How Much Can You Make With AdSense?
My second entry in the AdSense FAQ discusses the question that everyone asks me, especially press types — how much money can you really earn with AdSense anyhow?
More than you think, but also less than you think… most sites are in the “long tail” of the earnings curve. Forget optimization and keyword selection, in the end it’s all about one thing: traffic.
Tags
September 25, 2008 | Filed Under AdSense
Comments
45 Responses to “How Much Can You Make With AdSense?”
Well so far I’ve made about $200 on a website that I made in April.
Hi Eric,
What is the click-through-rate (CTR) for the average blogger? And what is your CTR?
I have read your book “Make Easy Money ….” and it was really helpful for a novice blogger like me.
Thanks for emailing me all your wonderful articles. They really are full of substance and informative!
Best Regards,
Dance Aficionado,
http://www.dancesportmalaysia.blogspot.com
Well, For me its very difficult and time consuming to make some bucks with adsense. As i have earned only 150 USD even though i have 5 blogs and i have promoted them very well.
Yeah!I do not do any sort of optimization or key word selection on my blog because I do not really take Adsense as the primary source of income on my blog.Of late, I have however noticed that with the increase of my blog’s Google PageRank, the amount of organic traffic has also increased greatly.And with this increase, my monthly Adsense earnings have also increased correspondingly.
Well, to be honest, I haven’t been too successful with Adsense. I think my problem is building blogs that people actually want to read.
“More than you think, but also less than you think… [...] Forget optimization and keyword selection, in the end it’s all about one thing: traffic.
Indeed I don’t share this point of view, I experienced that traffic doesn’t mean anything if your ads are not relevant to your content.
So my 2 cents make one blog or website per topic.
Stay focused on the same topic as much as much as possible but also extend your topic through sub-niche.
Keep posting at least once a week and use optimization and keyword researches.
Earning $0.01 per clic is not profitable, right?
Targeting $0.50 per clic in average is much better, oh yes!
Just check keyword density and select keywords from Keyword Country – Extra work Extra Money –
Add more traffic & you get the perfect equation to online earnings from Adsense
I’m not sure you’re disagreeing with what I said. Let’s describe it using mathematical terminology: traffic is necessary but not sufficient to make money with AdSense. As you point out, keyword selection can have a definite impact.
But those $0.50 per click keywords aren’t going to make you anything without traffic….
Eric
Yes i think getting the right content that people will want to read is the key to making big bucks.
Bill
I agree that it’s all about traffic but it’s worth bearing in mind that the traffic must be QUALITY. Visitors must be interested in the subject matter in order for them to be enticed by related adverts.
I get at least 10 bucks from ads that average to 4 cents per click.
I have made $200 since feb.08. But I have noticed my ad rates going down??
I have earn good income on Adsense last 3 years.
I’m not sure you’re disagreeing with what I said.
>> Then, I’ve to clarify my point of view…
… traffic is necessary but not sufficient to make money with AdSense. As you point out, keyword selection can have a definite impact.
>> Indeed this is a combination of elements correctly mastered.
- good & useful content
- keyword selection & keyword density
- ad blocks optimized (size, color, location, tracking, …) all those optimizations are explained in the best ebooks.
- add more traffic & wow you make it’s really profitable (I’m currenty testing several “new” strategies (at least new for me) on my websites, I’ll soon do the same on my blogs).
But those $0.50 per click keywords aren’t going to make you anything without traffic….
>> & for sure you won’t reach those $0.50 per click without research & optimization…
AO.
I’ve been doing a bit over $1k per month with Adsense across my small network. This month it looks like I’ll fall a little short.
Traffic is the main chunk here, but also the niche. Hamster clothing isn’t going to pay you very much, even if you have millions of visitors per day.
Traffic is one of the more important factors for adsense revenue.
For many people, search engines are their primary source of traffic, so if you can rank for some of the more popular terms, you will certainly see an increase in traffic and hopefully revenue.
I have made 3USD from last 3 months. my blog is pr3 but i don’t know why it does not make good $$$$.
can any one help me on this
the url of my blog is
http://thecricketingleague.blogspot.com/
One of my friends earn average $1000/month from his cookery website.
He is having unique content and good traffic.
Hi FreeEbooks,
can you share your friends URL …or contact…i would love to contact him and take some tips from him.
I still think that if you’re running a long term business then traffic generation is key. It will give you option down the road of switching from adsense to affiliate programs. And if you focus on organic seo results then you can chip away at your adwords expenses.
I like the point you make Online Incomr System… I would focus on organic SEO. and chip away to your adwords expenses. The higher you get on Organic SEO.. less money you have to spend on AdWords. You also get the best of both worlds
I would have to agree with the general consensus, traffic is the key. Or with the less general consensus, quality traffic is the key. If you get a million visitors a months but all of them came from Digg, I doubt you will be earning much with your adsense, social media people don’t tend to click on ads much.
If your traffic is all from search engines on the other hand, you’re likely to see some very good returns. So, quality organic traffic is the key to adsense earnings. That’s my take on it anyway.
I don’t understand how people make hundreds of dollars in adsense in a short amount of time. I’ve almost had adsense for a year, have it on over 10 sites that I do advertise and seo, backlinks etc. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I just don’t get the clicks.
If you get a million visitors a months but all of them came from Digg, I doubt you will be earning much with your adsense, social media people don’t tend to click on ads much.
>> SD, a link from any popular social media website is like a vote for your site.
Hundreds of backlinks may help your site to go up the search engines rankings.
Leading to more better targeted visitors.
I don’t understand how people make hundreds of dollars in adsense in a short amount of time.
>> Hi Mike,
In a short amount of time this is not rational. Wrong ways lead to your Adsense account to be closed…
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I just don’t get the clicks.
>> – Have you read Adsense Secrets 4?
- Do yo test & implement new strategies weekly?
- Do you track you results?
etc.
To Your Success!
AO.
I would love just to make $100 a day let alone $10,000 a day with Adsense. The traffic needed to get to $100 is a lot more manageable to get than is the traffic to get $10,000 – I just don’t have the time or the resources for that right now.
I agree with you – Traffic is so important. Nothing is more important that traffic numbers when it comes to making money from adsense.
I also love long tail search optimization – that is how you make good money. Long tail is for the most part untapped in most industries.
I started with adsense long time ago, tried to study it and learn how to add ads to my site but i quit. But now i’ll start again, because i saw there is chance to earn big with Adsense.
I am getting very low cpc with adsense. I really can’t figure out what I am doing wrong. The CTR is acceptable but the low cpc is really hurting me.
Some of us actually make quite a buck with adsense, but Steve Pavlina is someone who made the big bucks with it, and now he’s giving it all up. Jesus, that’s really interesting: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/10/dropping-adsense-saying-goodbye-to-100k-per-year-in-easy-income/.
I am Portuguese and I run blogs both in English and in Portuguese. I have higher traffic on my English blog but have a lower CTR that on my Portuguese blog, which has a higher CTR and so make more money on the Portuguese blog. Keywords in Portuguese appear to be worth more than in English, at least in my experience.
I am getting account activation failed message from Adsense. Now I have to reactivate my adsense account, what is the process?
Agreed that its all about traffic in the end.. but i would like to make a point here : its about the visitor that is most important.. the keyword is wat will sell you.. if he likes then u have a click.. I think traffic yet again boils down to proper research and keyword selection
Arvi
at my work we have a eBay-like website running since 1 year. we generate 850,000 visitors per month. and still we earn only 250$/month with adsense. even though we have included it on every single page.
i think it’s really depending on the content. people are interested in buying something on our website instead of reading the ads.
i heard of other websites having much higher adsense income with even much lesser visitors.
i heard of other websites having much higher adsense income with even much lesser visitors.
>> Hi Chris,
Indeed, the number of visitors isn’t the main criteria for a successful constant earning from AdSense.
ie:
- position
- size
- colors
If you implement tactics and track the results you can with WORK improve your AdSense income. It’s also important to consider AdSense as an additional source of revenue.
If for any reason it dropps down, you’renot losing everything…
eBay and Affiliate marketing are good monetization strategies mixed with AdSense.
To Your Success!
AO.
There’s a balance to making money online. As Eric said, traffic is one of the keys. But I would argue that…assuming that making money is one of your main motivations in the first place…you approach it this way:
1. Create A Site That Is Valuable…i.e., that offers information and content that people really, really find useful. If you can’t do this, you’re probably not going to go very far. If there are other similar sites out there, why should someone come visit you? Just because you’re a nice person? It doesn’t work that way. You need something unique…or if not unique, something that’s at least presented a lot better than everyone else.
2. Traffic. Yes, this is critical. I know what it’s like to have a lot of traffic, and I know what it’s like to have very little. (checking stats) One of my sites has 29,143 page impressions so far today. That’s really good. Most people will never see this kind of traffic. It’s cost me a lot (and I mean a LOT) of money to get this site ranked highly enough to see that kind of traffic. Your best bet is generally getting search engine traffic. However, if your site sells specific products, and the profit margin is high enough, you can also buy ads to bring people in. I don’t do that…so I’m strictly depending on the search engines and links from sites and blogs to get people in the door.
3. Ads That Pay Pretty Well. Remember that 30K impressions I mentioned above? It’s wonderful traffic, and it generates a lot of clicks. But…now the bad news. Average clicks on that site are 4 cents. It takes a LOT of clicks to make any real money at 4 cents apiece. How much better if the clicks paid a dime apiece? 20, 30, 50 cents…even a dollar? Of course, the higher the ad payout, the more competition. So I’m happy with the 4 cents to a point. Fortunately, there are many, many clicks on that site. But still…it’s good to make more than that per click. So doing a little research up front can really help.
But, before worrying about traffic and ad payouts… ask yourself: Is my site REALLY something people want or need? And it is attractive enough to bring them back again? If you have a site with videos…why should someone come there instead of going to YouTube? If you’re just selling some product or other, why should they come to you instead of going to Amazon (a trusted supplier with great info and customer reviews)? Really think about it. I suspect that’s where most people fail. They think they “deserve” traffic. That’s not the way things work in the real world.
Great points there, Chuck, and I’ll be posting something along that vein very shortly….
Ad sense has never proven to be a viable method of income through the Internet, there are many other ways to make money instead of working so hard to drive traffic to you just so they can click away from your website, keep them on your site with no external links and provide them a good product or service that you can make real money with.
Traffic is main thing to focus and i have also seen that organic traffic is best for adsense. As the matter of fact traffic is main thing for making money online through any network.
i have also seen that organic traffic is best for adsense
>> That’s true.
I will add people reaching your website from organic traffic are more willing to click as they already clicked on a link from a search engine.
AO.
If you want to increase your adsense earnings follow these steps:
1.- Use the skycraper format with white background, red links and blue title.
2.- Create a quality content and post regularly.
3.- Increase your web traffic from search engines specially Google.
4.- Only put one or two ads in your website or blog, remeber less is better.
5.-Increase your Google Pagerank to get better positions on Google Search listings.:
http://mixingofeverything.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-increase-your-pagerank-quickly.html
One of the best practise is to put your add s in the right place, don’t make them look silly, try and make them is same size and colures as your links.
I would have to agree with the general consensus, traffic is the key. Or with the less general consensus, quality traffic is the key. If you get a million visitors a months but all of them came from Digg, I doubt you will be earning much with your adsense, social media people don’t tend to click on ads much.
We started off with $70 a day. Now we are around $200 a day. I feel bad for you who get a lot of traffic but not much clicks. Try blending ad into site better. Our CTR jumped up 20% after we did that.
We started using cheap PPC to bring traffic but now learned thats a bad idea seeming how google doesnt like arbitrage. We made $1000 that day when we used cheap PPC.
We turned it off and now back to $200 a day. We are trying to create more content and getting more organically.
I use adsense on a number of my sites. I find that it’s hard to make any serious money with this though. I think for many it’s just enough to pay for the hosting.
John
I would be interested to hear what the highest clicks are that anyone has achieved. No violations of Googles TOS required just let us know in general terms your record clicks so we at least know what’s possible.
I’ll get the ball rolling by stating that my best single click to date is $3:30. Who has done better?