I implemented Adsense 1,5 year ago on my 2 sites that already exist for years. As of that moment I have developed 4 new sites, knowing I was going to put Adsense on them. My aim is to create a new site every season. The topics are always completely different (for example technology-, entertainment- or travel-related) and I never consider in advance how much the ads are going to pay. That simply doesn't work for me. My target is always to create content about things I like. And that means not a general subject but a specialist niche. So for example: not travel in Europe (sorry EFV) but castles in Bavaria. So for me, it's not a matter of starting all over again, I am adding sites every now and then. I am not sure what subject I will choose for site #7. But I was thinking of making a site that gives a description and pictures of some widget I designed when I was a student. Itīs the kind of widget that is not likely to be sold or monetized, so Adsense might have trouble to find targeted ads. But I got so much original material about this widget, and I think my widget is so good that I just need to publish it. Although I canīt imagine it will make me good cash, the online marketing world never stops to amaze me!

[edited by: humblebeginnings at 9:14 pm (utc) on July 25, 2006]

Forgetting for one moment your current site, have you considered any other subject(s) and researched them to ascertain whether they would possibly earn a good AdSense income for your country.

No, because that sounds too much like working for a living. :-)

One site I have considered doing is a site about what to do with the kids during the long summer holidays. My kids have just broken up, and we have heard the "I'm bored" complaints already and it's only week 1 :(

The idea would be to cover just the local area and have a fair amount of input and interaction from local parents / kids to suggest ideas etc.

Would that increase my Adsense income - I really doubt it, but I think the site would be popular from the information point of view.

Possibly about warm fuzzies, pets or kids or home cooking . :)

Ann

david: your kids broken up? what does that mean? like they broke up with their boyfriends/girlfriends?

My kids have just broken up, and we have heard the "I'm bored" complaints already and it's only week 1 :(

To all north americans - don't worry, nothing bad happened to his kids. In the UK "to break up" means to finish school.

Sorry - forgot the term wasn't universal. :(

Optirex,
for a site like you described it usually is not too difficult to get good traffic. But keep in mind that your audience wants to have information in the first place.
Make it information centric (removing some ads) so that users see a real value in it.
Write some articles about your topic (music) and submit to article directories to get some backlinks and earn a little reputation.
Then send out press releases and maybe also contact the local papers about the "guy who summarizes our local music scene".
When you have established good traffic then you can also start adding more ads.
All in all, don't forget the user of your site.

One site I have considered doing is a site about what to do with the kids during the long summer holidays. My kids have just broken up, and we have heard the "I'm bored" complaints already and it's only week 1

I was chatting a couple of weeks ago with someone who's just launched such a site, I can pm you the URL if you're interested.

I think if I had to go from scrath I might target a Home & Garden type topic.

d

social networking site. i am too old (24) and lazy to write articles anymore.

For a topic like music it can be easier if you are linked to an existing channel such as a magazine or association. I have found that the pressure of printed magazine deadlines is a great driver for keeping content and listings flowing from bands and promoters.

Back to the topic, I would probably start a photo archive site based on one of my other interests. I have seen a very nice gap but really don't have the time to research the content and take some photos, not while I still need a day job anyway.

Dating.

When I first put adsense on my site, all I had were dating ads. I thought: "That's where the money is, I should make a dating site". Shortly after, Markus posted his million in three months thread. LOL.

It's too much work and I'm lazy so I'll stick to my penny-earner. :-)

But keep in mind that your audience wants to have information in the first place.

I agree however when bands, organisers and venue owners cannot even be bothered to submit information even when it's been requested face to face, then it becomes more than a labour of love, it becomes downright hard work, difficult and nigh impossible.

Even though we have featured venues they can't even be bothered to update us with their gig calender, in fact, many of them don't even bother doing it in their venues until a few days before!

Make it information centric (removing some ads) so that users see a real value in it.

My standard layout, 1 x AdLink, 1 x Leaderboard, anything less and there would be nothing. The ads are great I have to say and I'm always writing down urls to check out myself.

Then send out press releases and maybe also contact the local papers about the "guy who summarizes our local music scene".

All the local papers are "on board", they love us since it creates stuff for them too.

I feel that the real problem is that since I live in a large country area that, especially the venue owners, they are not really interested in the music scene since it's a "weekend thing" in the local pub just to keep the kids and "whacky" adults entertained.

Maybe if they were in a more populated area where there were much more competition for the spending Dollars then they would be more business orientated?

I can tell you, it's very frustrating when doing stuff like this for free:-(

Ok, seems like you have done everything right so far.
What about implementing an area for onlineshopping like CDs of the groups you feature and books about the scene. it is not much work if done with eg. amazon and brings in the occasional penny as well.

totally agree with onlineleben

Make sites for user not for adsense. u can use ads but once let the site come up with the results and let the user come down to the site.
then run ads which wud give more $$$$$$

I am starting to create a few topical networks.

One is molecular biology (lots of ads, well-targetted), but getting traffic is difficult.

Another is free computer graphics (ads aren't that well targetted) which is mostly for fun. I've got avatars, background gifs and flood-fills for graphic applications, PM if you're interested in the URL.

Third, from scratch, is glassblowing information. But I don't know how that's going to go.

Some things work, some don't, but you don't know unless you try.

I would probably start a new site about subjects already covered by my current site!

My current site has a variety of good subjects, so I could section them into single sites and expand those topics.

Ok, seems like you have done everything right so far.

Thanks for the approval however I "think" I do know what I am doing:-))

onlineshopping like CDs of the groups you feature

You reckon these bands have cds?...Well, they're mostly not exactly household names, enthusiastic talented amateurs I'd call them. Interestingly it's much easier getting information from the amateurs rather than the named artists and it's pointless paraphrasing their existing web sites.

Sure they'll do personal interviews, fancy doing a 200 mile roundtrip to justify a few page views per month?

Yikes, I'm talking myself out of it now.

The good thing is that one of the bands we have personally been promoting and financing has been selected for a special showcase gig in London in September which is sponsored by some of the biggest names in the industry.

Hindsight is 20/20. If my foresight had been as good I would have not wasted time building a few of the sites that I have that, at the time, I thought were grand ideas but have ended up costing me the lying share of my bandwith, tremendous amounts of time, and do not earn very much. I would have spent the time building sites that I now know earn very well. "On which topics?" Don't be silly... I'm not telling! :p

Mamma always said I never liked to share my toys. :)

I've been making a half decent earning for the past year or so with my site. Enough to pay for my rent, and part of my monthly bills, whilst working full time on another site in the same capacity (SEM/Development).

Thanks to Google's ongoing problems with Supplementals, it has never reached its full potential I feel, so I started work on another site, as an experiment I guess, different in all aspects, but using the knowledge I'd garnered throughout the lifecycle of the first site.

Well, whatd'ya know! After 7 weeks, this new site in a fairly competitive sector escaped the sandbox (so far), ranks higher, pulls in more traffic and has a fairly good CTR, considering the market.

Which, of course, leaves me in a quandry. Of course, I'm short of time and effort, but it is tempting to chase after the 'easier' cash made on the new site rather than spending time branding and marketing the old faithful.

I guess, if I can cope with the slightly lower levels of sleep, I may just be able to do both, and hold down a full time job at the same time.

Whoever said 'easy money can be made on the web', was using sarcasm (or a damn good liar). Shame I didn't realise it at the time!

Well, if I had to start over, my sites still wouldn't be moneymakers. :)

I probably would have built a site about my travels in Russia.

Then I would have built a couple sites on manners and common sense, which seem to be kind of lacking nowadays.

And I could build a couple sites on crafts and crocheting, and how to do spring cleaning.

But since adsense is taking a liking for products and services, it wouldn't make much sense to build them now, and they'd wind up be low earners just like my historical sites.

My site is a local news website for my hometown. Online for 5 years now, we get 6,000 uniques a day and it's paying nicely.

We have daily news pages and pages with silliness likea bikini babe, cartoons and funny photos.

I just wonder where I would be if I had put the same effort into a "national" website instead of a "local" website.

rickigou-
What's the population of your town?