Earlier in the week I was visiting a discussion forum (I don’t remember which one) and came across a product that I wish I’d stumbled across in my first months of blogging (and not now 3 years later). It’s called AdSense Videos (aff) and it’s produced and presented by a British AdSense publisher by the name of Michael Cheney.
Michael earns over $19,000 USD per month using AdSense (that’s more than $600 a day) and has obviously spent a lot of time researching how to get the most out of the ad network.
In this product he’s produced a series of 9 videos that take you from the basics through to more advanced tips.
As I wrote earlier today in my email newsletter – I like Michael’s videos not only because he knows what he’s talking about but because he presents in a non hyped up way. He also has a great balance between showing the potential that someone using AdSense can earn with it but also making it clear that it’s not ‘easy’ money (ie it takes hard work). He’s obviously put some hard work into it himself (as he has these videos) and over time he’s managed to build his earnings up from just a little a day (the way we all start) into well over six figures per year.
While I’ve managed to build my own AdSense earnings up to levels that I never would have imagined I can’t begin to imagine how much quicker I’d have gotten there if someone had put these videos in front of me three years ago.
So Who is it for?
I’m not going to recommend this for all AdSense publishers. If you’ve been in the game for a while you probably won’t learn heaps from these videos. While I always enjoy hearing different publishers talk about AdSense (especially those who make good money) I didn’t learn a lot that was new. However if you’re at the start of your AdSense journey you might want to seriously consider the investment. It will also be good for intermediate AdSense users wanting a brush up or wanting to see how others do it.
The beauty of a resource like this is you get to see and hear someone explain their approach all in one place. Those critiquing resources like this will always say that you can get most of it for free online in forums and blogs – this is true – but here you get it all in one spot.
So if you’re newer to the AdSense game or you’ve been at it for a while and want to hear and see someone who’s using AdSense successfully head over to AdSense Videos and get yourself hooked up either with the full product or his free taste and see 5 day video course (which will give you a taster to help you see if it’s the product for you.
Hi Darren,
A friend asked me if this is a good purchase but I could not asnwer him. However, is it safe to say that if I’ve been reading very post here at ProBlogger.net in the last 12 months, there’s nothing much in that video that discusses something new?
In your observation how much percentage in the video you did not know about optimizing Adsense? Would 10-20% perhaps be a fair assumption?
Nice job Darren (and you know exactly how I mean it). :)
Sorry I’m a cynic.
Oh look, a large-font ad-heavy, pop-up laden splash page, with garish colours.
Oh look. $97. Plus all these free bonuses.
Oh well, I guess if his AdSense business ever goes down, he’ll have made plenty from everyone buying his course.
…plus I expect anyone earning that much money to be able to put their courses on DVD ;)
Just to be clear, I have nothing to do with this product, and I’m no fan of AdSense.
Andy, it’s backed by a NO RISK, 100% Money Back Guarantee in addition to the things you point out.
Since you have not hesitated to cast a disparaging opinion about a product based solely upon your prejudices against its marketing, why not get it, and if it doesn’t deliver, you can simply get a refund?
Then you can blog about your experience one way or the other, and educate the rest of us. Contrary to current popular belief, most people cannot learn everything there is to know about business models by reading blogs or other free resources. It just doesn’t work that way.
In “real” businesses, both entrepreneurs and established business people happily spend thousands of dollars annually to get an edge on the competition. The question you have to ask yourself is, am I willing to invest in success, or will I be cynical and flounder around, smug in my knowledge that at least I didn’t risk $97?
Oh wait, it’s not really a risk, because you can get your money back AND keep the product!
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be skeptical. I sure as hell am, about everything. But I don’t let it get in the way of looking into things, because even one small good idea from a product can make me huge multiples off the initial investment.
Raw cynicism is useful to no one, including yourself. And if you’re not willing to invest money into your business, you don’t really have a business.
OK, rant over. :)
I’ll sum up adsense success in a few sentences…
1. Generate lots of new and interesting material for your readers.
2. Update on daily basis to keep people coming back.
3. Place ads on site as to not annoy readers.
4. Repeat for several sites.
That’s about it in a nutshell. You can send me whatever dollar amount you see fit :)
Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. Except I bet there’s a bit of necessary detail missing, or else everyone would be an AdSense millionaire and no one would be reading this blog.
Again, I personally could care less about this product. But it’s rare that I meet someone who is really successful who thinks they know it all already. In fact, the most successful people pay very large amounts for information and tools that can help them succeed even more.
Hello Darren and readers of this post,
I bought the AdSense videos and did a revamp on my blog.
Here’s the old one (on TypePad):
http://lesters.blogs.com/a_free_life/
Here’s the new one (on WordPress) after learning from Adsense videos:
http://www.afreelife.info
I think there’s a big difference.
And, as to the Adsense income, I have to see yet as my blog has 0-5 unique daily visitors yet. I’ll see if the video instructions work when my blog traffic increases.
Will keep you posted if time permits…
Andy – You could have expressed your opinion differently and not portrayed yourself as such an ass.
Brian – Well put!
clester – Your site looks great.
Darren – Thanks for the recommendation, I am gonna check it out.
I bought that program a little over a week ago and thought it was well worth it. There was one tip in particular that tripled my clicks. Also, he his enthusiasm helps motivate you…
Is that a leaked video Darren? : http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/adsensevideo/
A.H
deleted for spamming
Wow cool! I don’t know if this means you read the blog post I sent you or not, but you are definately working up the advertising food chain by posting this Darren. At least my post helped someone.
For those of you who aren’t clued in to ClickBank, the affiliate referrals can be pretty awesome, especially on a product like this. Sure, Amazon might pay 4-8% to sell a camera, but 50% ClickBank payouts sure make a lot more money than $0.10 AdSense clicks or 4% Amazon comissions. I’d take 100 clicks to make $40 over 100 clicks to make $5 any day. Wouldn’t you?
Sure, this guy is making $19,000/month on AdSense, but he’s also making a killing by having this video series. With his ClickBank gravity so high, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is making more on selling these videos than he is by doing AdSense. Being an “expert” at AdSense – that’s where the real money is.
Thanks Rick – nice to know you judge as well as I do. Brian, for someone who could(‘nt) care less about the program, you seem to talk a lot about it.
Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal.
It’s a pet peeve of mine, so please don’t take it personally. :)
And thanks for pointing out my slight typo… lord knows I aim for quality control when dashing off comments on other people’s blogs.
Ok – I knew some people wouldn’t like this product or would be cynical about it. That’s why I don’t recommend products like this very often.
All I’ll say again is that if you feel you need to learn about AdSense then this is as good as any other resource out there. It’s visual, it’s auido, it’s enthusiastic, it’s not overly hyped, it’s all in one spot. It also has a money back guarantee which I’m sure will be honored if you’re not satisfied.
I didn’t learn much from it (I think I’d heard virtually everything in it before) but I’m already making hundreds a day from AdSense. I’d probably have even added a coule of strategies – but if you’ve got $97 and you’re starting out in AdSense you’ll find this very useful despite the big long sales page :-)
When it all comes down to it though – it’s a take it or leave it thing. No one is forcing anything on anyone so feel free to ignore this post if you’re not interested and everyone will be happy :-)
I’m one who is too cynical a shopper to believe in instant rebates and “no risk 100% money back guarantees.”
That said, this guy’s presentation is too much late-night-informercial for me to take him seriously. If Darren hadn’t posted with a (slight) recommend, then I’d dismiss him entirely. As it stands, I don’t know what to make of it.
Rick wrote..Andy, you’ll notice I’m not actually talking about the product, I’m talking about an attitude amongst some people who think they are going to become wealthy on the Internet but are dismissive of properly investing in that goal..
I think the keyword here is properly investing in that goal
Investing $97 in a product that you know nothing else about than that it comes with a $97 money back gurantee is probably not a good investment. Personally I prefer to order books because you can always check out the user reviews at amazon. The reviews are a better source of information than the marketing hype that you usually see from clickbank.
This is an interesting discussion going on here. Regardless of the topic, it’s a great insight into what people think of such infomation products in general.
At the end of the day, it’s a niche product for a niche audience. It’s not for everyone.
Brian is absolutely correct. In business, you pay for information that’s concise and delivers on its promise, even though you could spend the time researching and finding it for yourself. Many people simply do not have the time to struggle through all the clutter on the web to get what they want and are willing to pay for it if it can save them time.
Most information publishers (hopefully) want to be selling a range of info products for years to come, so If it’s rubbish they’ll soon be caught out.
What I’m interested about is how such products are being marketed. I sense a strong sense of cynicism of such tactics: long sales pages, infomerical like, the little tricks to sway you etc., I’m wondering if there needs to be a different approach to selling such products in a world of growing marketing cycniscim.
Hey … I should be writing this as a post on my own blog :-)
What Darren has done here is apply a link to an affiliate program embeded in an article that works within his niche. If you buy the program Darren gets a commission. (A nice way to thank him for his great articles.)
This is what we all should be learning. Why get $1 per click when you can get $50 commission. The ad revenues will follow.
Martin, excellent perspective.
The fact is, I shouldn’t have been so hard on Andy (although I wasn’t really addressing him personally). People DO hate those cheesy looking sales letters, and even though I’m a copywriter and direct marketer, I don’t even use them myself for the majority of my projects.
But… I’ve bought plenty of excellent info products that had cheesy sales letters, perhaps only becasue I’m in the biz and I can filter through it. Plus, I’ve been disappointed by many, many products, and I’ve never had a problem getting my money back.
These people are not thieves just because you personally don’t respond to their marketing.
You’ll generally find that direct marketers use cheesy sales letters for two reasons:
1. Outside of the media savvy blogosphere, those sales letter work quite well; and
2. That’s what they’ve been taught to do (and see #1).
In many ways, bloggers are at the leading edge of a new marketing paradigm (which I am actively exploring). But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should simply dismiss those that have come before you and the methods they use, especially when they make hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars a year, and you don’t.
I have to agree with Darren. I bought the course because I buy just about everything to do with AdSense and AdWords. I bought it knowing that it was a Clickbank product, and I had 60 days to decide if I wanted a refund, and if it didn’t deliver, I’d ask for a refund.
I thought it was well done. But I don’t think I learned anything new. Like Darren, I wish it would have been the first or second thing I purchased about AdSense because it would have helped tremendously in the beginning.
So am I asking for a refund? Probably not. I actually got some value out of one of the bonuses. Plus the main videos were a good review, and reinforced some theories I had, compelling me to actually act on the knowledge I already had. Rather than just knowing the tricks and thinking “that’s neat”, now I know that they actually work, and I’ll put those changes on priority.
My feeling on a course of this price is that all I have to do is get out of it is an extra dollar a day, and it will only take 90 days to be in profits (the original price was $87, now it’s $97). It all comes down to the traffic you get as to whether this course is going to help you make an extra dollar a day. If you have no traffic now, you won’t go from $0 to $1. If you have good traffic, you’ll easily make that dollar, or five, or ten, every day from the day you take action on the techniques in the course.
And if you already know everything and have a perfectly optimized site, you’ll at least see an example of how to make $250,000 selling Camtasia video courses, which Michael claimed he did in the first couple weeks of availability.
Dennis – spot on about the $1 a day over 90 days. That’s what any business person should be thinking off on any investment they make in their business. It all comes down to ROI. My view is that if you’re questioning such prices deep down you don’t have that expectation that you’ll succeed. you know the old saying: you gotta spend money to make money.
Brian – “actively exploring”, eh! Well you’ve just booked yourself an invitation for an interview for my blog. I’ll be in touch. :-)
And that’s why I say that those kind of sales techniques (cheesy long sales letters) won’t neccessarily work for bloggers … but no way would I dismiss the older methods in finding new ways of marketing such products. Impossible to ignore, because 95% of it is still good, it’s just that we got to think of newer ways of implementing it – in other words, we got to get more savvy because the consumer is more savvier than ever.
I also believe selling through an affiliate channel is just about the ultimate way to go. Take Darren as an example (sorry Darren for using you as a case study on your own blog:-) ). He’s the Pro Blogger Guy. He has the credibility. If he says product x (in his niche) is good, then that endorsement transcends 80% of the sales pitch, imo. But to keep his credibility he better be selective.
One thing I don’t like is those selling and recommending clickbank-type products without ever reading it themselves. If you were a retail outlet would you just place any item on your shelves sight unseen? Of course not. It should be no different if you want to be a successful affiliate.
Now Darren, is there an eBook coming out of you or what? :-)
Ditto for you as well Brian.
Watch this space Martin. Working furiously on it all but it’s a big job :-)
Good stuff and about time :-)
Take your time to get it exactly right. Any more hints: title? how far off?
I’m guessing you’ll be using the affiliate route as a major sales channel? ProfCartSolutions is the way to go – as you would know from working with Andy Wibbels.
I’d stay away from ClickBank as you’ve already got a strong base of potential affiliates, and right or wrong ClickBank has a poor perception.
All the best and I’ll be watching.
Personally, I’m having fun playing “Fill in the blanks” on his web page… ;)
Total aside, Brian (sorry) – I tihnk it’s an Americanism vs a British-ism – here we say ‘I couldn’t care less’ if we are totally dismissive of something, whereas I think in the US it’s “I could care less” (though to me that implies that it is possible to care less). Oh well, language eh?
I apologise to anyone I’ve offended by being a 10+ years jaded Internet user, burned a couple of times, and unfortunately now perhaps too cynical for my own good. You’re right cynicism doesn’t help anyone in the long run. – I’m working on it!
My financial margins are still quite tight at present. I know I haven’t sampled the product and I can’t judge whether it has useful info in it just by looking at the box, but unfortunately it just looks like a cookie-cutter, same-as-a-million-others template system, which doesn’t help its cause, for me at least.
I did invest in a program a few months ago which I believe was badly marketed (it didn’t explain system requirements, etc., until I’d bought it, and so I was unable to use it). I did claim my money back (within one day!) – so I don’t have any doubt about the mechanics of this kind of system.
I’ll try not to infect anyone with my cynicism in future. :) Thanks for letting me be an ass in a reasonably safe environment ;)
Andy, nothing to be sorry about.
It’s just your opinion. Nothing wrong with that. And I’m guessing many more people look at it this way too ie: the generic cookie-cutter sales techniques.
I’m in the industry myself and trust me … I always have to work through the cynic in me.
Easily the best part about Darren reviewing a product like this in a blog (atmo)sphere is that it allows us all to discuss it. With Amazon affiliates you might get a brilliant review of a product, or a horrible review – but there’s little go-between, no discussion.
Hell, I’m not even in the market for this product directly as I just don’t have the traffic at my site to be serious about AdSense, just interested in learning more and more about Web-based marketing, and I read every single comment on here. So… yeah. I’m with Brian – blogs are the leading edge of information dispersion, and as such, the leading edge of marketing research… good stuff. ;-)
Andy – I did not say you were an ass because I am sure you are not. Your comments made you sound like an ass. I have spent alot of money over the last 3 years on the “hot new programs” only to be dissapointed. Darren has created a blog that we all can trust and if he recommends a product then I think it is worth checking out. No different if you or Brian or Martin were to recommend checking out a product on your blogs, I would check them out because you guys have all “been there, done that.”
Giving your opinion on topics is expected but it should be done in a professional manner especially from successful veteran bloggers.
I knew there would be lots of discussion on this article. :-)
Great suggestion Darren.
Don’t worry Andy – I don’t mind some healthy cynicism and I know yours is the good kind. I actually value it because it helps to keep things in check. Thanks for being honest enough to share your views!
Overall, not impressed with the core videos, but there are some gems hidden in them that have nothing to do with Adsense. Plus there’s the bonus videos which have tons of value. Unfortunately, Michael Cheney released some of them free on his own site in the past.
I am still with my $1 / months with adsense…
I will try to sell his video as an afiliate, then if I get some money, I’ll buy them.
Brian, as per your advice, I have now done a brief review AdSense Videos
Andy, you’re a good man!
Rick: I wish I was a successful veteran blogger. I don’t feel like one yet! (My blog tells me I’m at 26%)
I made the mistake of purchasing these videos. I have to admit it. I was stupid because I knew that they wouldn’t deliver what was promised.
I still don’t believe why everybody is so excited about the incredibly basic information inside these vastly overpriced videos. For example, no strategy for smart pricing, also, no strategy to raise your cpc and, worse, he ,mentions the “images near ads” trick as the best kept secret that google doesn’t want anybody to know! C’mon that’s old news and it doesn’t work as it did before.
Fortunately I was refunded the whole money I paid.
The most money you can make from these videos is by promoting them as an affiliate.
Enrique
There’s no way I’m going to buy the videos, but I’m currently dying of curiosity as to what the fill-in-the-blank for a “household item” that is supposed to help in the process is. :-) Could anyone enlighten me on this one, please?
I could do – I’ll sell the answer to you for $50
Or… just head down to your local n – – – a – – – –
I have to ask how much there is to learn about Adsense? I get a high click through rate, and it was just trial and error – messing about with different colours, different size ads and positioning. I dpn’t think I would want an even higher click through rate than I already have, as that would mean more people leaving my site.
Viewed the video that A.H. posted, and after watching it I did a revamp of my website straight-away. Probably will even buy the video’s because as a newbie to the game I still got lots to learn. And that is inspite of being rated in the 3rd highest income bracket according to Darren’s “Poll Of The Week”.
Good luck to Michael Cheney if he can make a buck. A few bloggers here suffer from “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.
Just my two cents worth.
Cheers Jaron
Tall Poppy Syndrome? Huh??
Oh I see – good ol’ Wikipedia.
I wouldn’t say I have TPS – I have no problem with MC making money – I’m just a little tired with some of the cyclical marketing that goes on.
Wow! I’m so glad I found this site. I don’t have a blog yet but I do have a website that I use Adsense ads on. I just started a couple of weeks ago and have been making 1-2 bucks a day on average (a poxy $2 or whatever Michael Cheney says) so I have been on the fence about getting these videos. I’m still on the fence, but I’ve learned a lot just by checking out everyone elses sites – so thanks everyone! I’ll let you know if I get them!
OK, I bought it.
My site generally makes about $1,000.00 U.S. monthly but lately had been slipping
a bit.
There’s nothing in these videos that you can’t find on-line for free. However, in stark contrast to the garish “in your face” advertising of the videos, the actual content is laid back, extremely well organized and presented.
Again: I can’t say I learned anything I hadn’t already seen elsewhere. However, I did implement some changes based on the concepts presented and saw an immediate increase of $5 – $10.00 per day.
It’s quite possible that’s just from making a change – any change can sometimes
take away ad blindness from regular visitors. However, “regulars” only account for
maybe 10-15% of my traffic, so I doubt that’s it.
For those of you making $1.00 a day or less: it’s probably not worth the money because although you might improve your earnings, it’s unlikely you’ll be rocketed
upward enough to justify the cost. But.. if you just want good advice, well packaged and presented, this is worth it.
If your income has been slipping lately, you might consider this even if you feel you already know it all. As happened with me, it just might remind you of some things you already know you should be doing.
I’m still at the first part trying to make that 1$/day mark… and it’s not coming yet… I guess I need to do some serious link exchanging… which I already started but no luck yet :(
It’s sad to see that practicaly nothing is coming in, and thus 0 clicks…
I do know it’s not the best “niche” but I did it to “test” my way into all this adsense stuff, and the competition on my targeted keyword is not so hard to overpower…
Hi Darren
I bought the videos and Im happy I did. I have been in the adsense game for a while and i found them very informative, even though i know a lot of it the new tricks etc were helpful. The guy is switched on and that helps motivate me. Im not in the 100’s per day erena yet, but in just over a year Im heading that way.
It’s a good buy, if you waant a jump start to your Adsense fortune.
The secret no that stands above all the rest is this
No traffic – no income
1. Write good content
2. Get traffic
2. Get income from your site/blog – traffic = $$$$$
Any other approach is a waste
The Reckless Yachtsman 2
Save yourself the cash, and ask yourself why ProBlogger recommends the video. If the ProBlogger link weren’t an affiliate link, then maybe things would be different, but clearly, cash is to be made from recommending the videos, and there are plenty of people who pay up. Good for everyone involved who has something to gain from it.
The whole 100% money back scheme works because most people are too “sensitive” to ask for their money back, even if they are not happy with the product. If you have the guts to ask for your cash back, then you have indeed nothing to lose.
The video content is marginally useful at any AdSense level, most of the content presented it essentially a few years old, and things that worked well in 2003 are not working all that well anymore as everyone and their child is doing them.
No matter what you do, and no matter how many “get rich quick” schemes you invest your cash in, at the end of the day there is only one way to actually get rich, and that is to work hard.
Create content that is worth reading, and you will make a handsome return, no need to buy an Adsense video to tell you that.