Adsense vs. Affiliate Marketing – How do I Know Which is Best for My Blog

If you’re a blogger then you might be in a constant dilemma whether you should aim for Google Adsense or target affiliate marketing.

As both of them are entirely different.

However, you can read this blog and figure out which one is going to be best for you. Adsense or Affiliate Marketing?

How is Adsense Different Than Affiliate Marketing

Before, you know which is going to suit your blogging style, first you need to know what is the difference between having a blog for Adsense and having it for affiliate marketing.

Is there any difference at all?

Well! There’s a lot of difference.

The first is the amount of money you’re going to make. Affiliate marketing can pay you more than double if you write about a highly targeted niche but if that does not work, then there are chances, you will not earn even 50% of what you earn in AdSense.

In Adsense, you make money if someone clicks your ads. For a click you might earn 10 cents to 50 cents & even more than $1 in competitive niche.

However, if you’re able to sell a product though affiliate marketing then you could get 2 to 3 times more revenue.

If, with Adsense you’re earning $2000 a month then through affiliate marketing you can make $4000 to $5000 for same blog.

So the difference is huge.

Second obvious difference between these two would be affiliate marketing is bit difficult to learn compared to Adsense.

Obviously, there’s more money in it, so it’s difficult.

Hence, these two are the major differences between affiliate marketing and Google Adsense.

Which One to Choose?

Now, you’ve to decide which one would suit you the best according to your blogging style.

I know, you would like to go after Affiliate marketing because there’s more money in it.

But, it’s not necessary that you’ll succeed with it. You can fail if your blogging is not tailored around affiliate marketing.

You might make good money with Adsense only.

On the other hand, it might happen that you’re smart enough to leverage power of affiliate marketing and make sales.

Therefore, it’s inappropriate wasting time for Adsense.

So you should choose one of them according to your blog.

Go For Google Adsense if

You should focus more on Google Adsense if

You’re a Blogger from India

If you’re blogging from India or any other non-English speaking countries then it’s better to go after Adsense.

It is simply because you can get a lot of traffic from these countries. The traffic you get, can only click on ads but they rarely buy things online.

And in affiliate marketing customers need to buy your products. So it is very difficult to sell products to customers coming from English speaking countries.

Thus focus on traffic that clicks on ads hence Adsense is best for you.

You Can Create Blogs That Are Controversial

In Adsense, you can create blogs which are controversial and sensational. You don’t have to focus on writing blogs that are going to persuade people for buying products.

In other words, I am trying to say, you can compromise on your writing skills because a controversial or sensational topic would make-up for it.

Hence, go for Adsense program if you can write something controversial.

You Can Get Quantity of Traffic Rather Quality

Again same thing here. You want more clicks rather than sales. Hence for clicks you’ve to get traffic and it doesn’t matter the type of visitors that are coming.

Even if quality of traffic is low you’re going to earn through clicks. So here quantity matters over quality.

You can pull huge traffic by creating viral content.

You’ve SEO Skills Over Writing Skills

For Adsense, SEO skills are more important than writing skills. It really doesn’t matter if you can’t write good content.

You can always do SEO for your blog and rank high on any search engine. Hence, you’ve to learn more SEO techniques if you’re not very good at writing.

Normally, Adsense publishers focus on learning SEO like keywords, backlinks, comments, guest posting etc.

Choose Affiliate Marketing if

Now if you feel that you’ve a better chance in succeeding affiliate marketing rather than Adsense then you should go for it, only if…

You’ve Patience

Yes, affiliate marketing has more money but it is not going to come so easily. You’ve to learn every small detail of writing.

From marketing techniques to writing skills, you need to learn minute things step by step.

You need patience to learn new things daily. If you don’t have then you might quit in the middle.

Therefore, come out of an impression that affiliate marketing is a lottery and you can make money overnight. It’s a long overhaul.

You’re a Blogger from USA or Can Target English Speaking Countries

Next reason why you should go for affiliate marketing is you must be a blogger from English speaking countries. If you’re, then you might be able to target them with great writing skills.

If you’re from USA then it would be quite easy for you to make sales because your customers would come mainly from these countries only. Hence, you can write according to their culture.

If you’re not from USA then also you can go for affiliate marketing but you need to have great writing skills and ability to learn their culture.

You Can Pull Quality Traffic Rather Quantity

In affiliate marketing you’ve to sell products rather get clicks on ads like Adsense.

You can only sell if the visitors coming to your blog have great purchasing power. It means they can pull out their credit card and buy something from you.

And for it you need quality traffic rather quantity.

You’ve Writing Skills Rather SEO

Finally, the most important thing for affiliate marketing is the writing skills.

You’ve to persuade visitors coming to your blog that your product is going to solve their problem.

Hence, you need to write something which is so powerful and convincing that customers would pull out their credit card and buy.

Knowledge of SEO & keyword research equally plays an important role in affiliate marketing.

So go for affiliate marketing if you feel you can write and improve with the time.

Can you use both simultaneously

There are many bloggers like Harsh Agarwal, Hesham Zebida who use AdSense & affiliate marketing simultaneously & are successful in making good money from both.

You can also experiment on your blog with different ideas & check which experiment generates you maximum revenue.

How you monetize your blog & what you think, was the best experiment for your blog. Share your ideas.