Is this a Crazy MFA Idea?

[yukon]

I have a few MFA (made for adsense) sites.

Do you think it's a crazy idea to add an opt-in form to build a list?

All my MFA niche sites are related, & my goal is to have 52 sites total by this time next year. All my sites will be at least 25 pages, I have one site that is 500+ pages (2-years old)

I use WordPress, & was thinking it would be cool to have my site visitors, opt-in for a future sale.

The way I see it I could have them enter their email (WP-plugin ?) then redirect back to my Index page or any page I want, maybe still get an Adsense click or at the very least an extra adsense impression.

I've never seen this done on any MFA sites.

[Steve Crooks]

Not as crazy as building MFA sites!

Originally Posted by yukon

I have a few MFA (made for adsense) sites.

Do you think it's a crazy idea to add an opt-in form to build a list?

All my MFA niche sites are related, & my goal is to have 52 sites total by this time next year. All my sites will be at least 25 pages, I have one site that is 500+ pages (2-years old)

I use WordPress, & was thinking it would be cool to have my site visitors, opt-in for a future sale.

The way I see it I could have them enter their email (WP-plugin ?) then redirect back to my Index page or any page I want, maybe still get an Adsense click or at the very least an extra adsense impression.

I've never seen this done on any MFA sites.

[Wi]

Originally Posted by Steve Crooks

Not as crazy as building MFA sites!

And why is MFA-sites crazy? Please inlight me!

[Zeus66]

You're not going to build lists with MFA sites... trust me.

Much better to spend your time - if you go the MFA route - building as many as you can and working on making the most from the traffic you get. Basic things: ad placement, ad blending, targeted content so the ads are closely related.

You want as much CTR as possible because it's all a numbers game when you go MFA.

John

[Steve Crooks]

1. It goes against the Adsense TOS.
2. Adsense are getting stricter all the time with regard to what they allow and are getting better at finding sites that are MFA.
3. Any success that might be achieved with MFA is usually short lived. Take a look at this thread (which is just one of many about this).. $100 per day in Adsense.. slapped
4. There are better ways of making a good income from Adsense and building sites specifically for Adsense is not one of them.

Originally Posted by Wi

And why is MFA-sites crazy? Please inlight me!

[Big Rob]

I have to agree with Mr Crooks.
I have not been accepted to Adsense after 3 attempts.
First attempt with a MFA. Second attempt with a blogger blog.
Third attempt with a self hosted wordpress blog.
As far as I can tell, the requirements are getting stricter.
Spent a ton on tools and cant even get approved.
Lets review:
Follow Googies TOS?
check.
Post original, unique content?
check.
Site Map, privacy policy , contact page?
check.
What else in the world could the omnipotent king goog want?

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

You're not going to build lists with MFA sites... trust me.

Much better to spend your time - if you go the MFA route - building as many as you can and working on making the most from the traffic you get. Basic things: ad placement, ad blending, targeted content so the ads are closely related.

You want as much CTR as possible because it's all a numbers game when you go MFA.

John

Thanks for the comment, I take it you've tried building a list with a MFA network.

My strategy would be that the visitor would loop back after the opt-in, that would still leave a 50/50 chance that they clickthru Adsense on the way out of the site.

Then I would followup with special offers from CB or Amazon, this could be done by building a specific landing page on my site per special offer, etc... then direct the traffic to CB or Amazon via an affliate link.

My 2-year old MFA that has over 500 pages has brought in almost 400 subscribers to date. I don't consider that specific site part of the current network I'm building, since the niche isn't the same as all the others.

I'm on target for 52 sites this time next year, that are all built on one topic, then broke down into the individual niche. With 52 niche sites all related to a single topic I could keep my opt-in supplied with relevent content & products.

The reason I posted here was to see If anyone else is building a list with MFA sites. I have proof that it works, I just need to push some email, & apply the same strategy to my new network.

[jimkirk1943]

Originally Posted by Steve Crooks

4. There are better ways of making a good income from Adsense and building sites specifically for Adsense is not one of them.

Any chance of sharing a better way of making money using adsense than building MFA site ?

[Dahlgren]

I would take any opportunity to build a list. Look, if someone visited your MFA site, and the topic was, for example, biker boots for fat boys, then you can bet that if the visitor signs up, they are extremely interested in biker boots for fat boys. Of course, I am assuming that your MFA site is laser-focused on a niche; after all, successful MFA sites are.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Dahlgren

I would take any opportunity to build a list. Look, if someone visited your MFA site, and the topic was, for example, biker boots for fat boys, then you can bet that if the visitor signs up, they are extremely interested in biker boots for fat boys. Of course, I am assuming that your MFA site is laser-focused on a niche; after all, successful MFA sites are.

I agree!

All the content on my sites is indeed laser-focused. If I loop the opt-in visitor back into my niche site, I still have a good chance for a click thru on an Ad. Then we have the option to monetize the list, or promote the rest of the MFA network thru email.

Again the network is all related, so opt-in will always get email related to the original search that they did to land on the first MFA site.

I think it makes for a solid system, to promote other related products.

[Fraggler]

The stategy you are using to get traffic for you MFA sites can be used for any type of site. Instead of trying to turn one of your MFA sites into a hybrid with a mailing list, use your keyword research strategy to find a new one that is suitable for a list. Optimise that site for getting the opt-in and monetise the list.

The biggest stopping factor for many people is not realising what they are actually doing when making one of those adsense sites.

Once you have tried a few mailing list sites, throw in a clickbank site and an Amazon site for even more experience. The process for getting the traffic is the same for all.

[mattja]

Google simply hate Thin "MFA" that doesn't bring any benefits to readers.

and, It's ok to add optin box in your MFA. Adding more content on your "MFA" sites to make it more contents / pages.

[miker501]

Originally Posted by Steve Crooks

1. It goes against the Adsense TOS.
2. Adsense are getting stricter all the time with regard to what they allow and are getting better at finding sites that are MFA.
3. Any success that might be achieved with MFA is usually short lived.
4. There are better ways of making a good income from Adsense and building sites specifically for Adsense is not one of them.

I still have a problem with this whole MFA thing. One can't just say that building a site with the intention of monetising it with adsense is bad, it's how you build those sites out that causes the problem.

Unless Google is into mind reading now, whether I thought of using adsense before of after thinking about building the site is irrelevant. I can readily decide to build a high quality site, lots of good content, videos, articles, good user experience, but if, just for one nanosecond before I built it, I considered putting adsense on it, it becomes a MFA site???

Realistically anyone who goes into business does so with the intention of making money, be it with adsense, Amazon, CB et al. What one needs to do is provide useful, legible, well written content that actually helps the user when they hit your page. Whether that is on a site built with adsense in mind is totally irrelevant.

I would say, build the sort of sites you know G and users would want, not these thin 1 pagers which actually tell you nothing and just have the keywords liberally (often VERY liberally) scattered. Although a 5 page or even one page site can offer a lot more use than some of the crappy large sites one sees.

Just my opinion on a contentious issue.

[HorseStall]

It is difficult to define a MFA site, you simply need to show that you are adding some type of value. That said you will find that if you spend time making a quality niche site you will see a much better return with AdSense than just slapping up a MFA site that lacks any value add.

[yukon]

miker501, HorseStall

You both make good points.

I have one MFA that is +500 pages of content created by myself. The site is a download site of unique content that I guarantee you will not find on any other site, except for one A-hole that scraped a few of my pages (I fixed that).

My +500 page MFA site has 391 opt-in, so I'm doing something right.

This all started as a hobby with me helping other forum members. I was posting my content on one public forum for free, that forum had Adsense Ads, so I decided I should be the one making money from my own content.

I don't run the average MFA sites, however I do go after the very small niche concept.

[PenTao]

Originally Posted by yukon

I have one MFA that is +500 pages of content created by myself. The site is a download site of unique content that I guarantee you will not find on any other site, except for one A-hole that scraped a few of my pages (I fixed that).

My +500 page MFA site has 391 opt-in, so I'm doing something right.

This all started as a hobby with me helping other forum members. I was posting my content on one public forum for free, that forum had Adsense Ads, so I decided I should be the one making money from my own content.

I don't run the average MFA sites, however I do go after the very small niche concept.

From this description, I wouldn't think of this is anything close to being an MFA site: it's a true content site that you happen to have monetized with Adsense. By my reading of the TOS, you are doing exactly what G loves most. And 391 opt-ins suggests you already have a "following", which is great!

I don't think your idea is crazy at all. And if you take some of that content and re-purpose it into a little info product as a freebie for opting in, you'll figure to get even better results.

Just my two cents.

All the best,

Paul