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How Come Everyone Else Is Better Off With Adsense?

by loybond
40 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'd like some opinions re: Adsense mini-sites. I've launched a few mini-sites based on the idea of easy-to-rank-for keyword phrases, but am not making anything. I've read, reread, put lots of things into effect, and normally, I'm a very systematic thinker and achieve what I want. But something's not adding up.

I've tried the Josh Spaulding method, by choosing high-paying niches with low competition and using article marketing to drive traffic. I've outsourced the 20 articles to be article marketed + 8 articles to go on each site. Each page targeted a different low competition keyword phrase (all related of course, such as cat allergies). Each page should have been on page 1, or at least 2, but none were. Traffic from Ezine can't be relied upon, since I've had days with zero earnings, and days with $8. IMO, relying on article marketing for traffic is a no-go.

So obviously, $s earned = search volume * Adsense CTR * EPC, right?

I have themes that have very decent CTR, and EPC is more or less out of our control, so that's a given too. That just leaves search volume, and that's where I'm faltering with the other sites.

I've been following XFactor, and opened up a bunch of sites using his methodology. However, where others seem to find ease, I don't. I got MNF, looked at SoC, # of searches and # of competing sites to choose my niches. Someone chose the same niche as me, and where I had keywordreviews.com, they had keyword.net and were in position 6. I was not in the top 100 for a few days, then stuck at #74.

Other sites that I've opened as well, with ridiculously good numbers in MNF, like competing sites <100 and SoC of 1-4 are indexed, but still not in the top 100 sites on Google.

I've tried using Angela's backlinks only for one of my sites, the July packet, but I've seen nothing yet from that, that site is in position 128.

Today I noticed that someone else *just* launched a site targeting another of my keyword phrases, but while my site is a couple of days older and not even indexed yet, that person's site is on page one. Even better, the content is copy/pasted from Amazon, while mine is unique!

I really don't know what to say when I see that some of you open sites, and without backlinks, are on page one, or, after only a few days, are earning $10, $20 or more a day. I want to make a proper business out of this!

What I Do:

- use MNF to find something good, usually SoC <10, competing sites <1000 (below 100 if possible), 2000+ search volume
- get keyword.com or keyword.org
- install Wordpress, All-in-one SEO, google analytics and google XML sitemaps plugins
- configure AIO SEO as I describe below, create a sitemap
- write unique content for the FAQ and all the product reviews
- set up Adsense
- Article market with keyword as anchor text

My Theories - ?

Keyword Stuffing - Am I being penalized for keyword stuffing? All the new sites I have are keyword.com or keyword.org, are named keyword, and I use All-in-SEO to make sure all the tags say "keyword."

Wordpress Static Site - I make a FAQ-style default front page, then have links to product/model reviews on the top right. Does this not work for some reason?

Lack of Social Bookmarking - I had avoided social bookmarking because I did it extensively with another site I have/had and was sandboxed (I don't know the reason, but I was told too much social bookmarking could be it). I tried some SB on one of my sites yesterday, limiting myself to 10 dofollow SB sites, and it got me indexed, but I'm not anywhere in the SERPs (that was a super duper low comp keyword).

Not Uploading XML to Google Webmaster Tools - I can't do this for some reason (my multiple domain on shared hosting perhaps), but is it necessary?

Please guys, help me out here. I know I'm close, I feel like I'm just missing something. I'm devoting most of my day to writing articles and content here, it'd be great to finally see it pay off.
#adsense
  • Profile picture of the author Steven Heron
    Hi loy,

    PM me your URLs and I'll check if there's any issues like you're asking.
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    Originally Posted by loybond View Post

    I'd like some opinions re: Adsense mini-sites. I've launched a few mini-sites based on the idea of easy-to-rank-for keyword phrases, but am not making anything. I've read, reread, put lots of things into effect, and normally, I'm a very systematic thinker and achieve what I want. But something's not adding up.

    I've tried the Josh Spaulding method, by choosing high-paying niches with low competition and using article marketing to drive traffic. I've outsourced the 20 articles to be article marketed + 8 articles to go on each site. Each page targeted a different low competition keyword phrase (all related of course, such as cat allergies). Each page should have been on page 1, or at least 2, but none were. Traffic from Ezine can't be relied upon, since I've had days with zero earnings, and days with $8. IMO, relying on article marketing for traffic is a no-go.

    So obviously, earned = search volume * Adsense CTR * EPC, right?

    I have themes that have very decent CTR, and EPC is more or less out of our control, so that's a given too. That just leaves search volume, and that's where I'm faltering with the other sites.

    I've been following XFactor, and opened up a bunch of sites using his methodology. However, where others seem to find ease, I don't. I got MNF, looked at SoC, # of searches and # of competing sites to choose my niches. Someone chose the same niche as me, and where I had keywordreviews.com, they had keyword.net and were in position 6. I was not in the top 100 for a few days, then stuck at #74.

    Other sites that I've opened as well, with ridiculously good numbers in MNF, like competing sites <100 and SoC of 1-4 are indexed, but still not in the top 100 sites on Google.

    I've tried using Angela's backlinks only for one of my sites, the July packet, but I've seen nothing yet from that, that site is in position 128.

    Today I noticed that someone else *just* launched a site targeting another of my keyword phrases, but while my site is a couple of days older and not even indexed yet, that person's site is on page one. Even better, the content is copy/pasted from Amazon, while mine is unique!

    I really don't know what to say when I see that some of you open sites, and without backlinks, are on page one, or, after only a few days, are earning $10, $20 or more a day. I want to make a proper business out of this!

    What I Do:

    - use MNF to find something good, usually SoC <10, competing sites <1000 (below 100 if possible), 2000+ search volume
    - get keyword.com or keyword.org
    - install Wordpress, All-in-one SEO, google analytics and google XML sitemaps plugins
    - configure AIO SEO as I describe below, create a sitemap
    - write unique content for the FAQ and all the product reviews
    - set up Adsense
    - Article market with keyword as anchor text

    My Theories - ?

    Keyword Stuffing - Am I being penalized for keyword stuffing? All the new sites I have are keyword.com or keyword.org, are named keyword, and I use All-in-SEO to make sure all the tags say "keyword."

    Wordpress Static Site - I make a FAQ-style default front page, then have links to product/model reviews on the top right. Does this not work for some reason?

    Lack of Social Bookmarking - I had avoided social bookmarking because I did it extensively with another site I have/had and was sandboxed (I don't know the reason, but I was told too much social bookmarking could be it). I tried some SB on one of my sites yesterday, limiting myself to 10 dofollow SB sites, and it got me indexed, but I'm not anywhere in the SERPs (that was a super duper low comp keyword).

    Not Uploading XML to Google Webmaster Tools - I can't do this for some reason (my multiple domain on shared hosting perhaps), but is it necessary?

    Please guys, help me out here. I know I'm close, I feel like I'm just missing something. I'm devoting most of my day to writing articles and content here, it'd be great to finally see it pay off.
    I'm just delving into this system myself and must say that I find what you've said a little bit disheartening. There must be some logical reasons for this, however. The only alternative explanation otherwise is that a method really doesn't work and those who say they're earning are really lying (though I *strongly* doubt that is the case).

    As for keyword stuffing... I know you're ideally supposed to mention the keywords in the title, meta, H1/page-heading and a few times on the page, but specifically how many times are you mentioning your targetted keyword on each page? In my understanding that only a couple of times is necessary (and if you were to "bold" your keyword phrases Google would add more weight to them, meaning you wouldn't need to mention them as many times as if you didn't bold them).

    Secondly, you say "I get the 20 articles for article marketing". I don't know what Josh Spauldings method is or specifically what you're doing with these 20 articles (do you merely submit them as-is, or do you re-write them numerous times and submit them, thereby giving yourself more than 20 articles)? Only reason I mention it is, of course, because no-one can tell you exactly how many articles or backlinks you need. Take it ona site-by-site basis, put some up, and wait for a while. Result may well (and will) take time, and only when your site settles at a particular spot for a while can you better gauge how many more articles or backlinks you'll need to get on the first page of Google.

    Also, as much as I respect XFactor's method, I'm a little dubious as to whether Google really looks that fondly on a site whos *only* backlinks come from the same handful of sites -- EzineArticles. Of course, in a niche where only one or two links is needed to get first page, they probably won't care. In a niche where other sites have a more diverse range of backlinks from a multitude of different websites, however, I'm not sure puting all your eggs in one basket (or few very) in terms of building links is really that good an idea. There's the possibility your articles will be picked up and put on other peoples sites, but that is relatively slim in my experience unless your primary goal is to write excessively great article content (but if your merely writing for backlinks, your article probably isn't going to be quite so useful to other people).

    You might try downloading (free) CommentKahuna or something, and attempting to diversify your linking strategy a little bit, and go after some links in blog comments (preferably related blogs) and the likes.

    Aside from that - as I'm a relatively newbie myself to earning with AdSense - all that's left to say is GOOD LUCK, and if you make any breakthroughs please do post for the benefit of all here :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author dv8
    Did you check your site(s) for backlinks? You said you submitted articles, but are they showing up yet? I have about 10 articles out for 2 of my sites and not one of them is showing up yet for backlinks and it's been close to a week. So maybe you haven't been given credit for yours yet either.

    Your competitors probably have more backlinks than you. Or higher quality backlinks.

    Download Traffic Travis. Put in your URL and see what SEO score they give you. If it's not A+ do whatever you have to do to fix your site so it is. I've done this to both of my sites and they are both rated A+. It's VERY easy to get that score.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bounderby
    Hi, I've been following your comments, both on XFactor's thread and Steve Crook's, as well as Steve's mini-site challenge. I really admire your commitment and determination to succeed with this!
    I think you just need to give it time, and you will naturally work up the rankings. From what I have read you are doing everything right and if you stick with it, it will all come good eventually. Don't get disheartened that others are getting results quicker - the foundations you are laying now will stand you in good stead.
    The only thing I am doing differently to you is targeting a higher search volume, 15k+ rather than 2k+, so long as the first page results all look beatable. I would rather be 5th or 6th out of 15k than 2nd or 3rd out of 2k.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by Bounderby View Post

      Hi, I've been following your comments, both on XFactor's thread and Steve Crook's, as well as Steve's mini-site challenge. I really admire your commitment and determination to succeed with this!
      I think you just need to give it time, and you will naturally work up the rankings. From what I have read you are doing everything right and if you stick with it, it will all come good eventually. Don't get disheartened that others are getting results quicker - the foundations you are laying now will stand you in good stead.
      The only thing I am doing differently to you is targeting a higher search volume, 15k+ rather than 2k+, so long as the first page results all look beatable. I would rather be 5th or 6th out of 15k than 2nd or 3rd out of 2k.
      When you say 15K searches monthly are you doing exact, broad, or phrase search?
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    • Profile picture of the author loybond
      Originally Posted by Steven Heron View Post

      Hi loy,

      PM me your URLs and I'll check if there's any issues like you're asking.
      Thank you Steven, I will get those URLs to you. I appreciate it!

      Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

      I'm just delving into this system myself and must say that I find what you've said a little bit disheartening. There must be some logical reasons for this, however. The only alternative explanation otherwise is that a method really doesn't work and those who say they're earning are really lying (though I *strongly* doubt that is the case).

      As for keyword stuffing... I know you're ideally supposed to mention the keywords in the title, meta, H1/page-heading and a few times on the page, but specifically how many times are you mentioning your targetted keyword on each page? In my understanding that only a couple of times is necessary (and if you were to "bold" your keyword phrases Google would add more weight to them, meaning you wouldn't need to mention them as many times as if you didn't bold them).

      Secondly, you say "I get the 20 articles for article marketing". I don't know what Josh Spauldings method is or specifically what you're doing with these 20 articles (do you merely submit them as-is, or do you re-write them numerous times and submit them, thereby giving yourself more than 20 articles)? Only reason I mention it is, of course, because no-one can tell you exactly how many articles or backlinks you need. Take it ona site-by-site basis, put some up, and wait for a while. Result may well (and will) take time, and only when your site settles at a particular spot for a while can you better gauge how many more articles or backlinks you'll need to get on the first page of Google.

      Also, as much as I respect XFactor's method, I'm a little dubious as to whether Google really looks that fondly on a site whos *only* backlinks come from the same handful of sites -- EzineArticles. Of course, in a niche where only one or two links is needed to get first page, they probably won't care. In a niche where other sites have a more diverse range of backlinks from a multitude of different websites, however, I'm not sure puting all your eggs in one basket (or few very) in terms of building links is really that good an idea. There's the possibility your articles will be picked up and put on other peoples sites, but that is relatively slim in my experience unless your primary goal is to write excessively great article content (but if your merely writing for backlinks, your article probably isn't going to be quite so useful to other people).

      You might try downloading (free) CommentKahuna or something, and attempting to diversify your linking strategy a little bit, and go after some links in blog comments (preferably related blogs) and the likes.

      Aside from that - as I'm a relatively newbie myself to earning with AdSense - all that's left to say is GOOD LUCK, and if you make any breakthroughs please do post for the benefit of all here :-)
      DireStraits, Spaulding says to write 20 articles, and submit them as-is without mods to 3 of the top article directories, then 10 to another 20, and the other 10 articles to another 20 directories (for 40 other directories). His system is to drive traffic from article marketing. But in my opinion, you have to rely on too many factors to make this work:

      1) Traffic to your article @ Ezine
      2) CTR at Ezine
      3) Adsense CTR at your site

      i.e. fractions of fractions. Plus, he's of the opinion that you can reasonably expect 30% CTR (even though I see 50% on one site of mine, I don't think 30% can be considered average), and that you can reasonably expect $1+ clicks. From what I've seen, even high-paying niches don't pay much in the beginning when your site has no value, but I could be wrong abut this (another bit of bad luck?). You're right that no one can tell you how many articles to put up, but his system wants your visitors to go to Google > Ezine > your site, not direct.

      I see what you're saying about having all the links coming from Ezine, but every niche I've chosen *should* be one where no backlinks (or very little) should be necesssary. The two examples I refer to where other people have put up similar sites and have ranked better than me show no backlinks at all with backlink checkers, and other people in XFactor's thread have mentioned that they have just put up sites and been on page 1 with zero backlinks. I'm just wondering, when I have chosen niches that seem to be simple (77 competing sites, SoC 1 in MNF), why I haven't seen this behaviour for any of my sites, even with backlinks.

      I'm thinking it's the initial SBing others do that I'm a little wary of? Anyways, I appreciate your input Direstraits, and hopefully others and I can learn what's going wrong here.


      Originally Posted by dv8 View Post

      Did you check your site(s) for backlinks? You said you submitted articles, but are they showing up yet? I have about 10 articles out for 2 of my sites and not one of them is showing up yet for backlinks and it's been close to a week. So maybe you haven't been given credit for yours yet either.

      Your competitors probably have more backlinks than you. Or higher quality backlinks.

      Download Traffic Travis. Put in your URL and see what SEO score they give you. If it's not A+ do whatever you have to do to fix your site so it is. I've done this to both of my sites and they are both rated A+. It's VERY easy to get that score.
      Yes dv8, I have checked for backlinks. No, most are not showing up yet, even for older sites. Perhaps it is that, but what about the extra simple niches where I shouldn't need backlinks at all? How is it that in two niches so far, I've seen others open similar sites and be on page 1 without backlinks? That's what really boggles my mind.

      I haven't used Traffic Travis yet, but I'll give it a go. Thanks.

      Originally Posted by Bounderby View Post

      Hi, I've been following your comments, both on XFactor's thread and Steve Crook's, as well as Steve's mini-site challenge. I really admire your commitment and determination to succeed with this!
      I think you just need to give it time, and you will naturally work up the rankings. From what I have read you are doing everything right and if you stick with it, it will all come good eventually. Don't get disheartened that others are getting results quicker - the foundations you are laying now will stand you in good stead.
      The only thing I am doing differently to you is targeting a higher search volume, 15k+ rather than 2k+, so long as the first page results all look beatable. I would rather be 5th or 6th out of 15k than 2nd or 3rd out of 2k.
      Hey Bounderby, that's great! I've been following you too; interesting. What you're saying is exactly what I'm feeling - I'm doing everything the big guys are, I dunno... it just makes me wonder whether I should stick with it or not when I just finished writing unique content for a site, and there's a blog targeting the same keyword with the page "Hello Word!" on page 1.
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      • Profile picture of the author dv8
        Originally Posted by loybond View Post

        Yes dv8, I have checked for backlinks. No, most are not showing up yet, even for older sites. Perhaps it is that, but what about the extra simple niches where I shouldn't need backlinks at all? How is it that in two niches so far, I've seen others open similar sites and be on page 1 without backlinks? That's what really boggles my mind.

        I haven't used Traffic Travis yet, but I'll give it a go. Thanks.
        Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat.

        Still waiting on some backlinks to get indexed. And I thought I'd shoot to he one of the first spots on page 1 right away without any backlinks because the competition is so poor. And in fact, I "kind of" did....I had a Digg and Propeller profile in the #2 and #8 spot within one day. But, they vanished a few days later. And my website is still nowhere to be seen.

        Hate to say it, but I think sometimes it just takes time. Which sucks, I know. Cause we are all wanting to throw up these sites thinking it will be indexed and on page 1 within days. When the reality is, that is not always the case. Sometimes the case. But not always.

        The only thing we can do is have faith, press forward, gain experience, and never stop taking action. Fact is, we never really do know what site will take off and which ones will be duds. Ultimately, it's not in our hands. Sure, we can help the situation by adding content and backlinks, but the bottom line is we never know how Google will react to our site.

        Good luck!
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        • Profile picture of the author loybond
          It doesn't make me feel better dv8, it makes me feel bad for the both of us! You know what's even more interesting, I have had the exact same scenario with a Digg result being on page 1, but not my own site (which can even be seen in the description of the Digg result).

          I don't mind it taking a while, I just need to know that it will eventually get there. Even if one of my sites makes it to page 1, I'll have some hope and motivational fuel, and I'm really thirsty for that at the moment. Apart from that, the one thing I really want to know is how someone can start a site in the same niche and be on page 1 (with no backlinks showing) while I have to "wait" or something.

          Originally Posted by dv8 View Post

          Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat.

          Still waiting on some backlinks to get indexed. And I thought I'd shoot to he one of the first spots on page 1 right away without any backlinks because the competition is so poor. And in fact, I "kind of" did....I had a Digg and Propeller profile in the #2 and #8 spot within one day. But, they vanished a few days later. And my website is still nowhere to be seen.

          Hate to say it, but I think sometimes it just takes time. Which sucks, I know. Cause we are all wanting to throw up these sites thinking it will be indexed and on page 1 within days. When the reality is, that is not always the case. Sometimes the case. But not always.

          The only thing we can do is have faith, press forward, gain experience, and never stop taking action. Fact is, we never really do know what site will take off and which ones will be duds. Ultimately, it's not in our hands. Sure, we can help the situation by adding content and backlinks, but the bottom line is we never know how Google will react to our site.

          Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bounderby
    Exact. Broad shows 70k+ for the site I am working on. With an exact match of say 15k, there are plenty of less-searched for longer-tail keywords I can also incorporate into the site, so I am ranking for several search terms and getting more traffic.

    Having followed Steve Crook's thread and now XFactor's, I guess I am leaning toward the middle ground. I am not looking for a $100/day site, but am also not going for a really narrow niche either. The important thing I have gleaned from both of those threads, is do what works for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    It's all about the QUALITY of your competition, not the quantity. I don't care if there are 4000 "competing" sites by the common definition or if there are 400,000,000 competing sites. Those numbers have NO effect on my decision to try and rank for the keyword phrase.
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    • Profile picture of the author dv8
      Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly View Post

      It's all about the QUALITY of your competition, not the quantity. I don't care if there are 4000 "competing" sites by the common definition or if there are 400,000,000 competing sites. Those numbers have NO effect on my decision to try and rank for the keyword phrase.
      I agree.

      Who cares if there are a zillion competing pages if they all stink. It's the same work involved to out rank 2 weak competing sites as it is to outrank 40 million weak sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author mark135
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      • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
        Originally Posted by mark135 View Post

        Finally someone else here that doesn't talk bull

        there are far too many morons in this forum that look at the number of competing websites and not the quality of the websites on the first page

        When I make a website I am up against 10 pages, and they are the ones on the first page of google I don't care about what goes on below that
        I kinda agree with that. It's really about the BACKLINKS of your competition, not the quality. If you have 10 words of content but you get a link from the NY Times, for example (an authority site) you can out-rank just about anyone or anything. BACKLINKS are what matters,. IMO.
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  • Profile picture of the author lonniewa2
    you can get top ranking for longtail without bookmarking and having the keyword in your domain name is not the problem either.

    I thin you should try this. Use a static page as you homepage and paste one article and submit one article to goarticlels.com. Wait 7-10 days post another article(post not page) and submit another article to another directory both using your main keyword as your anchor text. Do this for 3-5 weeks straight and see what happens.

    If you target the correct keyword you should end up on the first page of Google.
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    • Profile picture of the author loybond
      Originally Posted by lonniewa2 View Post

      you can get top ranking for longtail without bookmarking and having the keyword in your domain name is not the problem either.

      I thin you should try this. Use a static page as you homepage and paste one article and submit one article to goarticlels.com. Wait 7-10 days post another article(post not page) and submit another article to another directory both using your main keyword as your anchor text. Do this for 3-5 weeks straight and see what happens.

      If you target the correct keyword you should end up on the first page of Google.
      Hi Lonnie! I've basically done what you're saying on a bigger scale (use a static front page and submitted 6 or so articles to Go and Ezine daily). I'm still not in the top 10 pages for most sites. I haven't waited 7-10 days, but does that matter?
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer99
    Originally Posted by loybond View Post

    ... (my multiple domain on shared hosting perhaps)...
    Hey loybond,

    I also admire your efforts and attitude - which are usually the 'missing components'. With a decent attitude and a willingness to put in the effort, it becomes simply a matter of getting the 'formula' right.

    Just from reading this thread, it sounds like your doing it correctly, but I'll give you some of my thoughts.

    First of all, while I haven't read Josh's 'formula', I can tell you that relying on article marketing for traffic is a mistake. You have the Adsense formula exactly right:

    $$ = # of visitors x CTR x EPC.

    Period.

    Since Adsense is a traffic numbers game, you want reliably steady traffic - organic traffic. Article marketing is too sporadic and unpredictable.

    Next, I can tell you from much experience that it isn't hard to average $1/click. Every one of my Adsense sites averages at least that. If it doesn't, it get's orphaned and those efforts get put back into a different site.

    Second, it is NOT realistic to expect 30% CTR. I have sites that do better than that, but that's the exception. I know what I'm doing, have been doing it a long time, and have gone to great lengths to optimize via test/track/tweak and with all that, my overall average is less than half that.

    The things that come to mind are your IP address, and the time frames that you are talking about. It's not impossible that you are sharing an IP with accounts that have been flagged for various possible reasons.

    In terms of time frames, I'm not clear what time scales you're talking about. If you're seeing these results (or lack thereof) over months, that's one thing. If this is over days or weeks, than it is very likely you're 'jumping the gun' on your conclusions.

    Lastly, you mentioned keyword stuffing. If your pages are 'stuffed' with your keyword phrase, meaning the same keyword phrase that's in your title & H! tags is appearing too many times within the content, that's a potential boat anchor on your SERPS.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author loybond
      Thank you for your kind words internetmarketer99. I came to the EXACT SAME conclusion, by experience > that relying on article marketing for traffic is just wrong, and that I want steady, reliable organic search engine traffic.

      I personally have only seen one click over $1, and incidentally that was today. Even in niches that are supposed to be high-paying, I see them in the 50 to 80 cent range. Sometimes, or even often, I get 1 cent , 2 cent or 4 cent clicks on the same site that gives me a 97 cent click the same day. Maybe Google/Adsense considers some of my units or channels to be underperforming, as I've read that can bring down your EPC.

      Do you go after high-paying niches, or do they just average out to $1 just like that?

      CTR is the one thing I'm not concerned about. Almost all the sites I have do 10% or better, and the average is probably 15%. I find that CTR is the easiest element to play with, because you can conduct straightforward tests and find which themes/colours etc work better.

      Could the IP thing really matter? The very first site I opened, some time back is the hosting account I'm using for all the new sites. It was just so attractive - $50/year with unlimited storage/bandwidth/# of domains.

      The timeframe is weeks, a couple of months for the oldest sites (the ones following Josh Spaulding's 5-dollar formula). Maybe I'm jumping the gun here a bit, it's just because of the all the sites I've opened (double-digits now), none have made it on to the first page.

      Any tips on how to determine if the keyword is in fact stuffed?

      Originally Posted by internetmarketer99 View Post

      Hey loybond,

      I also admire your efforts and attitude - which are usually the 'missing components'. With a decent attitude and a willingness to put in the effort, it becomes simply a matter of getting the 'formula' right.

      Just from reading this thread, it sounds like your doing it correctly, but I'll give you some of my thoughts.

      First of all, while I haven't read Josh's 'formula', I can tell you that relying on article marketing for traffic is a mistake. You have the Adsense formula exactly right:

      $$ = # of visitors x CTR x EPC.

      Period.

      Since Adsense is a traffic numbers game, you want reliably steady traffic - organic traffic. Article marketing is too sporadic and unpredictable.

      Next, I can tell you from much experience that it isn't hard to average $1/click. Every one of my Adsense sites averages at least that. If it doesn't, it get's orphaned and those efforts get put back into a different site.

      Second, it is NOT realistic to expect 30% CTR. I have sites that do better than that, but that's the exception. I know what I'm doing, have been doing it a long time, and have gone to great lengths to optimize via test/track/tweak and with all that, my overall average is less than half that.

      The things that come to mind are your IP address, and the time frames that you are talking about. It's not impossible that you are sharing an IP with accounts that have been flagged for various possible reasons.

      In terms of time frames, I'm not clear what time scales you're talking about. If you're seeing these results (or lack thereof) over months, that's one thing. If this is over days or weeks, than it is very likely you're 'jumping the gun' on your conclusions.

      Lastly, you mentioned keyword stuffing. If your pages are 'stuffed' with your keyword phrase, meaning the same keyword phrase that's in your title & H! tags is appearing too many times within the content, that's a potential boat anchor on your SERPS.

      Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author 7_8_shortcuts
      Originally Posted by internetmarketer99 View Post

      Lastly, you mentioned keyword stuffing. If your pages are 'stuffed' with your keyword phrase, meaning the same keyword phrase that's in your title & H! tags is appearing too many times within the content, that's a potential boat anchor on your SERPS.

      Mark
      This was also my original thought when I read the first post here...

      If the right keywords are targeted and backlinked to correctly... then there's still the issue with on-site SEO. I think Google is very good these days in spotting pages that are keyword-stuffed or rather pages that try "really hard" to rank for one specific term. Usually as a result Google replies "..You want that keyword?? You are hammering that into my face now as if there's no tomorrow... so... Screw you!"

      ...or similar :-)

      I think one should not use the exact main keyword of a page more than 2-3 times in the article. The rest should be variations of that keyword in a natural way. Nothing forced. The title tag should also include some extra related keywords, not always everything the same as the H1 tag or the navigation.
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      • Profile picture of the author JackPowers
        Originally Posted by 7_8_shortcuts View Post

        This was also my original thought when I read the first post here...

        If the right keywords are targeted and backlinked to correctly... then there's still the issue with on-site SEO. I think Google is very good these days in spotting pages that are keyword-stuffed or rather pages that try "really hard" to rank for one specific term. Usually as a result Google replies "..You want that keyword?? You are hammering that into my face now as if there's no tomorrow... so... Screw you!"

        ...or similar :-)

        I think one should not use the exact main keyword of a page more than 2-3 times in the article. The rest should be variations of that keyword in a natural way. Nothing forced. The title tag should also include some extra related keywords, not always everything the same as the H1 tag or the navigation.
        Well, I've been working freelance for a rather large local SEO company and they recommend using a higher keyword density than normal for low competition keywords and sticking to the 'rules' for higher competetion.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer99
    Hey loybond,

    If you take a look at my "getting to $100/day" thread I mention some of the high-paying niches. To give you some comparison, most of my clicks average $1, but I have more than a few sites that average $2.50/click. My highest EPC site recently has had clicks up to $9 ea. This isn't average, but that site does average over $2/click.

    Something else comes to mind as I read your posts. One thing I've found is that consistency of effort is imperative.

    I've had sites that I put in an initial 'burst' of effort, then moved on to other sites, and did only sporadic work with. Specifically, I would add a page, SB the page, submit an article or two, then nothing for a few days, then do it again. I found when I did that, it took many months to see progress. I would get an initial boost when the site launched, then the usual drop, then it seemed it was crawling through molasses trying to climb up the SERPS.

    In fact, those sites in some cases did no better than sites that I launched and did nothing further with.

    My point is that all my sites that do well are ones that I'm putting consistent effort in to, at least every other day.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author loybond
      That's interesting because I tend to focus on a few sites at a time. I have been looking at your thread, but will look at it again. Why do you think that this would make such a big difference (i.e slow as molasses to climb vs. not)?

      Originally Posted by internetmarketer99 View Post

      Hey loybond,

      If you take a look at my "getting to $100/day" thread I mention some of the high-paying niches. To give you some comparison, most of my clicks average $1, but I have more than a few sites that average $2.50/click. My highest EPC site recently has had clicks up to $9 ea. This isn't average, but that site does average over $2/click.

      Something else comes to mind as I read your posts. One thing I've found is that consistency of effort is imperative.

      I've had sites that I put in an initial 'burst' of effort, then moved on to other sites, and did only sporadic work with. Specifically, I would add a page, SB the page, submit an article or two, then nothing for a few days, then do it again. I found when I did that, it took many months to see progress. I would get an initial boost when the site launched, then the usual drop, then it seemed it was crawling through molasses trying to climb up the SERPS.

      In fact, those sites in some cases did no better than sites that I launched and did nothing further with.

      My point is that all my sites that do well are ones that I'm putting consistent effort in to, at least every other day.

      Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author loybond
    I forgot to mention that on my product review pages, I title them " KEYWORD - MODEL # REVIEW," and copy/paste that for the description, and for the keywords I use "keyword." Looking at this along with the same sort of AIO SEO setup on the main page, is this keyword stuffing?
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    • Profile picture of the author dv8
      Originally Posted by loybond View Post

      I forgot to mention that on my product review pages, I title them " KEYWORD - MODEL # REVIEW," and copy/paste that for the description, and for the keywords I use "keyword." Looking at this along with the same sort of AIO SEO setup on the main page, is this keyword stuffing?
      Use a tool to find out what percentage your keyword usage is.

      Traffic Travis.
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      • Profile picture of the author Hortensia
        Maybe you should use XSitePro and not WP to build your pages.
        James Schramko can explain very good how to optimize XSP-sites for SEO.
        Write your articles in the first place as content for your site and not for submission to directories.
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        • Profile picture of the author mark@1to101
          I would say that trying to get links from just article directories isn't going to be sufficient.

          Try to get some links from niche related sites too.

          Try using Article Marketing Automation and Unique Article Wizard to distribute your articles. If you're going to be distributing a lot of articles then they are great value for money.

          Don't give up on article marketing because it definitely does work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
    you are finding that this xfactor dude and the like are feeding you hype and BS and that is why you are not seeing the results.
    Article marketing works fine but not for direct traffic. Article marketing should be used for the keyword anchored links you can get. Also, if you think 10 or 20 links will get your rankings on a brand new domain, you are mistaken. Try getting several hundred or a thousand and try buying a preowned domain. Doing this will speed up the process of making money.
    On top of all that, you have to hope you hit a homerun with your sites in order to make money. Anyone who has been doing this for a while knows that you can only hit a homerun with about 25% of the sites you build. The rest never pan out but you can use them for other things. Any of these wannabe gurus who claim that they have 25 sites and ALL of them make big bank are lying straight up.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Bashing again? No one I've seen who knows what they are doing has ever claimed all sites work out profitably.

      Also, every step along the way is important and any changes you make to a plan given to you can change results. Submitting articles is fine (thought not enough by itself) but relies on being able to produce good headlines, interesting articles and great bio boxes.

      What many people totally ignore is the time factor. Adsense isn't instant money and some sites take a significant amount of time to begin earning substantially. So often, every step of any "blueprint" requires mastering the step and then moving to the next one. If your sites aren't getting indexed, that's a problem in itself that needs to be solved.

      If I have 100 keyword ideas iin mind, it's likely only 5-10 will be left after I've done keyword research and that may be down to 4 after I've looked closely at the competition.

      If I build sites for the four niches I've narrowed to, one might do well, one might do so-so and the other two might be losers. Why do it? Because the one doing well in the long run makes up for the others and produces good profit.

      kay
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    • Profile picture of the author cclou
      Originally Posted by Allyn Hane View Post

      you are finding that this xfactor dude and the like are feeding you hype and BS and that is why you are not seeing the results.
      Article marketing works fine but not for direct traffic. Article marketing should be used for the keyword anchored links you can get. Also, if you think 10 or 20 links will get your rankings on a brand new domain, you are mistaken. Try getting several hundred or a thousand and try buying a preowned domain. Doing this will speed up the process of making money.
      On top of all that, you have to hope you hit a homerun with your sites in order to make money. Anyone who has been doing this for a while knows that you can only hit a homerun with about 25% of the sites you build. The rest never pan out but you can use them for other things. Any of these wannabe gurus who claim that they have 25 sites and ALL of them make big bank are lying straight up.
      It is clear that you have never read xfactor's guide, because he doesn't claim any of the things you are saying he does. He does talk about using articles mainly as keyword anchor links. He doesn't say that all of his sites make big bank, unless a couple of dollars a day is what you consider big bank.

      I'm not trying to be the xfactor fan club, but I do think it's unfair that you are accusing him of hype and BS considering his premise is "I make a lot with adsense because I work a lot". Let's give each other advice and help without bashing others.
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    • Profile picture of the author dv8
      Originally Posted by Allyn Hane View Post

      you are finding that this xfactor dude and the like are feeding you hype and BS and that is why you are not seeing the results.
      :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author Lightlysalted
    My view is that you should write content for humans not for search engines. By stuffing and article with keywords it has little effect and Google is more likely to view you as a spammer
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  • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
    not bashing, just answering the question which was "why is everyone else doing better than me?" or something like that. In truth, they are not doing better but people don't wanna look bad so they act like xfactor's stuff works when in reality, it is mostly hype and crap. (meaning his results are highly over-exaggerated)
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  • Profile picture of the author bbenson19
    I have one sites where Google has viewed me as a spammer. And yes it was blocked from their indexes. It was on 2nd page and after this backlink building of keyword stuffing, I can't even see my site on the first 200 pages. It is really complicated and the best way to build backlinks is : Relevance.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
    @cclou read his thread...

    http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...s-learned.html

    =====
    BTW-- you might want to read a little closer and do some math folks. In this thread he talks about his earning $300 from 30+ sites, not hundreds.
    Here is a quote from about 3/4 down the first page on that thread:
    ----

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jspmedia View Post
    "nicely done...how many sites you have now? when do you put your adsense when you create new site?"

    I have 30+ websites.

    Adsense code goes on immediately.
    ====

    $300 per day from 30 brand new sites, is BS and he knows it.
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    • Profile picture of the author cclou
      Originally Posted by Allyn Hane View Post

      I have read that. It says that about $100/day is from a larger, older health niche site. I assume that is part of the $300/day.

      So we have 200/day spread over 30+ sites, which would be about $6/day per site. I don't know how old the sites are, but I imagine a few of them were about 6 months old. I don't really consider that brand new, but maybe you do. Some of those are probably just $1, while a handful of home runs would bring up the average.

      It's a shame that people new to adsense/website creation do compare their results with others, because it can lead to disappointment. I hope no quits when they don't see results right away. We can do great niche and keyword research and make our websites attractive to Google and human visitors, but some of the equation will always be out of our control. That's why we have to do our best, track and test, and keep on working rather than overanalyzing.
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  • Profile picture of the author munstersg01
    don't give up try a variety of backlinks besides article marketing. Take it steady with your backlink velocity you do not wish to be seem as a spammer and get sandbox. It takes awhile for backlinks to be indexed.
    I also recently tried with adsense after reading Xfactor's post. I now have one site (about 3 weeks old) that is rank around 50+ but I am averaging about $1-$3 a day. It takes time to climb the search engine ranks.
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  • Profile picture of the author foxx2000
    do you offer free report to emails?
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  • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
    @cclou -- there is no need for us to keep going back and forth, but even $6 per day average from each site is BS. This is especially true as he admits he places adsense code on them when they are first made, meaning his account will get smart priced. Anyone who REALLY knows adsense knows that you need to focus your keywords right to get the highest payouts and you can't do that until you see what KW are driving the traffic. It is impossible to get this part of the equation correct from the get go... it takes time to see how the sites will shake out.
    And, yes, 6 months is very new for a site. Google will jump your site all over the place for up to a year, and then there is the sandbox factor too.
    Too many variables that he does not mention because he knows his math does not work.
    If he'd have said that he had 100 sites over the course of 18 months and many of them had been preowned, then i could believe his $300 per days claims.
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    • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer99
      Originally Posted by Allyn Hane View Post

      ...

      Anyone who REALLY knows adsense knows that you need to focus your keywords right to get the highest payouts and you can't do that until you see what KW are driving the traffic. It is impossible to get this part of the equation correct from the get go...
      As someone who "REALLY knows adsense" I can tell you that's going about it exactly backwards. You don't throw up pages and wait to see what keywords are driving traffic, at least not if you're objective is Adsense and you know what you're doing.

      You target keywords and base your efforts around them, not the other way around.

      Mark
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      • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
        Originally Posted by internetmarketer99 View Post

        As someone who "REALLY knows adsense" I can tell you that's going about it exactly backwards. You don't throw up pages and wait to see what keywords are driving traffic, at least not if you're objective is Adsense and you know what you're doing.

        You target keywords and base your efforts around them, not the other way around.

        Mark
        really, I think you misunderstood? yes, you target the right keywords from the jump, but you gotta make sure the search engines are sending you the people searching those words big boy...
        in your thinking... you are so good that you can target a keyword and ensure that EVERY person that comes to your site is coming there via that keyword? If so, then you are the Baby Jesus of Adsense.
        Or maybe you are faking your knowledge so let me help you: Adsense ONLY pays you top dollar for laser targeted traffic and that means if you are targeting "cheap red widgets" and your adsense ads are showing from that keyword but people find your site looking for "easy red widgets" and they are clicking on your ads, guess what? that traffic ain't targeted and therefore Google only charges the advertiser a fraction of their bid price, meaning you get paid about 25% of that fraction. ie: .05 clicks.
        Mark--if you know Adsense for real, then you know this, so stop screwing the noobs who read these threads.
        And, before you ask, yes there are ways to only show the adsense ads to the exact search phrases you want to target.
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        • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer99
          Originally Posted by Allyn Hane View Post


          Or maybe you are faking your knowledge so let me help you:
          Thanks for 'helping me out' there, 'big boy'. Faking it? Read some of my threads. You might learn a few things.

          Maybe if you didn't steamroll your way through here with these asinine and insulting posts, you'd be taken a bit more seriously, though I'm guessing that's not real high on your list of priorities.

          Mark
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          • Profile picture of the author Allyn Hane
            Originally Posted by internetmarketer99 View Post

            Thanks for 'helping me out' there, 'big boy'. Faking it? Read some of my threads. You might learn a few things.

            Maybe if you didn't steamroll your way through here with these asinine and insulting posts, you'd be taken a bit more seriously, though I'm guessing that's not real high on your list of priorities.

            Mark
            so do you agree with my assessment of smart pricing? or are you going to hide behind your 988 posts? And, you are right, I don't give a rat's about my rep here... I am just tired of seeing new people get scammed or at least given mis-information. Plus, I get good traffic from this place, surprisingly, noobs like being told the truth by someone who won't cram a bunch of ebooks down their pipes.. go figure.
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