Google Adsense drawing away paying customers?

[borgh]

I have an online seed catalog and I'm starting to think that Google Adsense is drawing paying customers away from my site - for about 43 cents a day of income. Has anybody else done an analysis of what it costs to send your paying customers to a Google adsense link?

[Jafo]

Three words:

Competitive Ad Filter

[MThiessen]

Three more words:

read the post

I think his main problem is he has a pay site, and sells a product. He is having trouble with the logic of pulling away potentual customers of *his* products to other people.

The ad filter is not the solution, *any* click away from a site selling a product is like a customer walking out the door without purchasing anything. Does not *matter* *where* they go when they leave, they are GONE.

The only real solution is to compare bottom line income with and without adsense. (yes use the filter too of course, but that's not the whole solution).

If your wallet is getting fatter when the dust settles with both, then use both. If adsense is hurting your sales, wack adsense. Simple.

[wrgvt]

For 43 cents a day, that can't be that many customers who are buying from a competitor's site.

[europeforvisitors]

But for 43 cents a day, why bother with AdSense?

Another thing to consider is the message that AdSense ads are sending to your prospective customers. Do established, successful e-commerce sites in your category run AdSense ads? Probably not. Is it worth suggesting that your e-commerce business is marginal (whether it actually is or isn't) and that it can't survive without third-party ads?

[ember]

Yes, AdS sends customers away. The question is, do you earn more just by selling your own products or do you make more by sending customers to your competitors and getting paid by AdS to do so?

[ronin]

If you are already something then your advertising should self-evidently be for complimentary products.

The ad filter is not the solution, *any* click away from a site selling a product is like a customer walking out the door without purchasing anything. Does not *matter* *where* they go when they leave, they are GONE.

I'm not sure this is right and I think Jafo made a fair point.

Assuming you sell cars and customer who arrives on your site clicks on an ad for driving gloves... they still need to buy a car, don't they? So after buying driving gloves they'll be back on your site again, no?

[MThiessen]

Assuming you sell cars and customer who arrives on your site clicks on an ad for driving gloves... they still need to buy a car, don't they? So after buying driving gloves they'll be back on your site again, no?

So, you are comfortable with your potential customer going "away" simply because they are going away to a*different* product? Got a lot of faith on them returning eh?

I think you will find that when they are gone, they are gone, on a commercial site.

[loner]

Just get rid of adsense. Concentrate on getting more visitors.