europeforvisitors - 8:14 pm on Feb 19, 2005 (gmt 0)

There are several ways to go:

1) Some people use the "made for AdSense" site approach. Typically, such sites have just enough content (possibly scraped from other sites) to feed the AdSense ad-matching bot and gain placement on search-engine result pages. This tactic obviously has been working for some people, but it may not be viable for the long run. Another downside is that the site has no intrinsic value, so it's likely to get tossed in the dumpster if the owner's AdSense account is cancelled.

2) Another approach is to build a content site, preferably on a topic that attracts ads and people who spend money online. This is a good long-term strategy, but (unlike a "made for AdSense" site) it may require writing and editorial skills along with technical skills.

3) The third approach is to place AdSense ads on an existing site that can be anything from a content site to an affiliate, e-commerce, or general business site. This is by far the easiest way to start earning income from AdSense, assuming that you already have a site of reasonable size. Whether you'll ever be able to make a living from AdSense alone will depend mostly on your topic and the size of your audience.

I like the "content site" approach myself, partly because my background is in publishing but also because a good editorial site can generate multiple revenue streams (e.g., AdSense and links to affiliate programs that meet readers' needs). Also, "evergreen" editorial content is an asset that can be leveraged in other ways, as About.com's sale to The New York Times Co. for $410 million clearly demonstrates.