I’ve kept my membership with Court’s Keyword Crash Course. It seems like it’s going in some interesting directions and is worthwhile for now. As many of you know, Court has started a Hubpages challenge. This is a public challenge issued on The Keyword Academy site earlier this month. The nice thing about the Course is that there are many tips and discussions going on concerning the Challenge if you are keeping up.
I decided to half-ass accept the challenge. Instead of 100 hubs in a month I’ll probably try for 30. I created a couple of Hubpage accounts last year. I spit out about 15 worthwhile Hubpages and abandoned the project. I championed the idea of using them for about two weeks for their incredible ability of getting quick indexes in big G. That lasted a short time so I moved on to other worthless MMO endeavors.
Interestingly enough, all through the past year I kept getting an Adsense click here or there on the various hubs. But I was too stupid to realize the potential. It took Court’s challenge to waken me from my retardation to realize that this could be a way to collect more Adsense coin.
I’m accepting this particular challenge as a way of making more money with Adsense. In doing so keyword selection is tantamount. I have been following TKA’s rules for keyword selection and being a member of KCC I’ve been using those enhanced techniques. Court’s keyword video rules are too hard and time consuming for this project, at least for me. Personally, for these Hubs I’ve had to reduce the KCC standards to move forward. I can build a hub in about 30 minutes (I have no problem writing), though it takes me hours to find that keyword I can compete with. Yes, I know that you will say that it defeats the purpose if the keyword doesn’t pay. I simply don’t try to compete for $50+ keywords (Those that are members will understand that number). I go for $15-20+ longer tail keywords. Why? Well I found 10 $20+ keywords with no competition in about 20 minutes. It took me an hour to find one good $50+ keyword…that I also knew enough about to write 1,000 words on. If you consider the time element I could have had at least one hub built in the time it took me to find one keyword.
So instead of building 100 hubpages and making $1K, maybe I have to build 200 to make the same amount. But at the rate I was going it would have taken twice to three times as long to build 100 as it might be to build 200. Seems to me that if you are easily #1 for a long tail keyword then a lesser amount of money per click might be worth it, given the pain of finding the keyword that fits the $50 level that Court outlines in the course videos. Maybe each of his 100 Hubpages averages 30 cents a click in revenue. Maybe each of my 200 averages 15 cents. Same thing. My first Hub for this challenge was on my recent Disney World Vacation. The Hubs that I build that I care about I will use my “splork” account. Other dubious hubs will be built on my other accounts.
I understand the methodology of his keyword selection. I just don’t understand how he can find so many. Maybe Court digs finding keywords. I don’t care for the exercise. I may have to do twice the Hubpage building as he does but I won’t be spending near the time on keyword research that I would staying faithful to the rules. I’ll be able to use far more keywords.
Building and writing the hubs are not the problem for me as long as I am knowledgeable on the topic. Not being so stringent on keyword selection will also allow me to write on stuff I know and care about. Sure I can roll through Amazon or eBay and find topics to write about that satisfy the KCC keyword rules. But that also means finding keywords on shit that I will end up having to spend more time researching on. I’m not outsourcing for this challenge. I’d rather write what I know about and frankly at some point I run out of high paying Adsense click knowledge.
That said, I will only abandon the keyword rules for this Hubpage challenge. For niche websites it’s back to consuming time with the KCC keyword selection grind. Finding the right keywords is really a drag. I have a couple of spreadsheets with topic after insipid topic showing KCC keyword results. Very few work out. And I’ve spent hours trudging through the Google keyword tool. Thank God for Nichebot which circumvents the mind-numbing Firefox SEO extension exercise that Court uses. Yes, you find THE ONE keyword and you’ve got yourself a money maker. The problem for me is I can find plenty of keywords that satisfy the money making formula ($50+), but the competition is always too stiff. Most of the keywords I find that satisfy the money is two word keywords. Those are increasingly tough to compete with. The trick is to find the three word keyword phrase that satisfies the monetary formula and the competition. For me it just hasn’t been that simple.
And maybe that is why I don’t make the big bucks.
Update – May 25, 2009: I haven’t done much with this challenge since saying I was going to participate. Laziness and other obligations along with the whole keyword thing, keeps me ambivalent about the whole thing.
16 responses so far ↓
Steward // May 20, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I too have most of my trouble with the whole keyword selection process. It sucks and I am terrible at it. If only you could outsource your keyword selection process like you can outsource your content creation process …
Patrick // May 20, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Yep…I am with you on this one.
I rank medium to medium well for a handful of keywords in my niche….so I made hubpages for each of the keywords, and slapped my Adsense account on to Hubpages, and…..
Nothing. Not a single freaking penny from Adsense clicks.
So that lets me know that, OK, my 4 year old PR3 website is basically better at ranking for these types of keywords with some very light and easy linkbuilding rather than making a HUB for the same keywords and no linkbuilding.
Just seems like for my particular niche, it is better to put the content on my own site and then build a few links to it later on because I know it will rank decent. Plus I know I can get a 3 to 5 percent CTR and make some more cash that way, plus keep 100% of the profit, unlike the hubpage 60/40 split.
Just my 2 cents….seems to match up pretty closely with your frustrations, splork.
Mitch // May 20, 2009 at 10:36 pm
screw adsense
Lorecee // May 20, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Hi Splork: have you tried writing a long, blathering hub to rank for a bunch of long tail keywords at once, Griz style? Court’s keyword sniping approach may look like less work, but if I rank for 50 long tail keywords worth $10 a month each, that adds up to some income. At least if I have some authority in the overall niche, I feel a little less like I’m running in a hamster wheel.
The one thing that everybody seems to be leaving out of the equation when you’re bottom feeding on long tails for AdSense is, are there any ads? I’ve seen plenty of high CPC ads that nobody is bidding on, and it seems to have gotten worse since the economy went in the toilet.
Good to see you still posting here. I always learn a little something when I visit.
Splork // May 21, 2009 at 7:56 am
I write long blathering hubs but I usually stick with a single LTK. I’ll add a bunch of other keywords if they fit, but I try to stick with the LTK for the most part.
I’ll give most anything a try once. Maybe I’ll try to write a hub on all 3 word keyword phrases found on a Google Keyword Selection search. That’d be something if I could pull it off. Or maybe I’ll just use every three keyword phrase found on Google’s Wheel of Keyword Goodness or whatever they are calling it.
I agree with you that you have to check to see if any ads are spun up for folks to click on. I’ve also wondered how this shitty economy would effect revenue. So far I’m still making some money.
used cars sioux falls sd // May 21, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I follow Grizzly’s advice when picking keywords.
Joe // May 21, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I canceled my subscription before it rebilled. I did like the forums but don’t really think it’s worth $33 for access.
I also felt like their last couple webinars weren’t that great, mostly unfocused and saying the same things, but what else is there to teach about the method?
The last webinar was about outsourcing but all they have done is hire college kids, which seems more of a hassle and not as cost effective as hiring someone online. It also seemed like after 20 minutes of outsourcing talk they just went back to rehashing old stuff.
Of course they added the article sites you can submit to a couple days after I canceled which I thought was pretty weak. Why wait a month to add a feature that might really add value to being a member? If they add a lot more article directories or add other tools or ways to build links I would probably rejoin.
This is all my opinion and I do think they put out good stuff but I’m going to wait and see if they make it more worthwhile to be a member.
Interested if you have any comments on this Splork.
Splork // May 22, 2009 at 9:45 am
I’m taking a wait and see. Knowing their prowess at getting Google ranks I think the article directories for backlinks will be quite useful. And I doubt that they are going to leave the membership at a webinar a month. Though frankly, I’m with you. There is only so much that can be discussed about this stuff. After a while it all just starts to rehash. I mean really – find a keyword, write an article, post it somewhere and get links to it. That about sums up this stupid game. Anyway, I think they will have more useful things offered like the article directories.
If not, a simple click to cancel will do me just fine.
Lorecee // May 22, 2009 at 10:36 am
They just added 20 more article sites yesterday.
Splork // May 22, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Thanks for the update Lorecee. That makes, what, 30 separate IP addresses to drop links on? sweet
Joe // May 23, 2009 at 2:01 am
Yea now we are talking, if they are all on separate IP’s I will probably reup. If the article sites came out a week earlier I probably wouldn’t have canceled. I do hope they keep adding article directories or other useful things though.
Dan // May 23, 2009 at 11:42 am
Good to see you blogging again, Splork! It’s always neat to see what you’ve been up to lately.
I dunno, though. Isn’t Adsense like WAY dead? I wouldn’t know because I only sell affiliate products and my own ebooks these days. The income has been pretty good given the recession. I mostly sell into huge markets where there will always be tons of buyers, though, I tend to stay away from more obscure niches and I don’t really know how to monetize those as well.
Splork // May 23, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I’m mostly pretty lazy these days. I just can’t get myself going with the effort of writing for bullshit niches anymore. Keyword research and writing stuff bums me out. Still half-assing the challenge.
I still do okay with adsense. Plenty of folks are bored and clicking around stuff. Glad things are still going well for you and your endeavors.
make money in a recession // May 24, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I’m struggling with this challenge too. It’s hard to find things worthwhile writing about (in a financial sense). And alas all the fun celeb stuff which is a joy to write simply doesn’t pay.
Dave Parizek // Jul 1, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Maybe I am clueless but why is it a big deal that Court is offering a listing of article directories? Griz gave a list for free, and you can google for them. I have a list that I am compiling here:
http://buysellarticlesonline.com that has about 70 free article sites listed so far.
I have not checked their IPs yet to see if they are all different though.
Is there some special quality to the article sites they are listing that I should know about?
Clue me in please…
-dave
Splork // Jul 2, 2009 at 8:11 am
Well these are blogs that you can use to submit snippets or posts. You don’t have to write 350+ words of crap. Just 125 with a single link. Knowing Court and his SEO prowess you can bet these blogs/directories are going to have very good PR and authority with Google. These are added value to the service. Only members can use them which keeps them from being overused. Each blog is on a different IP. And Court monitors the posts for quality.
I recommend finding as many places to get legit backlinks as possible. Free or not. As long as Google indexes by popularity then it can’t hurt. I just like being able to write a quick post rather than sweating over writing a different article over and over. 125 words are far easier than 350+.
Leave a Comment