AdSense is one of the most common ways for bloggers to earn from the blog – but should YOU use it? Or the variation of the question I receive on regular bases – “why don’t you use AdSense on your blog?”
Answer to this one simple and complex at same time and perhaps by providing it here I will save myself some time answering it and help you determine if you should use AdSense on your blog…

What Is Right For You?

And by that question I mean – what is Most Desired Action on your blog?
Answer the question above for yourself and you will be one step closer to deciding if AdSense should be used on your blog or not. Because I’m not advocating NOT to use – I’m simply trying to say here that AdSense or any other text ads are not right for every blog…

• If you simply blog for fun or share information you know much about and have no other “alternative motive” then perhaps you should start implementing those ads ASAP.
• …but if you are using your blog to share your knowledge AND in process establish your right to share it (some call it authority) with a goal to sell some information product in directly related field then using AdSense will cause you to loose your visitors and perhaps shouldn’t be used.

Follow The Money!

I’ll be straight up here and make a statement you simply MUST know. Not every niche is created equal and what you right about is directly responsible on what type of ads it will pull from Google. As we all know clicks on those ads is what generates the income for you and while some ads can bring you several bucks, others will only give you a few cents, while still driving your visitor AWAY FROM YOUR BLOG…
You have worked hard to create content, you promoted your blog, you put your heart and your time to bring your visitors to your blog – are you willing to loose them in exchange for a few cents?

This is the second question you should answer for yourself. Determine how much do you actually get per click and is it worth to loose the visitors to gain this questionable income?

My own blog’s content is within a niche that brings next to nothing in terms of per-click income and I much rather keep the visitors reading my blog, establish relationship and possibly turn them into customers then have them click away from my blog. But you have to make that determination for your own blog…
If clicks on your blog worth enough to justify the placement of ads – don’t think twice and have them installed.

But either way don’t forget the simple principal…

Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket!

And by that I simply mean don’t rely on AdSense as a source of income. Diversify your income options:

• Use affiliate marketing on your blog and it doesn’t even have to be glorified sales letters… remember, people read your blog because they like what you have to say, people value your opinion and sharing your honest take on a product directly related to your conversation topic will be interesting to your readers.
• Implement CPA ads. This one is overlooked by many and yet it can be extremely profitable for right audience. Some CPA ads can bring as much as $20 per lead you send their way or even more. It does need to be directly related to your niche to be effective.
• Add Amazon affiliate tools to your blog. Using the trust that Amazon managed to establish on internet you can earn without annoying your visitors. What’s even better the granddaddy of Affiliate Marketing continues to increase options you have for income on autopilot. So if you don’t use them yet.
• Implement banner ads. Sell some of your blog real estate once you get some traffic and take advantage of banner ads come back.

Now these are not by any means all-inclusive list and never intended to be but it provides you with options to earn from your blog without breaking TOS of AdSense. And it doesn’t really matter if you use AdSense or not – I still recommend you have a look at affiliate marketing as an addition or even replacement for AdSense. In my case it is far more profitable then using text ads and that is one of the reasons why I don’t implement them.