Forum Moderators: skibum
Welcome to WW.
Be careful about creating a site just for displaying AdSense -- it is against the AS TOS. That being said, your best bet is to do a site that you know something about so you can create as much content as possible.
Do your research and find out what you are familar with afterwards i believe you will have good knowledge and succeed.
Good Luck!
Although - at $5.00 it doesn't hurt to try out adwords anyway.
However, this is a situation many webmasters face in the start. They know they want to do something, but don't know what.
Pick something you are interested in. search for it - see if there are ads. Make a decent site with content people will want to read.
If you have the content - your site can be ugly and make it. If you are putting lipstick on a pig - then you have to try a lot harder to get people to kiss it.
Trust me. If you spend time on the content - the rest will come.
Of course I think this is the hard part for most people, but not all.
A forum is built on a steady stream of regulars and that community will quickly grow immune to the ads.
Common sense would tell you that content sites (and, yes, review sites play into that) would work the best. However, heed the advice posted here.
If you create a site strictly for AdSense and populate it with either unoriginal content or substandard content (because you are not familiar with the subject matter) everyone loses. The visitor to your site will be upset at the experience. Sponsors will be upset at the quality of the generated leads.
Forums seem to have ceremoniously dreadful clickthrough rates and it makes sense that way.
That depends on the quality of the forum. I have a forum that has been very succesful utilising AdSense.
You need a lot of users and good content, but it can be done.
Forum content is no different to site content - it attracts SE referrals, and SE referrals is what you need to make money from AdSense.
The "regulars" never click on ads.
TJ
-- John
I think it is not fair to come here and ask what should I do, as I said do your homework. This forum is to discuss about adsense issues not how to be rich with adsense.
It takes a lot of research to find a good site topic, don't expect anyone to come here and jut tell you, no one in their right mind would.
Take the time to do your research and make a few sites and you will quickly learn what works and what doesn't.
Start there. Once you have mastered that you'll have much, if not most of the info needed to wisely choose topics on which you can build viable sites about subjects of your choosing for making money.
Seriously: Do a site about something that you are passionate about or at the very least know something about. If you build it using those foundations, they will come.
What works for me is having a site with specific content, hence well targeted adverts leading to decent CTR etc. I've used this forum to get tips on ad placement and honing content for better targetting. I try and keep the content up to date.
I suspect that this is probably true for most people that find adsense works for them. Is creating a site solely for the purpose of getting rich really a long term prospect?
That's a question with a $$$ answer and one I would not share for free.
Your best bet is just do something you enjoy, make a good site and the money will take care of itself.
Way, way, way too many people and eBusinesses think about how a site will make money BEFORE they think about how to make a good website that people enjoy.
That's totally bass ackwards. Build a great website that people will enjoy and tell their friends about - and the money/profit will take care of itself.
If it doesn't, you didn't build a good enough website.
You cannot assume that a high volume of traffic will convert into earnings. As proof, look at all the Internet companies that went belly up in the dot com bust because of the philosophy of "build it and we will prosper".
When would you like me to come over to your house and discuss my ridiculousness with you?
The Bud analogy was ridiculous.
Your statement of disagreement is a direct contradiction of Brett's famous "26 Steps to 15k a Day." And I think he knows a heck of a lot more about it then you do.
In the AdSense world, high traffic can result in lots of money if you know what you are doing. We are talking about AdSense here, afterall.
My advice was sound. Nobody knows how much he could make even if he went after the high dollar keywords. Google uses a new EPC matching process that varies too much. And there's new evidence to suggest it is partly based on PageRank and serps. By building a great site that he enjoys and so do lots of others, he can insure his survival while he learns to maximize his profits from it.
Those companies you talked about that went out of business for other reasons that don't have a d*&n thing to do with this one man show, his website and adsense. This guy doesn't have to worry about 300 overpaid employees, office lease on 40,000 square feet and trying to get second round venture capital.
If "you" (one webmaster) do build a great site with lots of traffic, the money part will take care of itself. Period. Guaranteed.
I make some serious dinars to know that theory has worked for me. If someone else can't make it work for them, that's not my problem and I don't really care.
You got lucky with your flawed theory and made some money. I'd advise against continuing to play Russian Roulette with one empty chamber because it is only a matter of time before the odds catch up to you.
In fact, to go back to the Bud analogy, if I liked drinking Anheuser Busch's "Budweiser" drink (I don't, it's a cheap-tasting rip-off of Budvar) and if my friends did too and if I saw other people at the bar drinking it and if I knew how long the product had been going and how popular it had been throughout its lifetime, I would think Bud stocks would be a very good thing to invest in. If it's been popular for as long as the last fifty odd years, it's not an unreasonable assumption that it's going to continue being popular for the next fifty years.
Freedom's point is that if you choose a subject which you know you and your friends and others are interested in, you will be motivated to work on it as much because of your enthusiasm as any profit potential. A topic which barely interests you is much more likely to end up as a failed, discarded project, long before it ever starts to make money.
This isn't an unusual approach to starting a company - lots of offline people set up companies too which revolve around a personal passion.
You cannot assume that a high volume of traffic will convert into earnings
With respect, I can't see how it can fail to.
Leave making beer to the people who know how to do it best.
You will either need to talk about what you know, or learn about (start early) what you want to sell.
My two cents
The Hat
Your best bet is just do something you enjoy, make a good site and the money will take care of itself.
This does not always work. I have quite a few sites I created just because I consider myself a subject matter expert and I enjoy the topic. I find it very hard to make money with these sites.
If your goal is money I think you need to research with earning potential and subject matter interest in mind together.
Ah, a realistic point of view. )
With respect, I can't see how it can fail to.
To go slightly off topic here, just read through the supporters forum and the affiliate forum and see how many threads are about sites that have high traffic, yet make no $$. There are a lot of these threads out there.
What you want to do is build a site that is about a product that costs a lot of money. That way the targeted ads will be higher priced bids, and the chances are great that the surfer will convert. Reviews are a great way to build a site.
I think anyone with a modicum of reason trying to start a new venture would choose something they're passionate about and which they perceive/researched to have some interest from others.
It's obvious to me, but apparently something that deserves to be pointed out, that throw a newbie in AM into credit cards and I can almost guarantee this person will go down in flames. On the other extreme, if they build a site on one legged parrots who speak Russian, I'd rather take my chances playing lotto.
So, the 'correct' advice here is, out of the many things you are interested in, select the ones you're knowledgeable about and that you think there's a market for. Out of these, select the one that has the most potential for profit, at the same time having the least competition for it.
Jump in the water, and swim.
