AdSense amount per page of content - web article or blog post

The importance of useful and original content for achieving success at the Google AdSense program is paramount. Unique content, especially in a niche industry, can yield great results even from a 100 page web site. However, creating original content is time consuming - it involves researching the topic on the web and books (yes, let's not forget them), gathering multimedia content (images, video, audio files etc.) that would compliment the text and then writing the article.

AdSense earnings should justify the time spent

am sure all serious bloggers and web developers have done their homework on this issue - the AdSense returns should justify the time spent in creating original content. What is the use of creating content that yields negligible AdSense revenue?

Harold Davis (author of Google Advertising Tools - O'Reilly publications) in a Wired magazine interview quotes a figure of USD 10 per year for a page of content i.e. less than $1.00 per month - read How to Almost Live on Blogging for further details.

Ten dollars per year in AdSense for the hours I put in!!! That's way too low. Any decent original article or blog post requires a fair bit of time which can be a couple of hours or one entire day. And I am not talking about those 100-200 page blog posts which are mostly regurgitated rubbish from other blogs. I'm referring to articles that are meaningful, useful and original. Only such articles and blog posts add value to the web as a whole and educate the reader.

And the same is voiced by Mr. Davis who says, "Blogs are good because they keep content fresh, but that's just a small part of it. Good reference material really draws traffic.".
Actually, "good reference material" would not only get tons of traffic but also have a higher half-life (live longer, as it were) yielding revenue for the publisher for years to come.

How much should an article or blog post get in AdSense revenue?

So what is the AdSense revenue amount that justifies the time on writing the page of content? This depends on how you VALUE your time. Is an hour worth $10, $50, $100 or more?

If you spend 2 hours in putting together an original article, would you be satisfied by $10 per year? Assuming that Google AdSense lasts the next four years and the article holds its importance (and not dies - refer below on the lifespan of an article), it is still $40 in total which is $20 per hour for your time spent.

Remember articles, quite like everything else, have a lifespan - some will fade in a year while others are almost evergreen (ones that have drunk that special elixir). For instance, articles on latest technological developments might not have the same value (and readership) after a year or so, while those on world history would last much longer. In fact, those "history" articles may gain importance as time goes by!

Is $5 in Adsense per month per page a fair figure?

Now to some tangible figures. I target an average AdSense amount of $2 per page for the first 3 months and this should increase to $5 from the fourth month. Assuming my AdSense account lasts for the next three years, one page of content should get me about $180 in total and if I have spent 3 hours on it, my hourly rate of AdSense earning would be $60. Obviously, I do not take into consideration increase in traffic to the article over the years (which may increase earnings) and the fact that AdSense ads will continue to run on my web sites for a longer period. If those happen, the total dollar amount brought in by the article would be more.

And do I achieve an average of $5 in AdSense per article per month? You betcha - in fact, it's much higher (I'm not going to tell you the exact figures... just note that $5 is the minimal I expect for my work). Some articles yield really good amounts and some remain at their initial $2 levels and so it averages out. Actually, at the time of researching and writing the article, I do get sense of the AdSense revenue it can potentially bring it. So why don't I just put my efforts on those higher payout articles... well, that's because I write what I want to write (makes me happy and keeps me satisfied) and I am not that greedy any way.

Tips on how to increase the AdSense earnings per page

Some quick tips on how to increase your Adsense earning per page

• Divide an article into two or more pages, if possible. However, make sure that neither is less than 400 words. This gives an additional benefit of pushing in different keywords for those split up pages.
• Research keywords well - use the Keyword suggestion tools.
• Do basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for each article. This is very important. FYI, I consider getting inbound links to those articles a part of the SEO.
• Experiment with different ad placements. Creating a web site heat map and analysing it will provide enough pointers to keep you busy for months.
• Also test out different ad layouts and colors. You will be surprised at some of the results.