Update: Four years after this report was released, AdSense is still alive and well. It is still an incredibly popular way to monetize websites, and Google is still sending paychecks to AdSense publishers. So clearly, AdSense wasn’t dead. Scott Boulch was right that the game was changing… Google has changed their rules and algorithms multiple times since then, and it certainly has affected AdSense publishers. Some AdSense publishers saw their income disappear, as they refused/neglected to adapt. But Joel Comm was right that AdSense was still alive. In the time since then, Google added new types of ads and media to their AdSense program, including video. It seems clear that Google is in the online advertising business, which means AdSense is here to stay as long as Google keeps their business model.
Edition #85 – 9/25/2006
About two weeks ago, internet marketer Scott Boulch released a report declaring the “death” of AdSense.
Since that time, his report has gone hyper-viral in the internet community, garnering over 30,000 downloads to date. It has been blogged about, argued about, agreed with, and contested.
One thing is for certain; it has caused quite a stir, and it has caused hundreds if not thousands of marketers to question the value of AdSense.
In his report, The Death of AdSense, and his subsequent report Life After AdSense, Scott essentially says that it is not possible to make a serious income with AdSense, and that AdSense publishers should become “click flippers” if they want to make “real” money.
Both of his reports are very intelligently written from a marketing standpoint. Notice that I didn’t say accurately or truthfully written, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
What I mean by them being intelligently written is that he is a very persuasive writer. He presents his argument in what seems like a very logical manner, provides what seems like a good amount of evidence, and overcomes objections quicker than a Kirby vacuum salesman.
He was smart enough to foresee what those objections would be, so he took care of most them right from the get-go.
He also knew that one of his biggest obstacles to winning over public opinion was the AdSense “gurus”. So he took special care to tear them down throughout his writing, and of course predicted their recourse in such a way as to make them look like scammers if they were to even argue with his new “truth”.
He even posted a blog post entitled, “The Last Battle Cry Of The Dying AdSense Gurus”, in which he says…
“All Truth Passes Through Three Stages. First, It Is Ridiculed. Second, It Is Violently Opposed. Third, It Is Accepted As Being Self-Evident.”
In other words, he’s saying that the his argument MUST be true, since it’s going to be ridiculed and violently opposed.
Hmmm…
That would seem to make sense, right?
But what if it wasn’t truth to begin with?
Enter Joel Comm.
That’s right, arguably the foremost AdSense Guru on the planet.
And as Scott predicted, Joel does have something to say about it.
As you may know, I work with Joel so admittedly I’m biased. BUT that means I also have the privilege of knowing him personally (just had lunch with him today and gave him a tour of Estes Park, CO), and I can tell you that the man has integrity and means what he says.
In fact, I’ve discussed this issue in detail with him and I’m in agreement with him that he NEEDED to let the TRUTH be known about this “AdSense Death” issue. In a way, he would have been doing a disservice to his customers if he didn’t write this report.
Okay I’ll just get right to it. Joel systematically refutes Scott’s theory in such a way that there can be no doubt…
AdSense is ALIVE.
Download Joel’s report for free here:
(Link removed – no longer available)
The report starts out with an illustrated allegory (kind of like a children’s book) that I think will be pretty hilarious for anyone who is very familiar with AdSense.
I think you’ll get a few laughs out of it, but by the end of it I think he demonstrates unequivocally that Scott’s “truth” is full of holes, and that AdSense publishers do NOT need to worry about AdSense dying any time in the foreseeable future.
In spite of his flawed logic, and perhaps overzealous attempt at getting publicity, we can all learn a marketing lesson (or two) from Scott.
First, controversy is a GREAT way to get publicity.
Second, a great way to create controversy is to go against the grain. In the internet marketing world that often means contradicting the gurus. Just be careful before you try it at home. It’s a double edged sword, because it can cause a lot of conflict and stress in your life…even if you’re RIGHT. I’m telling you this from personal experience as the non-guru who has argued with the gurus on more than one ocassion 😉
Third, use that controversy to build a list! Scott built a list of over 30,000 people in under two weeks. Now that’s impressive, even if he was wrong. It will be interesting to see what he does to keep people listening to him.
Fourth, invest in your list. He utilized a smart affiliate tactic by paying 50 cents commission for each referral who joined and downloaded his report.
So as you can see, we’ve learned some great things from Scott…unfortunately it remains questionable whether anyone should trust any of his material.
One thing is for certain; if you want to know the truth about AdSense, he’s not your guy.
A better choice would be Joel, and his AdSense is Alive report.
As always, you can leave your comments here in the blog.
Have a great day!
Wow… as always, Eric, you have strong opinions. And yes, the man that wrote the two e-reports about Adsense is quite the “salesman” and now you have piqued my curiosity enough to download Joel’s report for a comparison.
I bet it’s nice to ‘rub elbows’ with so many online greats… nobody lives around here to lunch with, though I’d love to pick your brain, John Reese’s and Mike Filsaime’s some day. I’m sure I’d need to be wired to get it all. :-))
Thanks for sharing your always interesting view on what’s going on in the internet marketing arena!
Have a super week,
Donna
Excellent piece, Eric! Google isn’t going anywhere and they will continually need advertisers & so there will be considerable money to be made using Adsense as well as Adwords.
I believe the intent was to indeed create the “hyper-viral” panic and it worked – however far-fetched or elaborately portrayed the topic may be.
Keep up the great work, bro!
pj
I have just read both Scotts and Joels reports and both have value but are not the complete story. If the King of the Kingdom acts like a dictator handing out life sentenses for ‘crimes’ without recourse to a sensible appeal system then I will live elsewhere. Only in fairy tales is life ‘black and white’ and I have been on the receiving end of this kings ‘flawed justice’ system. The only joke is that I was building sites using your adsense templates at the time.
Google cannot be allowed to act in such a way and they need to get their heads out of the clouds and be fair to the rest of us.
Interesting. I’ve been waiting to see the response to the Tammany-Hall-style rabble-rousing style that’s been evident in most of the support I’ve seen for the demise to date. Strikes me that anyone with half a brain could read Mr. Boulch’s first report, recognize hiis ‘truth’ for what it was, and expect a ‘revelation’ to be forthcoming in the 2nd report. But, then, what do I know?
It was interesting to see the smooth misdirection of fact set forth in the 1st report. ‘Twas even _more_ interesting to see which marketers – I’;m on a *lot* of lists – jumped on Scott’s band wagon in an attempt to share the limelight. Gave me a great concept of the honor and ethics of some of my would-be mentors. Glad you weren’t there .
Make a good day …
… barn
Why not a direct link rather than a name squeeze page please Eric (I’m starting to get hacked off now with duplicate (triplicate) emails from marketers who don’t dedup their lists).
Anyway, Adsense isn’t dead – it’s just become a second, or may be even a third, tier revenue earner. It’s something you add to the stew as a garnish rather than the prime ingredient. That’s just a fact – earnings per word are down.
Heck, as an Adwords advertiser even I don’t include the content network!
I have been waiting for you to write about Scott’s Reports.
I know you are working on a project related to adsense.
Again… I found your opinion very interesting.
I agree whith your opinion : “Both of his reports are very intelligently written from a marketing standpoint. ”
I learn something from both of you!
Thanks again
YUAN YUDISTIRA
Eric, with the “Death of Adsense” Scott Boulch has made some very important arguments. The most valid of which is the fact that there is more to the Internet than Adsense. He has also outlined the fact that Adsense Publishers continually live with the financial dangers caused by the arbitrary changes to the Adsense algorythms by Google. His ruse in attacking the “Gurus” in this way was ingenious. Just the same, he is showing us alternatives or, if you prefer, additions to the publishers range of money making tools. It makes you sit up and think!
Eric,
I don’t think that it matters at all that you are biased. Everybody has their own agenda. To say that Scott’s report is flawed is an understatement. However, what he has done, he has done extremely well and I admire him for that.
You should also take a look at:
http://www.adsenseiseffingalive.com
Yours as always,
Ben Shaffer
Its an odd situation. I saw that report when it first came out. As one “Guru” said if Adsence was dead then surely that would reflect drastically in the Google share price. Odd how it hasnt had any effect.
However he is a very clever guy. 30,000 subcribers in such a short time. Wow I wish.
Hi Erik,
You have always been my undoughtably favorite Internet Marketing Non/Guru and I have often used or bought your products. But on this one I think you are a little to close to the AdSense apple cart to read the real point to the whole Death/Life after AdSense issue. The point is not AdSense and is there money to be made there, there clearly is. The point is are we eating at McDonalds or a five star restaurant. I think the whole point to Scotts reports were there is a better way to monetize your web traffic.
If you are going to lose a visitor would you want them to leave via the pennies a shot door or the door that troughs dollars at you. As with all truth there is always to sides and the reality is somewhere in the middle. I’m not going to argue that people like Joe are great people with incredible integrity and that they are making the type of money off of AdSense they say they are. I just think it is course that Joe is not just a bottom feeder he is a Whale also as he makes a good portion of his income off of people selling his product.
I also think that this brings out another point that I have had for sometime for every Guru out there with the latest and greatest there are a hundred or more silent members of the Internet underground quietly making millions skating under the radar. I would also agree that Scott has done one of the best examples of a product pre-launch that even Jeff Walker himself would be jealous of.
It’s going to take a much bigger ship to sink the Google battleship than Scott but should we be so quick for the sake of some egos to just throw it all out as hogwash. Maybe we as AdSense publishers should be looking beyond the all mighty mother Google who personally I think could stand being taken down a notch or two.
As internet marketers we should never be afraid to look at a contrarian’s point of veiw and it is good to think outside the box. It is he who is brave enough to say what if we slice the bread before we put it in the package that will truly win the Internet wars. But then what do I know who am I to want to question the statuesque. All Gurus started out needing their mommy’s and wearing dippers before they became the quote unquote experts they say they are. All I know is I work darn hard for the visitors I get and I don’t care how they get there but a darn well want to make sure I convert them into a customer or at least profit in someway by their visit
Hi Eric,
I’m in the midst of downloading some big audio files, so I’ll wait awhile before getting to Joel Comm’s new report. I hope it will deal with Scott’s main argument about Google’s ‘new’ content bid, that’s supposed to spell the death knell for Adsense publishers. Scott sure knows how to make it seem that Adsense publishing is inferior to click flipping, talking about ‘preying’ and being on top of the food chain. Well I better get going with the download. Thanks Eric!
Christo
Hey Eric,
I agree with your take on his marketing methods. Controversy does work!
A 30,000 strong list in 2 weeks is really cool, but I wonder if a list built this
way would be responsive to what he has to say.
Let’s just hope he has something incredible up his sleeve that would enable
him to really gain the trust of his list.
He’s definitely one marketer to watch; there’s lots of stuff to learn from
what he’s doing.
And thanks for the heads up!
Very good read!
I liked the wonderful illustrations in Joel’s story and the point he makes that at the end of the day we’re building virtual real estate which can appreciate in value. Many years ago, I fell in love with the concept of virtual real estate, but only “woke up” to AdSense about a year ago. The income on my sites are growing steadily each week, so I am looking forward with interest on how this debate will pan out now that you guys have put forward a response to Scott’s brilliant piece of marketing!
Cheers,
Martin
Hi Eric,
Those reports have definately made their rounds and built him quite a substancial list as well. Along with most, I have no doubt that Adsense is alive and well and offering great rewards to those who do things right.
I’m a big fan of both you and Joel Comm and love Joel’s book, “The Adsense Code”. He lays it all out, no fluff, straight info. I’m building a site now, Living Naturally (http://e-info-natural.com), which is going to be a serious content/authority site and am employing the tip from Joel Comm for my adsense and I have no doubt that in time I will reap my rewards. 🙂
You can build 3000 sites but the bottom line is, if they are junk, they are junk. It’s the old adage that you reap what you sow.
So keep up with the straight talk… we’re definately listening!
Deanna
I was really glad to hear you and Joel speaking out about this. I was fairly sure SB was just putting out a lot of hype, I have too much faith in Joel Comm to not be biased, but I still wanted to read it. However, I was never able to download his report. I tried to sign up with two different emails, tried to request it be resent several times, and combed my spam folders but never received one single email. There was not a contact email on the sales page for the report. I finally decided I just was not MEANT to read it! Which is fine with me, I’ll stick with the quality content from you and Joel!
Way to go guys, you ROCK!
Hi Eric
Call me sceptical but The Death of Adsense came conveniently close to the launch of Joel’s new site, just in time for him to publish a rebuttal which had a squeeze page.
Good opportunistic marketing on his part. What with your “run in” with Cody Moya, Internet Marketing launches are starting to become like Muhammed Ali weigh-ins.
Now for the book “JV launch – the Hollywood Way”. 🙂
Martin
MORE Insane Ramblings of a Mad Marketer!
Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve
written one of these, mainly because not
much has happened lately to rail about….
But that has changed – as it always will,
given enough time.
Why?
Simply because this industry, like many
others, has a growing core that is ruled
by greed, a malignancy that has found a
new group to fleece, a new group that’s
ripe for plucking – and this growing core
will do ANYTHING to get as much of the
almighty dollar that they can, at any cost.
Their mantra?
The end justifies the means…..
And it’s not just the newbies that they’re
fleecing, it’s everyone and anyone from
most every level of internet marketing,
and they’ve found that it’s easy pickings to
take easy advantage of anyone that has a
dream, a lofty goal, a desperate need.
To be clear, not everyone that’s an
Internet Marketer or a Guru is bad. Far
from it. In fact, the bums in this biz are by
far a minority – BUT – they yell the loudest,
and are always the easiest to hear, to find,
to spend your money with……
The internet is a funny place. Credence is
given to things that are found here that
wouldn’t be given a second look in the
non-cyber world.
I get emails ALL the time (usually from my
mom, as well as others) about this and that.
Info you have to know about or something
terrible will happen, like the one that my wife
got yesterday from one of her friends about
how the formula for Swiffer (that new
cleaner) is just one molecule different from
the formula for anti-freeze and is killing dogs
or some such nonesense.
I’m sure that you see just as many of these
as I do.
They must be true – because I read them on
the Internet…..
Which brings this full circle to where this all
started out.
In case you haven’t heard, Adsense died,
and there’s even a specific date and a skull
to prove it.
I read it on the internet – so it MUST be true!
In fact, over 26,000 people bought into it,
sold out by the people whose lists they’re
on for a mere 50 cents per person…..
Fifty cents!
How much is YOUR list worth?
But I digress.
If you haven’t read the two ‘death of
adsense’ files yet, then I really suggest
that you do. Especially the second one.
It is a MASTERY of copywriting, and I kid
you not.
I envy the skills of the person who wrote
such a tightly woven script of plots &
subplots, misdirection, glaring omissions,
and out and out BS.
Ahh, if only he had used his power for
good, instead of……
In fact, his writing was SO good, so
compelling, that it almost had ME convinced
when I was finished reading the second part.
Seriously! (not really, but it really IS excellent
copy)
But I checked Google’s latest stock quote
anyway, you know, since they’re a publicly
traded company on the stock market, the
death of Adsense – a major source of
revenue for Google, must have
DEVASTATED the company and their stock
and sent investors running like rats from a
sinking ship…..
Hmm, nope, the stock’s still around $404
per share!
No one jumping from buildings, no mass
suicide attempts, no news stories or
interviews with people who ‘lost it all’ due
to the death of adsense…..
Can you imagine how evil Google must be
to be able to conceal their total collapse from
all but a few surprisingly few astute internet
marketers – who were able to save over
26,000 and pull them from the wreckage of
an Adsense ship that was going down for
the count!
You’ve been had!
And why did the charade work so well?
Because, as the old saying goes, ‘misery
loves company’, and as well, ‘birds of a
feather flock together’.
It’s SO much easier, when things aren’t
working well, to lay the blame (and it’s
almost usually someone else’s fault, isn’t
it?) than it is to find out what WHY you’re
having the problem and fix it….
Human nature – we take the path of least
resistance.
For 50 cents each he got an instant list of
over 26,000 subscribers (your
subscribers?), he got a ton of them to sign
up with Azoogle, without obviously
promoting it, which sooner or later will
make him a boatload of money (your
subscribers?), and will continue to
promote to them everything that he thinks
he will be able to pass by a group of
people that have proven that they believe
what they read on the internet….
But there is something to be learned from
this;
~ Just because someone writes it, doesn’t
make it true
~ There IS such a thing as truly compelling,
hypnotic, subliminal copy, and this was the
proof of it.
Every trick in the book went into the writing
of this amazing copy, from calling people
bottom-feeders and scavangers for working
Adsense, to stating that his click-swapping
is the ‘grown-up’ game to play.
The copy appealled to most everyone on
many levels at the same time – pure genius.
I won’t going into the validity of his claim to
untold riches using click-swapping, since
I’ve never used that method (I guess I’m a
bottom-feeder), but to be an effective
business building tool requires a very
substantial amount of traffic – as he very
clearly states, but few bothered to read.
But I really don’t believe that click-swapping
is/was the true intent of his campaign either.
~ We watched a campaign develop that
offered absolutely nothing, except
vindication for the fact that the reason his
new subscribers weren’t making Adsense
money was Adsense’s fault.
It’s amazing how far people will go to prove
that it wasn’t their fault….
He built a massive, instant list without
having a product for sale – for 50 cents each,
with no front-end OR back-end……
Study this well, because it truly was a
lesson in marketing and a very good look
into the true nature of many aspiring
internet marketers……
It’s also a look at just how easily someone
could be taken for a ride if they’re not careful.
Is Adsense dead?
Only for those who are looking for a quick
fix, an easy answer, untold riches with no
investment of their time or effort.
If that’s what YOU are looking for, you won’t
find here or on his list, but you WILL find
yourself with a much lighter wallet and
nothing to show for it as you buy into the
more than numerous scams out that are
out there.
Can you acheive your Internet Marketing
Dream?
That’s TOTALLY up to you.
What are you willing to do to get to where
you want to be?
Are you willing to work for it now, so you
can coast later on?
Are you willing to learn your business?
There is NOTHING that is worthwhile
that doesn’t have a learning curve, that
doesn’t require an education to be able
to maximize the full potential of the
opportunity.
So that’s it.
As I climb down off my soapbox, you
need to ask yourself where the truth
lies and what path you should follow.
I don’t know.
These are, after all, only the Insane
Ramblings of a Mad Marketer……
Spread the WORD.
regards,
stuart
http://TheJVZone.com –
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Eric,
Like every ebook sold or given away, most are nothing more than garbage.. As not one i’ve read every tell people the truth…
The truth about Guru’s and Making Money!
Sure they charge say $29.95 for a ebook and pay you 50%! But, you need to remember the Gurus will have 10 to 20,000 affiliates out there advertising. If only 1,000 sell 1 book each month, then that Guru will make $15,000 a month.
Now, that same Guru will have a new book, Item, and/or product in the works. Mr./Ms Guru will then be able to advertise to his affiliates for his new Item “How I Made $15,000 A Month”, but you’ll never in this lifetime see in print just how he made that much money a month.
Former President and Founder Of Internet Marketing Center Corey Rudl Had 90,000 Affiliates Selling His Products! Corey Passed Away June of 2005!
Now, If you would look at their page where they show the BIG Income you’ll see that the dates are before the new “SPAM” laws became into being! Also, (SPAM) used to mean {“Some Thing Posing As Meat”} and {“You’ll Find It In A Can”!} Yea, that was some time ago!
Yours
Kenneth E. Wheeler, Sr
I received a email from John Reel of go try this about this adsence is dead by printing his email it will explain his answer It will be interisting to know what you think
Hi Colin
I like to think that I’m a pretty smart guy, but man, did I blow
it. I mean, geez am I ever kicking myself right now!
I figured out my mistake all by myself after the launch of
GoTryTHIS… the mistake that cost me about $150,000 of cold
hard cash. It was in my hands and I let it slip out.
But this guy just drove it home big time!
(Oh, and me pointing this out is going to probably really piss off
the gurus, but hopefully I’ll learn from my own mistake and I won’t
need them next time.)
Yes, it’s a free book. And it doesn’t matter to me if you get the
book or not. That’s not the point. The point is what we’re
learning here.
I’m looking at the page right now, and he has 26,259 people who have
downloaded his free book. That’s a HUGE list that he just created
out of thin air. Argh, it went up by 9 while I wrote that sentence!
How you ask?
When you sign up to get the book, you become an affiliate. And
then he pays you a measly $0.50 for everyone you send who downloads
the free book. That means he owes over $13K for generating that
list.
You can bet your bottom dollar he has a follow-up product, and
he won’t be needing a single JV partner for it. He’ll keep every
cent from his follow-up product!!!
It makes me want to cry.
I paid affiliates a standard commission on GoTryTHIS. I could have
simply paid them $0.50 per download of my (much bigger) ebook and
kept all that extra money for myself, and ended up with a bigger
list.
And with that huge list in hand, I probably would have not put a
limit on the number I sold and would have made twice as much money,
and I could have kept all of it.
Learn from this. I have.
John.
Hi Eric,
I appreciate your honesty and I also respect both you and Joel Comm however regarding the Death of Adsense it seems to me that you and Joel are simply trying to save your “new project” Adsense templates.
I find it hard to argue with Scott’s opinion on the matter. I know my adsense income is down 90% from where it was a year ago and I’d venture to say that just about everyone elses is too.
The simple fact that advertisers are not paying the same per click as they were previously, and in many cases paying 90% less for content ads, makes it mathematically impossible for publishers to earn what they were making in 2004 and 2005.
The only ones making similar amounts are those that are involved in click fraud which is running rampant on the Google network.
Scott’s method has a lot of merit but it is far from perfect. The bottom line is that the best way to make money online is to create your own product(s) or sell either physical products or digital products rather than rely on third party advertisements that send your visitors to another website while paying you nickels and dimes for your internet real estate.
It use to work but unless you have 1,000 websites or 100,000+ visitors a month to your websites, Adsense is dead!
If you and Joel have the numbers to dispute this, Great! I’d love to see them
Respectfully,
Jim Longnecker
Netpreneur
P.S. I ordered Joel’s new report and am going to read it right now but it’s hard to dispute the facts.
While my Adsense Revenue has taken a hit recently, I don’t think it is the fault of Adsense itself, but rather the traffic I am getting and the type of ad being shown. My impressions have increeased but my clickthru has declined significantly because 98% of the impressions is from 468by60 ads.
My goal now is to figure out a way to adapt my banner section on the websites getting all of the traffic to make them look different, so that people are interested enough to look, and then click.
One of my websites was getting $10 every 7 days from adsense revenue, but I stopped posting it in directories and now it has dropped off the face f the earth on the search engines. Once I start promoting it again and build the link popularity up again, it should return to its glory days of making me a decent income. Once I get a system down, I will design some more niches and do the same with them.
I am sure you don’t tell people that Adsense is a set it and forget it type of business. That has been the big con that most of the “gurus” have been telling people. I have found (in my limited experience) that search engine optimization will help you, but you have to continue to work on it, because we are not in a vacuum, others are optimizing their websites, and the rankings will always be in flux. Those who spend time optimizing and then stop, will see a spike in traffic and then it declines as others fight to regain the position they just lost. And since without traffic, adsense is useless, we must continuously be placing our website(s) in front of the public.
I can’t wait until you and Joel have your new product ready, since I would like to be able to spend my time on the optimizing and not on the design phases of my website(s).
You should have an early launch for your loyal fans…lol.
Have an amazing day!
Micheal Savoie
http://yourdirectorywebsite.info
As it has been said, there are two sides to every story.
I wrote my list last Saturday promoting Scott’s books, for them to read and draw tgheir own conclusions. I also promised to donate any and all my 50c pe lad money to my favorite charity – The Victory Junction Gang, so that personal gain wasn’t my motive.
I said “Posh” about AdSense being dead. Posh.
It’s true, for those going only after the big ticket clicks, things have changed dramatically. There’s no free lunch, but one can still create a pretty delectable AdSense income “feast” in little bites. Build your AdSense income over time in a manner that is legit; i.e., give the site visitor something truly of value, and you’ll not have to be concerned about Google “slaps.”
Scott’s “Click Flipping” is worthy of more in-depth study. Cost-per-action based business models are certainly viable.
Keep up the good work, Eric. I’m delighted that men of integrity like you and Joel exist in this business – even more that you’d team up.
– Neil
Eric,
I must say I am on the boat with you and Joel, because some very big points where left out of Scotts reports about the death of Adsense.
My role in all of this is I am an account manager for about 45 websites for both their Adwords accounts, and their Adsense accounts, so if there are changes I see it from both sides of the fence.
One of the missing points is when he was talking about the prices for search and websites ads.
While it is true that Adwords advertisers can set different prices, they are not THAT different. Also Google doesn’t suggest the change of prices, unless there is a high possiblity of click fraud for that keyword.
Think about this Google isn’t going to recommend somebody pay less money to them, without a very good reason.
So in reality the only sites that will have taken a hit from the change to the pricing system, will be sites that are soley built to match the high fraud keywords.
How do you know what they are? Easy just look at any keyword list that is flying around the internet.
The best advice I will give anyone, is to not build sites based on keyword lists. I am planning to write report of my own that will detail what I do recommend.
Mike
InsidersCode
(Fellow Coloradan)
What Scott is writing about – is an eye opener for sploggers and BFA-ers (build for adsense sites). Google is surely reducing it’s Adsense payoffs to any of these entities and hence Scott’s report is discouraging to people who invest valuable time and resources to create junk sites and spam postings full of adsense links.
I haven’t read Joel report yet, but I beleive for content rich sites with a lot of sincere human activity going – Adsense could bring somewhat supplementary income, possibly unstable though to be relied on.
Scott also writes about important fact of “initial investment of time” into the site. Be that opt-in squeeze page, or front end sales letter – initial custom intelligent human work is needed for it to start generating dollars by click flipping or by any other activity.
I like your style.
I tried to download Joel’s report, but I haven’t received anything in my inbox.
What should I do about that?
Hi Eric
Agree or disagree, I always get something of value from your comments! You seem to posess both integrity and intelligence, and you yourself are not afraid to jump into a controversy with your opinions, even if they are not always popular amongst your peers (other gurus).
However….I am not really an ADSENSE publisher….I AM more of an ADWORDS advertiser…I use ADWORDS for anything and everything……in fact a single item I sold last month using ADWORDS sold for $282,000.00….(One of our houses in Chilliwack…..yep, I even use it for real estate, and no, I’m not a realtor!)
The point of this is that since Google brought it out, I DO PAY LESS FOR CONTENT CLICKS than I pay for search. My choice. I bid the minimum for content clicks.
You see, I don’t really care if my ads appear on websites or not, because the traffic from websites isn’t nearly as targeted as the traffic that comes from search. Think about it. Who would you rather have click on your ad? Someone who had purposely gone to a search engine and typed a search phrase containing your keywords into the search box, (now that’s targeted traffic!), or somebody surfing an adsense site who blunders upon your ad, and, because it is a powerful ad, with strong phsycological hooks, (and mine always are…I always have a 5 – 25% clickthrough), they click on the darn thing just to see where it goes! That “ain’t” targeted enough traffic for me my friend!
Folks…THIS IS A GOOD THING THAT GOOGLE HAS DONE. One thing that Joel and Eric have said previously is SO right….The days of the “junk” made for adsense sites are over. Auto generated sites are history. And maybe, just maybe, people will go back to building sites with a purpose other that just generating adsense revenue…sites that DO something useful! If this happens, advertisers such as myself may start to value content clicks again
Look at this analogy…television……love it or hate it (I’m not expressing an opinion either way here ;), it DOES something. It entertains us, or it informs us, or both. If it didn’t, nobody would shell out the huge bucks to advertise on it because there wouldn’t be any viewers to target, and the medium, (as we know it) would cease to exist.
So, follow a similar model: build sites that do something!
Mike
I wish I had time to respond to every comment, because there is so much to be said about this debate.
First, to the few supporters of Scott’s report who have chimed in saying I am essentially throwing out the baby with the bath water…
I do not think that EVERYTHING Scott said is untrue. Nor do Joel or I think that he’s intentionally sprerading lies. I think he’s basically disillusioned about AdSense. I think he’s dead wrong to say “AdSense is dead”, but I will agree that he brings up some good points about click flipping and CPA networks.
You need to read Joel’s report. He does not say that click flipping or CPA networks are bad. He does give some specific reasons why click flipping is often not better than AdSense. And as for CPA networks, Joel’s been using them to monetize his sites since before AdSense existed and still does to this day.
I too have been a click flipper for a long time, and I can tell you from personal experience that it’s really not a “set it and forget it” business. It can seem that way about 3-6 months into it, when you’ve got everything set up and running smoothly. But if you don’t spend time monitoring, tracking, and adjusting, you can start losing money pretty quick.
For those whose AdSense income has gone down, it is probably not due to smart pricing, as Scott is so utterly convinced.
Some AdSense publishers are claiming a 90% reduction in income (in the above comments), while others are saying it momentarily dipped and is back up, others say it has held steady, and yet others have seen a steady increase in revenue (Joel had his best month ever last month).
Here is a quote from Alice Seba on her blog…
“When Scott decided Adsense died, I noticed a dip in my Adsense earnings. Some of this had to do with traffic and some of it had to do with how much I was being paid per click. That has pretty much stabilized in the last couple weeks and my earnings are back where they were. I admit, I was annoyed to lose that chunk of income for a short bit…but guess what, I had other things to fall back on…so I rode it out. I didn’t run off to seek another money-maker, but kept plugging along with my various income sources and traffic generation techniques.”
I think that’s a good outlook on the situation, because you should have other income streams to fall back on. I have always said that AdSense should not be the “backbone” of your business, and Joel has always taught multiple income streams.
Because AdSense revenues seem to be affected by the proliferation of spam sites at the moment, my assumption would be that is why some topics have seen a decline in income (maybe the most commonly spammed topics?) while perhaps others have not been affected. That’s just a guess.
In terms of additional proof and statistics, there’s plenty of people out there who are showing that their AdSense income has not been affected. Again I wish I had more time to compile additional data for you, but can’t right now.
Keep up the good work everyone! I appreciate the input and knowledge that is being shared here.
E
Hi Eric
I can only speak from personal experience.
In the eight weeks before Scott printed his first report, I earned 31 cents from Adsense.
In the last two weeks I have earned $3.10. Taking into account average weekly income that’s a whopping 3,700% increase.
ADSENSE IS ALIVE AND ROCKING!!
Martin Luxton
http://www.martinrockscrikey.com
Mandatory P.S. The above site is not where I earn my Adsense fortune. That has to remain a Guru’s secret.
Great post as always, Eric!
Yeah, I downloaded and read them. No I don’t believe it for one minute. You see, I live in Michigan just 60 miles for where Google just opened up a new Adwords office! Hmmm – if Adsense was dead, would they expect to need a new office?
I think it is good to get both sides of the story. In any situation both people believe their side to have the truth. I agree with Eric in that Scott probably has some valid points. If you made a site specifically for Adsense and didn’t include good content, you are probably one of those that has lost money. Play by the rules and you won’t get burned. Google is just looking out for their busines. If you are getting paid by them, or paying them to generate sales, either way in the long run this is to your benefit.
Another thing to think about is having multiple sources of income. Depending on one is just like depending on a job for your living. You can be layed off or fired at any time. (I was).
Good post Eric and keep up the watchdog routine, I love it. Thanks for posting and exposing all the crap that goes on. We need more people like you.
Several things, Eric. I kinda take issue with some of your comments because I know you partner w/ Joel Comm. This makes your viewpoint biased, to say the least. Bad Eric…
Anyone that has been online marketing for any period of time knows that Adsense is not dead, will never be dead, and that the marketing ploy by Scott was a good one. I learn much from these guys – even the Rich Jerk, who I can barely stomach. The bottom line with these marketing ploys is simply list building and lining the coffers. I clicked over to Joel’s page from your blog entry, and immediately clicked off when I say that it was simply a squeeze page. I, like a lot of other people, have no time or wish to be subjected to the abuse we receive from squeeze pages built on a 3 page report just to get my email address. I no longer take any interest in anything with this tactic.
Google is in the biz to make money. They are also a very wise group of people. I can honestly say that Adsense will never die, because it is such a huge cash cow for Google. When I begin to get promos for “Adsense is Dead” I could hardly wait to get to the delete button…
Peace,
Charlie~
Charlie- I said straight up that I’m biased, so I don’t think that should be an issue. Second, it’s not a 3-page report and it wasn’t created “just to get your email address”. In fact, Joel’s allowing free distribution on it, so you should be able to find it one way or another eventually. Third, you could miss out on some good things if you avoid all opt-ins. The technique will be around for a long time to come, and a lot of marketers provide good materials for free (like the AdSense is Alive report). For example, HyperVRE… I’d hate to miss out on that just because I don’t want to give up my name and email. I say opt-in if you want to get something, and unsubscribe the moment they send you something you consider inappropriate.
G’day ,
I just wish that this incestuous group that are proclaimed “gurus†would , just once , try to be honest. I really don’t think they know the meaning of the word.
Both sides of this debate have a vested interest in proclaiming the other to be wrong but neither party will admit it and insist on carrying the line “they just want to help to inform the less knowledgeable out of the goodness of their hearts†— yeah right!!
I personally place no credence on “biased†comment , particularly when the bias is admitted!
I , like Charlie , clicked over to Joel’s page and immediately clicked away when I saw that the temptation to make it a squeeze page had not been resisted. If it wasn’t created just to get my email address then why not use a direct link??
I also find it rather inane to say that it will be possible for me to find it one way or another eventually – very helpful.
I have over the last couple of months unsubscribed from the majority of “guru’s†newsletters as they became more and more “sales pages†very poorly disguised as newsletters.
Cheers ,
Norman
Ofcourse adsense is not dead…it is just u cant make money a lot anymore or..a lot as easy as before…what i like to know…how many of people feel the effect of changes made by google..
Norman- I truly believe that the people who read the Death of AdSense reports needed to hear the other side of the story, but I don’t think Joel or myself are trying to hide our true intentions. Of course we want to help people and that’s part of the reason the new report was published.
But I’m not afraid to admit that we’re also capitalizing on the situation. After all, why would anyone want to listen to us if we weren’t good marketers? And that’s what we’re doing… marketing, very successfully I might add.
Mitre- There might be a few online marketing techniques that have lost their effectiveness, but it is still relatively easy to make a lot of money online. In fact Joel and I were talking about this just the other day. These are the glory days of internet marketing. Twenty years from now, people will be talking about this time, and about how anyone regardless of their previous status could go online and make millions of dollars. I hope our economy and the internet remain stable for decades to come, but I’m certainly not taking that for granted. Now is the time, so if you’re serious about making money online, put forth your full effort and squeeze as much money as you can from the internet now while we have the opportunity.
‘Mum’ is the word from publishers who continue to successfully ride the adsense wave.
Adsense is not dead. It’s still alive and well.
What is dead or dying is the ‘adsense products’ market.
Isn’t that what this whole thing is about?
I see my old friend razzz is back. Ignorant as usual 😉
Hi Eric
I came along here a few days ago just to take a quick look at your response to the ‘adsense is dead’ thingy …
I see that in just those few days it seems it is dead in the water …
Long live true business ethics and practices…
DEAR ERIC.
GOOD WEEKEND,MY FRIEND.
LONG TIME YOU WAS BUSY AND NO MESSAGE FROM ANY KIND,TRY TO SEND ME YOUR GREAT MESSAGES.
PLEASE I NEED THE NEW .XP WINDOWS,THAT I HAVE THE OLD ONE,SEND IT TO ME ON MY E-MAIL,ASAP.
SEE YOU LATER.
THANKS A LOT.
Not often I read through a complete *long* blog like this one, but this was insanely interesting to me for many reasons, the main one being this:
I was looking for the ultimate answer and truth (complete with some statistics, etc.) about the effect of the different pricing structure talked about here – one pricing for the serp and one (lower) pricing for the ads on websites.
I don’t know how to go about finding out everything there is to know about this, and would submit that there is a very good opportunity for someone to do some list building of their own by writing a great report on explaining everything – without any bias. (The answer was *almost* found above – just a little more clarification…)
I believed in Joel’s stuff enough to order it – you’d almost have to be dense if you didn’t because it can be used for stuff other than Adsense. Even covers click-flipping. Even so, it would be nice to have that very good explanation. Anyone?
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