Why did you pick Adsense over eCommerce?

[apauto]

How many of you specifically picked to make your money with adsense over ecommerce, and why?

How many of you do it at the same time?

Sorry if this is a very broad question... I just have some ecommerce sites, and some adsense sites, and the adsense money comes in with zero headache, zero hassle, and no part numbers to update. It doesn't make as much, but if I put as much time into it, I bet it would.

Looking for your experiences. Has anyone left eCommerce to just do adsense? How was your experience been?

Thanks guys!

[iwannano1]

I think many content oriented site or communities cannot monetized using eCom due to its nature. On other hand Adsense has ad for almost all subject on the earth except for illegal / adult content. It is easy to use. eCom requires lots of tunning.

Having said that I got a bit success with eBay and Amazon lately

[farmboy]

How many of you specifically picked to make your money with adsense over ecommerce, and why?
How many of you do it at the same time?

By ecommerce, do you mean sending traffic to a merchant as an affiliate or do you mean actually selling products directly from your own site?

For me, I do all three across multiple sites:

1. I use AdSense
2. I am an affiliate for merchants selling products/services
3. I sell my own products

...and the adsense money comes in with zero headache, zero hassle, and no part numbers to update.

Not quite zero. Over time with AdSense you'll experience inconsistency, unknowns and some frustrations. You benefit by having an almost "plug and play" income system, but in return you sacrifice a significant amount of control over what appears on your site and how it appears. Each person has to decide how much of that he's comfortable with.

It doesn't make as much, but if I put as much time into it, I bet it would.

Maybe...maybe not.

By reading these forums you'll find examples of things where doing X instead of Y will tend to increase your AdSense income.

But you'll also find examples of people who spend a lot of time doing this or that without an appropriate gain.

Has anyone left eCommerce to just do adsense?

I wouldn't advise anyone leaving anything just to do one thing. It's that old "all your eggs in one basket" thing you want to avoid.

FarmBoy

[LifeinAsia]

Pretty much what farmboy said- AdSense is 1 revenue streams for us (and like farmboy, we also are affiliates and sell our own services). It is relatively headache free, if you accept its unpredictability.

One of the main advantages is that it gives us inventive to add more content in sections (and add new sections) that would otherwise be very difficult to monetize.

[Jedi]

And let's not forget CPM advertising as well. Adsense has long since the old days not been the only player in the game.

[Green_Grass]

For me

First e commerce ( my own products)
The experimented with adSense.
Saw the potential.
And then created websites for specific niches with adSense. So I basically made the sites around adsense. (not made them for adSense, if there is a diffn., as many feel on this forum)

[europeforvisitors]

Easy: I'm in the publishing business, not the e-commerce business, and advertising (both AdSense and non-AdSense) is the best way to earn revenue from online editorial content.

[HuskyPup]

The Internet and AdSense and is very young compared to our business of 160+ years!

Our specialist construction products are supplied all over the world in bulk however our web sites are there for all to read and learn product information.

Since 99+% of visitors are not bulk buyers our sites afford the opportunity for the local/regional/national suppliers to advertise their supplies on, most probably, the most visited sites for our specific products.

As a plug 'n play it has more or less worked pretty well for the past 4 years until the October Glitch therefore as farmboy said, don't put all your eggs in one basket, ensure you have alternative income streams.

[vordmeister]

I find any sort of direct selling very restrictive - you've got to be contactable alal the time and around to post things or answer questions.

Adsense is handy as I can disappear off to do other things. It's not my highest income yet - that's still the other things. The magic is it gives me leverage to do the other things on my own terms.

Going to try direct advertising too when I get some time.

[proboscis]

I had a product that I was selling over the internet at first but I had to have a space to create and store the product, had to keep inventory, sales records, returns, I had to pack and ship the product - with adsense I don't have to do any of that, I don't have to buy supplies, count things, they keep all the records, I don't even have to go to the bank anymore, and my whole business fits on one little laptop.

I can afford to live in a much nicer place now that I'm not paying for a production studio, and I have the extra time to do research and create content which is something that I enjoy. Oh and I have no employees and I can get up at 2:00 in the afternoon if I want.

[naitsirhc26]

I am involved in a mixture of markets.

1. eCommerce selling products
2. Adsense
3. Affiliate/Direct Advertising

eCommerce is my biggest avenue of income, but Adsense is always pushing that border...A mixture of markets works well for me.

[tim222]

It's been my experience that the easiest way to make money is to sell things to other people who are selling things to make money.

If FarmBoy is selling chickens, then it will be easier for you to make money by selling him grain, than it will be for him to sell the birds.

In the case of AdSense, we're selling advertising to people who are selling products to end users.

[farmboy]

I find any sort of direct selling very restrictive - you've got to be contactable alal the time and around to post things or answer questions.

I had a product that I was selling over the internet at first but I had to have a space to create and store the product, had to keep inventory, sales records, returns, I had to pack and ship the product...

FWIW, none of the above exists with digital products. It can be as automated as AdSense.

FarmBoy

[YesMom]

I find that AdSense has freed me to be able to do what I know and love -- my passion -- which involves marketing and selling a particular product via the internet and also in my local brick 'n mortar store. I don't have to worry about the storefront rent being covered and I can relax and give my customers the best deals possible. They know I'm not going out of business any time soon, as most local businesses are.

I also supplement with affiliate income. I love the freedom to find a great product and market it to my customers who I know will appreciate the new 'find'. With the affiliate stuff I don't need to do any shipping -- and I don't have time or space to add more physical products. It is a nice mix for me and my eggs are never in one basket. :-)

YM

[apauto]

First e commerce ( my own products)
The experimented with adSense.
Saw the potential.
And then created websites for specific niches with adSense. So I basically made the sites around adsense. (not made them for adSense, if there is a diffn., as many feel on this forum)

Have you ever wondered or been nervous about Google knowing about all of your sites?

How do people with say 20-30 websites handle having adsense on there? Even if each site is different, anyone worried Google will ban you?

Thanks

[apauto]

also, anyone have a site that they sell both ecommerce, and have adsense on? send me the link :)

Thanks

[System]

The following 4 messages were cut out to new thread by brett_tabke. New thread at: google_adsense/3535827.htm [webmasterworld.com]
12:15 pm on Dec. 27, 2007 (cst -6)

[Sootah]

I find any sort of direct selling very restrictive - you've got to be contactable all the time and around to post things or answer questions.

I agree. I've no intention of selling anything myself directly for a couple of reasons:

1. People are idiots. Not everyone, obviously, but when you're selling things it's only the idiots that you have to deal with. Previously I sold a software package that I had written and while the vast majority of sales went smoothly there were always a few customers that just continually bitched about everything, even though in every case but 1 it was user error.

2. AdSense and affiliate marketing are fire-and-forget. I like my online income because I don't have to think about it. Sure, AdSense is all over the place from month-to-month, but since it makes money while I nap I can't complain. Affiliate marketing is almost as easy. If a sale gets made, then the seller can deal with the customer while I can spend more time helping my users.