News Related AdSense Site – First Month = One Hundred Dollars

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Oct 17

News Related AdSense Site – First Month = One Hundred Dollars

In August I posted about using certain recent news stories to guide your AdSense site creations: How The News Can Help Guide Your Niche Sites. Around the time of that post I registered the domain GovernmentApplianceRebates.com from a NPR radio report talking about a new Government appliance rebate program that was going into effect in the late fall.

I sat on my hands until about a month ago when I setup the AdSense site. I actually outsourced the content writing with someone I found on Craigslist. Other than getting the site indexed by Google I did nothing. No article marketing, no back linking, nothing!

I decided to use that same article writer for another niche AdSense site but I wanted to check his work fist. I checked the blog content on Copyscape © and was very disappointed to discover every article was stolen word for word from Government sites. The site has absolutely no unique content! Needless to say I won’t be using this author again but things are actually going very well.

One Site – One Month – One Hundred Dollars
I’m pretty impressed after just 30 days with a small blog and no unique content, no marketing effort and zero backlinks. The blog actually generated $110.77 in AdSense revenue. Not bad for a single AdSense site that just started with no time invested.

image: AdSense news related niche site results screen print

In the comments section of How The News Can Help Guide Your Niche Sites I said “I fully expect the search traffic to dry up on most breaking news type domains“. I still believe this so it’s important to generate as much revenue as fast as possible from these recent news related niche sites. I think I have four months or more left on GovernmentApplianceRebates.com before traffic begins to drop off with a big surge coming up when the mainstream media starts reporting on the rebate program. By the end of it’s short life span I fully expect to profit between $500 and $1,000 or more for this single site.

Like I said, I have done nothing to promote most of my niche sites. I’m working with an article marketing membership site on the recommendation of my friend Peter Lee on other niche blogs and I’m very impressed so far. I’ll be posting a review on that soon but I think it’s time to start a decent article marketing campaign on GovernmentApplianceRebates.com and my other niche blogs.

A note on keywords. I enrolled myself in The Keyword Academy about six weeks ago. I am learning a lot about keyword research. This may be one of the best investments I’ve made in a while. Again, more on that in a future post but I want to point out that I have not researched keywords for niche sites from breaking news stories. There’s simply no way to research the keywords because no one is searching for the keyword phrases that early in the game and that is when you want your site live with content and indexed by Google – before the news is widespread. Keyword terms are more or less hit or miss at this point. About the best you can do is see how competitive certain keyword phrases already are. If the news is about a niche already dominated by high ranking sites it’s probably one to pass on and find something a little more realistic. An example of this is the United State’s national health care debate. My two sites National Healthcare Facts and Universal Healthcare Facts are doing very poorly. The niche is too competitive for short term niche sites. My only hope for those sites are to find better long-tail keyword phrases to bring in a little traffic or to convert them to long term niche blogs that are updated regularly.

There you have it, the potential is huge when creating news-related AdSense sites when planned right and acted on quickly. I will continue to build these sites and blogs trying different things and report my test results back to you. Be sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss a thing. I’m in this to make money and I’m bringing you with me.

FTC Disclaimer: I may profit from this post (hopefully) if I’m doing things right. I have two affiliate links [The Keyword Academy and The Free Traffic System] embedded in the post above and I recommend you will check them out. Why? Because I actually promote what I use and like. See why you can trust my recommendations.

About the author

Tee Riddle wrote 33 articles on this blog.

Tee Riddle is a social media enthusiast and co-founder of a weekly Twitter chat, dubbed #gardenchat. He has many hobbies and also blogs about vegetable gardening at Veggie Gardener.

Related posts:

  1. Five Quick And Easy Steps To A One Page AdSense Site
  2. How The News Can Help Guide Your Niche Sites
  3. The Keyword Academy – My Highest Recommendation
  4. Internet Marketing At It’s Best – Using Videos For Niche Site Product
  5. Ten Reasons To Start A Paid Membership Site
  • First of all congratulations on your adsense success , thats a damn very good revenue for a new blog ,and a very clever thinking of getting that domain ;)
    i must say very smart idea
    .-= Ajinkya´s last blog ..New Year 2010 funny trick =-.
  • oh thats really awesome wow what a first month earning good post man really liked it as i like this site i just joined it and comment to your post. i hope i will carry on tn the future as well thanks!
  • I hope you will too Zubair. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Website Magazine Is Free For Many Subscribers =-.
  • If you all are making $30-$100 a month with zero promotion, zero effort, then I am admittedly doing something wrong with my efforts. I have put forth a lot of effort and have yet to make more than $50 a month with full promotion. Hell, my first year I didn't even make $100. Whats the real secret. What am I missing?
  • I wouldn't say "zero promotion and zero effort". Everything together takes up about twenty five hours a day from me and I've been known to break into a sweat at the keyboard ;)
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Website Magazine Is Free For Many Subscribers =-.
  • I have a few sites that were set up in the same fashion. Minus hiring a writer, I used PLr articles instead and an RSS feeder on another one.

    Both sites make a steady $30-$50 per month with zero promotion - just a simple, niched-out first page ranking for a few long tails.
    .-= Elijah´s last blog ..Fact: Hip Hop Improves Copywriting Skills =-.
  • Are you getting Google traffic with the PLR content Elijah? I'm curious about the duplicate content issue. Feel free to leave the links if you're not worried about the keywords being picked up be someone.
  • That is an inspirational story. I'm checking the keyword analysis tool. I need to learn keyword research technique as my blog failed to perform according to expectation.
    .-= Ricky ´s last blog ..New Wordpress Theme-Right Sidebar With 3 Column Footer =-.
  • Hi Ricky, knowing how to research is the key. I'm learning from The Keyword Academy. Right now you can test drive it for a dollar with their 30 day trial. That's what I did but it's too valuable right now to cancel.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Extreme Ezine – Social Edition | Nov’09 =-.
  • Brian, actually I think I got to number 2 in such short time (is 2 months short?) because I believe the competition either is not doing any seo or they are not aware that this particular phrase is a hot one.

    Can you please tell me more about what you know about Micro Niche Finder? I actually am sharing one bought by a friend and I planned to buy one as soon as I am able. I only am after its SOC feature, nothing more. If it's not good, which tool should I buy? Traffic Travis? Market Samurai? SEO Elite? What are you using right now?

    Sorry for asking too many questions, but I only throw these questions to people I can trust. There are reviews out there, but I have a feeling they are all biased in that they are affiliates of one or the other.
    .-= James Moralde´s last blog ..My Western Digital External USB Hard Drive =-.
  • That's one of the biggest factors I'm learning about James, the competition. Competition, especially on a set and forget it niche site, should be considered before doing anything.

    I've never used Micro Niche Finder. Back in May I wrote a post on free Micro Niche Finder videos.

    I decided against it mostly from the advice of my friend Yan from Blogging Tips for Beginners and at this point I'm pretty much doing things by hand. I'm having no trouble finding niches with potential.

    Truthfully, I would recommend trying The Keyword Academy (that's my affiliate link). I believe they are still offering a one month trial for $1 but I'm not positive.

    I'm getting ready to write a review on it but so far The Keyword Academy is one of the best things I've invested in for a very long time. Without it, I still wouldn't have made a dime yet. It's not a program of software but a course that teaches you things like keyword research and the competition we were just talking about. It's a site I am on every single day right now trying to learn everything I can.

    I'm also using Niche AdSense Themes For WordPress (my affiliate link again) and I really like it. I am testing a free WP theme AdsMinded Wordpress Adsense Theme that seems to be performing very well. The only drawback is it take a lot more setup compared to Niche AdSense Themes but so far I'm very impressed.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them? =-.
  • i am amazed how you made this income with the site having zero backlinks.your work is appreciable
    .-= Tekshek´s last blog ..Touch Screen Comparison: Capacitive Vs Resistive =-.
  • I am too Tekshek, and now that I'm working on the backlinks I worry I will blow it or something. I'll just take it slow for now.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them? =-.
  • Hi Moralde, Seems like I have more friends than I realized into AdSense, some in a very big way. Number two is great. You may be able to get to number one on longer tali keyword phrases.

    I almost bought micro niche finder but a friend advised against it. I'm using other things right now getting my system streamlined.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them? =-.
  • I have always been interested in any blog article about 'adsense'. I have ventured into micro niche adsense site work last August and have found some SEO and Adsense principles I've learned to be working. I have written about my experience in my blog sometime ago, especially about the need for backlinking in order to get into the first page of google. After 2 months, my first adsense micro niche site is up at #2. I guess it's now past the unstable google dance period, although it still is at its mercy should the competitors also rev up their seo work.

    Presently I'm relying on some tools like traffic travis, spyfu, and micro niche finder for my research tools.
    .-= James Moralde´s last blog ..My Western Digital External USB Hard Drive =-.
  • Hey Brian,

    Just asking, but how come you have so many links with lines going through them? I pretty much figure I might know why the ones with Tiny URL have lines, but the one for Copyscape also has a line through it.
    .-= Mitch´s last blog ..10 Things Not To Do On Twitter =-.
  • That's exactly right, they are links with the no-follow tag. I no-follow tracking links, ads, affiliate links and huge sites that don't need or care about this blog.

    The mystery is why you can see the lines. I use a cool Fire Fox plugin called SeoQuake. I have SeoQuake set to line-out every no-follow link on whatever page I am on so I can tell with just a glance. But that's MY browser, I have no idea why you can see the lines through the links. Like Charlie Harper once said, "We have a real mystery on our hands". I'll check it out :)
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them? =-.
  • Ok, I turned off SEOBook toolbar & Quirk Search....That should mean that nofollow links look just like all others - EXCEPT on your blog Brian.

    Even with both toolbars off, I still get a line through NoFollow links here. I assumed it was a plug in on your blog.

    I went to other WP blogs & their nofollow links do NOT have lines.

    Hmmm, Maybe you have been inflicted with the Strike Through Virus...
    The drama continues.
    .-= Sheryl @Internet Marketers Guild´s last blog ..Multi Tabbed Search Engine Page =-.
  • I have SEO Quake also, but I don't have it on right now so you're right, I shouldn't be able to see any of those lines. That is weird, but at least now we know. :-)
    .-= Mitch´s last blog ..Fake Commenter Names =-.
  • Thanks guys, I got it fixed now. I had to go into my last several post and remove the strike-through tag by hand. I'll check it on my next post. I'll also keep that turned off when writing blog posts.

    Speaking of viruses, if anyone gets an email from Facebook saying a friend sent you a message be careful clicking the link. I just got one from another friend of mine and his computer is infected with something. Luckily my Norton 360 caught it before the website could infect my system. BTW, speak of the devil, it was a Blogspot blog.

    The link read, "Saw thatt videeo yesterrday... Why did you do thaat?", misspellings and all.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Blog Directories – Can We Live Without Them? =-.
  • I would say they are NoFollow links if they have a line through them.

    At least that is what it looks like with my Quick Search Status.

    Then again maybe Brian did it just so we would have to ask. His sneaky way of getting comments. ;)
    .-= Sheryl @Internet Marketers Guild´s last blog ..Commenting on Do Follow Blogs - NoFollow =-.
  • Hi Brian,
    Thanks for the reminder that there are other search engines besides Google. It seems easy to forget. :)
    It's interesting that you do so well in Yahoo, and that that brings in traffic. Which also makes me wonder, with Bing taking over Yahoo, when Yahoo will disappear. Probably not anytime soon.
    By the way, does the headline on the newspaper in your article picture say "CheapAzz"... What is Cheap Azz?
    Steve, the googling trade show guru
    .-= Steve | Trade Show Guru´s last blog ..Are Trade Shows Obsolete? =-.
  • That's pretty observant Steve. That graphic was taken from a site I started in 2004. CheapAzz was my very first site on my own domain. It was CheapAzz.net and I just let it go a couple months ago. See:

    All Things Must Come To An End – It Is A Sad Day For My Domain Portfolio – This Must Be The Longest Blog Post Title Ever – Seriously It Is

    I'm still working on Google and I'm going to let Sheryl Loch help me with Bing.
  • hey Brian,
    That is IMPRESSIVE. I'm also surprised that it worked with "duplicate content" that conventional wisdom says is ignored. Actually, I'm even more surprised because I would think the government articles would way outrank you and people would click on them... it is truly surprising.
    BTW, did you pay the craigslist clown?
    ~ Steve, the trade show guru
    .-= Steve | Trade Show Guru´s last blog ..Are Trade Shows Obsolete? =-.
  • Hi Steve, I don't know why the Govt. sites aren't showing up higher in the search results. I don't want to give too much away but I will say I get more traffic from Yahoo than Google right now. I'm #5 in Google with my primary keyword phrase and #1 in Yahoo. I'm pretty confident that I can bring that Google position up a few spots with some article marketing and back links.
  • I am really shocked by the success of this, but very happy for you. Normally a duplicate content site does not perform well. Of course, because this is a new phrase (and thus not much competition), you can dominate the niche. Well done. I just wanted to point out that the extension doesn't actually matter to search engine performance (unless it's a ccTLD or .info). If you can only get the .net or .org, it's just as good for search engine performance.
    .-= Luke@Earn Extra Money´s last blog ..Hanging Christmas Lights =-.
  • I'm just as surprised Luke, I was very disappointed until I checked the revenue. Even so, I wouldn't recommend duplicate content to anyone and will always use original content in the future. If it had been taken from anywhere but Government sites I may have been held liable. I'll be on top of outsourced content in the future.

    Almost all of my domains are .com but like you said it may not matter. Personally, I'm sticking to a .com if I can get a decent one.

    I have been considering a test with parallel sites (not duplicate) using both a registered domain and a blogger site. I'd be interested to know if Blogspot's quick indexing earns better AdSense revenue.
  • James@Web Solutions
    Hi,

    It is not good, but it is great. I do run ads over several of my blogs and website. Few of the websites get above $100 a month but some of them are really down to $50. Though I put some effort to raise it up but I am not getting as much as I think to get over. However, I feel I need to do something as of your website. Hopefully, it will work.

    - J.
  • Well, you corrected me my friend :)
    And oh Brian is getting a great comment to this post!
    .-= Hesham´s last blog ..What is the best tool for website value calculation, estimations and information? =-.
  • Thanks James, that's nice to know. I really wasn't sure how it compared to other AdSense sites since most don't disclose income amounts.

    I wouldn't either if I wasn't trying to help my subscribers and visitors make money online.

    You didn't add your site URL. Feel free to come back and add it, this is a friendly do-follow site.
  • That's bloody marvelous Brian. All I need to do now is try and work out which keywords would be best for my Top Sexual Aids blog. Damn, as if I had any free time to do that sort of thing.
    .-= Sire´s last blog ..A Poem For Halloween The Night Of Frights =-.
  • No worries mate (sorry, I couldn't resist lol), I may just start a keyword research service once I learn everything from the academy. I might give EE friends a special discount ;)
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Cleaning Up Our Online Act | FTC’s Advertising Guidelines =-.
  • Great post Brian. This absolutely works great. I actually have one article (not even on a blog) that has brought me in MANY thousands of dollars from Adsense over the last 3 years. I really don't want to mention what the article is about for obvious competition reasons, but is was something that was really big in the news a few years ago, so I paid someone $10 to write an article for me and within a week it was #1 in Google for a major keyword phrase on the subject.
    .-= Doug Dillard´s last blog ..Would Love Your Vote for the “Rookie Blogger of the Year” Award =-.
  • Wow Doug, I'm dieing to know that article but I totally understand you keeping it safe. I am curious where we can have articles, other than out own sites, where we get AdSense revenue? It's very nice to hear that some news related content will continue to pay for years.
  • Brian, the article is on one of my websites.
    .-= Doug Dillard´s last blog ..A Newbies Journey to Making Money Online (Part 1) =-.
  • Thanks Doug, I edited that a bit because I was actually able to find them. I don't want others to get the same idea ;)
  • I was always happy with my affiliate sales but later on I realize affiliate marketing will not last for ever. One successful campaign may give me great boost in terms of earning but later on this will die. Adsense is better in terms of recurring income and now I started with 2 new niche sites for adsense income. :)
    .-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..How To Install wordpress Locally Using WAMP =-.
  • Good point Harsh, I like the idea of building multiple streams of income at the risk of sounding all guruie <= (New word I just coined) lol

    Income from affiliate marketing, AdSense, membership sites, sponsors, product sales and anything else we can do only makes sense. I've lost my online income twice in the last ten years and I don't want to live through that again.
  • Thanks Hesham, I hope to have many more.
  • This was a good read, Brian. You've kind of started something, though, with the revelation that your new site has no unique content. I wouldn't have thought a site would do that well; no wonder there's so many scraper sites out there.

    And the two sites you haven't succeeded with explains why my one niche site, an anti-smoking site, hasn't generated a dime yet; too much competition. I'm going to have to figure out how to make it stand apart from the rest in some fashion.

    Nice job!
    .-= Mitch´s last blog ..How Ready Are You To Give Up Your Rights? =-.
  • I was very surprised by the search traffic from a site with no unique content too. My first instinct was to replace the posts but now I'm afraid to touch it. It's from Government sites so I'm pretty sure there's no copyright issues so I guess I'll let it ride. I will certainly be more careful in the future when outsourcing.

    I have over a hundred domains and have setup niche sites on a lot of them. Many are in far too competitive niches to amount to anything as a set-it and forget it AdSense site. I have another idea I'm working on for those sites/domains and will be announcing that very soon.
  • I have a friend that has over 100 domains also. I haven't even reached 10 yet, but I'm also doing some different things with my websites than setting up niche domains. Except for the smoking one; have to really start pounding that bad boy in some fashion.
    .-= Mitch´s last blog ..A Training Survey =-.
  • Hi Brian,

    Thanks for the mention and congratulations on your adsense success. I too have been focusing on adsense and have started a few micro niche websites. I just launched my 4th last nite and I can see myself going into this direction-possibly for a long time. So far I'm been very passionate on it and very encouraged by my progress. Hope to hear more of your success stories.
  • No problem Peter, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I think I mixed up my lines a bit because you recommended Free Traffic System. I don't remember where I found The Keyword Academy. I'll get that fixed. I'll be posting reviews on both very soon.
  • I instantly got interested when I saw this title in my RSS reader: "News related adsense site - first month = one hundred dollars", so good pick with that title :)

    It was an interesting read also, of course. At first I thought you meant sites creating news articles, but it seems it's more niche-based than that. A very good idea, I must say.
    .-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..15 Minutes Of Fame & How To Instantly Boost Visitors To Your Blog =-.
  • Thanks for noticing Klaus. I was going to give it the title 'How The News Can Help Guide Your Niche Sites Part II'. I'm glad I changed it.
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Cleaning Up Our Online Act | FTC’s Advertising Guidelines =-.
  • I probably wouldn't have clicked that ("How The News Can Help Guide Your Niche Sites Part II"), since I'm not looking into niche sites right now, so for me, good choice picking the title you did :)
    .-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Coin-Sized “Eternity” Batteries With Radioactive Contents =-.
  • That's great Brian!
    I wondered when you started this idea how it would turn out.

    I can see how certain things would be short term but, depending on what it is...people still search long after it's no longer headline news.

    To bad you didn't have a Jon & Kate site...they are never leaving the headlines. LOL!

    Learning about keywords & phrases is huge! Sometimes I think I have the perfect phrase only to find out that I am the only one typing it in. Guess not all great minds think alike!

    The Copy & Paste writer you got...what a bummer. I'm sure there are better writers out there to bad we just don't always know who they are.

    Keep up the good work, I will be expecting you to make enough Adsense money to buy me lunch! Yes, that means you need enough to fly out to Vegas. ;)
    .-= Sheryl @Internet Marketers Guild´s last blog ..Listen To Stupid Google Changes that can Hurt You =-.
  • You're right Sheryl, Jon & Kate would have been a great one. I'll make it to Vegas when they move it closer. I think I'm done with planes for a while.

    I emailed several other writers on Craigslist and most don't even bother answering. The others are too expensive. I'll find a few eventually.
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