[theforum] google AdSense makes dollars (as well as sense)

[David Kaufman]

Elfur Logadóttir <elfur at elfur.is> wrote:
>
> All of a sudden i'm hesitant ... This dual server argument in the
> other mail seems quite sensible to me
> [...] fires up the calculator
> [...] the $2000 will last us ...13 months and 12 days
>
> So, if that's what we're doing we need to figure out a way to get
> donations, at least 15 $10 donations each month or  the equivalent
> there of.
>
> /me is in money mode all of a sudden.

i am so weary of this new server topic, but now that it comes back to the
question of projecting future revenue, i must stoke the fires of indecision
a bit more with this wee bit-o-news.

as you all know, evolt began running those googley adsensical ad-words
things on (just) the browser archive last month.  the way the Google AdSense
program works, the publisher (evolt) gets paid based on ad *performance*
(click-throughs) rather than delivery volume (impressions).  we knew we had
a lot of traffic on b.e.o. but ever since i read that our payments were
based on clicks, i doubted it would be all that lucrative.  i doubted it
even further after learning that the exact *amount* we earn per click
*fluctuates*, and does so based on some behind-the-scenes algorithm that
Google chooses not to disclose!
below are the daily performance statistics of those ads, so far (i hope you
all have a monospaced font set in your mailreader):

                                    Clickthrough
Date          Impressions   Clicks      Rate      Earnings
-----------------------------------------------------------
 5/6/2004           18         0        0.0%        $0.00
5/12/2004        6,727        25        0.4%        $4.25
5/13/2004        6,823        14        0.2%        $1.23
5/14/2004        7,690        18        0.2%        $1.49
5/15/2004        4,147        10        0.2%        $0.71
5/16/2004        3,653        14        0.4%        $1.52
5/17/2004        6,437        21        0.3%        $1.67
5/18/2004        6,560        16        0.2%        $1.29
5/19/2004        6,931        26        0.4%        $2.33
5/20/2004        6,679        28        0.4%        $2.51
5/21/2004        5,735        28        0.5%        $2.14
5/22/2004        3,315        16        0.5%        $1.64
5/23/2004        3,693        24        0.6%        $2.03
5/24/2004        5,971        15        0.3%        $1.03
5/25/2004        7,579        26        0.3%        $1.88
5/26/2004        6,793        14        0.2%        $1.20
5/27/2004        7,061        14        0.2%        $0.92
5/28/2004        5,627         9        0.2%        $0.56
5/29/2004        3,655         7        0.2%        $0.54
5/30/2004        3,836        10        0.3%        $0.74
5/31/2004        4,823        13        0.3%        $0.99
 6/1/2004        6,309         9        0.1%        $0.84
 6/2/2004        6,066        14        0.2%        $1.37
 6/3/2004        6,710        18        0.3%        $2.69
 6/4/2004        5,563        14        0.3%        $1.23
 6/5/2004        2,800         8        0.3%        $0.90
 6/6/2004        3,654        13        0.4%        $1.48
 6/7/2004        6,088        15        0.2%        $1.20
 6/8/2004        6,314        14        0.2%        $1.50
 6/9/2004        6,753        22        0.3%        $1.75
----------------------------------------------------------
Totals         164,010       475        0.3%       $43.63


so i am very pleased to report that this pilot program is apparently earning
us an average of $1.45 per day.  that's *almost* enough to completely pay
for one of the low-end Celeron servers we've been discussing (i wish there
were a few more days in each month!).  my suspicions about the pay-rate
secrecy were happily unfounded as, although it does fluctuate and i cannot
really tell when, how much or why it does so, it *is* paying on average
about 9.5 cents per clickthough, which is quite respectable, industry-wise.

we haven't received our first check yet, but does appear that this will
continue to be a stable and predictable (if modest) revenue stream, so once
they start coming, it sure looks like they will keep coming, and coming, and
coming...

so.  add that to the onslaught of pros, cons, opinions, proposals and
counter-proposals :-)

but, *please* resist the urge to propose adding google adwords to
www.evolt.org, or converting theList to HTML-email and adding ads to all of
those messages.  instead, do as i did (especially if you're a relative
newcomer like me) and re-read the initial reasons for the creation of the
evolt itself:

"How did evolt.org come about?"  http://evolt.org/history/
By Jeff Howden (.jeff) <- THAT guy, again? -- sheesh!

-dave