“AdSense Or Bust” Is Not A Good Monetization Strategy
Posted on August 18, 2007 by
Dee Barizo 
General 
20 Comments
Many webmasters start off monetizing their site with Google AdSense. I have nothing against AdSense. It’s easy to implement. Also, if you have some traffic already, you can see earnings quickly.
However, I believe that because AdSense is so easy to use, many webmasters don’t look into other monetization models. AdSense can make us lazy in our monetization efforts. This is unfortunate because other models make more money than AdSense. Here are some more reasons to explore non-AdSense monetization methods.
Google is a dictator.
Google is in total control of your earnings. You can lose all your AdSense accounts and earnings even though you do nothing wrong. Henry and Wilson are extreme examples of this. They were banned from AdSense and lost $200,000 in Adsense earnings!
AdSense earnings are unpredictable.
On my sites, I get clicks ranging from $.07 to $1.50. It’s hard to plan your cash flow with such big differences in click values.
Ad blindness can set in as internet users get smarter.
This is already happening in my niches. Good luck trying to monetize your graphic design blog with AdSense. Don’t even think of using AdSense on your social media blog. Certain internet users go out of their way not to click on AdSense ads. This group of people will only grow in number as the general public’s online knowledge and experience increases.
Google takes a cut.
In this podcast, Darren Rowse of Problogger found that some advertisers did not want to advertise directly with him. He realized they were already advertising on his site through AdSense. Darren removed AdSense from his site so he could get all the advertising money instead of splitting with Google.
You’ll be tempted to check your AdSense earnings every 30 minutes.
Maybe I’m the only one with this problem :) Some days AdSense is worse than email in lowering my productivity.
Further Reading
Google AdSense as a Terrible Business Model
In this blog post, Aaron Wall gives reasons why AdSense is not a good long-term business model for most small publishers.
Related Posts
It’s not just that you can’t rely on Google not to ban you or the fact that you can’t rely on how much you make.
It’s simply the fact that there are quite a few methods that can be implemented, and for some Adsense makes just 20% or less of their total revenue. It’s crazy to make just $2000/month when they could be doing $10,000.
Text link ads, sponsored reviews, affiliates, kontera, cpm banners, direct ads, the choices are too many to ignore.
Kontera totally sucks. Why did you placed that crap between affiliates and CPM banners? ]:->
Good point. As the saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Couldn’t agree more. While adsense is nice for certain types of sites, it isn’t especially good for blogs, I’ve always been more of a fan of direct advertising.
Interesting post, considering that for the most part people think automatically of adsense when thinking of monetizing their websites, but the points you make are definitely valid. I have heard many horror stories of people getting banned and losing a lot of income. But what do you suggest as an alternative to adsense? I know there are many options out there, but what do you think is a good reliable way to monetize a website?
I replied with a new blog entry.
Does anyone know what percentage Google takes from each click?
I don’t think anybody knows how much Google gives a publisher per click - it’s hard to determine. Because a well performing Ad can have a CPC of 0.05 whereas they may be actually bidding like 0.15 on their keyword. So I guess it’s determined on a advertiser to advertiser basis. Maybe I’m wrong - who knows.
I think I’ve heard it’s something about 40 percent.
@Ali
Surely, someone would have done some research on this. How about industry standards?
Has anyone here tried directly contacting the advertisers and ask them to advertise on their website rather than go through Google? If so, any success?
Usually when companies are interested in direct advertising they do ask on their own, it enough to place “advertise here” link and provide good info about visits, users, pricing, requirements etc
AdSense is great for beginners. For me 2 other programs outperform AdSense every month. It is nice to know if AdSense goes away I still have income.
BeachBum
Few notices:
AdSense earnings are unpredictable - Generally I agree, but when you do have AdSense on a site filled in good niche CPC might be very nice
internet users get smarter - I totally agree, the geek smells AdSense afar off. If your target is smart, direct advertising and affiliate marketing simply works better. Problem is the fact that without thousands of visitors monthly you won’t find direct advertisers, also many affiliate programs are geolocalized so it’s not easy to monetize traffic from different countries
Good luck trying to monetize your graphic design blog with AdSense - Yeah, that’s right. By luck there are rounded corners. You are always forced to choose: to be ok with your design and get small CTR, or to make the ads invasive and start earning money (unless your audience will simply go away haha)
IMO one of the biggest advantages of using AdSense is the fact it’s international - no matter where the user lives he always get geolocalized ads.
Good points. Thanks!
Oh I’ve just got the biggest disadvantage - I do HATE the way of AdSense payouts, one month delay is DEFINITELY too long period of time…
I’m now trying to reduce the number of adsense ads on my site. Some say the lesser the number of ads, the higher the payout. For me, it makes no difference as earnings are minimal. I wouldn’t take it out completely though…as it is still money afterall. So, why waste? ;)
I definately don’t check my Adsense every 30 mins, because I know it will still have big fat 0’s.
I like the point the John Chow made about getting .07 to 1.50 per click. Many sites get most clicks from 1 cent to less than a dollar. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more than a dollar for a click.
[…] the most popular network. However, many bloggers have AdSense as their only income stream. This is not a good strategy because you can add income streams that can earn as much money as […]
Great post! Of all the startups/websites that use Google Adsense as their main revenue model (according to Bizak.com) their earnings per visitor (EPV) is just $0.06. That’s not what they earn per click but rather based on the number of visitors they have. In order to make $1,000/month they need over 16,000 monthly visitors - not an easy feat. Better to monetize with services ($1.67 EPV) and/or subscriptions ($1.02 EPV).
Even with these poor earnings 22% of startups/websites rely on Adsense as their main revenue source. 17% services and 8% subscriptions. Source: Bizak.com