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I've already published this article - well, not exactly this article since I had to do a lot of rewriting if I wanted to get out value out of putting my own content on my own site. But this whole Death of AdSense thing has been a lot of fun. It's Dead, it's Alive, it's dead, it's alive. Is it dead? Nah. Is it alive? Nah. It isn't even new. Serious, heavy duty big time players (generally NOT Internet Marketing Gurus), have always said that while AdSense may be a business for Google, it isn't a real business for most publishers. Look at how little control a MFA publisher has over ANYTHING. What kind of busness is that? This is the kind of thing you need to think about. You need to understand the viewpoints of the different parties involved. A couple years ago you could throw up junk sites and collect a LOT of money from Google every month. It's still possible to make a reasonable amount using AdSense, but for it to be a stable business you can count on, you have to already be in the position of having established high traffic sites and/or have access to a serious resources - and usually most people who trying out AdSense don't.
Unfair, depressing, but that's the reality. For most (and I really think we're talking about maybe 95 to 99% of the AdSense site builders), it's down to hoping for pennies and even that's getting harder to do.
Oh yes, let's build those famous "authority sites." Right. Gonna use PLR content? You think that'll work? I doubt it but try it and see. In theory, authority sites have both authoritative, expert content and links from other authority sites. We all know that this is not 100% true. Some high PR sites, supposedly Authorities, aren't. But we don't know what might happen to them in the next dance anyway.
AdSense content ads may still pay decently in competitive markets, though not at the levels of a year or so ago. There the problem is that competitive markets are, by definition, real hard to get ranking in and traffic for. No doubt, it is possible, but it's an awful lot of work.
Let's be clear here. MFA publishers don't do the work. Hoping for quick bucks, we slap up a site and go on to the next. Grab a template, stuff in a load of crummy PLR or reprint articles and HOPE for a buck or 50 cents a day. This is crazy, right?
Now how about the famous Click Per Action (CPA) AKA lead generation. Now this has always paid better than AdSense overall. In some markets a qualified lead may be worth as much as $100 (really). Generally those are going to be very competitive markets. But those markets are not going away. If you learn to drive traffic and convert it, you can establish a pretty stable, predictable, long-term business. As long as you can get the traffic.
Why hasn't everyone been doing it? Because it's not all that easy. Some serious work is involved and some risk.
PPC. AdWords. Now that can be a good way to get traffic. It can also be a good way to go broke fast. It's not a game for the newbie. To do PPC successfully you have absolutely got to put in some serious study. And you need to track what's going on very closely. Plus there a few complications these days involving AdWords landing page quality and keyword prices.
Now let's look at this. Say I pull off a real monster viral deal and collect more than 30,000 marketers. And then, I tell them about CPA - and places that pay me a commission on sign up and a small percentage of the business those new affiliates bring in. Long term residual income, continuity. Serious stuff. Month after month there's a little bit coming in from the efforts of each of those - what? - 1000, 8000, 12000 people? More? You there, please bring me one more of those funky drinks with the umbrella. Ah, the sun is strong, the beach is beautiful and the sound of waves rolling in reminds me of my bank acount.
Could that be worth 50 cents each? I suspect so. And soon, there's going to be one or more dyn-o-mite products with major price tags, too.
I've got to admit, I'm awed and not a little jealous. We're talking genuine genius stuff here. You see, it doesn't matter at all if AdSense is dead or not. Discovering - or being shown - a new path can be worth a fortune to those who didn't have a clue. If they're willing to do the learning and then do the work to make it happen. Probably most won't. It is a lot of work. But some will and they should do very well.
In one sense, Ad Sense has always been dead. Throwing away your traffic for pennies. And it's a lot of work to get ANY traffic.
But for most, CPA is likely to be a dangerous, potentially ruinous game. It sounds terrific, but nobody's telling you how to get those PPC costs for your landing pages down from maybe 5 or 10 bucks per click. Hey, wake up, remember the Google slap, landing page quality measures, etc.
There are some brilliant, knowledgeable, capable people running around loose who do give out valuable information. They aren't stupid. That means they do it for a reason. You can use that information to improve what you do, but to understand the bigger picture you'll need to get a handle on their goals too. You have to understand not only what you're doing and why but what they're doing and why. Because that's where the next step up is.
You need to stop believing everything that sounds terrific even if more or less reflects your own experience. Painful, but you have to use your head and actually think.
Sometimes internet marketing looks a zillion lemmings running blindly after the latest and greatest. We're all carzy to find the "ANSWER" that will make us rich - by tonight. No way, it ain't gonna happen. That magic bullet doesn't exist. Stop wasting time and money.
Try something straightforward. Create a workable plan - one you can actually carry out. MFA, affiliate sales, creating your own product, CPA (if you can do the PPC or are willing to learn). Any one could make you money. But only if you stop blowing your time and energy looking for the answer and the easy money. You really already know that there is NO easy money. It's all either work (for most of us) or sheer bloody genius combined with an insane amount of luck (for the very very few - and they probably did some very hard work before that genius idea and that "luck" showed up).
Well, maybe I've managed to offend some of the folks pulling your chain to suck a couple more nickels out of you. If not, maybe in my next article. But you - you have got to do some very serious work on your BS detector. You need to understand how you are being done to and why. It's not that anything horrible is going on. You really are getting extremely valuable information. Still, if you want to get serious about this on line craziness, you have to evaluate and understand. Accepting it as if Moses were dumping one of those stone tablets on you is just more of the same old tired search for magic.
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If AdSense is Dead 
