I Have A Bone To Pick With Google
I’m not going to deny it. I have a bone to pick with Google. A little over two years ago, I was an Adsense publisher. I had just started out and had earned a couple hundred bucks when Google sent me an email saying I was in violation of their Adsense terms of service.
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:
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“Build Systems And Prosper!”
- Daniel Joseph Moran
