Google AdSense vs. Affiliate Marketing Platforms: Where the Real Money Is?

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So, you’ve built a website or a blog, and you’re ready to bring some cash into the picture. Great, but what do you think is the best way to do so? There are plenty of options, yes, but two popular contenders often top the list: Google AdSense and affiliate marketing.

It’s true that both of these options can make you money. But they work pretty differently! And it all depends on your own needs. What to choose? Today, we’ll show you what’s the difference between these two and how you can benefit from them. 

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What is Google AdSense?

Google AdSense is one of the go-to ways especially for website owners (publishers) and content creators to make money. Everything works simple. You just add targeted ads to your blog, news site, forum, or even a mobile app, and you start earning from people who visit. 

How Does Google AdSense Work?

In a way, Google AdSense works as a matchmaker between advertisers and website owners. Advertisers make ads through Google Ads, and AdSense finds websites where those ads will fit. When someone visits your site and clicks on an ad, you get money – simple as that. 

So, there are a couple of different ad types you can go with here: 

• Text ads
• Display ads
• Video ads

Eligibility and Application

To get approved for Google AdSense, your website has to meet a few basics: you need original content, a design that’s easy to use, and you have to follow Google’s rules. Once you’ve got that covered, you can apply for an AdSense account on their website.

That’s great, but when to apply for Google AdSense? Well, some think it’s as soon as you can, while others say that you should first get a good amount of original content, a clean design, and some steady traffic coming in. We surely advise the second opinion here as it’s better to focus on quality first and then get ads working. 

As for the earning potential, it varies really. First, it depends on certain factors, such as website traffic, ad placement, and click-through rates. You will get your money monthly once you reach a certain threshold.

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What is Affiliate Marketing?

The idea of affiliate marketing is to collaborate with a company or brand to promote their products or services, and you earn a commission whenever someone you refer makes a purchase, signs up, or takes some other action. And affiliate marketing networks can be called an environment where these two players meet. 

The Process

Then, you’ll want to share those offers. You can use different ways to promote your affiliate links, like on social media, your blog, or through email. The goal is simple, really – get people to click on your links and take action.

With networks it becomes even easier. Platforms like PropellerAds have a full arsenal of tools for campaign creation, launch, optimization, targeting, creatives tailoring, and more. The best part – we have a team of helping managers for Gold and Platinum account holders. 

Now, the main question is: What’s the earning potential here? 

Well, it’s all about you, as the earning potential is substantial here. It really depends on factors such as the pricing model, the products or services you promote, and your ability to drive conversions as well as test and optimize your offer efficiently. 

For example, lots of blogs are promoting products from Amazon, where they get between 1% and 10%. This surely seems low compared to VPN providers that give out between 25% and 45%. But, Amazon has a HUGE list of buys while VPN providers are still reserved for a bit smaller audience. 

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Google AdSense vs. Affiliate Marketing: A Head-to-Head Comparison

As we already said, both Google AdSense and affiliate marketing are legit ways to get some money in your pocket. But which one is better for you? Honestly, we don’t know that. But we can compare these two so you can decide on your own which is probably for the best. 

Earning Potential

With AdSense, your earnings depend on how many clicks your ads get. It can provide a steady flow of income, but the money you make per click is usually pretty low compared to how much you can get through affiliate marketing. 

So, while AdSense offers steady income, affiliate marketing offers the potential for higher earnings. 

Control and Flexibility

With AdSense, you have limited control over the ads that show up on your website. Google’s algorithms decide which ads are relevant, so you might get ads that don’t quite fit your content. This can drive people away from your website and lower your earnings. 

In contrast, affiliate marketing gives you a lot more control. You can choose the products or services you want to promote. You can even choose the way you promote them, and that’s the beauty of it. Here, you have to find a creative way to make people buy these products, not just click on them. 

Effort and Time Investment

Setting up AdSense is pretty simple. Once your account gets approved and you’ve added the ad units to your site, it mostly runs on its own. Still, of course you need to keep an eye on how things are performing and make adjustments. 

In affiliate marketing it takes a bit more effort upfront. You’ll need to figure out your strategy and build an audience. Also, you have to constantly engage with your followers and audience, you have to be creative and come up with new and unique ways to reach out to them. Testing various approaches and optimizing your campaigns constantly is a must. 

Traffic Requirements

With AdSense, you can still make money even if your traffic is on the lower side. You earn revenue from every click, so it doesn’t matter if those clicks don’t lead to a sale.

In contrast, affiliate marketing usually needs more traffic to really boost your earnings. But if you have targeted traffic and great offers, you can still do well, even with a smaller audience.

Approval Process: Getting the Green Light

Getting approved for AdSense can be tough. Passing Google AdSense requirements and policies are not that easy to go through and it takes time. 

On the other hand, joining affiliate programs or networks is generally easier. They tend to have less strict requirements, so you can get approved faster and start promoting products right away.

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Google AdSense vs. Affiliate Marketing: Which One is Better

We’ve explored the ins and outs of Google AdSense and affiliate marketing, but the ultimate question remains: which monetization strategy reigns supreme? The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The best choice depends on your circumstances, goals, and resources.

We’ll put all these things into a table so you can get the best picture:

Criteria	AdSense	Affiliate Marketing
Earning Potential	You earn mostly from clicks	You can earn more money from clicks, conversions, impressions, get revenue share, and more
Control and Flexibility	Less control; Google picks the ads	More control; you choose what to promote
Effort and Time Investment	Mostly runs on its own after setup	Takes more work with a setup, optimization and testing
Traffic Requirements	Works with lower traffic	Needs significant traffic for good earnings
Approval Process	Harder to get approved	Easier and quicker to join affiliate programs

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Conclusion

With all said and done, we can safely say that both Google AdSense and affiliate marketing are good ways to get some money. It depends on what you want to do and how you wanna do it. To recap all, if you have a site that can benefit from clicks, then Google AdSence is your go-to thing.

If you have a platform where you can promote brands, products, and what not, then affiliate marketing is the right call.