Too Many Eggs in the “AdSense Basket” – A Story of Passive Income Diversification
Lisa’s Note: In order to catch up on approved guest posts, I am introducing another blogging day for 2 Create a Website. Thursday will be my unofficial “guest post day” — at least for awhile. Hope you enjoy!
In the Beginning
I launched my first AdSense supported website, MakingMusicFun.net, in 2007 with only 60 pages of content. I worked hard to add new resources, and learn everything I could about internet marketing and website development.
Five months later my first check from Google arrived – $142.00. Having all of my eggs in the “AdSense Basket” at that point didn’t concern me too much.
At three years old MMF! is welcoming 348,000 visitors per month. With this growth in traffic came a reward for all my effort – more “eggs.” So many eggs, in fact, that I was able to replace my full-time income!
The Crossroad
There wasn’t much need for diversification on that glorious day when I received my first AdSense check, but it was a proud moment.
Recently, however, I have been concerned about being too reliant on AdSense. More than one story about how Google has closed publishers AdSense accounts has been the driving force behind this decision.
Many of these publishers were probably doing sneaky things, and deserved the action that was taken. Regardless, I wasn’t interested in taking chances. There are many ways to diversify your passive income. My ideas included:
1) Create content for AssociatedContent.com
2) Create content for Squidoo.com
3) Offer music teachers an opportunity to advertise for students for a modest annual fee
4) Add in-text ads
5) Attract private advertisers
6) Create eBooks
7) Create iPhone/iPad apps
Last year I chose to diversify my AdSense income in three ways:
1) Private Advertising. My advertiser placed two banner ads on two of my high traffic pages and agreed to pay me $181.00 per month.
To determine the fee I figured out what I was making per 1,000 page impressions with AdSense site wide, and doubled it. Then I figured out how many page impressions these pages were getting using AdSense URL Channels.
Next, after providing her with a trial period, I set up a PayPal account and sent her a link to allow her to opt into a monthly subscription payment. This service is wonderful, allowing me to be completely hands-off.
2) Writing Articles. I began writing articles for AssociatedContent.com and Squidoo.com this year. AC pays you based on the impressions you receive each month.
Squidoo.com shares a portion of the income collected from the ads and affiliate products that appear on your articles. The income hasn’t been much, but the benefits have been incredible.
Both websites allow you to link to your own websites. Basically, I’m getting paid for driving traffic to my own websites!
3) Add It-Text Advertising. I added Vibrant Media’s in-text ads to my website. I had heard great things about this company, though I had to wait until I had 500,000 impressions a month before they would accept me. The in-text ads increased my passive income by almost $800 per month.
If you’re interested in adding in-text ads to your website/blog, but don’t have this much traffic just yet, you can sign up with Kontera or Infolinks. If you have a small website/blog you can add the code page by page.
If your website/blog is rather large, you can hire a programmer to write code that will automatically add the code to every page of your website/blog. The cost for this service should be about $125.
Conclusion
Google’s AdSense program is wonderful, though it’s always a good idea to place a few eggs in “other baskets.” I hope this article has given you a few ideas that will prove helpful to you as you begin to diversify your own income.
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Hi, My name is Lisa and I'm a full-time affiliate marketer who has been blessed enough to earn a living online since 2006. 
Hi, my name is Lisa Irby and I'm the owner of 
Nice article. I would definitely add YouTube videos (for placing affiliate links and also in video advertising with the Partner program) and Twitter (good for affiliate links and you can make money with SponsoredTweets) to the list.
Diversification is key to pretty much anything to do financially. With my blog’s income, I have yet to diversify, and I have been thinking about how I should diversify. I’ll have to plan out how that will happen. I never heard of associatedcontent.com, but it does look interesting.
Paul recently posted..The Most Useful Laptop Accessories
Great article!
Thanks for ideas!
darkduck recently posted..How NOT to Install Debian 60 Squeeze
I can only add that making sitenames (squidoo &co) clickable would be useful…
Anyway, even the sitename without a link helps.
darkduck recently posted..How NOT to Install Debian 60 Squeeze
Yeah, I actually copy and pasted the associated content and squidoo URLs. Thanks for those URLs by the way.
Greg Lam recently posted..How To Go Paperless with a Digital Filing System
Have you considered doing a paid product that teaches people how to make music fun instead?
Expanding into your own products is another great way to make money from your sites and you’ll never know if someone will buy until you try it.
I made about $1,000 last month from a course on how to tell people how to get better at the video game Halo.
Just a thought
Chris Guthrie recently posted..Blog Update 2- Thanks For 5-000
Hi Chris,
You are right. Paid products should not be overlooked.
I’ve liked being able to give my resources to the music teacher/student community. It makes me feel good, their happy, and it has done wonders for building traffic.
However, I decided to add a paid resource about 2 months ago. I’m currently building a music teacher directory. Private music lesson teachers will be able to create an account, and add their profile to advertise for students.
I have a newsletter with about 4,300 subscribers and good traffic, so I’m thinking it will be a hit. Time will tell.
Andy, Owner/Teacher
MakingMusicFun.net
Thank you for this post! Right now I have most of my eggs in one basket, and I’ve been thinking about ways to diversify. I have never heard of Vibrant media, so I will have to look into it.
I also have to say that I love your website! My kids’ piano teacher sent me the link for downloading practice pages for my children, and my daughter does some exercises on worksheets from your site every day.
Just read Chris’ comment, and I think he’s on the right track. A paid product might work out nicely for you.
I’ve heard that sites like Squidoo and Associated Content are declining in popularity:
http://www.jongales.com/blog/2011/02/14/
But really, who knows?
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Hi Carletta,
It’s such a joy to be able to provide music education resources for kids all over the world. I’m glad you daughter is benefiting from my collection of printable worksheets.
Andy, Owner/Teacher
MakingMusicFun.net
Good post, Andrew.
At the moment, I rely too much on Google Adsense and it seems like a big mistake. I will try other ways like in-text advertising and associated content, could you talk more about it?
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Hi Tuan,
In-text advertising is easy. Just sign-up for an account with Kontera or InfoLinks and place the code in the HTML your website/blog. There is info on their website to help you with specifics.
Associated Content is an incredible resource for extra passive income and traffic to your website/blog. AC only asks that the articles that you write don’t sound like an advertisement.
My articles link to free content. Titles include:
1) Free Sheet Music – Level One (1) for Beginner Piano Solo
2) Starry, Starry Night (van Gogh) – Free Coloring Page
3) Pablo Picasso: Free Art Lesson Plans and Resources for Homeschooling Kids
Traffic from AC:
1,242 visitors a month to MakingMusicFun.net (My Music Education Website)
1,539 visitors a month to MakingArtFun.com (My Art Website)
Hope that helps,
Andy
Thanks very much for your clarifications, Andrew.
I just want to ask 1 more question. I heard that AC pays $1.5 for each 1,000 impressions and only to US citizens, is it true?
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Hi Tuan,
When you begin writing for AC they pay you $1.50 per 1000 page impressions. As you get to be a bigger fish on AC they will increase your pay per 1000′s impressions to as much as $2 per 1000 page impressions.
Here’s a link to the AC Clout Index:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/clout_index.html
Non-US AC writers are eligible for performance payments, though not for up-front payments. This basically means that AC will pay you for article views, though will not award you a special payment before the article goes live.
Hope that helps,
Andy
Hey Andy:
Thanks for the wake-up call. I have AdSense on my site but I also have some affiliates from Click Bank. Just getting to be serious about monetizing. Now I am building an e-course which is taking more time than I like but hopefully it will turn into a nice income stream. Why do you think that Google has closed some of the publisher’s accounts with AdSense? I try to follow their rules but it does make me wonder. hmmm.
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Hi Ann,
I’ve read stories about people that get their accounts closed, though no one ever says why.
I’m guessing that most of the time they are clicking on there own ads, asking others to click on their ads (visitors and friends), or have content issues.
I wish you the best with your e-course!
Andy
StorehouseBuilder.com
Good post — I agree, when it comes to your income, you NEVER want to have Google be the only source. I found this out the hard way, when I used to do some pretty heavy duty advertising in the affiliate marketing side of things back in ’06-’08 using Adwords.
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This is a very informative and helpful article. I have been thinking about this. Putting all my eggs in one basket. I am going to take a look at AssociatedContent and Squidoo they sound like a good ideas. I do not think my rank is good enough to attract private advertisers yet, but that is a goal of mine. As usual thank you for the relevant and applicable information.
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I have been writing articles for a while, and not thought about getting paid for the articles as such.
Like you pointed out, get paid to point traffic to your site.
Thanks for the tip.
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This is awesome. It sounds like you did things right. In the beginning, you did not diversify too much, which would have made it harder to be profitable. But as you started earning, then you spread out to other areas to add to your income.
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What exactly is the Google’s stance of using In-Text advertising with AdSense ads. I know for a while they would ban you for it so it may be like throwing your basket across the room lol. Has their policy changed?
Hi Kevin,
Google was restrictive, though more recently they have opened the doors to allowing you to place other third party ads on your website/blog.
The following quote is straight from Google:
“You’re welcome to display Google ads on the same site or page as other third party advertisements provided that the formatting or colors of the third party ads is different enough from that of the Google ads.”
You can read the rest here:
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=32849
Andy
Thanks great post, the tips are vary valuable
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In order for Adsense to work perfectly is that you need traffic. Lots of traffic. Some people think that by placing lots of Adsense units all over their site will make them tons of money. Not without traffic.
Another think is to blend ads or use colors close to site color.
Thanks for the lovely post.
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I agree about spreading the eggs around. Google adsense is great but it isn’t the only thing around. I have seen better results with contacting advertisers myself and selling the ads. I have to work like a dog to get the ads on there, but the pay is better.
I’d have to agree on adsense. If you dont have at least 50-100 unique money visitors…you’re not going to see a big or good return from adsense.
Yes, you are right! There are other means of making money online aside from Google adsense.
Joseph recently posted..Making Money Online Through Ebay 2
Thank you lisa you always helping use with your great posts
I am working with Google Adsense for a year ago and now I got some great success and income that make me satisfied. The important thing we should to care that about your traffic, without it, you have nothing to do.
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Good article-enjoyed reading it, some good tips- i’m impressed by the $181 a month through advertisers- cool
Hey, Thanks.
I didn’t really do anything to attract private advertisers, with the exception of driving traffic to my websites.
If you are interested in attracting private advertisers you can visit your competitors websites/blog and see who is advertising. Then just shoot them an email. The worst that can happen is that they say no.
Good article…If you dont have at least 50-100 unique money visitors..tankss..
I think its important in any passive income stream to diversify. Having multiple income streams wil make your business more reliable.
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I think so too.
Most of us would say that Mutual Funds are safer investments that a single stock. In the same way, diversification with your business gives you that same secure, more reliable income.
Very excellent points. Not only that, but I would assume 98 percent of people don’t have nearly the success that you and Lisa have in Google Adsense.
So for us actual “small” realistic people, it is even more so important. If these guys “need” or “decide” to diversify monetization, then you know that we really do need to also.
Great article Andrew. Thanks for sharing your success story and improv skills!!!
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Hey Joe,
While planning my first Ad Supported website I visited the San Francisco Symphony’s SFS Kids’ Site (SFSKids.com) they asked me to consider their site my “premier web destination for learning about music.” I said to myself, “I want that. I want to be the premier web destination for learning about music.”
When I had that though I had nothing. Just a thought. I wasn’t being realistic. I was dreaming big. I really believe this is why big things happen.
Dream big, work hard, push past your fears, and be persistent even when you get discouraged. This is pretty much my recipe for success.
I wish the same success for you and your business,
Andy
Really interesting article!
Never thought about putting too much of my eggs in one basket. I think I’m gonna go and look at how to make an Iphone app right now!
I am facing problem with absence, i am trying to create account, it says information wrong!!!
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“I’m gonna go and look at how to make an Iphone app right now!”
Sound great!
I’ve done some research already. Here’s what I know:
1) It’s good idea to find a quality iPhone/iPad Developer. Let them do what they do best, and you do what you do best.
2) Any type of app can be successful. It doesn’t matter if it’s funny or useful, it just has to be good.
3) Promotion is important to your success. It isn’t enough to just build it and hope for the best. A great service to use for the promotion of your product is AdMob. It’s like Adsense, except it’s specifically for mobile devices.
4) There is good money in both paid and free apps. You could build a “lite” version of the full paid version, and encourage your customers to upgrade for more features. The “lite” version could be supported by ads.
Hope that helps!
Andy, thank you for the reminder. I have been approved to an ad network and have procrastinated putting the code up. Time to get some impressions. I’m also working on an e-product to sell. I’ve just got to press on and get it finished. And then the marketing begins of course.
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Hey Erika,
I’m excited for you about your e-product. I hope it a big hit!
Andy
great article. diversification is critical in anything and everything in life, except for maybe your spouse
Sunil from The Extra Money Blog recently posted..Can my exhusband ban me from entering dubai
Thanks Sunil.
And thanks for the laugh! – “Diversification is critical in anything and everything in life, except for maybe your spouse.” I’m not going to be diversifying in that area either!
“If your website/blog is rather large, you can hire a programmer to write code that will automatically add the code to every page of your website/blog. The cost for this service should be about $125.”
Although discontinued, I found an old version of Macromedia Homesite that has this “find and replace” feature that well, finds code and replaces it with whatever you specify over whatever pages you select. This is really useful, I use it constantly.
Good thought-provoking post. Diversification is the key to a successful online business. Can’t have on egg in the basket, it may break for whatever reasons and you’re left with nothing… Looks like you have plenty of traffic to make them click yet on other ads and products than Google’s
Good luck with your sites.
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Great article. Traffic is the key to get Google Adsense works perfect. Increasing traffic will increase our income automatically. But, now, Google has the new Algorithm. The new algorithm from Google make decrease traffic for Many unique and great blogs.
We must learn a lot how to increase the traffic of our blog.
I think its always bad to put all your eggs in one basket.
What I believe is that you should put most on the one you have more faith in. But it’s always good to have some on different baskets.
That way if your eggs break on your big basket, you at least will have a small platform to start from on your other smaller baskets.
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Thanks Andrew, I have all my eggs in the affiliate basket. This advice was relevant to that approach as well.
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Hi Ayden,
Glad I could help. I hope you find some interesting projects to work on as you diversify.
Andy
I’m new to your site but thought this was a great article. I have a few sites that started really just as a hobby. As you’ve hinted at, traffic is key to being able to diversify, although some of the comments here are also saying that diversifying can be the key to better traffic – one promotes the other.
Associated Content is a good idea but they’ll only take people from the USA. I use Constant Content and Helium as I’m in the UK.
Thanks for your comment!
You might also try Squidoo.com. This is a very highly ranked website which sends tons of traffic to my websites each month.
They split the profits from your “lenses” from the ads and affiliate products that appear on your articles, and you get crazy traffic to you websites to generate even more income.
This is a great article, I can always find great business ideas on this site, thank you!
How hard is associated content to join. What are the topics are they looking for.
Rohini recently posted..Ladder of Success
Hi Rohini,
Just sign up and go for it. You can write about almost anything. Squidoo is a similar type of website that may be of interest to you.
Andy, I am aware of squidoo. Associated content seems appropriate as it pays upfront. But I guess we have to establish credibility first.
Rohini recently posted..Ladder of Success
Great article Lisa, i agree with you as to not putting all your eggs in the adsense basket, thanks for letting me know that i need to branch out and try some other things in addition to adsense.