The end of AdSense sweatshop?

Increasingly publishers are turning away from what they feel is the “Google’s AdSense Sweatshop“.

And it is not that they are not making money. They are making as much as $10,000 a month. A figure many of us revenue seekers wouldn’t even dream of making.

What is happening? I hate to see the bubble burst, since I myself had just jumped on the bandwagon. But is this really the end?

The arguments are centered around 3 major points

  1. Publishers can make more money with the visitors then sending them away.
  2. Publishers are at the mercy of companies like Google.
  3. Publishers has to do lot of work and even resort to trickery. Even then they cannot control factors like search engine ranking.

Join the conversation.

  • Do you think it is wrong to make money from Adsense?
  • Are there more money to be made elsewhere?
  • How do you decide to use Adsense or create products?

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2 Responses to “The end of AdSense sweatshop?”


  1. Gravatar Icon 1 John

    There is nothing wrong with making money via adsense. But google better watch out, there are new advertising companies gaining market share. Adsense maybe the most widely used, but if Google is not careful they will see many people move away from their model.

    Yes there is definately money to be made elsewhere…but we’re talking about a different revenue model all together. If up to this point, your someone who’s developed content sites that drive your advertising revenue, you might find the transition to product development difficult. It can be done though.

    As far as I’m concerned, deciding to use adsense or create products is not the question. One can create a very effective product sales site while harnessing adsense or another advertising platform. IMHO, the key is not developing your product site to look like the typical “From the desk of” site.

    In fact this is exactly what I’m trying to accomplish on of of my sites: http://www.itsmyjourney.com

    For what it’s worth, I just added a free guide called: The How to Make Money Online Primer. One of the topics covered is content driven ad websites… Adsense is discussed as the main platform, but I do mention a few other platforms.

  2. Gravatar Icon 2 59ideas

    Hi Jonh, thanks for your input.

    Personally I think there are 2 main classes of revenue seekers online. The part-timers, doing for fun and for pocker money; and the business minded, doing it with the intention to turn it into a fulltime business and main source of income.

    For the former, Adsense is perfectly fine and good.

    For the latter, they has to consider how the business will develop and how their income will be impacted if they solely depend on Adsense. It is risk management just like any other business.

    I do not see what is so bad about running a sweat shop for someone if by doing so I am using the most of my ability and resources.

    Take for example a real sweatshop producing t-shirt for Nike. As the owner, I leverage on my resources and make money from Nike. I can try to move up the value chain adn create product and brand myself, but then I have to consider if my resources can support that.

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