Bye Bye Google
The summer ad slowdown is really starting to take their toll on Google AdSense. At its current rate, the 300×250 Google ad that is embedded to the right of every blog post will make no more than last month ($661.73). Before the summer, the spot has made as much as $1,300 and that was done with less traffic than the blog is getting now. Therefore I’ve decided to sell the 300×250 ad spot to a private advertiser.
If you are interested in taking over the spot currently being used by Google, the cost is $1,000 per month. I know there are a few people running direct Google ads targeted to this blog. Here’s your chance to completely take over the ad spot. You can use a simple text ad or an image ad like what Search Engine Guide is using.
Being a direct advertiser give you more exposure to my readership, not just from the ad but from all the various plugs I give my direct advertisers. You would almost certainly receive a post for being the first advertiser to take over Google’s ad spot – you would be the one to kill off Google AdSense from John Chow dot Com!
The $1,000 offer is good till the end of September. After that, the rate would need to be renegotiated. If you wish to take over the spot, Email your ad to johnchow@johnchow.com, and PayPal $1,000 to the same Email address.
The Lesson To Learn From This
Sometimes the best way to improve an ad’s performance is to replace it with something else. Always analyze how your ads are doing and ask yourself if the spot could do better with something else there. Google AdSense is a good moneymaker but it’s not the only game in town.
*Update – The ad spot has been sold. If you wish to take the spot from September 11 to October 10, better get your order in now.
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{ 68 comments }
HAHA! My idea was used… I feel special!
edit: according to john chow i just “reminded” him
He’s always had the ads spots for sale…just never made a blog post about it.
That the way to do it! To bad for Google, that should knock them down a peg. Oh it has they have beenn relegated to the very bottom of the post. hehehehehe!
Another great marketing lesson from John Chow dot Com.
Grrr! I was thinking about that too! For once, this is not the “why didn’t I think about it first.” ‘Cause I’m thinking about monetizing my blog that way too, not with google’s cents per click. John, you reserve $1,500 per month for yourself, it’s easy and predictable money. You do everything on your blog, because the space is yours. That’s why we all have to own our own product on the internet and start today without ever quitting. Hmmm… Well done John. I completely agree with this. And most of all, the rate is going to be negociated to the upper price. Hmmm … Well done! Well done. I also think that if 12 persons reserve the ad, it’s dead for us all for 12 month. Grrr. If only I had your traffic. But getting there slowly & surely.
Lova of BlogaDollar.com
Yes, thanks for reminding me.
John,
Does this give you every 300X250 spot for every post, just the top 3 (like it is now because of Google’s rules), or some other set-up?
DevDad
Whatever you see now with Google, becomes yours.
I would really want to get my blog some more exposure, but it has so little content it would be a waste of money for me. maybe next year!
Always experimenting with new sources.
Judging by AdSense performance in the last months comparing with other incomes sources, it was a matter of time until John replaced it.
one of the evil deal
Costly John but a great great offer i can bet…This ad space will get hell a lot traffic and business
whos tat lucky one
That sounds like a great deal considering how many hits you receive and how many posts you have, I bet whoever buys it will increase their own traffic most diffidently.
John u r the best man.. i always dreamt of becoming like you someday
but if i get atleast 5% of ur 1000 dollars then i could have hosted my blog on a site… anyway u rock man..
What if more than one person paypals you $1,000
Good question. I would say the first one gets month 1 and the second gets month 2. Or I will just refund the second.
1000!
maybe next year 
fingers crossed!
$1000 for an ad spot! wow! I want to be you john lol…
So John, $1000 for the rest of October like 20 days?
It’s for a month. So if the buyers buys today, his ad would run today until Sept. 10th.
I guess buying in febuary would be a bad idea then heheh
Being in a prime internet real-estate spot for 28 or 30 days seems like a win win deal either way.
1000 is very cheap…..for a month…….
By i don’t have Paypal and No enough money to buy the ad
Once i have 1000 sure i will buy the ad
I’m interested to see who will take the spot.
Me too……
Me three
Interesting, lets see how advertisers react. Hope you get that $1000
That didn’t take long at all. The spot has been sold. If you wish to take the spot from September 11 to October 11, better get your order in now.
Wow, that was fast
This proves one of your rules in your e-book. Don’t put all your advertising in one basket. You have shown that you can drop kick any advertising as needed even Google and not even experience a ripple in your revenue flow.
Great Job John Chow, great job!
John.. You are famous and you know that..
I suggest you once you finished ur promised deal till sept 10th
Put it for bid on ebay or on your own blog itself. That would fetch you more money..
hmmm dat was pretty fast
This is a great chance. Whoever buy the ad spot will get more traffic to his site.
but surely you can put 468×60 banners above each post OR below each post?
Maybe a wide sky scraper in your sidebar?
Google Adsense doesn’t have to leave this webpage for sure. Also, if you kill adsense, might that just trigger off another google response to you…Page Rank decrease or simply No PR what-so-ever?
I wonder who will pay for that ad position though…certainly wont be me as I cant afford 100 yet alone 1000!
Also, just remembered, what if someone sends you the money with paypal but a few weeks/months later paypal issues a chargeback? This has happened to me so many times and its frustrating because the seller ALWAYS looses when it comes to paypal.
Hopefully you wont experience this but boy oh boy is it common on ebay with paypal. perhaps you could open an account with these online credit card transaction companies such as authorize.net?…just an idea.
John Chow, I think you can set a like Techcrunch’s sponsors ads at your right sitebar. If you offer $400 per ad,and can sell 6 or 8, the whole charge will be a lot of money.
And you also can sell an ad unit behind your each article, above your TTZ Media. If the ad size is like “serch engine guide”, you can charge for $700 a month maybe.
If the two ways goes well, if will add $3000-4000 per month to your pocket.
I am not sure someone can issue a chargeback (well he can try) with paypal for non tangible services. Anyway it is a good idea to double the profits and remove the G ads, it will show to many users that it is possible to be done. Actually in many cases lately i do see people rent the corners where they previously had adsense ads and the price depends on how much the user was making from that spot with adsense.
Another compliment to the fast sale (which i had no doubt), while i was reading the first lines of the post i was already thinking, ok…lets see how much time will pass before he updates and claims that the spot has been sold…well it did not took a lot, just till i reached the last line
now, i am curious to see who did this investment 
.
Cheers and best luck John.
Oh thats good.
Come on john, who bought it?
Paypal always protects the buyer and not the seller. Not only can the buyer do a chargeback via their credit card but paypal also get arsy with you as if it’s your fault that somebody has just stolen your services/product. If you are selling a digital product such as advertising or software there is every chance that a buyer can screw you over with payapl IMHO.
I second to that.
So I’m not the only one seeing this summer slowdown – painful! :-/
I’m surprised at just how big the summer slowdown is across Adsense, it seems to be hitting everyone.
I’m interested to know when people think it will start to pick up again?
Good move, John, but you sold way too cheap. And an indication to all that Google is really stealing the space they are getting on most blogs.
Since the relatively recent rise of the “problogger” phenom many guys are now in the game who weren’t around just 3 or 4 years ago when almost all sites (very few ever called them blogs) that made money sold theor banners and buttons either directly or via ad brokers individually.
AdSense got big by making the process autmeted and dirt simple for lazy folks .. like me … but their payback has really dropped in recent months. Like many other “latest things” which have come and gone AdSense may well lose their prominence soon.
It would be interesting to know how much Google’s cut of all the G ads on this site are. Perhaps they are bringing in well over $1000 a month for themselves and only sharing a small chunk for JC.
I also think selling it on ebay would have brought in way more than 1000 but I guess John knows best.
He certainly created a good buzz over that spot with a round number opening bid. Now he can raise the price even more.
Hey John… I’m surprised you didn’t put this on ebay to boost the some more.
Guess you’re not THAT evil :-p
It really wasn´t an expensive price. If my main selling site was a little more “professinal” I would have paid the $1000 without thinking about it. Also, I hope this sets a trend, and I hope Google gets screwed. They have long lost the “do no evil” charm…
Will the PPC increase after the summer? I think I remember John saying something on how AdSense is normally slow during the summer.
Yes, Google rates will increase in the fall. I will either switch back to AdSense or increase the price of the private ad.
Considering the speed with which the Adsense spot went for I think it’s safe to say you could have got more.
Before selling the next one I think you should post some more about the value of the ad spot, the potential revenue it could make and then finish up by having an auction each month for the rights to the next months ad spot.
If you hosted the auction on this site it would be another way of promoting this blog and driving EVEN more traffic to the site – which in turn would make that ad spot EVEN more valuable!
But that’s evil Geedos!
Auction was really a good and
idea.. and you know John you don’t lack advertisers for you.. if you would have announced an auction people would have advertised it for free and you could have easily got good number of bidders.. Really good idea Geedos.. way to go..
I can’t wait for the earnings to rise in the fall. SUMMER SUCKS!
Great idea !
I see that the person that bought the ad, is now reselling it for $1500! Very interesting, I wonder if it will sell!
I like it! This could be the start of something very interesting!
I still think $1500 is cheap – whoever buys it for that could sell it for more. Look what John has started!
Where will it end?
Thanks to the suggestions in a few of the comments above, the ad space is listed for sale on eBay. Happy bidding
it is USD1500 now?
$1500 USD is the same as $1500 CDN now
Wish I could have this much money, right away I would have chosen to advertise with you. Atleast, I would have received lots of bids in my link bid directory. Right now dealing with 5-10 everyday.
Did anyone notice this 300×250 ad appears in every RSS feed?
Pretty cool, huh?
That’s why people call John Chow, the evil
Don’t remember seeing it before, a new addition?
$1000 is a little too steep for me.
Was the Adsense under the Save to del.icio.us • Stumble It! • Digg This! always there?
$1000 sounds fairly cheap John
I remember one guy(who should remain unnamed) sold one link each for $100/week on his myspace site claiming it gets 80k visitors per week. I think you have intentionally kept it only $1k to get traction ? Right ? 