I am so mad, I might have to go back to work

AdSense earnings have been very low for me these past few months, and so has revenue from other ad companies that I use. I have also tried new ad companies, and they are even worse. So it looks like I have no choice but to go back to working full time for someone. I still make enough money per month off AdSense and other smaller ad companies I use to survive, but barely, so it is better for me to get more income. My site's traffic really has not changed much, even the clicks are not that much less, just the revenue is much, much lower.

When I quit my job over a year and a half ago to run my websites full time, I assumed I would never work at a company again, but now I don't think I have much of a choice. No one seems to want to hire me part time, so I am stuck with having to work full time for now. I will still keep my websites running, I just wont be able to work on them as much as I have these past 18 months.

I haven't had to use an alarm clock to wake me up since the summer of 2010. I have never "had" to be anywhere at a specific time these past 18 months, with the exception of dentist appointments for dental cleanings, but even those I made at convenient times for me. I have basically been coming and going as I pleased.

Now if I do accept a full time job I am going to have to set an alarm clock at least 5 days a week to make sure I am awake at a specific time. I am going to have to make sure I am at work at a specific time. I am going to have to take orders from other people. I am going to have to follow a specific "dress code" at work. I cant just go to the mall at 11 in the morning in the middle of the week anymore. I am no longer going to have girls at stores and other places I am during the day ask why I am not at work, and then get impressed when I tell them I am "self employed". I am not going to be able to say I am going to take it easy today and only work 2 or 3 hours. I am going to have to work for someone 8 or 9 hours straight, instead of splitting up my work schedule into different parts of the day like I had been.

And before anyone says I am just a lazy person, I will let you know that I wake up around 6 AM without the need for an alarm clock, then I work on my sites a few hours after breakfast. Then go out for an hour, maybe shopping or something like that. Then work a few more hours after lunch, then workout, eat dinner, then possibly work one more hour in the evening. But everything I do is with no pressure, and no deadlines.

How the heck am I still going to be able to live that lifestyle if I have to work full time for somebody else?

I am so pissed about this.

 

What can I say From summer to 2010 you should've been making your online business more and more secure.

Your free ride is over but don't worry. Billions of people do what you are going to have to do.

 

I have been, these past 18 months I have optimized my sites so well, I was very proud of what I accomplished. I got to the point where I was doing 8 hours of work in only 4, I got so fast and so good at what I do. Its just that the ad revenue is not as good as it was last year, and keeps getting worse.

I have a job interview on Monday, but I can tell already that the lady wants to hire me. But if they give me a lowball salary offer, I am going to pass.

It is not just an 8 hour job, if they force you to take an hour lunch, that is 9 hours, then 30 mins drive to and from work is 10 hours. Then I have to wakeup probably an hour before I leave, that is 11 hours. Then I may need to "unwind" for an hour when I get home, well all the sudden this 8 hour job is taking 12 hours of my day. After adding in 8 hours of sleep, I am only going to have 4 hours left over.

How could someone actually live their life like this? I hope to God this interview makes me a very low salary offer so I can have a good excuse to turn them down, then I can go to the mall and buy a mall pretzel, then go home and work on my websites.

 

PM me, I'll send you something I used to generate 4 figures in 30 days with no experience. I'll give it to you free, no strings attached. Just know, it isn't anything related to adsense or niche sites.

 

I have a few different websites, but my main site gets anywhere from 500 to 1000 visitors an hour. I do not advertise it with AdWords, because I am at the top of all keywords I would use in Google Search Engine anyway.

One of my smaller sites was actually improving by a lot lately, but now that one has slowed down on revenue a little.

 

Thanks, that is a good idea. I was offered money from some people to advertise for them, but it was very small amounts and they wanted ad slots that make much more money with AdSense.

How would I start selling ad space myself? Just write about that on my site? Or is there any affiliate or website you joined that helped you locate these advertisers?

 

I do really feel bad for you. Its sucks. I've been trying to get at what you were doing. Maybe its just temporary.

 

It does suck, I did not have a problem with working part time for someone and had been considering it for awhile. But a full time job, that just takes too many hours out of my day. It is going to also mess with my workout schedule and eating habits. People I have been talking to dont seem to want to hire part time, they just want full time slaves.

I remember 18 months ago when my employer tried to force me to work 55 to 60 hours a week every week. I got sick of it and told them I wanted to work part time because I was taking college classes, and they could also drop me from benefits package like vacation and insurance, etc. I didn't want to tell them the real reason was my website revenue. But they basically told me to get to work full time or get out. I think I shocked them when I actually left. I just cant imagine having to go back to that life, even if it is a nicer employer, it is still going to take away the time I can work on my sites.

Leaving my full time job was the best thing I ever did. With all the extra time I was able to teach myself so much web design technology to improve my sites. It would have taken me forever to learn that stuff when working full time.

 

I can understand you .Last year I also worked for myself at home to do small business.But it can't progress well ,so I have to go to work at company this year .However I still don't give up it ,I will use my time to do the things for myself.

 

Snake eye, you drive so many visitors per hour why not promote affiliate products on your site?

500 to 1000 visitors per hour will bring in a lot of profit for you if you know how to convert these targeted traffic into buyers first.

Working for someone else definitely sucks, i understand that. That's why i am learning the ropes here at DP so that i can quit my day job and have my freedom to do what i please.

 

I totally get u! The only motivation for me to get going from day 1 till now on working my site, is the fear of working 12 hours a day. Im too comfortable working from home, more time for my husband and kids. And work whenever i want no deadlines whatsoever. The freedom aaaaah!

I hope you can bounce back soon. All the best and dont give up just yet

 

I am not sure if affiliate marketing would do well on my site, but I might try it out.

If I have to go back to work for someone full time, I will feel like I have failed. It would be nice to have that extra income, but the long hours and no freedom, plus having to meet deadlines, etc, I dont want to go through that stuff again.

I think I may have maxed out on the most I can earn from ad revenue on my sites.

 

If your pageviews are above 100K, you could sell adspace on sites such as buysellads. Adsense is quickly becoming unreliable source of income, and it could b detrimental to you especially if it is your only source of income.

 

If you are making enough from adsense for a living you are probably big enough traffic wise to transition over into direct ad selling without the middle man. How would 33%+ more income sound? It might take a little more work on your part but I know a lot of people who can sell several square ads for say $50/month each on their site, or top banners for like $200/month each

From your story it sounds like you may have enough time to do both.

 

Thanks for the info guys, I will look into Direct Ad Selling. I will check it out on this site, as well as another site that offers it. I have had enough of AdSense paying less and less each month.

 

I learned early on that it's better to have more than one income stream up and running, just in case one of them dries up. If you do have to go back to a 9 to 5, remember that its not something you are stuck with forever. You already know 20 times more than most folks do about making money online. You've already proven that you can do it.

 

As Shawn said, try to get private advertisers and stop relying on Adsense. It's paying WORSE by the minute and still people make career changes based on it. Have an advertise page, set your rates and put some ad placements for starters. Slowly replace Adnsese with what's really working. I even got my new forums from buysellads (even if it was accepted there in just 4 weeks since I started it) and placed an advertise page and will work to get my private clients. no middleman and I'm telling the prices.