I had Adsense running on several sites, but Google didn’t tell me which one they had a problem with. So I reread the terms and tried to figure out where I was out of line. I couldn’t see anything wrong. So, I wrote them back and asked what I needed to do to fix the problem.

Google answered by saying only that I was in violation of their terms and needed to correct the problem or be banned from the Adsense program. They said it would reveal too much about their monitoring system to tell me which site was the problem or even which provision of their terms I was violating.

I was frantic (looking back, I’m not sure why, though). I started adjusting things on my sites, changing the number of ad blocks I had on each page, deleting articles I thought might be a problem for Google. But in the end, it was all for nothing. Google banned my account and kept the small amount of money I had earned.

Months later, I figured out what the problem had been. I had an Adsense block–just one–on the home page of a product site. I had affiliates for that product. One of the affiliates had put his referral link into a traffic exchange URL rotator. And that is what Google was upset about. Why they couldn’t tell me that, I have no idea. But they didn’t and I’m banned and there is no appeal.

Google’s program. Google’s rules. And Google doesn’t care about one small Adsense publisher.

It turned out to be a good thing for me, though. It kept me from trying to build a business around the pay-per-click publishing model. That model has some inherent problems that are only getting worse:

Problem #1: Pitiful Payouts

While there are some ads that will pay publishers a hundred dollars a click or more, those are few and far between. Most bloggers and website owners earn only a few cents per click when a visitor clicks an ad on their site. To make a reasonable amount of money then, you’d need thousands of visitors making hundreds of clicks.

Problem #2: The Rules They Are A Changin’

What’s to stop Google or any of the PPC networks from changing the game in their own favor or in favor of their paying advertisers? Nothing. They don’t promise a specific payout percentage for clicks on your site. So they could lower your payout at anytime. And if (when?) they do change the rules, who loses out? You and all the rest of the Adsense publishers, that’s who.

Scan the forums where PPC publishers hang out and you’ll see more and more complaints like these: “There’s definitely something wrong with Adsense.” “My Adsense earnings are down 30% from last year.” “My visitors are up, but my PPC earnings are down. What gives?”

Problem #3: You Can’t Point Out Your Ads

Way back in the day, magazines, radio programs and television shows would clearly point out their advertising with such statements as, “Be sure to visit our fine sponsors!” Try that with Adsense and you’ll get banned from the program in a heartbeat. In other words, even though your blog is supported by PPC revenue, you can’t tell your visitors, “Support this blog by visiting our fine sponsors!”

This rule is understandable. It would lead to lots of visitors clicking ads for products they had no interest in and no intention of buying. At the same time, you can see how this ties your hands. Just by using the Adsense program, you are agreeing to Google’s terms which limit what you can and can’t say on your own site!

Problem #4: Where Did All The Visitors Go?

What happens when a visitor clicks an Adsense ad on your site? They leave your site… usually for good! Clicking an ad on your site does not open the advertiser’s site in a new browser window. It causes the advertiser’s site to open in the same browser window your site is in, replacing your content with his.

You put in the time, effort, and money to develop the content. You put in the time, effort, and money to drive traffic to your site. But the advertiser gets the visitor. What do you get in return? More often than not, just a few cents for the click. Is that a good trade? Think about it.

Problem #5: Google Can And Will Ban You Without Explanation

Look at what they did to me. Look at what they did to “Joe” (see my previous post “Do You Make These Internet Business Mistakes?”). They’ve even made the news recently with what they did to IncrediMail. If you don’t mind having the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head, then by all means, try making a living as an Adsense publisher.

Are There Any Options?

Of course! It’s actually pretty simple. Develop your own products. Create and publish content to attract visitors and sell your products. Drive traffic to your content with free and paid methods. Create systems to automate your business. But, do not, under any circumstances, squander your efforts by trading your visitors away for a few cents each. They are much more valuable to you if they stay on your site and buy your products and services.

But you may not have a product ready to sell just yet. What can you do then to monetize your traffic? And even if you do have a product, what can you do to supplement your income without giving away your traffic?

The answer is EasyTextAds. EasyTextAds gives you a way to put text ads on your site that look a lot like those served up by pay-per-click services. But, there’s a huge difference: with EasyTextAds, you run the network and you make the rules!

1. Advertise your own products or affiliate products and make dollars per sale instead of pennies per click.

2. You decide where to put the ads and how to get traffic to them and no one, not even Google, can “ban” you for “breaking the rules.”

3. Tell your readers all about your advertisers. Point out the ads on your site all you want without worrying about what Google thinks.

4. Keep your visitors even as you refer them to other destinations on the web. EasyTextAds links open in new browser windows so your visitors can always get back to you quickly.

5. And never think twice about how you choose to run your business because nothing you do will get you banned from your own text ad network!

If all of this wasn’t enough, you can also SELL advertising on your own text ad network with EasyTextAds. Let your visitors place their own ads on your site and collect money when they do. EasyTextAds includes an automated text ad sales module that integrates with PayPal. It’s completely hands-off as far as you’re concerned, unless you want to moderate ads before they appear on your site. And even then it’s a simple point and click operation to accept or reject new ads.

To Find Out More…

If all this sounds good to you and you’d like to find out more, just visit the EasyTextAds website here:

http://www.EasyTextAds.com

And remember, the Subscribers-Only special ends in less than 24-hours. See the password protected entry below for details. Don’t have the password? Then you must not be a subscriber. To make sure you get the password for future Subscriber-Only content and special offers, get on the blog announcement list. The form is near the top right corner of this page. Until next time…

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran

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So, “knowing” that his new site was a real money-maker, Joe started spending money to drive traffic to it (I’m assuming through Adwords or some other PPC program). But, without Adsense, he had no way to recoup his investment in the site or cover his advertising expenses.

So, I did a little checking on Joe’s behalf and found that even if Google hadn’t banned him, the site would never have made much money for him. Frankly, the site is worthless. But for Joe, it wasn’t cheap. Joe made a big mistake. He “invested” a lot of money in an “opportunity” without doing his homework.

So, what could Joe have done differently to avoid getting taken to the cleaners?

First, he should have checked the site for duplicate content. One of the things I did for Joe was to take a random set of page addresses from his new site and plug them into the duplicate content finder at Copyscape.com. Copyscape has a free service that will find and report on up to 10 duplicates of the content on any page of your website. For the sample of pages I checked for Joe, Copyscape pegged the needle at 10 matches each. And if the free Copyscape service finds 10 duplicates, you can bet there are many more.

Second, Joe should have checked the site’s rankings in Google and Alexa. If the site was really making as much as the seller said it was, it should be showing up on someone’s radar. But, none of the pages I checked had any page rank from Google (not just zero page rank… no page rank at all!). And the site as a whole has a 4,000,000+ ranking on Alexa. With Alexa, lower is better and a site with any steady traffic should have an Alexa rank of 500,000 or less.

Third–and this was the biggest mistake–Joe should have started out building an Internet business, not trying to buy one. A ready made Adsense site in a box is not an Internet business.

If your only source of traffic is pay-per-click advertising, then your profits are reduced by your advertising expenses. If Google changes the rules for Adwords (they have before and they probably will again) and your advertising costs go up as a result, your profits automatically go down.

And if the only source of income from all the traffic you’re paying for is the pennies-per-click you get for running Adsense ads on your site, then you are in a really bad spot. Google can (as they did with Joe) cancel your Adsense account and ban you for life without any explanation. Or, they can decide to reduce the percentage they pay for each click to Adsense publishers without notice. It’s not a number they share with the public anyway. And if (when) then do, there go your profits.

Bottom line: Unless you have 100 employees banging out new content for you, day in and day out, for thousands of different sites, then for you Adsense publishing is not a business. At best, it’s a supplemental income source. It’s certainly not something you want to rely on for long-term financial security.

What should Joe be doing instead? He should be producing his own content, building a list, working on a product to sell, and building links to his site using free methods (or paying someone else to use the free methods for him). Once his content and link building efforts start delivering traffic to his site, many more options open up for him.

So, to recap: Before spending your money on any “opportunity” you find online, do your homework. Be critical and objective. Ask yourself:

• Does the opportunity promise income with little to no effort on your part?
• Does the opportunity rely on third party programs or services (like Adsense, for instance)?
• And if those programs or services change or end, does the opportunity end, too?

If you answer “Yes” to these questions, then the opportunity is not really much of an opportunity at all. And it’s certainly not a business. So be cautious, be critical, and until next time…

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran

PS: Even though he’s been banned from Google’s Adsense program, Joe could still monetize his site with targeted text ads. All he needs is a copy of my new product, EasyTextAds. If you’d like to find out more about what EasyTextAds can do for your website or blog, just head on over to EasyTextAds.com.

PPS: Would you like to test drive EasyTextAds for free? I’m giving away copies of EasyTextAds Lite to my blog subscribers. To get your copy, just sign up for my blog announcement list. The form is conveniently located near the top right corner of this very page. Just fill in your first name and primary email address (no free or junk addresses allowed). Then click the “Subscribe Now” button. Once you confirm your subscription, I’ll send you a note with the link to download your copy of EasyTextAds Lite.

There’s a problem with Adsense, though. Several, actually. And if you rely on Adsense as your major source of income, as so many Internet business owners do, then your business and financial security are at risk.

I’m going to be sharing 5 of what I consider to be the most serious problems with Adsense and other similar advertising services over the next few days. I’m also going to share with you details of my own personal experience as an Adsense publisher.

But, for now, let me just say that there are alternatives to Adsense for earning advertising revenue with your Internet business. One of them you can see right here on this page. It’s called EasyTextAds and I’ll be telling you more about it tomorrow. In the meantime, be sure to visit all of my fine sponsors!

Until next time…

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran

This is the Mayor of St. Edmundsbury in the UK on “Launch Day” for the town’s very own “Internet Bench.” Check out the rest of the photos from launch day here:

http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/live/ibenpics.cfm

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran

Average stats for the old AskDanMoran.com blog announcement list:

• Click-through rate: 5%
• Undeliverable rate: 3.5%
• Complaint rate: 0.08% (Birthdays and Obituaries actually got a 0.19% complaint rate!)

Average stats for the new InternetBusinessBench.com blog announcement list:

• Click-through rate: 30%
• Undeliverable rate: 0.0%
• Complaint rate: 0.00%

Which set of stats would you like for your Internet business list? The answer is obvious. A larger list is more expensive to maintain and if there are any complaints at all the deliverability rate to the entire list suffers. If only 5% of the list is opening my email and clicking through to my site, why should I continue to carry the overhead of the other 95%? I shouldn’t and I won’t.

At the rate it’s growing and with a 30% click-through rate, the new announcement list will soon surpass the number of responses I get to every announcement message sent to the old list. At that point or even before, I will delete the old list.

But why is there such a difference in the stats between the two lists? It’s simple. Those choosing to join the new list are motivated. They aren’t afraid to take action and work through obstacles. And they are willing to work within a set of guidelines and not waste time and energy trying to change or bend the rules.

Almost a third of those who click through from the old list are now subscribed to the new list. If you’re one of the two-thirds who haven’t, why not? Are you bound and determined that it’s your way or the highway? Are you really so attached to your free email account that you never check the one you have with your ISP?

Look, you can take action and subscribe, or you can complain about my rules and not subscribe. It’s up to you. But…

• Only subscribers to the new list will receive free gifts from time to time.
• Only subscribers to the new list will be invited to participate in special programs I’ll be developing shortly.
• Only subscribers to the new list will be offered discounts on the software and information products I create.

And the only way to join the list is to follow the rules. If you aren’t on the new list yet, I suggest you move quickly. I’d hate to see you miss out on anything. The form is near the top right corner of this page. Just fill in your first name and your primary (not free) email address and click the “Subscribe Now!” button. Until next time…

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran

This text is replaced by the Flash movie.

(Click the “Play” button above to listen to this post online or download the mp3.)

The first step in starting and running an Internet business is to set aside the time you’ll need. You’re going to need at least 10 to 15 hours a week to start. Later, once you’ve put your systems in place, you won’t need to spend as much time on your business. But, if you are just starting out, this is the amount of time you’ll need.

So, where are you going to find that time? You probably have a job where you have to spend at least 8 hours a day. Maybe you have a spouse and kids and you need to make sure you have time for them as well. You might even have commitments to groups or organizations that will require some amount of your time. And, of course, you have to sleep.

Remember that… YOU HAVE TO SLEEP. The last thing you should do is cut into your sleep time to work on your Internet business. You’ll be less productive in all areas of your life if you don’t get the sleep you need.

So, again, where are you going to find the time you need to spend building your Internet business?

You’re going to have to prioritize. Put your sleep time on the schedule first. If you need 8 hours, great. If you need 10, that’s fine, too. Some people only need 6 or 7 hours a night. Whatever time you need to feel fully rested, put it on your schedule for the same time every night and stick to it. If you change your bedtime from one night to another, your body will not get into a proper rhythm and you’ll end up feeling tired every day. And feeling tired will kill your productivity. You cannot afford that.

Your J.O.B. probably has fixed hours that you’ll have to work around. So put them on your schedule next. If you have time commitments because of your religious affiliations, get those on the schedule, too.

If you have a spouse and/or kids, reserve a daily slot on your schedule for them. Make sure they know when that time is and make sure you stick to it every day. It doesn’t matter what you do during that time. The important thing is that you make the commitment and you follow through.

Nobody’s situation is exactly the same. You might have things you have to spend time on each day or each week that someone else doesn’t. Just get everything on the schedule so you know what you have to work with.

Once you’re done, look at the schedule and find any time that you’ve marked for watching TV. Cross that out. You’re building an Internet business, not a career as an entertainment critic. You have no time for TV. The bad thing about TV is that it programs your brain with lots of negative junk, including the need to watch more TV. Just turn it off and never turn it on again. If you find yourself reaching for the remote out of habit, you might just have to throw the TV set out to remove the temptation and the distraction.

If you are not willing to remove TV time from your schedule, then stop reading right now. Leave my blog and never return. I’m serious. You will not achieve your full potential in business or in life if you allow TV to own any part of your time. Let me say that more clearly: YOUR INTERNET BUSINESS WILL NOT SUCCEED IF YOU WATCH ANY AMOUNT OF TV.

Some readers will want argue with me on this. If you’re one of them, don’t bother trying to argue your point. I won’t waste my time arguing back. Just go away and try it your own way. When you figure out that I’m right, come back and pick up where you left off. I don’t mind if you want to take a detour and waste your time. Just don’t ask me to waste mine.

The next thing to cross off your schedule is time for radio, newspapers and magazines. I’ll allow one exception here. If you have an industry specific publication that you need to read to keep up with what’s going on in your chosen market, that’s OK. But, if it’s ever had Brad, Britney or Paris on the cover, you need to stop reading it.

Now, let’s clear some more time from your schedule. Resolve to check your email only once per day. At that time, deal with every email that needs a response and then delete everything else. If checking your email takes you more than 15 minutes a day, then you’re subscribed to too many ezines. End those subscriptions now. You don’t need them any more. At this point, you’ve learned all you can from them. It’s time to take action. You’re building your own Internet business now. You don’t need to keep helping them build theirs.

One last thing. No more aimless Internet surfing. The world wide web is set up specifically to allow you to drill down deeper and deeper into any topic you choose. The problem is that there is no end to how deep you can go! It is entirely possible to go looking for information on the web and end up losing several hours of your life just clicking link after link without finding what you started out looking for.

Stop doing that! You’re now an Internet business entrepreneur. You do not have the time any more to do anything except the specific tasks that will build your business and put in place the systems that will allow it to grow over time even as you reduce the number of hours a day you put into it.

OK, you now have your assignment. Go make it happen. I’ll be posting your next assignment in a day or two. To make sure you get it as soon as I post it, just sign up for my blog announcement list. The form is near the top right corner of this page. Just fill in your first name and your primary email address (no disposable addresses, please) and click the “Subscribe Now!” button. You’ll get a confirmation message with a link that you’ll need to click to confirm that you really want to get my announcements. Once you do, you’re all set.

And by the way, I’ll be sending out a link to all confirmed subscribers this weekend to download a free gift. To make sure you don’t miss that, sign up for the list right now. Until next time…

“Build Systems And Prosper!”

- Daniel Joseph Moran