David Fiske Affiliate marketing & web development musings from Fiske Towers

A major question in developing a design is whether to include Google Adsense or not.

The reasons to include Google Adsense are simple. They can create an instant revenue stream for the site as well as update themselves automatically.

So why would I not want Google Adsense?
 
Firstly, the ads are not controlled by me. Is this a problem? No, not really. But it would be nice to deal with advertisers direct.

Another disadvantage is there could be sites like www.comparesatnav.co.uk advertising on Google Adsense. If there ads appear on my site, they will effectively steal my traffic and potential revenue. There are systems within Google Adsense that can help limit this but it is a consideration.

Google Adsense may stop at any time. It is a risk too with affiliate programs. Any of my advertisers could stop their affiliate program instantly. Therefore, this is not so much a major concern.

But despite this, there is one major disadvantage. Google Adsense pay out per click and not per sale. If I advertise a Acme Sat Nav system with 4 retailers selling it, a user may click on a Google Adsense advert for the Acme Sat Nav system. Why is this a problem?

Well, each retailer offered 2% commission on a £199 sat nav system (therefore, each sale is worth £3.98 to me). However, Google Adsense may only pay me less than £1 for a click. In this case, I would have earned £1 but lost the £3.98 sale - a cost to my profit of nearly £3!

However, this logic is flawed. If I get 100 clicks at £1, I make £100. If I get 100 clicks through to advertisers, using the logic from previous lectures, only 1% is statistically likely to buy so I would make £3.98.

So, with Google Adsense, I could make £103.98 in this example and without, I could make £3.98.

This therefore makes Google Adsense a no-brainer and I will definitely be using it on the site. Hence, I need to incorporate it properly in the planning stage.