Is it true you only make money from adsense with a bad website?

[Rightz]

I keep reading that people only make money from adsense if there site shows no information the viewer wants. Ie if they come to your site and its badly designed or lacking in content they are going to click on an ad and leave your site because your link looks more apealing.

Any thoughts?

[Matt Probert]

I keep reading that people only make money from adsense if there site shows no information the viewer wants. Ie if they come to your site and its badly designed or lacking in content they are going to click on an ad and leave your site because your link looks more apealing.

Sounds plausible.

Our site is in the top 99.95% of most visited web sites - ergo it's not a bad site, and yet Google Adsense generated significantly
lower revenue (for which read 'derisory') than CPM advertising through our site.

Matt

[4string]

The way I'm starting to think of it is: answer the surfer's original question, but make them ask a new question which the ads might help answer. That fits with the 'where can I buy that model aeroplane glue' example.

[Lovejoy]

I sell information on my site and experimented with adsense on one of my pages, but yanked it very quickly when I found instead of selling one of my informational products for $3.95 visitors were clicking the ads in an attempt to find the information either cheaper or for free. Sales from this page dropped 40% for two weeks, but went back into the normal range within hours of removing the ads. So in some ways adsense is not always going to be a boon unless you are trying to sell ads.

[Rightz]

Seems you've either got to make a really great site covering everything (and reviews for buying things) or a pretty crappy site where people click adverts simply to get off your site!

[ember]

They can just as easily leave your site without clicking on an ad to do so (that little X at the top of each site is very visible). If I find a site that is obviously just for ads, it makes me mad and I leave, without paying the webmaster anything.

The only way we make money is to provide highly relevant content with highly targeted ads. People like what we have to say and if they see more information in an ad next to the content, they click on the ad.

A lousy site may work for awhile, but it won't serve you well in the long run.

[nonni]

Publishing a website is somewhat, but not entirely different from publishing a magazine or book.

Quality can lead to greater readership and profit. There are magazines I respect and subscribe to. There are authors that can count on me reading their next book, because the last ones they wrote were so good.

Profit can be quite independent of quality - some people want sensationalist pap that is written on a third grade level and isn't that connected to reality.

Ultimately, the business side is a function of the number of readers, the CTR, and the value of the ads. Quality is a good way to get there, but anyone who has surfed the web knows it isn't the only way. For my original site (a rare disease that I have niche), quality and community was always the goal. For my hobby site on collecting cute widgets, I am more interested in experimenting with the business side.

[Lovejoy]

Rightz,

It's been my experince that people look for easy ( Cheap or Free)answers to everything. In our case people were leaving because the ads made them think of lower cost (read free)options. For example, if I'm selling access to a priceguide for Fred's Blue Widgets @ $3.95 and the adsense ads have listings such as " Barney's Widgets's your source for Fred's New and Discontinued Blue Widgets," what are they going to do? I Know what I'd do, I'd click on "Barney's Widgets" with the idea I could look up the value of my old blue widget on Barney's site for free ;~)
So in that case instead of getting $3.95, I get five cents, which is why I yanked the ads.

[Rightz]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Me putting adsense on my site is a long way off yet... still putting it together. But you've definately made a very good point for not putting ads on pages that I'm selling things on.

I have no intention of making a crappy site to make those few extra adsense bucks.

Afterall who serious aims to make only a medicore site?!

[moTi]

ok, i have one site in which i invest 90% of my labour time and get only 50% of the total revenue. whereas my low-maintenance site with few information generates another 50%.

it's hard to cope with that at the first glance, BUT i need the labour intensive site to obtain the needed traffic volume, to attract repeat visitors long time and to get the viral thing going on.

it all comes down to how you pick up the buying mood and make people ready for the ads. imo the right mix of high-end quality information and cheap exit places focussing the visitor on your aim is the way to go. and if you are in the planning phase, of course a wisely chosen subject, that is naturally a product review type of site.

[Rightz]

Its actually a travel webite... on one particular country that i don't think has been 'done' very much on the web. I'm hoping to give loads of info... plus reviews on hotels, attractions, books and possibly travel gear. I can also have info on visas and how to get there and stuff.

Recommended?

[crick]

I think people will click on an ad if it interests them, whether its on a page with great content or not so great. However, the content has to be, at least, mildly interesting to generate that interest. Ocassionally, you will get lucky and have the user clicking on an ad if they are desperately looking to purchase a product/service even if the contenet is dreadful and there is a highly relevant ad in view. For this to happen, you have to have the ads in a highly visible spot i.e. at the top. However, an overwhelming number of clicks will come as a result of the reader having read at least a part of the information that you have to offer and there is an ad to match.