Can you make a lot of money with AdSense on your blog? Well, like most things in life, that depends. I’m not going to give you any silly unrealistic happy-talk about it, but yeah, you can make decent money with AdSense on a blog–if you choose your niche wisely and write great, informative content.
Case Study: Nursingschoolprograms.com
A blog consulting client of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous) had done some research into creating a blog to make money from ads. She knows an awful lot about what it takes to get into nursing school (nursing is a very highly in-demand field, so competition is tough). The result is Nursing School Programs. And yes, it’s making money. Not big money, yet, but it’s still new, so give it time. But way more than most new ad-supported blogs make.
Choosing a Profitable Niche
My client knew that nursing was in demand. I did some keyword research which showed that should she get some decent traffic, she could make more than decent coin from her blog. We discussed some other topics as well, but nursing was the strongest by far. Almost any traffic at all would pay, because it would be so highly targeted. Practically nobody other than someone looking into a nursing degree would ever visit the site.
For the Millionth Time: Quality, Original Content Rules
When people want an ad-driven blog, often they make the mistake of picking topics about which they know nothing purely for their cost-per-click values. The problem is that it’s difficult get good traffic by any means other than knowing your subject and writing useful, authoritative, and unique content. My client knows nursing schools and all kinds of tips and tricks to get into the good ones, so it was a perfect fit. Everything on that site is original material written by her. And it’s highly informative, genuinely useful content for a person looking to get into nursing school.
When is a Blog not a Blog?
When you do what we did with it, that’s when! The site is very un-blog-like. Why? Three words: know your audience. In other words, design for your audience. We were targeting a less tech-savvy demographic, but most importantly, we understood why people would visit the site and what their needs were. The blog format would get in the way, really. We used WordPress as a light CMS in this case (Content Management System). Nearly anything which would identify the site as a blog was removed from the design. The design itself is my customization of a very highly AdSense-optimized theme. Some quality stock photography in the header makes it look professional and trustworthy.
Take-aways for You
- Pick a niche about which you’re knowledgeable and which can pay well.
- Know your audience and design your site and create your content for them.
- Create original, informative, and useful content.