Many website think that they need or want to use adsense and affiliate links / products hand in hand. It does sound logical – why not get paid for both clicks and sales at the same time? 

But before you jump to any conclusions, don’t forget that only the most expensive clicks earn more than 50 cents or a dollar or two a click.  Your clickbank or CJ product might sell with a $25 commission.  Lets do the math.  

If your adsense conversion rate is 1 in 10, and you make an optimistic $1 a click, that means that out of every 100 visitors, you’ll $10.   If your product converts at a rate of 1:100, and your commission is $25, you’ll make $25.  Would you rather have $10 or $25? 

Ok, raise your hand if you want $35. You want to earn $10 for the clicks, and the $25 for the product.  That would work great, if everyone got paid for suggesting a product.  BUT, remember that affiliate marketing requires a click, and a cookie (and you have to be the LAST cookie).  

if your website has adsense, and your shopper has noticed that you are showing an adsense ad for the same exact product somewhere else, they may be temped to comparison shop, or at least click away from your site.  No click / no cookie for you. 

So, then, the question becomes, do you use adsense at all on an affiliate site?  Well, sure. You can use it on informational pages, if you aren’t pushing for a hard sale.  You can use adsense on content pages where you’re pretty sure no one is in a buying mood.  And you can use adsense on website ideas where you don’t have a great selection of product to sell.  (the downside with this is that usually if you don’t have a great selection of affiliate products, you also won’t get great adsense ads.). You can also use adsense on informational websites where you aren’t making a hard sell at all. See my post on soft selling.

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