My rule of thumb is always go where the money is, but in making the decision to use Adsense or affiliate programs, there are a few things you should look at. Let's take a look at those things right now, so you know exactly what you should be putting on your site. Google Adsense or affiliate programs.
First, it will depend on your niche. If there is an affiliate program for your niche that converts well and pays well, then you should take the affiliate program route. I'm sure you would rather make dollars than you would cents, so using an affiliate program in this situation would be your best bet. However, if there isn't an affiliate program, using a pay-per-click service such as Google Adsense will at least allow you to earn a little money from your content site.
This leads to another question though. How do you tell if the affiliate program you are looking at is a good one or not?
The answer to that question will take some research, but will be well worth your time. The first thing to do is to contact the site owner or affiliate manager and ask what the average conversion rate is for the affiliate program. You could also ask if they have any affiliates that would be willing to email you their experiences with the product. Once you have the answer to that question, visit a few affiliate marketing forums and ask if anyone has promoted the program before or if they have any experience with the owner or affiliate manager of the site. Usually if it's a bad program, many people will tell you about it.
Now, if you don't find any affiliate programs for your niche, then I would use Google Adsense or any of the other programs like it. Always check though to make sure you can't make more money from something else. You don't want to be making pennies on a site you could be making dollars from. Most of the time Google Adsense just pays pennies per click. So if you got 100 clicks on your Adsense ad, and made say $5, but you got 100 clicks on an affiliate link and made $50, wouldn't it make more send to use the affiliate link on your site?
Using this as a guide will help you, but you still must test and track what works best for your site. You could put Adsense ads on your site for a few weeks, and then replace them with affiliate links for a few weeks. See what does better, and use the one that makes you more money. Just remember to keep testing and tracking!
Investors who have previously been able to qualify for 100% purchase financing to acquire investment properties are now facing much different conditions in the investor loan market place. Programs for investor loans have literally evaporated under the pressure of the subprime mortgage debacle. Many investors who formerly depended on subprime mortgage programs and ARM loans, are now seeking hard money loans for real estate purchases and rehabs. Demand for hard money loan programs nationwide has steadily increased. Real estate investors are discovering that hard money lenders are funding both residential and commercial investments.
According to Wikipedia: A hard money loan is a species of real estate loan collateralized against the quick-sale value of the property for which the loan is made. Most lenders fund in the first lien position, meaning that in the event of a default, they are the first creditor to receive remuneration. Occasionally, a lender will subordinate to another first lien position loan; this loan is known as a mezzanine or second lien. Hard money lenders structure loans based on a percentage of the quick-sale value of the subject property. This is called the loan-to-value or LTV ratio and typically hovers between 60-70% of the market value of the property. For the purpose of determining an LTV, the word "value" is defined as "today's purchase price." This is the amount a lender could reasonably expect to realize from the sale of the property in the event that the loan defaults and the property must be sold in a one- to four-month timeframe. This value differs from a market value appraisal, which assumes an arms-length transaction in which neither buyer nor seller is acting under duress.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke who testified Before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives on September 20, 2007 regarding subprime mortgage lending and mitigating foreclosures stated, "Markets do tend to self-correct. In response to the serious financial losses incurred by investors, the market for subprime mortgages has adjusted sharply. Investors are demanding that originators employ tighter underwriting standards, and some large lenders are pulling back from the use of brokers. The reassessment and resulting increase in the attention to loan quality should help prevent a recurrence of the recent subprime problems. Nevertheless, many homeowners who took out mortgages in recent years are in financial distress."
Tighter underwriting standards for investors mean that fewer investors will qualify for loans without substantial down payments, generally in the 20% to 30% range. These strict underwriting requirements for real estate investors will also lead investors to pursue more creative real estate funding options such as seller financing, carry-back, and hard money funding for purchase or rehab "fix and flip". While the markets are correcting, real estate investors are already gravitating to programs where they can obtain readily available funding to purchase investment property.
Many hard money lenders are willing to loan up to 100% of the purchase on a property, given the fact that the property LTV is approximately 70% or lower. These lenders are also willing to loan money for "rehabbing" the property and even structuring the loan so no monthly payments are required for 3 to 6 months. These features make hard money loans very attractive to the investor, especially during times when property inventory is increasing and properties can be purchased at substantial values. At the present time, rates for hard money are in the 10% to 16% range and hard money lenders are charging "points" typically, 1-3 more than a traditional loan, which would amount to 3-6 points on the average hard money loan. Commercial hard money loans range from 4 to 10 points. Investor credit may or may not factor into a hard money loan due to the fact that the funding is based on the "hard" asset value of the property collateralizing the loan.
Both Liz Tomey & Rahul Rungta 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.
Liz Tomey has sinced written about articles on various topics from Affiliate Programs, Forex Online and Adsense. Liz Tomey runs an affiliate marketing website that focuses on educating people about the different ways of making money through affiliate marketing.You can enjoy reading tips, tricks, and other information about affiliate marketing and finding the best. Liz Tomey's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
Rahul Rungta has sinced written about articles on various topics from Wine and Spirits, Organizational and How to Basement Waterproofing. Gary Zaccaria is a Sr. Financial Consultant with OpmCredit.com on the topic of Hard Money Loanoptions for real estate investing. He has marketed real estate investment training programs for Trump University, Dolf De Roos, Robert Allen, and AD Kessler.. Rahul Rungta's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.