How I made a million in 3 months.

[markus007]

Lots of hard work, and a billion+ pageviews :)

I am without a doubt the top individual adsense publisher in terms of pageviews. Me talking about how I did it won't help you, but here is what i found you need to be successful in adsense.

1. Get a database of IP's so you know where your traffic is coming from. Then create channels for each country. Its not uncommon to see US traffic with a CPM of $5.00 and a CDN traffic at 20 cents and vice versa. If you have access to the hints option, give different hints based on IP. ie if your page is about 401k plans, that won't get you anything outside of the USA.

2. You have to create sites that will bring in repeat traffic. If you think you will get rich off SEO think again. If you create a Free jobs site you could net 30 million + a year if you got big. Club listings site, free religious personals etc would all be big money makers. Look for established markets and offer a service for free and support it with adsense.

3. Have your users create content and lots of it. User reviews of night clubs, Resorts, golf courses etc. Build your site around your users and make them part of your site, don't build your site for consumption.

4. Do not enter markets with a lot of competition monitized via adsense. Try and undercut paid content markets by offering a free service, or better yet create your own market.

5. Keep your site dead simple, it has to load fast and have no more then 2 ads and 1 or 2 pictures other then your logo. Do not confuse your user, give them what they want and give it to them fast.

6. Troll around various forums and if people are not talking about your market, there is a good chance you will make money.

[greatstart]

Excellent Post!

Thanks for the tips Markus, I will have to try some of them out when I have the time.

End of Line

[StuntasticAudi]

Good tips but i dont think you made a million in 3 months.

[TammyJo]

Thank you so much Markus...great stuff!

[bts111]

One of the best posts I have ever seen in here.

Ta!

[saraah]

Great Ideas :) Thanks for sharing!

Did you really make a Million in 3 months? Hard to believe but again before i started - I thought making 100 a day was impossible. So I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

[ganderla]

I am without a doubt the top individual adsense publisher in terms of pageviews

How would you know this?

Did Google tell you this or do you assume it for some other reason?

[markus007]

It was over 1 million NET.

Its only impossible if you think it is.

As for pageviews, there are only 60 to 100 sites in north america with more pageviews, and none of them are run by only 1 person.

[jomaxx]

Okay, I don't know how you can give different hints to visitors from different countries, because the Mediapartners spider will always retrieve your site's pages from some IP based in California.

[unreviewed]

markus007, ... do you make more when you block ebay ad's? ;-)

[kartiksh]

In a one word, Congratulations! You are doing great stuff sharing this here.

[brianng]

Is that a brand new site or your current site?

[AlexPAlex]

Thanks for those tips. I belive your million number and I do understand its possible. Because I do see that possibility myself and one day will reach that fig.

[FromRocky]

murkus007.

Are you the Canadian?

If yes, I believe you.

[edited by: engine at 12:07 pm (utc) on Mar. 16, 2006]
[edit reason] No specifics [/edit]

[eyeinthesky]

Great post, markus007.

Hope you don't mind sharing the following :-

1. how do you let visitors create content? What scripts do you use?

2. how do you research niche markets besides snooping around in forums?

3. how many sites do you think one need in order to earn, say, $50k a month?

4. I know most of your traffic is viral but how do you start it off?

Thanks again :)

[alvin123]

Markus well done. Not only have you made a great deal of money, you did it with a site that actually has some value for the user, not some low life MFA. Although, I would keep a close eye on Google Anyl...

[FrostyMug]

great post.

i'm one of those serving content with no visitor involvement, all generated by me and heavily dependent on SEO. I can plainly see how your model will net so much more revenue and in the end be that much more self-sufficient. I'm currently brainstorming a new idea, this gives me a few things to add to the list.

I have a question: who developed the database/backend for your site(s)? A free product or did you pay for setup?
:)

[carguy84]

As for pageviews, there are only 60 to 100 sites in north america with more pageviews, and none of them are run by only 1 person.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Is this ranking via Alexa? lol.

In any case, congrats on the mill. what did you gross? with that many pageviews, and all of it dynamic(seemingly) content, you gotta be paying a pretty penny for infrastructure and development, no? Netting out a Mill after those expenses is truely impressive.

[percentages]

markus007....Nice post ;)

>I am without a doubt the top individual adsense publisher in terms of pageviews.

Maybe.....but, I don't think that is an achievement. A pageview is a cost, don't convert and you are a loser!

I believe you made a $million in 3 months, but, how much could you have made by being the best converter of traffic to those pages?

I believe markus007 is making very good money from Adsence, what I would like to do is give him 6 months and then here back as to how converting traffic is the most critical thing!

Traffic is step #1, conversion is step #2, then for #3 we have to play with psychology ;)

[Zygoot]

Great topic. Nice achievement Markus!

Just wondering, are you talking about one massive site or multiple big ones? And what do you think is the best way to get the traffic ball rolling?

[Iguana]

I think this thread puts the "I don't believe anyone makes 10k a month" thread to bed.

[trillianjedi]

Congrats Markus - that's a great achievement.

To anyone reading this thread, it ain't easy, even though this makes it appear to be ;-)

I'm sure there's been months and months of late nights, long days and hard work. You also need a lot of luck thrown in - things just working out as intended or hoped.

But it does go to show what you can achieve with a creative mind, high quality content and a great ability to market your website.

TJ

[kartiksh]

from his post in another area of this forum, his site is doing avarage 350 inserts in SQL database per second.

[Juan_G]

Markus' advice looks good indeed.

So, in summary, users can find in his sites free services that are usually paid elsewhere, and they get them in a simple and fast way, and targeted to their locations, with lots of user feedback.

This seems to confirm the often quoted #1 Google's advice [google.com]:

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.

[mfishy]

If you think you will get rich off SEO think again.

Actually, you can rank on about 5 terms on 3-4 single words on g and crush 300k a month via SEO.

[edited by: mfishy at 12:01 pm (utc) on Mar. 16, 2006]

[followgreg]

hey I would love to take a look at these so successful website! :)
would you sticky me your sites ( I promise I will click on your ads too so you will make a few more cents)

[amznVibe]

Here's a better question, how much did you spend to make the million?
Certainly you did not rely on organic searches for that kind of traffic.

So million net or gross?

[voices]

Sticky them to me and I promise I won't click on your ads. You make enough money, you don't need fraudulent clicks!

[21_blue]

This is certainly a thought provoking thread, and the OP deserves many congratulations for such an outstanding achievement. And it seems a much more productive way to apply technical intelligence than some of the MFA sites we see.

The thought provoked in me, though, is "what do I want to do?". Assuming I could come up with ideas that could take me down a mega-earning path, do I really want to go down it. It sounds as if Markus is enjoying the work he is enjoying, but would I?

For me, the answer is probably no. Actually, I want to write and publish content, and do other things related to that. I'd prefer to avoid technical matters, having to worry about database performance, server distribution and all that. And pursuing the content route I can make 'enough' money to support my lifestyle - perhaps it is buttons by comparison iwth others, and I'll never own a Ferrari, but that's not important to my personal happiness.

Having said that, there are some lessons from Markus' guidelines that I may be able to use as I pursue the content-writing route. So, thanks for sharing the insights.

[Sleights]

So million net or gross?

That was answered back on page one - message number eight.