Winning the Google AdSense war
Some content site owners make four and even five figure monthly income without selling "anything." They are doing this by selling their targeted traffic to other websites through Google's AdSense program.
If you're unfamiliar with (r) AdSense, this is where (r) Google pays website owners ("publishers") to serve ads on their sites. Google accepts paid ads from advertisers and then shares this revenue with publishers who allow these ads to show on their sites. They pay based on the clicks generated on publishers' sites.
Many publishers have found that running Google AdSense ads is more lucrative and less troublesome than marketing their own products or services. So a whole industry has sprung up around monetizing websites using AdSense and other pay-per-click programs.
The "industry" is mature enough that seminars are even held teaching how to best monetize your content sites. I will attend a seminar, in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 9-11, 2005, that takes this same approach. You can read more about this at: http://WillieCrawford.com/new-orleans-seminar.html
Since the MOST of the people I have contacted are not earning four- or five-figure income a month, let's examine how you increase your chances of earning these amounts.
First of all, your website needs to be on a topic (a niche) that people are spending a lot of money on. There are niches where advertisers typically spend $ 40- $ 50 per click ... just to drive visitors to their websites. Obviously, these visitors buy "things" on these websites that make the traffic worth paying so much for.
In case you're wondering which keywords any "sane" marketer would spend $ 50 on with a single click, read on ...
Certain website visitors, who later become customers, could literally be worth thousands, even millions, to marketers. These marketers know the lifetime value of their visitors and have their conversion rates calculated! Markets where clients can be so lucrative include legal / lawsuits, medical, higher education, real estate, new and used vehicles, investments, travel, and products that offer residual income. There are many others.
In fact, I have a list of over 9000 keywords that I look at when creating a new site or optimizing an existing site. Doesn't it make a lot of sense to create sites that attract visitors with a high value per visitor?
The keywords in the list above range from 93 cents to $ 108 per click. There are higher priced keywords, but you probably don't want to focus on them as the competition can be incredibly fierce. There are niches where your competitors will sabotage your efforts. Money does that to some people :-)
It makes economic sense to build a site around topics that people are already spending money on.
It makes sense to target a market where people have money to spend and expect to spend it on products similar to yours. In that regard, you can even set up a site designed to generate traffic for government agencies, foundations, charities, etc. It's about getting in front of the traffic and then redirecting that traffic to those who are willing to pay for it.
When setting up content sites, it is important that you do not violate the terms of service of the pay-per-click management company you plan to use. For example, Google actually tells you that you shouldn't create sites just for your AdSense program. However, they need sites to display their clients' ads for their program to work.
It is a delicate balancing act. Google wants to deliver relevant clicks to its customers. They know that traffic coming from "junk" or "spam" sites may not convert as well for their customers. This would reduce ROI for your customers and lead to many dissatisfied customers.
Google wants webmasters who have quality, targeted traffic to run AdSense ads. When you set up a free blog on Google's Blogger.com, they even have the AdSense invitation "timed" in the sign-up process.
So how do you win the Google AdSense war and get your share of the revenue stream from billions of dollars advertisers? Create high-quality content sites that focus on niches where people spend money. AND It's as simple as that. You let those who are already doing it show you what works best, it's that easy!