Looks like an interesting placement. I've been having some success with my placement but if things change, I may have to try this one. Thanks for sharing.
Very neat and professional looking. Just one thing though, the texts in the base are clear but they're kind of small and I find it hard reading it from here. Perhaps an actual observation won't though. So overall, excellent work!
I see your point. I have always though that encoding is as simple as it is, but its not. Fortunately there are plenty of people like you who are ready to help and enlighten us when given the chance.
Great recap! Those pointers are crucial in either making or breaking one's Adsense campaign. After all, it could only be profitable with the right plan of attack.
Excellent work. The colors used sends off a professional appeal, but moreover, the color pink incorporated adds that feminine touch to it. Serious and alluring at the same done.
Cool ….wish ya luck …. I’m kind of in the same boat with my adsense sites …. just starting I mean. I noticed you do programing . Can you tell me how to add a .htaccess file. How / what actually is an htaccess file?
A .htaccess file in basic terms is a file that an Apache webserver uses to make modifications to its configuration.
The most common things it is used for is user authentication and URL redirection.
To make a 301 redirect you simply create a .htaccess file in the root directory of your website (FTP public_html folder, usually) and add this text to it:
When someone goes to the old directory the server reads this file and notes that it has to send the user to the new domain. 301 means the redirection is permanent.
Found your blog from your sig at WF, and enjoyed reading your post. I’ve been doing AdSense for almost the same period and have similar goals (although I’ve started also doing some affiliate marketing as well). Where are you at right now in terms of daily earnings? Do you have a time frame you would like to do this in? And how many Adsense sites do you have now, and what is your goal?
Thanks Alex. Yep, I have got a few different avenues going at the moment.
Bill, I have 7 sites aimed purely at AdSense. These aren’t mini/thin sites. My goal is to add whatever keywords and articles I can to a site before moving on. I don’t see the point in creating a new domain, which has no trustrank of authority, when I can use my existing and aging domains just as easily. The content is still highly relevant and categorised properly for both easy navigation and separation for the Google (and other) spiders.
I have started making Amazon sites now because the keyword potential is huge. Competition is lacking for product based searches because it takes a bit more work to find the good ones. Companies also don’t have the SEM knowhow to target these terms and rather concentrate on the broader market.
My goal is to be away from my job in 6 months time or at least know that I can work for myself if things turn bad with my day job. I want the savings there for when things go astray.
I have a long way to go (only at $30/day at the moment) but am now only working 4 days a week and it is amazing what can be done with 1 solid day dedicated to a project.
I must admit I haven’t tried it without the image in the top corner, Alex. The reason I use it is to kind of frame the Adsense unit. I want the content column to be the size of the adsense block. I am also cautious of coming across as a MFA site. The images make the pages look good and legit.
The other option I guess is to remove the image and push the navigation up.
I think I might try that with one of my sites with an under performing CTR to see how it affects it.
Try to replace image with some blank introduction text, because categories links will also steal attention and, what is more important, clicks. Such sites with good targeted ads can give at least 10-15% CTR.
And about MFA – if article(s) quality is very poor, then design or images will not protect from ban imo.
My article quality is very good so I’m not worried about that. I have a lot of useful content on my sites too. The image just gave it something extra. I have tweaked them a bit since this post and included a border with coloured background to make the sites look pretty good – better than a lot of sites, anyway I just want them to look as much like a normal site as possible while giving the AdSense units the best chance of CTR.
Enjoyed your post, it’s encouraging to read about others “adventures” with IM and the transition to full-time. Please continue posting, I’ve bm’d your blog and look forward to more!
Just landed on your webpage from the WF. Very nice amount of cash you made, 50$ a day is nice !!!
How many articles did you have on this adsense website ? Did you do tons of backlinking ?
So far i’m experiencing with 2 small mini adsense sites but they are not making that much money(it pays the monthly phone bill, lol !). I guess the cpc is too low, how high was your cpc on the weight loss niche ? Probably 2-5$ right ?
Bye and thanx for the answer !
The weight loss site had about 20 pages on it but only 3 or 4 were bring in the cash. The others were pushing the top 10 though so just a matter of time. It obviously was like starting from scratch again when the domain had to be changed.
My CPC averaged near $2 I think. I had a lot of clicks around $1 but always a few pushing $7. It definitely didn’t get any of the $0.20 and $0.30 clicks many complain about.
If your content is directed to a particular subject you will get decent playing clicks. It is the generic blogs that suffer. The more specific your content is to a subject the more targeted the ads as well. This leads to a higher CTR and a higher conversion rate for the advertisers. A higher conversion rates means a higher CPC for you.
I’m not familiar with the AUP, but from what I’ve seen of you on Warrior forum you probably weren’t doing anything you shouldn’t have. What hosts were you using and if you don’t mind what is AUP?
It’s probably something very obvious that I know and am just drawing blanks for. Sucks about your sites, but I bet they’ll return quickly. I had the same problem once when my host was down for an irregular amount of time…like 2 days and I didn’t notice until the revenue dried up.
I was using SurfSpeedy for the sites that went down. I have been using them for quite some time and have never had any issues with them. Their support has actually been very responsive in the past. Their AUP is, as many, vague.
The plan I was on no longer exists and the replacement plans are a lot more restrictive so it might have something to do with it. I had 12 Wordpress blogs on the host and 3 of these used an auto amazon plugin (set to post 2 times per day per blog). I was also using the Onlywire Autosubmitter plugin. I also had Backlink Booster running every 20mins.
I would say that I was pushing the limits of the host and someone objected. I would have appreciated them suspending the account and asking me to correct the issue rather than terminate but it is all done now.
A few of my keywords are pushing some traffic so hopefully once the Google bot does its thing I will be back to where I was
Hey Troy
what tweaks did you make that you refer to in this post to your adsense template that you found effective?
And is that still the case or a one hit wonder?
Sorry I haven’t got back to you soon. I am going to create a post to cover what I have found very soon! Hopefully you don’t mind hanging on for a little longer.
Not sure what kind of work you were trying to have done from Odesk, but if it was just articles, you might consider a place like Textbroker. I’ve always gotten pretty good stuff from them as long as you stick with quality score of 4. It’s relatively affordable. A 500 word article is like $11 or $12 bucks and I have always gotten very satisfactory content. Well worth a look. Plus if you don’t like what you get, you can ask for a revision.
Once you discover the long tail keywords you want to target, you then need to understand who your competition is for that keyword phrase. Market Samurai provides a module called SEO competition that allows you to explore each one of the top ranked, page one listings to see why they have secured the top position, and helps you identify what you can do to maybe secure a page one listing.
Thanks for the comments. The mini-sites do allow for fast results but it just gets crazy to manage as you expand. The amount of sites you need to get a decent flow of traffic makes it counter-productive.
A focused micro-niche site is still worthwhile in many situations but I don’t think this is what a lot of the ’sniper’ courses are teaching. A micro niche can still have a lot of content and can still be built with the user in mind.
Patience is the big think I feel. When you are first starting you just want to make some cash. A year down the track though you might regret it…
That newsletter pop-up is part of a List building site I use to get people signing up from other sites in the network. It works great. Those are newsletters from other people in the network. I can’t modify the form though as it is called from the site.
The site is called List Crew and I found it from someone posting on the Warrior Forum.
If you have a list then check it out here – List Crew (*Referral Link). The only cost is having the pop-up on your site.
Once you sign up go post in this thread on the Warrior Forum and you get a priority spot for 5 days or something…
by alyssa
04 Oct 2009 at 22:20
yeah I have had very good luck by placing my ads there.
thank you
by Jessica Guerro
13 Oct 2009 at 01:09
Looks like an interesting placement. I've been having some success with my placement but if things change, I may have to try this one. Thanks for sharing.
by Work At Home Money
07 Nov 2009 at 19:20
Troy,
This is an excellent blueprint. Thanks so much for sharing!
Your tips and advise are excellent.
by Business Loans
01 Feb 2010 at 08:53
Very neat and professional looking. Just one thing though, the texts in the base are clear but they're kind of small and I find it hard reading it from here. Perhaps an actual observation won't though. So overall, excellent work!
by Business Loans
02 Feb 2010 at 06:25
I see your point. I have always though that encoding is as simple as it is, but its not. Fortunately there are plenty of people like you who are ready to help and enlighten us when given the chance.
by Business Loans
19 Feb 2010 at 14:16
So true. A proper work schedule is the best start to making the most out of one's Google Adsense Revenue. Can't wait to read your part two!
by Business Loans
22 Feb 2010 at 11:15
Great recap! Those pointers are crucial in either making or breaking one's Adsense campaign. After all, it could only be profitable with the right plan of attack.
by Venture capital
06 Mar 2010 at 03:10
Excellent work. The colors used sends off a professional appeal, but moreover, the color pink incorporated adds that feminine touch to it. Serious and alluring at the same done.
by PapaDon
06 Mar 2010 at 17:01
Cool ….wish ya luck …. I’m kind of in the same boat with my adsense sites …. just starting I mean. I noticed you do programing . Can you tell me how to add a .htaccess file. How / what actually is an htaccess file?
by Troy
07 Mar 2010 at 20:01
Thanks for that
A .htaccess file in basic terms is a file that an Apache webserver uses to make modifications to its configuration.
The most common things it is used for is user authentication and URL redirection.
To make a 301 redirect you simply create a .htaccess file in the root directory of your website (FTP public_html folder, usually) and add this text to it:
redirect 301 / http://www.newdomain.com/
When someone goes to the old directory the server reads this file and notes that it has to send the user to the new domain. 301 means the redirection is permanent.
Hopefully that helps. Here is an article you can read for more information – http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/
by Alex Newell
21 Mar 2010 at 07:52
Interesting to read your experience with adsense – and especially with the lawyers. Good for you that you pointed out that US law applies to the US.
Yeah and I hope you have your eggs in lost if different baskets now!
LUV the 301 tho’
Alex
by bill
21 Mar 2010 at 13:03
Found your blog from your sig at WF, and enjoyed reading your post. I’ve been doing AdSense for almost the same period and have similar goals (although I’ve started also doing some affiliate marketing as well). Where are you at right now in terms of daily earnings? Do you have a time frame you would like to do this in? And how many Adsense sites do you have now, and what is your goal?
by Troy
21 Mar 2010 at 21:31
Thanks Alex. Yep, I have got a few different avenues going at the moment.
Bill, I have 7 sites aimed purely at AdSense. These aren’t mini/thin sites. My goal is to add whatever keywords and articles I can to a site before moving on. I don’t see the point in creating a new domain, which has no trustrank of authority, when I can use my existing and aging domains just as easily. The content is still highly relevant and categorised properly for both easy navigation and separation for the Google (and other) spiders.
I have started making Amazon sites now because the keyword potential is huge. Competition is lacking for product based searches because it takes a bit more work to find the good ones. Companies also don’t have the SEM knowhow to target these terms and rather concentrate on the broader market.
My goal is to be away from my job in 6 months time or at least know that I can work for myself if things turn bad with my day job. I want the savings there for when things go astray.
I have a long way to go (only at $30/day at the moment) but am now only working 4 days a week and it is amazing what can be done with 1 solid day dedicated to a project.
by alex13
27 Mar 2010 at 11:18
Don’t you think what picture steal attention from ads and decrease CTR?
by Troy
28 Mar 2010 at 08:42
I must admit I haven’t tried it without the image in the top corner, Alex. The reason I use it is to kind of frame the Adsense unit. I want the content column to be the size of the adsense block. I am also cautious of coming across as a MFA site. The images make the pages look good and legit.
The other option I guess is to remove the image and push the navigation up.
I think I might try that with one of my sites with an under performing CTR to see how it affects it.
by alex13
28 Mar 2010 at 09:05
Try to replace image with some blank introduction text, because categories links will also steal attention and, what is more important, clicks. Such sites with good targeted ads can give at least 10-15% CTR.
And about MFA – if article(s) quality is very poor, then design or images will not protect from ban imo.
by snow
31 Mar 2010 at 00:45
please can you send-me this template for wordpress. THANKS.
suporte@v8web.com.br
by Troy
31 Mar 2010 at 11:27
Cheers Alex, I will give it a go.
My article quality is very good so I’m not worried about that. I have a lot of useful content on my sites too. The image just gave it something extra. I have tweaked them a bit since this post and included a border with coloured background to make the sites look pretty good – better than a lot of sites, anyway
I just want them to look as much like a normal site as possible while giving the AdSense units the best chance of CTR.
by Troy
01 Apr 2010 at 09:52
Snow, the theme I am using is Thesis. It is not a free theme unfortunately.
by Kelly
12 Apr 2010 at 23:53
Enjoyed your post, it’s encouraging to read about others “adventures” with IM and the transition to full-time. Please continue posting, I’ve bm’d your blog and look forward to more!
Kelly
by Troy
15 Apr 2010 at 14:24
Thanks Kelly
I am trying hard to keep adding things to the site but I just keep forgetting about it. Hopefully will keep some interesting info coming.
by ben
22 Apr 2010 at 08:08
Hi Troy,
Just landed on your webpage from the WF. Very nice amount of cash you made, 50$ a day is nice !!!
How many articles did you have on this adsense website ? Did you do tons of backlinking ?
So far i’m experiencing with 2 small mini adsense sites but they are not making that much money(it pays the monthly phone bill, lol !). I guess the cpc is too low, how high was your cpc on the weight loss niche ? Probably 2-5$ right ?
Bye and thanx for the answer !
by Troy
25 Apr 2010 at 10:30
Hi Ben,
The weight loss site had about 20 pages on it but only 3 or 4 were bring in the cash. The others were pushing the top 10 though so just a matter of time. It obviously was like starting from scratch again when the domain had to be changed.
My CPC averaged near $2 I think. I had a lot of clicks around $1 but always a few pushing $7. It definitely didn’t get any of the $0.20 and $0.30 clicks many complain about.
If your content is directed to a particular subject you will get decent playing clicks. It is the generic blogs that suffer. The more specific your content is to a subject the more targeted the ads as well. This leads to a higher CTR and a higher conversion rate for the advertisers. A higher conversion rates means a higher CPC for you.
by Jacob
13 May 2010 at 13:45
I’m not familiar with the AUP, but from what I’ve seen of you on Warrior forum you probably weren’t doing anything you shouldn’t have. What hosts were you using and if you don’t mind what is AUP?
It’s probably something very obvious that I know and am just drawing blanks for. Sucks about your sites, but I bet they’ll return quickly. I had the same problem once when my host was down for an irregular amount of time…like 2 days and I didn’t notice until the revenue dried up.
by Troy
13 May 2010 at 14:48
I was using SurfSpeedy for the sites that went down. I have been using them for quite some time and have never had any issues with them. Their support has actually been very responsive in the past. Their AUP is, as many, vague.
The plan I was on no longer exists and the replacement plans are a lot more restrictive so it might have something to do with it. I had 12 Wordpress blogs on the host and 3 of these used an auto amazon plugin (set to post 2 times per day per blog). I was also using the Onlywire Autosubmitter plugin. I also had Backlink Booster running every 20mins.
I would say that I was pushing the limits of the host and someone objected. I would have appreciated them suspending the account and asking me to correct the issue rather than terminate but it is all done now.
A few of my keywords are pushing some traffic so hopefully once the Google bot does its thing I will be back to where I was
by junkdna
18 May 2010 at 13:36
Can you please tell us what is the number of monthly searches, global / local for this keyword?
by Troy
18 May 2010 at 21:39
Yep, no problem.
Local Exact – 3600
Global Exact – 2400
Local Broad – 9900
Global Borad – 6600
The higher local values show that this keyword is trending upwards.
by Terry
25 May 2010 at 08:01
Hey Troy
what tweaks did you make that you refer to in this post to your adsense template that you found effective?
And is that still the case or a one hit wonder?
Thanks,
Terry
by Troy
08 Jun 2010 at 12:18
Hi Terry,
Sorry I haven’t got back to you soon. I am going to create a post to cover what I have found very soon! Hopefully you don’t mind hanging on for a little longer.
The results have been consistent for my sites
by Jacob
30 Jun 2010 at 11:05
Troy,
Not sure what kind of work you were trying to have done from Odesk, but if it was just articles, you might consider a place like Textbroker. I’ve always gotten pretty good stuff from them as long as you stick with quality score of 4. It’s relatively affordable. A 500 word article is like $11 or $12 bucks and I have always gotten very satisfactory content. Well worth a look. Plus if you don’t like what you get, you can ask for a revision.
by Troy
03 Jul 2010 at 11:17
Yeah, it was just article writing but I was probably expecting too much heh.
I have registered for Textbroker but just not given it a shot yet. It does look promising though.
by Christopher Vlahos
08 Jul 2010 at 12:35
Once you discover the long tail keywords you want to target, you then need to understand who your competition is for that keyword phrase. Market Samurai provides a module called SEO competition that allows you to explore each one of the top ranked, page one listings to see why they have secured the top position, and helps you identify what you can do to maybe secure a page one listing.
by Wayne Cochrane
15 Aug 2010 at 00:22
Hello Troy,
Thanks for relating your understanding and experience,
I have been grappling with this dilemma for two years now.
From the beginning I intended to have an authority site but it seems absolutely everyone recommended small focussed niche minisites.
I eventually started to believe that a combination of the two is best but seems like more work.
Glad to hear you recommending a similar strategy.
Thanks!
Wayne.
by Wayne Cochrane
15 Aug 2010 at 00:26
P.S. That multi-newsletter optin popup that comes up on the right-hand side: are they all your newsletters or other marketers?
If they are all yours I might subscribe to a couple but if I am going to be on a whole bunch of other marketers lists I will give it a miss.
Can you make it clear in the popup?
Wayne.
by Wayne Cochrane
15 Aug 2010 at 00:28
Good to see you supporting fellow-Australians Troy!
I already have Market Samurai.
Wayne.
by Troy
15 Aug 2010 at 13:52
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for the comments. The mini-sites do allow for fast results but it just gets crazy to manage as you expand. The amount of sites you need to get a decent flow of traffic makes it counter-productive.
A focused micro-niche site is still worthwhile in many situations but I don’t think this is what a lot of the ’sniper’ courses are teaching. A micro niche can still have a lot of content and can still be built with the user in mind.
Patience is the big think I feel. When you are first starting you just want to make some cash. A year down the track though you might regret it…
That newsletter pop-up is part of a List building site I use to get people signing up from other sites in the network. It works great. Those are newsletters from other people in the network. I can’t modify the form though as it is called from the site.
The site is called List Crew and I found it from someone posting on the Warrior Forum.
If you have a list then check it out here – List Crew (*Referral Link). The only cost is having the pop-up on your site.
Once you sign up go post in this thread on the Warrior Forum and you get a priority spot for 5 days or something…