Hey guys,ย I felt like writing a post about how awesome I sometimes think SEO & Adsense are. A lot of people give SEO shit or say Adsense is very unreliable but I do feel that it has some really important advantages as some staple income. Maybe this will resonate with some of you depending on what your goals are with making money online.
Why despite anything that might happen in the future, I can’t complain about SEO ๐
Currently, I’m trying really hard to find a way to consistently break $10,000/month doing something I would really enjoy. To be honest, for the past few months I have been working about 10-20 hours a week at most because my current money makers in SEO have lost a lot of my interest. I lost interest in those niches and my biggest blog about health is kinda outdated with all the knowledge I have about health now. Nutrition/Health is one of my passions and I should redo my posts but I’m kinda unsure if I want to put the hundreds of hours it would take to update the information in my existing posts (I’m not gonna hire someone from Odesk to write for me… I want them to be high quality and with my current level of knowledge). Technically it won’t affect my rankings (Google can’t truly know that it’s “better” information). However, with better quality information maybe people will enjoy that blog more and come back? It does not really have referral/returning traffic, it’s 80%+ new visitors from SEO. An added benefit of writing the content myself is since I already read 10+ hours of nutrition information some weeks, by writing it I kinda get to “really” memorize it.
I do have to admit that SEO is REALLY cool. With only maybe an 1 hour a month on these blogs (just making sure they aren’t hacked really) I can’t believe my blogs are still making $100/day+ with so little maintenance (all I did on most of them was update to wordpress 3.1 in the past few months lol). Actually, as I write the first draft of this post, it was a really great day as you can see from just my adsense earnings of Feb 28 in both my accounts.
What this enables me to do is to focus my life on a lot of my other growing passions which are mostly nutrition/martial arts and just hanging out with my friends. Part of the reason I want to reach $10,000/month is because I would like to do private coaching for MMA without feeling like I have to sacrifice anything else. It’s great to always have time to go out with friends when they are available. Working from home, I go out with friends almost every night of the week from 10-3am because it’s one of the only ways I get to meet people consistently since most of my friends are students or have day jobs and I do not see them during the day. Well, I also wake up at 3-4pm… for a period during the winter I completely did not see the sun for an entire week!
SEO And Adsense ARE DEAD?
So while a lot of people are saying SEO & Adsense are dead well they definitely are not right now for me. My backlinking strategy from 1-2 years ago at this point has barely changed. It’s simply doing effective keyword researchย and combining with consistent backlinking that “make sense” which I’ll touch on below.
Effective keyword research
Well for long time readers of this blog you probably already read my first post on keyword research and Becker’s great keyword post which really goes into detail on why keywords are more than words… Understand the searcher’s meaning behind them. A 1,000 searched keyword can make way more money than ranking for “funny pictures of animals” which could be searched by 100,000 people a month yet all those people want are free pictures… You can get a lot of fancy software/services like secockpit which are quite helpful when starting out (or on months when I want to research a lot of new website ideas) but ultimately most of the time I just go to the google keyword tool and type in the new keyword ideas I have. It’s much more important to understand why a keyword is good vs bad (what is the person searching for?).
Consistent Backlinks
Look, SEO is really simple when you get down to it. It’s really nothing special.
1) Get proper on page SEO which means your keyword ideally in the title/URL/a few times in your post and an image with your keyword as the “alt” tag and you are mostly done.I say mostly because this is 95% of on page SEO. Just do some proper inter linking on your websites between posts by using the anchor text you want to rank a post with when interlinking, as if you were doing a backlink. Other on page things such as doing no follow links or whatever are just a waste of time. I also try to link out to other websites when relevant, does it help with rankings? Maybe, but it most likely just helps avoid penalties by making your website more legit.
2) Off page SEO, backlinks. I still recommend article directories on new websites but most of the time now I put good content up on my website and do barely any backlinks. 1-4 unique articles distributed to article directories, mostly ezine articles… Honestly I would skip this step but later on I will re-use these articles anyway so might as well get some initial link love this way. Then at around the 3-4 month mark I use services like Ezarticlelink/AMR/BMD. Not all on the same URL! Over the past 6 months I found EZA to be the most effective “service” for me especially for the cost.. $35/month.ย You can see some results by looking at my ezarticle link review so I mostly start with that, others might have other networks they like better, such as Blog Blueprint for Becker which is the core network we use SEO Hybrid’s backlink strategy. Then after another month I go with AMR or BMD (I might do AMR to 2-3 url/keyword groups on the site and BMD to others.. I try to always rank some inner pages along with my domain).
I’m not entirely sure on how effective AMR is currently by itself, I haven’t tested it alone in a while but it definitely does not hurt but I think I would go with BMD over AMR currently (and definitely one of the private blog services we reviewed on this site with a good rating over either…. The one time fee of AMR/BMD definitely paid itself back for me though). Ultimately you can start doing other types of backlinks such as linkwheels/stealing your competitors links which we cover in SEO Hybrid but I only worry about that after 4-5+ months, when I can truly see if more backlinks would help or not. These backlinks take more time so I want to know I “need” them first!
Might as well focus on putting up good content on your website and working the design so visistors like it and come back! And/or tweak your adsense ads to improve your CTR, think about adding an email list form, set up an auto responder series etc.
SEO/Adsense is NOT dead
In fact, as I point out it’s a really consistent source of income for me so far once it’s setup properly… I’ve been able to enjoy fully my other hobbies with minimal “work” maintenance thanks to SEO on these niche sites. I wanted to get this post out because I think a lot of people are taking advantage on the Panda Updates to sell courses on the basis that SEO/Adsense is dead but x tip will work instead. It’s false, it’s not dead. I never got really affected by any panda updates and all it takes is make websites for users (nice theme, link out to other sources of information…) and diversify your backlinks (don’t just use BB/Ezarticlelink for example). I did get new websites Google Danced late last year but to be honest I was not doing fully these basic principles on them (I got lazy). I’m diversifying my links and adding new content.. We’ll see if they come back ๐
Hopefully I don’t get all my websites penalized/adsense banned after writing this post ๐
You’ll definitely break that 10k/months Alex, thelinkback is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!111 please keep writing from time to time ๐
Thanks :D. I want to write more but right now I’m trying a lot of new things (PPC, email lists and possibly re-writing a lot of my old content). So I don’t really want to write about things I am not sure have worked for me but I will definitely share the info over time :). SEO/Adsense has definitely worked for me (and still does) so I wanted to let those that are really interested in this model but might have gotten scared away without even trying it that ya, it definitely still works.
hey man,
how you make sure that your site dont get hacked other than updating plugins?
keep your posts going!
I can’t make sure that they do not get hacked but I find this depends a lot on hosting. My hostgator account only got hacked once in 2010… My hostnine account which I use for “test” domains/new sites/high PR sites when I was trying to build a network constantly gets hacked and customer support basically forces me to fix the website myself… Really annoying.. Anyway you can find some monthly subscription “website monitoring” services and put your main sites on it so you are alerted when they get hacked but I haven’t used any so far.
Alex, do you know why my MSN Adcenter might not be running? : P
There was a campaign that I set the bid to minimum. It received 1/10 Quality score, and was “Pending review” or something.
I deleted it, and created a new campaign where I set the limit to 10000$/day.
However, I can’t see Quality score/Pending review or anything atm.
The campaign is active/eligible, but nothing is running. I’m contacting their support, but maybe you might have suggestions for me? : P
Thank u!!
Ya I discovered MSN Adcenter is sometimes REALLY slow in reviewing ads. One of them took like 2 weeks and I contacted support about it then they got that one and all the other ones pending review activated within 2 days. So, since you already contacted support you should be fine but ya it’s ridiculous how slow they can be.
Have you ever tried any other alternatives to adsense? I mean similar concept.
The only one that was decent is infolinks. I still use it on a few sites along with adsense but as far as adsense substitutes, they always made less $$.
Angelo- I’m with Lijit Networks in Boulder, Colorado and we’re an excellent alternative to AdSense. Feel free to shoot me an email if you’d like to chat about our service- [email protected]. Thanks!
Hi,
Iwant Any Idea To Get Visitor Like My website Because All my Visitor Comes on Facebook
http://www.gagzer.com/
Please Any Idea
th
Well it’s a joke type site so it shouldn’t be too hard or long. I haven’t really worked on getting viral facebook likes (I get mine off facebook PPC to my fanpages every now and then…) so I can’t really give more advice form personal experience.
Your site is terrible
hope this helps
Thanks Alex, clear and to the point. I am pleased that Adsense still works as I don’t want to lose any forms of income! I am using FBook ads and they seem good even though I am sending them to an external url.
I find facebook ads worth a bit more then normal ads since I like that my page is getting real likes but it’s really hard to track how much those likes are giving me in additional “free” traffic since I am sending people to an itunes store… And as far as I know I can’t track where people came from looking at my page on the app store… The clicks are a bit more expensive than Google for my niche but I think for most markets that might charge $2+ on Google it might be easier to find lower CPC ads on Facebook from what I see.
Right now for me it’s Facebook –> Traffic that might give me likes
Google Adwords –> Huge volume of searches but more expensive and they can be a bit more anal with quality scores
Bing –> Cheap traffic but lower Volume (they also do not accept direct linking to itunes store… Which might be annoying for some people)
Nice pot man. Do you recommend making any money/adsense sites in “insurance” or anything related that has a Cpc range of $10-40?
I haven’t tried. I’m sure it’s very profitable but SEO is probably more competitive there. You can probably make a ton of money though. It’s one of those niches that a 1k search’d keyword that is medium to rank might end up making a lot of money for you, much more then some 30k search/month keyword on smoothie recipes or whatever.
hahaha i thought you and becker out of all people would have at least 2-3 of them. But in that cause, i will try.
I don’t really go in niches that I have zero interest in… Unless I get an EMD or buy an aged website on an auction which would give me quick rankings so I start making money within 3-6 months and might motivate me to keep working on it…
Hey Alex I’ve gotten LOTS of value from your blog, and this post came at just the right time for me seeing how I’m not having much success with adsense currently (mostly my fault not enough hard work).
Regardless I’d like to get your option on if my current site has any potential to earn money with adsense. The site is http://effectsofcaffeine.net
I was really exited with this site at first (seemed like a great idea), but after building over 100 backlinks and tinkering for two months I’m still not getting any traffic, and for the SERPs I’m 20th at best for some weak keyphrases.
Input appreciated, and keep up the good work brother!
I really like the site’s layout but honestly two months is nothing for SEO… The key thing is make sure you are working on other blogs at the same time because either way you probably can’t expect to make a living off this one blog. Also 100 backlinks is not that much in the grand scheme of things, though it’s plenty for two months. I usually ramp it up around month 3-4 with networks as I mention which is why it’s important to have more sites that you can use those networks on together, making the monthly fees a better investment. As soon as you have lets say one out of 4 sites make money (which will most likely happen after using some networks) usually that will cover your monthly fees and then it’s simply keep on doing what works and being patient.
Thanks for the reply Alex. Guess I’m really just too impatient on this, but your right about diversifying. I understand that my site wont make me rich, but I was going for a safe bet to prove to myself that SEO would be a worth while time investment. Even though I haven’t seen that first hand I’ve hope that as my skill set increases i should be able to see some returns by next year
I’ve learned a lot in the last two months and it’s only just scratching the surface. The tips from your site has really made this stuff easy to manage, and help me slowly make connections. I’ve been hesitant to add more article directory links (seeing how they make up the majority), while at the same time avoiding spending money as much as possible.
With your help I’ve noticed that the “Start-up” phase is very low cost (Less than 20$ for extra domain and you’re set), so I can really see when it would make sense for me to have more sites. Especially once I start using the better software.
My next site should be up soon (still in the health food niche, but more recipe focused). Going to stay with this at least until my first check from big G haha!
Ya exactly.. Startup cost for extra sites is really low. It’s better to start up a few sites then wait for the “perfect site idea” to get hosting etc for. Once you have hosting set up, it’s just much easier to start more sites because all you pay is the new domain. And eventually, it makes it more worth it to try to rank multiple sites together using $/month services.
Hi Alex.
Correct me if I’m wrong here. But as I understand you
1) Keyword research
2) Buy about 4 domains.
3) SEO optimize those domains
4) Make sure they are high quality (repeat traffic)
5) Submit unique articles to a few directories
6) Wait for a few months add Ezarticlelink to the process
7) Then a month after that add BMD to the process
My question would be. After we have bought the domains, made them SEO friendly and high quality friendly, shouldn’t we be submitting the backlinks everyday to atleast 5-20 posts on a blog network?
And secondly, if we do submit those posts consistently day by day, shouldn’t we expect to see our website rise to the ranks alot more earlier than three months?
The reason I ask is because I’m hoping someting works. Because my blog has been operational for slightly less than two months, and for this first month and a half, I have only depended on links in comment sections and chat softwares and blogger referrals. I haven’t engaged in SEO at all really.
What I notice is a steady flow of repeat traffic (people who are interested in the subject), and a whole lot of bounces (from referral traffic), or perhaps it’s a split between the bounces and those who stay on for quite a while.
But honestly my blog gets between on average 20-30 total visits a day. On a good day I will get between 35-70 (but that is getting quite rare). I have noticed small amounts of traffic from Google, but ultimately without SEO it looks like my blog is dead.
The part I don’t get is the “wait around” stuff. Like I am wondering how to take it from here. I haven’t made articles in article directories, nor have I joined a blogger network or socialmarker network. I’m looking for steps that consistently work. But are you honestly suggesting we all just wait three months and then start submitting to blog networks?
Thanks of your help
Derek
You mean doing links to your backlinks? You could do that and maybe you will get faster rankings in a safe way but at this point this is my approach because I’m not in a rush to get any site ranked faster. I just play it safe because I have a lot of other work to do anyway while working so I just go for the biggest return on time invested actions, which are links directly to my site using networks (and a few article directories before that).
Links from comment sections have always been worthless for me in SEO, I would only do them from other blogs in my niche for referral traffic like you seem to be getting… The reason I wait 3 months for blog networks is I find when I start later I get faster rankings. You could start earlier. I also do article directories first and then re-use those articles in networks by adding spin syntax using the best spinner.
Wow, my adsense just got approved finally after two weeks. Just as I submitted this comment.
This blog is a goodluck charm. I am excited.
Thanks again =D
I love SEO as well ๐ However, when you think of the future of IM a couple of years ahead do you think making a site that targets a KW and then back linking it will still be a viable strategy? Or do you think search engines will be completely different when it comes to their ranking algorithm and we will all be forced to use paid traffic?
Who knows? People were making these predictions 2 years ago in 2010 when I was starting. While things will always change it won’t just be a on/off switch, you have time to adapt.
Thanks for this post buddy. As much as Becker rails against adsense, there is something to say for the complete ease of income it provides. You’ve convinced me to start a site that will use adsense while I have 2 or 3 others with email lists. I’m pretty excited. I’ll let u know how it goes.
Don’t forget you can always combine it in certain niches (which is what I am trying now).
Quick question Alex. For BMD are you using proxies and if you are.. where can I get them? thanks
I was using squid proxies, it’s 10 for $25 or so. But if you are only getting them for BMD I don’t think it’s important unless you do a LOT of bookmarking. I don’t.. I bookmark a page every few days at most. I already had these private proxies for other services so I figured I might as well use them for BMD too. I recently stopped needing proxies since I stopped using other programs that needed them such as senuke so I have not used them in BMD and I don’t think it changed anything.
What is your opinion on exchanging links?
It can work fine, especially if you do not do reciprocal linking but website A —> B and in exchange the owner of B has another website (“C”) either linking back to A or a fourth independant one (“D”).
I did it very few times, I usually don’t bother but it can be ok for SEO (in some cases it can work great but I find it too time consuming to setup and make sure all parties are keeping the links up).
Of course, doing those links for traffic between similar sites in a niche can be great.