In the past year, I’ve only bought two Google Adsense-related information products:

(1) Joel Comm’s first edition book. Most of the info in there is available for free, but spread out all over the Internet. If you want it in a handy place, and you’re a relative beginner, it’s not bad. For me, there was only one thing in there that I thought would pay back my investment of US$97. But I have not implemented the idea because it’s an idea that is very difficult to do successfully, and requires a huge investment in time.

(2) Yesterday, I bought Michael Cheney’s videos, based on Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger post. The core 9 videos are underwhelming. Very little has been said in them that Google doesn’t already say in their own Adsense pages. The difference between Cheney’s and Comm’s products are that the former uses videos, the latter uses an ebook.

Well, I lie. There is something in the videos. Cheney makes little comments in the videos that are very casual but actually extremely valuable, and have nothing to do with Adsense. They didn’t teach me anything, because of my career background, but they probably will to people new to managing websites.

The real gold is in Cheney’s in the bonus videos. I’ve only watched the first two of three at the time of this writing, but in the Adsense Clinic videos, he analyzes several sites. For me, that was worth the US$97. Unfortunately, Cheney already gave SOME of these away for free on his own website.

Conclusion? I’m still a person with steadily increasing “network” traffic (except this month; it’s been bizarre) but barely any advertising income. It is increasing, but slowly.

Why little to no income? Primarily for the reasons Darren Rowse indicates, but mainly because I haven’t put in the EFFORT to actually apply the knowledge that I’ve gained to my websites/ blogs, except in a few instances - mainly because I’m too busy writing to bother with other tasks that are just as important:

(1) Analyzing performance - I do it daily, but ….
(2) Using the analyses to improve my sites - !!!! Key, and yet I can’t seem to “find time”.

Online publishing is a business, and there is more to it than just writing and slapping content up. Unfortunately, if you’re on a low budget, it’s difficult to get the extra tools that both Cheney, Comm and others recommend in their info products. So prioritize your expenses, and get the tools you need.

Now I just need to follow my own advice, or come up with other ways to monetize my websites. For example, like the 3 extra blogging gigs I was offered in the past 7 days, bringing my total to 4. Still not loads of money, but more than I’m making in advertising. Writing/ blogging for others is a great option, if I can’t put in the effort and time investment to apply all the Adsense “knowledge” I have.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,