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AdSense is Like Motel 6
IÂ had a call with Scott Bourne of Twit, Bourne Media, Netradio, etc. The guy knows his stuff. He has really opened my eyes to some interesting things. He told me today that Adsense is like Motel 6. What do you think of when you think of Motel 6? Cheap? Convenient? Low quality? If you have great traffic and you are monetizing through Adsense, then you’re basically using the Motel 6 of Internet advertising to make money off your site.Â
The reality is that your site could be making way more money than Google is giving you if you went out and got real ad/sponsorship deals for your site. Ask yourself this: What is the value of your audience? If you have a high value/quality audience then your audience deserves more than Adsense and so do you. Think about it.
Respect your audience and don’t compromise their value. Charge a premium to access your audience and tell Google to take a hike.Â
At freemacware.com we got accepted into TribalFusion so we’re going to try those ads for a while. Do you have any suggestions on which premium ad services to try, or are you advocating a do-it-yourself approach?
Left by Richard K Miller on 10/31/2006Richard,
We should talk more about this. With the amount of traffic you get a freemacware I think you could do some interesting things. We need to talk soon anyway so let’s talk this over next time we meet.
Left by ctknud on 10/31/2006I think there are convience/time factors that you are slighting. For smaller sites/blogs where the poster is gainfully employed elsewhere, he/she may not have the time to research alternate ad networks, petition for inclusion, etc. (Last x/y couplet, I promise.) Motel 6 serves a purpose in the real world because there are individuals who seek out that kind of service. Google Adsense is no different.
Or is this just an attempt to rack up some consulting fees.
Again -
(alas, the lack or context with text replies)
Left by Matthew Reinbold on 10/31/2006Note: I do not like AdSense. That said, calling the advertising system a Motel 6 is short-sighted. Sites with less than 250k monthly visitors have little leverage (if any) to go after “premium” sponsor partners or direct to advertisers. Adsense, although it barely pays, allows bloggers and smaller sites with sub 250k in monthly visitors get pay’d.
Yeah, there are some new things out there, but nothing as proven as AdSense, Amazon, and YPN ad for smaller sites and blogs. $100/month is better than nothing.
Left by Blake Snow on 10/31/2006Attempt to rack up some consulting fees? Funny.
I don’t charge for my time or for advice I give. I usually only consult on a project basis. If I have a friend that needs help or advice (like Richard above) I’m not going to charge him for that.
The post is geared toward sites with larger traffic. The problem is most people start out with Adsense, build great traffic but don’t dump adsense for better ad options. Thus, they sell themselves and their audience short.
Left by ctknud on 10/31/2006Blake:
Sites with less tan 250k visitors can go after direct sponsors. I recently ran across a guy who gets about 20k visitors to his site per month and he’s generating several thousand dollars from one sponsor per month for that site. That’s better than what he’d probably get out of adsense.
Its not about volume of audience but value of audience. Adverstisers will pay big bucks to talk to the right audience. We’re seeing this at Podango. Bloggers and podcasters with a solid following in niche markets have the potential to draw just as many ad dollars as larger sites with generic audiences.
Left by ctknud on 11/01/2006I have a problem with AdSense… rather, they have a problem with me… I had someone in a foreign country do “click fraud” where they would click on my ads a ton (no, I wasn’t involved in it ;))
Google dumped me from their program. I got “the letter,” went through their little appeal process (which no one, as far as I can tell, really is successful at), and lost all of my ads on all of my sites AND all the money I had earned that wasn’t sent to me was redistributed BACK to the advertisers.
I would prefer going to a direct advertiser or sponsor any day than subject myself to that powerless situation again. Note there’s lots to be learned here… one of which is how to tick off your competition (I’m not vindictive enough to take advantage of this to take down a competitor’s adsense account but Google opens that right up).
Left by Jason Alba on 11/02/2006