Have you stopped to think that the reason why you are not making money with Google AdSense is maybe because it is not the program that is not performing well, but rather the way you use it and going a bit further, your own website? Yeah, AdSense is not good for useless and low quality sites. Unless you can create thousands of MFA (made for AdSense) sites that each generate some dollars a month, then you might just get away with. Other than that, I have my doubts.
I know that you are here reading this because you are an avid reader of my blog, lol. That being the case, you should now that I do not provide income reports like many others do. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing that. As a matter of fact, if properly presented, it might just be a source of inspiration for those who want to see what a specific blogger is making money with, and within the process learn something for it. In my case, I prefer to show them individually, meaning, when I write something about a topic, I will show my earnings only for that purpose (when applicable). Anyway, this is what is due to me this month from Mr. G.
Inspiring, is it not? I know of other people people who make more than this on a monthly basis, like Lisa of 2createawebsite (I love her advices, specially her new Niche Website Success ebook). Bigger sites obviously are out the equation as we don’t want our tiny blogs to be compared with the big ones 
. But to me, this is great and keeps me motivated. So, to answer the question, Yes, done properly AdSense is a great source of income. Notice that I did not put a “passive” in front of income, because passive normally relates to “autopilot”, “not doing a lot”, and so on. This may work for some lucky few, but in general, trust me, this is not the case for most of us – effort is required.
Now, next obvious question is where? Where do I make these AdSense earnings from? Well, I can tell you right now that iBlogzone only represents 25% of these earnings, and that is only after I implemented some changes, in accordance with some few stuff I learned from Lisa, Hesham and Brankica. So to show you that not all niches are “qualified” candidates for making money with AdSense. There you go again with knowing how to pick the right niche.
Secrets To Making Money With AdSense
OK, No magic formula for this one. There are many systems out there that will tell you that they can help you create a niche site in less than 5 minutes. Sure that is true, but one thing is creating sites, and the other is to actually make money from them. You need to work on the quality of your website and drive traffic to it (preferably organic – so is applying best SEO practices important?). If you heard about placement targeting, you should know that this is the option where advertisers can choose where they want their ads to show up. Normally, this is where the bigger CPC’s come from.
In addition, you need to place those ads where they can be seen but not the “in your face” kind of thing. You have to work on target placements (as mentioned above), filtering categories, research for good keywords (decent CPC), many trial and error, track your performance with custom channels, and the list goes on. As you can see, it is not just copying and pasting code, hoping for the best. People are already “blind” with so many ads so they have to be happy when they find your site. Show them great content, make your site compelling and you just may get surprised.
AdSense Tips For Ads Placements
To get you started, I got a whole bunch of articles related to AdSense, so just browse on those and you may just get a few tips here and there.
The following articles are a good place to start:
- Test your knowledge with the AdSense Academy (Google Official Blog)
- How To Make Money With Google AdSense
- Google AdSense: Checklist For Beginners And Existing Users
- Google AdSense Category Filtering
- How To Use Google’s AdSense Channels – Video Tutorials
- How To Make Money With AdSense?
- Tips on How to Increase CPC in Google AdSense
- How To Increase Adsense CTR | Tested and Confirmed
- Make Money With Google AdSense (related articles)
There you have it. Done properly, there is money to be made with Google AdSense, and I hope that this can serve as a source of inspiration for you. Rather than saying, AdSense being this, or AdSense being that, stop, strategize, implement, and put in the effort. I know that it will not work for everyone. There are those who succeed with it, and unfortunately, there are those who don’t. The question is, which side do you want to be in? Take “action”, and go, go, go. To your success.
You May Also Like:
- Komoona AdSense Companion: Double Your Chances To Make Money
- How To Make Money With Google AdSense, Increase Earnings
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: lavenderuses
January 16, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Hi DiTesco
This is so on topic for me. Was just reading an article today about Adsense and then I saw your post in my Twitter stream.
Wil lcome back and check out the other articles you recommend too. Getting late here and I have a busy morning so trying to be sensible and not be up after midnight!
Thanks for your honest appraisal and as you are actually making money with Adsense; someone we can take note of.
Patricia Perth Australia
Twitter: ditesco
January 17, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Hi Patricia. I am really a strong advocate of AdSense and you may probably see why. I do have to admit that getting there is not easy but with the right mindset and some tweaks here and there, it can be done. It really works pretty good on certain “topics” and that is by far, IMO, the most important aspect to making a decent amount of money from their program. Obviously, the site needs traffic for it to be worthwhile
I take that by doing some research about the subject, you are thinking of “diving” in the program?
Twitter: BrankicaU
January 26, 2012 at 12:57 am
I am so putting Adsense on Patricia’s site soon. I’ve talking her into it for months now. I know she will give up on saying NO
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Twitter: ditesco
January 26, 2012 at 12:11 pm
LOL, Patricia is a though “cookie”.. She did learn quite a bit since I first met her and I see that you have been a great help to her. Why not tell her to give it a shot for a month or so and see how it goes. You can always take it down
Twitter: jeet_dholakia
January 16, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Hello,
actually i read article by looking it to the title. rightly said by and completely agree with you. the same problem is with me also. to be frank i am not getting even 5$ a month from the adsense on my blog and till now i am not getting how people are making tons of money with adsense. i know there are problem with me and my site but need suggestion from someone who can guide me in this.
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Twitter: ditesco
January 17, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Hi Jeet. I just saw your site and I think that you have a good thing going there. Have you tried different placements? If I may, and this is just a suggestion, having the ad before the post may not be a good thing in your case because you do want people to read your post first. If they are interested in what you have to say, the most likely scenario will be to red the post and the further down they go, your ad, despite being above the fold, disappears. Try putting it somewhere in the middle and perhaps use a variation of text and image, with different sizes such as 250X250. Create a custom channel so you can monitor its performance. That’s just about the best way to see how things can work for you. Good luck!
Twitter: jeet_dholakia
January 17, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Thank you for your suggestion. i will definitely try it out. btw your blog inspires me lot to do new things and to think in different manner.
Thank you.
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Twitter: techinfo4u
January 17, 2012 at 12:38 am
For me adsense is essential, my sites struggle to make any other revenue from anything other than adsense. I’ve even tried different ad networks and none of them provide the returns that adsense does, for me it’s just the best one out there!
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Twitter: ditesco
January 17, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Hi Robert. Glad to meet another advocate of AdSense. I really like working with them, but I obviously do not ignore other “income” opportunities. AdSense work well for sites that have good amount of organic traffic… Thanks for stopping by
Twitter: opportplanet
January 17, 2012 at 8:45 am
It certainly worth it but in our niche it’s not the best advertising option because people have learned to ignore adsense ads.
Affiliate links and selling advertising space is much more rewarding but if a blog is not in the “make money online” niche it can make a lot of money thru adsense…
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Twitter: ditesco
January 17, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I agree, Kostas, that other forms of income work better on our type of “niche”. However, if your site gets a decent amount of organic traffic, it pays off because our niche , despite everything, has good CPC and that compensates with the lower CTR. I always say, every bit counts, so a bit here and a bit there piles up
On a side note, you are right about one thing. AdSense performs way better in other types of niche
Twitter: Makewebworld
January 17, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Adsense is defiantly the best option but I like Chitika also. Adsense fill rate is great and with the correct optimization it can produce great results. Chitika is great if your organic traffic is coming to look for some product. I use both of them on my site (Chitika on selected pages or post only).
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Twitter: ditesco
January 17, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Hi Sanjeev. I used to run Chitika some time ago but for some reason it did not work very well for me. I noticed that the “earnings per click” were very low and it was not really interesting to me, despite the ads only showing up for visitors that come via search engines. Good to know that you are doing well with Chitika. Any particular secrets to make it perform better?, lol I can always test it again
That’s great dude want to trade sites for a month? Just kidding. I have tried tons of different locations, sizes, formats, colors, you name it. Not only on just one site, but a few different sites. It never amounts to anything that great. Not anywhere near yours for sure. I would be happy with a lot less than what you posted there. At least there hope and you screen shot verifies that you can certainly make decent money with Adsense. I’ll keep dreaming.
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Twitter: ditesco
January 19, 2012 at 12:15 am
LOL Ray, I would trade with you but the I have to … haha, just kidding. Seriously, it took me a while before I started to see some decent results and I will tell you right now that my best of the best is an ad placement in-post on the right hand side. Format is 250X250 and use both text and images. It works well on my niche sites. I guess I found a good niche
Keep it up mate, eventually you will find the “sweet” spot. Good luck!
Twitter: FamousBloggers
January 18, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Hey Buddy, of course I want on the winners side
This is great, very impressed by your Google AdSense results!
I can simply say that Google AdSense is a way much better than most of other advertising platforms and services out there, and as you said compelling content and ads placements is what makes a difference in your earnings.
The most interesting thing about online advertisements is that every single blog or website has its own finger print, so what works for you maybe won’t work for me, the key here is testing out several placements till you find the one that works best!
Good job DiTesco
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Twitter: ditesco
January 19, 2012 at 12:11 am
Thanks Buddy. Indeed, testing, testing and more testing is what it sometimes takes to see which one works best. As I mentioned, most of my AdSense earnings are from my other niche sites and only 25% of that result comes from here. Still I can’t complain, considering…
I agree with you though, AdSense is IMHO the best in comparison to other similar programs. I tried them all, but none comes even close
Good to see you here …
Okay DiTesco, I am just one of those many readers who keep on coming back to your blogs for some unknown reasons. Ha ha. Google adsense can really be such a pain if you don’t know how to play with it. But given the time, you’ll earn more than enough from it. I’m off to reading those other related articles, though and I’ll let you know what I think about them.
Twitter: pennyseeds
January 19, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I’ve made some money with adsense, but to be honest I’ve found much better money with direct ads. The benefits for this are obvious.. upfront pricing, no revenue splitting with another company, and building your own lasting relationships with advertisers. I’m working on removing adsense from my site to try other methods like highly targeted affiliate ads on certain pages as well.
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Twitter: ditesco
January 22, 2012 at 11:41 am
Hi Tabby. Direct ads are indeed a great form of monetizing a blog, and the benefits are clear. properly distributed, I think one can have both
In addition, direct ads normally works better for high traffic and authority blogs…
Twitter: 2createawebsite
January 20, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Really great article! Thanks for the mention.
It’s amazing how people think they can just put up a site and it will make money just ’cause. Whether it’s AdSense, affiliate marketing, you name it, if there’s no quality, your earnings will always be limited.
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Twitter: ditesco
January 22, 2012 at 11:45 am
Hi Lisa. Can’t agree with you more… This is probably one reason why many quit early on AdSense or any other business model. They want it fast and a lot of it.. Not a bad thinking really, sadly, it ain’t easy and only those that are really determined can make it. Thanks BTW for your valuable contributions.. I am one of those who implement “things” that I learn
Twitter: theapptimes
January 23, 2012 at 1:13 pm
This is a good resource page for many bloggers struggling with Adsense earnings. I’m happy to share this post on my network.
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Twitter: esmconcepts
January 24, 2012 at 2:34 am
I think many website owners do not truly understand how the AdSense ads work with their page content.
Many people say that the ads don’t match their website market niche, but if you look at their site, the keywords are confusing and all across the board. No focus, no proper ads, no AdSense, no AdSense profits.
As with anything in internet marketing, it takes time, hard work and diligence.
More good info DiTesco as always.
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Twitter: Nimsrules
January 25, 2012 at 11:37 am
After getting rejected twice, I’ve stopped applying for Adsense now. Nuffnag, chitika and other affiliates are good too.
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Twitter: BrankicaU
January 26, 2012 at 1:00 am
Francisco, this is a great post. Thanks for the mention!
I’ve removed Adsense from my blog but will probably run more tests on it later. I do make great money with Adsense on my niche sites, just because they are more keyword targeted. Also, when I have Adsense on my blog, it for example displays Aweber ads on my email marketing pages which is not what I want, when I am trying to get people to sing up to Aweber through my links
Brankica invites you to check out ..Affiliate Bonus Plugin Review – More Money From Clickbank Products
Twitter: ditesco
January 26, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Hi Brankica. I know what you mean about AdSense sometimes “colliding” with pages that you are promoting. The way I go around that in one other site I have is by using “dynamic widgets”. This widget allow me to “select” only where the ads will display. Actually the widget can be used for many things, but this is one to do it. Give it a try and see if that works for you. I know you “avoid” plugins but I don’t see much ways around it
I’m a new subscriber to your feed. Great content!
I use AdSense in our online directory and have recently added them to the resource area of my niche website. So far, I’ve received only minimal revenue from AdSense. I’m concerned about putting ads on my blog as I don’t want to detract from my primary goal – getting leads for my business.
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Twitter: ditesco
January 27, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Hi Denise. I think that in your case, it may not be wise to run AdSense as it may show ads from your competitors. One way to go around that, is to eventually filter out the category which is most relevant to your site to avoid competing ads from displaying. Obviously it is still a risk and as I said, AdSense works in some sites and not on others. Your case is a good example. After all, if you are marketing specific “stuff” on your blog, it does not make sense to show other alternatives for your visitors
Thanks for the feedback. My sentiments exactly. BTW, loved you SEO plugin posts!!!
Denise Smith invites you to check out ..10 Tips to Optimize Your e-Commerse Site
How do you get so much money with only 5K visits per month? LOL
Nimsrules, just because you got rejected twice from adsense doesn’t mean you should quit. I got rejected only once and i started 3 sites and all 3 sites got approved a week later and to make matters even Better, google allows already approved people to freely place their adsense code on any website that they own without needing additional approval as long as it conforms to the standards of Google Adsense program. I trust google adsense because I know Google is a huge rich and well known company that won’t cheat pay and will pay people on time. I run 2 dating sites and Movies Dig which is a movie information and entertainment news site like Imdb and Rotten Tomatoes.
-Osman
Nice article and I find that the adsense is good but too much traffic is required . But affiliate sell is best one to get descent amount of money . For example hostgator affiliates.
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Twitter: onlinejobreview
February 14, 2012 at 9:15 am
Earnings via adsense have decreased considerably. Alot of factors are being added, per page ad-count, IP’s, fonts, location, content embedding. I have had an adsense account for 5 years ALOT and I must say ALOT has changed since the time I initially started using it.
I do think that it is a great feature and if you add it with infolinks and other marketing tools you can really get alot out of it.
Twitter: 2makesomemoney
February 15, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Great article about AdSense. Adsense is a good choice if we have good traffic.
Twitter: MHH_Blog
February 15, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Qualifying for AdSense approval is hard and even harder is to earn descent amount of money from it.. there are many alternatives but that are also worse than AdSense ,, affiliates can be another useful; way to get money from your Blog..
Hey Men, Superb Article !
I’m a big fan of adsense and can you please take some of your time to visit ma site and tell me can i apply adsense for the following site ?
http://disneydragon.com
rite now i’m using adbrite and its good
Make more articles like this dude and by the way i came here by lisa’s tweets
Twitter: ditesco
February 15, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Hi. Your site appears to be new. Do you have an AdSense account? If you do, I recommend using it instead of AdBrite.
Twitter: neymartv
February 15, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Really great article! I used to make $30 a day with adsense, I just dont know what happened that now I am making only $10 …. it has been like that for a few weeks … I am looking for a solution, thank you for sharing this great article!
Twitter: bkgroup
February 18, 2012 at 6:38 am
hi,
I am using Google adsense since 1 and half year and found it is the best advertising program ever.I had tried lots of other advertising network but I feel adsense is something different.Till date I have earned lots from adsense and trying to earn more from it.
Thanks for sharing.
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