Adsense Only Sites?

[Aiden Roberts]

OK I know this will sound a little silly but what is a pure Adsense site?

I get the concept and I understand that info/service type sites are better suited but what makes a good Adsense only site?

Will this new ads algo spoil the party, by that I mean ads served up based on your recent searches (I know you can opt out).

Has anyone got any examples of a good Adsense only site they can share, not asking you to share your income secrets but design is what I am interested in.

Have Adsense only sites had their day?

Regards

Aiden

 

[springer]

Take a look on flippa.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Take a look on flippa.

Thanks springer.

 

[Blossom]

I get the concept and I understand that info/service type sites are better suited but what makes a good Adsense only site?

Not just info and service sites, there are plenty of good niches that have a global market but there are no decent affiliate programs that UK people can get accepted into.

All my niche sites except 1 are Adsense only. I've tried affiliate links but they don't seem to work - perhaps because of the niches, or perhaps because they are not purely affiliate/shop based. Google absolutely hates affiliate links, and I want to put as little time into my sites as possible, so Adsense seemed like the best guaranteed way of making money and ranking fairly easily.

If you choose your niche carefully you can get anything from £1 to £60 a click - that's easy money without worrying about cookies, returns, looking at how much you've made compared to how much the actual shop made, waiting forever to get paid, trusting an unknown third party to track sales properly and give you the money etc. At £60, one click a month will get you a payout from Google.

I should clarify here that my sites also earn from guest posting and I also use them for linking purposes so they help in that sense too. But the regular income is Adsense-based.

There are plenty of people who will disagree with me and there are people out there with affiliate sites that do really well without much effort. I think it's down to personal preference really.

Will this new ads algo spoil the party, by that I mean ads served up based on your recent searches (I know you can opt out).

I've actually seen an increase in CPC on some sites, particularly ones that are historically low. I have one site that only tends to make 5p a click, yet this new ads thing seems to have raised it, sometimes above £1 a click. I imagine it's a disadvantage if you're in a highly competitive area, such as insurance, as it's more likely to lower your CPC.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Not just info and service sites, there are plenty of good niches that have a global market but there are no decent affiliate programs that UK people can get accepted into.

All my niche sites except 1 are Adsense only. I've tried affiliate links but they don't seem to work - perhaps because of the niches, or perhaps because they are not purely affiliate/shop based. Google absolutely hates affiliate links, and I want to put as little time into my sites as possible, so Adsense seemed like the best guaranteed way of making money and ranking fairly easily.

If you choose your niche carefully you can get anything from £1 to £60 a click - that's easy money without worrying about cookies, returns, looking at how much you've made compared to how much the actual shop made, waiting forever to get paid, trusting an unknown third party to track sales properly and give you the money etc. At £60, one click a month will get you a payout from Google.

I should clarify here that my sites also earn from guest posting and I also use them for linking purposes so they help in that sense too. But the regular income is Adsense-based.

There are plenty of people who will disagree with me and there are people out there with affiliate sites that do really well without much effort. I think it's down to personal preference really.



I've actually seen an increase in CPC on some sites, particularly ones that are historically low. I have one site that only tends to make 5p a click, yet this new ads thing seems to have raised it, sometimes above £1 a click. I imagine it's a disadvantage if you're in a highly competitive area, such as insurance, as it's more likely to lower your CPC.

Thanks Blossom

As always you have provided very useful information and have convinced me that it is worth ago. I have a couple of names that don't lend themselves to aff links so thought I would explore Adsense. I am currently looking at information around ad placement, overkill and of course the dreaded T&C's.

I have Adsense on most of my sites so far but only the odd advert and all they ever get is trickles so I think it is about time I take a serious look at it.

If you can point me in the direction of any resources or books where I can learn then that would be great, I was considering purchasing the Adsense Code and I have tried the Adsense forums in the past but found them quite cryptic with their replies.

Thanks again Blossom

Aiden

 

[viceroy]

Aiden,
Try having a look at ScottJ's blog (though he seems to have stopped writing?) there is a proper wealth of info on there if you're keen to try some adsense stuff.

 

[mally]

Do a search for Adsense flippers, they do a weekly podcast also. They share the basics of building and selling Adsense sites

 

[jwm]

I should clarify here that my sites also earn from guest posting and I also use them for linking purposes so they help in that sense too. But the regular income is Adsense-based.

Doesn't the use of adsense gve you a large footprint if you are using them to link back to a "money site"

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Aiden,
Try having a look at ScottJ's blog (though he seems to have stopped writing?) there is a proper wealth of info on there if you're keen to try some adsense stuff.

Thanks viceroy I will take a look.

Aiden

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Do a search for Adsense flippers, they do a weekly podcast also. They share the basics of building and selling Adsense sites

Cheers mally

Aiden

 

[vizzo]

Like blossom I can't earn nearly as much from affiliates as from adsense. However I like to use some affiliate links where I can. I use Amazon where they have relevant products as some people won't click an adsense ad, but may click an amazon product link - it also effectively gives me free images on my site!
Google themselves provide plenty of information - make that your first reference. No actually scrap that. Make it your second reference. First go to the adsense terms of service!

 

[vizzo]

Just to pick up a few more points from the original post.
No adsense sites haven't had their day but it is getting harder and harder to earn.
My top tips would be
1. Choose a topic that you are genuinely interested in and can produce some decent content for.
2. Conform rigidly to the adsense terms of service
3. If your site is in a niche where you get about 5p per click, you need to put a lot of effort into getting a small income. So try for sectors earning 50p a click or more (remembering high earnings per click sites are goiung to be in very competitive sectors)
4. Make your ads blend into your site (especially don't use the default blue and green colous) but at the same time not SO blended that people think taht an ad is just your content
5. Experiment with ad formats and sizes. I've found a lot of success with image ads. On my highest earning site i changed from text ads to image ads and my cost per click more than doubled.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Like blossom I can't earn nearly as much from affiliates as from adsense. However I like to use some affiliate links where I can. I use Amazon where they have relevant products as some people won't click an adsense ad, but may click an amazon product link - it also effectively gives me free images on my site!
Google themselves provide plenty of information - make that your first reference. No actually scrap that. Make it your second reference. First go to the adsense terms of service!

I will do I have heard so many scary things about the TOS.

Cheers

Aiden

 

[fresh79]

I will do I have heard so many scary things about the TOS.

Cheers

Aiden

Its not so scary, just remember to
1: display a privacy policy for adsense
2: create more than a 1 page site
3: never never never click on your own ads
4: add your sites to a list of authorised domains in adsense to display your ads
5: be prepared for the day that google suddenly decide that you can no longer display ads without any explanation to you.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Just to pick up a few more points from the original post.
No adsense sites haven't had their day but it is getting harder and harder to earn.
My top tips would be
1. Choose a topic that you are genuinely interested in and can produce some decent content for.
2. Conform rigidly to the adsense terms of service
3. If your site is in a niche where you get about 5p per click, you need to put a lot of effort into getting a small income. So try for sectors earning 50p a click or more (remembering high earnings per click sites are goiung to be in very competitive sectors)
4. Make your ads blend into your site (especially don't use the default blue and green colous) but at the same time not SO blended that people think taht an ad is just your content
5. Experiment with ad formats and sizes. I've found a lot of success with image ads. On my highest earning site i changed from text ads to image ads and my cost per click more than doubled.

Brilliant advice I really appreciate it.

Aiden

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Its not so scary, just remember to

4: add your sites to a list of authorised domains in adsense to display your ads

I think I have it set to disply my ads on any site or something like that, better check?

5: be prepared for the day that google suddenly decide that you can no longer display ads without any explanation to you.

I Know I have heard that so many times, makes you wonder if it's all worth it in the long run but I suppose it's gotta be worth trying.

Cheers

Aiden

 

[Blossom]

If you can point me in the direction of any resources or books where I can learn then that would be great, I was considering purchasing the Adsense Code and I have tried the Adsense forums in the past but found them quite cryptic with their replies.

Thanks again Blossom

Aiden

You're welcome, I would second Adsense Flippers and also add niche pursuits.com in there. Flippa has already been recommended to you; you can find some good niches to replicate that way, but make sure the site owner has stated in the listing that it's all organic traffic to the site.

To add to some of the points being made - I don't think it matters if you're interested in the niche or not; the most important thing is finding the balance between a niche that you can only write 2000 words about before it's exhausted, and a niche that is so broad it's impossible to target every aspect. Always experiment for yourself in terms of colour and placement as different people have different views. Also, don't overstretch yourself. I made one site and got lucky, and then made 4 more and couldn't keep up. I'd stick with one unless you're outsourcing content/link building, and stay with it for at least 3 months to see if it works.

Doesn't the use of adsense gve you a large footprint if you are using them to link back to a "money site"

I guess so but I link carefully and try to vary the back link profiles of each site as much as I can.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Thanks Blossom

I found niche pursuits earlier via Adsense flipper, just trying to figure out how I get podcasts on a Samsung Galaxy, sure I will figure it.

I have been looking at the names I have and am thinking through if they fit the bill for an Adsense site, I really have to many names already so don't want to buy any more just yet. I am going to sleep on these three niches:

disability- I have some suitable names

camping holidays- "" "" ""

solar power - although I know very little about solar power and very competitive subject

The money seems to be in the latter.

I have really enjoyed investigating Adsense sites and appreciate everyone's help and advice.

Regards

Aiden

 

[vizzo]

If you are earning a few £'s a month already with a site, then I would try to maximise that. What i did with my speeding site was check out some keywords with decent monthly exacts and then tailor individual pages to those keywords - (without stuffing it with keywords). It's a hard slog to build a decent sized site if you're not interested in the topic - hence my comment earlier about choosing a topic you are interested in.

I think it will get harder and harder for one page sites or ministies to do well. At the same time i have a policy of trying not to put all my eggs in one basket. This means having a number of different sites on different topics in case one site starts to struggle in Google. It also means trying to use other revenue streams in case it all goes wrong with adsense.