Adsense vs Affiliate Marketing Comparison: Which is Better for Making Money Online?

Both AdSense pay-per-click advertising and affiliate marketing can make you money online. But which ad strategy is best?

Watch this video response to Click Millionaires member Tony's question about making money from advertising online.

It covers the pros and cons of Google's AdSense PPC ads vs. making money from Affiliate ads, including my recommended strategies for your website.

Both Adsense PPC ads and Affiliate Marketing CPA advertising are tools which can help make you more money online.

But which is better for your site or blog?

[Click here to visit YouTube if you can't see the video above.]

Comparison of AdSense PPC Text Ads vs. Affiliate Marketing Advertisements

Both AdSense text ads and affiliate ads are available to any new website owner for free and easy implementation.

Both advertising systems also automate much of the work traditionally required to sell, document, and collect payment for advertising.

So how do they differ? Watch the video for more details but here are some summary bullet points:

PPC Adsense Advertising Pros and Cons

• Low value per click
• Distracting links away from your site
• Less editorial control including competitor ads
• Slower loading pages
• Automatically refreshed ads look fresh for repeat visitors
• High volume with reliable payment

Affiliate Program Pros and Cons

• More research required to pick profitable and appropriate affiliate ads and trustworthy partners
• Disclosures required for consumer protection
• Higher commissions per conversion
• Editorial control because you can pick your affiliate program partner products
• Good targeting to your audience's niche interests
• Strong relationships and increased commissions possible with long term affiliate merchant partners (like my affiliate relationship with www.TrySiteBuildIt.com)
• Potential SEO value from recurring, targeted content required by affiliate promotions

Recommendations: AdSense PPC Ads vs. Affiliate Ads

High traffic sites that need to avoid "ad blindness" can benefit from PPC ads, while affiliate ads can be best for lower traffic, more editorially-driven sites that can promote affiliate products.

Best answer? Try both and even mix them. Testing both automatically-generated PPC text ads and more customized affiliate ads on your site is the best way to determine what's most profitable for your site and audience.


If you'd like to learn more, join the online advertising discussions in the Click Millionaires Forum here, too.


And, as always, thanks for reading and watching.