Websites Without Products

by Darren McLaughlin

More and more complaints are coming in daily about Adsense earnings being down, and it’s not really that big of a surprise. The overall economy is hurting, so there’s a lot less fat in advertising programs. The only companies that can afford to advertise these days are ones with a positive conversion rate. If they can’t make money buying ads, why do it?

Companies that make money online will continue advertising. Other companies who are losing offline will bring more and more cash to the web. But if your traffic doesn’t convert for someone, you can’t expect to get much cash in return for it.

If you want to earn more online than through Adsense alone you need to either sell something directly or sell traffic from pages that sell things. Information-only websites are bound to see a decline in revenues during a tight market. Less companies are interested in “branding” only when ad budgets get tight.

2009 should be a huge year for marketers online. The depression of the ad market will reduce a lot of competition in many sectors. A bunch of bloggers in each niche will be forced to retire. That will leave more money for the operators who know how to make cash. Exploiting niches should be easy for companies who have the money to operate. If you’re already operating at a profit, then it should become easier as ad prices reduce.

Now you can buy traffic cheaper, even if you’re selling it cheaper. Plus it should be easier to get traffic because many borderline companies won’t be able to survive on the new economics.

Websites are experiencing what most other companies are: trim the fat and improve system efficiencies and business should remain robust.

Tags: Google Adsense

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