I cannot believe that we’re only days away from Thanksgiving. This year has been a whirlwind for me as my wife and I moved from Minnesota to Colorado, I launched two products (Auto Content Cash and Halloween Super Affiliate), I was misfortune enough to lose my AdSense account which was on a fast track to hit $75,000+ this year and, as if all that was not enough, Google had de-indexed several hundred of my sites.
If you passionately want to become an Internet marketer, click on the link that will take you to Brian G. Johnson’s Free Mini Internet Marketing Course.
Yet I had made more money than ever before. Yes indeed, it was quite an interesting year.
I am sitting in my new office while writing this blog post and enjoying the views of Cheyenne Mountain. This is the first time in nearly three years that I have no need to work on a new product launch. So I am giving myself the opportunity to get back into that which I really love and that is creating passive online income by combining the power of free search engine traffic with affiliate programs and/or AdSense. Along the way I will be sharing some of my marketing ideas and strategies on this very site in hopes that it helps others on their path to financial freedom.
Creating products and selling them online has certainly made me some serious income this year. However, it is passive income which I enjoy best. Until my recent debacle with AdSense, which had fortunately been resolved by now, a number of my websites generated solid income since 2003; day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Regardless of how much or how little work I put into those sites, they continued to produce. Granted, each of them only brought in between $250 and $400 per month and that is certainly not a job-ending income. However, when multiplying that kind of income from a number of sites, the proceeds can become substantial (image below).
Thus, several weeks ago I initiated the process of once again creating that potentially lucrative passive income stream. I started by implementing new themes across my freshly launched sites and followed by incorporating the AdSense code, the result?
Earnings of about 67 cents …
Of course, 67 cents in not worth write home about, but it’s important to keep in mind that anything worthwhile takes time to develop through the exertion of energy and concentrated focus. Having been launched as very simply, one page site that contain just a handful of outbound links and nothing else, these new websites have already been online for about two months.
So, what am I doing with them? What am I focusing on? How am I maneuvering them?
Although, in the past six month, Google has made the process of getting ranked onto their first page more challenging, it is by no means impossible. In fact, many of my brand new sites are already ranking on page two, three or four of the Google SERPs.
You need to know that these sites are geared toward tremendously competitive niche markets. Actually, one of them is competing for a two-word search term with more than 60 million results and it has been bouncing on and off Google’s page two. To build these sites, I am mostly using old school tactics while also applying some new video marketing strategies that are paying off quite well. (Stay tuned because I will be posting more about video marketing in the coming days). To add more functionality to my sites and to bring their content up to higher levels, I have also been leveraging a few new WordPress plugins.
Return of the Authority Site!
I have been building websites for ten years now — some have offered more value to visitors while other have offered less, some were large while others were rather small. Most of my first sites were massively large and that is what I am focusing on again while building my new sites.
AdSense is a very, very viable business model!
Yes, there is some risk involved here. After all, every business must face at least a few risk factors and anyone who has ever made substantial money has also had to suffer some setbacks. I had overcome numerous setbacks myself because I always know that, in the end, I will win. Right now, with these new sites under my belt, I am heading in a great direction. I am adding value to the web which is proven through the results of Google Analytics and I am giving visitors what they are looking for which is again proven by the fact that people are hanging out on those sites.
How is your AdSense business doing? Let me know by posting below.
Best,
We have had our Adsense account since April 2010.
It has been slow, but we now have $50.25 in our account.
We look forward to this multiplying as we build our sites, build links and add time.
Thanks, Brian for your tips and sharing your experience with us.
Thanks for this post, Brian. I’ve just started building sites to make money with Adsense, and made $1.50 the other day, which thrilled me.
But now I’m deeply concerned.
Why were hundreds of your sites de-indexed?
Why did you lose your Adsense account?
This is shocking, and very scary.
Hey Brian,
Great post and an awesome reminder on not overlooking how small things can add up. It was with your help that I first started building sites and it was adsense that was used to monetize them.
I have a few sites that are doing well with it and I’m just also getting back into building sites for adsense. The few that i built awhile ago are bringing me sometimes $3 a click and with organic traffic, the ctr is crazy high. Sometimes 20%.
I agree that adsense is a very great way to build a stable income that will give you a cushion to work with when you want to try other things.
Also, with all the new tools and tricks that are around now that weren’t a couple years ago, you can see results quicker and easier.
Would love to know the plugins your using now!
Keep the good content coming.
Mike D
Hi Brian – I must say I admire your attitude greatly – it is motivating! However, it seems the comments that adsense is a great biz. model and I had hundreds of sites de-indexed are a bit more than contradictory. You shared much of this in a video several weeks ago, but it will be interesting to see how your “new” model for adsense revenue differs from Commission ritual, if at all.
Thank you for the great article! I’d like to learn to get numbers like those and look forward to more tips!
Curious about the sites you had de-indexed? Were they following the course of action you outline in “Auto Content Cash”?
Hi Brian,
Looking forward to your updates. My adsense earnings have been halved overnight due to Google dropping them in the search results.
I’m pretty sure that big G has decided not to count my links coming from a 3 way link system.
I knew this was grey/black hat anyway and so probably just as relieved that the sites have not been totally de-indexed.
Just like you I aim to concentrate on old school methods and concentrate on authority sites.
Peter
AdSense is a great way to earn money that just comes in week after week and month after month.
I was able to take my adsense income form 300.00 a month to 1,000 a month in just under 4 months. I have been using some of the tactics you describe in your commission ritual program and a lot of trial and error.
I am looking forward to December, because I think this is going to be a huge month.
Brian, wow! That’s some amazing adsense earnings! Even the individual site earnings are impressive to We have about 160 sites, we used to get around $70 a month when we had just 30, now we’d be lucky to make $25 in month with all of our sites put together.
To tell you the truth, we decided to srap them all and start again… but I’d sure love to know your secrets! ; )
thanks for the great info
Marcus
Hey Brian,
Well I have to tell you I am disappointed with my Adsense earnings. With about 200 sites online with Google Adwords on them I can only manage a check from Google every 2 months (minimum payout $100).
I’ve been at this for a long while now (I reserve the right to not tell exactly how long) and I’m not really sure what the problem is.
Before the last Google update I was almost at a check/month and headed upwards but I’m back down again.
So that’s my Adsense story.
Hey Brian,
. I am hoping to do at least another 50 within the next 6 months.
Great post. I have been creating adsense sites for upwards of 3 years now…and just love the whole process. Google deposits money into my bank account like clockwork on the 26th of every month and that is just super
I wasn’t aware you lost your account…and perhaps you could expand on why or how that happened. As it is not something I would like to run into.
Looking forward to reading more on your new journey.
Brian, how absolutely validating and delightful to read your post. I’m sure your theories are shared by many.
Glad to see you’re returning to the basics and following that which you love to do most.
Something interesting I noticed with AdSense in the past few months is the quality of the income per click has risen. Heftier values to the clicks.
Did get an odd email from them to remove some adult content from pages which have been online for years. Dogs and dog clothing. Removed all ads from the pages and all seems fine.
Something else I’m enjoying right now which was a delightful surprise is the payback of pages which were built about one year ago with winter type products which are generating traffic and clicks again.
A comforting sight to see! So I guess it is true you can set it and forget it sometimes!
Keep the “good stuff” coming.
Continued success to you overlooking the mountains.
Cheryl
Brian,
Can you tell me how you lost your adsense account? The one that earned 75K a year.. Also what are you doing new other than creating a big/authority website? I purchased commission blueprint and your Halloween course.. Stayed in your cb membership until the end. Could you put out a blueprint for your ideas on adsense websites now…
Thanks
Jeff
Well for the last year my Adsense earnings have been heading south and I have no idea why other than a lack of advertisers foe Google due to the economy.
Thanks for sharing your strategies, Brian – but questions:
1. Can you share why you lost your Adsense account?
2. Do you know why your sites were deindexed, and can you explain how to prevent both these from happening again?
3. Do you think “authority sites” is the only viable approach for adsense today?
Starting to see the light with adsense. Nothing to brag about yet, but building it slowly and steadily.
That .67 sounds like my AdSense sites the past few weeks. It’s like someone slammed a door shut.
I have to also wonder if part of that is due to AdWords advertisers remarketing their ads via Audiences. When I go to a site that displays AdSense, I no longer see ads based on the site’s content. Now the only ads that display are for sites I’ve already been to. It’s stealing profits from the pockets of AdSense publishers.
I don’t need to tell you how much work it is to find a profitable niche to get those high paying ads. Remarketing via Audiences is nothing more than stealing ad space from our sites!
Google give users a way to turn it off, but it doesn’t give AdSense publishers a way to turn it off.
Yes Joan my suspicion exactly – remarketing is stealing from us.
My Adsense has also been decimated in the last couple of weeks and I was wondering what I was doing wrong.
@Brian, what a bombshell you lost your sites by deindex and adsense account gone and you breeze over this, how can anyone think this is a good post – are you kidding me?
Why were they deindexed?
Why adsense account lost (due to deindex?)
Now I am worried for my 150+ sites…..
Brian,
I have made around $50 this year on adsense and to be truthful i have not put that much work into promoting them which i should.
Barry
You have me somewhat confused. You say you lost your adsense acct then you say you made .67 yesterday and adsense is a viable option.
Anyway I have your auto content cash course and like it. I think you’re genuine, so I signed up.
Hi Brian,
Really good to hear from you and excited for you with your recent move and improved views of the mountains!
I previously lost my account with Adsense and have been unsuccessful in getting it back. Do you have any advice?
Cheers,
Hi Brian,
Thank you again for being so honest about your experiences. I am just curious what key changes are you making when building your new sites to avoid the what happened to your old sites?
- different hosting companies?
- shared vs dedicated servers?
- clearly posting “sponsored advertising” when you post adsense
- more diversification of site monetization?
- different google accounts tracking google analytics on your sites?
I know I should be tracking analytics on all my sites but I am afraid to add all my sites to my google analytics account since that seems like the easiest way for google to track all my sites.
Does anyone know about any free or low cost alternatives to google analytics to avoid their tracking?
Thanks again for all your great info!
Use Statcounter.com. It’s free, and gives you great information about your visitors and keywords.
Hi Brian,
As a buyer of Comission Ritual & ACC I really enjoy your courses and work. Like you I had my adsense accont closed and had to start again. But I don’t seem to be getting the sucess I used to – even with CR. I’d be interested to see just how you’re getting these mini sites to rank and get 67 cents (a day I assume?)
Hey Brian,
Good to hear you got your Adsense account back, and you’re making a fresh start. I’m looking forward to your new articles.
Melissa, your hosting company should supply you with AW Stats as a default – a perfectly good analytics program.
Thanks Chris,
I use hostgator and they do offer a stats program. I still don’t really know how to take advantage of the information collected.
Hi Brian,
It’s good to see your business recovering after losing your adsense account. Following the early concerns after the Mayday fiasco I am now seeing traffic picking up, in fact it’s probably stronger than before the changes, but only on my larger sites. The thirty minute thin sites are still not back to where they were. So I think that shows the way to go, build a decent site, get some real quality in there and then move onto the next one.
Thanks for all your help Brian.
Regards
Dave….
Hi Brian,
Would you seriously recommend putting up Adsense Ads on Product review mini sites, containing a max. of 3 pages atm?
Hi Brian:
After mayday Google update my overall traffic for 80 sites traffic fell by about 60%.
I have tried many tests to get it back. It seems the days of the small sites making easy money are over.
I am building a new bigger authority site now – i came to the same conclusion as you.
Would still like to find a way to prop up these small sites though.
It was a good ride while it lasted
I have also recently seen a large portion of my sites completely de-indexed by google. 95% of them were not very good sites that offered little or no value to the visitors that viewed them. Initially I was devastated and thought about giving up completely but after a few days and a renewed desire to do things the right way I have begun to build authority sites with unique content and a steady link building campaign. In just over a month I have been able to regain a decent amount of my earnings and continue to work each day on making my sites valuable to visitors.
My focus in quality over quantity is starting to pay off and seems to get better with each passing day.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on your strategies.
Hi Brian,
You are an inspiration. I think it’s your downright refusal not to give up whatever life throws at you that has kept me in this sometimes crazy business. Having built many sites around your business model, which I learned from SEO Press Formula GC and HSA, I can tell you that finally my Adsense earnings are growing stedily particularly the aged domains. Okay its not earth shattering right now but I have a target to earn £100.00 per day from Adsense by the Summer of next year a more than doable task now I have the skill and the tools. For me that will be a significant milestone that will only spur me on to greater achievements. The worry always of course is loosing my Adsense account as you did Brian, how easy or difficult is it to get another and are you able to go back to old sites with the new Adsense codes? I did wonder whether I should open another Adsense account in my wife’s name and start using that so as to spread the risk.
Hi Brian, great post.
You must be enjoying chilling out and working on your own projects after pouring so much into Halloween Super Affiliate!
I’ve earned thousands from Adsense this year so definitely testify that it’s a great business model – as always the key is to focus on providing real useful content to people…if you can do this and get rankings for a keyword with some search volume, then you definitely stand to earn well via Adsense.
Good luck – I look forward to hearing more about this project!
Aidan
Adsense has always been a bit tricky with me…but I haven’t used it a whole lot since starting with CR and HSA last year. I do think Facebook is going to be a part of the serious marketing mix in the next couple of years. This coming year – I have five authority sites that I will be focusing my attention on.
Thanks Brian,
Sofia
Hi Brian:
Colorado is a beautiful place to live, I spent approx. 10 yrs. just north of Boulder, and loved it.
My adsense started out extremely slow, Then after purchasing your Commission Ritual my earnings have grown a little every month. I started at about 12 cents a day, and last month, actually the last three months I have earned over $55.00 per month. I know that’s not much, but you must be aware that I only have about ten sites that are ranking well, and only 25 sites total. So when I get to a hundred sites that rank well, i will be doing much much better. I have to say Thank You Brian, for your leadership, and your guidance. I think you do an awesome job when it comes to training. Thanks again
Robert H.
I have never been a believer in putting all my eggs in one basket. I am new to this whole IM thing. I started out with a large website that I was rapidly running out of ideas for, so when someone made me a good offer for it, I sold it. That was June 2010. I have spent the subsequent months trying to figure the best way of earning some money online, and am glad I found your course (Commission Ritual) – it is one of the sanest and down to earth I have found, and believe me, I have bought a lot (and sent them back!) I hardly ever make a bean with Adsense, my WP-based sites are too new to get any traffic yet and I am about to launch an article writing (PLR) site and one full sized website. I figure between all these things I should be able to make a few bucks – eventually. I am lucky in love but not in money, however hard I try!
Thanks for sharing Brian – if you need a good article writer, you have my email address!
Karen
G’day Brian – from Australia.
I purchased your Auto Content Cash system earlier this year and set about following your methods (almost) exactly.
The first 25 sites (highly competitive niche) were all indexed inside 14 days, and earning a small amount on Adsense.
Currently they are making about $60 a month but I have also monetized them and earn extra (not a lot) so I can appreciate what you are saying here.
The passive system to me is the very best model. Keep up with the info. You are one of the truly genuine people and I ALWAYS follow your advise and open ever email.
Not all IM Gurus deserve that!
Dave
I have just over 400 WordPress websites using the Thesis theme online. 200 of those earn something and 50 bring in 90% of earnings. Monthly earnings has been as high as $1800 in one month. Usually it hangs around $1200 a month. This month it looks like I won’t make $800. I was doing well and growing monthly until Google delisted me in Sept 2008 and then again in May this year.
Most of my websites are very thin on content. I am culling the crop and my plan to get away from the thin sites and develope authority sites.
I know your business model is solid. It’s working for me very well (Earning more each day). I have to confess I don’t use adsense much in general but I did ramp it up in October
But I forgot to check my earnings for October until I saw your email about this post lol.
Needless to say I have a nice chunk of change coming in from adsense. Which put a smile on my face today.
I have to agree with you Brian, I am going old school as well I think it’s the way to go now.
BTW..About his sites being indexed he did make a video awhile back. It’s in his you tube channel.
I started getting my first AdSense in June and am up to $44.56 now.
Also got my second sale in Clickbank and CJ this month, I am on a roll.
Looking forward to your new newsletter.
Hope your enjoying your new home.
Starting to see the light with adsense. very nice
hope i can do the same thing like you as soon as possible.
you do an awesome job.
I had my best Adsense day ever yesterday, just under £5, about $7 from two sites. They’ve both been around a while and are starting to get significant traffic so the wait has been worth it.
I have about 20 sites all in total make about $150 a month I must say I was hoping for a lot more than that. But this is a good start.
I have had a hit in Adsense earnings in November. It has happened to me before, but everytime it does I get nervous. It seems I have 6 to 8 weeks of growing traffic, then traffic crashes for 2 to 3 weeks, then picks up again. On 3 or 4 of my high traffic sites. Rankings still high. So it is a bit of a mystery. The dance or Google roller coaster. I have adsense as a foundation residual income, to fund the growth of my other 2 approaches (mega niche list building and associated affy products, and Amazon products)
Google seems to have made significant changes impacting the way sites are ranked. Hence during this month where adsense should be as high as ever, adsense revenue seems to be declining.
The game has definitely changed ..
Hi Brian,
An interesting post as usual, but like nearly everyone else who has commented here, I’m really keen to know the reasons you lost your adsense account and had so many sites de-indexed.
I guess we REALLY don’t want to make the same mistakes – can you do a post on it?(Pretty please
)
Mary
I too would like to know what happened to your sites and account. CR was good but now what?? Adsense for me has been very dissappointing, 25 sites and only at the $200 in six months.
I have made some money with Adsense. I see it as being very interesting and with a little work it could be okay. I will be reading here to see how you are doing and if you will be offering any tips to help us out.
Strange. I’m earning just over $3,100 right now a month from adsense and that has been steady for the last 2 years.
One thing to bear in mind is that playing games with google will not help you. You will just keep getting slapped back and forth. They know you, they know your websites and the days of playing the games with Google are long gone. Build a viable business and demonstrate to google that people actually value your content and the income will come. Don’t spread yourself out thin with countless sites. Knuckle down on 1 site and build it out
Hi Brian,
It’s taken me a year to make my first $100 in Adsense. It took a long time but I am waiting for my first check to come in the mail and that is exciting. I just need to focus on building more sites instead of reading all the gazillion emails I get from all of the gurus with the latest next best thing. I find myself trying new things when I should just stay focused on YOUR METHODS! Please Brian, PLEASE don’t ever send us emails about other products unless you think we should take the time to look into them.
Sometimes I feel like I have Attention Deficit Disorder and it’s so hard to focus on just building websites. It’s a numbers game and your method works!! And once you get the hang of it, it becomes fun and easy! We just need to stick with it and not try the other guru’s methods until we have this one down. Don’t you agree?
Wendy
Hey Brian, I’ve been following your methods (mostly) for a year now. It’s been a longer/harder road than expected, made quite a few mistakes along the way. I have 155 sites online, with 58 on page 1 of google, 14 are #1 for the targeted keyword phrase. Adsense is providing $10. total daily, total affiliate income is maybe $20. total daily. I had hoped to be making much more by now but the income is steadily growing so far.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for being a source of inspiration and, in my experience, being one of the true, ethical and honest guys out there.
I own CR and it has helped me a lot in what I do.
Your trademark saying “People DO NOT fail at internet marketing,they simply GIVE UP before the magic happens.” has also been a source of motivation for me.
Look forward to reading more of your information soon.
Warmly,
Haydn
Hi Brian,
I am glad that you are getting a chance to relax a little and enjoy your new home in the mountains of Colorado.
I appreciate your post here regarding Adsense. Like a few others here it has taken close to a year to finally get my account above $100 and I am looking forward to receiving that first check from Google. I know there will be more to come.
I will add that it was after I purchased Commission Ritual and went through Halloween Super Affiliate, that I started to have some better days with Adsense. I haven’t found that magic keyword phrase yet that will give me $10 to $50 a day yet but I certainly don’t plan on giving up.
Thanks for your teaching!
Blessings,
David
Dude, right on there btreohr.
Hello Brian
I have purchased just about all your courses. Have you ever written why you lost adsense and got hundreds of sites deindexed. I would like to know so i could avoid these pitfalls.
Sometimes i think we can be innocent virgins and get caught into crazy things on the internet. Lots of goog people but some snakes lurking out there
hey brian i always like you teachings and try to learn every day..
i started with you in google conquest and it really helped me a lot and i still use blog colony as it is a very easy system i have tried cloning and all that jazz but i find blog colony great.
have had ups and very bad and very good adsense and been doing this just over a year.. im now earning 500-600 per month. nothing great but enough to start outsourcing..
thanks for all your teaching and i look forward to seeing you new model of adsense
Brian I am with you through the good times and the bad. I know that no matter what Google does you will continue to lead us to the promiseland.
Hi Brian ,
I think days of adsense are over, I have a a pr4 website with alexa rating of 50,000 and this is what I had last month –
Page impressions 128,826 , Clicks 274
Apparently either people are turning blind eye to adsense or adsense is no longer relevant to the content. I am seriously thinking of tossing away adsense and start promoting CPA offers on my website. Adsense can’t be a viable business model as Google can close your accounts and de index your websites at anytime.
Hi Brian, my adsense too went to seed as it were and am officially a 67 cent per day man. caffeine seems to have caught everyone out and I suppose it’s back to the drawing board.
Thanks Brian for sharing. Like some of the others who commented, would you mind doing another blog post explaining as much as you can, why Google suspended your Adsense account?
I’m new but I bought ACC and decided to focus fully on Adsense building, and never care about any other course. Since August ’10, I have been making $2 a day on average consistently. And I have quite a lot of sites right now. I focus on building my sites to at least 20 pages per site. This way people really get lots of free, valuable info. I prefer that to building 1 page sites as my long term goal is to develop each site into authority sites in the respective niche.
So if you can share why you lost your Adsense account, it would be helpful to us.
Thanks
Yaa (Berlin)
Just wonder, How did you manage to earn that adsense revenue even though you lost your adsense account?
my google adsense was disabled.I am thinking about what to do.How can i open a new one.?
Brian,
I remember you blogging about your sites getting de-indexed and you seemed to take it on the chin. I’m sure in private you were raging.
But there is a HUGE lesson for newbies here. Learn from mistakes and adversity, these problems are the foundation of your learning curve.
I bet it doesn’t happen to you again.
Best of luck, as someone who deos 6 figures a year themselves you are one of the few guys I listen to.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for all the good advice, tips and products, I have around 30 sites up and running,they make about $200 a month in Adsense earnings, plus affiliate sales. Most of my sites are on the first page of Google. Thanks for your honesty and integrity.
Glenn
Hello Brain,
Thank you for the post. I have been following you for sometime now. I was in the Google Conquest program with Alex. But didn’t get started, until after CR with you and really HSA. I put up 16 sites for Halloween, but never got them finished. I however sold a few costumes to make $16.90. Really not much, but a start. Again thank your for the great information. Take care and enjoy and be prosperous….
I think the old adage content, content, content, is going to rule the day. It’s all about the visitor. Thanks for the great content.
Hi, Brian,
You have been such an inspiration to me, a newcomer to internet marketing. I have Commission Ritual, Auto Content Cash and HSA. You have thought me how to build a website. My Halloween commission was $24+. But now I am my way building other sites as well.
I have one account with Adsense and have earned all of $9.47 in my Google Adsense account.
I am looking forward to your next training project.
Hey there Brain,
Wondering about your sites that have been deindexed which ones were they?
I ran a quick Google.com query and notice that for ( cappuccino coffee machine ) you are still there albeit at position #9.
Which incidentally can’t be making you much money right now?
Some clarity please….what sites de-indexed?
Confused
Why doesn’t Brian answer any of these questions?
Hey Diane,
Actually I just did, in a new post that can be found here:
http://www.netmarketingcourse.net/what-happened-deindexing-adsense.php
I have simply had a very busy day, trying to keep up with 65+ comments is
a bit of a challenge.
Best,
I’ll bet the view is even prettier with snow!
It’s good to hear that you got your AdSense account back. As Mario said, your methods are solid. No doubt you will not only bounce back (which I know you have already done), but improve your methods because of this situation.
Grewhy the earnings are so low at to hear from you as ever and pleased that you are so happy in your new home.
I’ve been working hard at building an authority site in the health market but I’ve been getting very low CTR and earnings.
Traffic is building tho’ and I guess I’ll work out why the earnings are so low soon.
All The Best
alex
Hey Alex,
CTR will vary depending on the actual niche market, something to think about. I would focus on the traffic first and then work on the best way to monetize once you see substantial levels (traffic).
Best,
Brian
What I have learned so far about why Adsense earnings are low. I have been involved with Adsense for about a year. Studied the Adsense concept and purchased several Adsense specific courses. Also purchased Commission Ritual, Content Cash, and an eBook course called Micro Niche Adsense course. All these courses are good but Commission Ritual, and Micro Niche Adsense Course are the best and I highly recommend them.
Of course Adsense requires traffic. Increase traffic by increasing the long tail keyword specific content on your sight. The content should be written in plain language about the keyword topic. Don’t worry about keyword density. Google is so good now that it “reads and understands” the concept about which you write. Also, Google wants to see activity so add quality content on a regular schedule. My Google traffic is about nil now because I have too many sites to manage effectively, so I show no activity. Almost all my traffic comes from Yahoo and Bing from sites that are a year or more old. It can take many months to get indexed with Yahoo.
Click Thru Rate. On the low end I get a click thru rate of 2%. On the high end I get a CTR of over 12% on average. I notice that the CTR changes and I attribute this to the Ads that are displayed because the site and content stays the same, just the ads that are displayed changes. All things being equal, the ads that display on your site can have a huge effect on CTR which determines your earnings. Each of my sites targets a specific keyword phrase niche. A few bring in $8 to $12 a day. Then it seems the earnings drop off to pennies. Consider that the site stays the same and the only variables are traffic and ad effectiveness which is how clickable the ad is.
So as Brian stated, the bottom line is;
1. Build a quality site that offers value (content). Mine are thin.
2. Don’t let your sites look all the same like cookie cutter sites. I use the same theme and style on all my sites.
3. Host them on different servers. I host on three different servers but that still puts 150 sites per server.
4. Study Adsense and learn ad placement etc. This I have pretty much under control. Not a master but pleased with $1200 a month Adsense results. This will grow as I improve on 1, 2, and 3 above.
5. I want to reduce the quantity of my sites and increase the quality.
Chuck,
Thanks info and comment
Best,
Brian
Hey Brian,
I just read through all these comments and all the sudden feel like I’m doing OK. I have about 15 WP sites and will make over $300 this month. I’ve been at it for about 6 or 7 months now. The majority of my Adsense income is from 1 large site that gets 200-250 visits a day. I have a double (1 & 2 listing)for that one. Most of my other sites(1-4 pages) may get a click a day even though they are ranked in the top half of page 1 – some even at #1.
My CTR is pretty low and I have recently begun doing some placement testing. Too early to tell yet if that will improve things.
I get a few affiliate sales a month – mostly Amazon (their pay sucks) and Pepperjam.
Nice to get those monthly checks.
Hopefully this will give hope to some of those struggling to make money. It is possible! Keyword selection and exact domain name has been key for me.
Hey Marc,
Thanks for sharing your experience, while 300 monthly is certainly not
*job ending* income, it is a step in the right direction, especially considering you
have been at it less than a year.
Keep pushing …
Brian
My adsense account got disable for fraud click. I never click my ads I don’t know why this happen. I’ve tried other alternative for adsense program but it not as good as adsense. Do you have any idea?
Welcome to Colorado Springs! I think that you’ll find it a great place to live.
Hey James,
Thanks, yes already my wife and I are enjoying Colorado
Best,
Brian
Wow, you were earning that much and got your account disabled. I would be gutted mate.
I recently set up a bingo blog and was (well did) going to put Adsense on their as I found some good keywords relevant to my content that paid £5-£10 per click with medium competition and good amount of searches per month.
However I soon found out that you can’t put Adsens on bingo sites or any gambling related sites so I quickly removed them.
A bit gutted about that as I was hoping to increase my Adsense earnings massively through this niche. But gambling related commissions direct from Affiliate marketing is a great sum of money so I will just have to find another high paying niche for my Adsense campaign.
I currently have Adsense on a freebie and bargain deals blog that I created in December. However due to the content of this blog they ads only pay 20p-50p per click.
Do you think this blog will pull down my revenue for a new blog if I find a niche and high paying keywords and content? Would it be best to remove all my ads from the freebie blog or will it not affect my revenue per click on a new high paying niche?
Cheers for any adivce.