Does anybody here making a full time living out of running adsense sites?

by Amy Wu
20 replies
  • SEO
  • |
It looks like that making a living out of adsense's mercy isn't that doable indeed unless the niche meets some strict requirements.

Most of sites out there do get a lot of traffic either organic or profile driven, but the conversion rate on the clicks is extremely low. Some sites get less than 1% which is completely waste of time and traffic.

One of my sites actually categorized to the above scenario.

My main business isn't related to adsense but some of my previously clients do have adsense as their main revenue source which has been paying them nearly to nothing lately but still the cost of promoting the sites hasn't reduced a bit. In fact it has gone up due to the competition level.

Any thoughts on this topic?
#adsense #full #living #making #running #sites #time
  • Profile picture of the author majortraders
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
      Originally Posted by majortraders View Post

      I have made a $5k+/month income in the past with AdSense but found there are much better, easier ways to make money without relying on Google writing your checks.

      There's too many horror stories about them shutting down accounts to put all your eggs in one basket.
      Yes, I agree with you completely. Some of my clients got hit hard and still fighting for their money. I do hear there are some people out there making a good consistent living with adsense for years. They might have got something unique going on. But based on my experience, only google itself might be able to make a living on adsense since the conversion rate is just not that easy to keep at a 20% level.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
    I think you'd have to be crazy to rely solely on adsense. I don't think it's out of the question to make enough to live on, in theory, just that I wouldn't want to sit there waiting for the ban hammer to come down.
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    • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
      Originally Posted by Marc_L View Post

      I think you'd have to be crazy to rely solely on adsense. I don't think it's out of the question to make enough to live on, in theory, just that I wouldn't want to sit there waiting for the ban hammer to come down.
      Yes, nobody wants to sit there waiting for the ban hammer but trust me there are still a lot of people making the same choice every day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
    Is there anybody who can claim their living is based on Adsense solely here on this forum?
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    • Profile picture of the author Welsh Warrior
      Originally Posted by Amy Wu View Post

      Is there anybody who can claim their living is based on Adsense solely here on this forum?
      Until recently, yes. I run many, many micro niche adsense sites and bring in about $4k a month doing so...maybe not huge money but it has been enough for me.

      I've been worried about having all my eggs in one basket though and in the last 2 months have been trying to diversify my income streams, to limited success (learning the ropes with other types of marketing atm).
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      • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
        Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior View Post

        Until recently, yes. I run many, many micro niche adsense sites and bring in about $4k a month doing so...maybe not huge money but it has been enough for me.

        I've been worried about having all my eggs in one basket though and in the last 2 months have been trying to diversify my income streams, to limited success (learning the ropes with other types of marketing atm).
        Wow, that sounds not bad at all with $4k a month. Can you tell me how many micro niche sites are you running? Based on the current industry (the IM industry) conversion rate, you might need at least 2000 sites to reach that level. Am I right?
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        • Profile picture of the author Welsh Warrior
          Originally Posted by Amy Wu View Post

          Wow, that sounds not bad at all with $4k a month. Can you tell me how many micro niche sites are you running? Based on the current industry (the IM industry) conversion rate, you might need at least 2000 sites to reach that level. Am I right?
          No. A little over 100. Most make around the $30 a month mark
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          • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
            Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior View Post

            No. A little over 100. Most make around the $30 a month mark
            I am sorry, that was my typo. I meant 200 not 2000. yes, the number you provided actually is somewhat close to the standard. Like you said, we are all looking for other revenue sources nowadays to be prepared.
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          • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
            Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior View Post

            No. A little over 100. Most make around the $30 a month mark
            By the way, what level of SEO work do you apply to your 100 micro niche sites?
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            • Profile picture of the author Welsh Warrior
              Originally Posted by Amy Wu View Post

              By the way, what level of SEO work do you apply to your 100 micro niche sites?
              Onpage - the full works. Title, headers, bolding, italics, underlining, 2% keyword density, images (with full tags etc), tagging, urls with keywords, exact match domains, meta tags, meta description, etc

              Offpage - I build a Squidoo lens, and a couple of articles as guest blogging and an EZA post for article syndication. I then take those articles, spin them and use AMR to submit to hundreds more article sites - all pointed at my tier 1 properties (which of course link to the adsense money site). Many of my micro niches are in the same niche so I have also built wordpress.com blogs and blogspot.com blogs on the subject, working to give them links to get high PR.

              I took a bit of a hit after Panda, but developed more quality content on the site (so they weren't just thin sites but running between 15 and 20 articles), which got them ranking again (using internal linking to maximum effect).

              It's an effort but has paid off. If you do it full time you can knock out 5 or so thin sites in a day, then spend the rest of the week developing quality content to flesh them out. I wait until they rank to run Adsense, just in case.

              Any that don't rank I flip for a few bucks. Never makes back the time invested but helps to get some income for something that I no longer have time for (all sites are targeted to winnable KWs, but after enough effort I think selling to someone who will put the effort in is the best bet).
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              • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
                Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior View Post

                Onpage - the full works. Title, headers, bolding, italics, underlining, 2% keyword density, images (with full tags etc), tagging, urls with keywords, exact match domains, meta tags, meta description, etc

                Offpage - I build a Squidoo lens, and a couple of articles as guest blogging and an EZA post for article syndication. I then take those articles, spin them and use AMR to submit to hundreds more article sites - all pointed at my tier 1 properties (which of course link to the adsense money site). Many of my micro niches are in the same niche so I have also built wordpress.com blogs and blogspot.com blogs on the subject, working to give them links to get high PR.

                I took a bit of a hit after Panda, but developed more quality content on the site (so they weren't just thin sites but running between 15 and 20 articles), which got them ranking again (using internal linking to maximum effect).

                It's an effort but has paid off. If you do it full time you can knock out 5 or so thin sites in a day, then spend the rest of the week developing quality content to flesh them out. I wait until they rank to run Adsense, just in case.

                Any that don't rank I flip for a few bucks. Never makes back the time invested but helps to get some income for something that I no longer have time for (all sites are targeted to winnable KWs, but after enough effort I think selling to someone who will put the effort in is the best bet).
                Well, this level of SEO work can pay back for sure. We have done almost the same amount of time for couple clients but the end result was not as good as they expected. Well, since the expectations were somewhat unreasonable, thus we are trying to stay away from this adsense business. At personally level, we do have some good niche sites running for the residuals. However still thinking about how to money our time better.

                Anyway, thank you for the reply. It looks like we are all on the same page after all, working for google!
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  • Profile picture of the author down
    Can be said that many people rely on adsense revenue. But lately adsense is very vulnerable and worried the publisher with their game. I think the affiliate is a safe way for now.
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  • Profile picture of the author lokergue
    Yes..I've already worked full time with adsense for 1 year..I can buy new car..I can buy anything I want..I'm now looking for another business that as easy as adsense since I worry someday it goes wrong..
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  • Profile picture of the author marshaux
    I have just got onto adsense and am really loving it. First month made just over $4.00 haha this month almost up to $50 so far. I think it's pretty cool due to the lack of work involved and the amount of potential it has! I used to import and have customers and have to hold a lot of stock...so compared to that adsense is a dream.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Wu
    All are good. There are two type of adsense sites.

    1. Dynamic content driven with uniqueness as well as real user participation.

    2. Micro niches with 3 to 5 static pages filled with adsense ad blocks. Pages are keyword optimized at an advanced level.

    My questions are:

    1. Which one will start generating the revenue within the time frame that is acceptable.
    2. Which one is new IMer friendly to get started.
    3. How many of these sites do we need to have the consistent income.

    I am sure there are more questions from others.
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  • Profile picture of the author solarwarrior
    Those who are running adsense now and trying to "google proof" their sites, try to collect their emails so even if your site get push down, you can always email your visitors with CPA offers.
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  • Profile picture of the author EricBaglio
    I've made as much as $2000/mo with Adsense using small niche sites. It's a great way to make money but I would say don't rely solely on it. I've had great months, but I've had bad months too. With Google's algorithm changing all the time, it's not always consistent income.

    Now I diversify a lot more and have sites that promote CPA offers which I run with PPC or Social Media. Soon I'll be in other ventures as well. Never rely on one type of income. This is a sure way to wind up in a lot of hurt.
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    "TAKE ACTION" is the first thing everyone tells you and then they leave it at that. I'll add a second part: TRACK EVERYTHING" - It's the only way to ensure your ACTION leads to results.

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