Adsense...a drug I wish I never took

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Adsense is a drug. At least it was for me.

The problem is that I had success with it right away and started making good money. That doesn't sound like a problem, but it is. It is a problem because

1. It wasn't a long term business model
2. It made me lazy..

I didn't have to do anything much, the checks kept coming in. It made me totally lazy. I held off creating products and looking for other ways to bring revenue. They looked so hard and took so much time compared to Adsense. I look back and think how much better base I would have now if I had not found Adsense, or at least, didn't let it take over.
Eventually Adsense turned into a turkey. Then Google killed my account for an unknown reason. Talk about building a house on sand.

FYI: The WSO section could be your drug. I see many who do nothing but create WSO's. I'm not sure that is healthy.
#adsensea #drug
  • Profile picture of the author misterwrecker
    Only creating WSOs may not be the best plan but it sure beats just buying them and not taking action.


    -John
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    • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zimmerman
      With adsense, I just couldn't take the chance that one day google could just flush everything I've done down the toilet like that. It's happened to to many people.

      The WSO section, while I wouldn't build a business around it, there are def. some people who are making a living at it. Some have put out 15 WSO's a year and more. I've put out two and I can tell you that from the money you can make from them, if they are good, you can def. build a full time income like that.
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      • Profile picture of the author lenlatimer
        Hi,
        It's a shame Google treats it's best customers this way. Google figures you, the paying customer, is less important that the free search customer - doesn't make a lot of sense. But there decision appear arbitrary made in their Ivory tower. And they don't give you any info to help.

        There's a lot of information on getting around the Google Slaps that may could help you. You might try some of those things - it appears Google has decided it doesn't like simple squeeze pages - and want more content. Good luck.
        Signature

        Len Latimer
        Copy-In-A-Box, an amazing Word Add-in Tool that adds Dazzle & Personality to your copy. My WSO

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      • Profile picture of the author steve39
        I also found it really hard to pour my heart and soul into something that could be snatched away so easy. Fortunately, Google decided to take my account a few months back, before I managed to build my adsense empire to any significant size. In a way, they did me a huge favor and prevented me from wasting countless hours.

        I was depressed at first, but in retrospect, it was the best thing that could have happened. Funny, I used to always roll my eyes at people who came on forums complaining that their adsense account had been deleted - thinking that they were obviously doing something wrong. I thought there was no way I'd ever get touched because I had my account since the program started, my sites were professional and loaded with original content, and I followed the TOS religiously.

        Well, the truth is that they can, and will, take your account at their discretion.
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    • Profile picture of the author steveweber
      I know what you mean for sure....I wrote an article 2 or 3 years ago: "Addicted to Adsense".

      I try to always remind my students they shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket....Especially Google's. Not only do you severely limit yourself by just focusing on AdSense, your entire business model is hoping Google never gets a hair and suspends your account for some reason.
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by misterwrecker View Post

      Only creating WSOs may not be the best plan but it sure beats just buying them and not taking action.


      -John
      I agree. And it sure beats AdSense.

      George Wright
      Signature
      "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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  • Profile picture of the author XFactor
    Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post

    Adsense is a drug. At least it was for me.

    The problem is that I had success with it right away and started making good money. That doesn't sound like a problem, but it is. It is a problem because

    1. It wasn't a long term business model
    2. It made me lazy..

    I didn't have to do anything much, the checks kept coming in. It made me totally lazy. I held off creating products and looking for other ways to bring revenue.
    It had the opposite effect on me - Adsense made me work want to
    work even harder, longer and smarter.

    - John
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    • Profile picture of the author Brian Johnson
      Originally Posted by XFactor View Post

      It had the opposite effect on me - Adsense made me work want to
      work even harder, longer and smarter.

      - John
      John,

      Agreed, I find that too many marketers are willing to
      write off Adsense simply because they do not see all the
      positive factors of the program.

      Generally speaking I have found that easy "push button" solutions
      are not true business models. The key is to work smart, use
      automation in a white hat way.

      Use scripts and software that save time, and then actually
      use that time to create more.

      I had the best adsense day in a while yesterday, nearly
      $300 as I have heavily targeted Halloween for years.
      I expect to hit $300 in the coming days.

      Best,
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      • Profile picture of the author Dahlgren
        Brian,

        Are you saying that you attribute your near-$300 adsense day, yesterday, mainly to Halloween?

        Originally Posted by Brian Johnson View Post

        John,

        I had the best adsense day in a while yesterday, nearly
        $300 as I have heavily targeted Halloween for years.
        I expect to hit $300 in the coming days.

        Best,
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    • Profile picture of the author Dahlgren
      John, that would be hard for the OP to do given that G00gle knocked his adsense account into the abyss.

      Originally Posted by XFactor View Post

      It had the opposite effect on me - Adsense made me work want to
      work even harder, longer and smarter.

      - John
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  • Profile picture of the author tommen
    Adsense can be a good income stream, but very unsure, they can shut you down just like that.So, you need to have additional income streams and affiliate marketing keeps one busy.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Brown
    I have often looked into Adsense but never did start anything with it. I was planning adding it to a new website, but after reading some of the comments here I am having doubts.

    I guess I'll "fill up" the spaces with something affiliated :-)

    Regards

    Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author trishworks4u
      I've never made more than $25 off of adsense but have never really tried.

      Excellent advice though. I get very very uneasy when I start to feel that all (or most) of my online income is coming from one place, one niche, or one strategy.

      It's at that point that I start looking around for some diversification options....and with IM there's plenty!
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  • Profile picture of the author Cataleya
    hmmm....I was thinking about doing some adsense along with article marketing I usually do, but after reading this, I`m not so sure anymore...
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  • Profile picture of the author Adam Carn
    A long long time ago I used to make an absolute killing with AdSense but then one day, suddenly I got an email from Google informing me that my account has been banned. Their reason? "Invalid Clicks." Suggesting I've been clicking on my own ads. Now I didn't make a killing clicking on my own ads that's for sure.

    Adam
    Signature
    Taking a break...
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  • Profile picture of the author Shellfish
    If you are a serious player like XFactor and if big G for some inexplicable reason shut you down there are a number of ways to open another account(s). You would be surprised at the number that have multiple independent current accounts to foresee challenges such as those described above. It's ok to keep all your eggs in one basket. Just be sure you have plenty of foam around each egg.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hyaku_Man
      Good advice. It's important to diversify and keep developing new income streams. A person with only one income stream is very prone to going broke.

      I like Adsense because the checks arrive without hassle and my Japanese bank knows who Google is so they don't freak out and investigate the source of the money, etc. But I've never seen Adsense as my business. It's one monetization strategy within my business.

      I do Adsense, CPA offers, and some recurred billing membership sites. I'm looking forward to making my own products in the future (not IM niche).
      Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
    Reading the above, made me realize that half of my income is 100% dependent of adsense and while i'm 1000% tos compliant, i'm a bit worried now. Also i have put SO MUCH work for my 4 websites and i will be in a hard situation if google ever slaps me.

    But i have no idea what else i could do.

    btw: i see a LOT of mfa or junk websites in the niche i work in (travel) and they all run adsense for at least 2 years (that i know they do). Most of them also violate some tos rules. I can't understand how can google ban a legitimate account and leave those crap sites stay.

    Sounds strange to me. Could be because those websites make pennies ?
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  • Profile picture of the author AvidAZ
    What does WSO stand for?
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    • Profile picture of the author Hyaku_Man
      Originally Posted by AvidAZ View Post

      What does WSO stand for?
      Warrior Special Offer. Products sold only to Warriors.

      To the guys above who had their accounts shut down, was that during the arbitrage crackdown?
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  • Profile picture of the author fortony
    Isn't there some kind of appeal process?? No recourse at all?

    Has anyone tried the other ad services? If so, how do they compare to Adsense?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dahlgren
      Unfortunately, there is no negotiating with G00gle. They're too big to care, and you're too little to matter. Sad but true.

      Originally Posted by fortony View Post

      Isn't there some kind of appeal process?? No recourse at all?

      Has anyone tried the other ad services? If so, how do they compare to Adsense?
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  • Profile picture of the author pierro
    I only had my adsense account for 1 week, accumulated $60.00, then came home one day switched on the pc to check account and wamo! cancelled account. Don't know why but after checking on forums and such for possible reasons I realized that I wasn't the only one, a matter of fact the list was huge and growing. I even read of some cases where people had their accounts cancelled at $10,000!
    cheers,pierro
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  • Profile picture of the author crystalq
    I was addicted until I found the eBays partner network(actually I use the 2 together .)
    Anyway, ebay works in the same way. They can take your account away whenever they want!

    I have plan b'z now, so if one gives me the chop I can replace them fast.
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    • Profile picture of the author excloc
      Reading all these sure make me worried. I have been running 33 sites on adsense for 1 year plus. All my visitors are jobseekers. What can I sell them?
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      • Profile picture of the author John Hixson
        Originally Posted by excloc View Post

        Reading all these sure make me worried. I have been running 33 sites on adsense for 1 year plus. All my visitors are jobseekers. What can I sell them?
        A Cv writing service
        A CV writing guide
        An interview guide
        A job hunters guide
        A benefits guide
        A guide to making money online

        Don't believe there is no money in job seekers. These are desperate people who will buy. Just make sure you are giving a quality, honest product that will help them (ok, not essential, but the only way i would be able to sleep at night when taking money from unemployed people).

        A guide to job hunting, CV writing and interviewing could be worth its weight in gold to some people, it is amazing how many people go about job hunting in a 'bad' and ill thought out manner, or don't know how to write a CV, or don't know how to interview well, etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
        Originally Posted by excloc View Post

        Reading all these sure make me worried. I have been running 33 sites on adsense for 1 year plus. All my visitors are jobseekers. What can I sell them?
        I have no idea what you could sell to them but i do know that if i had 33 websites, i would definitely SPLIT them to 3-4 other accounts.
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        • Profile picture of the author excloc
          Thanks for your advice. Do I have to tick the box(for another account) i am opening another adsense account when registering. if I do not, will adsense use it as an excuse to suspend my account?

          Originally Posted by cagliostro View Post

          I have no idea what you could sell to them but i do know that if i had 33 websites, i would definitely SPLIT them to 3-4 other accounts.
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          • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
            Originally Posted by excloc View Post

            Thanks for your advice. Do I have to tick the box(for another account) i am opening another adsense account when registering. if I do not, will adsense use it as an excuse to suspend my account?
            This is something i would also like to know. If we have one account with several websites, how can we safely split them ?
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            • Profile picture of the author Hyaku_Man
              You're not allowed to have more than one account, guys. If you really really need one, you need to use a different credit card, give them a different address, and use a different computer because they can see not only your ip address but other details that can identify your computer specifically. You really have to hide your identity from them.

              But..some people do it. It's just a big pain in the ass. And who knows, maybe if you place Adsense back onto the same sites that got you banned, they'd just ban you again.
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              • Profile picture of the author John Hixson
                Originally Posted by Hyaku_Man View Post

                You're not allowed to have more than one account, guys. If you really really need one, you need to use a different credit card, give them a different address, and use a different computer because they can see not only your ip address but other details that can identify your computer specifically. You really have to hide your identity from them.

                But..some people do it. It's just a big pain in the ass. And who knows, maybe if you place Adsense back onto the same sites that got you banned, they'd just ban you again.
                Now I am just brainstorming here so i could be missing something obvious BUT

                Can't you have a few Ltd companies set up, with various bank accounts - running seperate adsense accounts?

                Look at it this way (with regards IP addresses, computers etc), it is not unreasonable for a company to hire another company to hire all their online activitiy - including running adverts such as adsense. So one ltd company can be running adsense for various websites for various different ltd companies all from the same IP and computer network.

                Is the simple creation of various ltd accounts enough degree of seperation?

                Now obviously if an account is banned you would have to be stupid to put someone elses adsense code on the site - especially numerous sites from the same account with new accounts all from the same (but new) adsense account... you would have to mark those sites as written off with regards adsense.

                But it would seem to me a sensible way around one per person. I think I am right in saying (though you would need to consult a professional) that in the eyes of the law a ltd company is treated as an individual, rather than the people who owned it, unless fraud has taken place - meaning that you are effectively setting up new accounts with new people.

                I could of course be taking out of my backside, as I said I am just brainstorming (and half remembering a few things I read somewhere but don't recall where)
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        • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
          Banned
          Originally Posted by cagliostro View Post

          I have no idea what you could sell to them but i do know that if i had 33 websites, i would definitely SPLIT them to 3-4 other accounts.
          And that, ultimately is why people lose their Adsense accounts: Because they're breaking the rules. You just told a guy who is worried about losing his account to do something that can make him lose his account(s).

          If you aren't breaking the rules, the likelihood that you'll lose your account is slim. Could it happen? Sure. Clickbank could kill your account too. So could Paypal. So could your merchant account. So could EzineArticles. There are no guarantees in business, or life. Instead of worrying about Google killing your business, I'd be more concerned about the government doing it.
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          • Profile picture of the author jimkirk1943
            [QUOTE=Black Hat Cat;1332274]If you aren't breaking the rules, the likelihood that you'll lose your account is slim.

            Now thats more like it !! Christ reading threads like this gives me a real low feeling but i just cannot help myself from reading them ! Im going to finish this thread with this comment "If you aren't breaking the rules, the likelihood that you'll lose your account is slim." And just belive lol
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      • Profile picture of the author ak2000
        Originally Posted by excloc View Post

        Reading all these sure make me worried. I have been running 33 sites on adsense for 1 year plus. All my visitors are jobseekers. What can I sell them?
        Hi Exloc
        I sell a product helping jobseekers succeed at investment banking interviews, would you be interested in a JV?
        Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author TomBond
    Traffic is the key ingredient. It doesn't matter if Google suspends your Adsense account because if you've got quality traffic you can monetize it in any number of ways. Adsense is probably just the easiest for newbies to set up, but it doesn't mean it's the most profitable for you and your traffic.

    Look outside the box and you'll be amazed at what you may find
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    • Profile picture of the author cagliostro
      Originally Posted by distinctly_digital View Post

      Traffic is the key ingredient. It doesn't matter if Google suspends your Adsense account because if you've got quality traffic you can monetize it in any number of ways. Adsense is probably just the easiest for newbies to set up, but it doesn't mean it's the most profitable for you and your traffic.

      Look outside the box and you'll be amazed at what you may find

      Well, if you are unfortunate to live in a country other than the big and strong ones, you are in trouble. Most non-adsense systems do NOT support minor countries.
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  • Profile picture of the author promo_guy
    I can't stress enough to a) not get lazy and b) don't keep all your eggs in one basket unless it's Easter.

    I got lucky my first stab at IM, within 4 months I was making $30k/month sometimes more, in pure profit. It allowed me to get a house, live comfortably, etc. for a couple years. But, I didn't diversify. I mean, when you make that much and only work a couple hours per day, who wants to work? lol

    But, the past 2 years have meant working long days, making a mere fraction as before, and now I am trying to get back to that point (or better) through diversification, outsourcing, and so on.

    I've learned more about IM AFTER my income died than I did when I was "successful". I'll never rely on one income source again, even if I find one that returns a superb ROI. Adsense, CPA, even your own products won't last forever.

    So, the journey continues...
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  • Profile picture of the author werner77
    Scott

    My story was exactly like yours and wish that I spent the year I built adsense sites on my current long term model!
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  • Profile picture of the author DrGUID
    YieldBuild might be a good way to diversify away from AdSense - it can plug other ad networks into your site and thereby reduce risk somewhat. My site isn't big enough yet but it also optimises ads to show the most lucrative ad network for your pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author outrageousmktg
    Lesson learned was "even though we are building enough money, we still need to have a plan B when everything goes wrong".
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