Adsense Template Pack Sales - Good, Bad or Indifferent?
After promoting the Adsense Template pack, my friend and fellow marketer, Gary Harvey, emailed me about the merit of promoting such packages. Are they worth doing or are they just worthless products to promote and simply “make a buck” with.
I think the answer is subjective depending on your own point of view. But here is my response:
I will no longer promote tools that crank out sites in the vain of Directory Generator, Traffic Hurricane, etc. But I have no problem with templates. Even if they are loaded up with content. Here’s why . . .
The tools mentioned above really went a long way, in my opinion, in creating so many garbage sites filled with nothing but trash and dynamic links that are little or no value today. Many of these template packs have designed the templates complete with content and strategically placed adsense codes.
The content is duplicate, yes. BUT . . . and this is big to me . . . the people who are smart enough to do it right, but don’t have the skills or time to write their own content KNOW that there’s tools and resources to help them make the content more unique.
And by and large - I believe that it’s probably LESS than 1% that actually do anything with these products. So if they don’t change the content, they only hurt themselves.
I get feedback from my members all the time about ways to get sites up quickly. These templates are not the HIGHEST quality - but they ARE better than so many I have seen in the past (and indeed, own).
From your blog:
“Or even if it’s only 1% who edit and upload their “new” sites, you’ve still got 10 IDENTICAL direct competitors. Plus the original vendor’s sites which presumably are still out there, in the search engine indexes.”
If each edit their content, then you don’t have identical sites. I would venture to say that Google could care less (or very little) about the way the site looks - graphics, etc. Their MAIN concern is the content. And I would also venture a guess that the original vendor that created these templates probably doesn’t have them up anywhere.
I think the Death of Adsense creator is a very creative marketer, exploiting very effectively what’s going on with Adsense these days. Adsense has changed, but they are not dead. If done correctly. Templates are simply a tool to help people get started without flooding the web with literally thousands of “generated” pages of dynamic links and garbage.
Are they perfect? No. Nothing is more effective than building sites, putting in original content, abiding by Googles rules and growing the site naturally. But like I said - the smart ones will get it and put the templates to GOOD use. So I sell these products to benefit them.
And finally, here’s what one of my readers emailed me today:
“I used to think negatively about folks that build junk made for adsense pages only…but he (Scott Boulch) made me realize those pages are really the best, low cost, not much effort.. Why spend lots of time and energy to build a quality site and draw lots of traffic to it with good useful info only to run a Google ad that takes someone AWAY from your site… and all the other ways you can monetize good content for just a few pennies from Google. “
There IS some merit to that. Some people make a decent buck putting affiliate links or products on these pages. But in reality, you are more likely to get more clicks on the Adsense ads then on the affiliate links. At least, that’s been MY experience.
When I saw Joel Comm at TIMME2, he revealed that he makes on average $20,000 per month from three sites - the bulk of that from ONE site. Not hundreds of sites with thousands of pages. He followed ALL of Googles rules and stays on top of the changes.
Like I said - the smart ones will make very good use out of the templates. It’s really no different then the truckloads of “PLR” product packs going around if you think about it. If everyone actually Private Labeled these products, you would soon flood the net with identical ebooks, etc. with only different cover graphics.
I guess you could say that there’s good and bad with any of these types of deals…
So what do you think? Should I continue to bring products like this to you? Feel free to leave your comments below.
================================
Name That Tune . . .
My friends and family know that I absolutely LOVE music from the 70’s. Everything from Pop to Disco to Guitar Rock and even Soul. You should see my CD collection 
So, I want to share a piece of that with you. I put some lyrics below from a song. Email me and tell me the song and the artist. I will post the answer next week:
We got the rhythm tonight
All the rest know we’re the best
Our shadows crash in the light
Twistin’, turnin’, we keep burnin’Shake it high or shake it low
We take our bodies where they wanna go
Feel that beat, never stop
Oh, hold me tight, spin me like a top
There you go. Good luck!
=============================
Being a part of the “Pre-Launch” of a new product has a distinct advantage. You get to be out in front of everyone else when the product launches. That’s one BIG reason Super Affiliates get to that stage.
I know this to be true because I have been fortunate enough to get in on the pre launch of a wildly successful product launch back in January.
Well, I am in on another one that you will start hearing about very soon. But this pre launch is a bit different… in THIS one, the person behind the product is allowing us partners to bring in partners.
That means YOU, if you hurry:
http://www.mroverdeliver.com/6mpre
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September 28th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Yes - and no. I use readymade templates, at first I did not realize ho duplicate content would penalize them. I got the lowdown on this from Jeff Stewart in your Forum, a source of Quality advice. Now I take each page and edit or rewrite the content before uploading. It takes time but I aim for the pages to be relevant for a long time yet.
September 28th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Hi Michael.
I agree with you 100 percent! If you take the tools and content material out there for sale and put a unique twist to them, you will make a profit. As a writer of content for the internet, I know it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive!
Please, continue offering us information about tools you believe in. I personally trust your judgmetn. That’s why I am here.
Cheers,
Tali
www.killerwriter.com
September 28th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Hi Mike,
It’s good to have stuff like templates, and product recommendations that meet real needs are always welcome. I trust you to not promote every product that comes down the pipe, and I’m finally getting to the point where I trust myself not to buy every product I see, so from my perspective, keep sending them. There will always be a few golden eggs amongst the matter that comes out of the southern end of a north-bound goose…
Here’s my question: if you take the time to build sites the right way, then how in the world will you ever use all of those templates? If you have an army of employees working for you, it could be easy, but for the average guy like me, who sits in his basement office after a 12 hour workday, trying to type while fighting off a three year old boy who has mistaken him for a playground, cuddling a precious four month old baby, and trying to meet the belly-rubbing needs of an over-exuberant Golden Retriever while his wife is reciting his “Honey-do List”… But then again, I WANT IT ALL! — so a partial package isn’t an option for me.
(And people like you LOVE marketing to people like me, don’t you?)
“Overkill” comes to mind under these circumstances, but, of course, nobody else finds themselves in the same circumstances in which I’ve placed myself. Your mileage will vary, of course — everybody has to decide for themselves — and even if I made the decision for somebody else, their picture would soon appear in the dictionary under the word “insane”… (”Hey, look at the “whatever” that listened to Tom! HA-HA!”)
I’ll buy the tools if they meet my needs, and since I’m on a massive “unsubscribe” campaign, I don’t mind hearing about them from you (sorry, you don’t meet my unsubscribe qualifications, so your emails will continue to land in my Inbox and will continue to get read. Sorry!). Advertising plays an important role, and I’d rather hear about it from somebody who is qualified to pre-screen offers than from someone who qualifies to be surgically extracted from my Inbox.
Thanks,
Tom
September 28th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Quality is the key. If you provide product that is state of the art, then it is up to your customer to make it his or her own. I beleave it is much easier to create a site that people enjoy using if you have the right pieces. Some of these pieces are products that you use such as templates; others are knowleges you learn either by doing or study. While it is important that the spiders like the site it is more important that the potential customer like the site. After all he or she is the one paying your bills.
Later
Glen “Chip” Wood The Partsman
Help protect the environment one vehicle at a time
http://www.lubedealer.com/Partsmans-Site
September 28th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I am kind of indifferent on this With so much duplicate content
and all the software to alter it we need to get back to reality.
The google ads are being clicked on just so someone can get
paid and most are not really interested in the ad itself . I have
no problem with the sites just the reason they are up and
rinning.
Bruce
September 28th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Hi,
Adsense sites… I see them as a problem; the business model behind is draying up courtesy of the latest changes in Google, and so many people are setting up sites using the same content and templates that the web is partially filled with sites that don’t add any value, visitor are now used to them, and they are not fooled that easily.
With enough time Adsense will become a secondary revenue stream, in the same way that banner advertising is today, with more or less help from the search engines.
One of the reasons that I suspect we are inundated with sort of products right now, is that the big guns know this since long time ago, and they want us to buy their stuff before the well dries up.
JP
September 28th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Name that tune ….
SHAKE YOUR GROOVE THING (Dino Fekaris / Freddie Perren)
Peaches & Herb
September 28th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
I’ve been running a successful website for over 4 years which also happens to have been at the #1 spot on Google search for my primary key phrase and in the top 10 for many others for nearly 2 years. This all came about through hard work and common sense.
As for ready-made adsense templates–I’m using some to expand but of course only as a starting point. For myself I use them mostly for the graphics so obviously the cheesy plain ones are of no use in my case. I would never slap one up as is but add a lot of customization to make the site truly unique–change some colors, change the names of the graphics, add different and unique content.
The whole duplicate content controversy has a lot of would-be adsense webmasters confused and shying away from something that could be very helpful to them. It’s not a matter of using a few of the same articles here and there that someone else is using, but rather having a website that has a large number of the same articles or worse yet a whole duplicate website.
Private label articles are also a good starting point for those who suffer from writer’s block. I’d never use a software tool because I post content for the visitor, not the search engines so I read one or more articles on a topic and, just like back in school, rewrite it in my own words. I do believe that’s the whole point???
So in answer to your question… Yes, please do spill the beans on any Adsense templates you know about. If used properly they are a valuable timesaving tool in website development.
~Karen
September 28th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Hi Mike. I’ve certainly promoted these packs of AdSense-ready sites in the past. (But not this time.)
And also I’ve tried to use them myself. I say TRIED because it’s not as easy as ‘edit the variables and upload the lot’. At least it wasnt for me. The sites looked very ordinary. Actually quite substandard, I thought. So in the end I didnt use the last lot I bought.
Plus… my declining AdSense revenues led me to NOT want to flog that sort of now-useless product to my eProfitNews subscribers.
On the other hand, I’m open to learning … so if I’m wrong and if these Adsense packages are *currently* generating money for people who buy them and upload them, then I will have to do a bit of a rethink, wont I?
I’m open to that, anyway.
Thanks for asking.
Gary
September 28th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
The answer to name that tune is easy,
Shake Your Groove Thing, from the movie
Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert .
As with adsense packs there seems to be a lot about,
I have a blog that I use to have adsense on but their rules
are you can not have other ads with them so I switched to
Better text ads this way I can make money with them and
any other ad blocks I choose.
A question Do you include how to install the templates as
when I was just starting out I had no clue how to use things like
this, if you do good on you if not maybe you could think about it
This would probably help you sell more and it is only one page
extra.
All the Best
Sandra
September 28th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Hi, Mike!
I too have circled this issue with indecision, and then decided to delve in and see what the fuss was about.
Personally, I prefer original content on professional pages, discreetly monetized with adsense where it doesn’t look too garish.
BUT…
I do understand that not everyone has the talent to accomplish this without a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
I have found that the AdSense Template packages (whether good or bad) are a great foundation for someone willing to “tweak” the products and make them their own.
I’ve recently purchased several packages, and now have about 100 niches to delve into - and NOT the original from the templates, either!
I did my own “tweaking”, and targeted a slightly more focused group on each one, removing myself from the mainstream and competition from others purchasing the same products.
Sure, a bit of graphic help, a little HTML knowledge is needed, but it’s been worth about a 300% increase in AdSense revenue from the original products…
Worth the time and effort!
Just my two cents…
Warmest regards,
Lisa Preston
September 28th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
I agree that templates have their purpose. I also agree that generation of garbage sites does no one any good. Just as in any business, if you are to succeed, you must provide a quality product with good customer service. It is no different for adsense publishers. The fact that you may only earn pocket change per site per day just means you need more quality sites. It takes work to earn money; their is no magic bullet.
Keep supplying/promoting the tools which meet the criteria above. Just ask yourself the following question. Would I sell this product to a family member?
Rudy Roesel
Rudy Roesel
September 28th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Dear Michael Ambrosio “MrOverDeliver”,
In response to your blog regarding your continuation of providing products such as Adsense Template Packs I believe it is and would be prudent for you to continue to provide this type of product to your membership and the ever expanding Internet Marketing Entrepreneurs. I for one have been struggeling for quite some time on how to get things working in a meaningful way on the Internet. These products provide a way for new marketers to get started on the way to building their own Internet Business. With a little effort and research on their own they can obtain enough education on the individual subjects to be able to rewrite the content so that it becomes new and unique content. The templates simplify the webpage structure. Those individuals that purchase these products without the intention of modifying them are fooling themselfs as to building a meaningful and profitable Internet Business. Please continue to provide this type of service in the future.
September 28th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
I had a chance to talk with Joel at TIMME2 as well, and was surprised to find out his results were from just a couple of high quality sites. But then again, he’s been touting “white hat” google for a long time.
Adsense is a very passive way to make income, but it’s not passive in its implementation. You have to be very active in its original design, and add to the content on a regular basis. Otherwise the traffic disappears.
Bob Jenkins
FreeAdReport.com
September 29th, 2006 at 4:51 am
The web is changing everyday, it was ffa then safelists, then submitters, then templates. All lacked the one thing that really works. That One thing is the personal touch. So RSS feeds, and Ipod and endless blogs will too have there day in the sun and soon fade away.
Having a Product is great, but the only way to Market that Product/Service/Program is by using the personal touch that VOIP allows.
I to am on a search and mission to delete those that fail to OVERDELIVER. Adsense and Adword are at the Top of my delete now list, the sun has set on those.
Terry