incrediBILL - 5:58 pm on Mar 14, 2012 (gmt 0)

The message is coming across that I'd have to be mad to rely on adsense as any sort of stable income

Actually, you have to be mad to rely on any sort of stable income without alternatives. Even people working a 9-5 job can be terminated on the spot, there is no such thing as a stable income IMO. The real issue in my mind isn't even AdSense, it's relying solely on search engines, the organic traffic which is fantastic when you have it, can vaporize in a day.

So yes, you can make a full time income off AdSense, but I'd mix it up with multiple affiliates and other potential ways to earn.

Additionally, I'd work on multiple ways of generating traffic, whether it be from search engines, social media, directories, link pages, PPC, bookmarks, direct type-in, whatever.

Last but not least, don't put all your efforts into one niche, target more than one interest area so if the competition (or Google) knocks you down in one location you have a fall back position.