Forum Moderators: martinibuster
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.
Be happy that the other sites all charge, otherwise you wouldn't make that much money ;)
But their is certainy more potential for you in it, since you know where your user base is from, and could use it to show more local ads.
[edited by: Bluepixel at 7:27 pm (utc) on Mar. 18, 2006]
I haven't messed with SEO in years. With my last project I said what the heck let me play with it and see what happens. So I hired a guy to write a bunch of articles, get me more links, etc. etc. and did all the right things. Within 4 months I was #1-3 on Google and Yahoo for my top keyword phrases. And you know what? ... it was about 2% of my traffic just like Marcus said.
Like, where's the money coming from? After a bunch of clicking around, I pretty much could only find ads for a very narrow category: other dating services!
I can see how the site is not dependent on SE for traffic, but what I can't see with any confidence is how the revenue stream is stable. Are those direct competitors really making money by advertising on this site, or are they just too dumb to realize that they're helping finance the (free) competition? If it's the latter, then that's a fragile source of income.
On the other hand, the ability to let users generate new pages and to automatically geotarget them may mean that (some part of) the revenue stream really isn't fragile. Every little classified/personals service in every city/town could conceivably view an ad on this site as a cheap way to draw traffic to them. A town-specific matchmaking service may not view a free, online, nationwide dating service as direct competition.
In a sense, the folks over at forum108 ought to be piling on here more than AdSense folks. This seems to me more a lesson about cheaply exploiting local markets -- all across the nation from a single website.
Thanks for the great post, Markus!
Me talking about how I did it won't help you
Well, it won't make me inclined to make an online dating service, but it does give me a different way to look at slicing up the web marketing pie. Thanks!
If you made a mill in 3 months it really doesn't much matter what happens to the site from here. Heck just invest the money and retire. How much money do you need? I would continue to collect the money while it was flowing and find something more interesting to do.
Some people, like myself, find the game of business and making money to be extremely interesting and fun. I'll be working till the day I die, whether I have 10 bucks or 10 billion. Plus there's lots of cool stuff you can do with money. I'm not just talking about short-term fun and materialistic stuff, but things like helping others, etc.
I've always wanted to race cars, live in a nice house on the water, travel the world, help those less fortunate, etc. I do all of these things, and it makes me happy. Not only that but it enriches the lives of those around me.
Whoever said money can't buy happiness just doesn't know where to shop. Money can't buy everything but it sure can buy a lot of happiness if you know how to spend it and where to shop. I understand there are some people who want nothing more than to live a simple life in some tiny town, but for the rest of us a million is not near enough ...
Whoever said money can't buy happiness just doesn't know where to shop.
I'm stealing this.
Some people, like myself, find the game of business and making money to be extremely interesting and fun. I'll be working till the day I die, whether I have 10 bucks or 10 billion. Plus there's lots of cool stuff you can do with money. I'm not just talking about short-term fun and materialistic stuff, but things like helping others, etc.
Well said limitup, me too.
squeeze every $ out of a website.
Why be greedy when he is making a lot of money already?
What he's done is a remarkable technical achievement, as well as a labor of love and personal vision. I don't even have the expertise to judge, but my guess would be there are relatively few people in the world who could even accomplish what he did all by themselves.
Nitpicking about design or squeezing every penny out of the site seems pretty silly in the face of that.
Maybe this is a topic for a different discussion, but free community-based sites should look funny. It works better, period, no room for argument.
Of course it's a whole different story if you want people on your site to buy something from you, then a professional appearance is everything.
I think that some of the grapes are now starting to turn sour.
Its not that the grapes are starting to turn sour but that the whine has turned to vinegar! Too bad there are so many "know it alls" here.
I think that some of the grapes are now starting to turn sour.
We all have a different perspective of any view:-)
Inevitably some would like nice "designery" stuff" and then there are those who would like more information etc.
The important factors are this:
1. Is it KISS? (Keep It Simple Stupid for those that do not know).
Yes
2. Are people using it?
Yes
3. Is it making money?
Yes
4. Any simple question I've not asked above but which is valid?
Yes
Current mobile phones come with a plethora of options however what do 99.99% of us use them for?
Phoning or texting!
If you don't believe that ask the phone companies who blew BILLIONS on 3G licences.
The Net is simple, do not try and complicate it like self-build Scandinavian furniture.
For the moment Markus has got it right and he has no need to worry if it all fell over tomorrow.
Jealousy? Nothing better to stir the spirit:-))
Its not that the grapes are starting to turn sour but that the whine has turned to vinegar! Too bad there are so many "know it alls" here.
It goes both ways. The "know it alls" dislike talking to you just as much as you dislike hearing from them LOL
We've been thinking of starting some new forums for established, successful web marketers only ... maybe it's time.
That dollar-amount seems way too small for the number of pageviews you are getting. May want to play around with you ad placement.
After a bunch of clicking around, I pretty much could only find ads for a very narrow category: other dating services!I can see how the site is not dependent on SE for traffic, but what I can't see with any confidence is how the revenue stream is stable. Are those direct competitors really making money by advertising on this site, or are they just too dumb to realize that they're helping finance the (free) competition?
I'm sure Markus agrees that these dating ads don't generate a stable income.
When the competition is fully aware that they are sponsoring a free site, there's no doubt they will review their Adwords campaigns.
On the other hand, some dating sites have plenty of money to advertise: according to ClickZStats [clickz.com], two dating services ranked in the Top 50 Internet Advertisers (January 2006):
LavaLife.com - Media Value: $2,527,000
Match.com - Media Value: $2,359,000
"When the competition is fully aware that they are sponsoring a free site, there's no doubt they will review their Adwords campaigns."
if i was running a non-free dating site i would love to have my google ad on a free dating site because the percent of them turning into paying members is higher.
Go home to watch his bigscreen TV?
dont get me wrong its still an inspiration to see something like this but its not quite single handed is it Marcus, seeing as you have a few helpers
So what does a guy who works one hour a day and makes $4 mil a year do with his day?
Go home to watch his bigscreen TV?
Go HOME? Ha!
I don't quite make 4mil a year, but I stay in front of my bigscreen. ;)
And for those of you who say that 1mil in 3 months isn't possible. Why? Because you didn't do it? I mean, he did butter up the topic a bit with the million in 3 months, which was built up over what, 3 years? Still can be done.
