Is Adsense worth it or rather do affiliate marketing?

[8HowTo]

Getting more traffic is what matters looks like any way. Then wouldn't it be better to try affiliate marketing rather than focus on Adsense?

[36burrows]

You can do both at the same time. Most of my sites have Adsense as well as affiliate products and other Clickbank products.

Good to diversify.

[DebbieD]

When you do affiliate marketing, the buyers have to pay for the things they buy. When people click on Adsense ads, they don't have to pay anything, so they click on it faster. Of course, you make more money per affiliate sale, but it's harder to get it.

Also, some informational niches don't have affiliate products (physical or digital) so you monetize those with Adsense.

[LinkVariety]

Originally Posted by 8HowTo

Getting more traffic is what matters looks like any way. Then wouldn't it be better to try affiliate marketing rather than focus on Adsense?

I think ShoeMoney descibed Adsense as the "monetization of last resort"... that coming from a guy pictured with a 100k adsense cheque should tell you everything you need to know!

However, if your still not convinced... consider the fact that Google take 75% of the revenue from adsense.

In my experience:

1) Its easier to make your first $1 a day with adsense
2) Its easier to make your first $100 a day with affiliate stuff

Affiliate sales require more targeted traffic, and its harder to close a sale than generate a click for sure, but in terms of MONEY aff is a lot more scaleable, because the payouts are bigger.

For me, the barrier to aff was confidence. I am not a salesperson and did not think I could "sell" in the way I knew I could drive random clicks.

Once you get past your first few sales and learn the ropes you wont look back

I still have my original adsense sites and they still send me a payment every month, but I have not built an adsense site for 3 years.

[LinkVariety]

Originally Posted by DebbieD

Also, some informational niches don't have affiliate products (physical or digital) so you monetize those with Adsense.

Ref my comment above, I think this is where ShoeMoney's "monetization of last resort" line came from. In some niches adsense is the only option.. in which case use it, but if there are other things available in terms of affiliate sales, lead generation those normally pay better.

[MatthewGreen]

There is way more money in affiliate marketing. You make 5 $20 sales a day you make 100 a day. Rather than adsense clicks where you may get 100 clicks a day but that may only amount to 30-40 dollars a day.

[bhuff85]

Originally Posted by DebbieD

When people click on Adsense ads, they don't have to pay anything, so they click on it faster.

^^This doesn't makes sense. People may not buy something right away when they click an Adsense ad, but someone will eventually buy something or follow a pattern that results in a purchase.

If people weren't eventually buying something, why would advertisers spend money to use Adwords?

[owenlee]

is good to have many source of income..it depends on which type of income you are looking at...if you focus on selling info products then i would advice not to put adsense as it will divert some your readers attention..

[2d0k]

There are many ways to make money on the Internet. Google Adsense and affiliate marketing are some of these. I'm not biased as to which would I prefer more as long as these methods let me earn online income..

[JMartin]

Originally Posted by bhuff85

^^This doesn't makes sense. People may not buy something right away when they click an Adsense ad, but someone will eventually buy something or follow a pattern that results in a purchase.

If people weren't eventually buying something, why would advertisers spend money to use Adwords?

What DebbieD is most likely referring to is the fact that a click on an Adsense ad is a low-barrier engagement verses a click + affiliate sale.

And yes, that person may or may not buy something, but you're paid either way. You're also not reliant on that person making a buying decision right away using a tracking code.

As was pointed out, both methods are useful. Just don't damage your income by going with one over the other just based on ease of use. Test and look at the results.

[SEOPunk]

Affiliate marketing is much more better than ad sense earning. Google don't pay much to publishers but there are many business owners who pay even 50% of each sale to their affiliates.

[Zeb]

What's with the false info that google takes 70% of the adsense cpc. Contrary to this, google instead pays u 68% of the cpc :-
The AdSense revenue share - Inside AdSense