Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I'll start.
1.) I see that I can actually make a living doing something I have loved to do over the last 5 years for free - provide good content for my visitors.
2.) I am amazed at how the income has grown over the last 3 years. I started out when it was in the pilot stage in July 2003. That first year, I made about $10,000. In 2004, I made about $23,000. This year, I expect to make about $50,000+ if all goes well and I keep doing what I have always been doing consistently - adding good content; and Google keeps their end of the bargain by serving up relevant ads my visitors are interested in.
3.) I have learned the value of customer service. I see every visitor as someone who requires something my company and my site offers and it is always with kindness that I repond to each and every query, comment or complaint. I have learned that their time is a valuable commodity and everything I can do to make their experience on my site a good one - I have strived to do.
4.) I am learning about the power of viral marketing and word of mouth referrals.
5.) Having a company and a real income allows me the freedom to be creative, expand the possibilities in my business and be inventive.
6.) I have used this forum to learn what to do and what not to do as well as get ideas. It's an incredibly valuable site and forum. And Jenstar - just one of the tips you had doubled my daily income.
I could not have asked for anything better and more rewarding. :)
Anybody else?
Pretty positive I'd say, and pretty gosh-darned good for what was, and is a hobby site.
I buy myself toys upon toys....
I love Google.
On balance I would not trade back as I most certainly could by dropping AdSense. I miss having the freedom to change things on my site simply because I thought it was better for the visitor without regard for how it will affect AdSense income.
Cheers AdSense :)
I hate my mirror and my webcam, i dont fit in either of them any longer.
My finger muscles have developed very well due to typing a lot every day. I can now lift the laptop on my finger.
In the nutshell, I am lazier now, but I write daily. I dont go to my office daily ( i work for myself , but entirely dependent on adsense, though the dependene is increasing ).
I changed my chair into a more comfortable one, and now, if earnings increase i plan to buy the following
1) A black circular huge leatherlook couch ( a double bed sized ), with a laptop docking system attached.
2) A home gym with a laptop docking system attached.
3) A large regrigerator with a laptop docking system attached.
4) A huge waterbed with a laptop docking system attached.
5) A laptop docking system in the loo.
6 ) ..... so on ..... you all know it ... dont you?
----
Personal Note: Now I flirt with younger ladies on net, and get more ideas to write articles about romance and relationships ( thats what one of my site is about ).
Ann
I have pretty much left them alone, (added AdLinks though to all my pages) and the income has increased to double last years averages.
I also quit trying to use a bijillion affiliate programs and focused on 3 main ones and that was probably a good move as well - cutting out the clutter and the excess.
I also think it happened because early in the year I had a major hard drive & motherboard failure and really didn't touch my site (or maniacally check my stats) at all for 3 weeks while parts were getting replaced. (It was kind of like going cold turkey.) :o)
When I found nothing changed in terms of day to day earnings and averages, I decided when I came back online to stop worrying about ads and start with a list. This list contained all the ideas I had thought of in the previous 3 weeks of how to *expand* my site and the content for this one main site I have. I have 2 sites on very different topics - but both reflect interests and were NOT developed *for* AdSense.
So here we are in June - I have checked off a few things and still have a lot to do until the end of the year. Defining goals and creating a plan was one of the smartest things I did this year I think.
Of course, I love the checks coming in - they pay for all kinds of things a family always needs. BUT how AdSense really changed my life is that I made a legitimate business for myself that I can be proud of.
One last piece of advice for people making a little who want to make a lot: you know they always say what you give comes back to you threefold in the universe...
I have made it a point each and every year to give (a good chunk of) money away to all kinds of charitable organizations and schools and other groups. It gives me immense gratification personally to do this and really makes everything worthwhile.
We are all netizens. When we look at our own sites, we have to ask ourselves, "How much time would I spend here if I didn't own it?" That question always rules anything I personally do. If it sucks big lemons for me to visit a page I have created wholly geared for making money - it probably sucks for a lot of people - and people are not stupid. If I wouldn't want to visit it myself, I don't make it. I don't try to screw people and I focus always on the big picture not the daily dollar.
Good Luck to all of you! ;o)
2 clients bancrupt,
1 did pay only half of his bills half year later
1 paid his bills half year later
Without AdSense money, this would have caused my bancrupt.
AdSense brought me a press card
AdSense started my wife to study English to be my translation department German -> English
AdSense allows me to do, what I most like want to do, writing many articles about the future and interesting things.
Adsense has made a difference.
Some good advice from other posters. I check my earnings to often. That's going to change - it's adictive. I'm going to keep adding new content - and that's what I enjoy.
But if I could only double my Adsense earnings . . . . . if only . . .
I am slowly coming to this realization also. I installed AS in late April, early May. Constant tinkering has resulted in a very small increase but it suddenly occured to me that I was no longer adding new content to my web site as I had every week for the past two years. Traffic is the key to increasing your earnings over the long term. I wouldn't say AS has changed my life yet, but I am planning on incorporating my site and business in two different countries shortly if my revenues remain constant. Overall I am very impressed with Google's program and I too believe the relevant ads provide a service to my visitors and not an annoyance.
Consider the options based on what I used to do:
FULL-TIME JOB: Working for the man, high pressure start-up companies, the commute, 9-5 day (more like 9-8 most of the time), bean counters, job reviews, head hunters, meetings, deadlines, stress, schedules, pressures, cubicles, recycled office air, political correctness, basically selling your soul for a percentage of the stock options.
ADSENSE (more like LIFESENSE): Working at home, sitting on the patio with a wireless laptop and cordless phone and headset looking like super nerd's day at the beach, exploring things that interest ME and not doing busywork for 'the man', work when I feel, no commute, no office attire, no office hours, no meetings unless I want to have one, no job reviews, no stress (unless traffic takes a dump), making 100% of the money now without waiting on stock options to pay if ever, and drinking beer on the job won't get you fired :)
To be perfectly honest, after being in the SOHO situation for almost 6 nears now I can't imagine going back to being someone else's whipping boy or starting up a new business with all the responsibilities and hassles.
Whether AdSense survives or not isn't as important as whether this internet marketing model survives.
... But, I would never ever go back to the office setting. This is way too much fun and is heck of a lot more gratifying personally.
I've always wondered though - looking, say 20 years down the road as more and more people start doing this kind of thing - working virtually, etc. - think about the impact and the way in which the market becomes something entirely different down the road. What does it mean? More people cloistered at home? A few days ago at the Tech Business summit in Washington, the head honchos at some rather big companies talked about the future and what they envision... you might have seen it. One idea was that email and communications would come across TV sets and ads would be served up in between satellite program listings. You could click on a pizza listing for example and have it delivered to your house (since your TV contained your account info with address and maybe pizza preferences)...
Very cool things coming down the road. Has anyone here thought about the future in the long run and what you would do 5, 10 or 15 years down the road?
As Alice said, "Curiouser and curiouser...."
"Actually AdSense doesn't get total credit but it does contribute significantly to my SOHO lifestyle."
What does SOHO mean in your above statment? I only know SOHO as a neighborhood in manhatten.
Thanks
Today’s Small Or Home Office denizens don't work in a funky enclave in London or South of Houston (SOHO) Street in Manhattan. But they are educated, optimistic and aspirational early adopters who are tech savvy, entrepreneurial-minded and decidedly brand loyal. They can also be your customers – if your message is accurate.
Soloist, moonlighter, teleworker, entrepreneur. Many names tag those who work from home, but the audiences are dramatically different and unique as the difference between a 1099 and a W-2. They’re piano teachers and plumbers, business analysts and bakers, attorneys and artisans. They’re a driving force in the New New Economy.
I had always planned to retire around 40 so working on my own web sites, which I don't really consider "work" in the traditional sense of being a slave to deadlines and customers, both gives me something to do and a souce of income and it's pretty close to retirement in my books. I'd be putzing with something anyway if I was retired, so it might as well be a money making web site!
It didn't change my life at all.
That's not entirely true as you were ranting a week or so ago about AdSense payment updates, etc.
I would say it raised your blood pressure and pointed out anger management issues at a minimum :)
j/k
Oh well....
I SHOULD be socking it away in a darn 401K or something according to another thread and saving up for that 3/4 million dollars I would be making if I saved it all over 10 years...
We spent the day at home depot working on a new KITCHEN, $20K looks like the going price
Shoot me now, I need more traffic...
