There’s More To Making Money Online Than AdSense – Diversify You Income Streams
AdSense is a great way for beginning Webmasters to make some revenue. There is a lot to like about AdSense – it’s easy to set up, it can display ads in almost any niche, once you have it set you can just forget about it and watch the money build up in your account. A lot of publishers seem to get overly focused on AdSense, and forget that there might be other options out there. But that’s a mistake.
It seems like most people I know who make good money from Websites tend to use more than just AdSense. AdSense may be a good default, but there are so many different ways to make money, people usually diversify and find a lot of different programs that bring in some good income. I do pretty well with AdSense, but a few months ago I tried an affiliate program on my top AdSense site. It ended up paying out more than AdSense does, and my AdSense income hasn’t dropped at all. I’ve also gotten checks from Amazon, Text Link Ads, direct sales, ReviewMe, affiliate programs, and other sources. And I still experiment with different programs all the time.
Look at Darren Rowse, his number one money maker is Chitika, AdSense is #2 on the list. And he lists six other revenue streams.
Look at John Chow, he makes more money from various affiliates, ReviewMe, Direct Sales and Text-Link-Ads than he does with AdSense.
Every webmaster should experiment with different programs for two reasons:
- It’s good to have diversified income streams – never put all your eggs in one basket.
- You never know which program or combination of programs will make you the most money. Try lots and lots of affiliate and advertising programs. Some will make you nothing, some will do OK, and then you might hit on one that will make more for you than AdSense ever did. You never know until you try what will make you the most money.
Don’t get me wrong, AdSense is a great advertising network, and should be in the mix of every publisher’s revenue stream, but don’t limit yourself. If AdSense is the only thing you’ve ever tried, go ahead and do yourself a favor and try something new. Here are a few (affiliate) links to try out:
Alan Said,
July 2, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
Adsense sucks for my site, so I am diversifying. I think this is a very wise thing to do. Thanks for the information, have a great day!
Toivo Lainevool Said,
July 3, 2007 @ 9:52 am
I’m surprised that AdSense does so poorly on your site, Alan. I know AdSense can do well in the personal development space, look at Steve Pavlina.
Have you had any better luck with other programs?
Alan Said,
July 9, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Im trying out Kontera and Chitika, the first uses inlinks on your content and the second prints ads on tech-products. I may have not given Adsense the time needed, maybe I will try again. Right now i’m mainly earning though the V7n Network which I really recommend. If you havent join and want to help me earn a commission just click on the left side blue banner on my site. Or here is my direct Link.
http://partners.v7n.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=madetobegreat
What programs have been most successful for you?.
Toivo Lainevool Said,
July 9, 2007 @ 11:38 am
Thanks for you input Alan.
I personally don’t like the Kontera. I find the the in-text links annoying when I visit other sites, so I would never subject my visitors to them. Obviously that’s just my personal opinion thought, a lot of webmasters seem to use them.
The V7N affiliate program sounds pretty good, I might give it a try. I find that niche affiliate programs can pay out very well.
I also fixed the affiliate link in your to make it a real link, I think WordPress garbled it.
Alan Said,
July 9, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
V7n has been pretty cool. You can place their link on whatever post you find can be relevant, or write a new post about the subject but not specifically about the site or product they are asking you to link to. They also pay fast, max 24hrs after you post the link, and they do it through Paypal so its just great. Let me know if you give it a try and how it goes.
Bontb Said,
July 30, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
I joined today to PPP will see how the experiment works,as of yet adsense paid me pretty well at least they are not late on monthly checks
Toivo Lainevool Said,
July 30, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
I’m actually not too sure about PPP. The whole paid post thing is turning me off these days. I’ve seen a lot of “sponsored posts” recently, that the blog authors don’t even write themselves. Those seem to really annoy me, so now, even the thought of right a review for money isn’t too exciting to me.
I encourage you to try more than AdSense and PPP. I thought I was doing well with AdSense until I hit upon the right affiliate program. I am going to keep trying out new programs as much as I can.