Everywhere I turn these days I'm seeing ads for websites being sold proclaiming that they've optimized that particular site for an outrageously priced keyword, such as Mesothelioma (a cancer of the lungs caused by asbestos). In fact, I'll bet that if you did a search at this very moment on EBAY, you would find at least one auction for such a website, probably claiming that you'll make thousands of dollars a month with it if purchased. But don't send them that Paypal payment just yet, you might want to read a little further.

In fact, some companies and law firms ARE paying upwards of $100 for specific keywords in the Adwords program, but that does not mean that you, as an Adsense publisher, will receive anywhere near this payout per click. In fact, you may end up being severely penalized and paid very poorly for that search phrase.

Let's do another search. Hop on over to Google and search the term 'Mesothelioma'. As of this writing, there are over 5 million results. Just a few months ago there were far less. All this tells me is that many believed the hype, and are now competing for a very small market. Won't they be surprised when they find out how much that click actually pays. I'll bet it's less than a buck.

Let's understand one thing. Google is smart. Period. They have spent a truckload of money in developing this program. And they have made BILLIONS from it. If you had something that was making you several billion dollars a year, wouldn't you work hard to protect the customers that were paying you? You can bet Google is, and they are watching your web traffic's quality closely. If you've put up a page that is worthless to the surfer, worthless to the advertisers, and just plain worthless overall, you will be penalized for it financially.

The fact of the matter is, there's a reason why advertisers are willing to pay an extreme cost per click for certain terms. It's just that there aren't very many searches for them. Some terms may only have 100 or less searches a month, internet wide! So these advertisers are willing to shell out the dough in order to get that tiny market.

But it's just not smart business for the little guy to chase these terms. There are a ton of terms out there that pay between $1 and $5 per click that are an absolute goldmine. For example, one of the terms on this site: http://www.thegiftedone.com does quite well for me. Does it pay in the triple digits? Of course not. But I'll take the smaller paying keywords every time. There are more searches overall for them, and more people actually looking for the content I have to offer. The result is clear. More clicks, more money.

My advice to you on this is simple. Quit chasing the myths, quit searching for that one word that's going to pay you $500 a click. Focus on building strong websites that are informative for the surfer, and more importantly, productive to your bottom line. Then build as many of them as you can. In time you'll see just how far a PPC program like Adsense can take you, but only if you work for it.

If you would like more information on Affiliate Websites and PPC programs like Adsense or Yahoo Publisher Network, I have set up a forum at http://www.affiliatewebsitedesign.com . It's completely free and full of information regarding promotion of PPC targeted websites. I hope to see you there soon!

Till next time,
Chuck Crawford