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Do these stories sound realistic? Maybe it is easier for a site targeted towards truly "non-geeks" to make money using AdSense?

apgwoz 19y ago
Yes. If you're the definitive source of something say, "switching mode power supplies," writing lots will instantly get you to the top of google for those words. Also to note is that the articles on the site probably address other parts, tools and other such things, so contextual advertising will potentially bring in some competitive ads, and thus pay out big, potentially even with little traffic.
- tim2 19y ago
  Yes I'd definitely write these up more as SEO success stories than adsense success stories.
  - apgwoz 19y ago
    But it's hard to imagine 75 year olds worrying about SEO. The people described in these stories seem to be just putting up websites to occupy time and have something to do. The little known fact about SEO is that if you have tons of great content, it doesn't matter what SEO you do, you'll get search traffic.
    - tim2 19y ago
      So success by accident. Another little known fact, google's rankings aren't perfect.
    - jamescoops 19y ago
      yeah but they are using blogs so virtually all the on page SEO is done automatically (title tag, H1 tag, URL etc) if they are creating good content they'll get links - hey presto
- xirium 19y ago
  That would explain the following quote: From the article: "I put in two, maybe three hours a day on the site, and the checks pour in," he says. "What's not to like?" My first reaction was that if you spend three hours per day and earn a huge amount of money then why not spend six hours per day and earn twice as much money? He cannot do that because he's maxed his niche. Any additional effort obtains diminishing returns and he cannot scale this success as a business with employees.
  - rob 19y ago
    "Any additional effort obtains diminishing returns and he cannot scale this success as a business with employees." Most webmasters who make money operate more than one website (usually by themselves) and if they need more work done, they simply outsource it by hiring writers (if it's a content site), having someone do some PHP work, etc. I guess this is why most webmasters make a lot more money than the average hacker here. It seems a lot of those on Hacker News fall into the "build one site, one unique idea, pitch it to an investor, form a company for this single website, receive a lot of money and try to monetize it later" idea and waste a lot of time on something that probably won't work, or, if it does, take an incredibly long time to see any returns. In contrast, most of the people making real money don't worry about forming a company (until they start to make enough money to justify it), do everything themselves, and don't try to build the next "killer web app" (most probably have limited programming knowledge) but instead create useful websites that they can monetize via AdSense and CPM networks right away while working on SEO and building content.
dpapathanasiou 19y ago
It sounds more like Google PR at work.
pchristensen 19y ago
I'm sure they're real. In addition to the headline stories about big $$$, there's this: Scott says she posted an unsold novel on Google and earns about $5 a month from the AdSense ads on the site. Al Needham, 74, who runs a site about the care of bees (bees-online.com) from his home near Boston, reaps about $250 a month. "Forget about getting rich overnight," says Alonzy. "It takes time to learn." -- There are bajillions of AdSense customers, so some of them are making bank and most are making squat. I don't know that it's easy to make money from an adsense site, but if I were doing it, I would NOT make a geek site. Geeks don't like to click (heck, I use AdBlockPlus so I don't even see them!).
webwright 19y ago
" 6% of Web Users Generate 50% of Ad Clicks" http://slashdot.org/articles/08/02/12/2037223.shtml http://slashdot.org/articles/08/02/12/2037223.shtml This is why we'd all utterly suck at going this route. :-)
- asmosoinio 19y ago
  A very interesting read, even though it was just a press release about the study, not the full results. ----- Full findings of the study, its methodology and results are being presented this afternoon at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Florida. ----
- zach 19y ago
  I'm starting a new lifestyle blog for people who click on ads.
  - xirium 19y ago
    Dogbert recommends golf because it is on the intersection of people with too much time, too much money and no taste. I'm sure that they'd click on your ads.

apgwoz 19y ago

Yes. If you're the definitive source of something say, "switching mode power supplies," writing lots will instantly get you to the top of google for those words. Also to note is that the articles on the site probably address other parts, tools and other such things, so contextual advertising will potentially bring in some competitive ads, and thus pay out big, potentially even with little traffic.

tim2 19y ago
Yes I'd definitely write these up more as SEO success stories than adsense success stories.
- apgwoz 19y ago
  But it's hard to imagine 75 year olds worrying about SEO. The people described in these stories seem to be just putting up websites to occupy time and have something to do. The little known fact about SEO is that if you have tons of great content, it doesn't matter what SEO you do, you'll get search traffic.
  - tim2 19y ago
    So success by accident. Another little known fact, google's rankings aren't perfect.
  - jamescoops 19y ago
    yeah but they are using blogs so virtually all the on page SEO is done automatically (title tag, H1 tag, URL etc) if they are creating good content they'll get links - hey presto
xirium 19y ago
That would explain the following quote: From the article: "I put in two, maybe three hours a day on the site, and the checks pour in," he says. "What's not to like?" My first reaction was that if you spend three hours per day and earn a huge amount of money then why not spend six hours per day and earn twice as much money? He cannot do that because he's maxed his niche. Any additional effort obtains diminishing returns and he cannot scale this success as a business with employees.
- rob 19y ago
  "Any additional effort obtains diminishing returns and he cannot scale this success as a business with employees." Most webmasters who make money operate more than one website (usually by themselves) and if they need more work done, they simply outsource it by hiring writers (if it's a content site), having someone do some PHP work, etc. I guess this is why most webmasters make a lot more money than the average hacker here. It seems a lot of those on Hacker News fall into the "build one site, one unique idea, pitch it to an investor, form a company for this single website, receive a lot of money and try to monetize it later" idea and waste a lot of time on something that probably won't work, or, if it does, take an incredibly long time to see any returns. In contrast, most of the people making real money don't worry about forming a company (until they start to make enough money to justify it), do everything themselves, and don't try to build the next "killer web app" (most probably have limited programming knowledge) but instead create useful websites that they can monetize via AdSense and CPM networks right away while working on SEO and building content.

dpapathanasiou 19y ago

It sounds more like Google PR at work.

pchristensen 19y ago

I'm sure they're real. In addition to the headline stories about big $$$, there's this: Scott says she posted an unsold novel on Google and earns about $5 a month from the AdSense ads on the site. Al Needham, 74, who runs a site about the care of bees (bees-online.com) from his home near Boston, reaps about $250 a month. "Forget about getting rich overnight," says Alonzy. "It takes time to learn." -- There are bajillions of AdSense customers, so some of them are making bank and most are making squat. I don't know that it's easy to make money from an adsense site, but if I were doing it, I would NOT make a geek site. Geeks don't like to click (heck, I use AdBlockPlus so I don't even see them!).

webwright 19y ago

" 6% of Web Users Generate 50% of Ad Clicks" http://slashdot.org/articles/08/02/12/2037223.shtml http://slashdot.org/articles/08/02/12/2037223.shtml This is why we'd all utterly suck at going this route. :-)

asmosoinio 19y ago
A very interesting read, even though it was just a press release about the study, not the full results. ----- Full findings of the study, its methodology and results are being presented this afternoon at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Florida. ----
zach 19y ago
I'm starting a new lifestyle blog for people who click on ads.
- xirium 19y ago
  Dogbert recommends golf because it is on the intersection of people with too much time, too much money and no taste. I'm sure that they'd click on your ads.