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My Thoughts on Google Adsense

by Bkelly301
23 replies
I just wanted to share my experience with using Google Adsense via turning monetization on for my YouTube videos.

For the first 3 years of running my business I always kept ads off because I didn't want to detract from the content of my videos.

Someone then gave me the suggestion to try monetizing my channel via YouTube ads, so I did it.

For the first few months, the monthly revenue kept going up and up. I was ecstatic!!

I figured that this would be an excellent passive income stream that I could add to my overall monthly income figure. Even if my course sales were low, I'd still have the steady and predictable income source to rely on. The monthly figure reached its peak at around $3400 for a single month.

Well, I decided that I would put a ton of effort into making top-quality videos on a consistent basis. However, things suddenly took a turn in the downward direction. I noticed that the monthly number was now going down each month...

So I started to try harder...

The monthly number would go up a little bit as a result of my efforts, but then it went back to going down again.

For about 6 months I found myself trying so hard to please the YouTube Algorithm that I have absolutely no control over in the hopes that I could get that monthly figure back up over $3K again, but I never even came close. In fact, it just kept going down down down...

On top of that, these ads that are on all my videos are for my direct competition. One specific competitor is someone who I actually can't stand (for many reasons, which I won't get into).

After trying and trying and trying to please the YouTube algorithm in hopes that they might grace me with a decent monthly income number, my monthly ad revenue has dropped down to almost $1K.

So...

I have 3 choices:

1.) Turn monetization on my channel off, stop promoting my competition and make my YouTube channel that much better to watch since no one likes ads.

2.) Become a slave to YouTube and work my a** off, producing as much content as humanly possible in the hopes that they will reward me with a decent monthly figure

3.) Leave monetization enabled, but don't worry about it at all. I could use it to my benefit to get people over to my site which has no ads in any of the videos. Any extra money that I get from YouTube is just that...extra money in addition to my primary business.

I think I'm going to go with #3.

I will continue to make my website my main focus, as I always have, and I will continue to not play the YouTube game.

Maybe I'm being negative here, but Im getting a very strong feeling that if you focus exclusively on "working" for YouTube or Google or any other similar service, then you are essentially giving away control of your small business to these larger entities.

Just my 2 cents on Adsense!
#adsense #google #thoughts
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Even if making $1k a month (or less) - turning off ads and earning nothing doesn't seem logical to me - so I would forget #1.

    #2 is what you seem to be doing now and it's not paying off - plus somehow you are promoting a competitor...Don't know how that works but I wouldn't do it.

    #3 makes sense for now, at least.

    Some income streams don't work as well when you try too hard to increase them...that may be the case here.

    Just my thoughts on it from a common sense perspective. Not at all YouTube expert.
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Do you think that revenue is going down because people are going back to work and not spending as much time on leisure activities as they were a year ago?

    al
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    I agree that option #3 seems sensible. Just a couple of thoughts:

    Could it be that a significant portion of your views are from returning viewers checking out your latest videos (or rewatching the existing ones)? If so, that might explain why they're not clicking on the same ads and increasing your revenue.

    And have you considered placing your own ads on your competitors' YouTube videos?
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    • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
      Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

      And have you considered placing your own ads on your competitors' YouTube videos?
      You bring up some excellent points!!

      Honestly, no I haven't thought about doing that. I have always felt that my business isn't suitable for ads since what I offer is a one-time fee product with nothing else to offer as an upsell. The product costs $69.

      I do feel that my product is the absolute best on the market in my niche, and those who do find my site generally agree that they have essentially "struck gold" when they find my site.

      However at $69 per sale, with nothing else to upsell, I figured that it would be a waste of money to pay for advertising.

      Maybe these are just limiting beliefs, but I also have tried to address the root issue several times (break my content up into several smaller courses, charge recurring fees, etc.), but I always end up finding that people respond the best to a simple "one time fee" model for around $50 to $70.

      Do you have any suggestions as to how I might tackle this issue? Because I do feel that using paid ads could potentially take me to the next level!
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      • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
        Originally Posted by Bkelly301 View Post

        You bring up some excellent points!!

        Honestly, no I haven't thought about doing that. I have always felt that my business isn't suitable for ads since what I offer is a one-time fee product with nothing else to offer as an upsell. The product costs $69.

        I do feel that my product is the absolute best on the market in my niche, and those who do find my site generally agree that they have essentially "struck gold" when they find my site.

        However at $69 per sale, with nothing else to upsell, I figured that it would be a waste of money to pay for advertising.

        Maybe these are just limiting beliefs, but I also have tried to address the root issue several times (break my content up into several smaller courses, charge recurring fees, etc.), but I always end up finding that people respond the best to a simple "one time fee" model for around $50 to $70.

        Do you have any suggestions as to how I might tackle this issue? Because I do feel that using paid ads could potentially take me to the next level!

        Here is just one (of many) simple reasons why.

        One of my first products was sold at 67.00 with no upsell, no funnel, no list capture and it sold 170k as it stood, in less than two weeks.....without any JV's. Just some paid traffic.

        You don't need an upsell in order to have advertising make sense,
        you just need to sell more than it cost to advertise.

        Upsells, funnels, and lists just make things happen faster.

        If you have a solid product and by solid I mean your returns are minimal or non-existent, then it's time to figure out your actual advertising metrics and advertise. I bet half the people reading would give a lot to be where you are now in your business.

        Also, I hate to say this, but at this point, it sounds like you may need a mentor or a coach to help you with some of the finer points people won't tell for free. - I am NOT a mentor or coach.

        Good luck.
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        • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
          Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

          One of my first products was sold at 67.00 with no upsell, no funnel, no list capture and it sold 170k as it stood, in less than two weeks.....without any JV's. Just some paid traffic.

          You don't need an upsell in order to have advertising make sense,
          you just need to sell more than it cost to advertise.

          Upsells, funnels, and lists just make things happen faster.

          If you have a solid product and by solid I mean your returns are minimal or non-existent, then it's time to figure out your actual advertising metrics and advertise. I bet half the people reading would give a lot to be where you are now in your business.
          Wow!! 170K in 2 weeks?!?!

          Yes I do have an extremely solid product exactly as you described with hardly any refunds and raving reviews.

          I offer a "free membership" and a "full access membership". Whenever I've used paid traffic in the past, which was displayed mostly to cold traffic. I got a TON of free member signups, but none of them upgraded. I used a click tracking tool to verify this.

          However I always thought it was better to send traffic to an optin rather than direct to sales page...

          Anyway, this sounds amazing. Would you mind sharing an overview of what you did?
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      • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
        Originally Posted by Bkelly301 View Post

        Honestly, no I haven't thought about doing that. I have always felt that my business isn't suitable for ads since what I offer is a one-time fee product with nothing else to offer as an upsell. The product costs $69.
        It's not so much the selling price as it is your profit margin that determines how cost-effective any advertising might be. And there are ways of keeping the advertising spend below any set threshold - which, in any case, you can monitor on a daily basis.

        At the moment, you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting for your competition. If their ads keep turning up on your videos, that tells you they believe they have a similar customer base to yours. While you're busting a gut to please the YouTube algorithms, your main competitors might already have videos sitting high up in the search results. Why not take advantage of that?
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        • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
          Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

          At the moment, you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting for your competition. If their ads keep turning up on your videos, that tells you they believe they have a similar customer base to yours. While you're busting a gut to please the YouTube algorithms, your main competitors might already have videos sitting high up in the search results. Why not take advantage of that?
          So it's possible to pick and choose exactly which YouTube videos or channel I would have my ads displayed on??

          I didn't know that was possible!
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          • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
            Originally Posted by Bkelly301 View Post

            So it's possible to pick and choose exactly which YouTube videos or channel I would have my ads displayed on??
            You can specify a video or channel via your Google Ads account:

            https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2456100?

            That's as long as your competitor hasn't blocked you - an option, incidentally, that's also available with your own videos without turning off all monetization:

            https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/172795?


            Also, if you've been doing effective keyword work on your videos, you should find them appearing next to those of your competitors. Have you checked this?
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            • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
              Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

              You can specify a video or channel via your Google Ads account:

              https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2456100?

              That's as long as your competitor hasn't blocked you - an option, incidentally, that's also available with your own videos without turning off all monetization:

              https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/172795?

              Also, if you've been doing effective keyword work on your videos, you should find them appearing next to those of your competitors. Have you checked this?
              Wow I never knew any of this stuff before. I have only ever dabbled in Facebook ads. I haven't yet experimented with Google. I have some research to do. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!
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              • Profile picture of the author kai1966
                Thank you for this very useful thread
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    I wouldn't want competitors' ads on my videos.
    Why don't you put some affiliate links in your
    descriptions. Amazon links would be good.
    Have you tried that?
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    • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
      Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

      I wouldn't want competitors' ads on my videos.
      Why don't you put some affiliate links in your
      descriptions. Amazon links would be good.
      Have you tried that?
      Can you put affiliate links in YouTube descriptions?

      I thought both Amazon and YouTube had rules against that stuff.
      -- I don't really know anything about either, that's why I'm asking.
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      • Profile picture of the author Monetize
        Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

        Can you put affiliate links in YouTube description?

        I though both Amazon and YouTube had rules agianst that stuff.
        -- I dont know really anything about iether, that's why I'm asking.

        YES!

        People are making review videos of Amazon products
        and putting the affiliate links to the products in their
        descriptions. I would link to a video here but it's not
        allowed. Search YouTube for review videos and see
        for yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
      Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

      I wouldn't want competitors' ads on my videos.
      Why don't you put some affiliate links in your
      descriptions. Amazon links would be good.
      Have you tried that?
      Well in the description of my vids, I link to my own product. I don't want to be sending people to Amazon. I want them going to my site!!
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      • Profile picture of the author Monetize
        Originally Posted by Bkelly301 View Post

        Well in the description of my vids, I link to my own product. I don't want to be sending people to Amazon. I want them going to my site!!

        Yet I just saw a whole 'nother thread from
        February 2021 about how you have used
        Amazon and Clickbank affiliate links in
        your YouTube descriptions.

        Why didn't you just say it didn't work for
        you instead of dismissing my suggestion?
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        • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
          Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

          Yet I just saw a whole 'nother thread from
          February 2021 about how you have used
          Amazon and Clickbank affiliate links in
          your YouTube descriptions.

          Why didn't you just say it didn't work for
          you instead of dismissing my suggestion?
          I wasn't dismissing your suggestion or trying to be rude. Sorry if I came off that way.

          It's just that my "bread n butter" has always been to sell membership access to my own website. That is the primary reason for every single video that I add to YouTube, and everything in the descriptions of my vids is saying "go to my website!!".

          There are a few videos where I talked about gear that I use, and in those videos I added Amazon affiliate links in the description. In my 7 years of doing this internet stuff, I think that I made less than $500 in total from Amazon.

          To put Amazon links in the descriptions of my videos, which would only result in a few bucks here and there, would detract from what my primary goal is. My primary goal is to get people to my website.

          These YouTube/Adsense ads on my videos are sorta the same thing. They produce a bit of income, but that income is steadily declining. It's also out of my control. Most importantly, these ads are detracting from my ultimate goal which is to get people to my website.

          My challenge for the last few years has been in figuring out how to produce more streams of income.

          Adsense ads are okay, but it's a fine line between yielding enough money each month and being detrimental to my main business.

          Teespring print on demand produces very little income, but it doesn't interfere with my primary business, so it's not hurting anything.

          Amazon affiliate links have not yet produced enough money to consider them a good use of time, and they detract from my main business. Therefore adding these links to every video description would not be a good idea.

          Clickbank was good for one product that was in a related niche, but not my exact niche. I may work that into my autoresponder sequence for my list. I don't want to focus too heavily on this though, because again I'm sending traffic away from my primary business.

          I just didn't have time to write all this out earlier.

          I do appreciate the suggestion
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          • Profile picture of the author Monetize
            Originally Posted by Bkelly301 View Post

            I wasn't dismissing your suggestion or trying to be rude. Sorry if I came off that way.

            I never thought you were rude, this is the least
            rude forum that I've ever been on, and I've been
            on discussion forums for awhile. I thought that
            maybe you forgot.

            You are the embodiment of what an IMer should
            be doing, always trying something new until you
            hit upon whatever works. So many people won't
            even try anything.

            To top that off, you are generous about sharing
            your experiences, something that I would never
            do because I feel that I racked my brains too long
            and too hard trying to figure it out to give away the
            essentials on a forum. That is why I am always
            telling people to read a book.

            Making (passive) money online is about as easy
            as falling off a log, yet so many fail to grasp the
            simple concept(s) because they over-analyze
            and over-complicate how easy it really can be
            once they learn the fundamentals. Most are too
            lazy to try to learn the fundamentals anymore.
            Most passive income streams do require some
            initial setup, money doesn't just fall into our lap.

            You have combined six different passive income
            methods to work for you - videos, memberships,
            courses, publishing, digital downloads and affiliate
            marketing. The fact that you have achieved this is
            very commendable.

            You will eventually iron out these little problems
            and money is going to flow to you like a faucet.
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  • Profile picture of the author cikiciki
    As far as I understand, Google itself would put ads on it's behalf without any permission from you. I see this case on Bill Wurtz channel. He turns ads off but G takes over. Correct if I'm wrong.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bkelly301
      Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

      ....
      Hey I really appreciate the words. Thanks man!

      Originally Posted by cikiciki View Post

      As far as I understand, Google itself would put ads on it's behalf without any permission from you. I see this case on Bill Wurtz channel. He turns ads off but G takes over. Correct if I'm wrong.
      That's only if the video contains copyrighted material. If the video is 100% original content, then the monetization is completely your choice, and the ad revenue isn't split with anyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Haroon Ballim
    What one has to factor in , especially in most markets that have a low barrier to entry is that more competition enters the market continously and what was once akin to shooting fish in a barrel is now much harder .
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  • Profile picture of the author CruxisKnight
    I make way better Adsense income on my own site with just text to try doing the youtube route. I looked up rpm for youtube vids and they were pretty low to me to justify even trying it
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  • Profile picture of the author Rory Singh
    I enjoy you tube as a publisher and as a user. It's an awesome place to learn anything.

    Option 3 is the best choice in my opinion.

    You can drive targeted traffic to your site while making a side income with adsense.

    In regards to your competitors, so what if a small percentage of your viewers click on their ads.
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