AdSense isn't the unstoppable revenue engine for every eBusiness. Before I am taken out and flogged by the eCommerce pundits -- please let me explain what I mean in my defense.
I make revenues from AdSense at a very high click-through rate. I experience high click-through rates with AdSense without resorting to questionable tactics like tricking site users with photos (the AdSense trick and tip).
So my perspective is from one who has made decent income from AdSense to fund aspects of his business like advertising seminars -- and outsourcing to his virtual assistants. Yes, AdSense is a legitimate and significant revenue source. However evaluate AdSense with some type of balance.
By now you may have heard about people like Joel Comm.?s six figure income with AdSense, or Jason Calacanis of Weblog being on his way to generating 1 million dollars in AdSense revenue. Google's Ad revenue sharing affiliate program for publishers certainly seems to be a sales Nirvana for many webmasters.
But there are obvious and not so obvious times not to use AdSense ads on your sites. Let's list - examine - and explain them below.
1. On Sales or Mini-sites
this is a no-brainer. If you are trying to sell a particular product that is important to your bottom line, you don't want AdSense ads distracting your customers from either joining your email list, or hindering your site's online sales process.
However I do see hybrid sites that are mini-sites or full scale eCommerce sites, with AdSense at the bottom of their pages. This might not be so bad since only 1% - 15% of your site visitors will either buy from you or fill out a form.
The thinking with this approach is you might as well make money from disinterested parties using up your server's bandwidth.
2. SEO Business Sites
If your livelihood depends on search engine optimization or marketing for a living you might want to think twice about displaying AdSense Ads on your site. I can tell you this from personal experience. I once was on top of MSN for search engine marketing in my local area. I concentrated on my local area because I found people felt more comfortable hiring an eCommerce consultant locally.
One day my site fails totally out of the MSN index. After intense study I noticed that I obviously had a filter on my site from MSN.
I analyzed all the top ranking sites in MSN and noticed the only difference between me and the other top ranking sites was I had Google AdSense ads on my site. Someone at MSN felt that my AdSense ads, and perhaps to a less extent, my book on SEO, was getting a free ride in the MSN search engine database.
In fact I noticed that there were no sites with AdSense ads for at least the first 3 pages. Plus the sites with AdSense were only using 1 ad unit at the bottom of the home page (there were very few of them in the top 5 pages).
I knew it was strange to not have AdSense ads on the top Internet marketing sites. This prompted me to scan other industries where I noticed the same trend.
Many of the leading SEO gurus have sites that have been banned from the top listings by the search engines. It seems the more visible you become, the more of a target your sites are to the search engine auditors.
Some of my sites are still on the top of MSN with AdSense ads but that doesn't mean they won't also be targets in the future.
Let's face the facts. MSN and Yahoo! have competing ad networks to Google's, and this competitive situation is rife for a potential backlash against SEO sites with AdSense ads.
Many Seo will point to exceptions to this position. However you have been warned!
Think about it, how long will MSN and Yahoo! sit back and watch SEO driven websites use their search indexes to fund Google? Did you know SEO in MSN and Yahoo (?) --- is much easier to obtain.
Therefore optimized sites are creating an ad sales wealth transfer from MSN and Yahoo into the pockets of Google! It won't be long before Yahoo! and MSN begin to devalue ranking on AdSense sites in their databases -- if not outright ban them.
If you are in the search engine business stay search engine neutral, or create multiple sites for different search engines.
Whether you've had a good run at Direct Marketing or not, you really need to consider some hard truths. The media spend on Direct Marketing in Australia is in excess of $6 billion!
This means the average Australian businesses spends more than 50% of their advertising budget on Direct Marketing.
Either a lot of people are deceived, or there's some reason why it works for some and not for others. What's the secret? Why do so many business people say direct marketing doesn't work? How can this be? We thought it might be interesting to find out why a huge number of business people say direct marketing doesn't work. What is it that makes them say 'been there, done that, didn't work'.
Over a 6 month period we conducted an anonymous survey of 138 companies who, by running an ad with a coupon response, indicated they wanted our business and wanted us to respond by giving them our name and address.
We responded to all sorts of businesses. From clothing to funeral homes, cars, computers, lonely heart clubs, finance companies, religious organizations and more.
Before I tell you what we received back from these companies, here's what I would expect from a company who wants my business.
[1] A friendly, thankful letter, personally addressed and personally signed. [2] If available, a brochure, or some other form of information. [3] An time limited offer to motivate me to 'act now' [4] A response mechanism such as a coupon or form. [5] A reply paid envelope and/or a web site that I could visit.
I would also expect: [1] A response within a reasonable time, say, a week. [2] A 'follow up' of any description, preferably within a week but certainly within a month.
Here's what we got:
Response Time: *58% took longer than 7 days to respond *31% took longer than 21 days to respond *1 took 45 days, 1 took 52 days, 1 took 56 days, 1 took 63 days and 1 took 84 days! (amazing! why bother?) *After 6 months, still 18% hadn't responded
Follow Up: *76% of those who did respond, didn't follow up at all. *5% put us on a mailing list and followed up more than twice (although these were predominantly religious organizations).
Personalized: *50% just sent a brochure. That's it. No letter, no 'how do you do', no thank you for responding. *Of those who sent a letter, half of them had a standard letter with a printed signature instead of a real one.
Unusual: *Only 4 companies sent something unusual like lollies, a coaster, a tea bag or sample with their response (that's less than 3%!).
So what does all this tell you?
With incredibly bad follow up disciplines like these, it's no wonder a large number of business owners say 'been there, done that, didn't work'. They just don't care. (Which makes me wonder why they're even in business in the first place).
The truth is, they've been there and missed it.
A large number of businesses using direct marketing principles seem to have little idea or don't care enough about fulfillment or following through. The end result is a loss, not only for the company who failed, but also for the industry itself.
It's not all bad news though. This widespread problem opens up a huge amount of opportunity for those that do it right.
So here's the key; If you follow through well, you'll stand out so much, people will find you not only memorable, but almost irresistible.
Direct Marketing works. It's something worth considering. Good luck with your next ad campaign.
Both Kavita B & Rudy Labordus are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Kavita B has sinced written about articles on various topics from Book Reviews, The Internet and Computers and The Internet. For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:-,. Kavita B's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.
Rudy Labordus has sinced written about articles on various topics from Adsense, Small Business and Advertising Guide. Rudy Labordus is CEO of award winning Perth advertising agency . Rudy also has his own. Rudy Labordus's top article generates over 720 views. to your Favourites.