October 9th, 2006
Last weekend I have spent some time analyzing my online earnings of the recent months. I am not quite happy with the amounts earned, but I am satisfied that they are growing from month to month. Gradually, but they go higher and higher.
But the greatest disappointment of my analysis was the sources of my online income.
One of my rules is not to put all eggs into one basket. So, I run a few websites, a few websites in various industries, websites with forums, blogs, etc. and generate income from a few sources:
- Google AdSense/ Chitika/ AdBrite (CPC)
- ClickBank (digital products)
- ValueClick (CPM)
- Text-link-ads (text link sales) (aff)
- CJ/ AzoogleAds (CPA)
- Amazon affiliate stores
- Some indie programs
But the result of my research shows that I make 90% income off AdSense. All other sources are negligible. In fact, they are next to nothing. All my online projects are completely dependent on AdSense.
I posted a question on a few webmaster forums with the details of my research.
Those who joined the discussion shared the same stats:
CPA does not,
Amazon sucks,
CPM rates decrease,
ClickBank – are they in business yet,
CPC is the only source of income worth mentioning.
Summary: I have an unpleasant feeling – Google AdSense can ban me at any time due to many reasons incl. the courtesy of the competitors. All attempts to diversify the online income have failed. And it looks that it is common with most other website owners.
Does it mean that affiliate marketing is currently 100% cost-per-click dependent (YPN/ AdSense)? It looks like it is. If you check the post on the largest website publisher money makers – they refer to Google AdSense. There are a few exceptions, but only a few.
[tags]online earnings, online income, adsense, chitika, azoogleads, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, make money online, home based job, earn your living online[/tags]