Website Welfare: Are You Selling Out For A Hand Out?

Back from my blogging hiatus…

First off, I want to thank you if you’ve stayed with iBlog4Dollars from then until now. I’m back from my blogging hiatus and while it was a crazy ride, I learned and experienced a lot. Thanks to all the other bloggers who reached out to me during that time. Please note that I’m also looking for guest bloggers.

Now since I’ve been gone, I’ve had a lot of time to think, create and prepare. I’ve realized that my blog and brand can be a lot bigger than it is right now.

For that reason, I’ve decided to scrap all Google Adsense ads from my blogs.

WHAT? How are you going to “blog for dollars”?

When many people, including me, get into blogging, the first thing they come across for making money is Google Adsense. Usually this expert blogger says how they xxx.xx a day and you’re immediately like “WOW!”

You start to thinking how you can throw out a few posts, get people reading your content then BOOM; check in the mail.

Well it doesn’t exactly work like that.

Not knocking Google Adsense

Don’t take this as me beefing with Google Adsense because I make money every single day doing nothing with Google Adsense but not from my blogs.

When you put Adsense ads on your blog, you’re basically allowing Google to tell you how much a click from your subscribers is worth.

Depending on your niche, this could range from a few pennies on up to a few bucks; but before you start salivating out of the mouth, the niches that pay top dollar for clicks are locked up pretty tight.

Yes Google Adsense pays so why not include them on your site?

My beef with Google Adsense Ads

Google Adsense Ads will make you money but the problem with them is you can’t directly control what ads show up. I’ve had ads for an Indian dating site show up on my blog. Never wrote anything about dating!

When a user clicks that ad, there’s a chance they are going to leave you site and may even forget what they came to your site for. If they end up buying that product or service you sent them to, you get paid a whopping $0.36 (guesstimate) while the advertiser gets paid full price (minus the $0.36 of course).

In a day when a person’s attention span is about as short as mohawk on an ant, you have to do whatever you can to keep them on your blog. If you control what they buy, then you make more money along with gaining their trust.

What he said that stuck out to me…

A fellow pro blogger by the name of Yaro Starak said it best. In a brief article titled “No more adsense“, Yaro makes it clear why he’s not fond of Google Adsense being on his blog and I feel the exact same way:

“I just finished reading an article, How AdSense Lowers Site-Self-Esteem, which reminded me again that AdSense should not always be the monetization drawcard that you rely upon.” and later he said “I fostered long-term relationships with some of my sponsors, which was a comfortable thought compared to the whims of the Googlebot deciding how much traffic you get and consequently how much money you earn. My traffic back then was not reliant upon Google, it was mostly based on word of mouth and a loyal return audience. As long as my website was up I enjoyed a stable following, a stable income and no dependency on Google or any single major source.”

You don’t want to push your readers away by having the wrong types of ads show up so it’s best to control them 100%.

There are other ways to make money you know…

Once you get flowing with blogging, you’ll figure out different profit streams. Here are 3 main things you can do on your blog to create a lasting income for years.

1. Affiliate Products

Marketing affiliate products is simple. There are tons and tons of products to choose from. You can scour sites like Clickbank, CJ.com or even Amazon and find products that relate to your blog topics.

Be careful not to sell the product too hard. Just a simple link will do; unless you’re writing a product review. You’ll want to wait until the end to add a link with a call to action.

2.  Products and services

If you’re knowledgable on a particular subject, people will pay you for it. Like I offer SEO training services, payable per hour, you can offer your time up for what you feel it’s worth.

You can also take out some time to create products that allow you to market yourself on a broad scale.

Market these on your blog and keep all earnings in-house. Later you can bring in affiliates to promote your products but that’s another story. Stay tuned…

3. Sell Advertising space

Selling advertising space is similar to having Google Adsense but you have a lot more control. You control what ads show up on your blog and you set the price on how much you make; or how much you feel a click or 1000 impressions (CPM) is worth on your blog.

In Conclusion

The reason I called it Website Welfare is because you are allowing Google to give you hand outs; bits and pieces of the billions of dollars out there for all of us to grab a hold of.

Truthfully you can make a lot of money with Google Adsence. I’ve seen sites that make $100s a day but those sites either get tons of traffic or they are in a top dollar niche where they’re making xx.xx per click. 5 to 10 clicks and they’re in the $100 a day range.

The internet is getting bigger and this is just the beginning. Companies are scraping billboards and TV ads and heading to blogs because they understand that blogging is the relevant form of advertising.

The money is out there; you just have to position yourself to get it.

I would love to hear your take on this. Are you making a considerable amount with Google Adsense? How long did it take you to get there?

Thanks for reading! Please share and have a blessed day!

Tagged As: make money with Google adsense, making money online, webmaster welfare, website welfare