[Jeremy123]

Don't rely on a blog for your income,

SBI! - Blog or Build? should you make a blog or website

make a real website.

My Journey To Freedom And Over $9000 Per Month | Financial Freedom Ideas

blogs are what they are web logs or news updates,
if you want to use wordpress for making a website site learn how

Wordpress For Affiliate Sites Community | Wordpress For Affiliate Sites

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

Don't rely on a blog for your income,

SBI! - Blog or Build? should you make a blog or website

Uh, huh...

SiteSell Review

Is Site Sell, Site BuildIt A Scam?

Site Build it - Don't Buy It

...for a different view on this outdated, overpriced, system that operates like a MLM cult.

[Avidpoet]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

Uh, huh...

SiteSell Review

Is Site Sell, Site BuildIt A Scam?

Site Build it - Don't Buy It

...for a different view on this outdated, overpriced, system that operates like a MLM cult.

I almost tried Scam Build It I mean Site Build It but the fact that they dont allow you to take your site to a cheaper hosting account turned me off.

[Jeremy123]

you guys are just plain wrong, SBI has great tools,
well worth $299 a year, they teach you everything you need.

people are just jealous of SBI or they just want something to write about

people have become financially free with just a few
SBI sites, there is so much proof.

Home Based Business Ideas - Achieve Financial Freedom With Site Build It

actually go read the interviews

any argument has no basis

my point is websites are better than blogs, unless you learn how to
use wordpress to make a website.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

any argument has no basis

Group Think

Thanks, you made my point.

Going through this with keen interest will try to improve from here

[Stephen Crooks]

Originally Posted by songsingnim

I've been watching this thread for a while now. With all of the anger directed at anyone who dares to contradict anything that Mr. Crooks says, I've been hesitant to comment on a few things that strike me as unlikely. However, as time passes it becomes more and more difficult to believe some of the claims in this thread. So, I'll wade into the breach . . . perhaps some less experienced Internet marketers might save some money because of my post.

I'm an experienced blogger with sites in many niches, including the cruising niche. So, Mr. Crooks caught my interest when he started this thread, with the bold statement that he would take a blog to $100 a day within 3 months.

Then, frankly I was shocked that he chose a blog in the cruising niche. The cruising niche really violates the first 2 rules Mr. Crooks lists for picking a niche: (1) it has mostly low CPC ("Best European Cruises" itself has an estimated CPC of $.05) and (2) it has a lot of competition. From a quick check of Mr. Crooks adsense number, it appears that he has about a 2 year old cruising site that appears to not be hitting on any keywords -- so, I was doubly eager to see if this would play out differently.

Well, as we all know he didn't hit $100 a day. However, this "failure" made it somewhat more believable when he claimed to be making $20 a day -- which is certainly good for most Adsense niches. Yet, being in the niche myself, this seems almost impossible given what terms he is hitting for and what his rank is for those terms.

However, we are led to believe he has been slogging it out after the first 3 months to keep building his quality site. Then, when someone in this thread mentioned that Crooks has not posted a new blog post on his site since February, he said he was working to build links to the site.

However, from looking at his links, they have pretty much stayed stagnant since February also (just 234 showing on Yahoo). If you were trying to go from $20 a day to $100 a day, why would you not post some articles and also build some links? Actually, if it were making even $20 a day, why wouldn't you write an article every now and then just to maintain it and build some links? It makes no sense.

So, it seems to me:

1. This niche generally has too low of a CPC, and even on some of the higher CPC terms that the site is hitting for (some of which I also rank for) the traffic is fairly low and based upon my experience in this niche it would be unlikely to see nearly enough clicks to support the claims of $20 a day.

2. In fact, knowing the niche, and seeing what the site is ranking for, etc., I would be surprised if it were generating more than $5 a day.

3. That the blog appears to have been essentially neglected since February also strengthens my conviction that this is not a $20 to $70 a day blog.

I don't hold myself out as a guru, and I don't have a product to sell (or an axe to grind). However, the statements about earnings in this thread simply don't match my experience and seem inconsistent with the data.

Some of what you say is true but most of it is just utter rubbish. First of all, there is no anger directed at anyone who contradicts what I say. We are all adults and all have opinions that is all.

Secondly, how is your post going to save people money? I am offering a tried and tested system for creating good adsense monetized sites for free here, I have a book, yes, but I have never said that you have to buy it or shoved it in people's faces.

Thirdly, yes you absolutely correct that my initial statement was to get this blog to 100 bucks a day within 3 months. I have already said a thousand times that I failed with this challenge so what is your point here? I still believe I can get it to 100 a day one day but once more I shall reiterate that it is not top of my list of priorities anymore. It will happen but I have no time limits on when.

Fourthly, why are you shocked that I chose something in the cruise niche? If you cant see the potential in this niche then you are obviously not as experienced as you claim you are. I am not even targeting "best european cruises" as a keyword, it just so happens that I am benefiting from some traffic for that phrase. Trust me, it isn't the best performer, european cruises is pretty good though plus all the long tails from that phrase.

Fifthly, how do you know I have been neglecting this blog since February? It is true that I have not added much content to the blog since then but I have also stated that I am concentrating on getting backlinks to the pages I currently have. This is not something that happen overnight. In just the past 2 weeks I have gotten over 200 new backlinks to various pages on the site which will over time help boost the ranking and subsequently the adsense income.

Anyway, I don't know what your motive is for your post, you obviously have an axe to grind for some reason. Maybe you should spend more of your energy and time building and promoting sites though. In fact I challenge you to try the methods I have outlined in this thread and see what you can achieve rather than try and pour all your negativity over the place. You wouldn't believe the amount of emails, PM's and messages I have received from people who have tried the techniques I have laid out here and had some Adsense success. I am not saying for one second that I have all the answers or anything like that. I don't, I screw up as much as the next person.

I am beginning to think though that this thread has more than run it's course. I have tried to be as honest and sincere as possible throughout this thread and on my 100 bucks blog. Unfortunately it seems the more open you are with info, the more a minority of people can use as ammunition against you for whatever reason. Frankly, I am a bit tired of having to defend myself and my integrity when I shouldn't have to, like I say this was an honest challenge that I failed at, end of discussion..

The techniques work like a dream, the challenge didn't..

[ChrisBa]

Hey Steve (and others) just found those post now and am shocked it's 38 pages! How is it going? I don't want to read over 38 pages to see how you are doing, but I will later when I have time

[pixelcrafter]

It's my turn to talk.

I am the student of Steve Crooks.
I bought the ebook and get into the forum to get his personal advice.

For me Steve is my adsense guru as He told me few things about my site
AND IT WORKS.
His words make my site from US $0,5 per day to US $3 in 1 month.
Oh yeah, you might say, US$3/day is a small number but not for me.

I am the proven testimonial of Steve.
He is the right person of this game.
If He claimed to earn $20 or $40 or $80 or even $100/day,
then I believe it's true.

God bless you Steve.

-Pixel-

Originally Posted by songsingnim

I've been watching this thread for a while now. With all of the anger directed at anyone who dares to contradict anything that Mr. Crooks says, I've been hesitant to comment on a few things that strike me as unlikely. However, as time passes it becomes more and more difficult to believe some of the claims in this thread. So, I'll wade into the breach . . . perhaps some less experienced Internet marketers might save some money because of my post.

I'm an experienced blogger with sites in many niches, including the cruising niche. So, Mr. Crooks caught my interest when he started this thread, with the bold statement that he would take a blog to $100 a day within 3 months.

Then, frankly I was shocked that he chose a blog in the cruising niche. The cruising niche really violates the first 2 rules Mr. Crooks lists for picking a niche: (1) it has mostly low CPC ("Best European Cruises" itself has an estimated CPC of $.05) and (2) it has a lot of competition. From a quick check of Mr. Crooks adsense number, it appears that he has about a 2 year old cruising site that appears to not be hitting on any keywords -- so, I was doubly eager to see if this would play out differently.

Well, as we all know he didn't hit $100 a day. However, this "failure" made it somewhat more believable when he claimed to be making $20 a day -- which is certainly good for most Adsense niches. Yet, being in the niche myself, this seems almost impossible given what terms he is hitting for and what his rank is for those terms.

However, we are led to believe he has been slogging it out after the first 3 months to keep building his quality site. Then, when someone in this thread mentioned that Crooks has not posted a new blog post on his site since February, he said he was working to build links to the site.

However, from looking at his links, they have pretty much stayed stagnant since February also (just 234 showing on Yahoo). If you were trying to go from $20 a day to $100 a day, why would you not post some articles and also build some links? Actually, if it were making even $20 a day, why wouldn't you write an article every now and then just to maintain it and build some links? It makes no sense.

So, it seems to me:

1. This niche generally has too low of a CPC, and even on some of the higher CPC terms that the site is hitting for (some of which I also rank for) the traffic is fairly low and based upon my experience in this niche it would be unlikely to see nearly enough clicks to support the claims of $20 a day.

2. In fact, knowing the niche, and seeing what the site is ranking for, etc., I would be surprised if it were generating more than $5 a day.

3. That the blog appears to have been essentially neglected since February also strengthens my conviction that this is not a $20 to $70 a day blog.

I don't hold myself out as a guru, and I don't have a product to sell (or an axe to grind). However, the statements about earnings in this thread simply don't match my experience and seem inconsistent with the data.

[epsilon97]

I am afraid that I am going to have to agree with Songsingnim. While I believe that Steve's method is not flawed, I do think that he is overly optimistic. I don't think that this brute force method of website creation can guarantee you a path to $10 a day, $20 a day or $100 a day.

As I look over the metrics of Steve's site, I am very skeptical that it is making $20 a day. I hate to make this type of claim and I don't do it for any type of personal gain. But, I have noticed many of the same things as Songsingnim so I felt compelled to reply to this thread.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by songsingnim

1. This niche generally has too low of a CPC, and even on some of the higher CPC terms that the site is hitting for (some of which I also rank for) the traffic is fairly low and based upon my experience in this niche it would be unlikely to see nearly enough clicks to support the claims of $20 a day.

My own impression was that he picked too broad of a keyword. My own philosophy is to pick more narrow keywords and spread over more domains or sub-domains. Steve was going for more of an authority site which would be difficult, but not impossible, in a high competition niche like cruises. If it didn't work, then, yes $5-10 a day would be about right. That's what I see in most of the travel related niches I work. But, if it worked and became an authority site with traffic to match, $100 day would be doable.

Originally Posted by songsingnim

3. That the blog appears to have been essentially neglected since February also strengthens my conviction that this is not a $20 to $70 a day blog.

I don't take neglect as a sign of any problems. I have sites/blogs that haven't had any substantial update since 2007-2008 that earn in the $5 a day range.

[ctaylordill]

I feel more empowered already! Steve thanks, and I defintely going to follow this thread. You are wonderful!

[Stephen Crooks]

You are entitled to your opinion but I am afraid that is basically all it is. My integrity has been doubted which is hard to take to be frank. What is hard to believe about earning $20 a day and more and what do you mean by brute force, have you actually read any of this thread? This technique is far from brute force!

Maybe you have never been in a situation with Adsense where you are earning over $2 a click regularly. Like I have said on numerous occasions, I do still get the 20 cent clicks but generally I am seeing some great CPC and CTR on this blog which all adds up. If you don't feel inclined to believe me then that is your lookout, it is disappointing but I won't lose sleep over it.

I am going to request that this mammoth thread be closed now because I feel it has completely run it's course now. Any updates will now be on my 100 bucks challenge blog.

Originally Posted by epsilon97

I am afraid that I am going to have to agree with Songsingnim. While I believe that Steve's method is not flawed, I do think that he is overly optimistic. I don't think that this brute force method of website creation can guarantee you a path to $10 a day, $20 a day or $100 a day.

As I look over the metrics of Steve's site, I am very skeptical that it is making $20 a day. I hate to make this type of claim and I don't do it for any type of personal gain. But, I have noticed many of the same things as Songsingnim so I felt compelled to reply to this thread.

[londonmoon]

This is really cool Steve. Adsense isn't the best source of income, but it can be if you know what you are doing. 100 dollars a day is upscale considering the economy that's a nice piece of change.

[chrisnyce]

Hey Steve thanks for the info. Can I just add that since you feel the thread has ran it's course - please don't remove it. It's a great reference for me and I'd hate to have to cut and paste the entire thing into a word file for reference.

[Stephen Crooks]

Don't worry it won't be removed (at least I hope not) but I feel it is time that the thread was closed for future comments as I am constantly answering the same questions. Which is okay in itself but I think it just makes the thread a bit disorganized.

I am pleased you have found some value in the thread and I hope you can see why it needs to close.

Originally Posted by chrisnyce

Hey Steve thanks for the info. Can I just add that since you feel the thread has ran it's course - please don't remove it. It's a great reference for me and I'd hate to have to cut and paste the entire thing into a word file for reference.