Trying to increase traffic to your blog is not an easy task. All in all, this is one of the main reasons that a lot of people give up on blogging after only a couple of weeks. Although I felt good about this blog’s progress at the end of July, I am even more optimistic about the future after the way things went this last week.
On Tuesday August 1, I posted my freelance writing income for July 2007. While I thought that this would get people talking, I was not expecting the results that followed. Within a couple of days this post made its way around the blogosphere, and really hit it big when John Chow featured it on his blog.
You are probably wondering what this did for my blog, right? First off, it has helped to increase comments. To me, this may very well be the biggest benefit; I feel that comments are a great way to make the most of the blogging experience. At this time, my freelance writing post has 33 comments; my personal best for this blog.
Additionally, my daily traffic has doubled. I thought that this may only be temporary, but it appears that the numbers are holding steady for the most part. The reason that I am optimistic is that my RSS readership has also doubled. Obviously, this will have a positive effect as time goes on.
Although a lot of this success has to do with top ranking blogs linking to me, I feel that the quality of my original post is where everything started. Think about it this way: if my original post would have been poorly constructed, nobody would have ever taken notice. This is why you need to make sure that you put your all into every post that you write. You never know when a John Chow or other big time blogger is reading!
Despite the fact that I got a huge boost over the past seven days, I am not going to stop working hard this month. The way I see it, the more great posts I make, the more publicity this blog will receive. Sounds easy enough, right?
In several past posts I have talked a bit about Henry and Wilson; the two twins behind richtwinpoortwin.com. More specifically I have been obsessed with the fact that Google AdSense shut their account down, which in turn cost them more than $200,000. Not to mention all of the future money that they were sure to earn.
After first reading their story I vowed to attempt to get in touch with these guys. After all, they have to have a lot of good insight, right? Well, after a few weeks of contemplation, I finally sent them a quick email. And sure enough, Henry was nice enough to answer my questions. So without further delay, here is the email interview.
Did you ever get the feeling that you should diversify, and move away from Google AdSense a bit?
At some points we did feel we should diversify and we tried a few other networks. However, we were just too comfortable with AdSense and every time we tried something new we compared it to AdSense which was by far much easier to navigate, use, and make money.
Do you feel that there was something you could have done differently to save your account?
I think I would have taken a more active approach in keeping in contact and dealing with Google’s AdSense team.
Do you think that you guys will be able to reach your previous income level without using AdSense?
I know it is possible to reach my previous level of income without AdSense. It is just a matter of focusing, staying motivated, and acting.
As you can see, Henry is a go-getter, and is sure to get things back on track in the near future. From this interview alone it is easy to see why he (and his brother) has had so much success. Not only is he knowledgeable, but confident that life after AdSense does exist!  Â
Does the title of this blog post surprise you? Do you think it is a sin that I am possibly suggesting that Google AdSense is overrated? Although I do not want to cause a huge stir with this post, I feel that it is something to consider.
To start with, let me say that I have used AdSense on blogs and websites, and plan on continuing to do so. In fact, if I ever attempt to monetize this blog, AdSense is one program that I will more than likely start with.
But with all of that being said, in my opinion, AdSense is overrated. Here are three details that have led me to this conclusion.
1. From my experience speaking with hundreds of webmasters, AdSense is reserved for the best of the best. In other words, unless you have a highly profitable niche or loads of traffic, your chances of succeeding with AdSense are not that great. Sure, you can make a few bucks here and there, but a full-time income will be out of range.
2. For some reason, Google thinks that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. And when it comes down to it, I guess they really can. Google is the one company that is synonymous with the internet, and this does not appear to be changing anytime in the near future. But what does this have to do with AdSense, you may ask? Simply put, Google may decide to ban you from their program without explanation. Time and time again accounts are suspended, and publishers are left with no answers as to why. If you don’t believe it, check out this link – http://www.richtwinpoortwin.com/banned-from-google-adsense-lost-200000.html. These guys lost $200,000 when their account was suspended!
3. AdSense is no longer the only game in town. They may still be the leader in the industry, but they are being gained on. Other ways to monetize your blog or website include: Kontera, Text Link Ads, Bidvertiser, AzoogleAds, AuctionAds, Yahoo! Publisher Network, and many more.
As you can see, I strongly believe that Google AdSense is overrated. This does not mean that you should stop using AdSense, but you should consider your other options.
