

[Joseph Then]

It shows how much the OP knows about Adsense...

There are tons of people in this forum who makes money using Adsense.
There are tons of people in this forum who makes money using Clickbank.
There are tons of people in this forum who makes money using CPA.

So why come to this sub-forum and complain about Adsense?

[tribros]

The best thing to do is split test. There are some niches where you will earn much more with adsense than CPA or affiliate offers and there are other niches where affiliate offers convert crazy than adsense. It varies from market to market. So best option is to split test those ads.

[Adam7]

I'm using Adsense and I love it. BUT, I'm also a newbie, so maybe I just don't know enough yet to really make an argument either way.

I guess the appeal for me is pretty much what others have already discussed: it's easy to use, gives me some confidence, and it's really low maintenance. I've got a nice little site that's running itself, making a little money, and there isn't much that I have to think about. If I can scale up traffic (working on that now), then it could really get exciting. And in the mean time it lets me concentrate on other things.

From what others say (including the OP), Adsense probably isn't where the big money is - unless you're one of the lucky few that are bringing in big traffic regularly. My goal is to diversify (that seems to be the trend for everyone on WF that's doing well) and try different sites with different revenue models. But I think that I'll keep adding Adsense sites as well, since it seems to be the easiest form of IM.

[chini]

I consistently get adsense clicks of over $1 each. Looks like you were in low cpc niche to be getting $0.20-$0.30