AdSense vs Building a List?

BalingDazzer

BalingDazzer

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Oct 9, 2008
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Let's say you had a site with the potential to make $100+/day with AdSense or the potential to get me 100+ new subscribers per day, which option would you go with and why?

Personally I chose the AdSense route after trying to build an email list with Aweber once I realized that a list would mean constant work (finding new content, replying to subscribers, etc.) and that it would take quite a bit longer to see any profit from a list. Now I know that an email list is definitely a better option in the long run since you will eventually build a relationship with your subscribers and will be able to sell them a ton of more stuff, but at the same time I can't stand just losing out on that other income.

So, I'd appreciate your opinion on the matter and would like to know which option you would go with and why.

Oh, and I started this thread in the affiliate marketing forum since that's essentially what you'll be doing with your list.
 


I got 1 list that I've made 10k+ from CPA offers

Here's what I DON'T do.

- I never reply to subscribers
- I never try to constantly "interact" and "build a relationship" (WTF)
- Rarely boardcast them emails.

Here's what I do.

- Get organic traffic
- Connect them with good presell page and offers.
- Follow up with 20+ sequenced emails

If your Adcents sites is in a ever green market, go right ahead and have a popover optin and build that list, then throw some CPA Offers at them.


BalingDazzer said:
Let's say you had a site with the potential to make $100+/day with AdSense or the potential to get me 100+ new subscribers per day, which option would you go with and why?

Personally I chose the AdSense route after trying to build an email list with Aweber once I realized that a list would mean constant work (finding new content, replying to subscribers, etc.) and that it would take quite a bit longer to see any profit from a list. Now I know that an email list is definitely a better option in the long run since you will eventually build a relationship with your subscribers and will be able to sell them a ton of more stuff, but at the same time I can't stand just losing out on that other income.

So, I'd appreciate your opinion on the matter and would like to know which option you would go with and why.

Oh, and I started this thread in the affiliate marketing forum since that's essentially what you'll be doing with your list.
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More work? Yes but only initially. Like Amanda wrote, if you queue up your autoresponders it's basically set and forget. Replying to emails is optional (but can increase sales).

Also, there's no reason why you can't make money from day 1 by making them an offer right off the bat.

Finally, if your autoresponder is like a soap opera full of cliffhangers and your product recommendations tie in nicely with your content, you should put that $100/day Adsense money to shame.
 
I wrote about this on my blog awhile ago. Adsense is a site killer as far as recurring traffic goes. If you are looking to truly build a strong business, you need to be building list and pushing the hell out of it. Don't sell in every email, build trust and build more sites similar to the one that you are emailing. Then, you can recommend them to your other sites, grab their email on that site and know you can sell them something else. One small niche usually has a huge demographic, so take advantage of that demographic and sell more then that.

That is why you need to build list and not use Adsense. Sure, you can make a quick buck and even build a nice, steady income monthly, but you will never grow your business. Become the one that people click on, not just the ad server so other people can make the real money.

As far as what Amanda said, that is pretty much dead on. I like to build trust in my emails by not overselling and doing soft sells to other websites I own, and building trust is a big key for me. However, i don't reply to any emails anyone ever sends. Never get personally involved.
 
amanda11, how long did it take you to start seeing a profit from your list? How long did it take to reach that 10K? Thanks.

megatabbers, so basically the only real work involved is in setting up the followup emails, right? After that everything is pretty much automated except for the split testing for conversions.

defelice, because that would affect my AdSense CTR.

moratraffic, the site I'm talking about doesn't get recurring traffic. Almost all the traffic comes from the search engines and I don't actually use my name on it anywhere. So would you recommend I just stick the signup form on my homepage which gets the most traffic, or create a separate page on my site (or even another site completely).

Thanks for all your tips!
 
Why not send your list to content pages with AdSense on them, through mailings? This way you can get multiple clicks from the same person over time. AdSense doesn't have to be on your main site, but could be on another relevant site of yours.

There is the customer service issue of having a list, and some people don't seem able to work out how to unsubscribe themselves and just reply to you. It's best to take care of those immediately to avoid problems. Using a noreply@ address is a no no in Aweber's eyes, with good reason.

I was really reluctant to do it at the start, but having an unsubscribe link at the top of the email hugely reduced people pushing the 'spam' button, and customer support issues. You lose more people, but it's probably best they get off your list anyway.

Something like this at the start:

You are receiving this email as a member/customer/visitor of YourSite.com. To remove yourself from our list, or to change your email address, click here.

Using a sign up form on every page is good, or a floating pop up can work better.

If you don't have to offer customer support, there's no reason for you to reply. If they complain about emailings or whatever, just delete them from the list. Maybe have an autoresponse message saying "Thank you for getting in touch. However due to the amount of emails we receive we can't reply personally to them all. If you've asked to be taken off our list...etc."

It's more work, but exclusive videos/audios/downloads sent by autoresponder can help them get more attached to your site and mailings. Those are good incentives for them to sign up too. Also maybe instead of 'subscribers' call them 'members', and by giving their details they get access to a private area of the site which is another benefit to them and will create more repeat visits.
 
As Amanda said, bank off both! Adsense your site (for now), but give them a pop-up to build your list for the future. You will definitely bank harder from the list than the adsense in the long run.
 
Go for an email list .

Would you rather make 100$/day or 100 subscribers a day valued at 1$/month per subscriber . This means in a bother you'll have 3k subsribers or 3k$/usd with 3k subsrcibers you can make 3k$ usd the following month and another 3k subscribers and it just keeps growing and growing .
 
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