I really like Google Adsense. It contributes a nice little chunk of change to my income each and every month.
That said, I don't and won't follow the lead of those whose sites earn only through Google Adsense.
What happens when their Adsense accounts are shut down by Google? It does happen, and they're left scrambling to replace lost income!
Don't believe me?
Try clicking on your own site's Google Adsense links once or twice and see how fast Google shuts down your Adsense account. (No, don't really do that!)
Does it make sense to build an entire site around financial products to make a few bucks on Adsense clicks, when you can earn up to $40 for a completed credit card application?
Not to me, it doesn't.
I use Google Adsense to supplement my affiliate income, not replace it.
Basically, it comes down to value. Value for you, and value for your visitors.
Sites that monetize only with Adsense aren't getting real value from their site's real estate.
Too, it's important to me that my visitors find information of value to them on my sites, and I do that by offering balanced product reviews and articles on the related topic.
If after reading my material, they're not interested in the product offerings, then perhaps they'll see an Adwords ad that captures their interest.
Placing Google Adsense on your site is a strategy that will put money in your pockets even if your visitors don't buy.
However, in the same way you need to be smart about choosing lucrative affiliate programs, you also want to do your homework when monetizing topics with Adsense.
For example, I was recently re-reading some information about under-represented niche topics with huge markets.
One of the topics suggested as a winner was 'snakes'.
I found that hard to believe, so I did my own research.
The term 'snakes' had 152,857 searches at Overture and its partners in January, so yes, that's a pretty sizeable interest in 'snakes'.
OK, but who's your market? Kids looking for snake pictures for a school project? People who want to buy snakes? Someone who wants to visit Snake River?
What are you going to sell? Snakes? The game, 'Snake'? A $10 book on which you make a 15% commission? A $60 poster from allposters.com on which you earn a 30% commission seemed to be the best bet, but how many people want to pay $60 for snake posters?
To me, that's not enough interest or commission potential to build a site around 'snakes'.
So, what about incorporating Adsense to boost potential profitability?
Well, search Google for 'snakes'. See what comes up in the Google Adwords column?
NOTHING!
If you want to monetize with Adsense, you have to pick topics whose Adwords advertisers spend mega-bucks per click.
How do you figure out what those topics are?
Easy!
If you haven't already done so, open up a Google Adwords account and create a new campaign. Add a list of keywords (one niche topic at a time), then click on 'estimate traffic'. The resulting page will show you the average cost per click for each keyword.
Make note of the most expensive words in that list and optimize your pages for those phrases.
THAT's how you'll really profit with Google Adsense.
Warning! Warning! Warning!