Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Or better yet, an alternative already in place?
Adsense is the only paid advertizing I have on my site at the moment. I've run some affiliate stuff in the past, and could agin. But Adsense pays better for me right now, so they get the space.
But I have at least got some affiliate alternatives if needed.
And direct advertising is a possibilty.
That pretty much leaves nothing but flat rate advertising and affiliate programs which are pretty hard to scam the advertiser and leave out CPC and CPM advertising which can both be gamed.
Personally, I already had a plan BEFORE I added AdSense which is why AdSense is just icing on the cake but it would certainly hurt like a tooth being pulled if it went away.
But I don't think AdSense will collapse within the near future.
Adsense taught me about adwords, adwords makes me as much money and more these days as adsense - if you can find the right terms and the right affiliates then it can be a goldmine (always changing and always a challenge).
I've also built a couple of very niche websites in other areas - at the moment they are just aging nicely and picking up links and have no ads whatsover but the plan is possibly to use them for affiliate sales (eventually).
If adsense disappeared I'd try and fill the space left by selling the space directly.
I also build the odd website for people - but do that less and less these days as I feel less and less like dealing with people who want a different shade of blue or insist on incorporating the logo that their colour-blind eight year old designed for them.
Having a plan B is always imortant, in everything that you do.
Tom
If it were to go we would cut back on our AW advertising but other than that it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Cheers,
CaboWabo
But It's always good business to have PLAN B
I am planning to give some part of my site to Adsense, some to YPN and some to AdCenter of MSN that is coming next year.
If Adsense Vanished Today...
Do you have an alternative plan?Or better yet, an alternative already in place?
My site has been around in one form or another since 1996, and it's existed in its present form, at its current domain, since October, 2001 (nearly two years before AdSense was launched). So, when AdSense came along, it represented a chance to earn incremental income ("icing on the cake") and to monetize pages that didn't generate income from affiliate links. AdSense has been a valuable addition to the site, but it probably generates only about 40% of my revenues in a typical month.
Recently, I was approached by an ad network (really more of a rep firm) that specializes in my niche and represents a number of high-profile travel sites. So now I've got AdSense, affiliate links, and a growing pool of on-topic CPM display ads from tourist offices and major travel vendors. If AdSense vanished today, or if I lost my account for some reason, I'd be inconvenienced, but I'd still have a solid foundation of revenue from other sources. In short, I'm probably more financially secure than I ever was when I had most of my eggs in one basket (i.e., 9-to-5 corporate jobs).
My websites earn from nothing else but Adsense. If my Adsense revenues will stop today, then I'll have to rely fully on software dev't until these websites find new revenue streams.
Here are some ideas:
+ Specialized Agencies: As europeforvisitors mentioned, go with a agency that specializes in your space. For example, if you site is about Travel, Traveladnetwork is a good choice. Look around.
+ Specialized Niche players: Some smaller players concentrate on niches. If you qualify, try them out for diversifying your revenue. For example, if your site is about health, Quigo works well. If your site is about products, Chitika eMinimalls works well. If your site is very techie oriented, Intellitext does well (though I personally hate those inline popups)
+ Affiliate Marketing: If your site is about detailed info about a certain product or service and you are willing to spend some time to get things right, Affiliate Marketing (like Commission Junction, Linkshare) works well.
This makes me wonder though - if people are barely bying products online, even when advertising is relevant, then how can all the Adwords advertisers stay in business?
My past experience with affiliate links have been pretty poor, even though I usually tried to show affiliate links relevant to my site.
Are your visitors actively looking for ways to spend their money (as they might be doing on a travel-planning site or a product-review site)? If so, affiliate links can work well; if not, sales are likely to be minimal even if the links are relevant and you have quality content.
This makes me wonder though - if people are barely bying products online, even when advertising is relevant, then how can all the Adwords advertisers stay in business?
Billions of dollars are being spent online, on everything from big-ticket travel purchases to garage-sale items on eBay.
