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The adsense UN-guru thread - newbies pay attention

by Kael41
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
First off I'd like to give out this thread to not only act as a means of helping those out there, but also as a means of shortcutting another "i can't make money with adsense" post that I see almost everywhere. Some of you know me, others don't, but just know this: I make "good" money with adsense. I have a deep aversion to those who are held as guru's or refer to themselves as gurus (Can i give myself a nickname too?).

That's all I will say about that. I joke that only three people really know how much I make:
Me, my accountant, and my wife. lol

My wife is actually an adsense success herself. I was in the bathroom getting ready for work one day about 4 years ago and she saw something being mentioned on Good Morning America and said "HONEY! See if this domain is taken yet, they just mentioned something that could be big".

That site earns me about $40/day Partly because I was one of the first to take action on that new thing, put up an authority site (of about 15 pages) and was included on many other sites as a source site because I was one of the first. Backlinks from CNN and NY Times do NOT hurt..that's for sure.

So, yea, my wife was my keyword research lol.

Alright, getting back to my advice. Heed what you will, it's not costing me anything to give it and it's not costing you anything to receive it..

1) Exact keyword domains are still golden. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Tools like "Magic Niche Finder" are worth more than their weight in gold. Conversely, i think this may still be available..and it's free.

Domain Name Availability added to Google Adwords Keyword Tool*|*clickbump.com

2) Once you've identified a micro/macro niche - build out the site. Give the googlebot a reason to keep coming back to your site to index it. Include sections for pictures,videos, articles, rss feeds for news aggregation, ebay ads with your affiliate link in them, and an area for user stories or reviews.

Forget the 5 page mini-sites. You're shooting for some longevity here. I'm not saying the xfactor method is dead..i'm actually advocating that it has evolved.

The basic essence of building a site is to give the user a positive visit. What THAT means is up to you. But put the viewpoint of pyschology into it when you build the site. How would you want to provide data to an end user when they visit your page? What kind of data would you want to see if you were that end user?

And now, once you've answered that...how do you get them to click on those ad links? Many other successful adsense guys/girls i know use misdirection. Just give them enough content to MAKE them click the ads for more info about what they're reading.

You ever wonder why sites with spun, garbage articles don't really convert well in terms of income? Here's a hint: the content wasn't written with the psychological intent I'm talking about....

3) Which theme to use? Whatever one you think will convert the ads for you. Again, its about having the ads "above the fold" and integrating them into the content display somehow. You need to test. Don't ever listen to someone as a defacto instructor. Take what they say, implement it and test. You may find that for one of your sites, 2 ad blocks work up top instead of one....

4) Joomla, Wordpress, Straight html are all fine for making money with adsense.

5) Backlinking: essential and crucial. I will always advocate automation when used correctly. You'll get to a point when you have so much online real estate that either:
A) You'll outsource a lot of work
B) You'll handle the backlinking tasks yourself using tools

Article marketing, blog postings, forum profiles are all FINE for backlink generation.

Ok, I need to jet now for some shopping, but i'll be back on later. Hope this helps somebody just starting out, or is either dejected from having their sites not earn them any money.

Oh, by the way, from my experience in helping friends make money with adsense: it's a numbers game that you need to approach with a business perspective. You figure you build 10 sites, 5 may be duds, 3 may earn something, and 2 may be your money-earners. So as a biz expense they figured on 10 domain names ($78), the cost of hosting, content production and then the cost of backlinking for exposure.

When you approach it as a business and not as a hobby, things will start to become much clearer in the long run.

Now, I've already anticipated a bunch of questions my way, but before you ask me anything. Tell me WHY you think you're not earning money. I'll present a condensed version of an explanation back:
1) Lack of good, directed content
2) Lack of good traffic
3) No exposure online

Tell me which one you fit into, or if I missed it, why you think you're not making money.

Kael
#adsense #attention #newbies #pay #thread #unguru
  • Profile picture of the author Cosmo Demopoulos
    Originally Posted by Kael41 View Post

    . . .
    it's a numbers game that you need to approach with a business perspective. You figure you build 10 sites, 5 may be duds, 3 may earn something, and 2 may be your money-earners. . . .

    Kael
    My biggest problem is dropping the duds and focusing on the winners!
    Signature
    Wine - bubbles and more
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    • Profile picture of the author SolutionPLus
      Originally Posted by Ted Demopoulos View Post

      My biggest problem is dropping the duds and focusing on the winners!
      Am enlightened by your write-up here. But i have a question. I've been told that one sure way to make more income consistently with Ad-sense is through the "Parked Domain" program by Google. But am yet to begin to see some results. Was i wrong?
      My Parked domain is here: tips2makemoneyonline.co.cc
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  • Profile picture of the author mejohn
    I'm on pace for my second straight month of over $300 with Adsense. I haven't done much with it for a while until the last few weeks. I was inspired by recent increases and have been working at least one article giveaway/linkbuilding per day. I know the results of efforts generally take about six weeks or so, so I am expecting a huge increase within the next month.
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    Here's something I think is worth bearing in mind, for those who are already putting in the work on Adsense sites:

    For all the figures people talk about pertaining to the percentage of traffic various SERPs placements on Google page #1 are likely to command, I think a person would do well not get too caught up for too long, in too many cases, in trying to improve one's rankings once one is on Page 1.

    So many people will make a decision about which site to click not based on its proximity to the top of the page, but by the perceived relevance / interest of the title/description. If they're relevant and interesting to the searcher, you should, in theory, receive more clicks than even the site above you by a couple of places that looks only loosely relevant at best, or spammy at worst. Even in times when all sites seem equally relevant, a higher page 1 ranking does not necessarily = more traffic.

    Often times, it may take only a few backlinks to rank a micro-niche site on Google page 1, position 5 (for the purposes of an example), but it may take considerably more effort to increase your ranking to a higher position. It's possible that the amount of extra traffic you will receive by jumping up one or two slots wouldn't be as much (or indeed generate as much additional revenue) as would securing another ranking for another keyword.

    So yes, it's a numbers game, and anyone who does any consistent work will likely see an increase in earnings, but one would do well to know what numbers are of signifiance and when, and attempt to gauge in what cases it is worthwhile exerting effort to increase an existing ranking versus simply moving onto another keyword.

    Consistent action / hard work is good, but take some time to examine where you're channeling your efforts from time-to-time.

    In many cases I'd much rather focus on ranking reasonably well say 2 keyword phrases per day than spending 7+ days on a single keyword, trying to build enough links to reach position 1 outright before moving on - only to be disappointed at the results of my effort both in terms of my actual rankings and the monetary returns.
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    • Profile picture of the author mejohn
      Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

      Here's something I think is worth bearing in mind, for those who are already putting in the work on Adsense sites:

      For all the figures people talk about pertaining to the percentage of traffic various SERPs placements on Google page #1 are likely to command, I think a person would do well not get too caught up for too long, in too many cases, in trying to improve one's rankings once one is on Page 1.

      So many people will make a decision about which site to click not based on its proximity to the top of the page, but by the perceived relevance / interest of the title/description. If they're relevant and interesting to the searcher, you should, in theory, receive more clicks than even the site above you by a couple of places that looks only loosely relevant at best, or spammy at worst. Even in times when all sites seem equally relevant, a higher page 1 ranking does not necessarily = more traffic.

      Often times, it may take only a few backlinks to rank a micro-niche site on Google page 1, position 5 (for the purposes of an example), but it may take considerably more effort to increase your ranking to a higher position. It's possible that the amount of extra traffic you will receive by jumping up one or two slots wouldn't be as much (or indeed generate as much additional revenue) as would securing another ranking for another keyword.

      So yes, it's a numbers game, and anyone who does any consistent work will likely see an increase in earnings, but one would do well to know what numbers are of signifiance and when, and attempt to gauge in what cases it is worthwhile exerting effort to increase an existing ranking versus simply moving onto another keyword.

      Consistent action / hard work is good, but take some time to examine where you're channeling your efforts from time-to-time.

      In many cases I'd much rather focus on ranking reasonably well say 2 keyword phrases per day than spending 7+ days on a single keyword, trying to build enough links to reach position 1 outright before moving on - only to be disappointed at the results of my effort both in terms of my actual rankings and the monetary returns.
      My experience has been very opposite to what you are recommending here. I have only been doing adsense seriously for about a year now, but have been doing product-based websites for more than three years. When I got to #1 position in Google for my keywords, I saw a huge jump in traffic. When I hit #1 and #2 for the same keywork, I saw another 50% increase in traffic. The high spots are not easy to achieve, but are well-worth it when you do.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Really, once again, we get short changed on the title of the thread.

      Not much in the way of actually making money with adsense.
      More of a personal spiel on how to set up a website.

      Making money with adsense is a whole different ballgame.

      Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you have to test, test, test.
      Then test again.

      I'll second Yukon, not so much on forum traffic, but from traffic other
      than google. More targeted.

      You have to have everything fall into place: targeted traffic, targeted
      ads, semi-decent content, placement, etc., etc., etc.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author Kael41
        I'm sorry you feel that way, and actually i've gotten a bunch of thank you's in my PM, so really..who have I exactly short changed? My personal "spiel" is actually a great schematic for including certain elements on a site that allow for a better buildout of a site (for longevity purposes) and allows for better traffic inclusion through tags/video's/product names via ebay and the like.

        You say making money with adsense is a whole different game. Well, of course it is. Welcome to the big boy world when your portfolio scales in 100's of sites, macro/micro/authority/forums/download sites/etc. Guess what you have to to do in order to achieve certain financial goals? That's right. Test. And more importantly, have a repeatable and trackable plan.

        Put the financial resources into your business up front, put a plan into action, and then track it like you'd like track the books on a real brick and mortar business.

        Kael



        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        Really, once again, we get short changed on the title of the thread.

        Not much in the way of actually making money with adsense.
        More of a personal spiel on how to set up a website.

        Making money with adsense is a whole different ballgame.

        Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you have to test, test, test.
        Then test again.

        I'll second Yukon, not so much on forum traffic, but from traffic other
        than google. More targeted.

        You have to have everything fall into place: targeted traffic, targeted
        ads, semi-decent content, placement, etc., etc., etc.

        Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author calfred
    Since we're doing AdSense sites, we gotta be careful of our backlinks, making sure they're healthy and not spamming with automation tools, right?

    How do you see a bum marketer writing 10 unique articles daily and submitting them manually to as many as 10 - 20 major article directories over the course of one month?

    Using this free method, how long do you expect it to rank for a:

    - easy keyword
    - medium difficulty keyword
    - hard keyword

    for ranking an EMD and a page.

    How many keywords can one realistically rank in ONE month using this free, hand submitted 10 articles method?

    I'm sure this advice will add value to your thread title for beginners alike.

    I know questions like this is relative and subjective to everybody. But, it always helps if you, the big boy in AdSense can chime in with your experience.

    Beginners can really leverage on your specific knowledge on backlinks, which is something not talked about, especially the number of backlinks.
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    Please do not use affiliate links in signatures

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    • Profile picture of the author Kael41
      Good questions, and one tempered with perspective. When I first started building sites out, everything was done by hand. There weren't any popular automation tools at that time. So the numbers I tell you NOW, will have no bearing on what I did then. I almost exclusively do not hand submit anything anymore, most of my tasks are outsourced or automated by me. But, general principals still apply-

      10 unique articles, submitted to 10-20 article directories doesn't give me much hope that the site will see a backlink. You're going to hope that the site accepts and approves the link and then makes it visible to the public, right? So at this point then it's a numbers game. The more articles you get out there, unique and handwritten OR handspun (not automated), the more chances you have of getting a an article site to register your article and get a backlink listed for you.

      It's extremely hard to forecast in how many weeks/months you'll be able to rank for an easy/medium/hard keyword. I have ZERO idea of what your competition looks like. I've thrown up a 15 page site and had it rank, and stick, on the 1st page of google after 2 weeks. No articles submitted, no other submissions done except for a sitemap to allow google to parse through my site as easy as possible. Granted, it was a deep niche product site, but i still attracted the end user and made a mere couple of cents per day with it...

      Not to poo-poo your questions, as they're good questions, but it's all about context. Who is your competition, where does your site exist now in the serps, and what article directories are you targeting? Is that your only means of backlink generation?

      I gave up on pure article directory submissions years ago as my only source of backlink generation. Back in the day, it was the website directory craze. Then it moved to article directories, and now it's moved, in my honest opinion not just into the web 2.0 site area, but in the multi-faceted area that includes all manners of spectrum backlinking.

      Articles
      Press Releases
      Microtwitter/Microblogging Sites
      Bookmarking
      DocSites
      Forum Profile Linking
      Forum Posting

      and a whole host of others. Don't get me wrong, you *may* be able to rank well for a term depending on what the target is, how it's being attacked by others in the space, and how well you're targeting it yourself.

      I'd just want to finish this post also with referencing the "making sure they're healthy and not spamming with automation tools" statement. I don't believe that google cares as much as people think about where these links are coming from. I do believe that google gives and passes more credence to those links that are within the same subject matter realm as the site you are listing, but in general, a backlink is a backlink. Google's algorithm for site inclusion and search engine placement is automated. Remember that. It's only the manual review of sites where google may find issue with what your site looks like where you can get hit with the banhammer.

      Don't be afraid to automate. For the most part, you can control where and what content gets placed. Unless you go extreme, get a vps or dedi server and kick off some xrumer blasts 24x7.

      You always, always, always want more backlinks than you have. As a quickie, take the top 3 sites for a keyword you're trying to rank for and input them here with your own site:

      http://tools.seobook.com/general/linkpop/

      Take a look at what they have compared to you. Now, I'm not saying that's the only reason why they're beating you..it's not, by far. But it's a valid piece of the pie.

      Now, let's couple that with the type of backlinks we need. We need backlinks from various resources with a mixture of backlink titles. If my site is about lindsay lohan, i'd want backlinks called "lindsay lohan in jail" "lindsay in trouble again" "lindsay lohan mom". I've talked to a bunch of people who make the same mistake and just create backlinks with one keyword term. Ya need to mix it up. Get a long tail keyword report on your subject matter and start building links back with those longtail keywords. The more longtail keywords that you can get backlinks for, the more you'll just provide one more outlet for others to find your site through the SERPS


      Originally Posted by calfred View Post

      Since we're doing AdSense sites, we gotta be careful of our backlinks, making sure they're healthy and not spamming with automation tools, right?

      How do you see a bum marketer writing 10 unique articles daily and submitting them manually to as many as 10 - 20 major article directories over the course of one month?

      Using this free method, how long do you expect it to rank for a:

      - easy keyword
      - medium difficulty keyword
      - hard keyword

      for ranking an EMD and a page.

      How many keywords can one realistically rank in ONE month using this free, hand submitted 10 articles method?

      I'm sure this advice will add value to your thread title for beginners alike.

      I know questions like this is relative and subjective to everybody. But, it always helps if you, the big boy in AdSense can chime in with your experience.

      Beginners can really leverage on your specific knowledge on backlinks, which is something not talked about, especially the number of backlinks.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2746134].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author biggame5
    My biggest problem is not getting traffic. What is EMD?
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    • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
      Originally Posted by biggame5 View Post

      My biggest problem is not getting traffic. What is EMD?
      EMD = Exact Match Domain

      So the EMD for a main keyword phrase of "caramac candy bars" would be caramaccandybars.com, .net, .org, or whatever other TLD, with no prefix/suffix, hyphens or anything else to dillute its relevence to your main keyword.
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