how many of you can really earn "salary" from adsense?

[zozzen]

I've made a simple tool on my website. In recent months, I placed adsense on it again in a non-disturbing way.

The earning is really minimal:
CTR : 0.3 - 0.5%
eCPM: US$0.3-0.5
Ads shows: 60,000-100,000 times.

The income can cover the hosting cost without problems because I only use a very basic plan with only 100MB storage. It can buy me one or two cups of starbucks, but when I think of, as per users' request, to spend more time on enhancing the functions on my website, I really feel hesitated.

Even if I spent tremendous effort in boosting up the traffic by 10 times, the money would still be too minimal compared to the efforts.

Do you think I make a mistake in doing an adsense compaign?
I'm really curious how you guys can earn big money from adsense. It looks mission impossible to me now.

[explorador]

What I earn with Adsense doesn't compare with what I make with my full time job, but it helps a lot and represents a salary of what others normally make. I'm one of those guys that are not motivated by "money", I like what I do, I love to work but still don't get this thing to launch as high as others already did, that represents something that keeps my mind on a challenge, a frustrating challenge sometimes! ha ha

"My ZZZ laughed at me..."

People laughed at me too so I stopped telling what I do. Then I got some special invitations derivated from my projects, I got to meet interesting people and friends stopped laughing. Then numbers paid for great vacations for me and my family. I like working in the shade so friends just know "I work extra hours on something". Why? telling people what you do is dangerous for your projects and it is not often good for your own goals, for your mind. It might give you motivation in some way but sometimes friends talk about YOUR projects to the wrong people. Other times people loose concept on how hard it is and "they want to get into it too".

Everybody is different but hey, some girls like to tell everybody about what the boyfriend does! and I don't like that! so I don't talk about this anymore. Besides there are plenty of cases where "friends" tried to help, either by clicking on the ads or spreading the word and then things got ugly. I get motivated by the webmasters here that just "work" and are not just greedy.

My conclusions along the years with Adsense and other systems is: it involves hard work and ideas, not everytime the same formula works but the RESIDUAL INCOME is great. You can work a lot one year and still get earnings two years latter, perhaps good bucks, perhaps not so much but it helps.

[incrediBILL]

People laughed at me too so I stopped telling what I do.

What do you say that makes them laugh?

I won't tell people the name of my sites, but I do tell them I simply make money from online advertising. I make money 24 hours a day, when I sleep, when I shower, when I nap, when I watch TV, when I go to the pub for the afternoon, always making money.

... and the best part, No Boss, No Commute, No Fixed Hours

They never laugh, they want to know how to do it themselves :)

[explorador]

What do you say that makes them laugh?

As others wrote here, people said "that will never work", so I stopped telling. Things worked, I also got money even when I was sleeping. The mistake on telling is then, they want you to explain how to. That's why I don't tell anymore.

The ones who talk about everything they know or can do, reveal things they shouldn't. Besides, some webmasters increase their own competition because what they talk about and who they tell it to.

[netmeg]

Most of my friends and relatives know about my sites, but don't consider them income streams as much as hobbies. The one exception is my mother (now 79), who never laughed, but was disbelieving at first. Till I showed her some stats. And then she wanted in.

[ember]

There were days in the beginning where I just wanted to cry and give up. It was a LOT of work for very little money. But I saw the potential and kept plugging along. Today I do quite well and have lots of free time. But few people know what I do. I learned long ago not to talk about where my income comes from.

[HuskyPup]

I changed my personal bank account a few years ago and the first time I deposited an AdSense cheque the teller looked at me and, with incredulity, asked "Wow, do you work for Google?" "Yes" I replied, "What do you do?" she asked, "I work on their algorithm" I responded, "Oh, what's that?"..."A kind of computer science" I answered.

She still works at that bank, in fact I've just paid in a cheque this afternoon through her...she must have looked up algorithm in a dictionary:-)

[incrediBILL]

...the first time I deposited an AdSense cheque the teller...

Tellers, such fond memories of the annoying habits they have.

When I started transitioning from a regular job to earning via AdSense, affiliate income and direct ad sales, the first mistake I ever made was trying to make deposits via the tellers in the bank. When the checks get too big they start asking all sorts of questions, and may even put your checks on hold until they clear! Worse yet, some affiliates put the website name on the check instead of my business name which gives tellers all sorts of cause for alarm and they get the bank manager to approve stuff, ugh.

I learned quickly just to shove everything into the ATM deposit slot.

No questions asked, no checks on hold, they just process everything you shove in the slot.

... unless it's from outside the US

Anything from CA or the UK gets "the letter" in the mail that the funds are on hold until they clear.

What is this, the 1990s?

Then I moved everything possible to EFT as the industry payment methods progressed, so now I don't even get "the letter" as the money has already arrived, no reason to put it on hold :)

[explorador]

So true. I created a new bank account on a more real "international" bank as I got tired of receiving weird looks, questions and even "no, your cheque cannot be processed" and talking to diff managers to get things going. I don't even get mail from the bank anymore, that makes things safer.

Then I moved everything possible to EFT as the industry payment methods progressed

Too bad Adsense electronic transfers are not available here :(

[JRam851]

Your stories are pretty amazing. How many years of programming experience and how many different types of languages do you guys know? I'm just gauging what it takes to be successful with Adsense.

[ember]

I have no programming experience. Code is Greek to me. I use a simple WYSIWYG editor and always have. When I started all this, I could barely turn on a computer. Technical skills are only part of the equation, and in my case, a very small part. It sounds cliche, but hard work, determination to succeed and never giving up are the most important things. And having a great forum like this to learn from the experts is key, too.

[karter2]

Its 0030 hrs where I am . an this thread really make we want to knuckle down and write and write, Alas, i prefer coding, so I add the content very slowly, right now, Bravo to you chaps

[ken_b]

How many years of programming experience and how many different types of languages do you guys know?

I have no programing knowledge or experience. I use an ancient version of Dreamweaver to build my pages.

The only language I know is english, and some folks question that. I can spell HTML.... but that's about it.

I do have a decent, but certainly not encyclopedic, knowledge of my topic and target audience, that seems to have done the trick.

[edited by: ken_b at 11:48 pm (utc) on Oct 5, 2010]

[BillyS]

How many years of programming experience and how many different types of languages do you guys know? I'm just gauging what it takes to be successful with Adsense.

I can troubleshoot existing php code so the html validates. That's about the extent of it.

I can write, and I write a lot. At last count around 1,200 articles - nearly 2 million words.

Oh yeah, I can type fast too. (Much faster than I could six years ago.)

[wlongacre]

Can you guys provide like a top 5 do list to be successful at making adsense revenue?

One other question: Is it better to have lots of adsense sites or one really good site?

[leadegroot]

Can you guys provide like a top 5 do list to be successful at making adsense revenue?

I'm afraid thats a "how long is a piece of strong" question.
Everyone's skills are different, so how to make money using your skills is different for everyone.
The basic instruction is:
- find a niche that interests you *and* pays at least adequately
- figure out how *you* can build a site that monetises it

Is it better to have lots of adsense sites or one really good site?

While some people do have 'success' with lots of little sites, IMHO starting with one site and really working it hard is much more likely to bring success, provided you choose the niche correctly.
If you can't find success with one site, you won't find success with lots of sites.

[BillyS]

Can you guys provide like a top 5 do list to be successful at making adsense revenue?

1- Start your site with the end in mind
2 - Choose a topic you know a lot about
3 - A job worth doing is worth doing well
4 - Create a site with visitors in mind, not Adsense or Search Engines
5 - Don't ever give up

One other question: Is it better to have lots of adsense sites or one really good site?

I remember asking hutcheson or g1smd that question about four years ago. They told me - why in the heck would you break up one good site into many different sites?

If the themes are related, bundle it.

[JRam851]

I always knew that being a great writer would attribute to great content but success in this scale is a real eye opener. Seems like there are many talented writers here, I am impressed. I always thought being flexible and skilled in programming would factor in more.

[netmeg]

I look for niches where I can do something unique. Even if it's a crowded niche (like tech) if I have something to offer that I don't see anyone else doing, then it's a candidate for a new site. (Assuming I can monetize it)

I think that's an important step that gets overlooked a lot (due diligence). Before you start up, go have a look and see if there's anyone already doing what you want to do, and how well they're doing it. If they have a fantastic site at the top of the SERPs and seem to be really on the ball with it, that's going to be a hard nut to crack.

But if you see some aspect that they're not covering, or that you have a better idea about, then it might be worth pursuing.

I have a lot more success being a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big one.

[HuskyPup]

Is it better to have lots of adsense sites or one really good site?

This really, really depends on your niche subject and to whom you are targetting the site(s).

I have multiple sites however I am a global B2B wholesale supplier of my specialised construction products from and to many different countries therefore my sites are targetted globally for generic searchers with a .com but also country specific for those wanting more in-depth information together with the direct supply source in extensions such as .asia, .cn, .com.br, .co.uk, .eu, .in etc.

These have all been built up over many years, since the early 90s, with the specific intent of each ccTLD being THE authority source for my niche products.

If one's subject is not as broad and deep as mine I would not recommend this approach, it is very time-consuming to set-up, you really do have to think years in advance, therefore one good all-encompassing site, such as my niche trade directory, should suffice most needs.

One important piece of advice when constructing one big site, no matter whether it's hand-built like mine or using a CMS...ensure your directory structure will allow an easy expansion of the site otherwise you could see yourself with a massive re-build a few years down line.

[Jane_Doe]

Seems like there are many talented writers here, I am impressed.

I don't think you have to be a particularly good writer to have a successful site. In my experience unique content is probably more important. To get really unique content you might have to do research at places other than free web sites anyone can find in the Google listings.

[incrediBILL]

I don't think you have to be a particularly good writer to have a successful site.

How true!

Markus Frind of PlentyOfFish built an adult singles site and make hundreds of thousands in AdSense when it launched and he never wrote any "articles".

I don't write "articles" either, it's all member contributed content and it makes many thousands per month.

TBH, I almost puke every time I see someone talking about "articles". It's always the same about "articles", how many, what kind, who cares. Not all content is "articles" and people that can think outside the "article" box can make way more money IMO that those stuck in authoring content mode.

You think Facebook cares about "articles"?

Now you're thinking.

[mhale]

I have minimal HTML skills. I can code a simple site, but that's it. I use Dreamweaver to make my sites, but I tend to keep the design simple.

I don't make as much as many here, but I do okay. What worked for me is what others have mentioned—find a subject that interests you, write about it. If the subject has been covered before, find out how others are doing it. Do something different.

My biggest money-maker site is on a subject that is quite commonplace (well, I think so). I actually started out making a very small site (on Geocities LOL) which I was just going to give links and a few tips. But when I looked around for sites to link to, I didn't like any of them! Either I thought they didn't know what they were talking about, or they were sort of "infomercial" sites. "Here's a sample of what the site has to offer. Pay to see the rest." I didn't like any of these sites so I decided to make my own.

When I made it, I had no intention of making money from it. It was (and still is) a labor of love, to share what I know to people around the world, without expecting them to pay anything. And it has worked! The ads and other affiliate links have paid me well for all the work I do, and the content I provided HAS helped a lot of people. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that I make more money (so far—knock on wood) than those other sites which wanted people to pay to see the rest of their site.

The secret for me is, find something that I am interested in, see if anyone else is doing anything on it. If you see a gap or a lack, then fill that. But do it because you are passionate about it. Don't do it just to put ads and affiliate links on it. If the site tanks as far as making money goes, at least you can feel satisfaction because you wrote about something that you cared about.

[viggen]

...i hear often people talk about finding a good niche in order to make a decent earning.

My main site is about a topic that started as a hobby, never in my mind i would have thought to make actually some money with it. It was back then completely uncomercial (hardly any ads for it, and it is till today), so when i heard of that "Adsense" thing i got creative and starting to find somewhat related info that could trigger better paying ads, and indeed it just did, plus my site became much more interesting for google and visitors.

[Jane_Doe]

I don't write "articles" either, it's all member contributed content and it makes many thousands per month.

I have some sites with articles and some without. I like having a mix.

[mhale]

I sometimes do a Copyscape search and I found an ad-supported site which had a ton of articles, several which were plagiarized from me. It was disheartening. You guys probably already know this, but just in case: double-check to make sure none of the articles you publish are plagiarized.

[drongo]

I used to pay my mortgage with one 468x60 AdSense at the top of one my sites.

Sadly those days are gone, and now with multiple sites and loads of ads on them, I can only raise enough cash to pay about half my mortgage each month.

[netmeg]

I don't do articles either.

[sutips]

The most important is the type of visitors you attract, and how close they are to purchasing.

My main site works so well with Adsense because the visitors tend to view the ads as an additional resource. They go to the site to research, and click on the ads to buy.

I tried a different approach with another site, simply showcasing "stories." Well, the visitors are not that interested to click on the ads and the income is significantly less.

Also experiment with the best layout of the site for Adsense. For me, it's sidebar-content-sidebar. I suppose it forces the visitor to notice the ads because the content is in a tighter space.

With my second site, despite the less Adsense-inclined visitors it gets, I was able to increase its revenues by changing the layout. The site for several years used content-sidebar layout. I changed it to sidebar-content-sidebar, and its CTR jumped from less than 1% to about 3-5%. Income has also jumped up.

Within the content I use the format

TITLE
IMAGE/PHOTO
FIRST PARAGRAPH
ADSENSE RECTANGLE (I label it as "Advertisement" to separate it from the content)
CONTENT

On the first sidebar, I put in a 120x90 adlinks. In the content I put in a large rectangle. And on the other sidebar I have a large rectange.

Test. Test and Test. A 1% change in either your CTR or ECPM can make a whole lot of difference in your revenues.

[maximillianos]

In regards to one big site versus multiple sites. I've always felt it is difficult for solo entrepreneurs to build and manage multiple sites well enough that they all succeed. I think starting out with a lot smaller sites is a great way to gauge which market or niche you may want to dive into. Some ideas/niches just are not profitable. You may have to try a few different sites/ideas before you get one that works. Then focus all your resources and energy on that one.

I've found it is extremely difficult to make lightning strike twice since one person can only do so much. Once you have large successful site, keeping it on top is work... work that takes away from your time to build and promote new sites.

[nomis5]

I earn my living from sites. I'm not rich but take several holidays a year and no boss who knows nothing, telling me how to do my job which he can't do.

Multiple sites or lots of sites? My take, very changed over the last two years, is to initially concentrate on one site. Build it up and make it the best.

Then start to build other much smaller sites and earn small profits from those. What I have learnt is that once you have an established site, it is very possible to take a years break from it and develop other smaller ones. During that time, the major site will continue with little downturn in profits.

Building smaller sites is an insurance policy against the major site failing. And surprisingly you may find that a couple of those smaller sites have great potential.